Futuristic Among Gods

[hector212121]

Roy decides that lying to supernatural creatures might not be the best idea, so he decides to go with a version of the truth that is in every way factually correct without sounding like he was hostile towards them. "I have chosen no quarrel with them. However, a group of them saw fit to threaten me, and my, ah, attempts to step down the conflict after I dealt with the person shoving a rifle in my face in a nonlethal matter were met with a outright attack. Unless the person shoving a rifle in my face had a heart condition of some sort or only looked human and had some form of lethal weakness to electricity, I have not caused any lasting harm to them, while they have caused my armor to be next to useless."


He keeps the shotguns ready but not pointed at the angels. His guardedness could after all be excused as being ready for any other hostiles incoming rather than awaiting their reactions.


"So. I believe this is what the experts call a 'judgement call'. Will you compound their error and attack me for having taken the least measures I possibly could have in order to defend myself, or will you refer me in the direction of whoever your superior is?"

 

[Bluesunnyday]

Kalos picks up the trumpet, appraising it. Nothing fancy, but he didn't need fancy. "Here's the deal, Elijah. I'm skilled in two more instruments beyond the violin. The trumpet's one of 'em. And I can channel my magic in a different way through this..."





Kalos looks to a nearby empty crate, closes an eye, and blasts a single note, which hits the crate hard enough to smash the wood.





"Range. Not as outright powerful as the Violin, but it helps. Now, if you excuse me..."





Kalos nods to Elijah and Coatl. "Elijah, good luck. Coatl... stay safe."





Kalos dashes towards the distant barbarian god, lifting the trumpet to his lips.


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Maya grins at the sight of the barbarian god, flicking her cylinder towards Poison and lifting the barrel. She pops off a few distant shots before beginning to close the distance. When she gets close enough, she holsters the Guiding Light to allow it to recharge and pulls out her regular revolver, firing off a few bullets to either wound or distract it.

 

[SnakyDragon]

Jaik, about to intercept Seih, sees Danielle/Koya do the honors for him, and escort Seih toward the Tower. He couldn't make out the words, but it seems that Danielle accused Seih of stealing the thing, and then Seih pointed angrily at the Tower, and then she gave him a "Oh, really?" look, and then was exasperated by something Jaik couldn't see (probably Koya being the voice of reason) before nudging him with a stick toward the Tower.


He decides to catch up with them.


"Hey, guys, what's going on?"

 

[aquaInferno]

"Kalos, do not hurt yourself."


After Kalos leaves Coatl explains to himself.


"He will be fine. I planned out the battle earlier so fighters could switch in and out with relative ease."


"Anyways."


Coatl now addresses the skeletal lich.


"You may call me Coatl. We can formally converse later. I think it will be in our mutual best interest to have a guard contact me as soon as you are put wherever these gods take you."


"Leave this one intact please." Coatl finished eyeing at the gods who had cuffed the lich.


"I am going to help the others and make sure no one dies on my watch. Now Elijah, the battle is practically won. You may take a rest and do whatever it is that Elder Gods do. The others and I can handle things from here."





After a response from either party, Coatl would be off to help out against the barbarian god, this time hoping that his conscience doesn't get the better of him so he can finally kill one of those things.

 

[Ferociousfeind]

"That barrier thing is a real life saver, huh?" Misfortune said as he helped the other soldiers bring the lizard wizard back into the camp, "Without it, we'd probably all be dead." Misfortune sees the Keeper glaring at all of them, and decides to investigate, walking towards the tower.

 

[Lyro]

Seih ignores Jaik and Misfortune as he focuses on Vizara being carried away on a stretcher. Once he is satisfied the lizard wizard will be taken care of, he dispells the mental assistance being offered to Izhane and begins walking towards the tower. "He is being dealt with. So let us not waste any more time here." I should be in charge here. "Elijah has disappeared, for reasons unknown." Why should she be in charge? What has she done to deserve it? Abandons us right when we need her. "It follows that the safest course of action is to entrust our package to the Keeper, pending further instructions." I deserve a reward for this. Saved everyone from a god. Maybe the Keeper will see that.


A lancing pain in his head interrupts Seih's thoughts as he momentarily stumbles. Need to tend to that too. As he resumes his walk, Seih quickly analyzes the state of his mind. The boost from his confection is still in effect, ensuring that he has mental strength to spare, while also still impairing some of his motor functions, all of which should return to normality once the potion wears off. More worrying to Seih is the feeling of brokenness pervading his mind: every part of him feels somehow inadequate, non-functional, like it's not really his own. And yet...


And yet, for all the pain his mind causes him, Seih has never felt so good before. The mass of minds surrounding him once more, now that he is in the camp again, is no longer the source of pain and anxiety it was just an hour ago. How could it be? It is now obvious to him that these are inferior minds. Everything he has seen of this world leads him to this conclusion: be they simple-minded like Errg, obedient lackeys like Thorn, bullies and brutes like the gods, Danielle or Mei, do-gooders like Izhane, or merely an all-around failure of a being like Elijah, nobody around him had any worth beyond their eventual usefulness to him.


With one notable exception, perhaps. Seih keeps walking towards the tower, filled with determination.

 

[Shadow Dancer]

Marcus thanks Alexander and after helping out around the place for a while starts to look around. He notices the dome and also when he looks up at one of the towers and sees a figure on the roof, seeming to look down on everyone. Marcus starts looking around wanting to find someone that could tell him what the hell was going on. With a plan of action in mind he moves to the central tower believing that to be the best place to find answers, when he reaches the tower and enters he starts really randomly walking around looking for someone that carried themselves with confidence betting if he found someone like that he would find the leader.

 

[creepingShade]

Izhane lets out a sigh of relief once someone takes Vizara off his hands, and when he gets back inside the safety of the camp. There was a reason he usually didn't fight at the front lines, but he didn't have a real unit with him. Just some guy with ice powers. Izhane felt that if he had his old crew with him, he might have actually stood a chance at dealing with that god.


The salamander-kin hisses in pain once Seih's psychic support is taken away, but he does his best to ignore the pain. He heads to his tent to find a change of clothes, and then searches for a suitable area to make a small fire. Even though he was burned, Izhane's people's go-to form of healing was fire.


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Intruders... Errg growls under his breath and seeks out a rather large, sturdy looking piece of metal to use as a club. He'd try to scare away or talk to these metal abominations first, before resorting to probably pissing off a whole hive of these things.


The fishman leans down and looks at one of the metal spiders with a snarl. "What are you, metal monster? Why are you here? Leave now, Errg claims this cave."

 

[Ged Merrilin]

The world seems to have entered a dreamlike state for Ged with time moving slower and the sounds of battle dimming. It appears to him as he has all the time in the world and he goes completely calm. Ged smoothly unsheaths his dagger, walks up to the immobile god and stabs him in the eye to try and kill him. And with that done he walks back and pulls his harp out of the air, then stores it in his bag.

 

[Bonzo]

The immediate threat to life over and adrenaline subsiding left the pair to heal their mental wounds. Danielle, privately aware of her scratchiness, throws up the least of barriers between her and Koyaanis. The shock of combat begins to set in, degrading her composure. Only months ago she'd been in another universe, signing up for a rescue mission for a quick promotion and some deep space experience. This mad world will kill her, she feels certain. Likely would have, if not for one factor staying uncharacteristically silent.


Koyaanis, as is only polite in a host's mind, keeps his mind fairly open. Danielle now being relatively safe his thoughts could creep to other, shinier things.


So, Xenie's gift makes its way back to me, huh? Given what Eli's mod is, should I even want it? Hells. It always comes back to Power. Too much power without wisdom, a Xenie happens. Can I handle a fraction of what I was given without going nuclear again? Gods, I could have handled that so much better. I can't protect anyone if I can't protect myself, Dani's right about that. Let's hope I can spot the point of no return before I whizz past it on the way to another fireworks display.


He could feel the familiar sparkle of the shard's energy, so close it seemed. He wondered if it was recognising him, or just he it.


Can you keep it down? The depth of your introspection is making a singularity in my basal ganglia.


Hush. I'm doing important stuff. Like stopping us falling over. Feel free to help any time.


You brood too much and think too little.


That still puts me ahead of the tossers we just fought. Which was just enough. We did really well. We'll be OK next time too.


Danielle says nothing to that, retrieving her emptied pistol as they head for the camp. The wail of Mei's kill sends shivers over her skin. She makes a mental note to get a marauder suit to keep the wind off her bare arms.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?"

"All quiet in this sector. Vizara is stable for now. We're taking the modifier shard back to the Keeper and rearming."


"That guy had a real thing for crossbows, didn't he?"

"That barrier thing is a real life saver, huh?" ... "Without it, we'd probably all be dead."

"Most likely. Even so, our defences seem barely adequate. We must be better prepared for next time."


Walking with the group back to camp, half escorting Seih to the Keeper, the pair go back to nursing their headaches. If the opportunity arises, they'll resupply with bullets and medkits, find some new threads and take a look at the shard.

 

[SnakyDragon]

"Catch me up. Who's Vizara? What modifier shard? I literally walked in on the fight, and joined in against a ninja god. Arguably better than me at fighting, but he failed to account for my chaotic fighting maneuvers, and Coils can apparently permanently damage gods. My kukris weren't doing much, but his bites stayed on until the ninja expended effort to heal them. Maybe the poison of his bite is affected by modifier magic?"

 

[Neow46]

Major update #22!


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( @Seahorse @ferociousfeind @Bonzo @SnakyDragon @Thorn of Discord @Lyrositor @ChrisClark13 @arcaneSentinel @creepingShade @Shadow Dancer @Torma Ximnus ) Mei, Misfortune, Danielle, Koya, Coils, Thorn, Seih, Jaik, Byron, Izhane, Marcus, Alexander and Chris: (Going in order of who posted first.)


Most of you group up together and start heading back to the marauder camp, passing by the barrier without a problem and immediately begin heading towards the Large stone tower, although, some of you start splitting off into groups...


Jaik, Seih, Byron, Marcus, Misfortune, and Danielle: Your group begins heading immediately towards the large stone tower at the center of the bustling and diverse camp.


Some Marauders in heavy armor relieve Byron, Marcus, and Misfortune from carrying the stretcher holding the incapacitated Vizara as they make their way into camp, allowing them and the rest of you to head up the tower.... (Read below in Group A!)


Chris, Mei, Byron, and Alexander: The Four of you simply join the others in going to the center of the large marauder camp and ascend the stone tower. (read above and below please.)


Group A (excluding Thorn and Izhane): As the group goes up the cold and dark stairs and reach the top of the tower, you all see the Keeper conversing with at least 3 of the allied low gods, and you all manage to catch onto some of the conversation.


"We still don't trust you progenitor, even if you've only been assisting the Goddess this entire time, you know our kind and yours do not mix." A Demon like cat beast spoke in a surprisingly smooth and charming voice to the Keeper, using it's large clawed hands to gesture to ghostly being.


"I am well aware of this, otherwise your kind and those Elders wouldn't have annihilated most of the primordial mass in the local reality, but that isn't necessarily important-"





"Then why did you call us here?" Another low god spoke, this one a more ethereal like being whose nervous system was entirely visible.


"I called the three of you here because you're not absolute zealots like that foolish god you call Rohkuul..."


Before The Keeper goes on further though, he spots the entire group emerging from the stairs and cuts himself short, performing a bow to all of you before turning his gaze back onto the three gods.


"I'm afraid we must talk later..." He quickly says to the three, giving them a small bow of the head rather then a full open arms curtsy.


"If we must. You had watch your back, and your neck, progenitor. Not many gods are tolerant of you." The third god spoke, who took the form of some sort of bird man.


"Again, I am well aware, thank you for your time." The keeper says, waving off a hand to the low gods as they teleport away from the scene within an instant as the ghostly man nwo turns to all of you.


"I see things went well out there correct?" he asks all of you.


"It was quite a good thing these, oh so friendly, low gods have shown up yes? If they hadn't i would have imagined those nasty awful ones would have gotten through my barrier or that some of you could have been seriously injured!" He says all with a bit of a creepy smile, the drapes and tatters of his cloths flowing behind him as he walked up to all of you.


"Is there something you all need by chance?"


He asks, seeming genuinely curious... particularly looking at Marcus and Alexander, seeing as how they were new comers and that they both no doubt had some questions....


What do you all ask?


Izhane and Thorn: The two of you split off from the main group heading towards the tower and instead direct yourselves towards Izhane's tent that he shared with Vizara and a human who was likely still on duty somewhere...


After getting a change of fire-proof cloths for the Salamander-kin, the two of you head out towards the north side of the camp towards the main social area, there was a few hasty fire pits here and there Izhane could sit in since it was the only REALLY clear area that he could comfortably recover in without just using only a blow torch.


After finding an empty fire-pit and using some materials to ignite it, Izhane is able to sit in the small area.


It stings harshly at first due to the god-fire burns around his entire body, but after sitting in the flame for a minute or two, careful to not extinguish it accidentally by sitting on it, it starts to feel more relaxing and like a bath for Izhane as he feels his skin nursing itself within the flame as Thorn sits nearby, still sucking on his sponge...


Some of the passing by marauders give the two of you weird looks but continue on their way for the most part...


Mayhaps make some idle conversation with each-other or some of the passing marauders?


(Feel free to take control of one or two throw-away marauders for Roleplay purposes, you can PM me personally in skype or here on RpN if you wish for my assistance or to roleplay as some marauders for you!)


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( @creepingShade ) Errg: You're able to easily find a fine sized bar of crooked metal in the room where the spiders were coming out of the walls next to the dead bear. It was a little unwieldy but it was better then wasting the power of your sword....


Anyways, talking to the small little spider droids though, they all seem to ignore you mindlessly, just like no-brained sea slugs on the sea floor... (aside from the immediately swimming part) they simply continue on tidying and repairing things within this underground area....


They do allow you to pick them up though it seems like, as you grab one of them passing by, the little thing was fairly light, considering they were metal and machinery (although they are a little pointy with all the metal and limbs), it didn't struggle too much though as you held one in your webbed hand, it tried to swing it's legs in the air as if it was still trying to walk on the ground, likely indicating it wanted to be put back down...


Though... you start to feel a shift of movement through the entire island... as if it was turning....?


You hear a few beeping noises in the other room with the large window, and peeking your head through the door you see all sorts of lights and dials lighting up and flipping out for some strange reason!


All of the small spider droids begin retreating back into the room with the dead bear, and you can see them all starting to crawl into each of their small holes in each wall, all except the one you held in your hands still with the strange symbols "S-07" printed on it's shell as it still reluctantly sits there in your hand...


You also swear you hear your catch up on top of the island moving again, or at least shifting now too!


Do you investigate either why the hell the panel thingy is going nuts or go to the surface to see what the hell was going on up there?


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( @Veles Lek @Bluesunnyday @aquaInferno @Ged Merrilin @Paradox Turtle ) Kalos, Maya, Adam, Coatl, Lupa, and Ged:


Kalos, Coatl, Ged, and Maya: As soon as Kalos, Coatl, and Maya break off from their own fights, as the barbarian god is being hailed upon by gunfire, From afar, Kalos and Maya open fire from trumpet to magical revolver! Blasting waves of sound and poison shots from afar together with the barbarian from opposite sides that impact the god with enough force to knock him down!


As soon as the marauders stop firing to reload, Ged and Coatl move in with their respective weapons over the large, fallen Barbarian!


Together, Coatl slither past Ged and Lands a deep strike down into the Barbarian's bullet riddled chest, as Ged runs upwards and takes out the barbarian's left eye!


With a load -ROAR- the barbarian god finally lets himself go limp, as god energy ceases to leak from his ethereal form as bright colored wounds remain open and the god lays resting on the grass as Ged and Coatl back away with their weapons, which were not even touched by any sort of blood....


Soon enough, Allied Gods swoop down and immediately secure the downed and defeated barbarian god, allowing all of you to relax and finally take a breather with the fighting now over.


Gathering together, the friendly gods give their thanks to the four of you, as well as the Marauders Kim and Cass, promising that they'll take care of the opposing god from here as they seem to shackle him in some sort of energy bindings...


"God DAMN.... I honestly didn't think we'd survive that..." Kim says aloud, breathing heavily through her mask as she sat in a puddle of bullet casings, the barrel of her assault rifle almost red hot.


"That was almost worst then fighting Tortured..." Cass replied, the small marauder's sniper rifle already packed and folded into a strange shape on their back.


Kim looked to all of you, taking a deep breath and getting onto her feet as she slung the rifle on her back.


"So... Anyone thirsty for a drink after we give our report to the Commander or Sub-Commader?"


"I think i'm just gonna head back to my tent after this.. these fights really stress me out..." Cass replied.


Kim looked at the smaller marauder and then just shrugged at the rest of you almost confusingly, looking for a response amongst you hopefully.


So, what shall you all say, or perhaps even do? Maybe accept the idea of a good drink after this, explore the camp a little bit, or just go for some in general R&R?


(Looking back to where Kalos and Coatl were, Elijah already seems to have headed back into the camp though along with the captured god she had crippled...)


Lupa and Adam: Neither of you have posted yet, please refer to previous updates and interactions with players around you here in GROUP B please!


Things will begin moving on without you this update, and You will both be marked inactive within the next 2 updates.


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( @hector212121 ) Roy: Both gods give you a rather suspicious look, as if they didn't trust you.


"Your armor seems perfectly functional to me, your armor seems to have worked just fine in use with those damnable dogs." The woman says, her eyebrow raised at you questionably.


"We.. Appreciate your honesty though..." The man says as he fiddles with his auto-crossbow, bolts of light jingling an oddly serenic tune...


"We could easily dispose of you here and now, and nobody would even notice, yes. But in the case you wish to die later rather then sooner, our superior in specific has no patience, let alone tolerance for mortals other then the Elder Goddess herself. But if you attacked one of the mortals under the Elder's command though, even in self defense, I would imagine they will not be pleased to see you once again, and by that logic neither are we...


But, we can take you to them with ease, but there is no absolute law, let alone governing God/Goddess on this planet, or universe for that matter, as far as we're aware of other then the Elder herself or the mortals who occupy the immense camp in the direction behind me, and underneath that shield you would be on your own and at their mercy."


"Seems like you wouldn't have much choice anyways, Either you die out here to those Gods without any common sense, or you die later through battle or execution." The woman spoke as she leaned on the immense greatbow, keeping her eyes trained on you and watching your every movement...


"Or, we could stand here for the rest of this planet's daylight and ask each-other questions too I suppose." The man shrugged, crossing his arms and looked boredly at you...


So... what would your choice be?


They seem friendly enough to explain whatever the hell was going on here and who this "Elder Goddess" was, and sit here for hours with you, but it's likely you'd have to move on eventually, whether you liked it or not... After all that other god whom you spoke with that dropped you here was still on your shoulder it felt like...


(Feel free to PM me on skype or here on RpN if you want me to roleplay as the gods answering questions for you like other players sometimes do)

Spoiler

Time taken: +7 hours, whew whee!


Total word count: Around ~2100 words


Total player/Character count: 19 Characters, 17 Players, Excluding Elijah (Finnaly fixed the statistic here to be correct, I've had it wrong for awhile 8U)

 

[hector212121]

"It's not perfectly functional. When it's 'perfectly functional' I can fire both of these, at once, full auto, without so much as budging. Bullet holes cut a wire, and now one of my foot-anchors can't fire, and I'm not even sure what other damage it might have sustained without managing to give it a full inspection. As far as armor goes, this wasn't even originally up to milspec, but now I've had to try to patch the plasteel with normal steel.


In any case, the so-called 'attack' in question should leave them with nothing more than a mild headache."


He pauses, thinking. "I have about twenty communications devices in my bag. They aren't the highest quality where I come from, but if they still use radio here, odds are they're light-years beyond what you have." He reaches into his bag and pulls out four. "I just need to remove the self destruct buttons from these--and no, even if pressed they don't damage anything outside the case. These are 'burners', the self destruct is only to make sure nobody else can get useful information off of them." He peels off the buttons. "I imagine you won't want to take my word for it, so could you send these to people low on the command chain who have radio or other means of contact to this 'elder goddess' of yours so I can talk without actually being there?"

 

[Ferociousfeind]

Once Misfortune reached the top of the stairs, with the rest of the minigroup, he actually had a good question, "I have a question... Why were those gods attacking in the first place? I might've missed some information, I kind of just, jumped... into the fight. I just figured they were bad guys that needed to be dealt with." This is a common thing for him to do, in which he is misfortunate enough to miss important details, like 'that one is a harmless distraction, and killing that really big one will take down all of the smaller versions of it'

 

[Lyro]

"Not all wounds are visible," Seih replies icily to the Keeper, as he digs into his pockets, "but we successfully completed the mission given to us by Elijah." Taking his hand out of his pockets, he opens his hand to reveal the shattered modifier. "I have secured a set of modifier shards from the scaly fiend Vizara, who has been neutralized. Koyaanis claims they were his previously, and I have little reason to doubt him. Considering Elijah's present location is unknown, I thought it best to bring it to you. Can you repair it? And can you tell us anything useful about it? And considering Koyaanis's present form," Seih adds with a glance at Danielle, "will he still be able to use it?"


<And.> Seih adds privately to the Keeper.


<Should it be fixed, and Koyaanis was unable to make use of it, would it be safe for me to wield?>


Hearing Misfortune's question, Seih nods. "A salient point. What had we done to attract such unwanted attention to us?"

 

[aquaInferno]

Coatl triumphantly places his hands on his hips.


"Without a plan that would have been a lot worse than the Tortured. This army could use this kind of organization. Hell if they let me plan all the fights, we would win every time!"


Coatl wonders if they would actually let him do that. That would definitely give him an upper hand in influence around this place.


"We are mortals and we just took down gods. We did great! I will drink to that."


Team drinking is a great morale booster. Coatl was imprisoned before he had ever drank. He had planned to after he had defeated the North.


Today was a good day to finally have that drink, but Coatl silently notes as a seasoned commander/warrior he will have to pretend he has done this in the past.

 

[Lyro]

OOC: I'm going to be switching back to Seih's normal font colour, simply because his secondary colour is starting to hurt my eyes.


Also note that the following conversation takes place in the span of a few seconds, as Seih is asking his last question (the one prompted by Misfortune); it should look very strange to outside observers.


<I sense something is rather different about you Master Seih, mayhaps you've discovered something during the fight?> The Keeper seems to dodge Seih's private question in telepathy, the Keir could feel the ancient being ogling his mind almost...


<Nothing you need concern yourself with.>


<My troubles are my own and will not impact others.>


Uneasy at the feeling he was getting from the Keeper, Seih added:


<And please do not try to enter my mind.>


<If you must know, it has been under severe stress, and I do not need any foreign presences upsetting the delicate balance I've managed to attain for now.>


<But one thing that could make me feel better is the power I could get from a modifier.>


<So, could you answer my question instead of dodging it?>


<Hehe... As you say then Master Seih...> You feel his presence within your mind lessened, but still lingering... likely to keep mental communications up. <Well, the lizard was able to use it without being affected, yes? But did you not say it belonged to our dear Koyaanis? I certainly do recognize its colors, and the orange and cyan was definitely the one that belonged to him.... But what I believe we should be asking is what would you do with such an object hrmm? Use it irresponsibly like dear Vizara, or perhaps use it for some "good" ?> He grins down at you... it's almost as if he knows something he shouldn't... It feels like the ancient bastard is way more perceptive then he seems...


Seih's brow furrows.


<I do not appreciate the insinuations you are making.>


<Everything I have done so far has been for the good of our group.>


<It follows that I would use a modifier, or even a fraction of a modifier, to assist in any way possible these.>


<People I am now with.>


<I am no fool, no idiotic lizard, no selfish traitor.>


<And since you have confirmed that even Vizara was indeed using the shards somehow, I have no doubt I should be able to make use of them too.>


<Surely, Koyaanis does not need all of them.>


<I am entitled to a reward for my service.>


<I deserve this.> he finishes, calmly but with an edge to his mental voice.


The keeper seems to chuckle mentally... <We exist within a lawless reality, universe, and world, do we not?> There is also a rather nasty edge to his calm mental voice, feeling almost like a rusty blade against your neck... <I'll let dear master Koya and his non-too pleased companion decide that. After all, I am merely a simple advisor and stepping stone into everyone's ascension, yes?>


Seih's eyes close and his breathing becomes quieter.


<So why are you standing in the way of my own ascension?>


<Do you think Koyaanis is any more entitled to this than I am?>


<Why?>


<Because he found it first?>


<Oh yes, it certainly looks like he put it to good use, _considering he is dead now_.>


<I saved us - bought us enough time to survive until more capable fighters arrived.>


<And I brought the shards to you.>


<I do not doubt the others would still be wandering around witlessly if I hadn't taken that decision.>


<And whether or not you have any position of authority doesn't matter - they will listen to you if you say something.>


There's a brief pause as Seih begins to formulate another thought, before cancelling it out and thinking:


<Give me my due.>


<Hehe... If you're so certain of such. Master Seih.> he leaves cryptically, not giving further explanation other then the creepy smile that was on his face...


Seih stares at the retreating figure of the Keeper dumbly, ignoring what's going on around him. Then, with a sudden cry of rage, he lifts the hand containing the shards and hurls them all at the ground angrily. "You're just as dim as the rest of them!" he shouts at the Keeper, before turning to the rest of the group around him. "You all deserve each other's company."


With that, Seih strides out of the room and back into the stairwell, heading downwards. I wonder where Errg is; he could be useful. Hopefully he is somewhere in the camp - I'm nowhere near strong enough to face whatever's out there right now. Maybe the medics in this camp can help; I'll ask around to find them.

 

[Ged Merrilin]

"After we report, I think a bite to eat would be nicer than a drink" Ged puts forward shakilly, the extended use of magic definentley seems to have taken its toll on him. "Your plan was pretty good, however you put too many support people on one of the groups, might be better once we know each other more."


"On another note, what are those weapons, I've never seen anything quite like those... um... blasting sticks." Ged trails off, gesturing towards the guns in the marauder's hands.

 

[SnakyDragon]

Jaik stops for a moment, honestly puzzled.


Did the Keeper honestly not know about the attack?


Then Misfortune and Seih jabbed at the powerful being, and Jaik understood. The Keeper was just being a dick.


"Well, anyway, I think -"


"You're just as dim as the rest of them! You all deserve each others' company."


As Jaik sees Seih storm off, he gives the Keeper a questioning look, assuming a mental conversation had just taken place.


"... Um... Should I go follow him? Bring him back?"

 

[Bluesunnyday]

Kalos puts his trumpet down, taking a few deep breaths. "Merciful Goddamn Hallowed, I forgot how much it sucks to run and play the trumpet." He sighs, smiling slightly. "Anywho, drinks, sure, why not? I'll play some music or something, we'll make a party out of it, huh?" He approaches Coatl, grinning. "By the way, thanks for saving my ass back there, huh?" He pats the snakeman on the back.


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Maya lowers her gun, a grin hidden by her bronze mask. She approaches Cass and slaps the small Marauder on the shoulder. "Aw, cmon, kid! Live it up a little! We just survived one hell of a fight, let's have a good time!" Maya twirls her revolver, holstering the ornate gun. "And, I 'unno, maybe you guys could point me to a gunsmith or something? I don't know if ol' Guiding Light here's gonna cut it in its current state..."

 

[creepingShade]

Thorn pulled the sponge out of his mouth and grimaced. "I can hold a bottle, this isn't necessary."


Speak for yourself, its fun to chew. It goes SQUISHSQUISH!


"I apologize, I just assumed you wouldn't be able to due to the lack of hands." Izhane raises a brow and sits in his little fire with his legs crossed. He sighs contently as he feels the pain wash away. "So, are you feeling like you're not going to drop dead? Can I help you with something?"


Ask him why his clothes aren't burning.


"Oh, no. I just thought the sponge was....uh, so what's your role here, you one these soldier guys for what's her name?" Thorn fidgeted and tried to see if he couldn't get some info on this guy.


I wish I had the Mission Impossible theme to play.





"A soldier? Me? No, I'm not one of Elijah's troops." Izhane laughs softly and shakes his head. "I'm not sure if you noticed, with your own fight going on, but getting involved in direct combat doesn't work out very well for me. I'm an alchemist, and they've put me to work in the med tent. Not really a doctor, I'm more like a pharmacist. Well... that's not quite right, they sell medicine not make it. And I can't really make anything impressive until I get more reagents, but I know how to set a broken bone, bind wounds, basic field medic stuff."





"Oh, wow, alchemy. I knew an alchemist...she talked in rhyme. I'm going to guess you don't come from my world though, right?" Just what is the job title of of a person that makes medicine? Chemist? Teacher with cancer? "Teacher with wh-er, how were you tought?"





"I don't think we're from the same place, I've traveled the world I come from a good bit and I've never seen a talking horse. Used to be an adventurer, before I ended up here." When the conversation turns to his training, Izhane smiles proudly. However, it probably looks a bit spooky with his pointed teeth, bone white face, and the fact that he's sitting in a fire. "I'm self taught! I've always liked learning and gathering knowledge, and one day I just happened to find a book on alchemy and just fell in love with it. I haven't lost any fingers in lab explosions, so I'd like to think I've done a damn good job."





DEMON! HE IS A DEMON! Thorn had to stifle his laughter, that was most likely really racist. Like being called a talking horse? "Well, I guess I can't complain, you are healing me. Wait, if you don't fight, just what were you doing out there earlier?"





"Well, it's not necessarily that I don't fight, I just try not to get in the front lines if I can help it. I'm pretty handy with a crossbow, actually, and I can make some bombs that do some nasty damage if people aren't in the way. But, mostly, I was curious about seeing what mess Vizara got himself into and I was hoping to learn a bit about these 'gods' first hand. They're not all powerful and all knowing, because that dragon looking fellow was pretty surprised to see that I wasn't burned to a crisp after he breathed fire at me."


"Anyways, I was just going to provide support and maybe take a few pot shots, but I saw some of the rest of you were having trouble with the dragon so I tried to distract it. Then... Whoever was fighting him first left me and Byron to deal with it. It wasn't great."





I think the fight really DRAGON'ED on! Eh? Eh? Thorn shook his head and groaned. "Awful. I can't imagine fighting a god single-handedly. We kinda did. Vizara was the lizard-wizard trying to kill me right? Do you know what his deal was?" Was 'e loco in the coco? Thorn felt the urge to stick his own head in that fire.


Izhane shakes his head and sighs. "I can't say I really know what the deal with all of the was. I was too busy trying not to be pummeled to pay attention."


Someone mentioned a panty raid that I didn't get invited too.


"Can I ask if you know about people's minds, like sanity and stuff?" Thorn glanced at a few of the soldiers, observing them out of habit. Woah, hold up cowboy, where are you going with this?


"Nowhere, now hush." He tried to mutter under his breath.


Izhane looks at Thorn funny, and shakes his head. "I can't say I do, that isn't really within my field of study. Why do you ask?"


So we could open a mental hospital together? Ooh ooh, I wanna play Harley Quinn!


"Oh, I was just wondering if you knew how I could help out Seih, he's kinda... Pissed beyond imagination? ....burnt out I guess."


I REMAIN A GHOST ONCE MORE. Thorn rubbed his temples, but kept his cool as he talked.


Izhane furrows his brow and nods. "There's definitely something wrong with him, is he usually not an asshole like that? Since I work with the med tent, I sort of tried to figure out who all our medical staff was. Apparently there is a therapist or psychologist or something around here somewhere. What was the name...? Delphi?" The salamander goes silent for a moment, then he goes wide eyed when he remembers that the name Delphi belongs to a madwoman. "That... Can't be right..."

 

[ChrisClark13]

Chris groans, sitting down on a stool that he just popped out of his modifier, "Well, I would like someone, anyone really, to magic away my injuries and after that...." he says as he tilts his head, "...I'm not sure. Though a crash course in magic and-slash-or fighting would be helpful. After all, I'm really just some civilian that ended up here after being run over by a car and I would like some tips from people who actually know what the hell they're doing... considering that my performance in that last fight was less than spectacular. That, or someone could just zap packets of fighting knowledge at me. Really the only way I've gotten as far as I have is because I keeping drawing on my experiences from playing video games and my quick wits."

 

[creepingShade]

Errg groans in frustration and heads over to the panel thingy because this thing seemed to be losing its shit. He keeps the metal spider held in one hand, and his makeshift club in the other. Even if it was mindless, Errg didn't want to let go of his hostage.


All the lights and dials and symbols meant nothing to him, but they were annoying and he could at least make the connection in his head that the weird shit going on with his island might be linked to this thing. He starts trying to do anything to get it to stop. Hitting buttons, flipping switches, anything.

 

[aquaInferno]

Coatl laughs and thanks Kalos for the support. It's like he never even left home. Speaking of which, in Iania Coatl knew everything about his army. He would need to find out more about this one so that he can formulate better strategies.


"I had confidence that your group would be able to hold off those two lower gods until at least one of our groups finished so that we could assist. But we will do a lot better in the future, when I know more about everyone here. But for now we should celebrate, we deserve it."

 

[Bonzo]

Behind Seih, the pair trudge into the tower.


Darkness in light, let's get this over with. I'm totally drained.


More friends of yours? Danielle noted the trio talking to the Keeper.


Don't know them. Seems more gods keep showing up.





Watching Seih clutching the shard Danielle says, We'll have the Shard soon. Once that слабоумен knows he's beaten we'll be able to fight back.


He can have the bloody thing. Koyaanis glowers at the shard's glimmer in the ether.


After I nearly dashed that psions brains across the field for it? Why are you being like this?


You know it was given to me by one of the most demented bastards I've had the horror to meet. It's probably part of his plan anyway.


Even so, you can control it. It's ours now regardless- he clearly can't be trusted with it.


You don't need to be so suspicious of everyone! He rounds on Dani in exasperation, These are mostly good people - we need to work together to make it here. You have to understand that.


I don't think you understand. She cuts back, This ragged mob of... whatever they are you call your friends are as much a danger to themselves as their enemies.





Dani paused, a steely edge to her thoughts.


I've realised the only common factor in my world and this is the rule of survival of the fittest. In my world it was intellect and wealth. Here it's gods and power. We need the shard just to survive. Trust will get us killed.


What this bullshit? Haven't you listened to anything I said? Koya barks, riled. How can she not see reality? That 'rule' is a load of shite made up by evil people to justify being evil. You keep saying 'us' but I think you mean yourself. Don't let yourself get scared into thinking like them.





Danielle grits her teeth. Don't presume to teach me, Koyaanis, you don't know what you're talking about. It is no wonder you always die so meaninglessly. You should have learned by now...


Bollocks! If you want to live in your world of survival of the cruellest go right ahead. And you can stick that shard while you're at it.


The hand on the stunstick tightens, making the rubber creak. It shakes a little.


For all your 'wisdom' you let your ego blind you to the truth. Do you think you're saving me, Koyaanis? Don't lie to yourself as well as to me.


You conceited bitch.


Danielle goes to retort but is met with a hollow silence.


Koyaanis you bastard!


She catches her breath and looks around herself, seeing the others, the keeper, the discarded shard on the floor, the camp, the world as if for the first time.


She pales, dazed, and feels very much alone.


Koya tears into the void, leaving Danielle far behind. Blindly he tries to vent his fury on the insubstantial matter around him. He flows away from the pinpoints of light that are the minds in the camp and seeks the quiet of the earth. The ground, or where it should be in the featureless space, offers no purchase to his anger.


I can't even convince one person! How useless is that? Is this all I am now? How can I be so weak!


The fabric of the ether ignores his assault despite all of his frustration and shame.


What's the fucking point?!


The void absorbs his scream, its vast silence begins to temper his rage.


For what seems like a long time, Koyaanis floats in the dark with only the faintest glints of minds going about their lives above him.


He quietens his thoughts and feels very much alone.