The Lord of Rags was soon knee-deep in swamp muck. Every step created an echoing pop as the mud tried to suck him back in.
Up ahead, the sounds of undead soldiers conversing could be heard. Four of them were in clear sight, but it was likely more were waiting nearby.
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
"OHSWEETJEBUSRIDINGATRICYCLEBATMAN!"
Spines fired from Experiment's arms, organic lining pulling harshly as the spikes dug into the ground, catapulting him skyward, and he activated his jets.
Of course, he began falling steadily, approaching the height his jets were at previously. He groaned. "Alrighty then, that's it. I hate zombies, I hate magic, no offense Burning, but I overall, hate such BASIC traps, that I ALWAYS fall for! Hell, I fell for the freakin' Indiana Jones Boulder-Weight trap twice! In ONE BASE!"
He had a blank look for a moment, before chuckling. "Who knew Orenbagans had a sense of humor?"
"Twice?" said Burning. He would have grinned if it weren't for the fact that every time he did something like that, he was the next to be faced with a trap. Not like it did him any good, as the ground soon began to shake. "That doesn't sound good..."
The ground split as a large hand shot up from the earth. It sank its fingers deep into the ground, and began to pull the body it was attached to out. An Atrocity stared at them both, its putrid stench overwhelming.
As it tried to free its other leg, Burning quickly tossed a blast of fire into its face. "Move!" he yelled, ducking beneath it trying to get as far away as possible.
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
"Like I'm not GOING to?"
Experiment landed, and dashed to the right, giving himself a little space away from the Atrocity, spines unsheathed. He threw himself into a roll, and landed facing the thing again.
He aimed a spike at the thing, about ready to fire, before half-turning his head to Burning. "Anything I should know about in this thing? Resistances, ranged power, stuff like that?"
In response the Atrocity spat a gob of acid that landed at Experiment's feet. A hole instantly burned deep into the ground.
"There's that," said Burning. "Two of us can't take this thing, we need to get going now." The hero held out both hands and chilled the air around the hulking monster, trying to slow it down so they could escape.
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
((<.< Apparently, my computer and the forums worked together, clearing any new post reminders. I must have missed this in my search.))
Experiment took a big step back, face contorted into disgust.
"He just hocked a HUGE one at me! That's disgusting!"
However, he didn't decide to try and teach the thing any lessons. He followed Burning's advice, and began running.
Very quickly.
The Atrocity lumbered after them, the chill air slowing its steps, but it could still spit, which became obvious as whole chunks of the ground seemed to disappear around Burning and Experiment at random moments.
As they ran, various traps shot forward. Darts, probably poison-tipped, narrowly skewered the heroes. More than once Brawler had to leap over a pit to avoid falling to his death.
Around the forth pit, he began to notice a pattern. A light dawned in his head and he turned to the other hero, shouting, "Go left and hit me with a spine. One of the ones with the lines attached!" He knew there would be confusion about this. "Just do it!"
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
OOC: Yo'kay folks, my bad for stalling the thread. I'll try and put my guys in isolated situations next time I suddenly lose the urge to do anything RP related.
BIC: The last zombie hit the ground in two pieces, torn in half by Combat Toy. The assault bot was battered, one of its missile launchers torn from its shoulders but the pile of zombies surrounding it were worse off.
"Pfft," Combat Toy spat. "I could've taken them all down in half the time while taking out all these suckers."
"He's saying you did damn good," Toy Dispenser said as he flipped his pulse rifle over one shoulder and walked over to the wounded hero.
"For a cape," Combat Toy added sullenly as Block Bot moved forward and hit it with a nanite beam, repairing some of the damage.
Large Toy also moved up from where it had been hanging back, hurrying over to Slater and holding one hand out for steady the tanker while it played its nanite beam over his body. The nanites, though modified to also work on organics, didn't work as well on humans. They'd still fix more than a few problems, though.
"Hi Marcus!" Mini Bot said enthusiastically as it picked zombie fingers out of a tear in its armor, one tentacle waving in the Family psychic's direction.
"I suggest we leave," Toy Bot said from its perch hanging sideways from a thick tree. "Before moving off to investigate the approaching anamoly, Small Toy reported that its sensors detected more undead bioforms incoming from the south."
"Also known as: Get the hell out of Dodge," said Toy Dispenser as he looked around at the group surrounding him, his bots, the hero, and Marcus and his goons. "I'm assuming none of you know why the hell we're here and feel the same urge to go toward the central tower. Considering that I think I know who's behind all this and that eleven bodies are more effective than seven, it would be in our best interests to team up and find out what's going on."
"As long as the cape can survive working with the bad guys," Combat Toy said with a heavy amount of scorn.
************************************************** *
Chertak planted his foot on the small hill in the middle of the swamp and took a moment to take advantage of his newly gained height. Activating the zoom function on his armor, the Rikti Warmaster looked to his left and right, taking note of the desert and thick forest. His sensors detected some sort of energy discharges in the forest and he thought he could see entire trees being thrown into the air by some powerful creature. But the path ahead seemed clear, which was all that Chertak cared about at the moment.
Punching the correct button on his left wrist and reaching behind himself, Chertak grabbed his rematerialized plasma rifle and started down the hill on the lookout for any more traps or undead ambushes. If all went well, he should arrive at the outskirts of the city within minutes.
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.
((OOC: I haven't posted in this one in a while. Waiting on someone *cough* Devious *cough cough* to post so that I may continue my disjointed story.
Carry on!
Oh... and look behind you! Zombie hordes!))
Experiment leaped over yet another pit, his foot loosening a piece of rock, sending it into the abyss, after regaining his balance, he checked behind him, and back to Burning. "Eh, not much other choice right now, and if it IS Blightlord, you probably... Well, you MIGHT know what you're doing anyway..."
He aimed, and fired a spine, attached to organic lining all the way back to his body as he leaped to the left, avoiding yet another pit.
Chertak suddenly heard muted footsteps directly behind him. They walked when he walked, ran when he ran, and stopped when he stopped.
((I guess the smashed trees wiped out half the zombies for us :P))
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
((Quite...sigh...sorry about stalling this as well, I guess some people don't want to notice my pal. 
))
Vyachslav's claws came to a halt roughly a meter above Wolfgang. It didn't take but a microsecond.
This guy was giving up. That didn't make any sort of sense. But...he was with Blightlord. He had to be! Or not? If he wasn't, why was he here? Was this all just an intricate plot meant to fool and confuse those who got caught in it?
To Wolfgang, it may well have appeared that Vyachslav had seized up. He wasn't moving, not even breathing (which his species didn't do in the first place, but it may well have appeared odd), just completely still as the seconds ticked by...
--------------------
Thysthe didn't reply. The spell-fueled anger had taken over. His mind combat-locked at the moment, the bounty hunter didn't even realize it. He thought this was all coming from his own will.
Faster than most humans could blink, Armand tore his plasma pistols out of their holsters and into firing position, letting loose with a rapid succession of tiny, sun-hot plasma spherules, even as he scrambled back to his feet to prepare his next move...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
((Yay! 
))
Amora's eyes widened as she sensed the sudden shift in Thysthe's reactions. Faster then she could react, she could only snarl in defiance as a pair of plasma pistols appeared in his hands, aimed directly at her. Rolling to the side to avoid the rapid succession of shots, she managed to dodge all the shots - except one, which hit her squarely on the shoulder. The force of the bolt caused her body to fly through the air, colliding with a tree. Branches rustled, and leaves fell as Amora struggled to get up.
All feelings of neutrality fled from her as the bloodlust - both her's and the Tower's - took over her once more. Shrugging off the radiating pain from her shoulder, she advanced on him slowly, feeling the creeping darkness flow over her. Twilight energies flared and sparkled in her hands, and with those energies, Amora took careful aim at Thysthe.
OOC: Ooops, I forgot to post what Small Toy was doing.
BIC: Small Toy crept through the forest toward where the trees were being destroyed. Its active camoflouge blended in almost perfectly with the surrounding terrain while its accurate footsteps avoided every single branch and crackling leaf.
Pretty soon Small Toy had gotten within line of sight of Vyachslav and Wolfgang. IFF identifiers recognized the giant dragon like creature to be a sometimes ally, while the other creature was unknown. Deciding it would be best to sit still and see what happened, Small Toy settled down, its camoflouge becoming even more concealing.
OOC: Chertak will come later when I have more time.
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.
Panting, Slater depowered his armor and rested his mace on his shoulder. The rock shrank into and was eventually swallowed by his skin. Oddly, his clothes were undamaged by the effect...
"I've got no problem workin' with ya. Hell, I never met any o' ya before today... If this is 'day...'" he shrugged, "For all any of us know, this is just a dream..."
Before anybody could respond he nodded and waved his hand in the air.
"I know, I know. Don't bet on it. For now, our goals are the same, so I'm with you."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
When the spine came hurtling towards him, Burning threw his hands up, a ball of ice between them. The spine hit it dead on, anchoring the line.
Burning stopped and let the field of cold around the Atrocity drop away. The large creature came thundering forward, faster than before. Its foot hit the line, causing it to trip, while pulling Burning to the ground and likely Experiment too.
The Atrocity fell head-first into a pit. Its feet kicked wildly as it struggled to get free. Burning picked himself up, breathing heavily. "That'll hold it for a bit."
Obviously it wouldn't be stuck forever. Already the ground itself was shaking with the creature's attempts to break free. But now they were almost at the edge of the field, and a large forest waited ahead of them.
---------------------
The Uniter and his men walked through the mountains, leaving the forest behind. From this high point, the tower did not seem far, but clearly it would take at least a day without the ability to teleport.
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
Entropy watched gleefully as Amora slammed into the tree she was perching in. The sheer amount of chaos in this place was intoxicating! It was high time she got a taste.
As she dropped lightly from the tree, she reconfigured her left arm into an energy cannon. Entropy landed in a crouch behind and to the left of Amora, with her cannon pointing up at her, and with a maniacal grin on her face.
"Hello, darling!"
((Would have been longer, but not sure exactly how Amora would react. Also, waiting on some of Burning's 'entertainment' and 'motivation' for Warbound...the bigger the better. 
))
Warbound trudged through the lesser undead for what seemed a while now. While he was sure to receive his fair share of slashes from Knight's swords, or burn marks from the acidic bile of the zombies, they seemed to not be enough alone.
However, he was still somewhat far from the tower. He posed no real threat, or at least, not yet anyways. They only need to slow him down for now.
In front of Warbound, a portal of darkness appeared. Three robed and rotting figures stepped forward, their eyes filled with fiery hatred.
"You will not be going any further," said the first Lich.
"We will make sure of that," added the second.
"Now, do us all a favor and die!" The third cried this as he threw his hands forward, sending a wave of darkness rushing towards Warbound. The second Lich held a hand towards the man, then formed a fist. Instantly tendrils of darkness shot from the ground to ensnare him. The first quickly cast a spell, making images of terror appear in Warbound's mind.
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
Whirling around to face the newcomer, Amora snarled, bearing her teeth in the process. Her eyes darkened even more, the bloodlust now singing loudly within her.
Oh, how I despise these mortals so. Bane upon us. She thought angrily. The twilight energy responded to her thoughts, their influence stretching outward even more. Stepping backward, her eyes were fixated on the plasma rifle on Entropy's arm, uncertainty and anger at its sight. Her hand subconsciously slipped to her side where Thysthe had hit her earlier, and felt it sting.
"What do you want, mortal? This is none of your affair." Amora hissed softly.
Experiment blew upward, blowing some blond hair from his eyes. He ripped his arm backward, disconnecting the organic rope, and stood, sighing. "What happened to the days when I could go out in the streets, punch someone in the face, and then have some hot girl come up to me saying 'Wow, you're so strong and handsome! Ooooh! Thank you!' and then I could fly away and I could invent stuff and I could be safe."
He sighed, while also breathing deeply from that very long run-on sentance. He then followed behind Burning, glancing back to make sure no projectile vomit would be hitting him any time soon.
Marcus and his boys had dropped low when the trees began to crash down around them, and the Consigliere sent out a psychic pulse to see if whatever was doing all of that was living, or dead.
OOC: Who are we waiting for now?
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 LoRs is waiting on Cherak, Prodiguy is waiting on BB, Davian and Vern are waiting on each other, and Marcus...is...uh...well...
SHOOP DE WOOP.))
((The Lord of Rags peeps out from the bottom of the swamp.
Hopes nobody sees him, and sinks back down to continue his vague and completely pointless plan.))