Patches (Open RP)

((Safe journeys, DeviousMe, and hope that you are able to return unexpectedly early!))

Bisys hesitantly tapped Lady Aineruda trying to get her attention. She was figuring out that what was happening to the Heart Tree was not understood by the elfin folk, but still she had questions. "Please, forgive me. You might want to know: It is trying to fulfill its goal of propagating beyond the magical boarders. I think it is lonely. These are experiments of new ideas after talking - well not really 'talking' talking but I don't know what other word to use - to the range runner and myself. The Heart Tree is trying to create a key seed that will let it succeed, even as I am trying to find my Token..."

The speech was nervous, jittery. Bisys was not used to speaking out, doubly so to someone not her Master.

Her discomfort was interrupted when she was tapped. Bisys didn't feel it, but the metallic ting was clearly audible. She looked left, right, up, down, finally spotting the short Marbles patiently tapping Bisys as she had Lady Aineruda. Once it could see it had the metaloid's attention, it calmly stated, "We can get your Token."

Bisys was dumbfounded. She looked from Jade to Lady Aineruda to other gathered nearby. Had she heard the Marbles right? It seemed too good to be true.

((Haha, I return...well, sorta. I'm using the office net right now, so don't expect much postage, but I can log on every now and then. ))

"Wait, what?" Jade questioned at the Marble's words, taking the acorn from the pocket of his jacket that he'd stuck the thing in, and examined it with a curious glance before turning to look back to Bisys, "I thought that this here was it?"

Meanwhile, the Harvester still headed where Paxtera had been earlier - to the Twin Cities. Well, the 'functioning' one, at least. If its defenses spotted the machine's tail, the reaction would be the same as before. If not, well, there logically wouldn't be a reaction...

((Yay! Glad you have some access occasionally!))

Bisys shook her head, which translated to it bobbling about. "I was torn from my Token when EarthMother, Paragon, was pulled to Patches. That one is borrowed. Its Bond is dead, which is why I can use it as a temporary placeholder. I need my Token.

"How? How can you get my token?" Bisys asked the Marbles.

The twinkle in its eye, and the eyes of several more Marbles which had emerged nearby, was easy to see. It reached its right hand into its pouch that was where a left hand normally terminated the arm. When withdrawn from its depths instead of a namesake marble it held out a small collection for display on its palm: one of her torn feathers, a lock of hair, and a shaved sliver off a hoof. "Get Token with spell. Call Token using parts of pretty pony. Swap fake Token for real Token."

She jerked upright at the sight, the closest she could come to a gasp of disbelief. "Those are from before Jade's Wish. When did you...? At the gate! You got them while hanging flowers on me." Bisys reached for the remains of her flesh form.

The Marbles twitched it out of range, ah-ah-ah-ing. "We get Token for pretty pony, yes?"

Bisys looked to Jade, "If they really can..." Hope made her voice sound more like a soft gong than an empty hall.

They local fey, however, were less optimistic. Many of the smaller fairies whirled around Bisys, their tiny cries warning how Marbles were pranksters through and through. They could not be trusted! Other elementals harried the Marbles, trying to scatter them off.

The arthropod wandered tiredly through the forest, following the direction highlighted by its internal sensor suite. It had been doing so for a while now, and had found out that, no, moving in a straight line was impossible in the magical forest filled with walls of trees that would have put Troy's own to shame.

It paused. Hanging from a nearby tree was a dark, bulbous, skin-like sac that seemed to be bulging softly. It was flat-out ugly, but at least it was something different...

And then, suddenly, there was a sudden gap in the trees and there was a clear path. The arthropod continued its pursuit, slowing gaining on the group.

Daylight became Twilight... Twilight became Night... Elizabeth again shaped her spell to enlarge her shadow melt. Rachel, Theo and Shopkeeper quickly became close to her.

"Time to go Rotten!"

Steel Canyon
"My thoughts as well M'lady" Rotten left the Warehouse and began making his way to where he could spot the Boomtown Exit. "I let you lead the way from here. Once we are past the Guards the other side would be clear."

Elven Forest

The Tree ship lifted off the ground and flew out of the boarder. There it did a loop a loop after all it was a new born life form and it played as one. After putting itself through the paces it returned to the heart tree.

That when the other seeds seemed to get a growth spurt reaching full size and then falling. Splitting apart and growing into Eight truck size Tree ships.

The Heart Tree wasn't finished as eight new seeds grew and dropped. What grew however was not a ship but stood up as a person. All were plant like in looks. Seven went to a waiting ship where the Bark split apart reveling an entrance. The Pilots entered and sat down in seat at the far front where they Joined with the tree ship.

The Eighth plant man stood there and with a slow voice it spoke. "We are ready."

Gri'shil Plains

The Gri'shil were in a panic the reason was three young had returned talking about GOD like ones that kill with looks and can vanish. The three were shunned for not returning with a trophy but the whispers were already spreading.

Now The High mother herself was standing on a hill looking at the burning debris of the Hunter Killer. "Pointy ear soft skins killed a God?"

Har'thon a spiritual leader at least in his view hissed "NO Can't be! GODS Can't be killed!" The High Mother spun and with her claw slashed at his face. "You no Hush me! I am High Mother My word is Law not yours!"

Har'thon backed away tongue flicking out to lick at the wound. "Forgive... me high mother."



A Warrior Gri'Shil named Ye,nark spoke up "I see bright light. Soft skin round ears shoot stars at God. Then something came from Pointy ear Trees that killed God."

The High Mother looked at Gri'shil there. "We no let Pointy ears and round ears get away with killing one of the Gods. Har'thon return to Village take five round ears take them to Gods lands and offer them to the Gods." "Ye,nark get Warriors together We strike Pointy ears. Get Thunder beasts Two as well."

She then looked at the cliffs

"Whoa now, hang on there just a minute." Jade stepped beside and slightly ahead of Bisys, the clawed fingers of his hands coming to rest over her shoulders while the corresponding wing curled protectively about her back and other side. His eyes inspected the group of Marbles with suspicion, "If these guys don't trust you, why should we? No, I don't like this at all. If you're trying to hurt her, well, you just forget about that here and now. Got that?"

He glanced to Paxtera, and then down to Bisys, "It's up to you, but I'd feel a lot better if she went and...huh?"

The Tree ship almost instantly drew the bulk of his attention as it lifted off, the magic that propelled it logically snatching up some of the Dragon's senses like a magnet might a nail. Akat was similarly enraptured, though the Khelari's interest was more one of simple, curious marvel than any particular common relation. It was sheer, childlike amazement that held her gaze to the vessel's maneuvers, and as a result she never even noticed the arthropod emerge from the path she'd been about to take before the spectacle had begun - a spectacle she watched with quiet awe until the very last moment.

"Wooooooow..." Patches translated her expression of wonder as she stepped forward to approach the 'crewman', "Ready for what? Are you the autopilot? What do you run at?"

"Yes, um..." Jade couldn't help but be curious as well, despite being somewhat weirded out now, "What exactly are you ready for?"

Meanwhile, Ildela's entrance into the 'city' - assuming she wasn't detected of course, which wasn't too likely - would progress much like her mother's in Dwarf form; rather uneventful. The artillery that scanned the horizon and the interior alike kept doing just that, and the machines that maintained the structure continued to do their jobs. Indeed, even the 'walls' her mother had encountered were still there and untouched, the entire monstrous assembly of metal and machinery in exactly the same state as it had been for the past few hours.

As well as the past few hundred years...

Steel Canyon on the way out

Walking through shadow melt is always a bit strange... Like a mist so thick it flows through youre body making it transparant. In this state no shadows excist for the one under the spell and night becomes like day.

Rotten and Elizabeth past the guards by a few meters... but they could have been inces away if they wanted. City made way for a few collasped buildings... and behind those buildings there started a forest that shouldn't be here. It wasn't as if that was part of a park in the least.

Paxtera was similarly interested in the tree-ships and their pilots as they emerged, watching each one intently. "Hundreds of years of experience and the universe still manages to produce things we've never seen before...", she commented to herself, sounding faintly amused.

"So... they're basically seeds? Just messed with a little so they can get out of the valley and plant themselves wherever else?", Kethara spoke up.

"That would seem to be the gist of it, yes", her mother answered, before turning at least some of her attention back to the mechanical satyr. She'd offered her help, it was up to Bisys if she accepted it or not.

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The Marbles were clearly affronted by Jade's accusations. "Even stiff elf Lady knows. No harm! We never harm!" It wasn't their fault that most people had no sense of humor.

But if there was one thing that offends a prankster more than being wrongly charged with maliciousness, it is being ignored. Both Jade and Bisys were agape at the Heart Tree's creations. They seemed to have completely forgotten the Marbles from one second to another. They harrumphed at being upstaged, tromping off to a nearby tree. Any fey that gave pursuit would circle the tree in vain, for the Marbles disappeared into its trunk as tracelessly as they had earlier with the birthday cake.

Bisys nodded at the plant man's stated purpose. What was said made perfect sense to her. It should. The plant men were the Heart Tree implementing the satyr's own design.

"May you know fulfillment of purpose," Bisys encouraged. Their success would greatly boost her hope for her own success someday. For that she would need her seed, for without it she was not whole.

This thought reminded her of the Marbles, and Bisys looked about. They were gone! Her best chance was gone! 'Wait! Please come back!' she tried to call, but was cut off before she began as panic shot through her like a ice spear. Her red static sputtered beyond Jade's sheltering wing and her arms twitched against her chest. Bisys had tried to hold herself against the cold and not quite positioned her arms right.

It took her several moments to calm down enough that the darkness receded and she could see her surroundings again. Getting emotional would not help. She would have to wait. Either there was enough time to meet the Marbles again before the borrowed Token poisoned her, or there wasn't. Becoming trapped in the Cold Place would only make things worse, eating up critical time.

"Safe journeys," Bisys continued instead to the plant man. Odds were with the attention on the botanical miracle no one had noticed her lapse, or if they had had passed it off as more learning curve to control the metaloid form.

Maybe the Marbles would again appear once away from the fey if Paxtera was unable to help. Bisys had heard the cautions, but that was nothing when weighted against the chance to reclaim her Token. Seeing Paxtera look her way, Bisys meekly requested, "Can you please find my Token, so like these of the Heart Tree I may fulfill my purpose?"

The Marbles, wherever they were, were confident of being the only solution and thinking much the same strategy for a reunion.

Not quite. Jade had noticed. However, when Bisys continued to speak and seemed to be acting normally (or at least in a way the Dragon could interpret as 'normal' in her current state), he didn't remark upon it. Instead, he looked to Paxtera in tandem with the metaloid satyr, hoping she could indeed help.

Akat meanwhile seemed downright oblivious, circling the Plant man in the manner of a curious cat. She didn't say much, instead spending her attention looking the creature over from top to bottom, though she did find the time to respond to his statement with a simple, "Neat."

In fact, it was only due to this relative quiet that Jade heard it. Well, more got the slightest wind of it. He didn't even know what 'it' was, at least not at first. But after a few seconds of listening for it, the 'flaps' of his ears spreading and widening to 'catch' the sound better, he did know that he wasn't just imagining things.

"The heck is that...?" he mumbled quietly, focusing his senses intently in the direction of the faint, clearly very distant sound. Still, it was there, "Some kind of...beating...?"
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Ildela's idea bore swift fruit - and thanks to Patches, probably much more than expected. Not only did she quickly pick up on the machines' communications, but she also found she understood them plain as day. Despite their terse, purely digital format, they came across to her just as fluidly as if the machines spoke ordinary English.

Unfortunately, they weren't saying much.

'This part has failed' was the most common message, usually followed by a confirmation thereof and an order to a maintenance unit to put that part on its list, though there were also things like diagnostic reports and declarations of standby and 'awaiting orders'. All in all, the whole 'city' seemed comparable to one large machine on standby. It was as if Ildela was inside a gargantuan desktop PC with its user 'afk' - it was running the programs left going, but not doing anything new, instead waiting for instructions.

Of course, that didn't mean it wasn't doing anything. Like Ildela had observed, there was indeed activity all over the place, and not just in the 'city'. It may have fallen under the category of pre-programmed response, but that didn't make much difference when an event for which the appropriate program had been left running occurred.

Such as a gathering of Drokar bones and humans near a fire.

Ildela observed the response in virtually the same instant as the report had come in.

DEPLOY REAVER UNIT TO LOCATION_

About 900 centillion (a centillion being 10^303rd power) years ago...(Yes, so I'm retconning the very age of the universe itself that I've used before. I think this time I'm making the universe MUCH older than what I've previously RP'd with. I'm also only bringing in two characters.)

Kalderi. The world had been engulfed in a war of mortal men for over 500 years. The Dark World Emperor Shortoth, a creation of the dark gods of the galaxy Graxus, had enslaved, killed, tortured and many of the mortal races: human, elven, dwarven, orcish, fey of numerous types. If it breathed the mortal breath of life, Shortoth enslaved it or killed it. Many species were wiped out during his reign. The Celestial Gods had created a being with which to ruin his rule over this measely rock of a planet. The 'corporeal avatar' just happened to finally discover & breach his fortress, and then challenge the World Emperor on the 400th centennial of his reign. For the next century, the two seemingly immortal beings would be locked in combat, striking, parrying, healing; the Dark World Emperor, who had known nothing but victory after victory during his rule, would finally be felled by the divine, seemingly unstoppable will of the hero Obligo.

Yet, Shortoth was not dead. Merely incapacitated, the body of the Dark World Emperor would be examined not by doctors or scientists, but by the holiest devotees of the Celestial Gods. They would discover that, very similar to Obligo, Shortoth was just a corporeal shell for the immortal essence of the overlord of the Dark Gods - Graxus. They would go on to explain to the heroic Obligo that the only way they could deal with this problem was by isolating this dark essence into a divine prison - something that would be blessed by the High Priests themselves, with powers from the Celestial Gods flowing into this prison.
Their task would prove to be anything but as simple as that, however. The very essence of Graxus flowed through this mortal shell with almost infinite strands: each strand would have to be isolated and imprisoned individually. It would take, as the High Priests explained, miracles beyond miracles and about another 500 years, to complete this said task.

Obligo would not live long enough to see this task completed, as the Celestial Gods deemed their creation worthy of returning to the Heavens. This 'corporeal avatar', however, would find life & purpose again, however, due to events manipulated behind the scenes during the 480 years after Obligo lost his mortal struggle with life thus being returned to the Heavens.

The various High Priests that Obligo once consulted with on the imminent task of dispatching the Dark World Emperor had immediately begun their prayers, searches, and seperation of the near-infinite threads of essence bound within Shortoth. What they failed to take necessary steps to defend against, however, was their biggest downfall: interference from agents of and even the very Dark Gods themselves.
They would succeed in their task, but at the highest cost of all.

At first, once a strand was seperated and imprisoned, the High Priests locked each prison away, deep within a secret, well guarded (but not kept secret or guarded well enough) vault of unimaginable magnitude. The Dark Gods watched, veiled by the clouds of the god of ash and further hidden by the shadows of the god of the night. They sent numerous agents, one after another it seemed, to unlock the secret location of the vault; thus gaining access to the vault's contents. Many of these sinister agents of evil failed, but the ones that succeeded...it was enough. Five hundred years had passed. The vault had been filled with every single imprisoned essence of Graxus that had been bound in Shortoth. The vault even contained the fallen body of Shortoth, itself adorned with a few of these "prisons" and also locked within a divine prison.

The Dark Gods empowered and created many new, sinister agents to assault the vault under a new veil of shadow, thus hiding their hidden agenda from the Celestial Gods as they started up a new "divinity war".

A new group of humans had discovered this evil plot, valiantly yet futiley attempting to prevent the vault from falling into the hands of evil. However - they did manage one small victory over the Dark Gods: If the Dark Gods wanted these various prisons - they would have to wander for eons upon eons attempting to find each and every one of them.

(( Warning: 3am. Stream of consciousness may be evident. ))

Edward grins and gives a whistle, Mr Fluffers descending from his tree.

"Giant Spider like my friend here?"

He gently patted a leg, "look from the sounds of it we're got an army on the way...now the big creatures I can handle, I've hunted tougher game than what these 'Thunder beasts' sound like and brought it down...what are these creatures you speak of?"

He cracked his knuckles with a grin, "still more fighting is always good..."

Akat grinned at Lady Aineruda's question of the tender. She'd been about to ask much the same, recalling from earlier the elves' explanation of their relation to the Heart tree and the state thereof. The talk of sacrifices won the bid for her primary attention though, as the idea of 'sacrificing someone' wasn't something the Khelari understood, and she wanted to know what it meant. Well, until Durlan and the guard appeared, that was. Then her toothy smile disappeared.

"Gre'shil." she repeated the word to herself and looked to Aineruda, "Those are the scaly people that like me, right? Okay. I'll go handle them. And you, the whistler - Durlap? You know, I don't care - you stay right here and get ready for a fight, because when I get back, I'm going to give you the beating of a lifetime."

With that, she turned to the elf who'd brought the news, "Take me there please."

"Ouch." Jade remarked with a frown of distanced concern while he watched the Khelari depart, following the elven guard. He to Durlan, and it became a smirk, "I think she took that as a challenge. I'd help you, but...heh, I'm just Outsider Pollution. Good luck. From what I've seen, you'll need it."

He then turned to address the rest of the group, Kethara in particular, seeing her eying her watch, "I'm going to go after those drums. With any luck, I can get the humans away before any machines show up. I'd sure be glad for help if I don't, though. If your mother gets back before then, please tell her."

With that, the young Dragon spread his wings and looked for a clear enough spot to take to the sky. He knew he wasn't the fastest flier, but it didn't sound that far away, and with Bisys and Akat tied up in their own business right now, he figured it was likely still the fastest way there...
__________________

Ildela got a response right away. Almost instantly, to be accurate. Not something unexpected considering the time scale of the machines with which she attempted to communicate was on the order of nano- and picoseconds. Within literally the same second she'd sent her transmission, she received no less than about five thousand responses, all within such short fractions of a second behind one another that they appeared to have come at the same time.

BATCH NOT RECOGNIZED. RE-SEND.

Apparently, something like a greeting wasn't in the machines' 'vocabulary' - or at least not in the programming of those currently in operation. But while the flood of requests for the data to be resent was the initial response, it certainly wasn't the only one. Each machine Ildela had contacted sent the request three times, then forwarded what it perceived as the presence of a non-responsive element to the closest maintenance unit. While this didn't put all of them in motion, since they could communicate with one another after all, it did get the one closest to her on her tail, or more accurately, the location from which she'd sent the transmission. If she simply moved away from there, there was little chance the large, somewhat spider-like repair 'bot would ever find her...

Negative Rise leapt over the cliff-like edge of the barren, rocky piece of the shattered planet that had been pulled into another planet. What he landed on was a shattered remnant of an ancient, seemingly mid-to-early 21st century Earth city building. He looked up into the skies, trying to discern any means of direction on this makeshift planet. Whether or not he seen a bright star providing this planet with any light was irrelevalent. The black orbs that would constitute his eyes were almost immediately drawn to a massive volcano that stood off in the distance.

Since it was in front of him, he called the direction towards the volcano north. He spun around, a complete one-eighty as he looked back to make sure the volcano was directly behind him now. Off in the distance he spotted what appeared to be the skyline of another city, beyond some vast plain. South. Turning to his left and right, nothing but ruin and devastation.

"So, still no clue as to where I am," he muttered to himself, although his voice did seem to echo in the emptiness, "Guess the volcano is as good a place as any to begin with," he chuckled. If the city was anything as he had imagined, there were bound to be inhabitants there, any number of lifeform that he could perhaps corrupt the souls of. That was better left for later.

Negative Rise stepped towards the volcano, enveloping himself in darkness. With each step, the darkness seemed to flow around him as a bubble, and he would appear as a glob of night on an empty backdrop of open plains. Then, the darkness seemingly propelled him forward at an alarming rate. After all, everyone knew that darkness was far, far faster than light.
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Some distance away, on a rocky outcrop of some mountain range...
The pebble laid still for what felt like a millenia to the prisoner inside. It had only been 10-15 minutes, though.

The prisoner's thought patterns began to emanate from the pebble. He would need a new shell to possess, afterall. In a three-hundred sixty degree diameter, the thought patterns raced forth, seeking out any sign of intelligent or semi-intelligent life on this planet.

He would soon be free if anything was detected.

Bisys had not realized that Paxtera's help would involve her leaving Jade. It took some encouragement, but she did accept Paxtera's hand to vanish into the golden portal.

Paxtera's particular form of travel once again left Bisys badly disoriented. Images flickered at the edges of her vision. To one side, her with her beloved first Master smiling and laughing in a hundred different poses. Scattered throughout were some dozen copies of her and Jade, also ennobled by her memories. Each happy image shadowed by an unhappier parade of abusive Masters.

On the other peripheral was a different kind of image. Hooves stood firm and stately. Flowing mane promised calm. A single spiraled horn pierced with truth. It was the eyes that begged to be viewed fully, though the image vanished whenever Bisys turned her head to look fully. Those eyes were filled with wisdom, which looked with gentle compassion at the satyr. Bisys felt a pang of daunted longing. The potential was so much more than she. Surely it would take eons to become that beautiful creature, if such a thing were even possible!

The images dissipated as Paxtera gathered the ebbs and flows into intertwining threads. Bisys reeled as the last after-effects of their golden transportation faded. Regaining some equilibrium, she watched with interest as Paxtera studied the collection.

"May I?" She asked, getting a go-ahead nod from the host. She came forward on four legs. Sort of. It was a bit awkward given that she only had two hooves, compounded by her basic lack of control. Regardless she managed, wings and tail extra active to help with balance. Her head now on level where fanned the threads fanned out. Careful to keep it clear of Paxtera's hands, she hovered her horns a hairs-breadth over the mass.

A thread responded, moonlight silver shimmering until noticeably brighter than the rest. Bisys slowly lifted her horns away and stepped clear. The thread followed as if drawn by static electricity. It drew free of most of the others by an inch to hover expectantly.

Depending on Paxtera's natural perception and effort in examination, a large amount could be discerned. The thread that was Prosopopoeiasys had quite the tale to tell, even at a quick glance. The nearer part being the recent past had a steel grey thread, that of the borrowed Token, was as tightly twisting around the silver core as a binder weed. Half way along their joined length, where flesh Trisys became metaloid Bisys, a red color began to infect both. The discoloration grew from that first inception of a faint line into a broad stain in the present. The two were a Triad with another, even more complex thread. Jade. He bound them together and also keep the steel thread from choking the life from Bisys.

Back further again to where the steel thread and Jade's thread departed, or rather where they first bonded with Trisys, there was a momentary gap when the silver thread was alone. The rest of its past were more sets. This time the Token thread was translucent like an optical fiber. The two balanced harmoniously, separated to instantly rejoin with each new Master. Most all of the Master lifethreads terminated from karma backlash after breaking off the bond from the silver and clear threads.

If tracing the Token's translucent thread forward again, the moment it was sundered from Prosopopoeiasys clearly was the side effect of being pulled from the Rogue Isles when Patches dislocated Paragon. That last Master's thread went to its fate. The Token's thread, well, just stopped. It hadn't ended. The knowledge was there that the Token still existed, yet was masked or hidden.

A more alarming fact was clearly evident. In the brief gap between being torn from her original Token to being re-entwined with the borrowed Token and Jade, Prosopopoeiasys's life thread was frayed. It appeared that the new bond Trisys had formed then had repaired the fray, though not as strong. A similar fray was beginning to appear at the 'present' point, where the borrowed Token and Jade's threads were nearby yet separate, threatening to completely unravel the silver thread.

"I... I do not feel good." Bisys looked like she was slowly slumping. Her red static aura was weakly sputtering, while new ghostly half-formed faces began to fog around her. In a corner of her vision error messages began to scroll as one after another communication lines failed. When the private channel to Jade went down, Bisys had a detached knowledge that was bad but felt nothing.

Growing lethargic, she tried to head to the couch.