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Outnumbered (RP). Anyone is welcome anytime.

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Mon, 01/19/2015 - 05:26
#651
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Sigh...

Ares, still thinking about Kora, let the charge go, a forlorn ((please tell me that's the right word)) expression on his face. He knew it was aimed directly at the pile, but didn't watch the progression of the attack, sitting and clutching his head as soon as he let the attack go.

((So essentially, I can't move ahead in this post, as my character is an emotional wreck. If you want to describe what happened to the pile, Ember, which I thought you might, so I wrote it this way, then you're free to.))

It was this infernal Swarm corruption. He felt hopeless, empty, weak, angry, numb, and he could only focus on bad things. Like his ___________ being dead and him surviving.
You name it, and Ares would've gladly switched places with them. Without him, there would be no Armerio, and this meeting of villians would likely not be so big. What good had he really done?

WHAT GOOD HAD HE EVER DONE?

***
((@Ember-Break: Believe it or not, I figured you'd do something like this. And I had already made a solution.))

Armerio didn't miss a beat once Strom asked him to obtain still-pure creatures. He simply snapped his fingers. The summoning rune glowed, and the remnants of the first two squads appeared on it.

"There you go. Pure as white itself. You can sense it," he said.

((So you have:
1 Almirian Crusaders (SS) (one is damaged by Scorpio)
9 Zombies (SS) (two are heavily damaged, three are lightly damaged)
14 Kats (SS) (five are slightly damaged)
2 Deadnaughts (SS)
2 Phantoms (SS) (both are heavily damaged) ))

***
Ares looked up briefly and saw nothing where the pile was to be. No dust, no void, blood, goo. NOTHING. He sighed, and clutched his head once more.

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 10:09
#652
Colray's picture
Colray
Lorewise

Luke didn't realize the seed had disappeared until he had started reloading. He stopped, Blaster outstretched, and looked puzzled at the spot where the swarm seed was.

Finally he shrugged, and looked around at the others. The monsters were almost dead. They were clumped together perfectly for the Hail Driver Knight to finish them off.

With that, he relaxed. Holstering his pistol, he looked at the castle, trying to see anything out of the ordinary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

((I guess the Apocrean Runes could be what you were talking about. I was just adding detail :3))

((So here's my view of Margrel, personally, I don't like the in game version of her. Where she is pretty much a Grimalkin plus some extra boosts. Hold on let me find a picture that I like.))

Margrel listened to the Phantom's plan and Armerio's solution. As interesting as it seemed, she was getting a little bored. Honestly, she wasn't the planning type, that was Preowa.

"The teleportation shards will be helpful no doubt, when will we position ourselves at the ambush site?"

Edit: here's a nice picture. Sort of the Dark Mage, but can still use a blade

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 10:45
#653
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
Stuff.

[[@Colray
All of the monsters have been teleported into the room with Armerio, Vargas, and others.]]

---------------

Strom:
"Pure as white itself." Armerio said, presenting the undead he had just brought from the front lines. But Strom already knew they were pure. They were from his own Graveyard, after all. Strom looked over the undead in the room in silence. He approached one of the zombies and looked into its eyes.

Mindless. Senseless. But... It was once a creature much like Strom. How could he possibly use these for--

The book's eye opened at Strom's side, resulting in a barrage of Swam energy to pass along the pure group of undead. The Swarm energy rippled over each of them like a wave, and pierced them through and through. Strom quickly covered the face of his book, causing the flow to stop... But the monsters were already doubling over as the corruption began to take them once again.

As he watched his bretheren be taken by the energy, his Épée floated at his side, as if examining its master's reaction. He closed his hands tightly, clenching his fists at his side. His sword, as if acknowledging some unknown emotion, gained peak momentum and flew through the group, carving out the shards before they were lost. As the shards came out, the monsters -- no, the bodies of his fellow grave-dwellers, crumbled to nothingness. All that was left once all was said and done was a small pile of Swarm Shards, and the dust of his comrades.

Strom approached the pile and picked up each shard individually, dropping them into the void-black space within his helmet, where they fell to gather in the hole in his chest.

An inaudible "Ɨ a₥ ȿøɍɍɏ."
"I am sorry." was all he could say to them as they gathered near his core.

After gathering them all, Strom addressed the question the Kat had asked.

"Ŧħɇɍɇ aɍɇ ɇnøưǥħ Sħaɍđȿ ŧø ȿɇŧ ưᵽ ȿɇvɇɍał đɨffɇɍɇnŧ fɨǥħŧɨnǥ łøȼaŧɨønȿ."
"There are enough Shards to set up several different fighting locations." Strom then moved back towards the holographic image of the castle's interior, pointing to several large locations suitable as arenas. [[I won't put these areas in detail 'cause I don't know the layout. If the character has a location preference, I guess it can just be assumed that the castle has said location.]]

"Ɨ wɨłł ɨȿøłaŧɇ ŧħɇ ҟnɨǥħŧȿ ƀɏ ȿɇᵽɇɍaŧɨnǥ ŧħɇ₥ wɨŧħ a ɍɇǥưłaɍ-wałł ₥aƶɇ wħɇn ŧħɇɏ ɇnŧɇɍ ŧħɇ Ȼaȿŧłɇ. Ŧħɇ wałłȿ wħɨȼħ ȿɇᵽaɍaŧɇ ŧħɇ₥ wɨłł ałȿø ŧưnnɇł ŧħɇ₥ ŧø a đøøɍ,"
"I will isolate the knights by seperating them with a regular-wall maze when they enter the Castle. The walls which separate them will also tunnel them to a door," Strom motions to the two doors he had created;

"Anđ łɇađ ŧħɇ Ҟnɨǥħŧȿ ŧø ŧħɇɨɍ ɍɇȿᵽɇȼŧɨvɇ łøȼaŧɨønȿ. Ɨ wɨłł, øf ȼøưɍȿɇ, nɇɇđ ŧø ƀɇ nɇaɍ ŧħɇ ɇnŧɍanȼɇ ŧø ҟnøw wħɨȼħ ҟnɨǥħŧ ɨȿ ǥøɨnǥ wħɇɍɇ, anđ ₥anɨᵽưłaŧɇ ŧħɇ đøøɍȿ ŧø łɇađ ŧħɇ ҟnɨǥħŧȿ ŧø ŧħɇ aᵽᵽɍøᵽɍɨaŧɇ łøȼaŧɨøn aȿ wɇłł."
"And lead the Knights to their respective locations. I will, of course, need to be near the entrance to know which knight is going where, and manipulate the doors to lead the knights to the appropriate location as well." Strom then faced the group and opened his book, sketching the appropriate amount of doors within.

"Sø, wħɇɍɇ wøưłđ ɏøư łɨҟɇ ŧø fɨǥħŧ?"
"So, where would you like to fight?"

[[Side Note: I'm still going to call Margrel a Kat, but because Strom would have been alive around the time where the Kats were still, well... Human-Morph things, he simply sees both forms as the same "thing", just with different levels of power (with humanoids having the highest power, because they hadn't deformed). For Pippin, if she ever meets Margrel, I'll call her something else.]]

---------------

Pippin:
Pippin watched as the group of undead, which she had gathered together quite perfectly, disappeared.

"Wha-- WHAT?!" she shouted, "BUT WE JUST-- WE WERE--!!"

"AHHHH!" Pippin let out an angry shout, then continued to mumble some things which should not come out of a knight her age. She then sat down on the ground in seething rage. If there was one thing Pippin hated, it was having her hard work be taken without explanation.

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 12:35
#654
Colray's picture
Colray
I know

((I thought you would make a scene where they got destroyed by the divine avenger charge so I didn't post a reaction just yet.))

"Where? Hmm, this castle doesn't happen to have a library does it?"

Margrel studied the 3d layout and pointed to a slightly bigger room. It had shelves that resembled a library.

"There, that seems like it would be a library. Can I get a confirmation?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke looked at the other two knights in surprise, just as soon as the monsters were all gone, they both had broken down. One in a somber mood, the other fuming with rage.

"Uh... What?"

Luke approached Pippin, as he knew her more than the other knight, "erm, did I miss something? You guys beat them off?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beck strolled through the castle looking around for a good spot to sit in. He paused, listening to the commanders converse. Hearing the Phantom's plan, he snapped open his laptop and brought up an interface. He reached into his backpack and brought out a spherical, mechanical gray gizmo. He flicked a switch and set it on the ground. He turned back to his laptop and tapped out commands. The gizmo unfolded and hovered to eye level. A couple seconds later it whirred away, taking in video feed of the hallways.

Eventually, it came across the room Margrel had pointed out, it was indeed some sort of library. Glowing obsidian shelves house ominous looking scriptures.

"Right then, there's your library, anybody else need a place checked out?"

((Yeah, this is the enemy territory, we pick where we fight.))

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 12:37
#655
Flame-Shinobi's picture
Flame-Shinobi
Lyn stood up

"Ummm, can I get a confirmation on what just happened? I was surrounded... I wasn't... Does anyone know what just happened here?" Lyn looked around.
"I'm going to scout ahead, anyone wanna' come with? I don't like the vibe this place gives me, I don't wanna be alone here."

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 12:55
#656
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
Can we have NAMES now? PLEASE?

Pippin:
As Luke approached, Pippin's anger was slowly piping down.

"erm, did I miss something? You guys beat them off?" he asked, clearly just as confused as the rest of the knights probably were.

"I wish. We were going to, but then they disappeared," Pippin pointed towards the entrance to the castle, "as you can see by the path devoid of undead body parts."

She then stood up and patted the dirt -- or whatever material was covering the ground here -- off of her Chef Suit, and looked towards Ares, who was still holding his head in his hands. Lyn voiced her confusion as well, but Pippin already knew what she would be saying before she said it. Confusion would be an obvious reaction. The enemies had appeared from nowhere, powered down, then just vanished.

'Why do I get the feeling we're just being played around with?' Pippin bit her thumb's nail as her rage grew once again.

"I'm going to scout ahead, anyone wanna' come with? I don't like the vibe this place gives me, I don't wanna be alone here." said the girl, but Pippin interjected before anyone volunteered.

"Not yet. First and foremost... Can we at least introduce ourselves? You know, what normal people do when they're thrust into an Apocrean realm with complete strangers?" After leaving a moment fr thoughts to gether, Pippin continued. "

Then, after that, let's talk about the possibility that we're being tested by someone. Because... I think we're being tested. THEN we can march into the castle with no plan." With that, she turned to Gwen.

"Unless we actually DO have a plan, that is. Beyond just "find the Apocrean Rulers for unexplained reasons in a completely unknown area, with unknown enemies", I mean."

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 14:28
#657
Colray's picture
Colray
Introducing!

A little less confused, Luke nodded in agreement with Pippin, "before we rush off and have the same thing happen again, let's figure out who we all are. I'm Luke, to start things off."

He looked at the knights he didn't know, asking silently for them to reply.

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 19:07
#658
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Emotional.

Ares had heard everything as if he was a distance away. It was like a Com Unit with bad audio, he even heard crackling. He pounded his head in his hands. How could he have let the gremlins have her? Then again, what had actually happened? His memory, still a little hazy in recollecting the attack, fed him images.

  • Gremlins hacking Kora.
  • Kora stumbling
  • Chomp's Firebolt and Ares's dash. A vague yell of, "Run!"
  • The gremlins chasing after him.

So had she escaped? Was she in the Clockworks? Had she been..corru-

Ares couldn't allow himself to think of it. Chomp blew his comforting Firebolt in his face, but Ares was numb to it. Then he heard the sudden silence. Backtracking through the broadcast, he realized he had to introduce himself.

"I'm Ko- I'm Ares." he stuttered. Composing himself, he continued,

"Well I know of a couple who'll be waiting for us. Vargas of Damnation, a dishonoured Vanguard who kills other Vanguards for sport. And Armerio. A Swarm Knight with unbelievable power. It's his Undead Army we've been fighting. He's incredibly powerful, I don't even know most of what he can do."

Then he added,

"He was spawned from me," almost imperceptibly. He then launched into his briefing.

"Look, Armerio doesn't do things by the halves. He was trying to take over me, till he realized he had enough power to make his own body. He made an army, just so he could go meet with the Apocreans. He took over a whole floor of the Clockworks in five minutes, just for kicks. I'll be damned ((or Vargassed)) if he doesn't have allies who are around his power level. Our plan when we go there, is to stay alive. At this point we can't turn back. We're going to go to the castle, survive whatever madhouse they're creating for us, and kill them all. No prisoners. It's the only thing we can do."

"We're not being tested, we're being teased and goaded."

He sat down again, falling silent. He had sounded a bit like Kora when she got angry. ((I don't know why i'm on such a Kora spree))

***

Armerio hadn't thought Strom would know the Undeads, but it was evident in how he looked at them. Then he realized he had sensed a Swarm presence in the Graveyard he had inhabited, it must have been Strom. Sicarius had mentioned this but he hadn't paid it much attention at the time. But Strom had carried on, even though it must have been tough for him.

Armerio felt a pang of remorse, which he had inherited from Ares. He'd have to make more Undeads or something for him. But, to the matter at hand. Armerio listened to Strom's plan, and saw Margrel, who he never realized had a human form ((I'm pretending he just noticed the morph)) choose a library.

"I want a dungeon," he said.

Vargas was amused, to say the least. They were like little children picking out toys and candy. But, he did have a sweet tooth.

"I require nothing but an open space," he said, then added, "Preferrably a big one."

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 20:23
#659
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
We need more protagonists. ._.

Pippin:
"Pippin. You can call me "Pip", though." Pippin kept her introduction short. She needed to think on Ares' talk. He seemed... Off. Did the corruption spread in him from the Carnavon Breath despite the Remedy Capsule Luke had given to him? Well... It didn't really matter. Even if he was corrupted, fighting off the ones he mentioned and anyone else would be difficult with one less person -- corrupted or not.

"So we ARE being played with, then..." Pippin's anger starts showing on her face, but she manages to ask another question before going into a cursing fit (again).

"Why would a Swarm Knight want to ally himself with the Apocreans, though?"

---------------

Strom:
Strom listened as his allies decided on where to go. It went without saying where Strom would be fighting, however. If he were to watch over the knights to make sure they went through the correct portals, there was really only once option.

"Ɨ, ₥ɏȿɇłf, wɨłł ƀɇ ŧaҟɨnǥ ŧħɇ ɨnŧɇɍɨøɍ øf ŧħɇ ɇnŧɍanȼɇ."
"I, myself, will be taking the interior of the entrance." Strom had finished with the drawings of each of the portals, and the crystals within his body had formed into a larger crystal, protruding from his chest slightly.

"Ƀɇȼaưȿɇ øf ŧħaŧ, Ɨ ȿħøưłđ đɇᵽaɍŧ ɨ₥₥ɇđɨaŧɇłɏ. Ƀɇføɍɇ ŧħaŧ, ħøwɇvɇɍ..."
"Because of that, I should depart immediately. Before that, however..." Strom paused a moment, then turned to Armerio.

"Ɏøư ȿɇɇ₥ ŧø ħavɇ ȿø₥ɇ đɇvɨȼɇ føɍ ȼø₥₥ưnɨȼaŧɨnǥ wɨŧħ a ҟnɨǥħŧȿ wħɨȼħ is nøŧ ᵽɍɇȿɇnŧ, ɉưđǥɨnǥ ƀɏ ŧħɇ ȿ₥ałł a₥øưnŧ øf nøɨȿɇ ȼø₥ɨnǥ fɍø₥ ɏøưɍ ɇaɍ-aɍɇa wħɇnɇvɇɍ ŧħɇɏ ȿᵽɇaҟ. Ӎaɏ Ɨ ħavɇ ønɇ? Ⱥ ᵽøɍŧaƀłɇ vɇɍȿɨøn øf ŧħɇ Ȼaȿŧłɇ Łaɏøưŧ ᵽɍøɉɇȼŧɨøn wøưłđ ałȿø ƀɇ aᵽᵽɍɇȼɨaŧɇđ."
"You seem to have some sort of device for communicating with a knight which is not present, judging by the small amount of noise coming from your ear-area whenever they speak. May I have one? A portable version of the Castle Layout projection would also be appreciated." The holes in conversation previously had been uncomfortable, but Strom was sidetracked. Now was the best time to ask.

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 20:39
#660
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Com Units

Armerio had a Swarm version of everything, including the Com Unit. Strom"s own would need to be Swarm powered, or it wouldn't work. After fiddling with it for a little, he handed it to Strom and said,

"Whenever you press that button, you can communicate with us. The layout will also appear as a projection anytime u press the button."

***

Pippin had asked an interesting question, and Ares had the answer.
"He has a subconscious desire for company, which he inherited from me. Let's say I was thinking about Ko- bad things when I was corrupted with him."

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 21:49
#661
Colray's picture
Colray
Strom, meet Beck(again)

"You don't happen to know what her name is?"

Luke gestured to Lyn,

"Anyways, you have a swarm version of yourself? Is that what I'm hearing?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beck sat back and listened to the other requests. Then he sat forward and the drone moved away from the library, moving through the castle at relative ease.

"There you go, a big wide open room for who knows what. Maybe summoning but no markings here."

He marked the place on the 3d layout and the. Moved the drone off.

"You honestly want to know where the dungeons are in a castle? I believe they'd be down oveeeeeerrrrr....yup that'll be a set of dugeons sitting down on the bottom of the castle interior. Anything else?"

Again said area highlighted itself, making it obvious as to where the area was. Beck finished up commanding the drone and tapped out the return to signal command. He shut the keyboard and slipped it into his pack before taking up his rifle, training it on the spot where any knights would appear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syber looked around, then studied the map. He took in his skills, set of weapons, and such, then compared it to what he had seen of the battle chef. He didn't have a way of marking the area but he had it picked out. He activated his comset and gave his area to the sniper. In the 3d layout, a larger area lit up, instead of being one big room, it was a set of hallways, stairwells, and secret passages, linking in a confusing labyrinth at one area of the layout.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 03:20
#662
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
So much talking

Ares really didn't want to talk that much.. He pointed to Lyn, Scorpio and Gwenivere and said,

"Lyn, Scorpio, and Gwen."

***
Armerio teleported Vargas to his location, then said to Strom,

"If you need me, radio me."

Then he telported himself to a dungeon, giddy with excitement.

The dungeon had large, dried pools of blood, and Armerio placed a Swarm Source under the largest one. Near the walls, and definitely in the corner, were thick curtains of darkness. It wasn't what you'd call bright in the rest of the dungeon either, so he could use this to his advantage. Also he could control the chains hanging and thrown down everywhere how he liked. He may even summon an Undead or two, he thought.

((The Swarm Source will only give him very slight buffs at 1st. Try to find it before too long, however.))

***
Ares nodded at Luke,

"Like the brother I never wanted."

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 13:55
#663
Flame-Shinobi's picture
Flame-Shinobi
Lyn laughed

"Look, now that introductions are through, I wanna head ahead," Lyn said, "If none of you will come with me, I have Sarah." Lyn began to walk off.
"I should be back in 15 minutes or so. If I'm not back by then.. I'm in trouble." If you guys wanna stay and work on a plan, I should be back with info soon."

Lyn began to walk off towards the castle. Thinking of why the monsters dissapeared, and how swarmbane was doing on his own.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 14:53
#664
Snakey-One's picture
Snakey-One
I missed so freaking much

Creos hated traveling by obelisk. It was so unreliable. For all he knew, 13,000 years had passed while he was teleporting. However, when he telepathically reached out to the nearest entity to find out how much time passed, he realized that it had been mere hours since he had teleported (Is that how long it was?) from the obelisk. Another cheery coincidence was that he had formed right in front of the castle. The only downside was that a knight was making its way towards him and Creos knew he didn't have enough energy to do anything on a major scale.

@Ares-Hsg Is Armerio keeping the door open to the castle or not? It might really matter

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 15:27
#665
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
3 Characters all acting individually. Vog help me.

[[(For those who do not look at the Discussion Thread,) the Character info for Min, whom I am introducing in this post, can be found here.

@Snakey-One
So... Does your post mean Creos appeared literally in front of the castle? Like... In front of the entrance? As in in front of the group?

Also, did I mention I'm shipping Strom and Margrel? Because I am. The head of the largest Shipping yard in the land strikes again.]]

---------------

Pippin:
"So we've got a Corrupted you, a Psychopath, and possibly other things inside the Castle. Plus Apocreans." Pippin paused a moment.

"Hey Gwen, can you open up a portal back to Cradle so I can give up while my head is still connected to my body?" she asked; it was only a partially sarcastic question.

When Lyn started heading off, however, Pippin lost all sarcasm in her voice.

"You're going to die if you step foot in that place without a plan." She then motioned to the area around the group, where the two undead groups had been barely a minute ago.

"The last time you went alone, you got stuck between two hoards of undead. Y'think that's going to change if you try to sneak in AGAIN? Heck, the fact that you were stuck between both groups means that they probably have eyes on us already! There's no point in sneaking anymore. If we move, we should move together; but only AFTER we have a plan!" Pippin then waited semi-impatiently for the knight to reply.

---------------

Strom:
Strom carefully took the Com unit from Armerio and attached it to his helmet, which was surprisingly easy to do, as the Swarm energy curled up through his arm from the book and fastened it into position with ease. He then pressed the button Armerio had indicated fro showing the Castle interior, and motioned to the two doors which he had created -- there was no sense in wasting them. Strom then approached the exit to the room, but stopped, and spoke through his new Com Unit.

"₩ɇ aᵽᵽɇaɍ ŧø ałł ħavɇ łøȼaŧɨønȿ ȿɇŧ, ƀưŧ wħaŧ wɨłł ɏøư đø, Łɨønɇł? Ɉøɨn ɏøưɍ ȿɨ₥ɨłaɍ-ȿɇɇ₥ɨnǥ ȼø₥ᵽanɨøn ŧø ȼø₥ƀaŧ ŧħɇ Ȼħɇf? Øɍ đø ɏøư ᵽłan ŧø ȼønŧɨnưɇ waŧȼħɨnǥ ŧħɇ ₥øvɇ₥ɇnŧȿ øf ŧħɇ ҟnɨǥħŧȿ?"
"We appear to all have locations set, but what will you do, Lionel? Join your similar-seeming companion to combat the Chef? Or do you plan to continue watching the movements of the knights?" Strom then released the Com unit, but kept a funnel of Swarm Energy flowing through it to:

  1. Continue listening to the conversation, and
  2. See the Layout of the Castle as he made his way to the entrance.

Strom then turned to Margrel, with one of the doors already floating out of the room and speedily making its way to one of the battle locations.

"₩øưłđ ɏøư łɨҟɇ ŧø ɉøɨn ₥ɇ, Ҟaŧ ȿᵽɨɍɨŧ? Ŧħɇ łɨƀɍaɍɏ ɨȿ nøŧ faɍ øff fɍø₥ ŧħɇ ɇnŧɍanȼɇ."
"Would you like to join me, Kat spirit? The library is not far off from the entrance."

---------------

Min:
Min walked calmly through the corridors of the Obsidian castle. It wasn't the darkest place it had been -- well, Min assumed it wasn't. Darkness and light didn't really make a difference when you had a Helmet blocking your vision. Min adds a point to the Helmet vs. No-Helmet charts as that thought occurs to it, but it doesn't slow its pace.

It had been invited here as an emissary from its Diety, contacted by Apocrean Heirarchs with the proposition of an Alliance against the Knights. Min had explained, however, that its master did not pick sides, but rather observed the change of events -- and so any alliance would prove meaningless. Regardless, the odd creatures insisted that Min should consult with its master -- who the Apocreans hadn't assumed was listening to their whole proposition -- and think the offer over before leaving through a small Obelisk which lay outside of their meeting chamber.

Min required neither time, nor a mechanism to leave this place, but accepted out of thanks for their hospitality. The answer would not change, but there was no harm in allowing time to cushion its master's rejection of the alliance. Despite Min giving the reason of non-allignment, it knew that its master simply had a distasteful attitude towards the Apocreans. It must have been how they smelt. Darkness and Obsidian wasn't the most savory aroma to have about you when making alliances. The tentacles moving about under the ground -- as if ready to lunge out and strangle Min should he reject their offer while the deal was going on was also not the greatest way to bargain for assistance.

With every step Min took, it scanned the area around it. The sound echoing off the Obsidian floor, and the sound that its circular-chains made allowed it to have a good grasp of the castle, and so it headed towards the hallway that led to the Heirarch's wing in order to get out of the castle and walk about in the area outside. The scent of Obsidian would still linger, but with Min's helmet, the smell was thankfully interrupted by the scent within.

Min then added a point to the Helmet side of the Helm vs. No-Helm chart.
~~~
When it reached the bottleneck, Min turned and walked to the edge and turned its head, as if looking outwards. It must be an appealing view. If one could see.

Another point was added to the Non-Helm side.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 16:16
#666
Flame-Shinobi's picture
Flame-Shinobi
Lyn saw a strange person in front of her.

She quickly sped back down the path.
"Okay guys, good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first? Good? Good. There was no sign of any more troops on our way to the castle... On the other hand..." Lyn paused here, catching her breath, "There was this strange guy, he didn't seem too powerful though... So... any plan? I'm starting to get a little hungry myself..." Lyn rambled on nonsensically for a while, then calmed down. "So... plan... do we have one... that wold be nice..." Lyn sat down, "As I said, I'm hungry. Did anyone bring any food?

OOC: [(Lyn saw Creos, but not really knowing who he was, ran back in fear of being spotted)]

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 16:19
#667
Snakey-One's picture
Snakey-One
@Ember-Break

Creos had formed literally in front of the castle. He is rushing inside and closing the castle doors a quick as Apocreanly possible.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 16:57
#668
Colray's picture
Colray
Insert clever phrase here

"I'll be staying here to provide intel support. I could join my friend, but I think he's got some friends with him."

Beck returned to his laptop and observed the group of knights, he again saw the knight move ahead of the group. The Omnidrone followed the girl, and when she stopped, and immediately turned and ran, Beck zoomed out rapidly. He was able to catch a glimpse of somebody dart inside the castle. Then the gates shut.

"Someone's entered the castle, via front gates."

Tappity tappity, let's rewind and see who that was. The footage rewinded, and the figure was recognizeable as he darted into the castle.

"That someone is our very own Creos, a little late isn't he? Oh well, he'll probably meet up with you guys."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who? Did you catch who it looked like?" Luke was intrigued. Lyn still shouldn't have gone ahead by herself, but now another ally maybe? He stepped forward along the path, maybe the someone was friendly?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margrel nodded, smiling thinly.

"Of course, lead the way. Strom was it? I'd like to know what other tricks you've got up your sleeve"

All Margrel knew about magic were the simple Kat spells, nothing more than summoning a weapon or two, boosting ones physical abilities. She did manage to get ahold of some owlite tomes during that fateful day. Those were more interesting! Arcane magick that could perform defensive and offensive spells. If only she could've gotten a hold of more of those enchanting books! She wondered what these Apocrean had in store.

"Not that I haven't a few tricks myself..."

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 17:14
#669
Snakey-One's picture
Snakey-One
BABABABABABABABA...YEEE

Creos rushed through the halls of his old home until he reached the dungeons. "Please let there be knights please let there be knights." Creos hoped as he descended through the dungeon. All that was left was a party (Four) knights all huddled together in a clump. "Follow me, you four. Don't even think about running away. I have plans for you." Said Creos as he dragged the knights up to the nearest Swarm entity.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 17:53
#670
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Who closed the doors?!

"WHO CLOSED THE DOORS?!" Armerio yelled into his Com Unit. Fortunately for the others, Com Units modify whatever they transmit to be heard at a certain decibel level, so it didn't deafen anyone who happened to be listening. He stepped out of his dungeon, he had heard a voice. Could they possibly be attempting an ambush? No. That wasn't their style, was it?

Beck informed him that it was Creos who entered the castle just now.

"Strom, I need you to keep the front doors of the castle open for me. Once the knights are in, close it on them," he requested.

Armerio could bet that it was Creos in the dungeons too.

"Creos? Over here." he said.

And if it wasn't Creos? Well Armerio would have an appetizer, but it wouldn't last long. He summoned his powers, as anything unforeseen would be dealt with quickly and brutally.

***

A plan? That was a laugh. Ares had forced a peek into Armerio's mind, but could only find out things that he had figured for himself.

"The fortress is enchanted now. Once we go in, we're playing by their rules. They are going to separate us. So basically the only option available to us is to survive the separation, and regroup somewhere, likely at the second floor of the fortress. If everyone has a Com Unit, I suggest putting it on broadcast, so we can locate each other. They will already know where we are, so it won't make much of a difference," he said.

Turning to Luke, he said,

"Well, if he willingly entered the castle, I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Out of curiosity, did any of you meet Kora in the Clockworks over the time you were there? Or anyone who had seen her?" Ares suddenly spurted out. There was an odd look in his eyes, like desperation mixed with fear.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 19:17
#671
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
Quite the view, huh? If only I could see. -Min

Pippin:
Pippin didn't get her hopes up about a new knight joining the group. Why would someone friendly be all the way out here? Where would they have even come from? Partially to distract herself from voicing her doubts, and partially to answer Lyn's question about food, Pippin spoke up.

"I had food, but then I woke up in a concrete bunker in haven, followed by an assault by the Apocreans. Needless to say, I no longer have said food on me." Pippin let out a sigh.

"Seeing as we're probably being monitored, and no more undead hoards have shown up, I'd guess our would-be-executioners are waiting for us to go inside... So I guess they can keep waiting a bit." With that, Pippin took the SMC off of her back, pressing its button and selecting several pieces of cooking tools, which appeared next to her. She had essentially taken out an entire kitchen.

As she started up the equipment and took ingredients out of her SMC, she listened in on Ares' revealing of the enemy-group's plans. For a moment, a hint of doubt wandered in -- perhaps even a bit of mistrust to the knight, but Pippin dismissed it. If what he was saying was true, then it'd just be proven as soon as they entered; what would he have to gain from trickery if the plot he had just spoken of would be bad enough?

Then, he asked about Kora.

"Hm? The intel-knight? I haven't seen her since before Haven was lost... Why?" Before getting an answer, however, Pippin grinned to herself.

"Ohhhh~ were you two dating?" she teased as she finished taking cut Wolver Meat out of the container and added some spices to it before placing the meat on a pan and beginning to fry it on the stove.

---------------

Strom:
"Ɨ'₥ afɍaɨđ Ɨ'vɇ ałɍɇađɏ ɍɇvɇałɇđ ₥øȿŧ øf ₥ɏ ŧɍɨȼҟȿ. Ưnłɇȿȿ ɏøư'đ łɨҟɇ ₥ɇ ŧø ɋưøŧɇ łønǥ łɨnɇȿ fɍø₥ anȼɨɇnŧ wøɍҟȿ øf łɨŧɇɍaŧưɍɇ -- ₥ɏ ₥ɇ₥øɍɨɇȿ øf ŧħɇ ƀøøҟȿ Ɨ ħađ đɨȿȼøvɇɍɇđ đưɍɨnǥ ₥ɏ łɨfɇŧɨ₥ɇ aɍɇ ȿŧɨłł ɋưɨŧɇ ɨnŧaȼŧ."
"I'm afraid I've already revealed most of my tricks. Unless you'd like me to quote long lines from ancient works of literature -- my memories of the books I had discovered during my lifetime are still quite intact." With that, he set off to the Entrance with Margrel.
~~~
After about a minute of travel, Beck's voice came through with sightings of Creos.
"Ɨf ŧħɨȿ "Ȼɍɇøȿ" ħaȿ aɍɍɨvɇđ, ŧħɇn ønɇ ₥øɍɇ łøȼaŧɨøn nɇɇđȿ ŧø ƀɇ ȿɇŧ, ȼøɍɍɇȼŧ? ₩ħɇn ŧħɇ łøȼaŧɨøn ɨȿ ₥aɍҟɇđ, Ɨ ȿħałł ȿɇŧ ưᵽ a đøøɍ føɍ ŧħɇ ƀaŧŧłɇ'ȿ łøȼaŧɨøn."
"If this "Creos" has arrived, then one more location needs to be set, correct? When the location is marked, I shall set up a door for the battle's location." Strom commented when news of the late-arriving ally came through -- it was then followed by what must have originally been a shout from Armerio, judging by his tone of voice. Strom was thankful that the device saved him from unnecessary deafness; and replies a simple "Ưnđɇɍȿŧøøđ" to Armerio's request afterwards.
                     "Understood"
He then continued towards his destination with a greater speed. If that had been a knight, the plan would have been ruined; haste was in dire need. During his run, he saw what looked like a statue... Odd, because it wasn't Obsidian, but he didn't have time to think about the inconsistencies of material usage within the castle's decorations, and so he moved on.

---------------

Min:
Min continued on its way out of the castle after a couple minutes of silence at the choke point. The view out of the windows was nice was enough of a mystery to keep its thoughts occupied for long enough; Min continued along its way in silence, only the clinking of its chains and the taps of its footsteps keeping it company in the dark and dreary palace of tentacle-beasts.
~~~
A short while later, Min was within a corridor close to the entrance of the castle. It was glad it had the senses it did, as it had heard the breathing of a knight setting up near the maze that was the way on the way to the choke point, and sneaked past noiselessly by using a series of time-manipulating spells to move faster than what would be considered possible. It didn't relish the thought of using such things on itself so easily... But explaining what it was doing in the castle was hard enough to do to the various Apocrean attendants scattered through the castle -- especially when one's speech is muffled by a helmet.

Another point was begrudgingly added to the No-Helm side; and Min momentarily considered taking the point off, considering a great deal of points had already gone into the "speaking" category already. Before going into a mental debate, however, he heard the swift movement of another creature within the castle, not far away. Perhaps 1 minute of running, if Min was forced to guess. This brought about a new mental debate.

'To move... Or not to move... That is the question.' [[Yes I went there.]]

The mental conflict was soon solved, however. Min had time on its hands (not in the form of magic, but in the form of real, moving time), and was willing to part with it -- that's why it was heading outside, after all. It then stepped to the side of the corridor and simply stood stock-still. Statues and armor sets were common in castles, after all.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 19:38
#672
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Sudden Hunger

Ares delighted at the sight of the chef's, no, Pippin's whole kitchen being rolled out in the middle of Apocrea.

"So we're gonna eat right here, right now? While they're busy setting up their killhouse?" he asked, then burst out laughing.

"Awesome," he said.

Pippin had been spot on with her question, and Ares debated on how to react, as he was caught off guard by it. Fumbling for a reply, he then asked,

"Will I get extra meat if we were?"

***

Vargas and Sicarius were bored.

Sicarius was coralling the other 3 squads of Undead in a room behind the choke point Beck had picked out, and, seeing as they were already under control, it was mind-numbingly boring. He was disappointed when Creos had arrived, he had desperately wanted action. But who knew? Maybe he'd get it.

*How long is it going to take them to get here?* Vargas wondered.

"You'd think Ares was discussing his personal life," he grumbled into his Com Unit, clearly impatient.

"Funny you should say that," Armerio's reply crackled through the radio.

Vargas kicked the floor, attempting to find any hitch in the Obsidian. But there was none. There was only just enough traction to give one a sure footing, and nothing else.

***

Armerio had felt Ares's clumsy probe into his mind, and decided to return the favor. Naturally, he knew that Ares was infected again, as this was the only way the connection could work, but the corruption was so small it wasn't worth absorbing, and it also didn't yield much information, aside from images of the Intel Knight, what was her name?

Whatever it was, it gave an interesting angle for Armerio to use should he ever engage Ares. ((Where Swarm's Hive Mind becomes a little useful, imo)) Armerio happened to know that she wasn't dead, in fact, Ares himself had saved her by distracting the gremlins which had almost ended her life. She had been seen to escape through one of the Arcade Elevators, but no Swarm creature had recorded a sighting of her since.

Armerio relaxed, waiting for Creos.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:16
#673
Snakey-One's picture
Snakey-One
Creos...

Creos was glad to find Armerio inside the castle. "How quickly can you Swarmify these knights?" Creos asks Armerio.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:21
#674
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Really?

"Really?" Armerio was disappointed. He had expected something better from the return of Creos. He held contact with each of the knights for 30 seconds, and immediately, their eyes went a Swarm pink.

"I hope something better comes out of this," Armerio sulked.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 08:33
#675
Snakey-One's picture
Snakey-One
Creos...

"I promise, something will." Creos replied

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 17:29
#676
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Intermission

((Hi.))

Ares fiddled with his Com Unit, feeding Chomp and resting him in his lap. He brought up the Com Unit Social Stream (CUSS) for the first time since he had woken up. He couldn't say he was surprised with what he saw. There was a lot of inactivity, from 2 months ago, up to 1 year. Wait! A green dot! It was under "K" too. Kerighton, Kerri, Koal, Konartis, Kora?

Ares stopped hopefully.

"Last seen 1 year, 2 weeks ago." her profile stated.

Ares sighed.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 17:40
#677
Saucce's picture
Saucce
BANANA

Scorpio notices Ares' sigh and comes out of feral/stealth mode. He takes a wolver steak and gulps it down.

"Worried about your girlfriend eh? After this mess is over, we'll find her."

EDIT: I DID THE STUPIDNESS

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 20:03
#678
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Hungry

Ares watched Scorpio take a Wolver steak from the stove, and two thoughts occurred to him.

*How did that not burn him?*

*Pippin is gonna be pissed.*

He replied with a nod and a smile in Scorpio's direction. In reality though, Kora would probably find him. That's how it always happened with them. Who knew, maybe she was in Apocrea now. As long as Feron was keeping his paws off of her, Ares wasn't gonna worry anymore. Then he realized she probably was with Feron. Before this thought process escalated, Ares burst out,

"Pip, is the food finished? And are we gonna go in right as we finish eating?"

***

Vargas kicked the floor again, and swore. Armerio, having gone back into his dungeon after nodding at Creos, agreed with the sentiment.

"Maybe I should send a squad for them," he said, clearly impatient.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 20:33
#679
Colray's picture
Colray
wat theres food nuuuh

Luke stared at Scorpio, then looked hungrily at the Wolver meat.

"Am I the only one that isn't ready to charge into the evil castle?"

He sat down, and looked up at the anxious Ares. Then waited for Pippin's outburst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beck rolled his eyes and grinned, for all powerful warriors, these guys were acting like little kids waiting for a rollercoaster. He adjusted his zoom for a minute and then turned to his com.

"Oh yeah, hey mister Creos, where do you want to fight? We all get to pick."

He sent data to Creos's comset, at least, if he had one.

"...and honestly, have a little patience Armerio, you too Vargas. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was your first time having a plan." He added meaningfully.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 22:03
#680
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
That moment when people post while you're away.

[[Any time other than 18:00 - 22:00 is fine. Well, except school days. But... PEOPLE ALWAYS POST 18:00 - 22:00! WHY?!
/e weeps in the corner ]]

---------------

Pippin:
Pippin watched as Scorpio inhaled the wolver steak she had set down, and simply waited. Other knights said things, but she didn't hear them. Then, in a speed that should be humanly impossible, Pippin moved in front of Scorpio... And let loose her foot with the speed comparable to a cannonball -- just with more power behind it. The next instant, she was back at her cooking station, taking out another slab of wolver meat, and chopping it with expert precision.

"Is there anyone else who'd like to have food early?" Pippin smiled pleasantly and looked at the other knights, flames popping from the stove and giving her eyes a much darker shade than what one would expect from a knight -- her look would be more at home on some sort of sadistic Fiend creature.

"Since Mr. Should-Have-Been-Neutered-to-Avoid-that-Damage just ate what I was working on, I have to start the procedure over. This isn't regular cooking, after all..." As she said this, any damage left by her kick at Scorpio started recovering, as if to prove Pippin's point that her foods weren't just for curing hunger.

---------------

Strom:
"Ɨ'₥ ŧħanҟfưł ŧħaŧ ŧħɇɏ ħavɇn'ŧ ɍɇaȼħɇđ ŧħɇ ȼaȿŧłɇ ɏɇŧ. Ɨf ŧħɇɏ ħađ, ŧħɇn ɏøư wøưłđ ałł ƀɇ waɨŧɨnǥ ɨn ɇ₥ᵽŧɏ ɍøø₥ȿ føɍ nøŧħɨnǥ."
"I'm thankful that they haven't reached the castle yet. If they had, then you would all be waiting in empty rooms for nothing." Armerio chuckled to himself through his Com Unit as he approached the entrance. Upon reaching it, he looked down at the large entrance, and immediately pulled out his Book of the Swarm, ripping out the several needed pairs of Doors for the group, resulting in the crystal in his chest becoming quite small. There was still enough to make another pair of doors for Creos, with more to spare in combat. For that, Strom silently thanked the ones who had crumbled to nothingness for lending their aid.

Strom then started sketching the look of the Castle Layout via the holo-projection. Moments later, he cracked a small piece of his crystal off, and ripped out the page containing the new sketch -- resulting in a transparent Swarm-Energy containing layout of the castle, which then floated to Margrel; the location she desired pulsed Magenta occasionally, along with the path to it.

"Ưnŧɨł wɇ ₥ɇɇŧ aǥaɨn, Ӎaɍǥɍɇł. Ɨ'₥ ȿưɍɇ ɏøư wøưłđ łɨҟɇ ŧø ǥɇŧ ȿø₥ɇ ɍɇađɨnǥ đønɇ ƀɇføɍɇ ȼø₥ƀaŧ ȿŧaɍŧȿ; Ɨ wøưłđ ɉøɨn ɏøư wɨŧħ ŧħaŧ, ƀưŧ Ɨ ħavɇ ᵽɍɨøɍ ɇnǥaǥɇ₥ɇnŧȿ."
"Until we meet again, Margrel. I'm sure you would like to get some reading done before combat starts; I would join you with that, but I have prior engagements." With that, Strom chuckled, then held his hands forward, allowing them to detach from his body. Armerio's band moved up his Void-Black "skin" to his shoulder because of the dislocation. He then primed his fists, and prepared a small line of Swarm-Eyes to accelerate his hands to the door from the Balcony he and Margrel stood on. They shortly reached the door, and Strom forced them open. His hands then sped back to their master, and Strom's Swarm Eyes blinked out of existence, no longer being needed.

Syber, Armerio, Vargas, Margrel's receiving doors all floated next to Strom. Thankfully the Entrance was quite large, so he would have no problem creating a short maze in order to separate the knights and lead them to their respective locations. A final set of two doors, the pair for Creos' location, also floated along his side, along with Strom's Épée. After pausing a moment, he busied himself making individual cubes within his book; after filling each page, he ripped it out at controlled the cubes towards the ceiling.
Why individual cubes? In that way, he could mold the maze however he liked, and was able to move the knights within whether they liked it or not.

It would all be manually controlled, but...

Strom's eyes vanished and his one, large Swarm eye within his helmet returned, igniting sparks along the pages as his drawing speed drastically increased.

Strom had enough concentration to control 3 of these rooms. The ceiling is now covered in Void-Black cubes, which blend in with the Obsidian quite well -- even if a knight sees them, it's quite possible that they could mistake them for the ceiling itself. Strom then walked to the edge of the balcony, looking down over the large entrance, taking in the environment. There were two curved staircases leading up to the Balcony, and below the balcony itself lay a large fountain. An unknown creature was the "fountain" of the object, and was spewing dark-liquid from its mouth and into the pool surrounding it. The room itself was a good 90' x 75' [[Just think of a Basketball Court x2, approximately]], with doors leading to the left and right into separate rooms about 3/4 down its length from the entrance. A couple of Pillars divided the room, to support its high ceiling.

---------------

Min:
After the two creatures had departed, Min stopped pretending it was a stature, and looked towards them as they disappeared around another corner. This castle certainly had a lot of twists and turns, didn't it? Then again, the structure itself was probably not meant for non... What had they called themselves... Apocrean? visitors. The creatures surely had no trouble rounding corners, given their bodily structures.

Min set down the same hallway as Strom and Margrel, following their path as it did so. They appeared to be headed in the same direction... With that thought, Min slowed down and decided to take the council of its master as to what it should do. It was always quite wise in its decisions, Min would not have followed it if it was not. After only moments of silent prayer, it responded.

"Go to the entrance. Observe the Manifestation of the Core."

Min set off towards the Entrance, once again.

---------------

[[See Pippin's Bio, there's a paragraph half-way down about what Pippin is doing. It starts with "Once prepared", so you could use Ctrl + F for easy finding.]]

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 23:27
#681
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
But I don't wanna wait... :(

Armerio composed himself. What Beck had said was true, but Armerio didn't have to show it. However, he did reply to Beck,

"If you look at what they're doing from Ares's point of view, you'd be frustrated as well."

Vargas honestly had not been acting on chidish urges of impatience. His kicking of the floor was his way of testing the battleground, seeing if anywhere would give a slight advantage, but his ankle bent awkwardly. ((This may come back to bite him later on.)) He did not deign to relay this point to the others, however, but continued kicking the floor.

Armerio was silent.

***

*Not regular cooking?* Ares thought.

Unless it could cure The Swarm it didn't have anything going for it right now, except being hunger-inducing.

Thu, 01/22/2015 - 06:10
#682
Flame-Shinobi's picture
Flame-Shinobi
Lyn looked at the wolver steak...

"MMM... That smells nice, how long until it's done?" Lyn walked over towards a tombstone and read out the name, "Lord Eli Stampington of Dunshkmire," Lyn burst out laughing, "Where... where do they get those names?!?!" Lyn accidentally kicked the grave and it crumbled, a small purple soul floated out. It looked very sad. Lyn immediately noticed why, it was chained. She shot at it and watched the chains shatter. The soul turned white and flew off into the sky.

"Hey guys! Found something to pass the time while Pip cooks! We can free these little guys!" Upon saying this she kicked another grave. Ready to free another soul.

Thu, 01/22/2015 - 07:37
#683
Saucce's picture
Saucce
BANANA

Scorpio grasps his nether regions in pain.

"I see you're quit the feisty one?" He says painfully. Scorpio notices Lyn freeing souls. "There's about say... 2 billion of those here. There is one of these for each person an Apocrean," He hesitates, as if angered by the name of Creos' race. "has devoured. You could crash the Skylark here and about 5 million would be left."

Scorpio pulls out his Grim Repeater and fires rapidly at every grave in the area.

Thu, 01/22/2015 - 09:49
#684
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
Tmw able to write when most people can't.

Pippin:
"Just give me a couple of minutes." was Pippin's reply to Lyn before she and Scorpio started desecrating graves in their spare time. She then added in a couple more steaks, some spices (which she was thankful for putting directly into her SMC after she had bought them from Emberlight), and a bit of a Gel spread over, to absorb the flavors and keep the steaks from getting stale as they cooked. She then took out a couple of Lumbar twigs and chopped them up beside the meals. While not looking as delicious as most ingredients, the twigs actually had a great deal of energy packed into them, and, if chopped fine enough, served as a good replacement for sliced potatoes.

After chopping them, she tossed them into the frying pans equally, and set to work on a couple more ingrediants, including monster bones (for the bone marrow), Chromalisk scales (Green ones, specifically, as they added a sleight "tang" to the meal), and some miscellaneous herbs gathered throughout forests Pippin had traveled through. In the end, there was a total of 10 ingredients per plate. The meals would be fully cooked in 2 minutes, and there were a couple of extra plates worth of food, which Pippin planned on storing for later.

[[I plan on using the food quite soon after we enter the castle... So don't eat the extras, pl0x. ; -;]]

Thu, 01/22/2015 - 16:23
#685
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Fool me three times....

Ares..was..

It wasn't even Kora anymore. He was just morose for some reason. He shot at graves and the chained souls with his Volcanic Pepperbox, but he didn't really get the point. Neither his heart nor head was in it. Maybe he was just hungry. Unlikely, but a possibility.

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 05:42
#686
Flame-Shinobi's picture
Flame-Shinobi
Lyn shed a single tear watching another soul fly away

"Gosh, they're so adorable.... I wanna hug one. Well at least we're ending their eternal torture," Lyn kicked a grave and shot the soul free.
"So, we need a plan, when we get in, you said they'd split us up, right Ares?" Lyn looked over to Ares as she said this, he seemed... out of it. "I say we all think about who we want to kill the most," Lyn freed another soul.
"So, I have no more grudges... but you guys, who do you want to kill." Lyn was thoroughly enjoying this. Doing good and getting to know each other... it was like a friendship thing... sorta.

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 08:36
#687
Saucce's picture
Saucce
BANANA

Scorpio bolts up right with the "Who do you want to kill?".

Scorpio grins. "I say we take out Creos. Any objections?"

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 16:02
#688
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Armerio?

Now they were thinking somewhat like their opponents, Ares mused.

"We won't really have a choice in who we get, I believe they have that end of things handled. If there's any chance that we could outnumber any one of them, I suggest we take it though. But for the sake of discussion, I'd want Armerio," he replied.

Turning to Scorpio, he asked,

"Was he the Apocrean that took your squad out?"

And he said out loud,

"We don't really know the others however, do we?"

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 17:01
#689
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
Now... I've gotta go eat dinner. Dang Steaks makin' me hungry.

Pippin:
"Well, you mentioned Vargas. So... That's someone, too."

Pippin responded to Ares on his comment about not knowing other opponents. The fact that the enemies didn't have a definite number was kind of unnerving; at least they knew whatever was coming up was a trap of some kind. Pippin then started putting her creations onto plates; they were all 10oz Steaks with a side of Mashed Lumbar-Twig, which would look and taste like Mashed Potatoes. The steaks all looked extremely juicy, but that wasn't to say that they were Rare, rather, that they had retained enough liquid within them because of the Gel to be both the best temperature, and have an almost squishy consistency. On the side were a couple of herbs, but the meal over all was just to restore energy without making the knights too full to fight the onslaught to come. Due to the culinary energy poured into the food by her tools, it should also offer a bit of a recovering/strength boosting effect as well... But the ingredients weren't really the strongest to deal with, so the effects would only last about 10 minutes, if that.

After putting all of the meals on plates, Pippin put utensils on all of the plates except Scorpios -- judging by the way he ate the last steak, he probably wouldn't need them. She then took a container out of her SMC and put the remaining two steaks and Mashed potatoes within, closing the container with a "snap". Despite the impending trap and/or death awaiting them, it was always a good idea to keep extra provisions. She then put the container back in, and shouted:

"Food's ready!" to the knights.

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 17:51
#690
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
WHEEEEEEE

"True, but I think you understand when I say that Armerio and I have a... personal situation," Ares replied to Pippin.

Uttering a quick but loud "Thanks" to Pippin, he dug in.

Pippin's food was pipin ((yup)) hot, and not to mention delicious. He salivated at the slightest scent of it. The Lumber twigs combined with the right proportion of the Wolver steak. She cooked even better than he did. Chomp shifted in Ares's lap.

Ares devoured the meal in seconds, at least until he realized that it was finishing. Now, with less than quarter of his meal remaining, he tried to stretch the meal out.

"I might be able to find out who else is there, but only if I can find it in Armerio's mind. It's risky though, and I may not find anything at all. And just for the record, the food is indescribably great," Ares informed. He said all this between small, tentative forks ((is that how you say it?)) of his food.

He paused, his fork poised in mid-air, waiting for a reply.

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 18:59
#691
Colray's picture
Colray
foooood

Luke took his mouthwatering plate of steak and cut himself a bite. He popped it into his mouth and chewed.

"This is amazing! They teach you this in Battle-Chef... er Academy? That's amazing!"

He ate some more, and tried some of the potatoes. How do you make something like that here?

"Anyways, yeah, how many others are in there? The only ones we know about are the ones each of you guys-" he gestured to Ares and Scorpio,

"Have a personal Vendetta with."

He stopped talking to eat some more of the five star meal. Then he acknowledged Ares.

"Yeah, try and see who else is there. Also, Gwen, if you're still there, do you have telapathy? Then maybe you can see whose in the castle."

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 19:09
#692
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Whoo!

Ares set his fork and his plate safely down, making sure that nothing would disturb them.

He forced the Swarm corruption in him to connect to Armerio's mind. It was like a wireless connection in many ways. It was also like a snail, in one glaring, frustrating, and obvious way. IT WAS SLOW. It also almost wasn't worth the effort he expended. He barely got an image of who they were dealing with before Armerio sensed him and 'closed the door'. Forcefully. It actually knocked Ares off his perch, and almost onto his plate.

He told the others,

"I see Armerio and Vargas, of course. I see an Apocrean, along with two Apocrean Knights, one looks slightly detached from the others though, and he has a sniper. I see a beautiful woman, but I get an Undead vibe from her. I don't know who she is. She's beside something, something Swarm. But I don't know what or who it is, I only see a sword that looks kind of like a Flourish."

He resumed eating, stewing over the fact that Armerio had shut him out so easily.

Fri, 01/23/2015 - 19:16
#693
Saucce's picture
Saucce
BANANA

Scorpio nods in Ares' direction.

"Yeah, he took out and was a member of my squad. That'll be Creos, the Apocrean. He's the only pure on left."

Sun, 01/25/2015 - 17:09
#694
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Ready.

Ares nodded sympathetically and said,

"I'm sorry, hopefully this squad can take him down."

After a few minutes ((you should all finish eating by now, and Pippin's kitchen should already be put up)) Ares got up, a steely resolve in his eyes.

"There's no putting it off any further, let's go," Ares said. Chomp woke up and flitted to his shoulder, and they began moving towards the castle.

***

Watching them start to move to the castle, Armerio, Vargas, and Sicarius grinned.

((EDIT: Please tell me Colray didn't see that I used ------ instead of Ares))

Sun, 01/25/2015 - 17:05
#695
Saucce's picture
Saucce
ARES!

Scorpio stands up grimly, following Ares toward the castle.

Sun, 01/25/2015 - 22:20
#696
Ember-Break's picture
Ember-Break
Thread Death Imminent. All character movement required.

Pippin:
As Pippin packed up her entire kitchen as well as remaining ingredients, she started thinking about what lay behind those doors... Would any planning really be possible? If their aim was to split them apart, would they have a partner? Or would there be enough enemies to completely spread out the group?

Things weren't looking good.

Still, the group didn't really have any options; so Pippin followed Ares towards the castle.

---------------

Strom:
Strom had opened a Swarm Eye up on the castle to monitor the group's movements as they ate. Why they had decided to eat made no difference. Perhaps it was some sort of custom to be well fed before going into enemy territory. One of the knights, Strom noticed, looked a lot like Armerio; so as the group of knights started walking, Armerio decided to speak into the Com Unit once again.

"Ŧħɇ ǥɍøưᵽ ȿɇɇ₥ȿ ŧø ƀɇ đɇłaɏɨnǥ ŧħɇɨɍ đɇ₥ɨȿɇ. Ⱥɍɇ ɏøư ȼønnɇȼŧɇđ ŧø ŧħɇ₥ ɨn ȿø₥ɇ waɏ, Ⱥɍ₥ɇɍɨø?"
"The group seems to be delaying their demise. Are you connected to them in some way, Armerio?" While Strom wasn't exactly suspicious of Armerio betraying the group, he couldn't help but wonder if the group was staying back because they knew something about their plan... Then again, the knights could simply be tentative to walking into unknown areas, which would be understandable. The time they took would have made Strom yawn if he was still capable of getting tired, but instead he was kept awake, watching the door as his Swarm eye dissapeared outside of the castle.

The group would be inside in less than a minute, so there was no need to keep such a thing outside.

---------------

Min:
Min had caught up to the strange knight when he started speaking into the Com Unit. His voice was... Different. Almost static-like. It was refreshing seeing another knight whose means of communication wasn't perfect, and if the creature didn't have the feeling of corruption coming off of him, Min would have approached and made friends of the odd creature right away.

But the knight was corrupted. So Min decided to stay back a bit, hiding behind one of the support pillars built into the side of the corridor close behind the Balcony in the Entrance. It would move when the Knight made some sort of movement, otherwise its position would be given away; Min shortly considered using time-manipulation magic to slip past and get into the entrance itself... But then the corrupt knight would probably just see it, and hiding would be useless. For that reason, Min simply waited a ways behind the knight.

---------------

[[We're going to need Gwen to move soon. Like... REALLY soon. She's supposed to fight Strom, after all.

@Thinslayer
If you're still participating in this, get your RP on!]]

Sun, 01/25/2015 - 23:28
#697
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Gwen is back in the game.

The Hierarch was close.

And he was powerful.

Even as she cast her mind about the world around them, she could feel his overwhelming presence pressuring her. Out-of-body work was usually peaceful business, but there would be no peace while the Hierarch still lived, watching her, studying her, knowing her every move.

In a flash, she returned to her body, drenched in sweat. She keeled over and coughed hard, only to discover blood on the floor. A frightened pause overtook her; her hand steadily traveled up to her chest and clenched the cloth over her heart until her knuckles went sickly white. The blood on the floor was her own, and it came from her own mouth, but it was not red as blood ought to be. It was an odd silver color, and seemed to move on its own like mercury.

Her body was breaking down. There was no other explanation. The nanites that made up her shellform were beginning to loosen and break away, some of which found their way into her bloodstream. Her vision briefly went white and her heart suddenly jolted as panic began to set in. No! Not now! I can't afford this! Not when I am so close!

The Hierarch smiled. "Cat got your tongue, Gwenivere Valentine?"

Gwen's vision faded to gray and almost went dark. "Wh-who...who are you?" she managed to squeak out.
"Get up. You look pathetic, all splayed out on the floor like that."
She scraped herself up off the floor and wiped the silver blood from the corners of her mouth. "Why...why can't you- *cough* -leave well enough alone?"
"Ah, so much queston, so few time. I can hardly believe you're the one they sent to kill me."
At this, Gwen forced herself to laugh a little. "S-so you heard about them. I'm sur-surprised you're not wetting yourself in fear."
"When they're all not much stronger than you? Don't make me laugh. Even Astraea and Xindao would quiver before me, just as you are now."

Gwen clung to the wall and struggled to get to her feet. "Maybe if I...talk big enough, I'll get...stronger. You think?"
"Well. You sure talk big for one so little. Sure you don't want my help?"
"Ha. I'll manage just...fine...with my knights here."
"Oh. I'd nearly forgot about them. Don't forget to kiss them goodbye."

The presence vanished. The relief was so sudden that she nearly fell over herself onto the floor again. "Dam telepaths. Always getting on your nerves," she mumbled, resisting the urge to spit. She hadn't traveled two steps before falling over again. "Stupid floor. Somebody help?" she whispered, hoping someone would notice.

Sun, 01/25/2015 - 23:44
#698
Colray's picture
Colray
Combat imminent inactive players need to be active

((So I made a lengthy post earlier today, then something happened and it was all deleted, so I gave up and left.))

Luke stood up, and started to follow Ares when an idea struck. He slipped off his pack and opened it, inside, other than some basic survival tools, a couple of Health capsules lay scattered about, with the same amount of remedy capsules.

"Hey, before we go in."

Luke handed a health capsule and Remedy pill to everyone. Then he slipped his pack back on.

"I was saving these for an emergency, but if we may get separated, might as well give everyone them now. I got none left, so take care of them."

He secured his Blackened crest on his arm and then drew his sword. Ready to follow Ares.

EDIT: Luke turned to Gwen's voice, "Hey guys, looks like she's with us again."

He moved to her side, offering support, "I don't suppose you need a Health capsule? I got an extra pair."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margrel strode into the library, kept going to the center, and did a quick spin to examine the rooms Oh this will be perfect!she looked around, and made a beeline for the shelf that looked like it held spell books. As she got closer, her suspicions were correct, runes were floating slowly around the book pages, their aura never rested.

She picked one off and opened to the table of contents. -Offensive Incantations, how to smite your enemies.- Margrel looked around for a bench, and sat down on it. She looked up and could see Strom's portal shard.

She crossed one leg and balanced the book on it, flipping it open to chapter one: -Summoning your first tendril...-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syber looked onto the labrynth, to any of the others, it looked as if he had been wandering the general area randomly. Instead, he had been memorizing the entire area. And so was his team. Syber came across the Shard door, and waited for the rest of his team to return.

"Sir, are you finished?"

He looked up, one of his team members, Slink, approached from one side.

"Yeah, from the looks of it, the knights will be here soon, we'll be facing the chef."

"Alright, I still have some more to commit, so I'll try and hurry up."

Syber watched him walk away. Then stared at the shard. If they had Unit one with them, there was no way they'd actually come out on top. He'd have to have a plan b, no doubt Beck did.

The mercenary sighed, and walked a distance before turning around and leaning against a wall. He watched the Door shard and unholstered his Argent Peacemaker.

Once ready, his troops knew their positions, all of them had a concentrated map of the area, and if any of them had a visual on the chef, she would appear on the others' radars.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beck sat by himself, hidden from plain view. He was tapping on his computer. He was memorizing the newly mapped out upper level of the Apocrean castle. With Unit one on the Knight's side, Beck knew they'd somehow come out on top. He thought for a second, if they didn't succeed, and the knights got past this trap, killing or wounding the commanders. The castle was almost free for the taking. If he wanted to, he could distract the knights for some time, but that wouldn't stop them at all. He wanted to talk to Unit one, or 'Gwenivere' as she was known now. But he didn't think he'd be able to in the current circumstances.

A soft whirring signified his omnidrone's return. It slows to a stop just behind him, and he was able to pluck it out of the air. He slipped out a cartridge and plugged it into the computer. The entire layout of the castle popped up, and a small orange set of hallways lot up, then it went away. Beck grinned, and filed the information away. He turned back to his Omnidrone and shut it off, putting it in his pack and turned back to his laptop.

The stage is being set, let's go make some final adjustments to our part.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Slink walked away from his new leader. He looked around and then turned into a small hallway, he was about to step into the next hallway when he heard voices. Instead, Slink pretended to go down another hallway to his left. Then, quiet as a ghost, he listened.

"-and when he's dead, they want us to go after his friend?"

"Affirmative, however, it is imperative the first objective is taken care of. Are ours in position?"

"Almost, four of the neutrals are not in position yet, but will be in a minute or two."

"Good, Delta is a go when the commander is focused on the chef. Eliminate all who would not be loyal."

Slink's mind was working overtime as he heard this, but he was careful to ghost away out of earshot. Once there, he continued in a regular gait before meeting up with two others at his designated post.

He was so focused on what he had heard that he almost missed the others' greeting sign.

Slink returned the sign before readying his sniper rifle. He eyed the two next to him, he had a feeling one of them would be with Delta. He needed to be wary.

((Holy Owlite Academy that's a large post, oh well, it got the gist of what I'm planning out there.))

Mon, 01/26/2015 - 04:39
#699
Ares-Hsg's picture
Ares-Hsg
Short, but I have school

Ares checked to see if everyone was behind him once he reached the doors. They were. He wasn't alone.

"I'm not one for goodbyes, but we could die, just reminding you all. So, with that in mind, I want to see everyone of you when we somehow regroup at the stairs. I won't forgive any of you if you die."

Then he smiled,

"Now, forgive my degree of articulateness, but let's go kill em dead,"

He stepped through the doors.

((Naturally i'm expecting a warp or something))

Mon, 01/26/2015 - 19:00
#700
Snakey-One's picture
Snakey-One
Hello-o!

Creos walked out of the room, and went to find his least favorite hierarch. His father.

"DAD! I'M HOME!" Creos yelled like a child. Uh. Why did I say that. I sound like I'm only 1,000. Creos thought.

"WHO THE APOCREA LEFT IN THIS DIMENSIONAL PLANE SAYS THAT! YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A LENGTHY EXPLAINATION YOU MISERABLE UNDERLING!" Came a very angry voice from upstairs.

"YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A FINE EXPLAINATION! I AM CREOS, SON OF THE HIERARCH, AND IF YOU DON't EXPLAIN YOURSELF THIS VERY INSTANT, I WILL HAVE MY FATHER STRIP AWAY ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AND LEAVE YOU WITH THOSE OF A PATHETIC SNIPE!" Creos retorted, realizing that was his father yelling. He hoped he had made a good impression.

"WHO THE APOCREA DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TELLING A LIE LIKE THAT! GET BACK TO YOUR POST, FOR I, THE HIERARCH, WILL PERSONALLY SEE FIT THAT YOU ARE EXECUTED AT ONCE! MY SON HAS NOT RETURNED SINCE HE WAS 10,000 YEARS OLD, AND I SUSPECT A LOWLY KNIGHT DI.." The Hierarch stopped. A sudden blackout and the Hierarch was in front of Creos "Is it really you Creos? After all these years? Are you finally back?"

"Yes, father. It is truly I. The answer to the security question is 2,035, which was when I took my first soul." Creos answered proficiently.

"Well, you could probably explain why all these strangers arrived here." The Hierarch replied.

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