"Alright, first things first. Everybody shield up with what you can," said Burning, wrapping himself in an aura of flames.
Pstorm nodded and created a large mist around the group, before surrounding herself in gentle winds that would snap into a hurricane the moment she needed.
Danica just stood there, though she did seem less tense.
"We'll need to keep an eye out for any traps. I doubt we'll get far before we hit the first," she said before following her husband as he led the way to the large double-doors at the end of the large hall.
Burning glanced back to make sure everyone was following before pushing the doors open.
He quickly leapt back as acid fell from the ceiling, and burrowed straight through the cracked marble floor in seconds.
"Hopefully he won't try anything new," said Burning before stepping over the hole, and glancing into the room. Everything seemed clear at first.
Suddenly, Pstorm cried out as a shadow rushed over her, throwing her back. The Consumed rose from a pool of darkness in front of her, catching the girl as she fell, and sending her flying towards Essex.
"Expect to meet some old friends along the way," rang through the hall.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"I dont even know these people! I dont even know you!" Darkstorm pointed at Burning. "I'll manage, I've had far worse." He pulled a cloak of shadows to cover himself and those near him. He pulled an addiational layer of shadows and Dark Matter overhimself to protect himself. "So, were just gonna follow the dotted line, as it is said?" He paused, "Its what he wants us to do, why not do what he dosent want us to do?"
"DUDE! It's that dude! 'Kay." Alpha didn't seem to have anything more to say than that before throwing himself prone and loosing a fearsome barrage of automatic fire.
This had a bad effect, in retrospect, as at that very start of the weapon's unloading, Bear was bringing a powerful arrow to his string, and was only murmuring quietly the warning he gave as a gratuity:
"Close your eyes."
And he let the Flashbang arrow fly.
"Oh my eyes," Toy Dispenser said lazily as the flashbang exploded. Even with the very brief warning, Toy's sensors were able to compensate for the sudden increase in light, keeping him from being adversely affected.
"Let's add a little illumination of our own," he said as thick arcs of electricity began crackling over his body.
"One flambe, coming up," Combat Toy said as pitons set into the back of its ankles stabbed into the ground, bracing the assault bot so when it fired its missiles.
The incendiary missiles roared out from their racks and shot straight at the Consumed and at the ground around him. The flames would keep anyone from going through the doorway for a bit, but they would also keep anything on the other side from coming at them. Unless they were immune to fire or some such thing.
"Let us end this quickly," Archlich said loudly as he pointed a finger at the Consumed, a bright light slowly growing at the tip of it.
The rest of Toy's bots pulled back, trying to avoid flooding the target area with their fire and possibly injuring allies.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
The attacks ripped straight through The Consumed, but he did not flinch, or react in any way.
Suddenly, several more of The Consumed sprang up around the group until they were surrounded, and there was one of him for each.
"Mortals, know you will not be going any further," they said in unison before charging the group, fists wrapped in red energies.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"Agh!" Hal yelled as his version of the Consumed came at him. He flipped backwards into the air right into the arms of his Phantasm as it appeared, and beams of light tore at the copy from both the illusionist and his pet.
"Awesome!" Schizo cackled, floating around in a bizarre, slightly dizzying pattern, if it even WAS a pattern. Thorns shot at his Consumed as it swung at him, and purple miasma poured over it from his hands, tearing at whatever consciousness the thing had. . . "We're all going to die! YAY DEBT FARMING!"
((The fourth wall! IT IS BROKE'D!))
"Buddabuddabuddabudda..." Alpha calmly hummed to himself as he changed the barrels of his rifle, popped out a tripod, and set down more full-auto fire at an even more insane rate.
Bear picked around his quiver for just the right arrow ---
Ahah!
A tar-canister holding arrow flew towards the Consumeds, followed closely by a fire arrow...
"Well this is interesting," Toy remarked as no less than seven Consumed's charged him. "Thankfully, my tricks work more than once."
Lightning surging down his arms, Toy flung both hands out formed cages of electricity around the dark brutes. Since they were somewhat clumped together, all of them were affected and held in place.
"Hey look boys," Toy said as he pulled up his pulse rifle and took aim. "Target practice."
Toy fired a standard triple burst at the lead Consumed while the rest of his bots fired missiles, photon grenades, and full auto laser blasts. Well, only Mini Bot fired a rippling laser burst. Toy Bot opened wide the nozzels at the end of its cannons that directed the plasma and fired off a wave of the stuff instead of two bolts. Small Toy took aim and fired at the same Consumed that Toy had targeted.
Archlich cackled as the Consumed multiplied and charged. He had been giving Blightlord too little credit.
Drawing two runes into the air on either side of him, Archlich gathered the ice and frost in his hands before he threw them up into the air all around him. Every ally touched by the frost would suddenly grow a thick coating of ice that would deflect some blows while every enemy that was touched by it would be slowed. The nexus of the spell rested on the Consumed that rushed Archlich, only to be blown back by a wave of energy generated by a sweep of the lich's hand.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Well, at least he hadn't copied anyonethis time around. Now that left only the question as to which was the real one.
Then again, they might all be real...or none at all.
Too much thinking. Ya know what - just shoot 'em.
As 'his' Consumed came at Acid, the reptilian's weapon already at in the hand of an outstretched right arm, barrel aimed at the Consumed's head.
A squeezed trigger, and a GP shell let loose, the large yellow explosion intended to knock the man away as well as deal him a fair amount of damage from the energy and pressure wakes...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Oh son of a [censored]. . ." Dakrstorm muttered when the Consumed charged at him. He rolled backwards, threw a large ammount of Dark Matter at the Consumed. He pulled out his ruby and held it out, hopeing that Hazthri would materalise and take care of the Consumed.
Hal's blasts of light seemed to do little to his Consumed as it leapt up at him, both arms reaching out to grab him, and slam the hero to the ground.
Schizo's attempts to hurt Consumed's mind were not working well, the darkness around him seeming to absorb most of it. The thorns however, stuck, and elicited pained grunts from the creature.
As Schizo made another pass around, he leapt up to club him over the head.
---------
Alpha's Consumed staggered a bit as the bullets hit him, but soon dropped into the floor, becoming a pool of shadow.
He raced forward, popping back up behind Alpha and swinging both arms to box his head.
Bear's Consumed grunted as his feet were caught in the tar. He was about to melt into darkness when it all erupted in flames.
He hissed, and quickly rolled out of them, still smoking as he lunged at Bear.
------------
Each of the Consumed's Toy faced melted into the floor. Three popped up under the smaller drones, trying to tip them, while the others sprung up from behind, slamming fists onto their heads.
Toy's Consumed appeared directly in front of him, striking up with a fierce blow to his chest.
The Consumed facing Archlich quickly recovered from being blown back, and dropped into the floor.
He raced under Archlich, and grabbed his ankles. The puddle rushed forward, seeking to pull the undead wizard's feet out from under him.
----------------
Acid's Consumed grunted as he was thrown back by the shot. Shadows seemed to flake away from his face as he rocketed forward to bowl the reptile over.
--------------
Darkstorm's attack didn't seem to phase his Consumed much as it kept walking towards him. He suddenly sped forward, gripping the arm holding the ruby, and twisted it sharply before slamming his other fist into Darkstorm's ribs.
---------------------
Burning threw up a wall of flames and sent it rushing towards his Consumed. The creature walked through it, smoke drifting off his form.
Burning crouched low and brought his palms together, a fireball steadily growing. He let it loose, only for The Consumed to sink into the floor, and leap back up, slamming his fists into Burning's abdomen.
The hero doubled over, and The Consumed slammed both fists onto his back.
He reached down to grab Burning's collar when the hero flipped around and sent a large blast into his face.
Danica ducked under her Consumed's first swipe, striking him quickly under the arm, before sweeping his feet out from under him.
He melted into the floor, appearing under her. Instead of toppling her however, she rose with him, staying firmly on his shoulders until she kicked off his head, flipping in the air to land.
Pstorm glanced about, worried, as her winds kept up their dizzying pace. So far, her Consumed had tried to pop up in front of her twice, only to be thrown away by the winds.
She tried tracking his mind, but all The Consumeds seemed to share the same things she normally used to track.
Suddenly, he dropped down from the ceiling. Pstorm gasped and threw up her arms. A burst of air smacked into him, and sent him flying off-course.
He landed with a heavy thud, and was soon greeted with a lightning bolt.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Acid fired again, but the Consumed dropped into a puddle, ducking under his shell. All the glowing projectile blasted apart was a portion of the stone wall.
This was nothing new - Shades fought thesame way, and at times even more insidiously. Acid leaped away as the puddle tried to pull his feet out from under him like th other Consumeds had done to the rest of the group, kicking off the uneven wall to gain a little height, and the blasted the floor apart where he had just stood.
While his may have harmed to Consumed, the dark man nevertheless came rocketing out of the explosion faster than Acid expected, slamming the reptilian alien back-first to the floor with a vengeance. A clod of blood escaped Acid's mouth as his moth opened upon impct with the stone. The force was great enough to crack it somewhat.
Coming down with a follow-up attack intended to smash Acid flat, however, he was foiled when his fists collieded with an energy barrier, flaring up pale-blue in their air for a moment before sending him back up.
Acid grunted, licking a drop of blood off his lips as he jumped back up while taking aim once more. This time, the chamber clicked in a Thermotom shell, which could achieve temperatures of a small sun and burn its way through most known materials.
He fired...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The shot went straight through The Consumed, leaving a large gaping hole in his chest. He looked down, and melted into the floor.
He disappeared for a moment, but returned just as fast as he dropped down on top of the reptile.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Darkstorm writhed in pain, when The Consumed kicked him, and twisted the Ruby. "You really shouldnt have done that." With that two Arch-Demons materalised behind the Consumed.
"Nice! This will be fun, brother!" Illothlzabh summoned an army of Illusional Minnions -- one Dark Servant, two Spectral Terrors, and three Phantasims. The Illusional Minnions swarmed The Consumed.
"Very fun indeed!" Hazthri agreed with his brother, whose minnions were now attacking The Consumed brutaly. Hazthri teleported inside? of The Consumed and then expanded himself. "Wont be long now. . ."
((EDIT: Illothlzabh was a wee bit over powerd XD I changed that 
))
Hazthri soon found himself being absorbed and crushed by the eternal night The Consumed was composed of.
He ignored the illusional creatures attacking him, his single-minded determination keeping him focused on Darkstorm. He leapt at him, seeking to wrestle him to the ground and break his neck.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Hal's figure seemed to blur as his Consumed brought its arms down at him. The attack sent the Phantasm to the ground, but Hal was somewhere else. . . and it was difficult to see where, as there now appeared to be another Essex, Toy and Alpha, and they all rushed at the Consumed, the illusionary Alpha yelling "BOOM! Headshot!"
And the Consumed's strike seemed to do little to the being of light, though it seemed stunned by the attack and unable to counter. . .
"Ow!" Schizo yelled as he was hit on the head. However, Schizo's body was a mere convenience, and his head was no more vulnerable than anywhere else.
"Aw, you want a hug, snookums?" Schizo said in mock adoration, and his arms shot around the Consumed. Shortly after that they were coverd in thorns.
Acid had little trouble keeping up with the Consumed's puddlegliding. If he wanted to get to the reptilian, he'd have to do something unexpected again.
As the dark man dropped rom the ceiling, Acid got an idea - he may have been able to merge with the walls at any point in time, but in midair, he didn't have that option.
So Acid threw a force bolt upwards with just enough energy to bounce the Consumed back but not let him touch the ceiling. As he did so, he threw a quick glance around the area, checking up on the others.
Essex suddenly became invisible as Acid took a moment to stretch a hand toward the reploid, and if 'her' Consumed was still after her now, he would find his fists slamming into an energy barrier over her form very quickly. Indeed, it didn't take but an instant for Acid to expand his concentration and cover eeryone in a - for now invisible, at least until it impacted something - protective field.
This area of disperson wasn't quite as strong as when he focused hi full concentration into a barrier, but it could cover a large area much quicker.
And then 'his' Consumed reached the peak of his arc, coming down again. He struck nothing but air as the fluid collapsed into the space that Acid had just occupied.
Telported roughly four meters to the side, Acid armed the solid light shell he had left right where the Consumed would hit the floor, precisely at the moment just before the dark man made contact with the stone again. According to all odds, this should deal him a devastating blow.
In a hemisphere of bright, solid white, the shell detonated...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Cortianna gazed blankly at the Consumed that charged her. Right as he was about to grab her, the psychic's eyes flared and a wave of telekinetic energy flashed out, pushing him, and all others it came into near contact with back from the group.
AJ followed the simple expedient of brawling with hers, leaping onto it with her electrified armor and high voltage feild crackling.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
The copies of Essex, Toy, and Alpha received the same amount of attention as Darkstorm's distractions: none. This Consumed had one goal, kill Hallucinogen.
He melted into the floor, rushing about in search of his prey.
Schizo's Consumed grunted as he impaled him. He struggled for a moment before melting away, hiding somewhere in the shadows.
---------------
Acid's Consumed took the light in, and the puddle rippled before he reformed. "Mortal, will you never learn?" he said as he lunged for Acid.
--------------------
Cortianna's Consumed stopped his slide a few feet from his target. He quickly dropped into the floor, and raced forward. When he was under her, The Consumed erupted all around her, aiming to absorb Cortianna.
AJ's was content to fight her head on, trading blow for blow, electricity crackling over him when she struck.
-------------------
As Burning's Consumed reeled back, he leapt up, placing both palms on its chest. The hero fired a burst of flame straight into him, leaving two large holes.
The Consumed glanced down, and snarled. He leapt forward, and was encased in ice as Burning stole the heat from the air. The hero crouched low, and began preparing a blast as the ice slowly melted.
Danica landed on the floor, and whirled around in time to a recieve a backhand that sent her spinning back the other way. She wiped the blood from her lip, and turned back to her Consumed.
As he ran for her, she rolled to the side, and took his feet out from under him. She quickly grabbed his head before he fell, and slammed it into the floor, causing a loud crack.
Before he could melt away, she gripped his forehead and chin, and brutally snapped them to the side. His neck cracked, and he melted away, retreating into the darkness.
Pstorm's Consumed snarled as he walked towards her, the girl's attempts to overload his mind proving ineffective.
He faked a leap, and instead melted away, the blast of air sailing over him. He rushed at Pstorm, appearing right in front of her, in the eye of the winds around her. He gripped the girl's throat as the winds caught his legs, making him flail in the winds.
He squeezed, and her armor creaked. She gasped as it became hard to breathe.
Pstorm's knees buckled, and the winds died down. The Consumed growled in triumph.
Suddenly, his head snapped forward, and he slumped. Danica stood over him as he faded into the floor, retreating into the shadows as hers and Schizo's had done.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"Get out of there Hazthri!" Illothlzabh shouted while his Phantom Army attacked the Consumed. Illothlzabh accelerated the kinetic energies around his Phantom Army, increasing their density and how had they hit the Consumed.
"I know, its gonna be a second longer. . ." Hazthi blew up into a blackstar, severely damaging the Consumed. Hazthri materialised outside of the Consumed and prepared for a very powerful attack. He called all the souls of those he had stolen and or exchanged for. He manifested them into orbs and threw them around The Consumed, he called this technique Soul Storm. Hazthri and Illothlzabh both used their spells of healing off of the Consumed.
"ARRRGG, dammit!" Darkstorm screamed in pain. When he fell to the ground, his neck was close to being broken, but quickly healed with the two spells of healing coming off of the two Arch-Demons.
A third demon appeared behind the Consumed with a wicked laugh, she used an attack she called Midnight Eclipse. The Consumed was now face to face with three demons. Bale used several more attacks she called Midnight Grasp on The Consumed before sinking into the floor again.
((I don't mean to make AD seem over-powered, but its kind of what the Ruby does, it stored the souls of demons and lets them lose after a while, there can be up to 6 of them in their. He is like a MM at times, but more a corr than anything.))
((EDIT: Edited for propper grammer/spelling.))
This was bad. The solid light weaponry shouldn't have done that - that's why it was called solid in the first place. It should have hit the guy like a freight train. After all, it had been designed to fight the very darkest of dark things, the Shades, which had in them not even a hint of light, and...
Duh!
Of course! Whatever he considered himself, the Consumed was still just human. That meant he wasn't composed of pure darkness. Still, the shell should have done a whole lot more. After all, if you suddenly expanded a solid object where a person was about to land, and he crashed into said object, there was generally at least some ill effect.
It was probably the makeup of this place. A slight adjustment to the frequency should take care of that. Next time, the light of this weaponry would be just as solid to the Consumed as it was to everything else.
Thankfully, the guy wasted time talking. Apparently, he hadn't gotten any smarter.
As the Consumed's energy-coated fists came down, they passed right through Acid, who had phased his molecular structure out of synch with normal space-time for a moment. He took a long step backwards as the Consumed struggled to reclaim his own balance, carried forward by the momentum of his own strike.
Taking advantage of his moment, Acid's long tail wrapped about his opponent's arm, pulling him along and using his already considerable momentum agsinst the Consumed, throwing him towards the wall again.
Of course, this would allow him just to become a puddle again - if Acid hadn't blasted a GP shell at the very same wall. With no air control to speak of, it turned the dark man around from one instant to the other, launching him towards Acid again with his back turned.
Although the reptilian didn't know if that GP shell had actually done any damage, he knew this next move would hurt to no end if he succeeded.
At the ready with his bladed weapon, he tried to ram the tip of it right into the Consumed's back, pulling the trigger at the same time. If this worked, the frequency-adjusted solid light shell would tear him apart from the inside out when the sphere of pure white light expanded within him like a concrete balloon in a time span of less than a millisecond...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((OOC: Sorry, man. I was in a bit of a rush when writeing that. I'm sorry for anyone who couldnt read my writeing or who can't read it. I try to generaly take my time on my posts, tell ya what, I'll go edit my post so its more legible.))
The Phantasm had now recovered, and hovered in midair, hands glowing, searching for the Consumed.
"It's gotta be there somewhere," Hal muttered to himself, dashing at incredible speed along the ground, invisible.
He began to project his radiation into the ground. It would weaken the Consumed greatly when it hit, although it would also give away his position. But that was why the Phantasm was now watching his master carefully, ready to blast away at the Consumed should it appear next to him. . .
((Might need to tone down the demons a bit. Having a pet with the Master Illusionist powers, another with the most powerful Corrupter power, and so on is a bit much. Plus having a Corrupter controlling them.))
The Consumed absorbed the much of the Blackstar's darkness, the excess shooting from his eyes and mouth, rushing for the ceiling.
As the Soul Storm reached out for him, he dropped into the floor, causing the other attempts to hurt him to miss.
Darkstorm's Consumed rushed straight for him, and leapt up from behind, aiming to grab the back of his head and slam him to the floor.
---------------
Acid's Consumed stared in shock as he was impaled, and quickly had a large whole in him. He melted off of the sword, and quickly zipped around Acid, retreating into the darkness.
----------------------
Hallucinogen's Consumed slithered between his friends feet as he stalked him. He felt the radiation beginning to weaken him, but his goal was clear.
The Consumed rushed forward ahead of him, and leapt up, arm out to clothesline the rapidly speeding hero.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
[ QUOTE ]
"I hate it when he does that..." she murmured, skimming a little closer to Alpha.
[/ QUOTE ]
"You're not the only one." Acid growled, slowly crawling back up, starting on all fours, "But I do appreciate it."
After he managed to get back up on his legs, he arched backwards for a moment, stretching his back, "Ah, much better now."
He took a glance at his watch. Nineteen seconds this time. He was getting better. Slowly, but surely anyway.
"And I'll have you know I'm not a lizard." he stated, turning to Darkstorm, "Alright, let's get a move on then. Blightie's probably already on his second bag of popcorn."
With that, he started following Small Toy down the stone corridor at a leisurly pace...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters