Patches (Open RP)

For a few moments, Jade didn't really know what to say to Bisys. He was a Drokar. A Dragon. It was instinct. His people protected those around them. That was the way it had always been, and even the abuse heaped upon him by growing up on Hetran and inflicted upon him by himself had only suppressed those instincts, not weeded them out.

"Okay." he said in a curt fashion with just as quick a nod as he stood again with a hand reached down to help Bisys up, knowing time was of the essence now, already looking over to where Akat had crouched and the blade was now, his gaze passing Lady Aineruda along the way, "Mh? Oh uh, yeah, I'm fine."

It was a quick and reflexive answer, given without due examination, but thankfully it was nevertheless true. While not equivalent to heavy armor or such, Jade's microscales did provide him with some protection from harm and had more than adequately shielded him from the shivers that had decided to perforate (and often stick in) his sleeveless leather jacket and pants, turning the formerly solid-black outfit into a strange mixture of blacks and browns.

"Sorry." he told Bisys upon getting her off the ground, glancing to the half-burued engine piece with concern, "C'mon, help me get this off of..."

"...her." he barely had time to finish before the gnome had already done just that, revealing the Khelari on her back at the bottom of the impact crater, the robe she'd worn burnt to ashes and a thick, purplish-blue discoloration of her deep-green hide running diagonally across her torso. It started at her upper right shoulder and ended just below her left hip, a blotched, semi-jagged line between the endpoints.

Her hide itself was unbroken, making the injury technically a bruise - internal bleeding from crushed and burst vessels in the musculature below the skin. Still, it looked (and felt) like all hell, and had Akat been coherent at that point, she'd have sworn at least two of the bone plates that Khelari had where a human's ribs would've been had been shattered into a zillion pieces. As a result, it was perhaps lucky that she wasn't.

"Hey there, everybody..." she almost slurred drunkenly, eyes moving independently of one another as the natural and artificial lenses tussled over which way to look in order to fix her presently blurry sight, "Come here often? Hee hee hee...anyone catch where that pod went? Oh aren't you pretty..."

Even the most superficial examination would reveal she'd not sustained any life-threatening or truly debilitating injuries. The sharp edge of the engine blade had been repelled by her highly resilient hide. Unfortunately, Khelari hide didn't have much in the way of mitigative properties regarding sheer blunt force trauma. She'd had the wind knocked out of her - and then some - and she'd be in a lot of pain once she regained her presence of mind. For now though, she was more or less okay, at least regarding what had hit her.

"Can you help her?" Jade meanwhile asked of Bisys with concern, having no idea of Khelari physiology, not to mention virtually no understanding of medicine, "I mean...would you please help her?"

Toy Dispenser meanwhile wasn't nearly as fortunate, the Harvester's efforts to rid itself of the 'source of foreign signal' not deterred by the sudden relocation in the least. Even more dangerous was that the machine didn't really have any blind spots on the outside. Its capture arms could very much reach every part of its exterior with ease - and there were six of them. Worse yet, the monolith once more had full sensor capability, which allowed it to focus said reaching in a coordinated fashion, eliminating the possibility of getting its claws tangled as it reached for the android.

Well, assuming he was still projecting his EM interference to jam the machine's communications. If Toy did not, the Harvester's objective (neutralization of the source) had technically been accomplished, and until the mechanoid took further action against the machine, it wouldn't take much notice of him. After all, he was by definition a machine as well, which by default put him on the Harvester's 'side'. The monolith's programming wasn't smart enough to hold a grudge, so to speak.

If he was still actively jamming though, the Harvester would soon activate the next subset of its defenses. Scanning deeply as they were, Toy's sensors would be hard-pressed to miss the turrets embedded in the machine's thick armor gradually (in machine terms) coming online...

"Akat..." The name rendered in as close to a gasp as Bisys was capable, the ghastly sight quite alarming, much less what it implied beneath the unbroken.

"Can you help her?" Jade meanwhile asked of Bisys with concern, having no idea of Khelari physiology, not to mention virtually no understanding of medicine, "I mean...would you please help her?"

"Yes, my Ma..." Bisys caught herself and corrected, "Yes, my Friend."

Boosting Akat's biology would probably cause a stimulation overload. Healing infusions was the only alternative within Bisys's ability to help.

Bisys more or less arranged herself in a kneeling position next to Akat's head in the crater. One amber hand was held a couple inches above the Khelari's wandering eyes while the other hovered over the deep green torso. Ideally her hands would be flat palms facing downward, but the closest Bisys could manage was slightly cupped. It would have to do.

Head gazing around, Bisys called to the greenery damaged by the attack in a voice of water lapping shore. The nature of Patches translated her plea into discernable words.

"Great felled trees, charred earth, and uprooted underbrush! I, Prosopopoeiasys, Child of EarthMother, call upon you. You have been terminally harmed, and your loss is mourned. This one is called Akat-Ietan Ariam'n. She too is injured, having been harmed while seeking your defense. She is of pure intent. Please, share your ebbing life-force to ease the suffering of Akat-Ietan Ariam'n so that she may once more defend those that remain standing. Please, do not let your impending death be in vain."

Any energy willingly given by the damaged forest would be channeled and magnified by Bisys into surrounding Akat with a healing aura.

If the energy was not forthcoming or insufficient, Bisys would petition energy from the undamaged plants in the area. If still falling short of her need, Bisys would ask stranger, allies, then friends. Those willingly would find their energy drop a bit, the abruptness likely causing wooziness or slowed responses.

As a last resort, Bisys would redirect energy from Jade without consultation. She had enough maneuverability to siphon from alternate sources first and would to the best of her ability do so. But ultimately Jade's Wish, for it was received as such, demanded fulfillment; the Wisher bearing final responsibility for the Cost.

Bisys, acting under Jade's Wish, would continue conducting energy until the healing of Akat restored all possible and backflowed from saturation. Or until countermanded by Jade.

Her nature as a conduit prevented Bisys from depleting her own energy to heal Akat. The limitation was a safety measure to curtail self-damaging tendencies inherent in fulfilling Wishes. Bisys felt the restriction keenly. It was frustrating that her choices, though 'choices' was a misleading term, always were two: fulfill the Wish or destroy herself to prevent harming her Master. All the previous Masters had made simple Wishers or earned evade whatever karma backlash the Wish caused.

Jade was different. Bisys found him considerate, caring for others above all else. She loved him for it. Though it was that same caring which inevitably seemed to put Jade in an unrealized path towards disaster. Bisys offered a silent plea to EarthMother not to ever be put to the test of completely destroying herself in order to save Jade from a short-sighted Wish. In other words, from herself.

Falling through the wormhole was certainly not as planned. Hell, he had no idea that the elf lady could even do that. This was why he tried to avoid messing with mages. But in any case, he had more pressing matters to deal with than simply cursing his situation; namely the fact that he was alone on a building sized killer robot with absolutely no support. This called for fleeing, and the best way to do that would to try and get the Harvester make him into a fast ball special again.

Shutting down all active emissions, Toy spooled up his single working force field generator and formed the most solid shield around himself as he could. He then dropped down the leg he had been running up and lasso'd it again, blade out and ready to cut down any approaching grappler arms.

...but there weren't any approaching grappler arms.

"I don't suppose you play with your food before eating it, do you?" he asked the machine, not really expecting a response aside from renewed aggression.

It had been realized on a subconscious level. Sharing energy brought to focus how similar Bisys and the Forest were.

You know me. Bisys marveled at the kinship. There was a place of absence in her soul that had been introduced to loneliness when first interacting with Ildela, Paxtera, and Kathara in the shelter during the windstorm. That emptiness began to be filled now.

At the same time a bit of longing for home flared up. I understand. Bisys whispered directly to the Forest. I and my homesoil too are weakened from being sundered far, far from EarthMother.

Thank you for your sheltering care. Thank you for healing Akat-Ietan Ariam'n.

There wasn't much Bisys could think do to ease either of their suffering. Still, as the energy backflowed from saturating Akat, Bisys gathered and magnified it back to the Forest. Hopefully it could be received as thanks and a small measure of strength.

A subroutine continued printing Aineruda's speech and other conversation in a corner of her vision to catch up on later, if she got the chance. But that wasn't what had her attention. Bisys was focused on a readout scrolling past (too technical for her to fully understand, but she got the gist) and watching power cycle down inactive.

Then the connection gently closed. Jade's Wish was fulfilled and her reason for maintaining the connection to the Forest was gone.

Bisys imagined there was a link still to the Forest. Like friends who drew strength knowing the other understood, even without direct interaction available or words exchanged.

"I have done all I can for Akat," Bisys reported to Jade, floating slightly back. Her head tilted askew to position painted, blank eyes at Akat in evaluation of how the Khelari was recovering. If Akat were cohesive, Bisys would clumsily offer a hand up just as Akat had done many times before for her.

((Probably not, heh. I'd say they'd toss him into the same bin as Steve. ))

A spasm ran down Akat's body in reaction to the mending forces, her physiology not used to such sudden changes. There didn't seem to be any truly adverse reaction though, and it didn't take long at all for the Khelari to blink in confusion, wondering why she was lying on her back in a trough, covered with soil and ashes.

"Oh, right." she commented with an unworried smile and a spunkily raised finger, "Rule number one of demolitions: beware low-flying target parts."

"Looks like it was plenty." Jade couldn't help but smirk at that, Akat shooing Disys' hand away with quick motions of her own before she jumped up and started to shake like a dog, sending dirt and dust off in every direction.

"Mhm." the Khelari's smile grew wider for a moment, her eyes happily closed for roughly the same short duration as she stood upright again, head turned toward the satyr-like mechanoid, "Thanks very much. To both of you. I feel great. Where'd the flying digger imitation go?"

Jade regarded her with skepsis for a second, wondering what he was supposed to have done to help (not realizing she meant the forest), and as a result the latter words only sank in gradually, "Fly...oh! Uhm..."

He looked to Lady Aineruda, "Right. Where did it go? We have to go after it! The little machine-dude, I mean Toy Dispenser, he's still on it, isn't he? Yeah, he is! We...we have to go rescue him!"

"Can you find out where it went?" he asked Bisys, remembering her words from earlier, "Oh uh, or better yet, can you bring Toy back to us? I mean just him, not the Harvester too."

It was a valid concern. Even damaged as it was, the Harvester was still a force to be reckoned with. Thankfully, this did not apply to Toy, who of course received no response from the machine anymore. Indeed, it was doubtful that it even still perceived him, hovering there so listlessly...and actually, quite peacefully. Auto-extinguishers had taken care of the fire on its rear, and the energy field that kept it aloft made barely a sound as it turned the monolith onto its new course, commanded by its controlling programs' switch to maintenance mode.

While this didn't mean it was now defenseless - it was still operating in a designated hostile environment, after all - it certainly wouldn't be attacking anything without provocation, and thus from this particular machine, the forest of the elves was currently safe. Whether or not the same applied to the bright-white aura of light in the cloudy sky that fast approached from over the horizon, however, was another question entirely.

It passed far overhead the Harvester in mere moments, and was visible from the forest soon after, breaking through the clouds as an orange streak that rapidly descended from the vaporous ceiling...

Bisys drifted to Jade's side as Akat stretched and shook the dirt off. Her retreat was not quick enough to avoid a few ringing against her shell, though no actual damage was incurred from the miniature projectiles. "And I am grateful you are well, Akat."

Akat's question about the Harvester got Jade thinking, then making another request. "Can you find out where it went?" he asked Bisys, remembering her words from earlier, "Oh uh, or better yet, can you bring Toy back to us? I mean just him, not the Harvester too."

Spacial relocation of a known ally to the present location? Bisys had once expected to be commanded to do just that when they had planned to take the Gre'shil north of Paragon where they ended up encountering Akat eating breakfast, and was equally willing to try now.

With this request/Wish, Bisys 'saw' another of her abilities become active. Additionally knowledge of Toy Dispenser's distance and direction flared on the compass. Bisys noted that Toy Dispenser was a fair distance away and getting farther, though still within her range. Presumably he was still with the Harvester, or in retreat from it.

"Yes, Jade. Though it will have to be Toy Dispenser's choice to come," Bisys amended.

Hands once more mostly palm down, arms slightly spread, Bisys focused. Then with a grasping sweep of one arm she unleashed the simple magic. It created something of a mini-wormhole. The target would feel something like a tug, with inexplicable knowledge that what was happening could be resisted. Or, in Toy's case as an android, it would probably appear as a pop-up window announcing that a recall initiated by Bisys was in progress, with a countdown timer indicating how long the option was available.

If Toy accepted the teleport, he would appear in a mild flash at Jade's feet like an offering. Though that would probably mean they would be standing nose to nose. Make that blank face plate to snout.

19:00 30th April 2010, Steel Canyon, Paragon City, Patches

The apartment of Rachel and Theo Clearwater never looked more like a mess then now. The big oak diner table was placed in the middle of the living room and every local map Theo had of the city was spread on top of it. The window drapes where closed and folders and pictures of local heroes where all over the place. Not that the Clearwaters would mind though… the only mind they where interested at the moment where those they could eat. As both where standing in a corner lifeless wondering what their new mistress was doing.

Elizabeth tried to reconstruct the image of the light map she saw during that brief moment in City Hall. And the red dot that, as far as she knew gave the position of a man (or person) by the name of Blackwind. Those powered police officers… the Paragon City folder named them Superheroes… where convinced he or she would know what was going on.

She looked at a folder of the Freedom Phalanx… “Such colourful costumes… such power… so dangerous.” she said out loud. Her escape was a close call indeed. None of them knew what or who they where dealing with and their idiotically heroic ideals made them put the lives of the crowd first. She looked closely to the images… photographs in colour. Such an invention! She compared the looks with the names and powers mentioned. Statesman, Positron, Synapse, Manticore, Sister Psyche…

The redhead reminded her of someone else she used to know for a short while. Even from her own time ages ago in Venice. Giovanna Scaldi was her name. This mind demoness could do about the same as this Sister Psyche. But their planned alliance back then never came reality.

With these so called heroes in City Hall she couldn’t make use of the Magi library. Not without some danger. Her best bet was on more information from this Blackwind. And now she knew where to find. She pressed her nail through the paper cutting it, then moved in a square around the red dot on the map. Then folded the piece of paper in four and placed it behind her bra.

Opening the drapes and window she looked at the night sky… then turned around to the two zombies in the corner. “You two, follow me but stay out of sight to the living!”, she commanded. “After tonight one other will join us too.” And with that her body seemed to shimmer and transform… into a giant bat. New prey was out!

Interlude…

The sun was now completely gone. Twilight had passed and the rays of the moon came through a small window at ICON. No one had come into the shop the past day, the weekend had all other employers at home with their family playing games or watching movies. But one had not gotten home… The old man opened his eyes… and the light of the moon reflected in the red of them. He hungered… and felt weak… Still he rose. He remembered his old name… but it was useless now. That man was dead! He would only use the name ‘Shopkeeper’ from now on. And with that thought he walked to the front door of ICON and litterly pulled the door of its hinges.

An alarm sounded but Shopkeeper didn’t care. Instead he looked up listening to a female voice in his head. “Follow me… feed on the way… but stay out of sight!”, he turned and disappeared in the shadows.

"It's just a machine." Jade stated added to the conversation with a hint of disgust in his tone, "It was built to fight. You can't 'make peace' with it. I doubt it even knows what peace is. And I think a whole city of superheroes appearing out of nowhere qualifies as at least a small miracle."

The last sentence he'd spoken with a smirk, the idea of overrunning the central machine base (if such a thing existed; he really hoped Toy would be able to locate something like that) with an army of super and leveling the place was strangely satisfying.

"Couldn't we just program it to know?" Akat's question therefore took him somewhat aback, the Khelari stretching on the ground in the manner of a large, predatory cat, "I mean, that's what we do when ours malfunction. Just change the programming."

"My name is Akat-Ietan Ariam'n." she transitioned to an introduction to the new arrivals as she stood upright again, brushing the final flakes of ash that had once been her robe from her deep-green, scaleless hide, "Feel free to just call me Akat. You are Edward, yes? You are from a different dimension? I don't understand. You seem to be 4-dimensional. Aren't you?"

Meanwhile, the orange streak decelerated drastically, ramping down its approach speed with such suddenness that it was already over the eleven forest before returning to subsonic speeds, finally emitting a sound of approach. It wasn't booming or anything like that, the noise more akin to a soft, rolling thunder...

Steel Canyon, Paragon City, Patches

It was quiet outside. Not silent, but quiet. The odd person would walk by, the breif sound of acar would ecco off the buildings...

... and there was a different sound. An althogether more unexpected sound. The was a pop.

'Alert! Recharge station not detected. Sensor diagnostic in progress'
Where before there had been a mostly empty sidewalk, now there was a young woman, laying on her back, dressed in a form-fitting black leather onepiece outfit, a pair of simple boots on her feet, and, oddest of all, a transparent respirator strapped on her face. Slowly she opened her eyes to look straight up at the night sky.
'Diagnostic complete. No malfunctions detected. Current elevation and facing inconsistant with previous readings'
Reaching up, she pulled the repirator down, and took in a lungful of air.
"Hm. Not recycled. Strange..."
Sitting up, she looked around herself, taking in her surroundings. Large, concrete buildings lined both sides of a two-way road, paths on both sides. Thankfully, no people close enough to be a potential witness to her arrival.
"Outside? How did I get here?"
'Insufficient data'
"I see."
'Priority One. Blend into environment'
The woman jumped to her feet and, after another glance at her surroundings, dissappeared into a nearby alley. There was someone down there, someone who could help

***

Ralph Hoggar was having one of his better days. Granted, when you've lost your job, your home, and all your money, good days are relative. He had been out all day, plying the people of Paragon with his sad, unwashed and scraggly-bearded features, and gotten quite a bit of cash fro their generosity. Plenty for a fast food meal and a coffee, the leftovers should at least be enough for breakfast and lunch the following day!
Now he had retired to his alley, and his bundles of clothes and cardboard to sleep and dream of a better tomorrow. But sleep has escaped him the moment a shapley woman had come striding down his alley. Maybe tonight was going to be extra lucky? Company was coming!
She stopped right opposite him, and looked straight down at him. Sha had beutiful eyes. Was she thinking what he was thinking?
"Heey... Spare some ti-" Ralph found himself unable to finish his sentance. The fact his brain was decorating the wall, and a fist was inside his skull probably had something to do with it

***

The woman withdrew her hand and wiped some of the blood off on the man's shirt. Pulling him foward, she swiftly semoved his battered old long coat, and donning it herself. She ran her free hand through her shoulderlength purple hair so it fell on the outside of the coat. Probably less suspicious looking. Most of what the man had left would look ot of place on her, as his waistline was at least twice the size of hers, and there wasn't anything to hand to hold them up with.
Priority Two: Locate information source'
"First things first"
Laying the man down on his side, she gatheres the various clothes and other assorted junk around and ontop of the man. With any luck, anyone glancing this way from the alley enterance would just see the slumped form of a man, and assume he's asleep. At least, it would be long enough before the man's unfortunatle accident was discovered that she would be able to be far enough away from the scene.
Putting both hands in the coat's pockets, she turned on her heel and walked out of the alley, picking a random direction to walk off in. Inside those pockets were a collection of small, metal disks. Casually taking one out and examining it as she walked, she smiled to herself. Local currency.
"Result."

((After consulting with Khellendrosiic))

Fifteen seconds, ten, five... nothing.

She tried again, the flickering red static almost arcing with redoubled effort. Once more the flat palms, the sweeping gesture, the countdown... nothing.

Bisys turned back to Jade, her head hung in shame. The rolling thunder of the incoming attack almost drowned out her quiet report, "Toy choose not to come. I am sorry, Jade, he is out of my range now."

Elf Forest, Patches

Lady Aineruda looked up as the sound hit her ears. "ARCHERS IN PLACE! Fire when you are sure you hit the Hunter Killer don't waste those arrows!"

They knew that the Hunter Killer wouldn't be effected by the gale force winds that started blowing against it. However in order for it to assure it hit the target it would need to get closer or risk the bombs being blown off course.

"Fey! Start attacking!" The fey buzzed then stopped a few flying back. The Fey noticed something.

As they pull the EMP Arrows tight and then let them fly at the haul of the Hunter Killer when it got close. How many of the 20 EMP arrows hit who knows but combine with the lighting strikes and the building ice on it's engines and maneuvering flaps avoiding all the arrows would be impossible for such a large craft.

Cerelassion looked at the others "I hope those EMP arrows do the job we haven't really tested them on such a large machine."

Lady Aineruda lifted her arm and speaking to the fey. "you sure?" She looked back then to the sky. "Hold your fire untill we are sure this is the Hunter Killer. The Fey seem confused for some reason."

Steel Canyon, Paragon City, Patches

He stood there before the closed gates to Boomtown dressed in Work boots, blue jeans, a trench coat, and no shirt his hair was long and looks to be uncombed and he sport slick style sunglasses. The security guard was shaking his head "I can't let you pass Rotten Luck. It's orders from City hall itself the entire city on lock down no one leaves. even superheroes."

"Yeah yeah machines would attack anything human. But I'm not quite Human anymore am I?" He removed his sunglasses staring down the Security guard with his cold dead eyes.

"No.. no your not but orders are orders not even Citadel is allowed out. No one and that includes you... Sir"

Ron cracked his neck and put his glasses back on. "Fine I understand and your doing a great job if I was half devoted to my post as you are now I wouldn't be like this." With that he turned and leaped away jumping hundreds of yards at a single bound. Landing in front of a fast food restaurant and entered. People gave him a wide path.

He wondered why it wasn't like he smelled all the bacteria in his body been destroyed so he wasn't technically decaying and the smell of rotting meat was from bacteria. In truth his body was now mummied, skin was leathery, and muscles was flexible jerky. But it seems people still respond to him like he smelled like one of the Vahzilok Zombies.

"Ma.. may I help you?" a nervous teen girl asked dressed in the red and gold uniform of the place. "Yes I want 5 Bacon and cheese burgers, 4 Double griller burgers with cheese, one 10 piece chicken Nugget, 10 orders of extra large fries, 6 pies... 3 cherry and 3 apple. Oh and a Extra large coke."

"Yes sir and would this be to go?" Ron could tell she wanted it to be to go. Save the world be on the news and still be seen with fear and dread. "Yeah I take it to go."

Soon he took his meal and left. It wasn't as if he was hated or feared but he was a reminder of their own mortality. Rotten luck the Zombie Superhero was still a walking living dead. He started to make his way to one of the parks to eat not wanting to jolt the flimsy paper bags his meal was in.

As he passed an alleyway the scent of blood caught his attention. "You alright in there?" He asked the apparent sleeping man as he walked closer his eyes noted the pooled blood. "Damn" setting his dinner on a trash can lid he knelt down and looked at the guy crushed face. "Well at least you didn't suffer" reaching into his trench coat pocket he pulled out his communicator and set it to the Paragon Police channel.

"This is Rotten Luck security level 50 I found a homicide victim in an alleyway." "Yes it's a homicide the mans face is smashed with enough force that the back of his skull ruptured." "Transmitting location now." He typed out the location via text.

He returned his communicator to his pocket and then went to his dinner taking out a burger he bit into it paper and all. "Damn brains all over making me hungry... then again I'm always hungry."

As Rotten walked away from the counter with his massive pile of food, he would perhaps note he was being watched. Specifically, by a twenty-something or so girl in a simple red t-shirt and black pants sitting in a corner quietly eating. She looked fairly normal, if one ignored the pair of snowy white wings that sat on her back. A few of the other patrons looked to her as though she should do something about the zombie, but she did nothing other than watching said zombie while she kept eating.

Some might question why she took no offense to a zombie ordering takeout. Truth was, she knew the zombie in question. Or to be more accurate, her father knew him and occasionally worked with him. So she knew he was no threat to anyone in the restaurant. So she watched him until he left, then went back to her meal. Not like there was much else to do in the current situation. Classes at the university were cancelled, all the servers for her favorite games were of course inaccessible due to being in another dimension or some such... Even the usual street thugs and such seemed oddly subdued by the sheer strangeness of what was going on.

(( Just felt like making a little flavor post, heh. ))

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

While Elizabeth was slowly floating in search of an opening in the warwall section a newly reborn vampire with a thirst of first blood roamed the shadows of Steel Canyon.

Shopkeeper was moving in the direction Elizabeth was. As his orders where to follow her… But his thirst was great and he needed blood. The sudden smell of blood made him turn and move to wards the alleyway Rotten Luck was standing. He watched the scene…. From the shadows… but his urges made him impatient. And his practice with his powers was few. He was inclined to attack the being standing between him and his prey… but not before warning his mistress. “Mistress, there is an undead creature here. Is this one other of your slaves?”

Elizabeth caught the telepathic call and looked down to the streets below. There she saw Rachel and Theo moving slowly across the main street, almost a block away from where Shopkeeper should be. “Careful… he is not one under my control! I am coming to investigate now…”, she replied. And while she turned and floated to the alleyway, Rachel and Theo followed her almost automatically.

"That's okay." Jade replied to Bisys in a neutral fashion. It was clear he wasn't happy with that result, but that was mostly because he didn't really know what Toy was or what he could do. He was worried the Harvester would capture and process him - or worse, that the android would join the machines willingly, "Thanks for trying."

He then turned his attention to she skies - and his eyes widened in surprise. Whatever that thing was coming it from the high atmosphere at breakneck speed, it wasn't something he'd ever seen.

"That's no H-K..." was all he managed to say before the glowing plasma that encircled the thing dissipated, the craft more than close enough for everyone present to easily observe the agglomerate of sharp and smooth shapes peel itself out of the ram wake as it hit the brakes, stopping seemingly dead overhead.

It was a complex form of reflective and dull parts, mostly triangular metal plates covering a frame that appeared constructed from carefully assembled composites, yet at the same time somehow organically grown. it basic shape reminded of a trimaran, the main body roughly a dozen meters long and half as wide. Its geometry stood reminiscent of an isosceles triangle that someone had combined with an ellipse, and the two long 'pods' attached to either side seemed to follow that same guideline, though their nature stood more cylindrical, perhaps two or three meters in diameter and a few longer than the main body.

Said main body merged smoothly with the outriggers however, and the somewhat stubby deltoid wings that protruded from their other sides at the centroid of connection to the main body made it clear that these were no mere attachments. The whole shape was a single-piece structure, even the winglets that extended up and town at the rear of the outriggers in the fashion of vertical stabilizers. Judging by the cold, bluish-white glow at said rear endpoints, this thing was clearly some sort of vehicle, though whether manned or not wasn't easy to determine. Not only did the whole upper surface seed to be one smooth, reflective piece of metal (meaning that if it held a windshield in there somewhere, it was completely invisible), but a myriad of strange glyphs and patterns decorated the whole craft like some gigantic tribal tattoo.

Composed both of etchings and the application of surface paint, the sometimes-smooth, sometimes-jagged patterns held almost exclusively earth tones - browns, reds, yellows, and blacks - and looked as if they'd been painted by fingers instead of brushes. To Bisys, it may have been easy to tell that was exactly the case. Moreover, she might've still been able to easily tell what the binder (and sometimes the main component) of the pattern paints had been.

Blood.

But literally bloody or not, the craft didn't seem overtly hostile. At the very least, it didn't attack anything. It was quite direct however, dropping toward ground right after its midair stop, the front cones of its outriggers tilting downward at an angle in tandem with the side-stayed wings, forming four impromptu landing struts that softly caught and feathered the vehicle's weight as it touched down with only a deep hum of energy to accompany the landing.

"I would hope so." Akat remarked to the Dragon's spoken thought with a smirk, "That's a range runner. It's one of our ships..."

Oh, yes. Neither metal frame nor lack of smell prevented her from knowing the tattoo-like glyphs main component. Bisys had wondered if her new form might offer immunity; now she knew her weakness was as prevalent as ever. Shame of her previous failure was compounded as Bisys whimpered to Jade, "That's blood!"

Bisys managed to stay her place at Jade's side but Oh! was there a strong urge to flee. True, freshly split blood was her greatest bane. Still there was enough purpose in the glyphs to pose a serious threat to the satyr. She prayed there would not be cause for her to enter within. It would be the same as asking someone living to enter a coffin knowing it about to be nailed shut.

Elf Forest, Patches

Lady Aineruda "perhaps in hindsight Informing the restless natives they may have guests would have been smart." Looking at Akat "I was about to order a full attack thinking this was a Hunter Killer. Mind telling me why one of your ships is now landing?"

Cerelassion was studying the range runner his glasses on and he even took out what might be a magnifying glass but with magical runes carved around the lens. "I haven't seen this type of alloy before... My word is that a silicone based structure?"

Steel Canyon, Paragon, Patches

Rotten stopped eating in mid bite and looked around. "Huh? dis somwone dere..." He swallows the bite. "Is someone there?" Setting down his burger he takes a few steps looking into the shadows where the shopkeeper was.

At first glance Rotten was just another zombie. Anyone skilled in magic could tell that wasn't so. He was a result of not one magical spell but two both botched up.

The First curse killed him trapping his soul in a lifeless corps. It's unclear if that was the true intent of the curse or a side effect from it being thousands of years old. The result was the same Ron Boltan being dead and buried.

The second magical spell was from a wanna be Necromancer named Trever. He dug Ron up and reanimated the body. With a soul intact Ron wasn't under anyones control and he beat the snot out of Trever. Delivering the necromancer to a group of longbows he was talked into coming to Paragon where Magi might be able to help.

Simply put Magi had no idea how to return Ron to life or end the Zombie curse with out killing him or spreading the Zombie curse to others.

The Result was Rotten Luck a nearly unstoppable Zombie with negative energy attacks, and a regeneration factor that could put some Regen scrappers to shame. (Rottens build is a Willpower/Dark Melee/Energy Mastery Tanker)

"Hm?" Jade let out as he came to attention in response to Bisys' whimper, looking at first to the runner and then down at her, taking a hand of hers into his own, "What's blood? The ship? It's made of blood?"

A moment later, he could've smacked himself for saying that, but he really didn't have any idea what she spoke of. He may have had his nose back, but even a Dragon's sense of smell couldn't pick up a scent from blood that had been bound, hardened, and vacuum-proofed on- and into the hull of a starship. As a result, he was somewhat clueless.

Akat meanwhile stood relaxed and casual, answering Lady Aineruda, "Well, because I called it. Right before the smacking. Sorry, heh. Getting bashed like that kiiind of made a few things slip my mind."

"So multiversal at least." the Khelari grinned back to Mechano suggestively, her tail swishing form side to side in the manner of a cat that had just discovered a ball of yarn, "And a gentleman too. Why would you want a flying fortress of doom, though? The point of a fortress is to protect those it shelters, not doom them...isn't it?"

She'd missed Cerelassion's question, but chances were the elven man had more than enough capability to determine that the runner's primary element base was carbon. There were silicone-based materials in it too though, as well as several with metals as their core, but what may have appeared strangest (or may not have; he did live in a magical forest, after all) was the densely-packed, almost organic-looking wave of the molecular strands. They joined just about everywhere, in essence making the primary components of the ship nothing but single, giant molecules that looked as though they'd been grown, not manufactured.

Indeed, this wasn't far from the truth - a truth which the forest itself by now knew. The runner wasn't composed of organic materials, but that hadn't stopped it from starting to reach out to the earth around it in curiosity. It didn't do this physically of course, or even mentally for that matter. The means was closest to a form of spiritual communication, though a very rudimentary and instinctual sort. The ship wasn't intelligent. It wasn't even really self-aware. But it was alive, and that life suffused every part of it.

Even the blood that was dead and gone by all other definitions of the word...

Steel Canyon, Paragon, Patches

Quote:

Rotten stopped eating in mid bite and looked around. "Huh? dis somwone dere..." He swallows the bite. "Is someone there?" Setting down his burger he takes a few steps looking into the shadows where the shopkeeper was.

Shopkeeper couldn't help himself anymore.. he was discovered... he knew it! And the mistress was almost here! The young vampire jumped out with all his might trying to subdue the zombie and get to the blood now spoiling over the ally stonefloor. His claws striking at the creature.


[[OOC: Usual vampire powers in game would be Dark Melee/regeneration/fly or willpower brute or corr... shopkeeper in the brute as he is raving in blood thirst. Don't kill him yet even though he is NPC... but knock him around some 'Till Liz arrives...]]