The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
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Post by Geata on Oct 11, 2016 20:56:22 GMT -7
Geata rolled his eyes at Sin Eater's threat, whether she meant it or not. "Only reason I bothered is because Unhallow would probably get upset if I hadn't," he said with his own edge of annoyance. While he appreciated the healing before things turned into a legitimate problem, it wasn't anything that had factored into his grabbing of Sin and he didn't appreciate the accusation. It wasn't anything he expected, as he was planning on figuring something out later, since it wasn't an immediate problem.
What was an immediate problem was what to do with Azoth. As much as he'd prefer to leave her where she was safe, there was no way to know where would remain safe for long. The better option would be to bring her along, even if that meant bringing her into danger. At least that way, he could hopefully keep her from harm. It maybe wasn't the ideal choice, but he thought it the lesser of two evils. So, with a sigh, he unsheathed his sword, set it down, and picked Azoth up again and situated her on his back. He hunched forward to keep her from falling backwards, and used one hand to keep her from sliding around. He picked the sword back up with his main hand, before a thought struck him and he turned to the two Keepers that Azoth considered friends.
"Can you two do me a favor and try to keep an eye on each other?" He asked, his voice a mix of nervousness and concern. "She'd be upset if either of you get hurt, and none of us want that, right? I'd appreciate it." He smiled slightly under his mask before turning away and choosing a target. The building with the vines seemed the most likely for him to be able to actually do any damage in. Vines also seemed the least threatening in regards to what lied in wait inside the main buildings, so Azoth would probably be safest in there.
"I really hope I'm not making a terrible decision here," he whispered to himself before stepping through a newly opened portal, closing the distance between him and his target. Once there, he would use his portals to move from floor to floor quickly, hacking at the vines in the hopes of making entering easier on the other supers. If he had to guess, judging by what he had found at Shiro Tower and what Big Martin said he had found underneath Horizons, there was likely a tunnel entrance underneath the building. Clearing the way to that would probably be beneficial, and if they got down to the tunnels, he could probably use his portals to narrow down the search time for the dragon. One step at a time, though, he told himself.
Maneuver (Speed) against Gunstig building
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Oct 11, 2016 21:36:29 GMT -7
No immediate retaliation from the enemy. This concerned Rainfall more than an all-out attack: where a cornered animal would have fought for its life, throwing everything it had at its assailants, the dragon was staying calm, drawing them in. The damn thing wasn't even feeling threatened yet.
The infested skyscrapers presented obvious targets for the supers to go after, no doubt booby-trapped with all kinds of nasty bullshit. They'd have to be dealt with one way or another, but Rainfall could let the big guns handle those. Her eyes were on the ground, on the massive spikes, and the hints of a subterranean network that the Pandaemonium leader had revealed. The dragon was down there somewhere, hiding away, vulnerable. The other supers aimed for the obvious threat, but Rainfall knew the real target.
It was time for her to go hunting again.
She barked out orders to the pilot, pointing at a nearby rooftop, one not too far above street level. "Take us down there, I'm getting off. 'Less Nemesis here wants a lift somewhere, you can leave us after that."
As the helicopter descended, she let go of her minigun, leaving it where it was. Searching through her bag, she found a head-torch, and lifted her had for a moment to strap it on. Then, with a certain solemn ceremony, she drew the other weapon she'd brought along: a thick, black, double-barreled shotgun, a boisterous and brutal piece of metal that fit in her hands like it was made for them. The fancy bullet-spitter had been useful against the thralls, but this was a piece she'd had for years, one that was as much a part of her as her arms or legs.
She called it Bearfucker, on account of that one time it had fucked up a bear.
The helicopter came to a rough landing on to roof, and Rainfall immediately jumped out, yelling her thanks to the pilot without actually looking at him. Checking her shotgun as she went, she made her way to the side of the rooftop, and jumped off.
She stopped in midair about halfway to the ground, jerking to a halt with her legs dangling. Looking down to make sure she wasn't going to get caught on any spikes, she let herself drop a little further, stopping once more before finally touching down.
Her target was a nearby manhole cover, on a section of the road that had been warped and cracked by the emergence of the spines. Making her way over to it, she knelt down and heaved it open, exposing the way into the sewers beneath.
The putrid stink of shit and acid wafted up into her nostrils, and she had to fight the urge to puke up her breakfast there and then. Still, her nose was sharp after half a lifetime spent in the forest, and she could smell something else in there too. Something unnatural. One corner of her mouth turned ever-so-slightly upward. Bingo.
Clicking on her head-torch, she herself fall into the sewers. She landed with a splash, her boots soaking through with accumulated filth, and immediately glimpsed movement. Roots and tendrils were everywhere, but it was the thralls that drew her eyes. Some of them must have hidden down here, because she could see dozens of them already, and hear others turning, grunting, reacting to her presence.
Calmly, she raised her shotgun. Dragon had to be controlling them somehow, and her bet was on the brains. Just like zombies: blow up the head, and the rest of the monster would fall. Or so she hoped.
One pull of the trigger, and a storm of metal was let loose. No matter how many of these things got in her way, Rainfall would kill 'em all, and take the Dragon's head herself.
Action: Aggression (Subdual) against Remaining Thralls
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Pandaemonium
Posts 33
Power Level 15
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Post by Wrath on Oct 11, 2016 22:19:34 GMT -7
Scrambling out of Pride's arms she peered over the horizon. The spores were back with a vengeance. They covered the sky and were immediately absorbed into whatever they ran into. Buildings were shifting and morphing as viney tentacles wove through them. Walking toward the edge of the building she looked down to see thralls climbing up the side. The little sin cursed and glanced back at Pride. She needed to make sure he could get away. Besides, Glut did say to keep Prince Posh protected. Standing on the edge of the building she smirked over at Pride.
"If I come back and have to save your ass, you're gonna wish that the dragon had killed you."
With that she jumped off, her hands shooting twin spirals of fire like bazookas at the thralls.
Maneuver(Field) vs Remaining Thralls |
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The Keepers
Posts 24
Power Level 18
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Post by Ophiuchus on Oct 12, 2016 0:39:20 GMT -7
Ophiuchus' yellow eyes widened as the plant dragon began twisting the buildings like it had twisted the civilians. However, he was not going to let it threaten his snakes. The snake-man saw a couple of the smaller twisted buildings nearby. Thankfully, Ophiuchus found a path to them that was devoid of spikes. He quickly made his way down to the buildings. He began looking around for something to destroy them with. The hybrid soon spotted a good-sized chunk of metal that he was able to pick up. Ophiuchus then spun around like an Olympic shot putter and hurled the chunk of metal at the twisted support beams, hoping the force from his throw would knock the building into the ones near it in a domino effect.
Destruction against Small Buildings
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Oct 12, 2016 8:41:57 GMT -7
Gradually, Aurora's breathing returned to normal, and her heart rate slowed to about as normal as could be expected while fighting a plant-like monstrosity. Her efforts while flailing about weren't entirely for nothing though. For a moment, the dragon showed itself before hiding behind more walls. Aurora had a target now, all she had to do was beat it into submission now. That would be hard with the way it was protecting itself, but it's not like inanimate matter would stop her.
Before she could decide on what to do, she heard a voice behind her. Aurora's expression flattened a little bit, but at this point she was getting used to Giza following her around everywhere and acting like he could have done something when there really wasn't much that could be done. What really concerned her though, was when he addressed Balance. If this was going to go like any other time someone else tried to help her she needed to get him to stand down immediately. This was not the time to be harassing potential allies because they decided to pull spores out of her skin instead of him. Aurora quickly shot up and started to move towards them, only for Giza to act entirely reasonable about things for once. She raised an eyebrow, wondering of the spores got to him too, but figured it would be best to look into it later. Someone under the control of the dragon probably wouldn't be trying to help the other supers, so it was probably safe. Granted, the entire situation did make her scratch her head.
The buildings started to shift around her. Aurora clicked her tongue. The fact that it could take over more than humans was troublesome. She might have been able to contain the plant's growth somewhat if not for that, if it could take over whatever she could drop on it, that would make things a lot more difficult. Well, the city was half-destroyed anyway, so there was no harm in making things worse. Aurora started digging more holes in an attempt to separate the dragon from as much matter as possible. Further, she tried to pull out the walls behind the dragon so that hopefully whatever it was doing to spread the spores throughout the area would slow or stop. To add to that, she kept dropping some things to prevent any spores from rising too high. She wasn't about to repeat what just happened. Finally, she sent her aurora down towards the dragon in a heavily condensed form in an attempt to cut whatever parts were generating or spreading the spores.
Action: Maneuver (Alteration) against Spore Generators
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The Keepers
Posts 206
Power Level 30
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Post by Unhallow on Oct 12, 2016 8:50:12 GMT -7
Unhallow nodded at the request to watch Azoth. All things considered, it was borderline impossible for them not to watch her given the nature of their senses. They weren't entirely sure what they'd be able to do if something did happen, but the watching part they could handle.
The world continued to shift around them, and the entire area started to become the land of infinite spirals. It was starting to overload Unhallow's mind with data given each pattern did really seem to be infinite somehow. Trying to keep track of it all was making their head hurt, and at this point they could barely tell where ground was anymore. It was probably best not to move for the time being given they were pretty sure they were on the top of a building. It was even harder to try to figure out what to do. With as much information as they were taking in, it was difficult to tell if their power was doing anything against all the spirals. They just kept going, and going, and going.
The only option was to hit all the spirals with everything they had. Unhallow kind of remembered the spirals that were the spores instead of the spirals that were...something else. They couldn't say that they were smaller because they were equally as infinite, but they were, they didn't know, sporey. Regardless, if their power was having an effect on the spores before, maybe it'd still work.
Action: Aggression (Destruction) against Spore Generators
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Pandaemonium
Posts 29
Power Level 23
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Post by Tricky on Oct 12, 2016 8:53:08 GMT -7
The buzzing ceased abruptly and Tricky jumped out of the bed of the truck, slipping out of the barbed rope with a loud metal-on-metal bloodcurdling noise. It probably wouldn't escape far past the music, luckily enough. Landing on the cab of the truck, he pointed the mouths on his hand at the hole they had made into the skyscraper. A small blue glow preceded the icy blast they them issued, forming a small outcropping and platform. The Jester promptly sprinted toward it as a blur, moving faster than he'd been seen to to before. He kept blasting ice into a pathway, a ramp that led down onto the spikes and the over them a road of ice. It was big enough to accommodate two tankers side by side, and kept going toward the skyscrapers. Upon encountering a thrall, he started deviating his course to avoid any threat one may pose. This left the path curvy but still navigable. It led to each of the skyscrapers, but started to curl up Horizons. It was securely structured, but the width was only person sized all the way up. The path itself was based on the tower and was laying all of its weight on the tower, and Tricky kept one hand free to freeze the tower itself. All the way up, a confining band of blues and white appeared, sparkling against the greenery.
Aggression (Confinement) against Horizons
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Rein Initiative
Posts 54
Power Level 30
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Post by Seraphim on Oct 12, 2016 8:57:39 GMT -7
Someone else grabbed the unconscious girl, and his thoughts made it clear that there was no reason to try to stop him. She made no effort to do so. Seraphim's grapple line took her to the top of one of the smaller buildings. She could tell it was a little risky staying this low, but it would give her more opportunities to go after the dragon itself. The fact that it was taking over the buildings in the area (even if it hadn't actually shown itself yet) explained why she was having so much trouble pinning down its location. The dragon was massive at this point.
Seraphim pulled out her trusty sniper rifle and prepared for the assault. Against something this big and spread out, she likely wouldn't be that useful. For every vine she broke, she was certain the dragon could generate four more. There was simply no way for someone without large scale destructive powers like hers to do much against something like this. She wasn't worried about being useless here though. In the end, she would still see its most destructive attacks coming, and that was something she might be able to do something about. She carefully listened for the dragon's voice and was ready to try to disrupt whatever plans it might have.
Action: Interference (Reversion) against Smaller Buildings
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The Keepers
Posts 234
Power Level 31
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Post by Azoth on Oct 12, 2016 9:18:30 GMT -7
The end of the fight with the thralls was… hazy. Azoth had thought it to just be the fatigue getting to her, but it had continued to get deeper, taking with it her clear thought and leaving weight in her arms and legs in its place. It was strange, she had thought, considering she was no longer running, and removing the spores from the air shouldn’t be nearly as strenuous as her body’s response might suggest.
She remembered the ground tremoring slightly below her, and a sharp pain in her neck - and then the next thing she knew, she was waking up on Geata’s back. The thralls were mostly gone; those that remained were scattered among spikes that now broke through the entirety of the city’s bottom level. The cityscape had changed drastically. Entire buildings were gone, landmarking buildings were altered almost beyond recognition, and the streets were empty save for bodies and the odd thrall. If there weren’t still a multitude of supers and the resulting fireshow, she would’ve thought they’d lost.
Azoth shifted and groaned, letting the changing scenery around her bring her slowly back to her senses. “What happened?” She mumbled. “What’s happening?” Her whole body felt weak, and her mind tired, but the fight was evidently far from over. She had to pull herself back into it.
She turned her attention to what lay ahead - a building, the prior Gunstig Center, had been swallowed by vines. Other supers were attacking the plant appendages, which gave her reason to think doing the same would be beneficial. Clouds of helium began to form around vines away from other supers, moments later lighting and bursting into a fireball. The groggyness of her mind slowed her rate, dropping lower than when she had done this in the last dragon, but it was a simple enough task. She could manage.
Action: Maneuver(Field) against the Gunstig Center
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 37
Power Level 31
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Post by Carl on Oct 12, 2016 10:39:01 GMT -7
Carl watched with mild interest as the plants started to affect the more nearby buildings. It seemed that the infected civilians and spikes were meant to stall the supers, give it more time to grow and become more powerful. It was an irritating strategy to go up against, but not one that couldn't be beat. If they could undermine it's efforts, take out its strongest pawns and prevent it from making any moves of its own, it would be forced to make desperate moves in order to reclaim or make up for lost resources. The problem was, what would be the smartest way to strike?
It was while trying to decide a plan of attack that Carl noticed the Plague Doctor jumping off of a building that also had Blue Jay on it. It was a shame the good doctor hadn't waited a few more moments so Carl could return the hat, but it wasn't a great loss. He could likely return it sometime in the future. Jay, however, gave the young super an idea. Why try to concentrate attacks on key areas in the hopes that they would work, when you could have the numbers to attack everything and learn where the weak points are? Besides, seeing a legion of Blue Jay dying without any real consequences would probably be enough of a punishment that Carl could start to forgive him for leaving the Bulwarks at a time when they needed everyone they could get.
In a well practiced, fluid motion, Carl popped off the lid to another jar and sliced his finger on the blade fixed to it, bleeding onto the remains kept within. In moments, Midas started to form as gold was pulled from under Carl's outfit and inside his backpack. Bardtholomew still had some time, luckily, but Midas would be better suited to real combat. "Midas, take me to that rooftop," Carl said, pointing at Jay's location. Almost immediately, a platform of gold slid under his feet and quickly carried him to the intended destination.
Once there, he didn't waste any time with greetings. "Bardtholomew, mass produce," he commanded, pointing at Jay. Bardtholomew produced a few more silent screams, and suddenly a horde of generic Jay lookalikes came into existence. Details were vague, and anyone who knew Jay would be able to distinguish the difference upon a close inspection. Anything from modern technology to a mirror that could be used as a tool to observe them would reveal that nothing was truly there, although they had the capability to interact and affect things as commanded by the original copy. However, as Carl understood, the beauty of the power lied within the constructs' minds. They would be indistinguishable from Jay (and, unknown to Carl, Evron) to anything that relied on telepathic means or tried to focus on his powers. Bardtholomew had used this to his advantage in life, sacrificing copies to be found while he slipped away, unable to be tracked by otherwise effective mind readers.
Carl was unsure of the exact count of Jays, but he was sure it was somewhere near triple digits. All would be capable of doing as the original Jay commanded, be it evacuation details, attacking, or simply drawing fire. "Congratulations, Commander Jay," Carl said, his voice still tinged with the disappointment he felt towards the former Bulwark. "You now have an army. Give them orders, and be quick about it; you only have a few minutes to make use of them before they disappear."
Teamwork with Blue Jay: Accumulation (Summoning) against Interference (Depowering)
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 67
Power Level 27
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Post by Nemesis on Oct 12, 2016 11:12:13 GMT -7
The battle was more dangerous than before, and she'd rather let the helicopter escape before everything got even worse. With Rainfall leaving the vehicle, Nemesis decided it would be better to get out as well. But first, she noticed one of the other supers making a bridge to the skyscrapers, and told the pilot to drop her off over there.
From up above, the ice looked stable enough, so seemed like a good way to reach those evil buildings. She waited until the helicopter was a few feet above the pathway before jumping out early. Spirit energy spread around her for a moment before revealing a new motorcycle for Nemesis to ride. The engine started up before she settled in the driver's seat and she landed already running at full speed.
The steering took care of itself, which left her hands free to figure out how to attack the giant things. She couldn't stab it; that would be dumb. Guns were somehow too complicated to make even though she just created a motorcycle out of nothing. She needed a different long range weapon, probably something old-fashioned.
Oh, duh, a bow. Something that straightforward should still be possible. Nemesis formed a simple longbow (as most of her attention was focused on keeping the bike around) and waited until she approached the former Shiro Tower. After drawing the string back and releasing one arrow, she watched until it reached the halfway point and caused it to split into a dozen other arrows.
Action: Maneuver (Alteration) against Shiro Tower
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Dead
"I shall protect you from the consequences of your naivety."
Posts 24
Power Level 15
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Post by Balance on Oct 12, 2016 12:10:36 GMT -7
Balance waved away Aurora's apology as she stood up. Anyone sensible would have punched a stranger in the face who did what she did. Her legs were shakey and her vision was swimming. Whatever these spores were, they were taking a heavy toll on her body. Her healing abilities could barely keep up with them. That wasn't a good sign.
The world shook violently, taking her attention from herself. Now was not the time to worry about the spores inside her, they were handled. Buildings had amalgamated into the beast. Grabbing the hilt of her blade with all the strength she could muster. Stepping on the edge of the she waited for the right moment. Hold it, hold it. There! She leapt at the building, sword held over her head. The darkette swung the large blade in a large arc, sending multiple cutting ribbons towards the living tower
Aggression(Destruction) vs Shiro Tower |
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Pandaemonium
Posts 164
Power Level 28
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Post by Sanduleak on Oct 12, 2016 12:19:04 GMT -7
Sanduleak took a few breaths to calm himself as he processed the last few moments of flying, being caught and then promptly tossed before seeing her climb over the fence and land next to him. He had to audibly, he hoped not too loudly, gulp as he looked over her, course it was guardian angel. No no, no time for thoughts like that, he shook his head and hoped his helmet wasn't doing the stupid pink thing.
"Sorry it's uh hard not to fall for ya uh hehehe"
He scratched his cheek through his mask before a thought had occurred to him in the actions that happened just a few seconds ago, she threw him and barely made it...He hopped up to his feet, barely standing straight, and pointed at her.
"And d-don't do stupid stuff like that, you coulda died and made a lotta people back at the house very sad."
He was trying to being frustrated at her and also not point out he'd be one of the very sad ones as well, but was failing miserably and sighed.
"But uh thanks again, I owe ya lot...let's kill this thing so I can get onto repaying you."
A small smiley emoticon flashed before he walked to the edge of the building and glared at Horizon's, if they were going to take care of the building they were gonna need a better setting to fight in. He soon became a beacon as he flashed repeatedly each one bringing in new stairs, platforms, and guns into existence, allowing supers full access and mobility to get around it.
Action: Maneuver Field against Horizons
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Pandaemonium
Posts 22
Power Level 20
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Post by Pride on Oct 12, 2016 12:25:44 GMT -7
"Wouldn't dream of it my precious flame"
Pride called out to her as she went to finish off the thralls, and as badly as he desired to be there assisting her, he knew she could handle them all with very little issue and that his fantastic talents wouldn't be used to their fullest potential, glancing over at the building that he'd believe was the Horizon's one, he had decided that one would need to be remodeled, promptly and in a wrath like fashion. He could do it easily in a five seconds, but he figured let's make it one. His power filled his body to the brim with energy at the thought and he was leaping across building's roofs as a blur, dodging the occasional tentacle without the assistance of his star, and jumped up on the light formations by that one panda boy. He began to run around the building, occasionally throwing a leg or fist into it and having the constant thought that he'd leave a crater in it.
Action: maneuver Speed against Horizons
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Dead
Posts 47
Power Level 21
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Post by Gluttony on Oct 12, 2016 12:34:12 GMT -7
Gluttony waited, anticipating a follow up attack to the spikes, but nothing ever came. The damn thing had been bluffing, keeping the supers from attacking by using their fear of being attacked. While it wasn't desperate, yet, though, it was a fairly good sign. It was afraid of what would happen if it was found by the supers, so it tried to distract them. Good, the sin thought. It needed to be afraid of what would happen when it was found.
It was likely underground, or at least that's what the consensus seemed to be. Still, as much as he wanted to head down there and rip the damnable thing to shreds with his bare hands, the towers could pose a problem. Judging by the latest information the Keepers received from Azoth, some of them - if not all - probably had entrances to tunnels hidden away within their depths. If that's the case, then everyone plunging into the sewers would likely lead to an ambush.
Decided on what the best course of action would be, Gluttony made his way to the Gunstig building. If needed, he'd bash his way in and, once inside, continue bashing everything that had so much as a grass strain on it. Nothing green would survive his mission if he had anything to say about it.
Aggression (Destruction) against Gunstig building
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