Patches (Open RP)

Tafari frowned as the old soldier exploded.

"Ok. Point lance weaponry. Duly noted." He said dryly, raising his hand. The gore and blood that were the remains of the old man were converted into divine energy and absorbed by Tafari. 'He was a sacrifice, after all. Waste not...' He then turned his attention to the Reaver, and a vicious grin returned to his face. 'First thing's first. What kind of defenses does this floating piece of crap have?' Tafari vanished on the spot.

He reappeared right on top of where the Reaver was, his displaced Conduit acting like a lightning rod and pumping divine energy to flood the area, resulting in a massive energy detonation. Tafari aimed to land right on top of the machine and from there, tear the thing apart.

***

The wolves didn't particularly mind the soot in their snouts - They already had much worse than that filling them. The rings of fire, on the other hand, were a bit more worrisome. Their insticts screamed to get away, but there was fire on all sides, and simply jumping over the blaze did not occur to either of them. Trapped as they were, there was only one thing they could do.

They both kept projecting acidic toxin at Graxitica.

The wolf that had previously been behind him was hit by the Psychic assault, but seemed to bear the brunt of the attack admirably, only letting out a sharp yelp as the attack hit home. It quickly recovered and lunged right at Graxitica, unhinging its jaws and revealing a massive, gaping portal of a mouth filled with nothing but razor-sharp teeth and black tar-like acids and poisons. It was looking to engulf Graxitica's head, but chomping down on an arm or other defending limb was fine with the wolf.

The Desert

A great relief swept through Jade as he felt the first signs of the tug. He did as Bisys had instructed almost immediately, locking those around into sight and into mind, at the same time shouting, "Everybody, let the pulling take you! Don't fight it! That thing cheats!"

With that, the Dragon and the Hetrar under his arm vanished, reappearing next to Bisys back at the elven forest. Hopefully, the others came as well, for Dr. Machano was quite right - the Reaver didn't even show any reaction to his rounds. However, if the scientist had a way to tell so, he'd notice it wasn't due to overly thick armor. Instead, this thing's plating held something akin to a very dense electrical charge, forming several more layers of 'armor' within and about the metal itself, lessening the destructive force of the impacts enough for the material to take little more than dents.

Much the same was the undoing of Tafar's attack, the lightning bolt that he'd become splashing almost uselessly against the Reaver's back, leaving a giant scorch mark (of which the Reaver had collected plenty over the years, even if most were much smaller than the result of Tafari's savagely powerful assault), but no tears in the Reaver. By figurative comparison, it could've almost been said that Tafari'd pinged right off.

Actually, in a way, it wasn't just figurative, for the moment the man reconstituted himself, the Reaver started zipping away from beneath his feet. With it still in speedy flight and Tafari at a relative standstill, the velocity gradient between the two bodies was enormous. Worse yet, the man's energy couldn't ground itself against the Reaver's body, making the machine a slick and slippery slope. If Tafari didn't grab on to something this very second, all he'd be doing would be tumbling from the Reaver's back.

Of course, that may have been a good idea. As both this situation and Jade's words warned, this thing really did cheat...
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Twin City

And it wasn't the only one. Stomping toward Ildela, heedless of the beams trying to hold the machine, it was more than apparent that Reavers cheated as a bunch. Luckily, the thing couldn't get a hold of her in the form of dissolved shadows, and its programming threw quite a few exceptions in the process, but that didn't stop it from trying.

Or continuing.

It didn't walk fast, and if it could run, it didn't do so yet, but despite the woman's invisibility, it kept coming for her. The electrical field the machine still maintained in a wide radius about itself gave it a very good idea of where its target was even if it couldn't actually see her, and any and all noise she made helped the Reaver as well. Running before it figured out how to echolocate may have been advisable...
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Elven Forest

"Not sure." Akat remarked to Paxtera, "I think the obnoxious guy ran away, but that's probably important only to me...oh. What about that stuff? Is that important?"

'That stuff' was of course the dissimilar plant growth, the change in topic once more getting her attention to it. What was this that had happened there?

And then people appeared.

"Well hi." smiled the Khelari in greeting, "Where'd you guys come from...?"
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At

"Or do you not really have somewhere you find yourself wanting to go?" Vetdjat added to his question of Negative Rise, "Do you want to tell your people you're here? We do have a long-range transmitter. If you can tell me were Ag'xis is, I'm sure we could send a message..."

The Fiery Fight

It seemed the fiery cages were holding the two wolves in place, only so much, however - as they continued to spew forth their toxic brew. The other wolf, unfortunately, took the brunt of his psychic attack in stride and was now charging at Graxitica.

So Graxitica planted himself firmly against the ground, and called upon the power residing within the magically enhanced, mutated form of his new body. He felt a surge of power building up inside the shell, and locked his eyes on the advancing wolf. Instead of simply defending himself, instead of running away or attempting to use any of his fiery tricks, Graxitica had found an internal source of energy within the shell, and unleashed a furious punch right into the wolf's snout. Transferring a bit of the shell's own life-force into the attack, the punch would have to connect, and if it didn't outright destroy the wolf, Shortoth felt it would give him the opportunity to refocus his efforts on the other two wolves that were still spitting acid at him.

Only this time, instead of resorting to burning the things, he would simply use his new-found ability to smash the wolves' heads into pulp.

__________________________________________________ ________________________

At

Nev'oroxis stared blankly at Vetdjat.

"Hmmm...I don't know what to tell you," his words were laced with a bit of despair as he lowered his head, "I just suddenly found myself on this planet...and I honestly don't know how to tell you where my world is located at. I could describe the stars that inhabit my world's nightsky, though...unless it would be more helpful if I just showed you?"

-'Luckily, I just recently robbed this Nev'oroxis of his life,' Negative Rise amused himself with. 'Since none of the bodies remained ... such a message would go through with noone the wiser to his true departure!'-

Still, the demon had to be careful. There were numerous ways such a message could backfire on him.

"Would my people even be capable of receiving such a message?" his question did hold merit - for the world of Ag'xis was a magically empowered world, and the people there were capable of many, many things...but receiving a transmission from anything so technologically advanced would be nigh impossible.

Where're my Warburg nukes when I need them..., Ildela thought to herself as the machine refused to be slowed down and resumed its progress toward her in that infuriatingly slow pace it apparently favored. Fine with her, cause it gave her time she needed to do something else...

Quote:

Running before it figured out how to echolocate may have been advisable...

Unless it learned to do so in less than about six or seven seconds, it wouldn't need to. It might detect a faint energy buildup in Ildela's general location, but what type of energy it was would be unclear and the stalker herself remained invisible. Well, until she was done charging that is. Specifically, charging up a big old blast of that same shadowy energy she'd turned into before, which she proceeded to fling in the robot's direction before hurling herself in the same, glowing Vanguard-issue energy blades in each hand. As she went, the normally invisible shielding around her became almost blindingly visible, so bright that the stalker was difficult to make out inside of it. The machine would find no weak points in it now. Oh sure, it still held the same element of randomness as before. But now the 'weak' parts were as strong as the stronger parts had been before as Ildela poured everything she had into it, overloading it far beyond what was generally thought of as safe. "FINE, overkill it is then!", she yelled at it.

Every dirty trick she knew had failed, so she'd decided to stop trying them. And true, running may have been advisable. But this thing had annoyed her with it's complete imperviousness to every trick in the book. So it was going to die, or she would fall in the attempt. It was that simple. She had three minutes, and she was fairly sure that would be enough. The energy blades she used were perfectly capable of putting dents in all kinds of things up to and including Lord Recluse himself, no goddamned alien robot dragon was gonna stand up to them for that long.

(( In game terms: Moonbeam, Overload and quite probably a sizable amount of red inspirations. IE: My usual method of soloing EBs with Ildela plus a snipe for good measure. ))

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Quote:

"Not sure." Akat remarked to Paxtera, "I think the obnoxious guy ran away, but that's probably important only to me...oh. What about that stuff? Is that important?"

"Quite probably", Paxtera replied. "Assuming the treant we spoke to wasn't in fact the cause of them and trying to distract us from that fact, it would seem the forest and its fae are both quite blind to this corruption. Hence why neither of them are making any attempt to fight it - they don't believe it to be there."

"So, it's up to us then?", Kethara asked enthusiastically, like it was all just another adventure to her.

"So it would seem", Paxtera answered her daughter, before looking back to Akat as well as any of the elves still present. "Admittedly we were never particularly good with plants of any sort, plus we still have a missing Token to locate for Bisys. Can you fight this thing off without our help or would you rather we stayed?", she asked them.

At

"If we run only the hypercom, I don't see why not." Vetdjat retorted with a casual shrug, directing Negative Rise toward a thick cylindrical structure that jutted from one of the larger platforms above them, the Khelari's own steps heading onto a bridge that led there.

"From what you tell me, spells and incantations are widespread on your world," he explained his reasoning, seeking confirmation of this assumption, "so your people should have plenty of experience with the principles and energies thereof. If not, there's bound to be someone talking to a god or a spirit or something-or-other that can pass it along."

"And don't worry about where then." the Khelari addressed the demon's 'concern' of location, "We'll just send in all directions. Takes more power, but it's not like we have a shortage of that, and if it really does need more, we'll head down to the big ship and send from there..."
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'Twin City'

Six or seven seconds? More than long enough for a 'brain' that operated on infinitesimal slices of one. Of course, they indeed seemed wasted computing cycles, as not only did the Reaver's target speak, but revealed herself visually again as well.

INCOMING UNCATALOGUED ENERGY FORM

COMBAT MODE
[APPLY POWER SURGE]
ANALYZING ALTERNATIVES_

In a motion so fluid that it shouldn't have been able to come from anything solid and faster than anything with that much mass had any business being, the machine sidestepped Ildela's shadowy blast, then swung back along the same arc like some demented pendulum, letting the leaping woman and her blades pass through naught but the space beside it while it simultaneously turned its front toward her and raised both fists, bringing them together into a single ball of mass.

Not an instant later, Ildela still in mid-lunge, the Reaver brought them down with all the force of a runaway freight train, trying to either break through her reinforced shield with brute force or slam her down against the floor and then hammer away until the protective barrier collapsed from being pummeled between the proverbial rock and hard place...

Rotten Turned and faced the Reaper. "Damn a Dragon why do I always run into dragons trying to kill me. Jade this thing made out of normal Metal right? Think my decaying effects would work?" Then he thought about something "Wait is that thing like you were? You know made with parts of dead Dragons right?"

Then he heard Jade "Everybody, let the pulling take you! Don't fight it! That thing cheats!" Rotten smiled an idea forming in his mind "Yes Baroness! Come along I got an idea and I need to talk with you!"

The old saying goes should you be scared when a Mad man stares? A better question would be should you be scared when a Zombie man smiles. Rotten was smiling that Reaper might cheat but so did Rotten. He even laughed as the transportation took hold.
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Captain Belanor watched as people appeared. Then he saw Rotten "What... He's dead!" He drew his swords and moved to guard Aineruda. Rotten looked at the Captain "Your an Elf so what's your point? And I prefer living impaired thank you very much. Besides what you think your going to do to me ask Jade I been cut apart a few times so those swords wouldn't do much."

"I would think Bysis wouldn't bring anyone that's a threat so at ease Captain." Aineruda said and Captain Belanor put his swords away mumbling something about strange outsiders.

"Durlan would be talking to the elven council. I know you want to take him on but for right now he's mine." Aineruda said to Akat "Besides Akat you have a duty to guide those ships of yours first."

Then she looked to the darken forest "As for that I think we can wait till tomorrow. It is growing late and I for one would like some rest before facing yet another threat to my life."

"Cerelassion please be a dear and take our guest to one of our visitor cabins and help with the new arrivals of refugees. Captain Belanor I want guards around this... changed area and track how fast it's spreading. Under no reason would anyone enter it or be out of sight of another guardsman. Also have... the assassin taken care of. I want it kept a lid on... no wait knowing Durlan he be trying to make sure people believe it was done by outsiders. So tell everything you know."

She looked around again "If you all excuse me I have to make a grand appearance." Then she smiled and looked at Paxtera "Speaking about grand appearances would you be so kind as deliver me right in the middle of the Council chambers." She motioned to the west. "It's a round building in that direction largest one in the entire valley."

Cerelassion looked at the darkened Forest "Fascinating but in such the wrong way. Oh well would you all please follow me to the Refugee camp. There be chambers that you can rest in for the night." He started off heading for the farthest part of the cliffs away from the desert. "The Camp area used to be a waterfall but that was before we arrived here. The canyon carved by the falls provided a nice spot for the refugees. Surrounded by Granite and away from the Desert the sensors of the machines can't detect them."

So far none of the Fey seem to notice the mutated forest. But one yellowed shirt Gnome was worried. No it didn't know about the forest but it did know it saw something that shouldn't be something even his ageless nature was to young to have seen first hand.

Like any one living today knows about Nazi's and Hitler so does the oldest Fey in this patch of Forest knew of Graxitica nature. That particular Gnome was walking a line the same path Graxitica took through the Forest till he crossed into the changed Zone. In the Gnome's mind was a simple thought. 'Dark one went this way then stopped being... where did dark one go?'

(( Sorry I haven't been posting. Did something foolish and go my brain implanted in an Alien Robot on some distant plant called Cybertron... Yeah I got War for Cybertron and been playing that.))

'Twin City'

Now this surprised the Reaver. Ildela abruptly reacting and moving in a span of microseconds was something it definitely hadn't counted on. If it had been capable thereof, it would've wondered from where she'd suddenly gotten that speed, not to mention why she'd waited until now to use it. Being an organic, logic would've suggested her structure wouldn't have been able to take those kinds of stresses. Apparently, she was far sturdier inside that shield than she looked.

Fortunately, so was the machine.

The blades raked across its abdomen, but the gouges didn't end up deep. The Rikti had armor. The Reaver had armor. The Reaver reinforced its with an energetic charge. The Rikti did not.

SECTORS 112-216 REPORT MINOR DAMAGE

COMBAT MODE
[ENERGIZE PERIPHERAL SECTORS]
ANALYZING ALTERNATIVES_

And then the Reaver caught her blades.

Somehow, some way, it wrapped its fingers around the swords of energy and squeezed, the charge in its hands keeping them from cutting deeply enough to slip free - and all the tugging and twisting in the world wouldn't move them from the machine's iron grip. Had the blades been material, they'd surely have been crushed.

Not that what the Reaver did was very different.

The instant it had made contact, the machine's energies were already at work. Not a second later, the cutting energy vanished, a crackle in the air draining them of their energy (and quite possibly snatching a large chunk of Ildela's as well), leaving them depowered and useless.

And then came the tail.

Rushing toward her with all the tender love and care of a falling ton of bricks, the powerful metal appendage sought to bat her into the wall and have her pinball across the surfaces of the corridor.

If that didn't work either however, the Reaver would stop playing by any rules at all...

((Gonna wait a little longer so more people can post at the other locations. Just got bit by the writing bug, so I had to get something out. >_>))

'Not good...' Tafari thought as he witnessed his attack fail to damage the Reaver. 'This thing is using the same shielding technique as myself, only with electricity instead of divinity. Energy attacks are going to be useless against it. What to do. Well, I did just absorb that old man. Mass into energy. I'll just blow this pile of **** to pieces with more energy than it can handle using that...'

And then Tafari noticed his vanishing audience.

'...Feh. No point in flaunting my power if nobody is around to witness it. Let's see where this leads us...' Tafari let the tug pull him away.

***

Elven Forest

"Oh great, it's YOU pissants again!" Tafari snarled, having suddenly popped into being near Bisys. The air darkened and the man began to radiate golden-orange light as his various shields and auras sprang into being. "Screw this ****. You're all worse than ******* Nemesis! Everyth-"

Meanwhile, nearby...

Graxitica's transfer of energy hit perfectly, the wolf being unable to dodge mid-pounce. He hit it right on the snout, as intended, and the wolf was bodily flung against the tree behind it, uprooting it in the process...

Back with everyone else

A nearby tree at the edge of the clearing suddenly seemed to explode, having been uprooted, both it and a giant wolf being bodily tossed right in Cerelassion's direction. Graxitica was graced with a ray of moonlight rather than the pitch black of the endless forest, and he felt...

That was it! The heart-tree was RIGHT THERE in front of him, in the clearing! The source he had been seeking out this entire time. It just happened to be behind Paxtera, Kethara, Aineruda, Akat, Jade, Rotton Luck, Bisys, Tafari and any of the others if they decided to let the teleport bring them along for the ride.

"...Huh." Tafari uttered, seemingly distracted by the sudden occurance as he eyed Graxitica.

((And here I am trying to slow my posts down...I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread, btw!!))

The Sudden Clearing

Seeing the wolf's body decimate a tree was something completely new to Graxitica. He just stood there for a split nanosecond, as his own divine presence was somehow momentarily distracted by a tree emanating immense energies...

He didn't let that interfere with his battle against these wolves, however. He instantly redirected his rage towards the two entrapped wolves, pummeling at them both with whatever new-found power his body held. Raising both fists as he jumped towards the first trapped wolf, he brought them down upon the beast with a furious smashing swoop, and then sent a bone-smashing single fisted punch towards the skull of the second trapped wolf.

If the wolves had been successfully dealt with, he would use his psionic abilities to attempt to siphon off anything from the divine light...

It would prove to be unsuccessful, of course. Instantly severing his psionic link upon such discovery, there would be a brilliant backlash of power that seemed to wash over the area in a 360-degree area...a result of the link being severed, and the source of said divine power attempting to lash out in order to incinerate whatever tried to penetrate it.

'No good, not good at all,' he thought. Seeing the others before him beyond the clearing, Graxitica only knew of one thing to do: RUN.

He dashed off away from the group again. This time, he would seek out a different source...whatever was mutating this portion of the forest would be appropriate for his needs.

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At

Negative Rise smirked as best he could.

"Won't hurt to give it a try, I suppose," he uttered, "I'm sure the Tevron High Council will be relieved someone survived that atrocious battle."

Relief radiated from Bisys when Jade appeared. Others he had tagged were rapidly following the tugs, and the satyr noted each as they arrived.

The dead zombie, er 'living impaired', startled her enough to take a half step back. Hovering as she always was, this probably passed unnoticed. Still, Jade appeared comfortable, even companionable, in his presence so Bisys would take her cue from him. As Lady Aineruda said, she had only brought what Jade had tagged, and Jade wouldn't want to bring anyone that would be a threat.

Then... Tafari appeared.

Bisys had been blessed by circumstances to miss an encounter with him the last time he had been in the forest. Still, it took less instinct than she possessed to know his appearance was trouble. His first words were a big hint. He was trouble. BIG TROUBLE. Caps, italics, period. Had she somehow made a mistake and pulled an enemy meant to be left behind?

Then... Graxitica appeared.

Bisys went from horrified to terrified. Had she done something so wrong, so appalling, in her summons as to bring not one, but two nexus of trouble to the Heart Tree? She could not begin to guess how her efforts had gone so askew and failed Jade so utterly. The truth that Bisys has done nothing wrong failed to cross her mind.

It was only a partial relief when this second threat retreated as quickly as he came, for Tafari still seemed a thought away from a rampage. The peripheral of the psionic backlash hit Bisys like a slap, jolting her into action.

In a move that was the height of bravery, or the depths of foolishness, Bisys lunged forward.

She reached for Tafari. As soon as her hands neared his shoulders, Tafari's shields started draining the free-floating red static energy that surrounded Bisys. Giving a cry of pain, the red metaloid crashed out of the air to her hands and knees at his feet as if she had been dealt a double overhand blow. In a much quieter tone than she had intended, she cried, "Please, stop! You are here because Jade wanted everyone to be safe. I beg you, please don't hurt anyone. I'll take you anywhere else you want to go."

Bisys forced her head and an arm up towards Tafari as she repeated, "Just please! Please stop!"

Elven Forest

Jade's eyes went wide at Bisys' collapse, the Dragon rushing to her side at once. He didn't wait for any sort of answer from Tafari, snatching the metaloid satyr off the ground by the sides of her shoulders, then pushed her into the instinctive 'protection' of his right wing, looking to Tafari with a stern, yet awaiting eye. He didn't really pay attention to anything else just then, suspicious that the man in arm's reach would lash out and try to sock him, her, or anyone else at a moment's notice, and thus kept his eye on the guy so he'd have that moment.

Akat meanwhile did, but wasn't sure what to make of all this. What was going on here? She got the idea of the recall, but what was a Nemesis? The one that had come from the trees and then turned around? The animal trying to prey on the tree...and apparently not succeeding? Or was it just an expression uttered by this character when he decided to get violent again?

She didn't know. Not knowing things was bad for acting upon them, though. So she didn't. Not yet. She would if something happened, though. But for now, all she knew was that she needed to know more - just like before, when she'd examined the supposedly out-of-place piece of forest.

What was it...?
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At

"Tevron High Council..." the black Khelari repeated thoughtfully, "A...ruling body, if I remember right, yes? Well, either way it's an addressee. Should be enough."

While he spoke, Vetdjat led the demon onto a walkway around the cylinder, then into a niche about half-occupied by a hologram of the surrounding superstructure, the orange projection of light showing clearly that the underslung cylinder was the bottom of a tower that reached rather high into the sky.

"Anything specific you'd like to send?" the elder Khelari wanted to know as he bid Negative Rise to step into the alcove with him, then touched a claw to the section of tower near the top. Not a second later, a faint hum of energy signified the placement of a kinetic barrier between them and the walkway, and then the floor was already on its way up the side of the tower, rising with speed and giving the demon a view of a large portion of the city.

True, the overall appearance hadn't changed, structures and platforms 'dangling' alongside and between crystal branches and metal threads, but being closer now, some more details could be made out. Machines of various forms and functions made their way about on six to no limbs, and though there wasn't an overly large number of them, their bustle was certainly noticeable. Indeed, it was about all that was. If this was a city, where were its inhabitants? Did Vetdjat live here all alone?

"Audio, video, so on?" the Khelari went on, "And do you expect a reply? If so, of what form...?"

(( No offense, but I kinda have to call ******** on this robot apparently having some four seperate powersets - Elec armor, super reflexes, super strength and some form of energy blasts, though I suppose that last one could be an epic pool. Still... Some of us play by actual rules. ))

It wasn't so much her reacting to its movements, it had more been her anticipating its movements and planning her own movements accordingly. Thus she could dodge its attack with seeming ease. Against the next one she wasn't quite so lucky, the Reaver managing to grab hold of her swords with no trouble at all. Exactly how this didn't slice its hands up considering the force it exerted to keep hold of them, she didn't know. Considering the razor-sharp edges could quite literally cut through impervium like a hot knife through butter... well ok maybe not quite but close. Not that the lack of self-damage changed her response anyway.

OOC:

Well, the way you describe it is kind of - ahem - rather aphysical, so I can somewhat see why people would decide it doesn't affect their characters. Also, I'll go ahead and assume those are very special scimitars.

Oh, and none taken. In fact, it's about time you did. I was getting worried since I couldn't think of anything more explicit to say than 'it cheats' without barging into OOC territory. Glad you finally caught it. Now you should probably have Ildela catch it too.

BIC:

'Twin City'

ERROR
TRACKING ON TARGET HAS BEEN LOST
ATTEMPTING TO REACQUIRE . . . FAILED
ATTEMPTING TO REACQUIRE . . . FAILED
ATTEMPTING TO REACQUIRE_

Some said machines were perfection. That built for a certain function, nothing could do it better, especially an organic being. But even machines had their limits. Even something that 'thought' in terms of hertz with a ridiculous number of zeroes attached didn't do so instantaneously. It still took time. Time to find Ildela again.

Too much time to find Ildela again.

With a raucous stereo grind, the scimitars' tips scraped along the Reaver's chest plating. They didn't penetrate. The interior charge that repelled them once more mitigated the damage to shallow gouges.

Luckily, the machine didn't yet realize she was anticipating its movements, and thus continued its apparently very predictable attack pattern, a fist hurtling toward Ildela in the manner of a rabid wrecking ball less than half a second after the scimitar tips had made contact...

(( Going to wait for Paradigm_Shift to post before doing more.))

Elvin Council
Aineruda stepped through the portal just moments before the tree fell.

"Then the Outsiders craft took off with her dying body! These Outsiders are a major threat they polluting the Forest! We must do something now before they harm the Heart tree further. " Durlan said not seeing the portal appearing right behind him.

"Stories of my fatal wounds and Kidnapping are greatly exaggerated. Thought by now we all know you do enjoy stretching the truth." She said as she leaped down from the portal. "Indeed I had a trip but for a good reason. The Gre'shil forces will not attack us anytime soon. Thanks to my visitors and one particular named Akat."

"Lady Aineruda! I was so worried about you." Durlan said trying to recover. "I'm sure you are Durlan. You should be very worried about me I can't prove it but the Elvin Man that shot me is one of your supporters and if you had any involvement with him. Well Like I said I can't prove you were involved however suspicion is enough to eject you from the council."

The Council of course picked up talk at this and Durlan was complaining but she ignored it all then rose her hand.

"With the champions from the new realm that appeared we are working on plans of stopping the Machine threat of the waste so the Human Refugees can return to there native soil. There is also a possibility we can stop Patches from snatching other chunks of worlds. This is only possible with the Champions my PERSONAL guests here any threats against them is a threat against me."

"Last it does seem there is a blight in our Forest but from what I could see it was here long before the new Visitors appeared. I will not have any arguments now! It's late and I almost died today. In that case I need sleep so council meeting is suspended until Hour before noon. This impromptu and unnecessary meeting is over." With that she turned ignoring calls and Durlan's outrage rants.

Heart Tree

Ever since Graxitica entered the Forest the Heart tree was rushing to develop all the seeds it could.

It didn't know Graxitica power or abilities but it was scared and survival of it's seeds was now top priority.

Soon the Tree ships even the Mutated one lifted off the ground and started collecting the matured Seeds. Thought the one infected was also spreading the blight to the new seeds it was storing.

OOC:

I was waiting on you to post, Rotten, but ok...

Also, post with permission from Yydr.

BIC:

Tafari's eyes narrowed as Graxitica escaped into the forest. For just a moment, he had thought he'd seen a glow. He'd thought he'd seen the spark. Was it possible? 'Worth checking out...' He thought, focusing his senses and spreading them out. What he found shocked him.

His concentration never did find or focus on Graxitica. It was too wrapped up in Bisys and Jade. That strange machine thing had remnants of the Malleus-type energies from before. Tafari turned his eyes away from the forest, the world seeming to slow down to a crawl as his vision narrowed. He focused and felt his surroundings. Jade's shielding wings did nothing to obscure Bisys from Tafari's focused perception. A determined examination of Bisys and her energy signature followed.

'Screw the godling. Check that out later.' Tafari thought as a vicious smile once again crossed his face, emphasizing his canines. 'THIS is bigger. Much bigger. Also MINE.'

What happened next happened entirely within the span of half a second. First, a large shockwave of golden light that roared like a lightning clap burst forth from Tafari, stunning anybody close enough and without the proper protection by overwhelming them with a sense of Awe and wonder. While Tafari was still onscured within the expanding burst of light, he conjured a power sink like from before. Only this one was slightly different. Rather than draining energy from the entirety of his surroundings, Tafari focused solely on robbing Bisys of her energy.

The Reaver and Ildela could testify from their ongoing battle how decisions, execution, and resolve can happen in a nanosecond, had they been at the place and of a mind to do so. To say that Tafari's attack and the resulting consequence was instantaneous was close enough to the truth to nevermind technicalities that said otherwise. Jade's wing could not hide the large metaloid figure that was Bisys within its fold, and she received the brunt of the stun/drain combo.

Being a creature of magic, her energy was her life. When Tafari drained her energy, he took her life with it. Being designed to assimilate all forms of energy, there would be no trouble translating her energy into his, especially as half of it was his own already.

It is said when you die your life flashes before your eyes, and in that light truth is revealed, a truth that will set you free. In a world of pride and greed and lies, such freedom can only be gained through death's door. Sometimes one can make this ultimate sacrifice for another. All too often it is a price paid by the same individual. As was the case for Prosopopoeiasys.



In the beginning was the little girl; bright, cheery, an embodiment of sugar and spice and everything nice. Maira! Her name had been Maira. The newborn of EarthMother had been invisible to all else, looking to young Maira as a caretaker and companion. Maira had been very well off, living with hired servants who were treated well and loved like extended family. It had been Maira's idea in her innocence to start the Master game, so Trisys would know she was loved.

They had been the best of friends, inseparable. Until one youth camping trip when Maira received the news of her mother's death. Maira had fled from looming adults into the woods, where she demanded Trisys bring back her mother's ghost. Trisys had not been able to do so because Maira's mother had been at peace with her life and already passed on into her afterlife. Maira had thrown the Token acorn away in rage. Her cries, "I want my mommy! Go away! Go away! Leave me alone!" of a child's broken heart had scourged the equally innocent Trisys like a whip.

A boy who had befriended Maira at camp had followed when she fled. He had picked up the acorn where it fell, instantly learning of Trisys. Sadly his heart, while still that of a child, was not as pure. He spirited away his new treasure and used Trisys's power as revenge on those who had bullied him. His father too quickly learned of his son's sudden power, for the boy was far from discrete, and cowed his son into turning over possession of Trisys.

It was his evil mastermind that had seen the possibilities of a type of captive djinn. He arranged torture and training back in the Rouge Isles to mold Trisys in the belief that she was nothing more than slave, a conduit, helpless without a Master to use her and her Token. Karma backlash eventually sealed his fate, but not before the conditioning was complete. That was the start of the string of Masters who abused the EarthChild.

Being pulled to Patches had introduced chaos to this confusion. Her conditioning had made her use the borrowed Token and Jade to assuage dependency fears. Then loyalty and love of Jade, the first to show true kindness since Maira, had caused her to swap the fate of their bodies so that he might live through the granting of a Wish. The resulting diplomatic disagreement in her between magic and technology had been settled by Toy Dispenser's intervention, but not before another factor had turned the chaos into war.

That factor was Tafari. When Jade's completed transformation claimed back the energy Tafari had absorbed, a fragment of it had gone through their Bond into Bisys. It was tainted by its brief time in Tafari. For Jade this would mean nothing, as it would be the equivalent of digesting rock candy instead of fresh fruit. In other words, the energy in Jade had long ago been processed and changed into his own energy signature, all signature traces of Tafari or Malleus-type energy purged.

In contrast Tafari's taint of confidence, overbearance, and lust for dominance was completely incompatible with the energy that formed the satyr. Slowly its stain, an orange so dark as to appear red, spread through Bisys and her lifeline, as Paxtera has seen.

At first this influence appeared to be a good thing. Bisys displayed confidence. She took charge rather than passively waiting for orders when the delay would cause undesired effects. She even had begun to proactively pull information about Jade through the Token in anticipation of his Wishes and for his safety. Bisys had mistakenly believed these changes to be caused by strain of a new Bond on the borrowed Token.

All good side effects, right? Perhaps in Tafari or a mortal human, where such characteristics are part of their design. In Bisys they poisoned, desirably eroding away at her training while undesirably corrupting her nature. Much more and she may have tried to completely reverse the Bond to have Jade subservient with her as Master. Thus when Tafari targeted Bisys half of it would feel like the Malleus-type energy he had originally entered the forest to pursue, and the other half would feel like his own.



The mechanics of how Tafari easily claimed her energy as his own were overshadowed for Bisys by a more fundamental truth. The truth that she had been a prisoner of her own beliefs from nearly the first.

Jade had had the right of it: Prosopopoeiasys was a creature with a will of her own. Such a realization filled Bisys with a sense of awe and wonder even more overwhelming than Tafari's shockwave of golden light.

There wasn't time for guilt, regrets, goodbyes, or even sorrow. With a soft "Oh!" of wonder tinged with surprise, the metaloid figure literally crumbled. A shush like sand in an hourglass marked the collapse of the metal shell into scales. If anyone bothered to examine them, they'd discover each a uniform shape and size of a thumbnail. The gray scales tinged with red like rust numbered exactly 3,210.

Should Jade look, he'd discover the stone acorn in his possession to now have a sheen as though covered with tears, though it remained dry to the touch.

The restless spirits called Voices had lost their touchstone, their prosopopoeia, to the living. Collectively they moaned and swirled in discontent. Their motions caused a breeze to stir the meager remains, revealing a sun-bleached humanoid skull nestled among the scales. With a final wail, the spirits fled in contorting directions across the face of Patches, leaving a momentary lull of silence in their wake...



((No, Paradigm_Shift did not know what would happen. But it was inevitable since Tafari set his sights on the potential contained within the energy of Bisys. Extreme PvPers will crush squishy PvEers every time.

Details, details: As well as being a convenient countdown, the number of scales at 3,210 reflected the three days since Prosys was last logged in plus the 210 hours on patrol as reported by a helpful citizen.

Prosopopoeiasys is not irrevocably dead, yet. Paxtera, Jade, and the Marbles hold the keys to her revival. There is no time limit, so I hope no one derails their current actions in response. Don't worry; you haven't gotten rid of me that easily!

OOC:

It occurs to me I accidentally left Kyzock and Devious hanging in the dust back there. Posting late/premature response now.

BIC:

Graxitica once again descended into the twisting and endless forest. While he did have a trail of mutated plants to follow now, it was deceiving at best - Space twisted and warped, seeming to stretch the path out infinitely. He was, once again, hopelessly lost unless he could find a way to counter the spatial anomalies present in the elven homeland. The wolves from before had been a blessing in disguise - Being native (mutated or not) to the forest, simply by chasing Graxitica and by being near him, they had 'led' him safely through the anomalies. The forest's innate defense mechanism had not been precise enough to trap him without hindering the wolves. Unfortunately, it didn't look like any more mutated wolf abberations would be forthcoming anytime soon...

Aineruda entered the portal just a few moments before the tree fell.

The Captain drew his swords once Tafari appeared "No one threating she said!" He rushed forward just as the blast from the lighting clap hit him he fell. Then rolled on to his feet.

Seeing Jade's reaction and the collapse of Bysis Rotten let out a monstrous scream. "I don't know who that was but clearly she was a friend. YOU THINK YOU GOT POWER! You have Nothing!" The Zombie charged The lighting strike burning his flesh but it was nearly instantly repaired thanks to no small part to his overwhelming Strength of Will.

With a quick shift of his powers he made sure his rage enhanced Focused Accuracy was true as he blasted with all the dark energy he could muster drawing from the netherworld the grasping tentacles that lashed out at their target.

Out of the shadows... almost invisible Elizabeth and her minions watched Rotten Luck fight. She had descided to stay out of direct contact since there where now too many unknown elements running around. Instead she had traced and followed the one person she met on this planet that she knew enough from to be useful as a guide... Rotten Luck!

In any case... if he would become a problem keeping to his deluted heroic idea's he would be easily disposed off. Still for the heroic zombie to be of any use... he had to win this fight. A bit of help might be useful for him. She concentrated a bit while Rotten initiated his attack then send a enchantment of empowerment (Enchant Undead) his way. Effectivly it should double his resistence and strength, normally she would include a sword and armor too... But Rotten seemed to like and use his fists more.

A small smile formed around her lips...

The Mutated Forest

'What is it with this damn forest?' the sinister creature queried to himself. 'And what is up with this shell? Something is happening - very strange, it's as if there's a tempest ravaging inside...'

Infuriated, Graxitica began lashing out, a series of energetically empowered punches smashing into the trees, as well as fires erupting all around. The beastly Graxitica was at war with himself: No. The divine essence of the Dark God Graxus was truly demented, but he needed something else ... someone else. He couldn't possibly allow his own power to be so ... restricted within this shell.

So he would continue his rampage until something or someone did finally show up...and until then his powers would continue to fluctuate, a reflection of the internal chaos flowing within the shell known as Graxitica.

__________________________________________________ ___________________________

At

Negative Rise raised his hand, smoothing his hair out with the outstretched palm while rubbing his head as if thinking.

"Audio, video?" he queried, giving his best, truly profoundly lost expression. "I have no clue what you mean...if you can send a message, just tell them High General Nev'oroxis is alive and well, and currently - observing a strange, new world. Tell them they no longer need to fear the insane madness of the Archness Lonad...the madman was consumed by his own powers."

He shrugged his shoulders. "If my planet is even capable of receiving such a message, I highly doubt we would receive any sort of response, at least, not right away. That message will be debated about for at least the next year within the Council, and anything else beyond that is ... well, it's all a lengthy process."

The Sudden Clearing

Cold. Again. He felt cold. But it wasn't of the body. It was of the heart. Two or not, all Jade felt as he watched the scales run through the fingers of his empty hands was cold. Like sand they went, so very much like water not wet, and he couldn't do a thing to stop them. All he could do was watch them go, frozen in place by the horror of it all.

Awe wasn't something that easily overwhelmed him. Wonder wasn't something he could find from someone like Tafari. Loss, however...loss was the thing that froze him cold, blacked out the world around him until all there was were his hands and all he could do was stare at the scales running through their fingers.

And then came sadness.

Pain.

Anger!

"You *******, ********, ************* *********************!!!" the Dragon roared to high heaven and launched himself at Tafari, heedless of all. He didn't care that the fist headed for the man's face was likely harmless to the villain, that he could bat Jade aside like so much rubbish, that Dragon or not, he wasn't a superhero anymore...

But he didn't care. He wasn't thinking logically anymore. In fact, he was barely thinking at all. He was in pain, deep inside, where no aid could come. Perhaps the same on the outside was the only way to deal with it. Perhaps even the slightest chance to inflict could lessen. Or perhaps his spirit had just finally broken and he'd gone insane...
__________________

The Mutated Forest

Someone. Something. Sometimes, there was no difference. Graxitica's rampage was thus abruptly ended with the appearance of both, a wall of granite-like stone erupting from the ground before him, heading both up before and toward the beast, seeking to simultaneously block his path and smash him to the ground with all the tender love and care of a locomotive possessed by psychopathic pixies boiling over with homicidal schizophrenia.

That was the something. But whether or not it succeeded, there was the someone.

"Don't you dare keep going!" Akat snarled viciously, stalking through the flames crouched low, teeth bared, looking like their fury manifest. The tinder that flared where she stepped, the fire that licked up her legs and the contours of her body, even the embers that danced about her silhouetted form all seemed almost part of her, marring not a speck of hide, instead burning with fervor deep within the slitted pupils of her ice-gray eyes.

She'd had enough. Enough of not understanding, enough of all these people killing for no reason, and most importantly enough of doing nothing. No. She didn't need to understand to do something. She'd just do. And with others already dogpiling onto the first firebug, she'd decided to do something about the second.

And she could.

Graxitica the shell knew this. The instinct of the taken creature recognized an apex predator by simple nature. There was no mistaking it. Even with its augmentations, even being Graxitica, the beast felt itself as prey.

And there stood the predator.

Or perhaps there stood the shell...?
__________________

At

"Fancy words for recorded sound and pictures." Vetdjat allowed himself a smirk as the elevator arrived atop the tower - an open-aired, glass-walled enclosure topped with a number of arches supporting a large sphere overhead. The glass was of course not really glass, and the architecture of the thing was decidedly alien, but chances were that negative Rise wouldn't have much trouble recognizing a communications center either way.

Orange holograms formed interfaces and displays, several mechanisms provided hard points, sometimes-glowing crystals routed energy, sigils and patterns of long-dry blood connected the paths, and so on and so forth. A human might've called it some manner of tribal technomagic. Khelari simply called it know-how.

"And the manager is always listening, so it'll tell us when something comes back. We don't have to wait around." the scaleless reptilian explained, then looked up toward the sphere, "Did you get all that?"

"Affirmative." an unseen voice much like that of a range runner's autopilot confirmed. This one had a male 'personality' however, though it still spoke in the same soft, artificial tone, "Requesting receiver address."

"Just make it omnidirectional." Vetdjat said in response, glancing back to the demon, "Wherever a reply comes back from...well, if we get a reply back, assuming Ag'xis isn't in another universe or time or something, enter that as the address."

"Confirmed." the manager answered, "Transmission sent."

"Don't worry." the Khelari smiled to Negative Rise, "Someone will get it..."
__________________

Alynn Prime
High Orbit

Quiet. Calm. Serene. It all looked so peaceful from up here. The roar of the crowd at the launch pad, the hoots and bellows in mission control, none of it mattered up here. All was silence. All was peace.

The satellite's camera witnessed what had never before been seen: the curvature of the horizon that belonged to the bright-brown planet below, a soft velvet glistening in the rays of the nearby yellow sun like a marble of the finest glass. It was a desert, yes. But to those who loved there, to those who saw it now through their machine, it was beautiful as could be. In the lens of that camera that looked out into space, the firmament silently speckled with stars, the planet rolled quietly by below, and even the slim solar panel that jutted into view from the side made not a sound as it powered the machine.

And then came the shadow.

Then shattered the silence.

The sun's rays vanished from the panel from one second to another, the shadow zipping over its cells from back to front, its ubra enveloping the camera. Then the lens began to shake, to rattle, and the image distorted for a moment before returning to clarity. By then though, it was already there.

First to pass overhead was the nose cone, titanic in nature, silver-gray metal sliding over the stars as if to swallow them whole. The rest of the massive ship soon followed, growing steadily wider as it flew by above the camera's view, expanding gradually ever more. It didn't take long for the next section to follow, four gargantuan, rectangular outriggers joined to the hull at midpoints of length and slanted angles filling the sky, soon after passing into the soft, iridescent blue of slow-streaming plasma.

Engines.

The rest of the vessel came after, hangar bays and further armor, lights of many colors both steadily alight and blinking in strobe accompanying their charge.

VFSSR ERIKA
Current Assignment: Reconnaissance Patrol

Her crew didn't care what happened below. The small yellow star Alynn was a patrol waypoint. They would observe, catalogue, and fly on. The satellite was just one more entry. The local civilization had developed. An envoy would be dispatched the next time the ERIKA sent in a report. She didn't stop for them. She was hunting. Contact wasn't her job.

But listening was.

And she received a transmission.

High General Nev'oroxis.

Suddenly, everything changed...

Time froze.

Tafari was blessed with the spark of divinity. He had only recently ascended, and regardless of his accomplishments up to this point, he was still just a child. His lust for power was, in truth, just as much a subtle hunger of his new form as his natural inclination for it. Tafari may have been a god, but he did not act or think like one. Vast amounts of energy were needed to elevate his mind.

With the final massive burst of energy, Tafari's perception changed. His true form on the Divine plane grew closer, clearer, more familiar. He now had to look down to see his physical form. There was a strange clarity of thought. A sudden acknowledgement of purpose. Attunement.

’I am Tafari. I am Awe. The being thought. It serenely viewed the Earth below, and the environs around his physical form.