[Nexus] [Plot] Ambush on Zephyr Island

[happyturtle]

The northernmost of the coastal archipelagos, Zephyr Island has no easily accessible beaches, which made it unattractive to the local fishermen. The cliffsides are all pretty sheer, and on the whole it's much easier to arrive by land than by sea, though sea arrival is possible if you're very determined and have good equipment.

Something like this, but much smaller, and with more trees:
http://www.wayfaring.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/skye-scotland.jpg

Messages have been sent to Magtok, Watchtower, HALO, NO, and GLoG to meet here if you want to stop the apocalypse.

((HT is deadtiming. People can begin arriving and talk amongst themselves.))

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena is the first to arrive, apparently, by teleportation. He'll set up his laptop, summon Askepios, and begin preparing spells.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt arrives via flight. The sole distinguishing feature between Reinholdt C and Reinholdt P happens to be that blue feather that Reinholdt C happens to always carry around, pinned to his shirt. And this Reinholdt has a blue feather.

Not that that means much to some people.

All the same, he finds some rock to lean against, particularly one that keeps him protected from back attacks and guardedly watches everyone here and arriving.

[happyturtle]

Raven, Ingi, George, and presumably Czernov arrive by handwavium. Happy is off babysitting Kaela.

[Morty]

Wenomir's plot clone arrives on the island. Somehow. Maybe he was teleported along with Ilyena.

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance steps out of the shadows next to Wenomir and Ilyena, having heard the message. Something is different about him. The shadows that cling to him seem more solid, and the black shotgun in his hand seems to throb with power. he gives a nod to the other two under the wide brimmed hat he now wears. "I am ready." his dark voice says with a sense of foreboding.

[happyturtle]

"When we summon them, they'll have the ability to end the world. How do we stop that from happening long enough that we can kill them?" Raven asks.

[Morty]

Wenomir looks at Reinholdt. I think I might have an idea...

[Moff Chumley]

((Sure, Ilyena could've teleported anyone from WATCHTOWER.)) In response to Vengeance: Well, I'm not. Another few minutes, please.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna (also teleported from Watchtower) drums her fingers on the silver cylinder strapped to her belt. "The simplest solution would be simply to kill them before they have the chance to end the world," she points out.

[Moff Chumley]

If at all possible, that indeed would be ideal. Hmm... if we were to seperate this island from the rest of the world, when we brought them here, would they still be able to end the world? Ilyena is still typing furiously.

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance smirks at Ilyena. "That might work, but for one thing." He gives a low mirthless chuckle. "Even if this wouldn't be part of the world, WE are still here. So tell me, mage, are you prepared to die already?"

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena shrugs. If we die in the real world, we're still dead.

[Morty]

It's too risky, Wenomir says. They might simply destroy this island and then move against the Nexus once we're dead.

[Moff Chumley]

How is that MORE risky? If they destroy the world the world in the real world, the world's gone. If they destroy this world /and/ the next world, the world's still gone. =/

[Morty]

If we can distract them from destroying the world somehow, we might be able to kill them before they can do it.

[The Bushranger]

"And, if they destroy the world here first, there is no backup line of defense," Shawna points out.

[UncleWolf]

"Hopefully simply being attacked is enough of a distraction if we can't think of anything else. Vengeance says.

[Reinholdt]

If at all possible, that indeed would be ideal. Hmm... if we were to seperate this island from the rest of the world, when we brought them here, would they still be able to end the world? Ilyena is still typing furiously.

"Once in this world, they can easily start destroying whatever they want." Reinholdt says, still leaning against his rock, arms folded over his chest as he watches the people from WATCHTOWER.

"They have no restriction to 'This landmass' or 'Nearby area'. They drop METEOR SHOWERS on the entire PLANET with a THOUGHT. The best you can hope for is that their chosen method of destruction takes time."

[Moff Chumley]

I was referring more to a metaphysical distance than a geographical one...

[Reinholdt]

"They attack the multi-verse. It's not a one dimension thing. It's all or nothing."

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena shrugs. If they can attack anywhere in the multiverse from anywhere else, why aren't we dead now, and what'll be different if we bring 'em here?

[Reinholdt]

"Their power is limited in the afterlife. Death generally does that. Summoning them will remove that restriction, though make them more vulnerable. That's the whole point. For certain definitions of more vulnerable."

[Morty]

I have an idea, actually. Wenomir looks straight at Reinholdt. Do you think you could distract Shepherd for long enough for us to kill him?

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt can't keep Wenomir's gaze and looks off somewhere else!
"I was actually going to deal with Cynthia."
In other words, possibly, but Reinholdt really doesn't want to.
Presuming Shepherd doesn't straight up attack him on sight anyways.

[Morty]

It might be better to send Magtok after Cynthia, for the same reason, Wenomir says. If he shows up, that is. It could give us the distraction we need.

[Reinholdt]

"NO." Reinholdt says with a great deal of clarity in his voice, unlike usual.

"We will not send Magtok against Cynthia, even for a distraction."

[Morty]

And what's so bad about that idea, hm? Wenomir glares at Reinholdt.

[Reinholdt]

"You'd be sending a father to assist in killing his daughter." He says, glaring right back. He's unlikely to budge on this subject. He's more likely to go against Shepherd himself than try to make Magtok fight Cynthia.

[Morty]

Wenomir also glares back. My compassion for Magtok is severely limited. But I'll definetly hear other people's plans first in any case.

[Kaelaroth]

A fan as I am of science, spells seem like the best idea. Do we have some way to trigger a spell as soon as they arrive? Czernov, having arrived earlier, asks.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR's plotclone is retroactively there, with a large book and a pair of ceramic jars. She's flipping through the book at tremendous speeds, though a look at her face might show that she's dealing with magic she has no. ****ing. Clue. About, and knows it. Sealing Reinholdt Prime's soul into a jar would have been easy. She has no idea if it's even possible to do it with beings as strong as Sheperd and Cynthia. Certainly, she's never heard of any gods being sealed in a box by anything short of other gods* or epic magic. It's all too much for the level 3 wizard!

Kal was there, too. Maybe. His general almost immunity to magic might be useful. Sheperd and Cynthia are almost certainly powerful enough to bypass it, but if they kill everyone, he might last a few seconds longer. Maybe.

*Which is totally what she should be! Oh yes.

[billtodamax]

A person in the sky might be seen, flying very erratically, but certainly towards the island.

A noise might be heard as well, if one has particularly sensitive ears.

Terrrrrrrraaaaaaaance! Laaaaaaandiiiiiiiing!

And Rebecca's eyes flare a bright yellow, and her flight is brought back under control, as she lands on the island.

Her eyes fade back to normal, and she walks forwards, waving.

Hey, Rebecca and Terrance from NO. She says. Here to stop... Shepard and cynthia, I think?

[Lord Magtok]

A certain purple-robed cyborg appears, reluctantly coming along for this dark crusade out of a sense of guilt and obligation.

Magtok here, reporting for Apocalypse prevention duty. Do we have a game plan yet, and/or a place for this thing?

He's followed by the latest and greatest MagCorp product, a two-wheeled cannon resembling a sort of artillery weapon, being dragged in by a pair of Magbots. The Carcinogenerator, combining Exalted technology as its positive energy power source with Mag's own design to harness and contain it, makes for a truly brutal sort of magi-science death machine. Or so he hopes, anyways.

[Morty]

Wenomir turns, slowly, towards Magtok. He suspects Magtok won't like his plan, but he likes it. He's going to like it even more if it ends up being the only plan they have and the cyborg will have to go along. I do have a plan, Your Lordship. I thought we might have a chance if we send Reinholdt to face Shepherd and you to face Cynthia. It might distract them long enough for us to kill them.

[happyturtle]

A fan as I am of science, spells seem like the best idea. Do we have some way to trigger a spell as soon as they arrive? Czernov, having arrived earlier, asks.

"And which of the people here are spellcasters?" Raven asks. "I have been gifted with some limited magic ability by Skuld, but I expect my main purpose will be as an expendable melee fighter."

[Reinholdt]

Wenomir turns, slowly, towards Magtok. He suspects Magtok won't like his plan, but he likes it. He's going to like it even more if it ends up being the only plan they have and the cyborg will have to go along. I do have a plan, Your Lordship. I thought we might have a chance if we send Reinholdt to face Shepherd and you to face Cynthia. It might distract them long enough for us to kill them.

"Magtok will not be sent against Cynthia. Stop being sadistic." Super-strong extra glares at Wenomir. :mad:

Reinholdt's defending Magtok.
I think the apocalypse may have already happened and we're all dead.

[Morty]

I'm not being sadistic, I'm being pragmatic. You keep telling yourself that, Wenomir. That said, it's just a suggestion.

[The Bushranger]

"Pragmatic or not, it is still something that should be voluenteered for, not ordered to happen," Shawna says, snippily.

[Morty]

You tell that to my old commander... but fine. I'll be quiet now. It finally dawns on Wenomir his desire to get back at Magtok for two years of being annoying like hell is clouding his judgement.

[Moff Chumley]

"And which of the people here are spellcasters?" Raven asks. "I have been gifted with some limited magic ability by Skuld, but I expect my main purpose will be as an expendable melee fighter."


Ilyena raises a hand and grunts.

[Kaelaroth]

Ilyena raises a hand and grunts.

Could you say, trigger a spell to depower them as soon as they manifest? Czernov asks, not bothering with formalities of introducing himself. He's a tall, rather young man, with comically long hair.

[Moff Chumley]

I can. Something along the lines of... a filter? Only allowing a certain amount of their power through at a time. Would that be acceptable? Ilyena is a dreadlocked and bespectacled half elf, for the record.

[Kaelaroth]

Would it work? If there's a margin of error that, as huge entities, mystically, their power could circumvent your filter, is it worth a different means of assault? Timelocking them? Mentally damaging them? Illusory assault? And how fast can you trigger a spell? Czernov asks, his eyes fizzing with psionic green light as he works through potential battle strategies in his head.

[Moff Chumley]

Oh, I'm very capable of closing loopholes in my spells. And the filters will trigger the moment they come into contact with a being that exceeds their power. Hmm... the filters should give us about three minutes of insurance. After that, I can drop a time stop for, uh, another seven minutes, I believe. After that, though, there isn't much else I can do. If I want to set those traps up, though, I must start now.

[Kaelaroth]

The small issue is that if we start blocking incredible powers, then we take out our own high-end "weaponry". A risk we can take? Czernov ponders. For now, do start, anyway.

[Moff Chumley]

Oh, they'll still be incredibly powerful. But they won't be able to, say, destroy the world. Anyhow, Aksepios, you know what to do. Begining sequence: on your mark. Ilyena takes a deep breath, and shuts his eyes. ...begin. For the next ten minutes or so, Ilyena will be chanting in an unintelligble language.

[billtodamax]

Terrance says he can help with the spell. Rebecca says. If he can see how the summoning spell works he should be able to set a spell to go off when it's used. She's quiet for a while, and frowns. Terrance, what are you talking about, how would that? Oh fine, you tell them.

Her voice, while still essentially the same, sounds stronger and more masculine. I believe I should be able to shut down their higher power, without isolating any of our own. They are from hell, yes? This makes them demonic in origin? Terrance/Rebecca asks.

[Kaelaroth]

No, they're just living in Hell right now - Magtok apparently made them - are they mystical machines, then? Czernov is confused, but's fairly sure they're not demonic.

[Reinholdt]

"Not... quite. They ended up there, but are very much not demonic in origin. They're a mixture of science, man, cat, and an ancient curse from an ancient kingdom."

[Morty]

This ancient kingdom part is what I completely don't understand. Partially because his player is unfamiliar with it, partly because Wenomir isn't very smart.

[Kaelaroth]

This ancient kingdom part is what I completely don't understand. Partially because his player is unfamiliar with it, partly because Wenomir isn't very smart.

Time-travel. The.. delivery-system, Kaela, moved between worlds like a birds moves about air currents. Thank hells that's something we don't need to worry about - he's long-gone. Czernov says, having caught up on just enough of GLoG's records and the like that he's fairly certain that's right.

[billtodamax]

Hm. A rethink is in order then. Is it known how they would destroy the universe? He asks. He seems happy to go on asking questions about this for quite a while. Some specific means?

[Reinholdt]

"No specific ones I'm aware of. Plagues, meteors, unraveling the fabric of the universe... the usual, but nothing in particular. At least that I think we can be prepared for." Probably all of the above.

[Morty]

Time-travel. The.. delivery-system, Kaela, moved between worlds like a birds moves about air currents. Thank hells that's something we don't need to worry about - he's long-gone. Czernov says, having caught up on just enough of GLoG's records and the like that he's fairly certain that's right.

What I mean is why in Jarowit's anvil is the Nexus going to be destroyed because of a curse someone made long ago and somewhere else?

[Darkcomet]

"Yeah, nice job on that, you two." ...did DC just get there? Or has he always been there?

We may never know. But his remark was directed at Reinholdt's and Magtok's parts in starting this mess.

"So what are we supposed to do to actually finish them off once they're here? Even if we can stop them temporarily, that's useless unless we can do something more permanent. I was...elsewhere when Shepherd first came around, so I'm unfamiliar with what exactly has to be done." As is his player.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt shoots DC a glare. "Oh yes. Nice job indeed. You played your part well too, cowering 'elsewhere' far away no doubt."


What I mean is why in Jarowit's anvil is the Nexus going to be destroyed because of a curse someone made long ago and somewhere else?
"Long ago perhaps, but I don't think it was somewhere else. I think it may very well have been in the Nexus. But it doesn't really matter that much. The curse seems to be all inclusive."

[Darkcomet]

Reinholdt's glare is soon returned. "Like I could have done anything. But if you insist, I could rectify my mistakes and shoot you if you survive this. The last time I gave you a chance...well, suffice it to say that if I hadn't, we wouldn't have to deal with this now. And don't use that to blame me for this, either. Your choices aren't mine."

Reinholdt will probably get the idea that continuing this little dispute with DC is a bad idea.

Whether or not he cares is a bit more questionable, I think. He's never really been known for good ideas.

[happyturtle]

"We do not have time for this. Both of you drop it, now." Peter Raven looks around the entire party, eyes blazing, his voice cold and hard. "All of you. Any external baggage you brought with you gets jettisoned now. If you don't like that, Ingi can take you back to the mainland so that the rest of us can get to work saving the world. Is this understood?"

[Reinholdt]

"Hmm." Is all Reinholdt adds. DC doesn't frighten him in the least with his threats, but doesn't feel the need to stoop to his level either.

[Darkcomet]

"As I said, I'm not going to kill him now, as tempting as it may be. I'm not going to let that get in the way here, but I sincerely hope my honest questions about the situation will not be met with retorts like that again." There's a pretty blatant 'but if you survive, and I ever see you again' there.

Par for the course as far as DC goes, that.

[VampireRot]

Merrak the drow arrives along with the other members of WATCHTOWER. The evil spy, despite being an evil spy, would not like the world to be destroyed. So he comes along to kill some children. Or eldritch abominations. He's not too sure. The drow doesn't offer any ideas on what to do, as he doesn't have any, and simply finds a tree to lean against and listen to the conversations. That's about all he does.

[Reinholdt]

"As I said, I'm not going to kill him now, as tempting as it may be. I'm not going to let that get in the way here, but I sincerely hope my honest questions about the situation will not be met with retorts like that again." There's a pretty blatant 'but if you survive, and I ever see you again' there.

Par for the course as far as DC goes, that.

"Don't preclude your questions with verbal jabs and you'll probably get straight answers." Reinholdt says, making sure to examine his fingernails while he does. I don't know why.

[Darkcomet]

DC doesn't reply, though there's another blatantly implied but unsaid bit here. This time it's 'That doesn't sound like dropping it to me'.

[happyturtle]

Raven gives each of them a dirty look for continuing their argument instead of dropping it.

Meanwhile, George draws a circle in the dirt. "When I cast the spell, it should bring them here. So this is where all our attacks are centered."

[Reinholdt]

Implied pot to kettle. Course, since Reinholdt's looking at his fingers, he might not even notice!

He does notice a subject change though. "We should probably try to ensure there's no friendly fire. So should we keep the melee people out of the way to start with?" Cause there's going to be a lot of shooting and spells going off, he's reasonably sure.

[VampireRot]

Merrak looks at George, who seems the most sane, and raises a finger.

"A question. Are we expecting our attacks to work? If these... creatures can make anything happen, they could protect themselves from most conventional means."

Merrak doesn't like anything that doesn't die after he hits it on the head with his mace once. He usually doesn't like the things that do die in one hit too though.

[happyturtle]

"When they arrive, they should be mortal. Powerful, but mortal." George says.

"Out of the way at first, yes, but no one should hold fire to avoid killing a comrade when the world is at stake," Raven says.

[Darkcomet]

"Noted." DC soon pulls out this gun (http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x280/kriskatarn/DCRifle-1.png) and keeps it pointed in the direction of the circle. Its power cell, instead of the blue color advertised in the picture, is red.

He also telekinetically draws a rather bulky pistol, bulky in that there seems to be a power gauge attached to the underside of the barrel in a similar place to where a flashlight would be on some pistols. Only it's larger. Hence bulky. As the weapon floats beside him, a few magazines also float out of his jacket. "Should I keep this or does someone need a gun?" DC just hopes Reinholdt doesn't need one.

[VampireRot]

"So they shouldn't be too hard to kill if they're mortal. We only need to worry about them unmaking us as soon as they see us. Wonderful."

Merrak doesn't comment on the friendly fire. Anyone powerful enough to be fighting these things should be smart enough to not hit any allies.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok gestures towards the Magbots, and has them wheel the big artillery positive energy weapon over to it, ready and waiting to blast the area with a beam of bright magical doom.

Anyways, so...Wait, what was that about Kaela? Why's his presence or lack thereof significant?

[Ashen Lilies]

KR looks up from where she's helplessly trying to turn a pair of ceramic jars into Cans with which to Seal Evil in.
"Just to make sure I'm not wasting my time, here, they do have souls, don't they? Something that could hopefully sealed in here, so they don't just fall back into Hell and start over?"

[Kaelaroth]

KR looks up from where she's helplessly trying to turn a pair of ceramic jars into Cans with which to Seal Evil in.
"Just to make sure I'm not wasting my time, here, they do have souls, don't they? Something that could hopefully sealed in here, so they don't just fall back into Hell and start over?"

[COLOR="DarkRed"]"Should I keep this or does someone need a gun?" DC just hopes Reinholdt doesn't need one.

Magtok gestures towards the Magbots, and has them wheel the big artillery positive energy weapon over to it, ready and waiting to blast the area with a beam of bright magical doom.

Anyways, so...Wait, what was that about Kaela? Why's his presence or lack thereof significant?

I'll take a gun. Czernov nods to DC, before answering KR. I saw them in Hell - if they don't have souls, they have.. something. They're brighter than ordinary spirits, though, if that means anything. And, Magtok,he says, turning to look at the "Lord", you know what I mean. Kaela, thankfully dead, would just ruin everything. He'd be a backup plan for them to destroy the world, or just a pawn in helping them destroy it now. We should be thankful he's long gone.

[Morty]

"Long ago perhaps, but I don't think it was somewhere else. I think it may very well have been in the Nexus. But it doesn't really matter that much. The curse seems to be all inclusive."

It's still retarded. Wenomir shakes his head. When people start talking about melee people "staying out of the way" he looks about to lash out, but manages to keep quiet. But he's getting angrier with every moment and it's visible.

[Reinholdt]

It's still retarded. Wenomir shakes his head. When people start talking about melee people "staying out of the way" he looks about to lash out, but manages to keep quiet. But he's getting angrier with every moment and it's visible.
Angrier that they would try to keep Wenomir from getting blasted to bits in the first round of combat so he might be useful (read alive) for when the initial volley is over? Did he not notice the CANNON Magtok brought? :smallconfused: :smalltongue:

"I won't refute that."

[Kaelaroth]

There's a faint tinkle of glass, and the sky shivers.

Czernov's face falls. They've taken another paradise realm.

[Reinholdt]

"Any idea on how many are left?" Reinholdt asks.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok's eye twitches, and he begins to stammer a tad. Oh gods, just when it looked like everything was going to be all right.

And umm...s-suppose for just a moment I saw Kaela recently, t-that he's at my emergency auxiliary MagCave, and apparently sought to escape from them or something and is lying quietly in a bed until I can figure out whether or not to kill him? Should I call home and have someone slit his throat or something, or would that make things worse?

[Ashen Lilies]

"Fantastic. Just fantastic."
KR works at an almost furious pace, glyphs of binding, so powerful that summoning them without the layers and layers of safeguards KR is using would cause her to pretty much immolate, appearing on the ceramic painfully slowly, considering the situation. Trying to summon them any faster takes much more power than KR can safely channel, even with the layered safeguards increasing her tolerance tenfold.
...
Not that it was all that high to begin with. A proper Generic Magic Using PC of Reasonable StrengthTM would probably be finishing up by now. But the only people who know the spells are KR and Ilyena, and he's busy making sure that Shepherd and Cynthia don't end the world. Rea KR's job is probably the least important. Killling them is the main task: what happens to them post mortem is mostly academic.
Then Magtok ninjas her, and her form ends up rippling as the current glyph tears through her body in a most painful manner as she releases it in shock.
"WHAT!? Great. Anything else we should know, Magtok?"
She says crossly, made all the more ominous by the fact she's gently smoking from the failed spell.

[Kaelaroth]

"Any idea on how many are left?" Reinholdt asks.

They're innumerable, but they'll be going for the most "populous" ones first. Czernov says, looking maudlin, before..


Magtok's eye twitches, and he begins to stammer a tad. Oh gods, just when it looked like everything was going to be all right.

And umm...s-suppose for just a moment I saw Kaela recently, t-that he's at my emergency auxiliary MagCave, and apparently sought to escape from them or something and is lying quietly in a bed until I can figure out whether or not to kill him? Should I call home and have someone slit his throat or something, or would that make things worse?

... at which point, Czernov looks a tad less maudlin, and his features "reset", as it were, to let him speak. Well, firstly, I would wonder, good "Lord", good lord, why you had been so frankly idiotic to let him survive in the first place given the somewhat delicate nature of this task in the first place. Czernov says calmly, his face stony, his eyes stormy. Then I would wonder why you're not calling "home", as you say, right now, to have him dispatched of. Anything else you want to tell us? The European asks, his voice cold. Perhaps you've built a couple more doomsday devices? Huh. It seems Hell's not done wonders for his patience.

[Lord Magtok]

Well given that he was blazing pink flames about and throwing portals around and vomiting glass, I didn't think to...forget it.

Magtok stops making excuses, raises up his wrist towards his face in the manner of one looking at a watch, and relays the necessary information to the AuxCave. He immediately sighs, realizing that Gary might be a threat to this whole operation as well. Given that he's got no idea how to get rid of the hallucination-that-is-both-there-and-not, it'll probably just stress everyone out needlessly if he mentions it.

Okay...so now that someone's working on that, there's no such thing as a friendly fire spell or something we could cast on Wendy so he's not forced to choose between sitting back or getting splattered, is there?

[Morty]

Wenomir listens to all that's being said with a sour(er) expression. He's not angry because he needs to stay behind for the initial stage of the battle; he knows tactics and realizes things like that happen. What is enormously getting on his nerves is the percieved collosal absurdity and unfairness of the whole situation. And as it happens on such occasions, everything else also annoys him.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok peers down at his wrist again, and then looks to Czernov.

The clone I'm sending in wants to know if we've any way of knowing that knifing Kaela won't simply deliver him right back to one of the hells, with Cynthia and Shepherd waiting. Otherwise he's suggesting we leave him as is and increase security in the area.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna, remaining quietly present, unclips the small metal cylinder from her belt, and starts spinning it idly in her hand.

Although KR's ignoring the fact the island is a no-smoking area does merit a raised eyebrow.

[Kaelaroth]

Magtok peers down at his wrist again, and then looks to Czernov.

The clone I'm sending in wants to know if we've any way of knowing that knifing Kaela won't simply deliver him right back to one of the hells, with Cynthia and Shepherd waiting. Otherwise he's suggesting we leave him as is and increase security in the area.

Killing him may well send him back to Hell - which we're taking Cynthia and Shepherd out of. Besides, he can teleport - your security means nothing. Czernov says, impatient.

[Darkcomet]

The gun and the magazines will be given to Czernov. For Kael's convenience, the thing uses energized rounds, something of a projectile-energy weapon hybrid-basically, the bullets, when fired, are surrounded by an energy pulse meant to basically burn through light armor and such. The magazine carries nine rounds.

Funnily enough, the thing was made for dealing with Astir, after his displayed resistance to bullets, I believe.

"One other thing." DC pulls out another magazine, this one with a red dash marking it, for some reason. "These are seekers. I don't have any more of them, since the method of their creation is not something I was privy to, but I assume it's an enchantment of some sort. I would suggest using them to avoid friendly fire." Indeed, as DC said, those are seekers. They seek. Pretty clear.

Then Magtok gets a glare. "You just go from one extreme to another, don't you, Magtok?" DC is specifically referring to him actually doing something useful and killing Alek, and then...this.

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance stands silently next to Shawna, streams of shadows sliding from his pale hands into his shotgun. He appears....nervous actually. All this talk really wasn't settling his nerves. As powerful as he may be, he was still very new at this entire gig.

After a moment, he pats his coat pockets before breathing out in relief, reassured that his weapons were there.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna, meanwhile, gives Jeremy a bit of a smile as she continues to listen to the discussion, not having much to add.

"At this rate, we wil talk the universe to death first," she observes.

[happyturtle]

"Okay, let's take a list of names and specialties, then we'll get to business."

"Peter Raven, melee."

"Ingileifr of the Western Peaks, wind attacks."

"George Shackleton. I'll be casting the spell that drags them here."

(I think this be needed for ooc knowledge as much as ic)

[Morty]

Wenomir breathes heavily. Wenomir Rawicz. Melee.

[UncleWolf]

"Je...Vengeance. Short ranged specialist." he says, hefting his shotgun. Then he takes out a small ball of clay like substance from his pocket, about the size of an apple. "And explosives."

Seems like he kept a few of his toys from his room...

[VampireRot]

"Merrak. Head basher."

The drow holds up a nasty spiked mace. It's not something you would expect a drow to wield.

[The Bushranger]

The technicolor-haired techno-paladin nods. "Shawna von Letters, melee with plasma blade, ranged stun attacks."

[Lord Magtok]

Then Magtok gets a glare. "You just go from one extreme to another, don't you, Magtok?" DC is specifically referring to him actually doing something useful and killing Alek, and then...this.

Magtok glares right back.

Oh **** you, it's not like I told him to run away from the two and hide out in my Cave. Besides, if I struck from the start, that'd have brought the three back together and ruin things for us now.

...I think. Anyways, Magtok. Ranged positive energy blasts, praying to gods I haven't killed us all already.

[Darkcomet]

"DC. Ranged energy attacks, psychic abilities. Can do melee if necessary. And...positive energy, Magtok? Trying to give them cancer?" Ironic coming from him, considering he does have a positive energy cell for that gun of his that was noted to potentially cause cancer.

...that's probably how he guessed cancer, too...

[Kaelaroth]

Czernov. Projectile attacks and limited psionic abilities. Czernov says, quietly enough, taking DC's offered gun.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok shrugs.

They've been jumping about all the hells, right? I figure, if anything I've got is going to work, it's this. If not, generic lasers and stuff is all I've got to fall back on.

[Darkcomet]

"Noted. Please try to avoid healing any damage we do to them." That little detail reminds DC that fire probably isn't a good idea here, so he switches out that red cell with an icy-blue one.

He's not going to try the positive energy cell unless Magtok's attacks show significant effectiveness.

[Reinholdt]

"Reinholdt. Information gathering. Also sniper." I don't see your rifle anywhere mister sniper! :smallyuk:

He then summons a box and opens it up, revealing that sniper rifle he bought from Erin's. Reinholdt's actually going to snipe again? :smalleek:
Maybe. I think he's avoiding touching it until they're ready to begin, wavering between being cool and composed to being terrified and trembling.

[billtodamax]

Terrance and Rebecca. Arcane magic. Rebecca/Terrance says. If I'm psionically impaired, I will be far less effective. S/he adds.

[Kaelaroth]

There's another sign a world's crumbling somewhere out there in the dimensional sea of things, and Czernov's face twinges, slightly.
George. We need to move.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt closes the box and takes it and floats over and up a tree to get settled in. Once he finds a suitable sniping point, he'll open the box again and... and... and... after three seconds of hesitation, start assembling his weapon proper and ensuring it's ready to go.

Since it seems the time for planning has come to a close. And... they still don't have much of a plan.
...
Except one.
...
Reinholdt floats back to the group carrying his new rifle, eyes downcast.
"I guess I'll be distracting Shepherd then."

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok has the Magbots back up the magiscience cancer cannon slightly, picking a point least likely to get in anyone else's way. It briefly occurs to him that should the Magbots not immediately fall to pieces as planned, or if positive energy doesn't work, or if a number of things go wrong, he might not be manning the cannon from a safe distance in their place.

Instead, he may have to move in closer to target them with his generic laser weaponry, within witty banter range, and where he'll be just close enough to see every wound on Cynthia, hear her every malevolent word, and face her disgusting brother on a more personal level than he'd like to.

[happyturtle]

George will give everyone one more post, or until mid-day tomorrow, whichever comes first, to make their final preparations.

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena opens his eyes. Ilyena. Spellcasting. Askpios, aiding Ilyena. Ilyena looks strangely distant, as if he's dividing his attention between the real world and something else. Which, of course, he is.

--

The Moff pokes his head in from off-screen. Hi, I'm The Moff, and I'm an alchoholic.

...sorry, was that in poor taste?

[billtodamax]

Terrance goes off some way from where everyone else is, and raises his hands.

Rebecca, please watch.

He starts to move his hands in extraordinarily complicated ways, his arms almost seeming to pass through themselves at one point, all the while murmuring.

...diagonal cut to stem the flow, an intelligent qualifier followed by a simple lightning wave to prevent most of the friendly fire, and now we start on the middle layer. Start with a complex beam with the energy altered so that...

Is now really the time to be instructing Rebecca, Terrance?

[Kaelaroth]

Czernov's eyes flicker and burst with green energy, worryingly similar to the purple hues that danced across Alek's mind when he focussed telepathic power, as he starts to make quick, quiet modifications to the gun DC gave to him.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR continues enchanting her soul jars.
...
Gee, cutting it a little close there, aren't we?


Kal hangs back with Wenomir, being a melee combatant himself. Technically, his gauntlets let him shoot Hellfire, but he's not going to risk healing them instead of hurting them. He idly wonders if they still count as damned souls, instead of Evil Gods, greater fiends, or merely the resurrected, and if he'd then be able to utterly consume their souls like he did with that one soul in the other Hell.
...
Ehhhhh, probably not. But worth a shot if he gets the opportunity. Might weaken them, if nothing else.
He looks at Wenomir.
"So, ready to kill these demon scum?"

[Morty]

Wenomir glares at Kal. But it's not the time for bickering Yes. Ready. Let's give them a taste of what a real fight feels like, he says, his voice dripping with contempt as he utters the last sentence.

[Ashen Lilies]

Kal shrugs. He was hoping that being a fellow demon hunter might override Wenomir's distaste for the fiends on the other side of the spectrum... you know, the ones that are stopping the demons from simply swarming up The Pit and razing the Mortal Realms, Heaven, and pretty much everything else. But if that's too hard for him, he doesn't push it.

[Morty]

The devil/demon distinction is rather fuzzy for Wenomir. It has no bearing on his homeworld where "devil" is just a catch-all name for all malevolent beings be they demons, fey or spirits and demons are neither humanoid nor sentient. He folds his arms across his chest, visibly tense and seemingly arguing with himself. And the contempt was directed as Shepherd and Cynthia anyway.

[happyturtle]

George looks up, eyes glowing. Someone who looks close will see little bolts of lightning dancing across his retina.

He takes a stone from a bag at his side and sets it down. The stone crackles for a moment with electricity, then displays a rune of calling. He does this again, three more times, four runes set equidistant around the center of the circle he had marked out before, about 10 feet in diameter.

He then places four more stones, runes of warding, slightly outside the first four. These are meant to hold the pair in this circle and keep them from escaping.

When he returns to Czernov's side, he gently brushes his barely substantial hand across the shoulders of his lover. He raises his hammer, and onlookers see that George Shackleton has taken on the visage of Thor himself bearing Mjöllnir. A bolt of lightning comes from the clear sky and strikes the upraised hammer, and then George/Thor flings the bolt at the circle, activating two strong circles of magic, one within the other. He calls out in a voice of thunder, his words echoing in the air and magnified by the storm that gathers on Zephyr Island.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Thor_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg

"Come forth from Asgard, come to battle and to your death."

[Kaelaroth]

The spell, as you might have guessed it would have, works.

Smoke rises from anywhere and everywhere, and lightning crashes around with thunder like two, rather energetic, somewhat tiresome to care for, twins, as fire bursts from the air itself, and the very seams of reality in the area wail and shiver - forcing forms from somewhere raging with war and woe, into this land...

Somewhere far away, rivers turn to blood, and communities who wash and bathe and swim cry out in horror, and then in pain, as said blood starts to consume their flesh. Somewhere nearer, storms lay waste to the land, ironically depositing hordes of frogs and biting things along with their mansized balls of hail, and their jagged clashes of thunderous lightning. Nearer still, the sun closes up, and the earth is plunged into darkness, and the air is filled by murderous cries. On an island a little way away, a mother weeps as her baby is born without life, yet still opens its eyes.

She does not cry for much longer, but is briefly much, much louder.

The effects rise and continue, swarms of insects screaming themselves into existence, before swiftly dying into hunks of darkly-hued diamonds, floods of water falling from atomic drift, tumults of burning ash pouring out from nowhere at all...

Until such effects fade, to reveal a sight rapidly cooling into normalcy, bright lights fading.

Sitting in the middle of a cloud of steam are two figures, shimmering and glinting rather like two coals pulled from a fire swiftly. The figures are wrapped around eachother, intertwined like babes in arms, each coated by no clothes, merely a second skin of dark, winelike blood, each kissing the other, passionately, tongues smacking and lips rippling.
Their eyes are half-closed, they're breathing heavily, and their tight embrace is painfully intimate, as if there was no difference between the people at all. After a moment, heartbreakingly romantic, if innapropriate, the figures seem to notice their surroundings, and, woefully, pull away from another, hands still linked, fingers woven together, eyes still darting to one another.

We appear to be in the Nexus again, darling. The two speak in unison, talking to.. eachother. Their eyes, heterochromatic, survey those who have come to kill them. Their lips move again.
Time to play?

And the sky screams.

[Reinholdt]

"No. Playtime's over Shepherd. Time to clean your room." Reinholdt says, stepping forward into sight just a bit, looking at one and aiming his weapon at the other... then looking at the other and aiming at the first... Which was which? :smalleek:
Not that it mattered much. Reinholdt's shaking is throwing off his aim anyways. It'd help if he actually fired though. But... what were the chances he wouldn't have to?

"Do you really have to do this? Is there no other way?" Stupid cat pulling this stunt at the last second. :smallannoyed: Hopefully he's still being a distraction.

[VampireRot]

Woah. Damn Kaela, you scarey! :smalleek:

Merrak curses softly in the drow language. He pulls his mace and sword out but stands back. Let the more powerful people blast em with cannons and magic, then he'll try bashing their heads in. Hopefully while they're distracted.

[Kaelaroth]

Shepherd, covered in his bloody clothing (and when I say that, I mean clothing which is merely blood, and little to nothing more, just in case that wasn't clear), smiles so brightly at his father (one might even say he grins), the catlike one, that is, who just spoke in such a loving manner. He smiles in a feline fashion, and licks his lips, before starting to bend to lap at the blood that covers his body with a long, hungry tongue, his young adult form almost aesthetically perfect, if a tad on the nude side. His skin is breathtakingly pale under his bloody coating, an ephemeral lick of white pain upon hardly-there skin and bones.

As he performs this act of rebellion before his father, washing away the blood that was cloned to make his darling sister in the first place, it's Cynthia who speaks, while waving a hand to try and telekinetically levitate Merrak, way up, far into the air, having noticed his actions smilingly.

Daddy? Addressing Reinholdt, it'd seem, one of her eyes, eerily, nevertheless flickers over to Magtok, before joining the other orb in staring at he who just spoke.

I think it's time you let the grownups talk, while brother sups at the holy wine. She smiles, and Shepherd picks up where she leaves off as she mimics his former action, lapping at the blood that covers her formerly virginal, white-as-snow skin.

Yes, daddy, I think we've heard enough. Now close your eyes, my darling. He smiles, seductively, if that's even possible, given the context and his unnatural appearance, at both his sister and his father, his eyes performing the same splitting trick, dividing to each survey a different direction, the trick Cynthia just demonstrated. That, though, is before, both together now, Cynthia and Shepherd, they point at Reinholdt, hands held together.

This won't hurt a bit.

Like all parents, they're lying, as hellfire dances up at Reinholdt's feet, a glorious flame that far surpasses anything any other hell has ever seen, a fire that could ignite a universal engine, and start up the end or beginning of a whole world...

[VampireRot]

Oh god (Lolth). Merrak is lifter high into the air by telekinesis. The drow curses his luck at being the only non-important character not deadtimed at this point in time. Sense he can't really do anything, Merrak watches from the air. And hopes hopes hopes that she doesn't decide to drop him. That would hurt.

[Morty]

Wenomir places his hand on the sword hilt, waiting for the ranged weapon and magic barrage to happen first, as was planned. It takes a lot of willpower not to charge and wipe that stupid-looking grin off that brat's face, though.

[happyturtle]

Ingi flies up and grabs at Merrak with claws made of wind, attempting to rip him from Cynthia's control.

Peter Raven raises a hand, palm out, and steps between the two and Reinholdt, attempting to block their hellfire with the holy runes he carries in his body, carved by Odin and implanted by Skuld.

George holds Mjöllnir outstretched, using all of his strength and concentration to make the runes hold, to prevent the pair escaping the circle.

[Kaelaroth]

Oh! What fun! It's a cleric!

Cynthia says, noticing, seemingly for the first time, the spellmade circle that binds her and Shepherd, her voice filled with mirth, and hatred, and painfully obvious, intense scorn. Still bloody, she looks out at George, waving a hand to make Merrak soar, further up and out of Ingi's grasp if she can, while sending a similar attack to knock Ingi in the other direction, as if he were merely a bug beneath her true cause for attention.

Hey, priest. Want to play a game? She smiles at him, with soulless eyes, from within her summoned cage. Sadly, Raven's interference is unlikely to mean anything, as the hellfire is springing up at Reinholdt's feet, not going in a "line-of-fire" between the assaulters and this one of their fathers.

Meanwhile, though, Shepherd's gaze, as Cynthia speaks, turns to Czernov, who visibly rankles at the attention, raising his modified gun, given to him just a little while earlier, to aim it at the apocalyptic monsters. Shepherd grins a boyish, heartless grin. He winks, and Czernov falls to the ground.

Like the mother on the nearby island, he does not breathe.

The game, if you didn't know, is called.. Well. Let's call it "Kill Your Boyfriend". I think I'm winning, don't you? Cynthia asks, moving nearer her brother to caress his body.

The pair, gazing into eachother's eyes, blush, under their bloody blusher, and, leaning in, quickly kiss, passionately, lacking everything but love, before, together, they relinquish any hold on Merrak they have, and let gravity do its worst.

[VampireRot]

Merrak curses very loudly. I'd advise you to cover the ears of any children who can speak drow now. He really really regrets only being a footsoldier. If he was a noble, he could go ahead and levitate! But no, he has to fall to his death. How embarrassing. Lets hope that dragon catches him. Or that there's a cleric on hand to heal his no doubt soon to be broken legs.

[Reinholdt]

Eep!
Reinholdt shows Shepherd how he's changed since last they met and turns pink to fly upwards quickly to get out of the hellfire. He pops off a single poorly aimed shot at Cynthia as he does so before floating to try and catch Merrick.

"Let's see if you can play a different game. I like to call it 'behaving'. You're losing." :smallannoyed:

[Darkcomet]

Czernov's dead. Just like that.

Why do things like this keep happening whenever DC tries to be helpful!?

DC raises one hand slightly, and the gun given to Czernov might just be wrenched from the dead man's grip, under DC's telekinetic hold, to fire on Shepherd and Cynthia. DC doesn't know what Czernov did to that gun, but his logic is that, hopefully, they won't be expecting a shot or several from his direction.

DC, using a much more physical method, proceeds to open fire on the pair with the weapon he had readied already-this one not exactly living up to the term, as the bright blue beam that lances out is more of an icy thing, draining the heat out of what's in its path...

Oh, who am I kidding, it's a fancy freeze ray. DC's probably hoping to keep the two from attacking again. Or hoping they're vulnerable to supernatural cold. Perhaps both?

[Lord Magtok]

Fire, you idiots, fire!

Magtok swats the back of the head of one of his robots, and the two proceed to fire off a huge beam of positive energy at Shepherd. After that little display a few moments ago, he's more than certain there's nothing left of the Cynthia he knew, and feels no qualms about what he'll undoubtedly have to do. Not yet, anyways.

[Kaelaroth]

Cynthia and Shepherd, curled up in their circle together, seem to find Reinholdt's words ever, ever so funny. In fact, they're not just funny. They're hilarious! Amusingly, even his expression's full of humour for them, and they're relishing in it, their flesh sparkled in the light that's shining out through the clouds above. All right Daddy - we'll behave. Shepherd says, grinning with a golden glint in his multicoloured eyes, just as Cynthia says the exact same thing, obeying Magtok's command - both wave a hand to fire a wave of pulsing energy at Reinholdt and Merrak up above them, laughing to themselves even more as they do so. The burst of energy's somewhat haphazard; it's wide enough that it'll likely hit them, but is more like a severe electric shock than a killing blow delivered in the form of red waves of power. The kids laugh and laugh. Isn't today just ever so fun? It's like a garden party, or the best kind of soiree! The FUN kind!

Meanwhile, DC's attack takes the pair by surprise, cutting off their laughter, his own icy attacks bouncing off the forcefield they quickly produce together, smiling like babes in arms as the simplicity of their defence - not noticing the swathe of energy that explodes out of the gun given to Czernov, which burns a sizable fraction of Cynthia's back, making her wail out in pain as her skin is fried on one side of her body. You dirty little psychic. She hisses, angrily, while Shepherd quietly heals her words with a compassionate and mystical whisper to her damaged skin, which swiftly repairs itself, in a similar fashion to the way Kaela, somewhere in the AuxCave, heals himself when damaged.The "twins" frown. Even though they seemingly found it easy to repair from the wound, they weren't quite as resistant to the actual attack as one might have thought...

You fool! No man can kill me. The female End-Bringer hisses, while her brother closes his eyes, throwing a psionic attack Darkcomet's way, mimicking Alek's powers from the hellish clone she'd summoned some time ago, smiling angrily as she does so, as she wills another force-field to deflect her father's robot's attacks, her expression hardening as she turns to look at Magtok, eyes cold. Dead.

Daddy, why are you here? Don't you love me? The blood on her flesh boils and evaporates, and clothes, white and ethereal, fall gently onto her skin, wrapping her in a dress made for angels, swaddling cloth for a special child, her eyes blue and delicate. Her expression, suddenly filled with warmth and love, is also tinged by desperate need, a want and craving to be helped, and taken away from this place full of fear and horror and cruelty.

I mean.. Daddy? What did I do wrong?

Behind her, the male End-Bringer looks towards George, and frowns, before turning his attention back towards Czernov's body, gently lifting it into a standing position with a pointing finger, making it step neatly towards the bearer of Mjolnir, eyes closed, chest unmoving. Czernov's lips now move, but no sound comes out. Until Reinholdt's stay bullet, aimed at Cynthia, thuds resolutely into Shepherd's chest, and blood starts to trickle down his bare skin, only slightly visible over his already dappled exterior, while Czernov's body falls back to the ground, nearer George, now.

Daddy? Shepherd whispers, starting to cough, looking into Reinholdt's eyes as he starts to flail in pain.

'til, of course, the great Lord Magtok's positive energy beam finally breaks through Cynthia's fading forcefield as it collapses with her shock of seeing her brother in pain, and, fortunately (or perhaps less fortunately for some), said beam gently heals Shepherd, pushing the bullet out from his chest, making him gasp for what? Air? Life? Or a hold on this plane, as, just for a second as he fell, he flickered, immaterial for a moment as the ghosts he summoned to do his bidding while he was in Hell.

Healed, Shepherd gets, shakily, to his feet, his lips the only parts of his body rosy-red with blood as he wipes himself dry of the blood, leaving him briefly naked in the sun which still pokes his head out form the clouds, before he covers himself in a simple robe with a blink of one of his strange, strange eyes, before he puts back up the forcefield, grimacing angrily...

You're right. Playtime's over, Daddy. It's time to clean my room.

The sky turns, unceremoniously, black, as night falls premature.

[VampireRot]

Merrak screams in pain as he is electrocuted. And then he continues to fall. Lets hope Reinholdt or Ingi can catch him. Merrak is cursing himself for being a liability, having nothing to actually fight the twins with but wasting everyone's time by needing saving. If he was selfless and heroic, he might even tell everyone to leave him to die and focus on killing them. If. :smalltongue: Please please please catch me someone...

[happyturtle]

George tries to catch Czernov with one arm, seemingly corporeal somehow, and kiss him, meaning to give him breath and life again, his other arm not lowering Mjöllnir for a moment.

Ingi attempts to catch Merrak and absorb the attack aimed at Reinholdt and Merrak, electricity meaning nothing to the dragon who dances in storms. If the catch was successful he'll set Merrak on the ground and rush at the twins, meaning to catch them in a whirlwind and rip them apart. If the catch was unsuccessful, then the attack takes place a moment earlier. The sky dragon is male, but no man, not even condescending to take human shape for dalliances as so many dragons do.

Raven takes out a crossbow, the bolts kissed by Skuld herself, and fires two bolts at Shepherd.

[Reinholdt]

Oh since nothing stopped Reinholdt from catching Merrak, he was indeed caught, fairly low to the ground though, cutting it a little close. Before the electric blast anyways. Why couldn't it have been a smaller burst, a lethal blow? That would have been more dodgeable than a wider weaker one. Reinholdt screams in unison with Merrak, dropping him again. Though it's unlikely to be that bad of a drop in comparison and Merrak will probably live through it, maybe even without injury, aside from that already garnered. Ingi seems to have beaten Reinholdt there and probably protected the drow from most of the blast while Reinholdt was still trying to catch up. Reinholdt gets fully zapped though, cause I'm not rethinking the whole post. :smalltongue:

Meanwhile, Reinholdt, a little blackened, hair standing up, and smoking slightly, slowly floats back to the ground. He might sympathize with Shepherd a bit more. Might suffer an emotional breakdown again. Might tremble uncontrollably over shooting him.

But Shepherd did just electrocute him and the pain is rather distracting.

Invigorating even.

He chuckles slowly, loosing his grip even as he worries over what Cynthia said. No man can kill them as he feared. That leaves him and a few others here like Ingi and KR who can finish the job. Even though Reinholdt looks like Prince Kaela now, it's clear he still qualifies based on what just happened.

Tossing aside his sniper rifle for now, he summons a machine gun and lets loose on the pair at full auto.

"You and me. We could have been content. Playing ball. I would have been happy with that you know?"

[VampireRot]

Well, either Reinholdt or Ingi catch Merrak. And he gets set on the ground. Cursing at his luck, Merrak runs around to the left side of the circle (not the complete other side as he doesn't want to get shot up by missed shots that go past them). Here... he takes out his pitiful hand crossbow and plunks poisoned bolts at them. Yeah. He's really contributing. :smallyuk:

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance draws some of the darkness of the night to himself and his weapon to both shield and empower himself. His body felt like it was burning, his soul filled with the pleas of people being hurt. With a growl he levels the shotgun at the pair. The red runes on the barrel flare with light as it fires. There is no sound from the shot, simply the feeling that something very wrong happened. The two will likely find themselves being hit by jagged shadows.

If it hit a normal person, they would feel sudden overwhelming fear towards him and a sense of hopelessness as it flays their skin from their bones.

[Darkcomet]

Well, crap. Magtok's attack backfired. Still, it did serve the purpose of revealing that Shepherd is healed by positive energy, which means DC can pull something else off now.

The psionic counterattack on DC comes as he's switching out the icy cell for a black one, forcing him to release his hold on the gun given to Czernov as he tries to defend himself against it. Ought to be better at it than some others, too, but it's a mimicry of Alek's power, and Alek always did have something of a power edge on DC when it came to mind-affecting abilities. Since I just assumed it was a mental attack since it was a copy of Alek's powers and nothing was specified. <.<

DC takes this to mean he should disrupt the attack before it can take its full toll, finishing that cell switchout and firing on Cynthia, this beam being of concentrated negative energy. "Who said anything about killing? Seems I can hurt you well enough." That certainly seemed to piss her off, at any rate.

DC figures it should do some damage, since Shepherd seemed to be healed by positive energy and Cynthia was affected, if briefly, by that last attack. Unless the two are opposites in that department...

[The Bushranger]

As the fiends appear, Shawna flicks a switch on the metal cylinder she carries, and a blade, several feet long, of pure, blue plasma appears.

"No man can kill you?" she asks, answering Cynthia's taunt. "It is a good thing, I suppose, then, that I was born lacking a Y chromosome. And you seem to be rather lacking in cortorium armour."

Her voice is utterly flat and unemotional; Cynthia's "innocent" appearance will be utterly lost on her...as she brings the plasma blade up before her, humming with power.

"Shall we dance?"

[Lord Magtok]

...her expression hardening as she turns to look at Magtok, eyes cold. Dead.

Daddy, why are you here? Don't you love me? The blood on her flesh boils and evaporates, and clothes, white and ethereal, fall gently onto her skin, wrapping her in a dress made for angels, swaddling cloth for a special child, her eyes blue and delicate. Her expression, suddenly filled with warmth and love, is also tinged by desperate need, a want and craving to be helped, and taken away from this place full of fear and horror and cruelty.

I mean.. Daddy? What did I do wrong?

Magtok gestures with a hand when Shepherd is healed, and the cannon's blasts come to an abrupt halt.

It was my fault, Cynthia. I scared you off, I failed to pull you away from this-

He whirls out a gun of his own, a high-pressure, laser-guided chemical thrower loaded with liquid nitrogen and a mix of a few other substances, designed to latch onto a target upon contact and freeze a limb or two.

A moderately sized goopy blob should be headed straight for the cyborg's adoptive daughter now, Mag wincing and shutting his eyes a little as he fires, not wanting to see the results for himself.

-But when you came back, you didn't exactly give me an alternative.

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena's hanging back from the combat, attempting to stay out of sight. He's muttering constantly to Askepios, attempting to keep his wards up for as long as possible.

[billtodamax]

Terrance/Rebecca slashes their right hand upwards and to the right, as a crackle of magical power, intense and pure, erupts along the line of the cut, just in front of them. They reach out with their left hand and form a fist, the magic forming around it tightly and securely, before a beam is fired at Cynthia.

It's long and straight, and layered. It crackles with a grey, etherial lightning, around a beam of icy death, which if aimed at a weak soul would completely obliterate it. Inside the ice layer is a core of brilliant white fire, intensely powerful and certainly holy.

After the beam starts, it won't let up for a good five seconds, aimed diretly at Cynthia. However, Terrance/Rebecca won't be behind it for that time. As soon as they fired it, they quickly moved their hands in a complicated flight spell, flying as far away from the sight of the beam as possible, while they begin to form a shield around themselves.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR resumes putting the finishing touches on her spell, ignoring the carnage around her. Any... post... now...

Meanwhile, Kal is still here, despite having a plot clone participating elsewhere in the same plot, in a manner that cannot simply be explained away by being his past/future self. Because screw you, continuity.
He's spent most of the fight doing nothing, instead watching the sinful pair do their weird blood-covered incest thing. Not a whole big shock to him, being from the First Circle and all. And he's not even counting the couples weird enough to end up in Circles Two or Seven.
But then the pair cloth themselves in those godawful white robes, thus depriving him of his 'view' (because hey, someone had to have been perving on the aesthetically perfect naked teenagers), he decides it's probably time to start fighting this thing. He inches his way forwards and rounds, only moving whenever Cynthia and Shepherd aren't looking in his way and are sufficiently distracted by the OMG lasers and spells flying in their direction.

[Morty]

Wenomir draws his sword and snarls when he hears Shepher's and Cynthia's exchanges with their respective fathers. Oh, this is just precious. What you both did wrong, you punks, was being born at all. He charges Shpherd and aims a strong, overheard slash at his forcefield, hoping to break through it with his artifact sword - since good old strength, skill and battlefield experience mean little to nothing in the Nexus and even less here.

[Kaelaroth]

Under the black sky, the pair of End-Bringers scowl out at their attackers, their eyes, so odd and unreal, watching George's romantic kiss force Czernov back to life (watching him splutter and panic after his brief visit back to hell), and then the words of the others as they speak, and attack - Raven's crossbow bolts getting towards Shepherd first, bouncing off his skin as if they were merely petals hitting a strong brick wall. Skuld? Really? My slaves killed her sisters, what makes you think she'd be any different? Shepherd hisses, sending a wave of darkness towards Raven in an attempt to randomly activate his shapeshifting, while the attacker himself looks a tad snakelike, his tongue briefly forking as he propels this darkness towards him. This is as Cynthia, sighing, creates a counteracting wind to deflect Ingi's attacks, pushing back at him with great strength in the air, before finally realising what exactly he is. Sky dragon? She frowns, and tries to teleport him, directly into the earth, a few miles down, a malevolent glint in her catlike eye, the attack so broad it might hit Merrak too, while she also focusses of reflecting Reinholdt's machine gun fire back at him, seemingly concerned with something else - both she and Shepherd seem to be focussing some of their energies on something far away...

... but not enough energies not to notice Merrak's poisoned bolts, which are abruptly misdirected as they fly at the pair, redirectioned to head for George's head. Fine, Daddy, the pair hiss at Reinholdt and Magtok, respectively, let's play ball. Explosive balls of energy rip themselves into existence near their fathers, and detonate brightly and loudly, smaller sparks of which bounce cruelly towards KR, growing snappier and more explosive each time they collide with the ground on their way to her. It might hurt considerably, should they get to her.

And while we're at it, girl, no. We don't like to dance. Not with hussies and sinners. A mere glance will hopefully send Shawna tumbling up into the air, right up into the dark clouds, but perhaps not. Who could know what might happen, after all, eh? I mean, it's Wenomir, and the mages from NO, who've done the most damage here, breaking through Cynthia's forcefield, albeit sluggishly, as she spoke, to land the tip of his blade, momentarily brightened by the amount of the "death-ray" fired by Terrance and Rebecca that could get through her defences, firmly in her shoulder, leaving her gasping in pain. Ow. She murmurs, her white dress flickering, holographic, to reveal her pale, naked flesh beneath it, letting, perhaps, Kal have a little bit of fun. For a time. Looking up at Wenomir, Cynthia winces. The explosion ought to be enough to catapult him some way away, while her forcefield repairs itself to block Magtok's projectile attack, and Vengeance's shotgun blast, redirecting both swiftly towards the flying Kal, who has not escaped their unholy sight.

However, both "children" look somewhat annoyed, angry, even, as Shepherd whispers again to Cynthia's flesh, restoring it to some semblance of health (though her face still reflects some lingering pain).
Which one of you freakshow sinners is blocking us?! Their words, lined with a compulsion-like effect, boom out onto the dark scene, before both of the pair're surrounded by the negative energy, which folds around their forcefield like a budding flower - 'til they explode it out towards everyone else present, lining it up with their compulsion effect.

Pain's a powerful motivator to tell the truth?

Isn't it?

[Morty]

Wenomir is blasted back, but not as far as the world-ending pair would have hoped, and right after he falls, he tumbles to get close to the lightning sparks, immediately trying to beat some of them back with a wide sword swing.

[happyturtle]

The attempt to teleport Ingi simply fails. Sky cannot exist in earth. The firmament built on the second day of creation forbids it. It fails so utterly that Ingi doesn't even know there was an attempt at all. He whirls around the battlefield, catching the balls, absorbing their lightning, his form taking shape again, dark at storm clouds and dancing with electricity.

"Ssssomeone get that bitchess's forsssse field down," Raven hisses, having become a giant snake when Shepherd's wave of darkness hit. And he strikes, as a snake, swift, attempting to bury his fangs in Shepherd's throat, empowered by the 6th holy runestone in his head, the one carved by Odin himself.

Vengeance's shadow shards can be blocked, but not deflected. The bolts will hit their intended target, or no one at all. If Shawna begins to fly upwards, he'll simply catch her with a hand of shadows and return her safely to earth, though this will probably give the technopaladin the closest dose of his Wrongness than she's experienced before since his powers have been completely released.

Vengeance and Raven easily resist the compulsion. Ingi less so. But he cannot tell what he does not know, and so tells nothing.

George is more god than man at the moment. He lets go of Czernov, putting a second hand on Mjollnir, focusing more power through it, attempting to not only hold the twins within the circle, but to hold their powers in as well. To make the circle a prison from which they cannot escape, even in effect. He doesn't answer because it seems obvious to him. Mjollnir blocks you. Thor blocks you. It doesn't occur to them that they could be asking about something else completely.

((Wolfy asked me to run Vengeance during the day when he's at work.))

[VampireRot]

Merrak scowls and tucks his crossbow away, as it seemed useless. He would be teleported, but the sky dragon seems to have canceled the effect luckily. The drow takes out his melee weapons, a large spiked mace and an elegant longsword. Both enchanted enough to make Anduril look like a glorified toothpick. The drow pays careful attention to his surroundings as he charges the twins, being sure to dodge any errant projectiles Matrix-style. When close enough, he'll aim a huge swing of his mace at Shepherd.

[Ashen Lilies]

Kal is blasted back by the forcefield, doing several backflips in midair as he is flung, though he lands on his feet and hands, sliding back slightly before he managed to arrest his backwards momentum. The wave of negative energy rips through him, but has little effect besides a brief moment of dizziness. He lunges forward with startling speed, attempting to impale Shepherd through the chest with one of his gauntlets.

KR finishes her spell! Her eyes snap open, as she finds herself able to properly concentrate on the battle at hand. As best she can, anyway, having just gone and casted a pair of epic trap spells. Of course, then she gets hit by magic. Thankfully, Ingi and Wenomir's efforts have shielded her from most of the lightning, the few sparks hitting her doing little in the way of damage, though quite a bit in the way of pain though. No matter. She soaks pain up like a sponge. Perhaps she's not as good at it as Raven or Happy or Turtle, not being a dedicated meatshield, but it's quite a stunning tolerance. She's less lucky when it comes to negative energy though, and the wave saps her of even more of her strength, though the compulsion bounces off her mental shields like a tennis ball.
She does nothing this round, spending a moment to gather her energy.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna's answer gets lost in the telekinetic blast knocking her into the air, scowling as she triest to stabilise herself - only to be caught by Jeremy's shadows. Were her emotions on-line, she'd proabably be wide-eyed, shivering, and staring at him in a mix of, well, odd emotions, from having encountered his wrongness - but as it is, as her boots return to earth, she merely quirks an eyebrow at him, nodding in gratitude, before turning her attention back to the Terrible Twins.

"Let they who are without sin cast the first stone," she quotes. "and, more appropriately, let they who accuse people of sin, be without that sin, themselves." The negative energy blast washing across her...revealing a rippling, form-fitting crackle of defensive energy shielding...

Not willing to close the circle to melee just yet, she presses a button on the gauntlet of her still suspisciously spotless white uniform. And, from a small, crackling 'window' to another plane, her combat drone emerges, her own targeting eyepiece emerging as well - and, finding Merrak engaging Shepherd, she targets Cynthia, the drone's mechanics whining in protest as it overcharges its power - then discharges, a mighty blast of electricity at the female abberations.

...ordinarily, this would be a stunning blast for a humanoid. This, however, while it nearly burns out the drone, is much, much more powerful.

((I assume that this circle is 'one-way', holding them doesn't let their attacks out, but can, in fact, let attacks from outside, in?

Also, if the drone's appearance wouldn't be allowed by the spells in place, I'll edit. :smallredface:

@v Thanks. It's appearing just behind Shawna's shoulder.))

[happyturtle]

George is attempting to hold the twins, and their magic, within the circle. It does not stop anyone else, or their bullets or spells or whatever, from crossing into the circle through physical space, though it is possible that it may prevent them leaving. So there shouldn't be any reason the drone can't appear, unless it's trying to appear directly in the circle.

[Reinholdt]

:smalleek:
Reinholdt tries to float up again as his own bullets careen back towards him, but he can hardly react fast enough and gets shot a few times, several times in the chest, and few less serious in the limbs. Those who look closely will see that he's not bleeding from the chest. It seems someone remembered to wear that flak jacket he stole when he invaded that crime lord's lair in Riverside. Still, he starts to fall back to the ground again from the impact only to get exploded from behind and sent careening and dunked into the nearby ocean.

I don't think he answers their question.

[Kaelaroth]

With an angry flip of his hand, Shepherd sends a speeding comet out the sky towards Shawna, just as her drone bursts into life amid the twins - only to get frozen in place by Cynthia's powerful force-field, its attack produced but suspended in the air. Very slightly surprised, the pair of End-Bringers glance to where said drone failed to do much, before turning back to stare out from the circle, as Wenomir is mobbed by a few angry sparks drawn to his sword, just as Raven the snake's blasted at by a telekinetic forcewave, which is bound up with a telepathic command to, falsely, see Shepherd and Cynthia vanish, and reappear where Shawna is - in his illusion, they're attacking her...

... but in reality, the pair are merely smirking as the might of their wills (truly just one, malevolent will) collides with that of Thor's, riddled with all the darkness that to him symbolises Ragnarok, as he fills up George. Mjolnir's power seems not to effect them as much as it should - and though the darkness of the clouds seems to waver slightly as his magicks collide with the End-Bringers' powers, they're not trapped yet, their eyes flickering with power. After all - they know what happens to Thor in the old tales. Does he? Does Ingi? But then Ingi might be a little busy, given that Shepherd's just thrown a tornado of fire out from his angry shout towards the sky-dragon, while George lets go of Czernov, making the recently brought-back man fall to the ground, breathing heavily, his eyes sparking with green.

And then red.

Czernov, quick as he can, points his weapon at his own head, hand unshaking. Possession's the most fun a girl can have! Power down or the prettyboy gets it. He says, somewhat slurred.

This is all, of course, as Merrak swings at Shepherd's head, only to collide with Cynthia's rapidly hardening force-field, which may leave Merrak's weapon and whole arm trapped in the quickly solidifying air. Before, of course, Shepherd simply ducks, and lets Shawna's electrical attack fly - with a little directional hint to head straight for Merrak. The same thing's likely happening to Kal nearby, but Cynthia has an extra little surprise for him, sending a little transformation effect towards him through the air as he attacks, aiming to shrink him down, massively. Put him in his place... Perhaps her powers are waning? One might think such a great being would use greater attacks than that. Or maybe the female Destroyer of Worlds is just busy trying to teleport KR directly into the sea. A mixture of both?

Meanwhile, in the sea, Reinholdt might feel something large, very large, stirring in its depths...

[VampireRot]

Epic. :smalleek: Simply epic.

Merrak groans as he realizes what's happened. He tries to tug his mace and arm free, but probably to little avail. Cursing his luck, the drow tries to hack at the solidifying air with his free hand's longsword, quickly shying the sword away after each hit to make sure it remains uncaught. Then he is blasted with electricity again. He screams in pain once more as the shock goes coursing through his body. Luckily, his enchanted chainmail offers a much more conductive circuit than his body, and so his heart remains beating, if only just barely. His already dark skin is left pretty charred.

[Morty]

Wenomir fights off the sparks, swinging at them not only with extreme speed and precision, but also almost completely effortlessly. He seems to be entirely focused on the battlefield, searching for holes in Shepherd's and Cynthia's defense - although he's hard-pressed to call if "defense" - even as he disposes of his attackers. He seems to be whispering something under his breath, which only he can hear over the sounds of battle.

[Reinholdt]

But Reinholdt could very well already be dead! What with being shot, electrocuted, and blown up. At the very least, there doesn't appear to be an immediate indication of him or his status at all.

No doubt KR is going to end up teleported right on top of him. :smallannoyed:

[Darkcomet]

DC responds to the part of the negative energy blast coming for him by chucking a white power cell into it, likely causing something of a conflict between the two as the cell explodes, which should negate that part of the attack.

As for what else he does? Well, it's rather simple for DC of all people to resist a compulsion effect-like he has plenty of experience with it-so now he loads another different cell into his weapon.

This one's a very familiar dark red. DC doesn't fire it yet, though, instead raising a hand toward the possessed Czernov.

What's he doing?

He's...

Trying to telekinetically flick the safety on, as well as trying to eject the weapon's power source and magazine. He knows exactly where they are.

He made that gun!

He'll also be keeping hold of the safety, if possible. To keep it on.

"You must not have been around guns very much, kid." Is he...smirking? Provided his little stunt worked, yes.

[Lord Magtok]

*snip*Explosive balls of energy rip themselves into existence near their fathers, and detonate brightly and loudly, smaller sparks of which bounce cruelly towards KR, growing snappier and more explosive each time they collide with the ground on their way to her. It might hurt considerably, should they get to her.
*snip*

Magtok is thrust about like a ragdoll by the explosions.
He loses his legs, has numerous holes burned into his robes, and several more burned into his skin before he manages to take off into the air.

Revelation 18:6, Cyn!

Broken fingers press down on the trigger of the gun, intent on delivering unto Mag's daughter the same sort of freezey death he tried moments ago, hoping to wear down that shielding a little.

[billtodamax]

Terrance/Rebecca are blasted by negative energy from the side, sending a wave of dizziness over Rebecca, as their hands continue to shape a shield.

Seems it doesn't effect rocks.

The shield springs into life around them, invisible for now.

The shield is a problem, yes? They bellow, their voice carrying over the sound of the battle.

They make some quick hand-gestures, finishing with a left-to-right horizontal cut, sending out a thin beam towards Cynthia and Shepard's shield, trying to drain away its energy towards them.

[UncleWolf]

Cynthia will hear a cold voice whisper in her ear. You will pay for the sins you have committed...all the innocents you have brought pain on. Vengeance's shadows become deeper than the void itself even as his pale white skin glows dully from within. His hands and face become skeletal looking, the bones showing through the rapidly thinning flesh as it enters the full height of it's power in the mortal realm. The comet headed for Shawna is swallowed by darkness, protecting her.

Wordlessly, silent as Death itself, his weapon begins to change, and the Emotion vanishes, only to reappear within Cynthia's force field. If successful, he'll attempt to stab her in the stomach with his weapon, now a long black longsword, barbs angled backward to prevent it from being pulled out.

He'll look into her eyes with twin pools of emptiness, showing no emotion even as a black portal appears in the air just a couple of feet behind him as the comet he stopped, continues on it's new path.

Directly at the two of them.

[Ashen Lilies]

Kal winces and grits his teeth, letting a low cry of pain loose through them as his skin ripples, momentarily separating from his muscles before reattaching with uncomfortable tightness. His magic resistance is protecting him for now, but that doesn't mean it can't hurt.
He manages to stop short of ripping Merrak's heart out, freezing in the air for a moment. Then he swivels around and tries to give Shepherd a good old left hook.

KR is teleported, and promptly falls on Reinholdt.

[happyturtle]

Ingi would have tried to rescue Reinholdt, but he was gone too fast. Into the water in a single post, where the sky has no power. Ah, but fire... fire can be used and fed. Ingi laughs as he devours the tornado, becoming stronger, faster, angrier - and then turns that strength onto Cynthia's shield. He attacks the opposite side from Magtok; ice on one side and fire on the other. The shield is a problem yet. Perhaps Ilyena can help break it as well. It doesn't look good for Merrak though.

Peter Raven is telekinetically knocked away. He recovers in time to see the twins attacking Shawna and starts to head that way, the giant snake ending up alongside Czernov by the time the runestones in his head show him the truth.

George/Thor holds his ground, though he can sense the doom the twins are trying to call. "Jörmungandr comes. Be ready." he bellows, warning his comrades-at-arms, his call echoing in Valhalla.

[UncleWolf]

[Valhalla]

A couple sits in the corner of the great hall, a tall Valkyrie in chainmail sitting on the man's lap, laughing as they share a horn of mead. The man is rather large with unkempt brown hair and a thick beard, both of which are braided.

They both freeze when Thor's voice rings through the air. After a moment, Lenneth nods to her lover before kissing him on the forehead. "Duty calls."

Wallcroft smirks as he grabs his rocket launcher from next to his seat. "Yes, it does." In a flash of light, the Valkyrie and her Einherjar vanish to fight.

[The Bushranger]

just as her drone bursts into life amid the twins - only to get frozen in place by Cynthia's powerful force-field, its attack produced but suspended in the air.

Shawna's drone did not appear 'amid the Twins'.
It appeared behind her shoulder.

Shawna raises a hand, strengthening her shield against the oncoming comet...which vanishes.
After a moment she rallies, nodding in thanks to Jeremy...and then lunges at Shepherd, her plasma blade swinging at his legs.

Unless he has CortoriumCortosis-ore chaps, there's a good chance they're going to get cut, deeply if not off. Unless of course he dodges.

[Kaelaroth]

Shawna's drone did not appear 'amid the Twins'.
It appeared behind her shoulder.

*headdesk*

...

Anyway.

As Cynthia hisses with sadistic pleasure at seeing Merrak become further harmed, her forcefield starts to fade, due to a combination of her own business, Ingi's tornado-fuelled attack, and Rebecca and Terrance's magicks, slightly, the air liquifying before her (if not fully returning to its official gaseous state), perhaps indicating that attacks might be slowed or stopped, rather than outright ignored, should they fly for her - perhaps proving the weakness Wenomir searches for, while DC's white power cell happily negates the negative energy, and Shepherd telekinetically throws Czernov at Shawna, deciding against possession (far, far too much fuss, in the long run, especially when someone like DC's about to out-gun them!).

Guns are for children. The End-Bringers hiss, attempting to focus their energies on turning DC's weapon into an explosion large enough to do some quite serious damage - just as Magtok's freeze ray zooms into Cynthia's forcefield slow zone, leaving her not encased in ice, but surrounded by a slow moving, glacial wall of it, with a few feet between her and it.

Just as Vengeance materialises, between Cynthia and said wall of ice. Her expression expresses the profanity she's thinking of with needing to vocally bring it to life, as she's stabbed quite powerfully in the stomach, just as Kal's attack to Shepherd ought to get caught in the slowing effect, leaving, perhaps, his left hook drifting through the air aimlessly - or, well, aimfully, but without much immediate success. Shawna's attack might well meet the same fate, leaving her caught in a slowing-down of the area - but Shepherd moves a little way backward, just to be safe.

Only to close his eyes, and whisper something...

Fenrir.

Before he opens his eyes, and flies upwards, into the sky, a speeding bullet.


[Valhalla]

The moon shivers as a great howl tears across the landscape, a wolf symbolised in the sky as a call to arms is heard.

((I'd rather not deal with a Valhalla fight too, please, this is mostly in response to Wolfbane and Happy's posts))

[Morty]

Wenomir dashes across the battlefield in Cynthia's direction, turning from complete motionless stilness to blinding speed in split-second. He gets through the weakened protective field, the slowing effect shrugged off and negated through sheer determination, focus and iron will. Then he makes a series of overhead chops at the ice, trying to break it and cut through it in order to get to the world-ending annoying brat.

[Reinholdt]

KR is teleported, and promptly falls on Reinholdt.

There's probably less falling and more just ending up on top of him, since he is, after all, underwater. Though looking back, that wasn't made horribly clear beyond being dunked. Still he's not floating.

He is waking up in a panic now though as something is suddenly pushing him down.
*flail flail*
:annoyed: :mad: :furious:

Upon re-orientation of understanding his situation, he tries to grab KR, turn pink and shoot up out of the water. Taking a quick survey of the field, he doesn't stop there, instead shooting right after Shepherd, a mostly black bleeding husk of a man. Well except for where Reinholdt's pink.

Now would be a good time for KR to shoot Shepherd or give Reinholdt some sort of instructions on when to drop her so she can drop-kick the guy or something.

[Kaelaroth]

Up there amid the dark clouds, Shepherd smiles wickedly as his pink as can be father, and quietly whistles, shattering the comet below into nothing, before recreating it with a visible wince near him, before throwing it - aiming it for Reinholdt, its blazing trail evident in the air.

And with the effort, Shepherd quietly falls.

It's almost as if he's running out of power?

Or using large chunks of it elsewhere.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR, grateful for the lift, shoots at Shepherd. With bullets. From a gun. Yeah, really stretching my imagination there. But the range is too long for her laser pointer, and while I'm tempted to dig out some previously unmentioned attack device, KR's actually somewhat lacking on the Death Ray department when compared to her Evil Twin. She's kind of over the whole Death Ray thing anyway: why build a cannon capable of blasting a nuke's worth of power at an opponent when small pieces of metal fired at supersonic velocities kill things just as dead? Then again, one of those sure would be handy for vaporizing that comet. The one that's flying towards Rein and KR now. The one that KR is woefully under-equipped to deal with. She's not able to telekinetically halt any fast moving object larger than a bullet, and none of her guns are powerful enough to knock it aside or anything. So unless Reinholdt gets them ou of the way quick, he and her are likely to end up being picked out of the hair of the poor people below them.

[Reinholdt]

Typical. The one time a mad scientist DOESN'T have a death ray. :smallannoyed:
Reinholdt stops flying.
Yeah, just stops.
Gravity takes over to try and get them out of the way.
Though there's probably last minute trajectory zoomage, with possible painful skidding on the ground.

[VampireRot]

Merrak growls away the pain and slooowwwly swings his mace at Cynthia. It's moving a bit faster than how slow it should be, as Merrak's strength and willpower push it forward a little bit. Little. And his reaction time should be good enough to slowly dodge any slowly moving attacks his way, unless they're not moving slowly.

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance continues to look into her eyes, wanting to see her pain as he twists the blade inside of her so the edge is vertical. Everyone on the island will hear his voice slice through their minds.

Die.

He slices the blade upward, trying to cut her upper body and head in half. The blade is supernaturally sharp and his strength is beyond that of any mortal's, so it should be fairly easy for him to do.

Two shimmering balls of light appear next to Thor before slowly forming into the images of two people. The first, a man, is clad in a mix of chain and plate, a deep blue cloak wrapped around his massive shoulders. On his back are a pair of axes, their blades made of lightning, and a rocket launcher. A silver blade rests at his hip, the pommel well worn. The silver circlet on his forehead glows dimly from the sapphire in it, marking him as Einherjar.

His companion is a tall woman of tanned skin. She's clad in golden chainmail. In her hand is a tall bow, made of two animal horns, proving that her strength is beyond any that her fit frame should have.

Lenneth knocks a glowing arrow into her bow and moves to stand beside Thor as Wallcroft, her Einherjar, slips the launcher from his back.

"We are ready to serve." She says. "And ready to die." the other responds.

[The Bushranger]

((What happened to the containment field? Or is there no 'top' to it?"))

Shawna might indeed get caught in the slowing field - but she's already much, much faster than an ordinary human.

She might miss Shepherd's legs as he moves, but shortening him by a foot - literally - just might be what the doctor ordered.

[happyturtle]

((I'd imagined the containment field as a dome. I can accept Shepherd breaking free of it, but an acknowledgement that he'd had to expend at least some effort to do so would be welcome.))

Ingi races after Shepherd, fueled by fire, easily able to catch the Endbringer as he falls again, and tries to rip him to pieces. His Flynn-mate follow, a white raven streaking upwards, but not as fast. Who can outrun the wind?

George growls in anger as Shepherd escapes the trap, and falls to his knees, his strength weakening. It isn't meant for man to hold the visage of a god for this long. He hears the whisper for Fenrir. Fenrir? No, Gleipnir still holds the wolf, and will until the sun and moon have been swallowed, the mountains fall, and all binds snap. Or so the prophecies have said. He makes one final attempt to grab Shepherd and pull him back into the circle, to drag him down at high speed and slam him into the ground next to his sister.

The effort leaves him unable to acknowledge Wallcroft and Lenneth, but they are valiant warriors. They will know what to do.

[Darkcomet]

Ah yes. The oh-so-typical case of the exploding gun. That's happened to DC before, you know. Multiple times. No, really, it's ridiculous.

Everything that can be done to keep DC's energy weapons from exploding...well, maybe not everything, but a hell of a lot has been done. And this particular power cell helps. The others could be 'convinced' to explode, as demonstrated by the positive energy cell-but this one explodes on only one command.

DC's command, specifically, thanks to its nature, and though the cell can be seen to glow particularly bright for a moment, it soon dims.

And now DC too hovers into the air, hand raised toward the comet going for Reinholdt and KR, and attempts to telekinetically grab it-to hurl it back at its creator, should that work. "They're separated! Kill them now!"

[Kaelaroth]

((Hence the "It's almost as if he's running out of power?".
And for BR - the flying Czernov attack?))

As Wenomir finally smashes through the ice, he reveals in all frosty majesty, Vengeance slicing Cynthia into pieces, as Merrak comes up, tad too slow, behind. Wincing, expending a huge amount of energy (truly tangible in the air, heat can be felt being drawn out of the universe around her), the injured, nearly dead female End-Bringer vanishes from the circle, whispering in great pain, no longer there - turning the slowing-down field into nothingness as its creator fades from place - leaving Shepherd alone, on the ground, having fallen too swiftly for either Ingi or Raven to tear him to nothingness.

For Shawna to slice him swiftly, taking his chest and rendering it bloodier than ever, just as the comet moves only a little away from its course, heading for the ground still worryingly close to KR and Reinholdt.

While, on the ground, Shepherd chokes in pain, bleeding to death.

[happyturtle]

Ingi rushes down after Shepherd to try and land on him - fall onto him, really, as the sky dragon has no need to slow his own descent - and rend him to pieces with his claws. Raven circles above, trying to sense where Cynthia has gone.

As Cynthia vanishes, George falls forward onto his face, a god no longer, his ordinary war hammer falling from limp fingers.

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance...blinks.

It's target...is gone? This...doesn't happen. It growls deeply, his anger rumbling through the ground. "WHERE IS MY PREY?!?" It's words course through every shadow and shred of darkness, it's fury made tangible. Those too close to him, such as Wenomir and Merrak will feel almost overwhelming Wrongness emanating from him. The smell of fear pours out from him, as if trying to draw those who prey on the weak to his retribution.

Lenneth lets go of he bowstring, the arrow vanishing as she moves to catch George. "It's okay, we've got you." She whispers as Wallcroft keeps guard over the two.

[billtodamax]

Rebecca and Terrance are building up a large amount of energy from the shield, and they're practically glowing yellow.

Probably only a matter of time before they use it for some purpose. Probably next post.

As it is, they're simply focusing on draining the shield, and keeping it liquid rather than solid. There's at least three people inside the radius of that thing!

[Darkcomet]

In the meantime, DC takes to telekinetically retrieving the parts of that other gun of his. Doesn't seem like any permanent damage was done to the thing...

Ah, the benefits of knowing (most, thanks to Czernov's modifications) everything about something and having the power to abuse it.

But DC can't do much now other than reassemble the gun and watch for Cynthia's possible reappearance. And maybe watch Ingi tear Shepherd apart.

[The Bushranger]

((Ah, sorry, I missed the flying Czernov.))

Shawna stands to deliver a killing blow to the fallen Shepherd - only to be frozen by Vengence's roar, even her unemotional state startled by the force of the proclomation...

...and it's at about this point the flying Czernov probably lands on top of her.

Thankfully, she's able to deactivate her plasma sword in the fraction of a second before it shish-kabobs him, but there's no way she can avoid being knocked over, under him.

Splat!

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena is still there, maintaining his wards and shields. It's only luck (=P) that he hasn't been spotted; but then, he put some effort into making the source of the ward nearly undetectable. By now, his eyes are clenched close and he's practically shouting in a strange, unearthly language to keep the enchantment active.

[Reinholdt]

((Hence the "It's almost as if he's running out of power?".
And for BR - the flying Czernov attack?))

As Wenomir finally smashes through the ice, he reveals in all frosty majesty, Vengeance slicing Cynthia into pieces, as Merrak comes up, tad too slow, behind. Wincing, expending a huge amount of energy (truly tangible in the air, heat can be felt being drawn out of the universe around her), the injured, nearly dead female End-Bringer vanishes from the circle, whispering in great pain, no longer there - turning the slowing-down field into nothingness as its creator fades from place - leaving Shepherd alone, on the ground, having fallen too swiftly for either Ingi or Raven to tear him to nothingness.

For Shawna to slice him swiftly, taking his chest and rendering it bloodier than ever, just as the comet moves only a little away from its course, heading for the ground still worryingly close to KR and Reinholdt.

While, on the ground, Shepherd chokes in pain, bleeding to death.
Well then it's good Reinholdt wasn't relying on someone else to stop the comet.
As the ground comes hurtling towards the duo, Reinholdt shifts fall/flight at the last second, rotating so that he takes the vast majority of the damage instead of KR for reasons I don't even understand, skidding at an angle designed to remove them from the comet's own path, though it'll be cutting it close.

I can say that Reinholdt will not be getting up after that particular maneuver though. There's only so much beating one can take.

[Kaelaroth]

Where has Cynthia gone? The trees don't see her with the leaves, the clouds can't sense her, and not even the waters running across the world can hear her heavy breathing....

.... But Shepherd?

Shepherd's only response to the sight of Ingi coming to claw him is to close his eyes.

[Morty]

Could you move out of the way, please? I'll cut his head off, Wenomir says to Ingi matter-of-factly. It might not kill him, but it's bound to slow him down. He doesn't check on how everyone else is doing and doesn't react to the feeling of wrongness emanating from Vengeance. Until Shepherd is dead or otherwise put down, he focuses only on him.

[happyturtle]

Ingi obliginly moves enough to give Wenomir access to Shepherd's head, while he begins to rend the Endbringer's body. (Or attempts to.)

[Morty]

Wenomir stands firmly, gets a good grip on his sword, aims carefully and attempts to behead Shepherd with a single stroke.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR stands up, ignoring Reinholdt for the moment as she walks towards Shepherd, clay jar in hand as she begins muttering the spells for soul capturing, albeit with complications.

[VampireRot]

Merrak is relieved to get out of the slowing field. The drow frowns and looks around, ignoring Shepherd as he seems to be handled.

"Where's the other one?"

He turns to look at Magtok.

"You. You know the most about the female, where would she have gone?"

It would really not do too well to have a world-ending abomination running around unchecked.

[happyturtle]

Lenneth and Wallcroft will find that George is quite unconscious.

The runes he carved still glow faintly, but their power is almost completely expended. Thunder rolls and lightning dances across the sky.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt is doing nothing. The ground feels nice this time of year.

[Kaelaroth]

The ground feels nice this time of year.

I hear its in bloom!

...

Meanwhile. *cough*

Oh, look, Shepherd's dying, his head happily removed from his body.

In death, his lips move, silently.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna, meanwhile, goes to push Czernov off of her, in order to rise, and assess the situation.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR moves closer, attempting to weave a net over Shepherd to catch his soul, which by her estimates should soon be departing. Out of curiosity, she attempts to hear what he's saying...

[Kaelaroth]

As Shephed's soul lingers in his body, his lips move, and words can be heard. KR is listening.


I am scared to die. The birds will not sing in oblivion. There will be no clouds, no heavens, no hells, not the light of day approaching each day to vanquish the night, nor the blissful soaring rise of the evening when the day has brightened our eyes too much. There will be no more embraces to mark the end of a hard day at work, and no more songs to celebrate another year lived, no cake half-eaten, no wrapping paper shredded, no presents left in a corner to gather dust and be forgotten.

There will not be love, or lust, or joy, or laughter. I will be alone in endless nothing, without even my own thoughts to keep me company, as such thoughts will not be permitted to be made in the darkness. I shall be deaf and blind and locked away, but, so much more than that, I will not even be aware that I am in such a position. I do not want to die. There will be no sin to watch and judge, no virtue to praise and admire, and each and every day that passes for everyone else (with each new grey hair to find or child to be born) will pass unnoticed in the unnatural unlife that is the truest incarnation of death. There will not be noise, there will not be taste or touch or smell. There shan't be the sign of redemption or of want. There will be nothing to stop me but the endless eternity that stops everyone and everything, that turns every story to a finale, and that rids every chapter of its final words.

For me there will be no last nights of prom. There will be no lessons in how to behave myself in the adult world. There will no weddings or memories crafted throughout a marriage. There will be no pain of death and misery, of a lover passing, for I shall be the unloved past. Past tense. Present perhaps, but future no longer. History will be my future, and notoriety the only wedding band that reminds the world of me. I am silence and the soft kiss of the tide as it recedes, not to be seen again. Am I in love? No, and I shan't ever be. Was I ever? No, and I shan't ever be.

Will it hurt? Will oblivion be painful? Amid all the pain I have caused, will it ever matter as much as the pain I will not suffer at the hands of Death untrue? Will my passing mean anything more or less because of who I once was? Is prayer an answer? Will anyone hear me as I fall silent, grieve for me, remember me?

Was it worth it? The world will go on. Sin shall be made in new ways each and every day, and the end of them shall not come 'til entropy embraces everything and shadows their long-dead, dusty corpses with the kiss of a mother who does not care for her child, as mine cared not for me. Hatred will be born. Bigotry and misplaced faith will fester on in the hearts of men. Envy will follow each and every school-child through the door of their richer friend's house, while the boy who goes home with the girl will feel the call of Lust to his ears, note her want misplaced for another, and Wrath shall let him pick up the knife to give him what he deserves. Pride is eternal. Greed and Gluttony shan't fade, they won't cease to be, as I do. The pockets and bellies of the corpulent masses shan't ever be full, and can always be fed more. Sloth shall continue to make mothers poor and children lonely. Sin will never end, as I do.
Truthfully the end will be worse than I imagine.

My memory will not last long. Ghosts of me will whisper themselves into the hearts of men, and the ears of their children will be coldly kissed by what I was, once, but not for long. The children will have new gods and ghosts and gremlins to fear in their time, and new heroes and heroines and hobgoblins to praise and punish with untold, unspoke, unwanted word.


Will my father remember me? Will he see me playing with a ball with him, somewhere beautiful and unique (but not for long)? Will my mother still call for me? Will my friends.. Will my..

Truthfully? I am.. I am scared to die.

But his lips say one more sentence to Wenomir, before his eyes close tighter, as the darkness above fades to light.

[UncleWolf]

Even as it lightens up, the shadows around Vengeance stay dark and jagged, swirling around him. They slowly seem to fade, but it's going to take a while for his power to come down.

He seems pissed.

He takes silent and ominous steps towards the rest of the group, the Wrongness emanating around him, seeming to suck the life from colors around the area. Where is she?!?

[Morty]

Wenomir spits. Good riddance. Was he saying something?

[Kaelaroth]

The last sentence is wordless, and vaguely to Wenomir, just before Shepherd falls completely dead, and his soul's trapped in KR's spell.


No man can kill me.

[Morty]

Wenomir blinks. What? Did that mean he's not dead yet?

[The Bushranger]

"Did...what mean what?" Shawna asks, coughing, as she approaches.

[Morty]

He said "no man can kill me". Wenomir scratches his head, some hair have fallen out of the ponytail and are now hanging around his head. It either means he's dead but I didn't kill him or that he's not dead.

[The Bushranger]

With a hiss, Shawna's plasma sword is active once more.
"Shall I plunge this through his heart, to be sure?" she asks, even as she gives Jeremy/Vengeance a slightly worried look.

[Morty]

Sure, why not. He also glances worriedly at Vengeance.

[Darkcomet]

DC gives Shawna a look that seems like a hybrid of 'confused' and 'are you an idiot?'. "I don't see why you're asking. If he's dead, nothing's going to happen. If he's not, then you finish him off. Simple."

[Reinholdt]

Well Reinholdt did only warn them about that little tidbit at least three times, though to be fair, not all in this thread. He's reasonably sure that anyone who was born a human can't kill them.

He and the ground are best friends now though.

((deadtime))

[happyturtle]

"Hmph. I'm not a man," Ingi says, cleaning Shepherd's blood off his claws. "Kid was awfully wordy for someone with his lungs torn open." He steps off the corpse to let Shawna stab it again regardless.

"You have his soul trapped?" Raven asks KR.

George remains quite unconscious.

((Ingi landed on him and was ripping his body both before and during the beheading. I don't think the warning was ignored. :smalltongue:))

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance ignores the look, it's skeletal hand twitching on the haft of the black longsword, the red runes squirming across the blade. The others will be able to tell that it's all it can do to keep itself from hacking apart the body.

Lenneth will gently pick up George and with Wallcroft, carry him to the others. "Is there anywhere safe we can take him?"

[Morty]

((Wenomir didn't think the beheading will kill Shepherd and he said as much.))
Wenomir grimaces and grumbles. That he was. Bloody kid probably hasn't done a day of decent work and yet he's tougher than an ogre.

[Ashen Lilies]

"Trapped. Trapped, but not yet bound." Says KR.

Now, imagine you're in a desert. You look down, what do you see? Not a turtle, even Kris wouldn't sink to a reference that obvious. No. Kneeling down, you grasp the small bird in your hands, feeling the feeble beating of its heart against your fingers, the feathers, still wet from the egg, soaking your palm. It's the last of its species. The product of billions of years of evolution, from the simplest amoeba to it's current form, unique and helpless, aesthetically ugly perhaps, but adding to the diversity of nature all the same, just with its existence. You bury it alive.
That's kind of what's happening here. Except for the part where everyone crys and feels all sorry for having robbed the universe of something truly unique. Flesh, bone, even memories - what significance do they have? Look at Magtok for instance, he duplicates a set every other day. But souls? Irreplaceable. Completely, and utterly. By all rights, lockin one of those away ought to be a violation of the highest order. But since it's Shepherd, everything's all good. :smallsmile:
KR focuses on Shepherd's spirit, trapped as it is like a fly in her web, and drawing on powers forbidden by even the cruelest gods as she attempts to fold it in on itself like some sort of blasphemous origami, compressing the soul - a transcendant whatsit that's in itself larger than the entire multiverse - into a nice little fractal piece that can be easily shoved into an unbreakable ceramic jar that exists on every single dimension simultaneously, containing Shepherd's substance in each one. Assuming that goes all according to plan, the actual binding begins, as hot wax erupts spontaneously from the seam between jar and lid, flowing around the container under KR's hands, as she mutters the words needed to finish the binding she'd spent so long preparing. And the. It's done. Maybe. The wax hardens abruptly, rippling through every color in the rainbow before settling on deepest black, through which runes of binding (familiar to anyone who's met The Highly Annoying Cat) travel through like stars. The wax itself is now more like stone than anything else.
Step right up Ladies and Gents, your Sealed Evil in a Can is (possibly) ready.
There's always the chance Shepherd's soul is going to suck KR in or vaporize her or possess her or something.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna, meanwhile, the moment KR's binding is complete (so as to, actually, not disrupt it by accident, y'know?) steps forwards...and plunges her plasma blade straight into (the corpse of?) Shepherd's heart.

"...'no man', indeed."

[Lord Magtok]

He turns to look at Magtok.

"You. You know the most about the female, where would she have gone?"

It would really not do too well to have a world-ending abomination running around unchecked.

Magtok blinks confusedly for a moment, before abruptly breaking into a sprint.

Oh gods, she's going for the other. She's going for him, I've got to warm myself before she gets there right now, no time for explanations, goodbye all, it'sbeenfunstoppingtheendbutIhavethingstodo.

He attempts to tear open a telewarp portal, and unless stopped, run right through.

[VampireRot]

Magtok blinks confusedly for a moment, before abruptly breaking into a sprint.

Oh gods, she's going for the other. She's going for him, I've got to warm myself before she gets there right now, no time for explanations, goodbye all, it'sbeenfunstoppingtheendbutIhavethingstodo.

He attempts to tear open a telewarp portal, and unless stopped, run right through.

Merrak blinks.

"He seems real worried. Should we go after him? Looks like he knows where she's gone."

He glances over at the more powerful members of the group to see their reactions.

[Moff Chumley]

...at this point, Ilyena drops his enchantment and passes out, wordlessly.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR doesn't quite pass out, as Ilyena has, instead opting to sit down, gripping the Sealed Evil in a Can tightly.

[happyturtle]

Raven's player suddenly remembers he's a healer. >.<

He goes around being the heal monkey.

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena is untouched, he's just incredibly exhausted. If anyone approaches him, Askepios will manifest. Ilyena had a failsafe teleport spell back to WATCHTOWER prepared. When the other members are ready to leave, I can activate it.

[Darkcomet]

Something quickly (or not so quickly from a post speed perspective) dawns on DC. "Magtok won't be able to finish it himself thanks to the damn unkillable-by-men clause. Everyone who can avoid that, through the ****ing portal right now!"

DC got lucky with this one. The only attacks that hit him were psionic ones that didn't leave wounds. The terrible twins just kept doing things that wouldn't really work against him.

[UncleWolf]

Vengeance growls at the words, but flicks his blade up a bit, catching it's edge and offering the hilt to Shawna. "Use this. It's sharper." If she takes it, the red runes on it will squirm away from her touch, towards the tip of the blade and even with her emotions cut off, she'll feel how...cold, dead...wrong it feels.

[The Bushranger]

Shawna looks like she's about to protest...but merely nods instead, accepting Vengance's blade.

...and visibly wincing as the wrongness as she grasps the hilt.

She rallies quickly, though. "...thank you, Jeremy..." she whispers, before turning and heading through the portal...

((to which thread, again?))

[Morty]

Wenomir cleans his sword from Shepherd's blood. The rest of us will go back, I guess. He glances at KR, wondering if she's in any fit state to go through the portal.

[billtodamax]

I am uncertain as to whether I qualify for the criteria. While I myself am a rock, the body I am using and my initial birth was that of a man. Terrance and Rebecca say, glowing very brightly. Still, I imagine assisstance would be welcome. Terrance/Rebecca say, before attempting to follow Magtok through the portal.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR needs to be there to seal Cynthia away. She's going through. If Wenomir wants to follow, he's welcome to.

[Morty]

After a brief consideration, Wenomir goes through. He might not be able to kill Cynthia, but he can draw her attention from those who do.

[VampireRot]

Merrak, however, heads over to Ilyena and Askepios to be teleported.

[happyturtle]

Raven tries to heal KR, Reinholdt, Czernov, Shawna... and continuing on until everyone who needs healing is healed.

Ingi will go through the portal.

George is in the arms of a smoking hot Valkyrie. And quite unconscious. Pity.

[UncleWolf]

When Shawna takes Vengeance's blade, the shadows around the being rapidly dissolve as he turns back to Jeremy. There are dark rings under his eyes and he gives her a slight smile. "You're welcome." He doesn't bother waiting for the teleport spell, and instead just steps into the shadows, heading back to Watchtower.

As no one has told them a safe place to take George, Lenneth and her Einherjar try to take him to Valhalla, the only safe place they know.

[Reinholdt]

Raven tries to heal KR, Reinholdt, Czernov, Shawna... and continuing on until everyone who needs healing is healed.

Ingi will go through the portal.

George is in the arms of a smoking hot Valkyrie. And quite unconscious. Pity.
Doesn't Raven have to suck their wounds into himself for that? :smallconfused:

Anyways, where is Reinholdt? He was there earlier. Did he start sneaking off the second the battle looked to be over but before Magtok declared he knew where Cynthia was? Why yes, yes he did. Though considering his state, he hasn't gotten very far and can likely still be spotted half-crawling, half-floating through the undergrowth and caught.

[happyturtle]

Yes, he does, but it isn't obvious that's what he's doing since he is concealing the absorbed wounds with shapeshifting. Everyone's wounds would be enough to kill him if he were still mortal, but he's an Einherjar and pretty darn resilient.

He finds Reinholdt and attempts to heal him, without asking leave or anything first.

[Reinholdt]

Well geeze, if he had said something, Reinholdt might have been more apt to not panic when a shapeshifter whose death he's directly responsible for and who is known for doing the "get in your body and explode outwards with massive tree-roots or whatever you want to call it" trick.

Reinholdt yelps slightly when Raven catches up and goes to touch him and the paranoid person turns pink to fly, fly away! More visible this way, but less likely to get asploded by crazy shapeshifting powers.

[happyturtle]

"Hey, you're hurt. Are you sure you should be running off?" :smallconfused:

[Darkcomet]

"Either way, he shouldn't be, since he can get around the no-man-can-kill-them clause..." Indeed, DC's trying to telekinetically grab Reinholdt by the ankle now.

[Reinholdt]

"Never stopped me before. Besides, I have... a dentist appointment. Very important. Can't miss it or it'll take me years to reschedule."
...
Having healthy teeth is important kids.

Oh dang, a second party. If Reinholdt felt better he could probably fight it, but not at this time, so he's held in place it seems. "They're gone now anyways. If I find Cynthia I'll be sure to shoot her for you."

[happyturtle]

Raven doesn't realize Rein's being held against his will, and assumes he decided to stay and be healed.

Healing attempt incoming.

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena continues snoring. When Rot approaches him, Askepios materializes in whatever form Rot finds most comfortable. This spell will return anyone within ten feet to WATCHTOWER. Shall I activate it now?

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt, of course, flails around his ankle, rotating in one spot, the ankle being the focal point, or center if you will. Nothing really stops it from being grabbed.

Let's see. He's got severe electrical burns, some not so serious bullet wounds, explosion burns, shrapnel wounds, three broken ribs, got dumped in an ocean of salt water to pour on said wounds, and then skidded on the ground to protect KR and himself from a meteor, ripping away a decent part of skin and dislocating the shoulder.

The fact he was even trying to move was stupid in and of itself. :smallannoyed:

Not sure which of these Raven can and is willing to deal with.
*realizes something*
In order to absorb wounds wouldn't Raven literally have to infuse parts of himself onto the person he's healing? :smallconfused:

[VampireRot]

Ilyena continues snoring. When Rot approaches him, Askepios materializes in whatever form Rot finds most comfortable. This spell will return anyone within ten feet to WATCHTOWER. Shall I activate it now?

*coughMerrakcough*

"Anyone else going back to WATCHTOWER?"

If no one else wants to get teleported back, Merrak nods to Askepios and gets ready to be teleported. He ignores that fact that the AI once again took his own form. Silly machines.

[Moff Chumley]

...I knew that. Anyhow, feel free to retcon a return to WATCHTOWER via teleportation, although it appears most of you guys went through the portal.

The teleportation spell is unceremonius. It simply dumps all of the participants into the entrance area, without any noise or light.

[happyturtle]

*baps Reinholdt-the-player* No trying to make me think that hard! That's mean!

Reinholdt-the-character gets healed exactly as much as RtP wants him to be healed, up to and including fully.

[Reinholdt]

Well it's helpful to know how things work in order to know how effective they are! Plus it sets up perfect jokes for how we all knew Reinholdt and Raven would intimately be entwined with one another.

Raven can take all the removed skin and burn problems for himself and leave Reinholdt the bones and bullet holes to deal with.

[happyturtle]

But that would also make Raven entwined with everyone he's ever healed, which is a large portion of the Nexus. Reinholdt would not be his special bond mate. :smalltongue:

[Darkcomet]

DC's still there, glaring at Reinholdt. "You want to run away when we still have a job to do? Magtok went to deal with Cynthia. I don't know where that portal leads, but it's the best bet for how to hunt her down."

[Lord Magtok]

Oh right, forgot to mention that the portal goes to the AuxCave in Outside. Whoops.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt's still exhausted certainly, so maintains his quasi-whisper. "Welll.... yeah. Look at you people. You got gods and overpowered freaks and epic mages and embodiments of who knows what everywhere crushing Shepherd and Cynthia without hardly blinking an eye AND you already killed one. I can shoot a sniper rifle and nearly get killed in the process. Big whoop. You don't need me."

[Darkcomet]

"Some of us-such as myself-can't get past the 'no man can kill me' clause. You can. That makes you valuable." As much as DC hates to admit it. "I wasn't wounded because I was essentially defending the whole time, and they seemed to pick...poor strategies. Not my fault they tried psychic attacks on me. And we already don't have everyone we did when this started. George, Czernov, Jeremy or Vengeance or whatever you want to call him, Ilyena, Merrak-all gone, and I strongly suspect that some of the ones we still have are tired out. We need as many as we can get, especially if they can actually kill the bitch. Which you can. Your own logic also applies-with only one, you won't be in as much danger as you were in the first fight." Makes perfect sense to DC. Maybe not so much to Reinholdt's insane mind.

[Reinholdt]

"... All the supermen just up and left?" :smallannoyed:
Reinholdt wasn't paying that close attention what with the trying to sneak away. Though he really isn't one to talk.

"Fine. Just give me a second to tend to my arm." So it'll stop being dislocated. If he had time he'd make a splint for it too, though it's doubtful he'll use that arm much anyways, leaving him with one handed pistols mostly. He'll try to float down to find a piece of wood to bite on so he can push the arm back into place.

[Darkcomet]

"Well, George, Czernov, and Ilyena weren't exactly conscious. Jeremy and Merrak just left." DC glances at Reinholdt's dislocated limb, then at his Czernov-modified pistol. "Dammit. If you need a more usable gun..." DC doesn't finish that sentence, obviously a bit disgusted with the idea of having to give Reinholdt a supergun.

[Reinholdt]

"I'm perfectly capable of killing with a pistol. One well aimed shot is better than a thousand big ones." Reinholdt says, equally disgusted at the idea of taking one of DC's superguns.

He finds a suitable stick, goes to brace himself against a tree, bite down hard on said stick and *CRACK*. I'm sure Reinholdt would be moaning in pain if his face wasn't filled with tears and, well... bliss. It really hurts. YAY.

[Darkcomet]

"I figured your sniper rifle wouldn't exactly be usable in your condition. Hence the offer." DC declines to comment on Reinholdt's now-showing masochism. Best not to, really.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt chuckles and starts stumbling over towards the portal, one step at a time. "No. Not using the rifle. Just a pistol." Oh yes. Take on the world ender with a pistol! And maybe some bubblegum.

[Darkcomet]

"Fine by me, then." But DC doesn't go through the portal. Not yet.

Once Reinholdt has gone through, he loads the red power cell into his beam rifle, and turns to face Shepherd's corpse. He paces around a bit, before raising a hand, attempting to telekinetically lift the corpse-and the severed head-into the air.

"I wonder how much you like Hell now..." DC fires the weapon at the corpse and head, a jet of elemental fire spouting from it to do the job zombies did so long ago and burn away what remains of Shepherd.

All through it he has an almost sadistic smirk on his face, perhaps hinting at inner instability, or perhaps simply enjoying something of a personal revenge? Perhaps both.

Once the little pyre is over, DC too goes through the portal.