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The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

a topic in Orsa of Terminus, a part of the RPG forum.

The lull in the war has ended, and the Orsa of Terminus is on the rise once more. Will the battle hardened Patronus remain strong, or fall under the growing might of this renewed threat? A mature roleplay. This forum is one large roleplay within a set world and designated story lines.

The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Tiko on Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:08 am

The Plateau - House of Cards base of operations

(Post order: Conumbra, Cryovizard)
I've moved on. If anyone stumbles on any of my old roleplays or wants to hit me up for nostalgia sake, feel free to shoot me an e-mail me at RPGTiko@gmail.com or hit me up on http://www.storytellerscircle.com. Good luck RolePlaygateway.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Conumbra on Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:54 pm

Marxan backed away from the approaching android, its blasters ready to fire if he did not react to the android’s approach in approximately 3 seconds. He was currently within his earth form, skin brown and full of deep lines, mimicking the texture and hardness of rock. The two symbiotic worms he kept for weaponry and for his abilities Marxan backed away from the approaching android, its blasters ready to fire if he did not react to the android’s approach in approximately 3 seconds. He was currently within his earth form, skin brown and full of deep lines, mimicking the texture and hardness of rock. The two symbiotic worms he kept for weaponry and for his abilities hung limply out of his arms, content for the moment at the food their host had provided them. They were currently in a dormant state, only awakening when they required nourishment. In this state, Marxan controlled their durability and flexibility, and when the worms woke up from extreme injury they could use the energy provided to repair the damage.

As the android pointed its weapons out at him, Marxan thought fast, and a fine grain of sand and dirt rose up from the ground. The grains of sand and dirt quickly made their way up into the android’s frame, burrowing through the circuitry. The grains began to build up, clogging up the android’s systems. This caused the machine to seize up, unable to move or fire its weapons due to the amount of sand messing with its systems. He then used the sand inside to topple the machine onto the ground, before walking away. These machines were no challenge to him, not anymore. He’d have to ask the jester for stronger training equipment when he got around to it.

For around the fifth time today, he sat on the ground outside the building they used as their base of operations. He closed his eyes, steadied his breath and heart beat, and began to listen to the Earth. Oh, of course he could not talk with the soil beneath him as if it were alive, though it did speak, just only in a different way. His awareness branched outward, until it encompassed the entire plateau where the rest of the team was training. He could feel their movements through the dirt, tiny vibrations they made with each impact their feet made on the soil. Of course, the individuals inside the building could not be sensed by him owing to the building’s metal floor, but the weight of the building digging into the plateau was sensed by him.

Taking himself away from the plateau, he stretched his conciseness outward, trying in vain to see if there was anyone around the base. He had some notion that if he could sense anyone around the plateau, perhaps they would be the Orsa member who had stolen his staff; perhaps he would come back and try to finish the owner he had stolen it from. In his head, Marxan knew this was a silly and inane notion, but the exercise helped him to focus as a form of meditation so he had at least some reason for continuing on with the practice. He sighed, and stretched his awareness out further, trying to heighten his senses.




Oron stared upwards towards the 20 foot tall white dragon standing before him. It was he who had first decided to name her Iesha, after a mountain on his homeworld. It was more than likely the entire mountain was under water now, after the act of genocide that had been perpetrated on his species. He had wanted something to remember his lost world by, rather than the (sometimes fake, sometimes not) artefacts which slowly trickled in from merchants looking to make money off their misery.

He had a collection of such artefacts holed up in a protected place, and intended to go through the collection at some point and determine their authenticity. The fake ones he intended to sell off to others who didn’t know better, however if there were any authentic examples from his homeworld, he would keep them for himself, and use them to remember where he came from. It helped to put his life in perspective, and not get caught up in the killing, like he feared Ilumiya had. Well, she was in a court situation at the moment, so it served her right. Anyway, the killing was only a means to an end, a way for them to find the people that had killed their homeworld. They would find whoever gave the order eventually, he knew they would.

Turning his attention to the dragon, he used his sonic blasters to make a special sound used to get Iesha’s attention, which was specifically a whistle. This caused the dragon’s head to turn immediately towards Oron, and Oron shivered when she stared at him. He knew she was tame, but it still made him nervous when she looked at him, like she was going to use his body as a means to obtain dinner. He raised the blaster again, and it emitted 1 long whistle, a signal for Iesha to lower her head. She complied, and Oron raised the leg inside his power armor so that he straddled her neck.

On her neck was a custom saddle, made to order so that a rider could use Iesha as a sort of mount. Oron had slowly gotten used to the dragon’s movements over time, after numerous instances of being dropped from 20 feet in the air. He could now direct her, by grabbing onto her horns at the top of the head, while his grappler kept him attached to her neck. Once he made it on, the emitter gave out a series of 3 whistles, one long and 2 short. This signalled Iesha to rise up into the air and perform a 360 degree loop. This was a basic movement, and they had practiced it many times before. After Iesha successfully performed the loop, Oron continued with the rest of Iesha’s training offering the dragon treats as she went. She seemed to be performing better than normal today.




Ehrian raised the locket that she kept with her at all times. It was a golden locket in the shape of a heart, the kind of thing loved ones usually gave to each other on special occasions. She rubbed over the initials scribed on the opening, “E.G” with her fingers, before opening the locket. Instead of a picture inside, a holographic display activated, and a three-dimensional image of her parents appeared from the locket. They were both in their wedding outfits, side-by-side ready for the photographer to take their picture.

This was the only picture she had found of her parents, and even tracking that thing down had been a hassle. She had no idea where they were, or even what their last names were. She just had their first names, and this wedding photo. She gave a small sigh, before she finally closed the locket and the image vanished. She returned back to a viewscreen she had set up in her quarters. With a little help from Busted, a series of view screens had been set up which overlooked Wing City, tapping into the various security cameras. She had no idea if her parents really were on Terra, but if they were, she hoped to find them in the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve. A lot of shoppers were running around after all.

She reopened the locket to allow her image to display, and placed it beside her. She then began to cycle through the various screens, trying to see if one or both of her parents were somewhere in Wing City. She continued to switch through the screens, finding a few ones that looked almost right, but unfortunately weren’t the real deal. In frustration, she closed down the view screens and shoved the locket onto the floor, thankfully not breaking the expensive ornament in her rage. She hit her against the view screens, and slowly began to weep in her chair. Where were her parents, and why couldn’t she fine? She must be the worst daughter in the world!




Vieed tinkered around in his lab, which had been set up in the far corner of the facility. He reached for a bottle of fizzing green liquid, and slowly poured a small drop onto what appeared to be a blue square of plastic. The plastic cube began to melt, forming a small blue puddle on the floor before solidifying. Vieed scraped the plastic off of the tiled floor, throwing it into the incinerator next to him. Rising to put the green bottle back to its proper spot, as his hands touched the bottle, a migraine set in. He knew the signs, and tried to get to his anti-psychosis medication before it set in. Unable to get to it through the pain, he scratched out some words.

“Computer, seal my chambers until my
.eaugh
episode passes.”

“Understood doctor, sealing chamber until brain-wave activity returns to normal”

As the door closed and locked itself, Vieed’s migraine grew worse and worse, until he was writing on the floor in pain, unable to move his limbs. Slowly, the pain went away, however, it was replaced with tremors, which racked his body, twisting and bending his joints. He screamed, unable to control his own movements; however his scream slowly faded away, as did the tremors. These were all symptoms of episodes he had, and the last symptom was usually
voices.

“Hello My doctor-man, how are we doing today?” a young female voice that sounded no more than 12 spoke up.

“Oh do shut up Rosalia, you really think the good doctor wants to listen to your drivel today?” a young British male of around 25 replied.

“Yeah, and of course you’re such a treat. Piss off!” a male of around 16 replied.

“Hey, that’s not nice Fred; take it back you big meanie!”

“Make me you brat!”

“Anyway, that’s all beside the point. What the good doctor really wants to do is guy someone. Get those knives, and slice them up; you ever wonder how much blood a person spills when they’re sliced over 30 times. Let’s find out!” a new voice replied, with a crazy wavering in his tone.

“Yes, Mr. doctor-man; it’s oh so fun to do that! Maybe the little girl down the hall will appreciate the effort! My mom always said people loved effort!”

“No, get out of my head. You’re not real. I don’t need, nor want you! My mind is my own, my mind is my own, my mind is my own
”

Vieed continued repeating that mantra, hoping beyond hope that the voices left. He did enjoy killing, that much was true, but he was going to do it when he wanted to. He wasn’t going to listen to these voices in his head. He wasn’t!




Blackjack drove up towards the plateau in the Royal flush, no active threats on the vehicle’s scanner at the moment. That was good, considering the cargo he was carrying. It was an Ahrian manipulator he had purchased through black market connections, though it was currently broken at the moment and needed a lot of work done on it. He doubted it would be ready before tomorrow in the shape it was in, though the benefactors would certainly like this little bit of tech. Of course he couldn’t give the specks to them right away, not in its current condition, but he believed they would enjoy this little gift. Getting into another organization’s good graces always required a lot of work.

He parked the Royal flush outside the facility and activated the base’s defences. As soon as anyone he didn’t let Busted know was an ally, the turrets would try and riddle whoever the intruder was with bullet holes. This was standard procedure, and was used to ensure the inhabitants of the base wouldn’t waste time responding to the intruder. He took the manipulator from the seta beside him and walked inside, the door automatically opening for his arrival. As he made his way past the workshop, he noticed the android working on the spider tanks they had procured.

“How are the repairs coming on 55G?”

“Repairs are proceeding as scheduled. Remote control and movement systems repaired first, as per your instructions. Weapons and automatic reaction systems still being repaired.”

“Good, now we can make sure those things can get out if we’re attacked. Let’s hope we don’t before the weapons get put back online. What’s the estimated time of repairs?”

“Repair of remaining systems will take approximately 12 hours due to every single system being shorted out. Damage moderate, though spread is extensive; will need time.”

The android’s scanners detected the Ahrian manipulator Blackjack had with him.

“Consume?”

“Yes, you’ll get a new toy, after it’s repaired and we send the specks over to them. You know how cranky they get when we keep everything for ourselves. I do not need some more ‘warning shots’, thank you.

The android looked back down at the vehicles he was working on, and Blackjack could swear he looked dejected at having to wait to get his hands on a new piece of tech. That as certainly possible; unlike other androids Blackjack knew, 55G seemed to be one of the few capable of making decisions that violated its original programming. Of course, the original programming had probably degraded to the point that such a thing could be possible, but that meant 55G was an excellent member. He then placed the manipulator on a desk beside the android.

“Keep working on them 55G Try and improve them if you can, though repairing them should be the top priority. After you’re done, work on the manipulator over there.”

He turned towards the computer room, which was the heart of the facility and thankfully not too far away. The facility itself was compact, which allowed for easy movement between the various sections of the facility. As he reached the large door that blocked off the computer room, he raised his left hand towards a biometric scanner and keypad. The part of his costume covering his hand seemed to flow away from it, showing his skin as he placed it on the scanner. Seeing the correct print, the scanner turned green, and the jester moved to the keypad next. The code was a series of four numbers that would only have significance to Blackjack. He moved quickly and inputted the code (1921) into the pad. Acknowledging the correct code, the door opened, letting Blackjack into the control center.

The control center was a hub of activity; cameras covering every single inch of the facility were placed on a wall in front of him. Below the screens, Busted was buried in her information gathering. She was the team’s information specialist, and thankfully only wanted to observe more and more data. She was allowed to copy as much data as she could, on the promise that she give over whatever Blackjack wanted. It also helped that he could direct the virus to the places where data was going to be most valuable. They had recently just got a huge cache of information, and the jester needed to look through it.

“Busted, would you please bring up the information on the subjects I asked for?”

“Yes, bringing up the list now.”

“Thank you.”

Blackjack hurried over the seat, where a holographic display appeared in front of it, allowing him to view the list. His lands reached out, using the interface to sort through the information gathered. His arms moved left and right, causing files to pop up and then fade from view. Just for fun, he turned the display colours to red and green. It was the Christmas season after all.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Lobos on Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:49 pm

A black speck seemed to hover far overhead, looking down on the base from a height that made the fortress seem like the smallest ant. A nightmarish translation of a smile touched the draconic cyborg's maw, revealing rows upon rows of dark fangs, before it banked into a slowly descending spiral. It was allowing its infernal furnace heart to produce the extra energy it would need for its opening move. As dark power flowed into its Hellfire Cannons, the Butcher began to use its mechanically enhanced dragon-sight to pinpoint structural weaknesses, and to also track down the precise locations of the House of Cards it had been assigned to maul and destroy.

The demonic creature was keeping its usually chaotic aura tightly bound in a sphere about it, hoping to avoid detection. Failing that, it figured it would appear as a sort of high energy vessel, or whatever oddity a mortal's mind might write off. It had descended for some time now, and it charging was nearly complete. A few more spiraling loops and it would be ready to dive, and deliver the message of its master had burned to drive home for so long but held for the sake of his earlier gambits. But now was the perfect time to simultaneously deal a crippling blow to the thorn the House of Cards had become, and deny the Academy valuable support the group had become.

A low growl came from the Butcher's maw as it registered the full charge of its devastating cannons. Pointing its nose towards the base, the cyborg dragon tucked its wings in and dived, changing instantly from a slow glide to a rapidly accelerating descent. A scant few seconds into its charge, a rippling explosion of air announced a breaking of the sound barrier.

Miles were consumed in bare seconds, and nearly a minute was all it took to reach full effective range. Opening its fell mouth, the Butcher unleashed a sky-shattering roar as it unleashed the Hellfire Cannons within its throat. Bloody hellfire exploded from the multiple bores and spiraled like a drill as it rapidly outstripped the dragon's dive, and wings snapped apart to bring it to flash overhead but a moment before the bolts of power would impact.

It already knew the effect of a connected strike. The compressed evil energy would detonate, driving the core of the energy further in with extremely violent force. Often had fortresses and castles felt the strike of this blast, and in most cases the Hellfire Cannon blasted a hole clear through the stone and mortar with contempt. The Butcher began a low, wheeling curve to come around, ready to unleash magic and dragonfire in a murderous rampage.

Today, fate willing, it would live well up to its name, butchering all that stood in its way.
Serenade the moon, and let loose your howl.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Conumbra on Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:37 pm

Busted raised her red head from her research. Her head was angular, and there were circuits covering the entire face. These circuits all raced to connect with one light blue eye, with which you was able to see the world. She raised one of her 2 fingered, claw-like hands and pointed at the screen.

“Excuse me Blackjack, but our scanners have detected an anomaly, which I currently estimate is hovering somewhere in the upper atmosphere.”

Blackjack meanwhile had been sorting through various names, highlighting individuals which he would investigate in greater detail later. He peered out from his holographic interface at Busted, and cocked his head quizzically.

“The upper atmosphere; are you sure about that? Last I checked our scanners can’t reach that far.”

“Yes, normally they don’t, but whatever this object was it’s been drawing in energy of an unknown type for a little over 2 minutes, and our scanners managed to pick it up because of this. Of course we couldn’t get anything else, so I tried to get into one of the observation satellites the news stations have scattered over the planet. They managed to get us this image.”

An image appeared on the large computer screen in front of them. It showed a fuzzy image which showed a metallic, dragon-like creature with what appeared to be wings jutting off of it. Moat of the image is obscured by cloud cover.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a clearer image, though it does appear to be something hovering directly over this facility and from running my analysis software it appears to be made of metal. What do you suppose it is?”

Blackjack stared at the image for a few moments, before leaning on the chair and raising a hand to his communicator. “Everyone, this is an Omega level alert. We have a class four disturbance and the base needs to be put on alert. Assume your positions. Vieed, a special notice, don’t bother going to your post. Get in the Royal Flush; Busted will help you with the weapons. I doubt whatever you have could harm that thing. 55G send the tanks away from the base to our secondary location. Make sure they leave at different time intervals. Oron, make sure to get Iesha out of there if it looks she’s taking too much damage. She’s an important investment.”

“Sir?”

“There are only 3 reasons that thing could be here; to spy on us, attack us or arrest us. If it wanted to arrest it would have done so already; if it wanted to spy on us it would have kept a lower profile; that leaves only attacking. The fact that it’s waited so long means it’s either waiting for reinforcements or charging up for some sort of powerful attack, neither of which is very good for us. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to my post.”

With that, he hurried out of the room until he was outside. Putting his hand on the scanner, it turned orange. He then input the reverse of the code used to open the door, and the 7 inch metallic door lowered itself with a loud metallic clunk. Satisfied that Busted was well defended, Blackjack ran outside into the snow, drawing an ace of diamonds from his inner sleeve. As he got outside he peered into the sky, and saw a large shape rushing towards the base. Before he could react to its approach it stopped, and suddenly a massive bolt of energy erupted from its mouth towards the base/

“Come on Marxan, I’d hate to lose a building like this so easily. I’m not sure they’ll appreciate that. No not at all.”

Reacting towards the incoming projectiles, Marxan looked towards the sky as the Butcher flew towards the base. Having heard the warning from Blackjack, he was tensed and ready for combat. Seeing its approach halted he became puzzled (he had assumed whatever was attacking the base would simply ram into it itself with the speed it was going). However, the creature then fired towards the base, and Marxan instinctively reacted to the blast. He sent several rocks towards the blast, not even bothering to change their shape, as it would take too much time. Blackjack reacted as well, creating several shields behind the rocks to help further the defences.

When the blast impacted the hastily constructed wall, the blast detonated, blasting through the rocks and the shields, knocking Blackjack down for a few moments. However, because of the effort required to break through the defences, the explosion had lost some of its powers, with the result that the wall was not broken, though significant structural fractures appeared in the area affected by the explosion.

Up in the sky, Oron had narrowly avoided being hit by the shot himself through some careful manoeuvring by Iesha. The dragon had stared at the blast, and had begun to hiss towards the dragon up at the sky. Oron patted the dragon’s neck to calm her down, and the sonic blaster released a series of whistles and clicks, an order for Iesha to manoeuvre around the incoming enemy and get within melee range which she began to accomplish. She tried to fly around towards the back of the Butcher and get within melee range.

Back in the base, Vieed had recovered from his episode and Ehrian from her sadness. They both heard the warning and rushed out with 55G to greet the approaching invader. 55G began to attack automatically, firing sonic blasts at the creature and activating its defence protocols. Ehrian waited on the ground herself. She was not much use unless the thing managed to get down to the ground. Vieed hurried over towards the Royal Flush, whose weapons (a grenade launcher and two machine-guns) were already firing at the creature. The weapons ceased to let the Veroose in before beginning their assault. Vieed turned on the controls and began to move around the area. Around the base, various turrets around the facility turned towards the Butcher and fired, ejecting round after round of bullets at the creature.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Lobos on Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:51 pm

The Butcher snarled with irritation, a hole had not been cleanly made well enough for it to land and fill the base with fire. And now the House of Cards had begun to react, returning fire and in one case, coming to meet it personally. Enough of the fire was easily shrugged off as bullets pinged off of metal or sunk into long dead flesh, but the behemoth was forced to weave between sonic blasts and grenades, losing some of its air speed as it turned its head to watch another dragon wing towards itself. It cast its tight bonds holding its aura to the wind, letting the infernal energies run loose in a blazing trail that painted the sky crimson in its wake, the chaotic power ripping apart some of the fire coming its way. Letting loose a satisfied roar, it began to pick up speed again, banking while letting its protective energies take some of the hits as it wheeled to meet the opposing dragon.

Hideous sounds of screeching grinding metal began to escape the Butcher's rotted flesh, wicked spines and hooked blades ripping free of the cadaverous skin in anticipation of a meeting. The fires that had been snuffed by its binding began to reignite, giving the bestial dragon a tail of sulfurous smoke. But the most disturbing where the hissing, rumbling words that resounded around the cyborg, words of infernal magic that no mortal dragon could speak.

"Nexus...twin infernos...born of dead flesh as smoke...and to smoke it shall return."

The Butcher's outline wavered for several moments, before a mass dropped from the smoke it trailed, the wreathing dust and ash scattering as a wraith copy of the beast caught the air on its wings and wheeled, turning to fly towards the Royal Flush. The true creature sailed onwards towards Oron and Iesha, raising its claws, gaping its maw wide to embrace the other dragon in a clash of the sky.

Meanwhile, the phantasm the Butcher had spawned was winging with all speed for the vehicle, opening its maw as it dived to unleash a stream of terrible black fire. Behind the wall of concealing flame, it too was stretching talons apart and readying to snap jaws upon the armored Royal Flush, aiming to crush and smash it apart before burning a ruining hulk into twisted metal and ash.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Conumbra on Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:48 pm

Blackjack returned his hand to the communicator lodged in his ear after getting up. He was merely dazed by the effect of his carefully erected shields being broken through so easily. The mental shock was astonishing, but he suffered no more physical injuries than a few cuts and bruises from the blowback. He began speaking to the virus in the control room.

“Shut the turrets down, they’re not doing any damage to him. All they’re doing is annoying him, and we’re wasting ammunition trying to attack him with them. Remind me after this is complete to install rockets next time. Anyway, cut the turrets.”

“Alright sir. Cutting power to turrets in 3
2
1
now.”

Immediately, all the turrets firing bullets into the Butcher overhead stopped firing. It was fruitless to take him down that way. They needed a plan to deal with a threat this large; something that would involve a coordinated effort by the entire team. To figure out how to kill it, first he had to know what it was. Invictus
no he hadn’t pissed them off yet. Aschen or Taiyou
no they would send an army rather than one unit. Then, as the creature spoke the words, he understood it was the Orsa. He briefly considered telling Marxan to call for help, but then dismissed it. If they were attacking here, they were likely attacking the other areas where the Patronus had gathered. Calling for help would be pointless, which was likely their intent. What to do, what to do
Then, an idea hit him.

“Busted, what other satellites are in orbit above the base besides the news one you hacked into a few moments ago?”

“Well, there are 2 communications satellites, some other news satellites, and what appears to be a military spy satellite, though it is currently offline.”

“Good, the military one will have better protection in case of planetary attack, it’s the most likely to survive re-entry. Busted, how fast can you get that satellite out of orbit?”

“It will take time to deactivate the numerous overrides and safety protocols installed in the satellite, and some more time for it to travel through the atmosphere to its target.”

“Then start working on it. Most satellites now have thrusters to help correct their orbit or avoid space debris; you can use them to control its descent. In case something goes amiss, Marxan can help lessen the damage. Get to work, and I hope I don’t need to tell you what to aim at. Now team, let’s provide some entertainment before the main event arrives.”

Blackjack began to create 3 hammer-shaped objects made of light around the size of the jester himself. Once he was done making one, he would send it spinning towards the Butcher. With the force behind the objects, it was doubtful they would simply bounce off. More than likely they would dent the armor, perhaps knocking the wind out of the creature, or maybe they’d just divert his attention.

Marxan on the ground began collecting rocks from the ground, ripping them out of the earth before collecting them all into one large mess. It would take a few moments before the cluster was completed, but he expected it to cause quite a dent when he was finished completing it. Rock after rock erupted from the ground to join its brethren in the floating mass Marxan was currently levitating in front of him. He had been in a sour mood since his artefact had been stolen, and he was going to take that out on anyone.

On the ground 55G realized that the Royal Flush was in danger around the same time he realized he couldn’t possibly hit the large beast in the sky from this distance. It was moving too fast, even for his targeting sensors. To solve both problems, he hurried over the vehicle, using the small rockets absorbed into his frame to increase his speed. He caught the Royal Flush just as it was escaping from the wraith creature, the vehicle having been well armored enough to withstand a little fire.

He jumped from the side onto the vehicle, and all at once the nanomachines in his body began to fuse themselves with the vehicle, improving the technology used to create it while doing so. The car went through a dramatic change in shape as the process worked, before finally re-emerging from the process sleeker, more aerodynamic and as a pure hover vehicle, with no wheels at all. The weapons were also replaced by a rocket launcher and 2 anti-tank rifles. Also, 55G’s own equipment became integrated into the vehicle, with the cause that two sonic blasters emerged from its trunk.

However, before the weapons fired, the anti-magic generator that was also built into 55G’s body activated, wrapping the vehicle in an anti-magic field. If the creature pursuing them was held together by magic or just magical in nature, it would break apart or go through excruciating pain respectively, as the energy used to create it was snuffed out. However, this also meant no weapons could be fired because of power distribution, so Vieed quickly used the Flush’s improved speed to get away from the wraith creature as fast as possible.

In the air, Oron appeared to be meeting the beast head on, but at the last possible moment, he veered Iesha off course, to circle around the Butcher. He then opened fire with his flamethrower, and Iesha began to shoot icicle from her mouth at any exposed flesh she could see, if there was any to begin with. Oron continued checking Iesha’s tail in case of a surprise attack from the rear, which was likely to happen.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Tiko on Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:39 pm

As black fire ripped across the ground, leaving blackened ash and wasteland in its wake, anomalies began to warp and manifest into existence, spawned by the high concentration of chaotic and destructive energies within the vicinity.

From these anomalies, billowing black mist poured out across the plateau marring visibility. It seemed to have no visible source, beyond simply seeping into existence, and furthermore, it seemed to have a life of its own, a necrotic dark energy that began to corrode that which it came into contact with while actively parting and re-merging to resist being moved.

Within the depths of the mist the screams of the trapped and damned souls enslaved to the Sealed One's will could be heard shrieking out in unison at the brief release from their prison. Though visibility would be limited and even mechanical tracking and readings would be scrambled by the high level of disruptive and chaotic energies overtaking the area. Voidlings and other such monstrosities could be heard all but clawed each other apart in their frenzy to tear their way into the mortal realm.

The largest of the abominations, stepped out of the black mist, directly in the path of the Royal Flush. It was a towering behemeth - an eight feet tall mockery of a humanoid with clawed hands, and rippling muscle masses in places muscle had no right to exist.

The void beasts sudden close proximity would leave only a seconds reaction time to avoid hitting it, but the behemeth simply braced itself for the impact, a shoulder turned into the approaching vehicle to over turn it. Even with shields up on the vehicle, chances were it was still bound by gravity, and the sudden clash of opposing forces could well upend it.

The smaller voidlings - spindly bipedal creatures with inky black skin, standing about three feet tall with four inch claws and mouthfuls of razor teeth - flooded anyone within their reach, leaping out of the mist and clawing over each other in their frenzied state to reach the crew members. Individually they were little threat, but in such large numbers, the sheer quantity and speed of the nimble creatures left them a force to be contended with.

With the surroundings rapidly flooding with the Sealed One's minions, the wraith spawn averted its path, taking a sweeping approach as it flew past the vehicle overhead to circle back around.

Meanwhile overhead, the Butcher evaded Blackjack's strike by banking to one side - though still maintaining momentum despite the shift that left him listing to one side as Iesha veered off course. Caught up in his own evasion the Butcher instead took the opening granted by the sharp movements to open his massive maw once more, a blast of chaotic hellfire released with a deafening roar. The flaming inferno was set to intercept Iesha's path just as she passed him by, allowing little time for a second sharp maneuver while she was still making the initial sharp turn. His target? Her wing. The focused blast contained enough force to blast a hole through solid rock, never mind the sensitive and relatively unarmored membrane of a dragons wing.

He himself was largely unscathed by the counterstrike of ice that would rain against his side as the two dragons passed each other by. The icicles would shatter against his hardened and protected hide, and what few made it through, merely sank into undead flesh that was unhindered by such matters.

Even as it battled, the rising heat and dark energies that filled the Butcher's form were working in unison to recharge the Hellfire cannons. The rising concentration of power within him would have been hard to overlook, had it not been for the black mist rapidly layering the area below and scrambling mechanical readings – though those that remained in the sky would be largely unaffected.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Conumbra on Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:29 am

As the engagement continued, the callstone in Marxan's possession began to emit a sound and grew warm beside his skin. That was the signal that he had a call coming in on the callstone frequency. He picked up the stone and listened.

Headmistress:“Sylvire? Taima? Arrow? Ayasha?” The Academy is being attacked. Krycis is here, and he has an army with him. Rhea says that Rynhart has been wounded - what's happening? Are we all being attacked?”

A few moments passed before the first reply came.

Taima: “It's bad; we're getting the artefacts out of here.”

Arrow: “I can speak only for myself, but we are indeed under attack. We make for the Library - I have sent my sister ahead with the sword, but there are others I must aid.”

Marxan spoke up, still using his elemental abilities. His voice was strained from the effort of speaking. "They sent some kind of cyborg dragon to attack us and nothing us. I don't think we're that important of a target to them, so we should be able to hold out until assistance can arrive. Sylvire...I haven't seen him before, and he can use magic."

Sylvire: “Light! How bad are the assaults? Do you all believe you can make it out? The Library remains without assault, as do its surrounds - I would hesitate to leave it undefended though. If there are any of you who require my aid, though, I will come.”

Taima: “I don't know.”

Marxan: "We can hold out for now. I don't think you need to show yourself here. Besides, I don't have my artefact anymore, and you helping us would just divert resources away from where they are needed. Besides, even if we have to run, we'll make sure whatever remains will die."

Headmistress:“The Academy will hold. And if it does not, then we have room to retreat. Aeryn, Natalie meet me in the courtyard. You will go to Sylvire with the artefacts.”

Natalie: “Already on my way. I'll be two minutes at most.”
Aeryn: “We're practically there already. In fact, I'm watching you from a window right now. And now I'm not, because we're still moving, but ... we're coming.”

Arrow: “I will not lie. The odds are stacked against us - Aliana should make it away from here safely upon her horse, but she is wounded. The others and I are still engaged, but if I can delay our attackers long enough we should break free of them. The first priority is the artefacts, though. If you go to anyone's aid, go to Aliana's, or those who have them still.”

Sylvire: “I will do everything I can. I will not allow the Orsa to take us now, after so long. Make for the safety of the Library, all of you. I will do what I can to aid you from here, my repertoire of magic is not minute, and there are spells that I can cast to aid you even from this distance.”

Marxan: "Thank you Sylvire, I'll be there as soon as possible. I feel selfish for asking, but the thing that's here; it summoned some sort of wraith creature. If there are any spells you could use against it, it would be a big help to my comrades. Help those that truly need it before us, but for now it's the only assistance we could conceivably require. I should be there soon, so don't worry."


As the mist began to seep into the environment, Marxan frantically looked around the plateau to see if there was a source that he could plug or seal closed to stop the mist. Seeing none, he steeled himself for the inevitable assault, although he had no idea what form it would take. He continued gathering rocks from the ground into the clump floating in front of him; however its purpose was different. Instead of using it to attack the dragon circling overhead, he was instead preparing to use it to repel the attack, seeing as his vision of his original target was obscured by the mist.

When the voidlings poured forth from the mist, he allowed them to cluster around him, their sharp claws and teeth unable to pierce his rocky skin. Once they were in a large enough concentration for his attack to be useful, he unleashed it. Suddenly, the clump of hovering rocks in front of him split apart violently with a large amount of speed. The speed was so great that for some of the voidlings at least the rocks sailed straight through the creatures' heads, and even the ones that didn't still hit with enough force to kill.

After their initial strike, the rocks regrouped themselves around Marxan in a ring around his body while he moved. When he sensed a creature approach's approach through its impact on the soil a rock would speed away from the ring and hit the creature before returning; during this time, he was also adding any rocks he cold find to the ring to increase its size. Since there were so many voidlings, he had a busy time, but he was still able to move through the crowd. The voidlings were not his primary target however; he had sensed the void beast's impact upon the ground and was currently making his way towards it through the mist. He felt the corrosive energy of the mist on his rocky skin and he noticed the mist's attempts to discourage his progress, but all he had to do was close his eyes and he could see the world through the earth.

While he was walking towards the void beast, the stone grew warm again, though he was too busy to answer its call this time around.

Taima: “Sylvire Nasazura. The artefacts are secure, and on route to you. We have wounded arriving that will be in need of assistance. May the Storm carry you to victory.”

Sylvire: 'The Monastery is compromised. I have cleared the building, but we are under attack
we have suffered casualties. You should be ready to fight when you arrive.”

Parlina: 'There too? By the Divine! We'll be ready; we have to be.”



Cursing internally, Blackjack made the hammer dissipate itself and he was about to reform it into a different shape when the mist began to form around him. Initially he dismissed the mist; that is until it began to eat away at his clothing. Noticing this, he erected a small shield around himself to protect against the mist's caustic effects. He didn't bother putting much energy into it because the acidic effects of the mist didn't put such a large strain on his abilities. Unfortunately when the small voidlings poured out from the mist, they began pouring it required him to pour more energy into the shield to drive them back. He had to make a new plan soon; then it hit him.

Dropping the shield, he quickly reformed it into a set of a hundred small needles made out of hard light. These needles appeared to not be that damaging, however when propelled through the air at a large enough speed, they could pierce straight through the head of a voidling, killing them. To allow them to cut through them easier, he also gave them serrated edges, then sent them around half of them in random directions to kill as many as he could. The rest he kept around himself, to help defend against the voidlings that made it through the outer onslaught.

With the needles swarming around him, he put a hand on the device he carried around with him that operated the base’s defences. The turrets then reactivated, and immediately began firing upon voidlings, filling Voidling bodies with bullets. Not wasting any time, he opened a communications channel with Busted. “How much longer until that satellite gets here?”

“I’ve disabled the safety protocols and overrides and am now directing out of its orbit. It will stake a few minutes for it to travel through Terra’s atmosphere towards this current location.

“Alright then, prime the radiation bomb to go off exactly when the satellite impacts. I don’t thing we’re going to be salvaging this location. Don’t deactivate it until I give you my direct order.”

“Understood.”

Switching channels, he began to speak with Ehrian this time.

“Ehrian, as much as I hate to say it, I don’t think you’ll be of much use in this current engagement. Could you act as a decoy and draw as many of these creatures away from this location as you can?”

“I’m sort of already doing that, but I understand.”

In fact, when the first creatures had jumped out of the mist, Ehrian understood they were magical. It wouldn’t matter which mode she switched to, they’d still be able to cause significant damage to her. So she had been going through a process of phasing through the ground to get away, then reappearing and realizing she still wasn’t out of the clear yet. With Blackjack’s orders she began to run as fast as she could, phasing through the ground whenever a creature appeared, and leading them away from the plateau.

Meanwhile, inside the Royal Flush, 55G’s scanners were being messed with because of the mist, however because of his increased reaction time, he was able to steer the vehicle away from the titanic void beast, but only barely. In fact, they got so close that Vieed was able to briefly open the window and throw one of his knives out at the creature. He had set it so that it was currently coated in an incredibly potent acid, which would hopefully deal some damage to the creature. Unfortunately, with the stress caused by the manoeuvre, the two sonic guns on the trunk were ripped right off of the vehicle.

This didn’t stop the rest of the vehicle’s weapons from firing, with the anti-tank rifle on the side facing the creature firing directly towards it, while the rocket launcher on the roof sent out one of its rockets towards the last known location of the Butcher. Once outside the mist, its tracking system would be reactivated, allowing it to home in on the hellish dragon.

Up in the sky, Iesha didn’t need a command from Oron to react to a threat to her wings. Being a dragon, she had an instinctive need to protect them at all costs. It was something bred into her species, because if a dragon lost his/her wings it would be unable to hunt and would soon die. So, without any prompting from its rider, it closed in its wings, so as to prevent a smaller target for the hellfire. However, the hellfire did hit a target, thought a different one than anticipated. It hit Iesha’s protected back scales, burning them and forcing the dragon down sharply, until her wings flapped open, and Oron directed her upwards, barely missing the mist covered ground below. She swopped upwards, whereupon Oron opened up the cannon on his suit and fired a burst of energy towards the Butcher’s head, hoping to disorient it for the final blow.

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Re: The Plateau: The Butcher's Carol

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Tiko on Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:12 pm

[Scene unfinished due to Cryovizard dropping out. Outcome assumed: Despite heavy damage, no casualties accrued. Everyone manages to extract themselves from the battle and evacuate safely.]

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