Yeah, thats broken. Kasoh Onnoroc: doctor, medical researcher, and occasional superhero inspected the surly teens arm. A clean break shouldnt be too hard.
The gray pants still had blood on them, and he could smell the acrid smell of dyne. He had put an obviously false name and address on his paperwork, and generally looked shiftyto use the technical term. Kasohs money was on the kid being a fresh Skull.
Howd this happen, anyway? Super powered zealot? Kasoh asked as he reached for his medical supplies.
No, it was a freaking monster! This
huge
thing came out of the sewers and tossed me and my buds around!
Huge thing. Right. And it came out of the sewers? Which one?
Over on East 23rd, by the liquor store. Lost dont bum around there, and the Cots stay away. Figured a good place to you know
hang.
Of course. Ill be right back with the plaster.
Kasoh stepped out of the examination room into his clinics hall. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed. Alice? Its Doc K. No, no youre fineblood work came back clean as could be, all things considered. I need you to do me a favor. Got a lead on something fishy. Sewers off of East 23rd. Yes, thats the Row. Im busy with a patientNo, a kid with a broken arm. That certificate is more than just a pick upyou know what? No. Im not going to be the subject of a teenage girls ridicule. Just check it out for me, would you?
Alice Springs hung up her phone and looked out at the nighttime ambiance in Founders Falls. The blonde teenager smiled and waved at some passers by as she jumped into the air, quickly flying into the night sky. First things first, she had to go get her costume. Probably the red one, because the gray one didnt look so good at night, even if the gray one was in this seasons materials.
As she adjusted her costumes skirt, she considered finding some leggings; just because sewers were really gross, but her last set that looked good with this uniform got torn while fighting those crazy knife guys in Croatoa. Alice put on some makeup, really believing in the empowering feeling of coloring her lips.
Satisfied with her appearance, Alice hoped it wasnt an emergency, because then shed feel absolutely terrible, but Doc hadnt mentioned an emergency, and he was annoyingly precise with labels, like it really mattered if he was hypothesizing or guessing
honestly
shaking her head, Alice turned on her beacon and called in, Alpha Source going on duty, investigating a lead in Kings Row.
As Alpha Source set landed on East 23rd, she wondered briefly why Doc liked this place so much. In her opinion, there wasnt much to like about Kings Row. It was broken down, dirty, and there wasnt a single designer boutique in the entire zone. Like when the War Walls went up, they just kind of sealed away the slummy part of town and tried to forget about it.
The sewer grate in question was hanging open, and Alpha stepped through, crinkling her nose at the awful, terrible smell that accompanied the brackish water. It was undignifying how much time she spent in the sewers. The dull yellow lights that lined the walls cast long shadows of pipes and blocks amidst the churning of water and omnipresent hiss of steam pipes.
Her booted feet hovering off the ground, Alpha crept forward, and as she moved, she concentrated and bright green motes began to glow around her, particles of high intensity radiation clinging to things in the air.
Empty spaces can be quite dangerous. Especially if you expect something. Every odd noise becomes the shuffling of zombies or the murmur of heavily armed gang members. Several times, Alpha Source spun around and almost zapped a moving shadow with some neutrinos.
After traveling down several hundred yards of dank sewers, in a small intersection of passageways Alpha came across the remains of a fight. Skulls, six of them, were sprawled out over the small concrete platform, in various stages of hurt. Bullet casings and broken sledgehammers were tossed randomly amongst the fallen men.
Alpha Source let out a gasp when she saw them, most of them groaning or moaning as they tried to recover. Rushing forward, the young blonde called out, Im Alpha Source, is anyone badly hurt?
She turned to the closest Skull, a boy who couldnt be much older than her, who had his knees tucked close to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. With a burst of radiation, she could close small wounds, but healing gang members couldnt be a smart thing, right?
Who did this? she asked.
So tightly wrapped in his fetal position, the Skull didnt answer Alpha Source, or perhaps was just too terrified to give voice to it. He winced and whimpered at her touch, and Alpha looked around nervously. This wasnt something that usually happened. If a hero had done this, the Skulls would have been arrested already. None of the Skulls responded to her questions, or her prodding, so she sent them to the hospital via arrest tags.
Hovering in the cross of the streams of filthy water Alpha looked for any indicator of which way to go. Staring intently into the dark recesses of each path, she never noticed the slithering under the water.
Her shrill shriek almost gave the slimy tentacle pause, but it wound itself around her leg anyway, pulling the young girl into the filthy water. Immediately, she let out a powerful blast of radiation in all directions, and the smell of burning flesh gave some hope.
A second tentacle sprang from the water, this wrapping around an arm. Together, they pulled Alpha to her knees, and she thrashed wildly in the water. She screamed again when she felt the gangly limbs pull her deeper into the sewers. Using lasers of pure energy from her eyes, she zapped the one holding her arm, and it writhed away, allowing Alpha to fly back out of water, fighting against the single limb trying to pull her down.
When she had built up enough energy to blast the tentacle wrapped around her leg with another blast from her eyes, the second tentacle came back, slamming her into the wall before wrapping around her neck.
Dazed, Alpha felt the warm wriggling flesh constricting around her neck and screamed, though as soon as she was pulled under the sewage, the sewers grew silent once more.
In any other circumstances, Alpha Source might be disgusted and annoyed by being drug through several hundred yards of Paragon City sewer water, but even if she could draw more than a half breath, when face to face with the source of the creature that drug her across the sewers, there wasnt a very coherent thought running through her mind.
In no time at all, Alpha Source found herself tried at the arms and legs, her limbs kept taught and spread out, the pain barely registering as she looked upon the multi layered mouth, with rows and rows of dark pointy teeth that gnashed and gnarled as it drooled viscous.
Shed stared down Devouring Earth monsters, battled hydra slime creatures and giant octopuses, she shouldnt be so bothered by this thing, but the dark writhing mass of it, where spindly grasping limbs would flail about darting in and out of vision kept her from focusing entirely on something she could ground herself on.
Grotesque came to mind, but it was more than that. A dozen bulbous eyes stared at her, shiny and wide and all around her, large writhing shapes wriggled in the shadows of the room where it made its lair and each time she kicked at the tentacle holding her slithering whispers could be heard and another tentacle would reach out of the darkness and try to restrain her.
The focused gaze of the
things many eyes kept Alpha twisting away, recoiling from its gaze, and it seemed that no matter how she turned, another eye was staring at her.
Let me go! she screamed, punctuating the command with a strong burst of radiation. When the tentacles pulled tighter on her, Alpha just shrieked when she was dragged closer to the monsters mouth, and she could feel its fetid breath wash over her. Alpha gagged as drool spilled into her hair, running down her face.
One eye stuck shut from crazy monster drool, Alpha tried to look at the thing, trying to form a single useful thought. She didnt want to die.
The gnashing maw of its mouth drew her attention, and Alpha screamed again.
She didnt want to be eaten.
Normally, she directed radiation with her hands, but with terror firing all her synapses Alpha Source began to pour radiation out of her body in every direction. The radiation counter that she used a chest emblem began to change color, going from white to red, and then darkening to black as she lost all control over her powers.
She couldnt see her skin become almost transparent as radiation leaked from her pores, The sheer unimaginable terror she felt kept her from seeing much anything at all, The room began to glow brightly, and whatever had been crawling in the shadows disappeared until Alpha Source accelerated her own radiation beyond safe levels, and the air around her exploded in a nuclear haze.
Bruised, drained, and head still hazy, Alpha woke up on a soft bed, staring at a white florescent ceiling lamp. Next to her was Doc, his one eye looking worried.
It
it was
Terrible, horrible, haunting, creepy, disturbing,
wasnt real, was it? she asked quietly.
Kasoh frowned, then shook his head, It was from the Neth
Alice threw herself at Kasoh, cutting him off as she cried, clutching to his white doctors lab coat, and the guilty looking man took her in his arms, whispering useless platitudes and apologies.
Infinity
Sam Varden 50 MA/Reg Scrap
Doomtastic 50 SS/Inv Brute
Ceus 50 Eng/Kin Corr
Cinderstorm 50 Fire/Fire Blaster
This is a weekly article, delivered to you every Wednesday. These articles are intended to be a fun exercise as well as a good resource for role-players to explore Character Development so please feel free to post your own characters reaction to the weekly prompt. So be sure to stay tuned to this blog for future installments!
}
Your character is faced with a new sort of Boogie Man, a new and unknown enemy. What is it and what does your character do?
{Note to the reader: Its almost Halloween, my favorite time of year and to get into the spirit a little I’ve been reading a lot of Lovecraft, and reading probably to much Poe and Hawthorn while at work. So here is my contribution in true Lovecraftian and Poe styling to be sure. I hope everyone enjoys a little scare, I know I do
:Jake and Serena have entered the dark morning woods in pursuit of the strange creature whom had attempted to kidnap Serena. However they soon lose sight of each other and become separated and lost. This tale is told from Jakes' perspective from this point on.:
Darkness falls and trees stand like silent specters in this wild and wooded glen
October has come at last, fall has begun its victory march and winter like death knocks upon our doors
Sharp winds through brazen leaves whispering things better left unheard
Life comes to perish in primal forests such as this
Losing yourself among its branches
Returning to the earth among the mud and sticks
I could not venture further into the dense and shadowy fog
Without taking our respite on a hallow moss covered log
The brambles thick scratch about my knees and the mire pulls me down
Taking with it my last good boot and making my cold toes wriggle inside woolen socks
I lay me down to sleep under a heart evergreen
Pulling earth and leaves about me, body cradled by the soft green needles and flowering mosses smelling sweet
Something was terribly wrong at the hour of midnight;
I awoke with a start, at an owl’s sudden screech,
Hallow morning gowns of leaves rustle under foot as deer move swiftly by
My eyes open though I could see naught, eyes wide like jack o’ lanterns brightly shining
Only the devil could see you, or so I thought.
Shadows part like veils of mourning haggard women showing glimpses of tall lithe creatures gliding in between dark oaken trees,
In the heart of this deep forest with heart rate nearly ceasing, I see them,
Not men surely for they moved not like men ought
Deep in the forest even angels can die
Why should I wonder where my feet have taken me?
Why does my skin crawl?
How could I have been so foolish?
How could I ignore the crows caw?
Their eyes do not see me yet, cold fingers touch will pierce me if I let them, claw at my hide, and steal my breath,
The creatures stood over me in cold observation, black limbs reaching out as I began to scream.
Then they parted and held amongst them wrapped in ebon tentacles was shown,
The woman who had led him here, the one who he had sworn to one day know.
Blue eyes like sapphires, hair as black as night, skin like porcelain, lips ruby red and a voice like tupelo honey or whiskey aged just right.
I would not let her see me cowering in fear, and then through my ragged breather I could just barely hear.
“They are insubstantial beings, made of darkness; a weakness to light makes them as brittle as glass. My strength can not harm them and these bindings hold me fast. Do not let them touch you; you have a power and a task only that which is inside you can save me, only your light can save us at last.”
She was bound and gagged afresh when those words where spoke, though be they only a few.
It took several of them to restrain her, arms and legs flailing her mouth gagged too.
She shone like a beacon, like a pale candle light and my hope sprang anew, though still out of my wits did I inwardly tremble both from excitement well as fright.
They gathered around her seeming to talk amongst themselves,
Chittering and making other odd gestures while those around me began to yip and yelp.
They worked in packs like intelligent dogs, those subservient where smaller to.
Some where struck and bit with long claws and grotesquely gaping maws,
while others stood nearly three feet taller and where more elegant of self.
They where fairly tall creature, and black as pitch, seemingly iridescent
But from what light source the stars or the moon I can not say which.
Their arms and legs where without joint, and at the end of each where a mass of dark tendrils, tentacles ending in spikes.
Each creature had eyes, but not for seeing I found. For when some of the smaller ones came to me their eyes twitched opening and closing sniffing me like a hound.
Each creature had a mouth, which nearly took up the whole portion I had assumed would be a face. Tongues as long and thick as my fore arm would flicker in and out,
While row after row of venom tipped fanged teeth gaped hideously in my face.
Their movement was most unique,, like a serpent slithering over the earth, these where cave dwelling creatures who found solace in deep places in cavers under water and in the rich cavernous earth
Suddenly they had surrounded me, moving to quickly for me to see
One small one whom I perceived to be a guard reached out to touch me and falling back began to scream.
The air around them smelled of cinders, they gnash sharpened teeth ready to devour
A heavy chill crept upon me, though my captors made not a sound and then with pointed obsidian edged sticks they drove me to their lair the tainted holy ground.
Just as we had expected in the heart of this dark wood, lay the remnants of the old church tower and the burial grounds in the midst of which dark horrors stood.
The crypt stood open, tomb stones cracked and white like broken bones
Littering the ground where the bodies of the evil undead, some moving some did moan
Animated and feasting on the flesh of a child without a home.
In the center of it all where the old chapel had once stood, the holy alter had been desecrated its tattered cloth now stained in blood and loam.
Upon it lay Serena, bound and battered with broken bones, powerless and far from the Row.
They shoved me down before their dark Master, his great limbs like tentacles waving in hypnotic oceans, thrilling cold night air.
Blasphemy penetrates the walls of this one time sanctuary, the presence of the worm god and his bride pestilence show in the ravaged sacrifices which have been pushed off of the alter and to one side where my soul shrivels with despair.
Worshiping the Lord has never been so grotesque, my bit part in this play so blighted
The thick odor of the carcasses is enough for faith to sour, even as the putrid, noiseless praises proclaim Satan's conquest even the most noble of hearts would cower.
Rotten flesh fills the pews, as the little ones, and the dead ones begin to shout, and howl at their devilish masters’ bequest, all come forward circling the bower.
Her blue eyes open and close as the black tendril feed upon her blood like leeches dragging her down into never ending exhaustion while I look on just out of reach.
Is the sand is almost on the other side; her hour glass is nearly filled?
Her time stands still the sand nearly gone and the bells of hell ring out, in a discordant little thrill. On this most unholy day, if I do naught to save her the doors to our great blue heaven will forever be sealed
I did not know what awaited me when I set out that morning oh so long ago
No idea if fate would deliver me, if I would fall into charity or find my end in this beast’s hungry and slavering maw
It seemed to me that I had been in this dark and desperate wilderness for hours, if not days
But she would be dying here before me and as a deeper darkness fell I could only pray
“Please gods and all things holy, guide me your gentle son somewhere far away.
Let me find myself in the arms of my loved ones, let us both live to see another day”
No sooner had these words left my lips and I lifted my green eyes to hers, did I see a smile curl her lips and then it dawned upon me the meaning of her words.
“Do not let them touch you; you have a power and a task only that which is inside you can save me, only your light can save us at last.”
Deep within my very being I had always known it to be true, the power, that rose within me bubbled forth and with it my righteous anger too.
My skin began to glow as if brightly lit from somewhere deep inside, and then a great heat consumed me as the creatures screeched and cried.
I let my power flow out of me in bright rays as my inner fire consumed me and brought an artificial daylight.
It was her turn now to come forward into the fight, now that which had bound her could no longer hold her might.
Breaking her ebon chains, Serena’s eyes flashing with delight, curled fists pummeling every creature that came near her, crushing all that came with in her sight.