Fantasy Hunter's Moon: Ascendancy [IC] [CLOSED]

[Emperor Sagan]

Time moved at a paradoxical pace - in the blink of an eye, Aleister felt as if everything was happening at once, yet his body felt as if he had been fighting for a lifetime. In a way, he had. All of his long years had brought him to this moment. One, brutal moment that was surely another step on a bloodied path that, even as it shortened, showed little end in sight. He gritted his teeth and watched the brutality of Keggoth's death with a degree of cold jubilation and discomfort, for even in his most venomous fantasies of death he never stomached the unclean mess of animalistic slaughter. Time may have felt wrong, but there was no denying where he was: a slaughterhouse.

His spirit remained a simmering forge, however; even as Thorgran began to mutate horrifically. Aleister's eyes grew hooded, his gaze sharper than his fangs as they bit into his own lips. His cheeks twitched with a contemptuous snarl. They were battered, yet on the cusp of ending these creatures until Thorgran's form changed once again into that of something indescribable. Aleister sucked in a rare breath, a deeply involuntary gesture brought on by intense emotional responses. Seeing this thing before him, this demonic filth, this creature of unrepentant sin... it disgusted him. In his periphery he saw his comrades bloodied and beaten, many fighting on, nearly all broken in some way, but before him Aleister only saw Thorgran.

Aleister's fist trembled and he directed it into the stonework floor, cracking his fingers and breaking his knuckles in. His rage, his righteous hatred at everything and everyone, boiled over and took over that forge within his soul, flooding it with molten iron that yielded to no crucible.

His powers and divine magicks did not grant him great strength to fight, but they did give him the ability to alter life to some degree, to mend flesh where it was rendered undone. To manipulate life was the call of the vampire in many ways, yet his abilities were more pure than the simple debasement of biting a neck and supping on blood, nor were they as crude as tinctures of medicine and gauze.

"Undite," he whispered through lips bloody with his own barely self-contained frenzy. His hands buzzed with the unmitigated power of a building spell of healing, different as it now felt. There was no soothing chill, no light comfort of a cool night's caress. He felt as if he was burning himself alive and reaching his hands into the sun. Blood and drool ran down his chin as he continued to whisper to himself.

"....Undite... I know you wanted me to be better... but right now... I feel only hate." There was precious little divine faith in his body any longer, for it had run dry since the terrible times of the previous years. Whatever overcame him now, whatever magicks he harnessed, be it the same as it was before or something different, it felt unlike anything he had summoned before. Every godsdamn moment of pacifism in his life, all those minutes of refusing to raise a hand to ensure violence did not propagate, burned away within him like an unspent currency. He thought it had all disappeared that night in the theater, when his close intimates and himself slaughtered so, so many with their bare hands in the lamplight, but this was a moment of pivotal importance. It may not have been Sazak before him, but it was one of his pawns. And he would not lose... not today... not tomorrow... not ever.

 

[Infab]

Dwarven Citadel - Mines - Icon Fight - Turn Six

Constantine uses Special Attack: Penance Stare! Chance Roll = 5. Chance Successful! Does 100 DMG to Thorgran'ganos! Thorgran'ganos has been stunned for a turn! Thorgran'ganos HP = 68.
Sebastian = 5 + 2 (7, Focus Fire!) Acc. Roll = 13. Does 30 DMG to Thorgran'ganos. Thorgran'ganos HP = 38.
Rajko uses Deafening Screech. Chance Roll = 3. Chance Failed!
Xiaòzhou attempts to heal Azathor. Chance Roll = 8. Chance Successful! Azathor regains 6 HP. Azathor HP = 6.
Xiaòzhou uses The 10 Trials of Adriel. Chance Roll = 6. Chance Successful! Does 45 DMG to Thorgran'ganos. Thorgran'ganos has been slain!
Aleister uses Divine Favor! Chance Roll = 6. Chance Successful! Everyone returns to full HP! Party HP = 20.
Camille uses Special Attack: Sacred Sabres! Chance Roll = 7. Chance Successful! Does 100 DMG to Thorgran'ganos! Overkill!




​

This was it. They had to kill Thorgran, before he slaughtered them all. Constantine made sure that wouldn't happen near immediately. As Thorgran pulled Constantine in close, intending to take another bite out of him with one of his many mouths, Constantine exposed his face to the Icon. Locking eyes with it, a searing pain pulsed through Thorgran's skull. Then, it spread to his body. He cried out in pain, dropping the wraith along with all the others. Sebastian managed to get his shotgun blast off just in time, the buckshot peppering the Icon's fat form as he fell from his grip. Chunks of flesh and tentacles were blown off by the shot, blood spurting into the air from the open wounds.

Rajko, preparing himself to use his screech to stun Thorgran, was soon smacked with a tentacle as Thorgran flailed about in agony from Constantine's Penance Stare. For every sin the Icon had committed in its long, miserable life, it would suffer ten fold. This gave Xiaòzhou, Aleister, and Camille the chance to prepare themselves for their own acts. After Xiaòzhou mended Azathor's wounds, he unleashed an enhanced form of his qi attacks on Thorgran, pummeling the Icon until it seemed as though the life had left the Icon entirely. However, they weren't finished.

Aleister's whispers to the goddess he followed seemed to have been heard. A golden aura seemed to flow forth from everyone in the room, originating from their chests until it flowed out to their extremities. Their wounds and injuries healed quickly. Bruises vanished. Their minds cleared. Undite had healed them, it seemed. Then, Aleister heard a voice deep inside his mind. "I know, mon chéri... Right now, focus that hate. Rid the world of these vile creatures. Please... do it for me, for Gyasis, and the world. I'll do all I can to aid you from afar. All you need to do is pray to me, and I will answer."

As Thorgran wavered, his body wiggling as his tentacles seemed to begin to list towards the floor, Camille made her own move. Her swords seemed to glow in the darkness of the cave, burning a bright, hot yellow. As if they were channeling the blessings that Rebecca had bestowed upon them into something more powerful. She focused, gripping her weapons tight, before charging Thorgran for one final attack to finish him off.

In a blur of lightning quick slashes, covering most of his body, she shredded the Icon into pieces. He never stood a chance. Blood spattered across the ground with each swing and cut, as well as when chunks of his body rolled off of his form. Soon, all that was left of him was a simple pile of fatty chunks and blood. Thorgran had been slain, by both Xiaòzhou as well as Camille.

It was finally over.

"...That's four Icons down." muttered Rebecca, walking over to the pile of meat that formerly made up Thorgran. She then glanced to Camille and Jakob. "...The gauntlets, please." she said, holding out her hands after putting her weapon and shield away.

 

[Damian0358]

Xiaòzhou fell to the ground as the strain of the Ziránquan hit him once more, with the only comfort being that his attack had done its job. But just as Camille made her way to deal the finishing blow, he felt as divine light healed not just him, but all of them. He would have to thank Aleister once the time was right, as the strain on his body vanished in an instance.

The hermit sat down and watched the state of the field - doubtless victory, as Rebecca made her way to Thorgran. The oni began doing a few stretches, as everyone collected themselves.

 

[joshuadim]

When Azathor was reconstituted back to consciousness thanks to both Aleister and Xiaòzhou's efforts, he managed to catch the very tail end of the fight; much to his satisfaction he witnessed Thorgrans demise, though felt an innate sense of disappointment that he could not participate more in the fight. Twice he had been practically throttled and ground into the stone below, which ultimately he chalked up to his carelessness as he spit out some residual blood while sitting on the ground nearby.

Two more icons were dead, which was bound to be a frustration to his father's plans. And not only that, but they had secured yet another godly artifact. A resounding victory by all measures, but their work was yet to be over. "Good riddance to both of them." The demon prince managed to get out following a sore groan, and nodded in acknowledgement of the Oni's healing before turning his attention to Aleister.

"Thanks." he simply stated with an affirming smile.

 

[K0mori]

After breaking away from Thorgran's monstrous clutches, Sebastian scrambled and crawled away in search of his harpoon gun. However, he wouldn't actually need it, as a barrage of finishing attacks and a burst of divine light from within each person had signaled the fight's conclusion.

Sebastian was still alive, somehow, and fully healed, yet he still remained face down on the ground, resting there for a moment with his forehead pressed into the back of his hands. It was some time before he finally lifted himself up again, checking his surroundings and making sure that he understood the outcome of the situation.

Once it had finally sunk in that everyone who had survived the initial onslaught in the fortress above had also survived the confrontation below, he breathed a ragged sigh of relief and once again crouched to the ground, clutching his hands tightly together as if trying to belt himself together with his own arms to avoid coming unglued.

 

[Breadman]

He fell on the ground clutching his head. His head bounced off the cold stone floor, so it had to hurt. It didn't. Any pain that might have come from the fall was barely felt. The holy healing did little to alleviate it. A migraine that made him want to scream started to form and gradually get worse as he climbed back on his knees. Was this it? Was this what broke Royland? Staring straight into the eyes of one of the worst entities the Abyss has created and absorbing part of its essence so he could strike back at it. The energy didn't leave his body and now felt like it was bouncing around in there. With his hands, he pulled on the skin of his face that was rolled up to reveal his skull. A greusome trick he had learned during his time in the Abyss, but one that worked to fighten and terrify his targets. Fit him neatly like a glove.

"I think I'm..." He started to say as he slowly rose up to his feet "...fine." He felt something move in him. A sudden movement that forced itself up his throat and collagulated in his mouth. The wraith felt it trying to escape as he moved over to what remained of the Icon of Gluttony to let it out. He knew he couldn't stop the torrent, but he was damn sure going to direct it to the only place he could. His hand was over his mouth, fighting to keep it in until he was in a good spot and he let it out.

A tide of black viscious liquid poured out of him, forcing the wraith to bend over. He felt the acidic taste course through and leave behind the foul feeling in his mouth. A taste of rotten eggs, spoiled fruit and decomposing meat. The stench wasn't any better. The aforementioned combination would linger on his tongue and make its way up to his nostrils, but be enhanced by a sulfuric tinge to it. The bulk of the vomit left his throat, but there was still more of it. He started to hack and cough up wet particles of black goo that had remained in his throat or stick themselves to his teeth. He resisted the urge to just shove a finger and pick them out. He would retain some dignity. He spat out the last remnants of the foul concoction from his body and looked at the diced remains of the Icon. A bloated corpse cut to pieces and oozing blood, puss and stomach acids - now covered in black tar vomit and decade old food remnants. One last insult.

Despite the horrid experience, it left him elated. Like his body had rejected what it had absorbed from the fight. The migraine was gone, replaced with clarity as he could think in ways he couldn't in a long time. Those names he screamed at Keggoth now had faces attacked to them. Voices he could identefy them by. The veil he felt earlier had started to lift. Something was different with him now. He'd have to figure it out later, they still had a job to finish.

"Its out of my system...I hope."

 

[Dmaster]

The huntress remained undeterred when Thorgran shifted into a truly abysmal form, her nerve having been steeled well enough thanks to the previous near-death experience she suffered. Terror set in again when she was grappled by those tentacles and thrown into the wall, her limbs flapping wildly as she was dragged along the surface yet she still maintained her grip on her blades.

Once finally released, she stood herself back up and stared the Icon down. "Enough," she spat, striking her sabres together as if they were striking implements for starting a fire. Another drag of her blades and there was a high-pitched whine that followed from the blades, their silvery surface starting to glow with a golden energy. The process continues for a few more sharpening drags of metal as the glow of the weapons intensifies, and with the last strike she sprints in to deliver slash after slash into Thorgran's body. It did not matter how many maws and tentacles he possessed, she would cut them all into ribbons as her sabres slashed through him as if he were air. It made the practiced swipes of her weaponry all the more quick, Camille's movements a blur of flashing holy light before the Icon was completely eradicated.

After the kill, she dropped to one knee and panted to regain her breath. "The only mercy I can grant these vile fiends is a swift death," Camille breathed, starting to stand herself up once more. Nearby, the gauntlet Rebecca requested was there, and she started to pick it up off of the ground as instructed. Slowly she steps toward the saint, handing it to her with a weary nod. "We've little time to celebrate, I'd wager. Sazak may throw an entire army at us while we still have an artifact in our possession."