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GBCE · 02-25-2010, 06:27 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Knask.

[background=#000000:60vc1q9d]Time slowed down as the world around Calm started to break apart. Quickly, he got an overview of the other contestants : Hoss was occupied with Konka, Ziirphael was somewhere up above him, and Anarchy was on the other side of the large stalactite he was sitting behind. He was safe for a few seconds. A perfect opportunity for a deadly hit and run.

Unarmed, he let his eyes quickly sweep the ground beneath him, looking for something usable that could fit into his hand. He picked up two stones, the first was an inner, broken-off piece of the stalacticte that had fallen down, shaped like a small blade and extremely sharp all around. He put it in his right hand, where it made a perfect dagger. The other one was bigger and slightly spherical, fitting nicely in his left hand.

Calm Leaped out from behind the stalactice and threw the bigger stone at Anarchy as soon as she was in sight, giving it a slightly curved path upwards so that it would distract her for a second. As anarchy aimed for the rock, Calm quickly changed direction and bursted towards her from her side, smashing her into the fallen stalactite with his right elbow. Faster than Anarchy managed to react, Calm placed his right foot at the fallen stalacticte, crouched sligthly down and jabbed the sharp stone into her left shoulder before he leaping jumped away from her, flipped backwards mid-air and landed elegantly about 5 meters away, ready to dodge an incomming strike.[/background:60vc1q9d]

SleepingOrange · 02-25-2010, 09:30 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

Ekelhaft had been slowly making progress in undoing the untold damage it had done to itself over its endless time alone. It was hard work, especially for a being of Ekelhaft's nature, but there had been some results. Anyone else would probably not notice, but the slime's volume was something like 110% of what it used to be. Small steps and slow going, but progress. Ekelhaft's mind had wandered back to memories of the good old days, when its powers had been near-limitless, when magic shattered and twisted for miles around, when the merest glance at one of millions of eyes was enough to send even the most grounded individual spiraling inexorably down into a berserker rage or gibbering terror. A sweep of a pseudopod and thousands would die and thousands more would experience their last moment of lucidity; Ekelhaft liked to imagine it stretched on interminably, the world around his victims frozen in time as they felt their faculties shred. Its surface bubbled happily. Good times.

The ooze was jerked out of its nostalgic reverie by the sounds of battle. Eyestalks dropped, revealing nearly every contestant going claw to gun to spell by the entrance to the cave. It was... fascinating. Prudence battled with a primal desire to rip and maim, and found itself losing ground. Ekelhaft wound its way around stalactites and columns, approaching the fray and debating what the best way to intrude was. Its favorite target, the lich, was pinned by the cyborg; probably not wise to intrude there. Judging by the psychopathic doctor's new weapon, that was one he wanted to leave alone until he could be sure no-one would interfere. Myriad eyes scanned the melee, eventually settling on the aeromancer. Now there was a target that couldn't put up a fight.

Ekelhaft slithered across the ceiling until it was directly above its prey, teeth springing into being across its surface. It dropped suddenly and without warning, reshaping itself into a cone-like shape, covered in serrated teeth and falling fast.

GBCE · 02-26-2010, 01:27 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

Diego plotted, far ahead. Although his questions about finding a way out were mostly just to break the ice, the idea of escaping, although impossible, was something that he was certain that he could use. Yes... If others learned to seek a way out, rather than fight, he could easily remove them one by one. However, the others weren't stupid. They probably knew that escaping from a god's domain was impossible. Gods were on an entirely different level of existence- only another god could possibly interfere with the Cultivator.

No such god existed, of course. But, Diego was certain that he could convincingly invent one. His mind began churning, piecing together an imaginary being with a full history and personality.

Diego's imagining was interrupted as a squelching sound came from a place it shouldn't have- the ceiling. Without even glancing, he realized that the blob, Ekelhaft, was coming for him. Pretending not to notice, he stood up, and made a fake worried look towards Konka and Hoss. Then, while the blob oozed above him, he began walking forward. He had timed his walk perfectly- the blob fell from the ceiling a moment after. It was nervewrecking, attempting to walk away from a deadly attack. However, for Diego, doing this was entirely nessasary- if he ran, instead, it would be obvious he had noticed Ekelhaft, which would give away an inkling of the true nature of his power. Being revealed was completely unacceptable.

Success- the spiked blob crashed Slightly behind Diego, who leapt away and turned. Pretending to be surprised, he called out to the lich.

"Konka! The blob, it can split! The main body is over here!"

Diego only said that to play innocent, and he wasn't going to get a response anyway. The lich was busy trying to cast a short ranged spell against a writhing Hoss. He was on his own, which suited him fine. While the blob had prepared to drop from the ceiling, Diego had rapidly planned out what he needed to do. First, he had to get away safely, which was easily accomplished. Then, he had to fight. Why? Because he realized he, overall, was still too suspicious. Not because his lies and alternate persona weren't good, but because he wasn't as strong as the other fighters. From that fact, it could be logically reasoned that he had some other abilities that made him worthy of a competition like this... Which was why he had to fight, now. Diego had to show that he was powerful, that he was a dangerous combatant, with nothing to hide.

For this, Ekelhaft was a good opponent. It was already an apparent fact that the blob did not seem to be all that interested in talking or making allies, and was extremely resilient. Even though the blob would think that his attacks were negligable, it's probable lack of communication meant that nobody else would know that. Diego didn't have to kill it- he couldn't do it anway- he just needed to make his attacks look, and more importantly sound extremely powerful. Diego announced his persona to the blob boldly.

"I am Diego, royal executioner. I'd rather look for a way out, but something tells me you aren't looking for peace. You're lucky you're a nonhuman, or else I would know roughly 780250 ways to kill you. I warn you though, even though I don't know your body, I am extremely versed in killing arts... Which should work on anything, even you."

Diego thought about what he knew about Ekelhaft. The Godwoman had said many, silly things, but they all were true. This blob, then, had the ability to drive him insane, aparently. Diego checked himself mentally- he was feeling fine. The effect must have a short range, he thought. Whatever it's power over sanity did, Diego was going to keep away.

Another thing that he was noticing was that the blob was hard to hear. At least, amplifying sounds didn't work as well... Did it somehow hinder magic?

The blob head towards him slowly, as if waiting for him to make a move. The blob was reactionary, Diego thought. It was good that it wasn't quick, at the moment- he could attack, instead. With extravagant moves of his arms, he pretended to create a large spell, while actually just creating small drills around his fingers to fire arrowheads. He brought his hands together and fed one arrowhead through his finger drills, launching it at high speeds at Ekelhaft. Accompanying the arrowhead, Diego created a loud sound of implosion- as if the sound barrier that been broken. Combined, the two made it seem like Diego fired extremely powerful projectile magic.

That was probably enough for creating the impression he was powerful. He backed off, acting as if he was still engaging the blob but actually trying to get some space from Ekelhaft and the battle all together.

Dragon Fogel · 02-26-2010, 01:43 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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GBCE · 02-26-2010, 02:15 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

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GBCE · 02-26-2010, 06:08 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Lankie.

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"Gaah! Ow ow ow OW!" Dr. Anarchy reeled back from her shoulder wound and almost fell over. She wasn't used to wounds, or close combat for that matter. "This is BULLSHIT!" she shouted, "If i'd known you guys were all like 'bluh bluh super serious combat' I would of stayed away!" she said in a mocking tone.

"But nooooooo. I had to have a power source where I had to be NEXT TO MY ENEMIES! THANK YOU CAPTAIN JERK FACE!" She said purposely loud, so thqat Hoss would hear.

Calm took his chance to strike the Doctor once more, this time however she realised what was going on. "Oh I am in NO mood!" She pointed her gun to the mid air Calm, the gun had been set to the wide setting and pushed Calm into the opposite direction, he landed on the ground with a heavy thud. While looking up she saw the Death god hanging from a stalagtite. "Alright things are getting a lil' clusterfucky here." She said bluntly, she pulled her sleeve up and pressed some buttons on her watch, while the good Doctor was no good at close combat, she was the fastest by a longshot, thanks to her jetpack. "Tata! Suckers!" She launched away from the fray, going over the vast lake.

She landed on the opposite side just as her pack ran out of charge, she ran on the ground to stop. She glanced over the opposite side of the lake, excellent, they were all far too busy with themselves, not to mention it would take them a while to get here. A familiar beep sounded, that of her Ray gun losing power, she gave a wide grin, "Time to sever this leech!" she opened up the inards of her gun by smashing it on a nearby rock, a twisting mechanical noice later and Dr. Anarchy ripped out Hoss' modified power source. However that wasn't enough, she reached into her backpack and took out what lookied like a grenade, just more technological. Good ol' EMP, she figured this would be too obvious against the likes of Hoss and Konka Rar, they would no doubt have defences to such a blatent weakness, the gun however not so much. She jammed the EMP grenade into her gun and tossed it high into the air. a large sphere appeared for a split second, an electrical discharge which rattled throughout the gun. When gun landed back into Dr. Anarchy's hands a silver liquid oozed out of the pores of the gun, dead nanobots.

"Take that you robofuck!" She said, undoing the modifications of her gun. Now Dr. Anarchy wasn't stupid, she carried a spare power cell for her gun, just for these occasions, but this wasn't a simple replace job, she had to remove Hoss's modifications and restore the old fashioned death ray to its former glory. She picked from her backpack two rolls of heavy cloth, when rolled out showing a myriad of tools, some more advanced than others. She looked at her watch, 10% charge, enough for what she has planning, she flicked a different switch on her watch. four very slender robotic limbs came from the jet pack part of her backpack, the arms width of said limbs being that of a finger. For the first time in the competition, Dr. Anarchy put her goggles over her eyes. "Alright. Time to work!"

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Ixcaliber · 02-26-2010, 10:51 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

Ziir positioned himself at the top of the pillar, scrambling around to get a good grip on it while pushing against the ceiling with his feet. He could hear the cries of the other contestants on the other side. It sounded like it was getting a bit chaotic over there. He intended to simplify matters somewhat. He felt the pillar start to shift and redoubled his energies. There was a loud crack and the heavy rock pillar broke from the ceiling and plummeted towards his competitors. He leapt from the falling pillar to one of the few remaining stalactites in the area. He didn't watch the falling pillar smash into the ground as he was somewhat distracted by the blur of white that he recognised as Anarchy. She was flying across the dark waters to another island. Fleeing from the battle... he wasn't surprised. That was just like the kind of coward who killed from a distance. Well if she wouldn't come to the battle he'd take the battle to her.

Dragon Fogel · 02-26-2010, 01:38 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

How irritating. Konka Rar quickly turned around; his cybernetic arm was not yet back to full functionality, but he could move it.

Enough for a solid punch. Had Hoss been less affected by Ekelhaft, he might have predicted that. As it was, he was knocked to the ground by it, surprised.

Konka Rar did not waste time. He quickly chanted a weak electric spell, reasoning that Hoss might be effected enough by it to slow him down.

Hoss put his shields up just in time, and slowly got up. And then a large pillar crashed down in their midst, the one Ziirphael had knocked loose. It landed right on Hoss' legs; he was strong enough to break free, but not for the moment. Konka Rar used the chance to prepare another spell.

***

Calm noted that he was, for the moment, alone. And glancing in Konka Rar's direction, he noticed Hoss pinned. I'm a little surprised that didn't come for me, he thought. Might as well get my knife back. That blob is over by the cave, and the zombie will take forever to get there.

He could still see the flaming zombie in the distance, and ran towards it.

***

Dr. Anarchy looked up for just a moment, and saw Ziirphael leaping across stalactites, headed towards her.

"Dammit! I don't think I can finish this before Mr. No-Face gets here! I gotta get this thing to fire, fast! I won't even have time to get rid of everything that stupid Hoss jerk put in here!"

Then a smile crossed her face.

"Wait... I can make it do one big shot... yeah, that'll do the trick!"

She worked quickly, finishing moments before Ziirphael leapt onto the island.

As he approached, she fired.

The gun began sparking with electricity, and a high-powered gravity pulse made its way out. She had set Hoss' modifications to overload and rerouted the power systems so it could still fire; it meant she would be out one energy cell, but she had more, and it would be one heck of a shot.

Unfortunately, she missed. Ziirphael reacted just quickly enough to dodge the pulse, which headed back for the shore.

"Dammit! No fair!" she shouted, fleeing towards the cave with her jetpack. Ziir decided jumping after her wouldn't cut it, and quickly drew some runes along his back, growing a pair of crude wings, made of bone and knots of muscle. He then took off in pursuit.

***

"Inferno!" Konka Rar shouted. Hoss was still struggling to free his legs. Finally, he succeeded, just as the spell produced a fireball, which began to grow...

...and then the gravity pulse collided with it. A small, red, raging ball hung in midair.

The spell continued, but the gravity pulse interfered with Rar's control of it. The magic fluctuated wildly, and intense explosive pressure built at the point of collision. Slowly, the size of the sphere grew - it was as if a miniature sun was forming.

Neither combatant was entirely sure of what had just happened, but they knew it would not be a good idea to stay. Or, indeed, to be anywhere unsheltered. Konka Rar knew just how much wild magic was building up there, and it was growing by the moment. And Hoss, though unfamiliar with magic, could measure the same risk from the heat. Both ran for the cave, Hoss moving nearly twice as fast.

"Calm!" Rar shouted, not intending to lose his one ally this early in the game. "Run for the cave!"

Hoss considered trying to trip the lich in the explosion, but Konka Rar was moving fairly slowly as it was. Besides, the energy was continuing to build up... how far would they have to run in order to be safe, even inside the cave? He couldn't spare the time.

***

Calm heard the lich's voice just as he retrieved his knife. Of course it would work out this way - he could hardly be any further from the cave. He started running as fast as he could.

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GBCE · 02-26-2010, 02:23 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

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Not The Author · 02-26-2010, 05:56 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

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What am I doing?!

Gormand spang from his recumbent position only seconds after taking it. I should be out there, organizing my competitors against this... this Cultivator. Instead, I lie here, waiting for... what, exactly? I do not wait! I take! I am a conqueror, and should behave as su- Eh? As he thought over his current predicament, Gormand had made his way back to the stairs, when he was stopped cold by... giggling? As far as he was aware, there were only corpses about... And yet, he was being laughed at. Gormand spun around, enraged that someone would mock him! (And this time, able to retaliate.)

Hovering in the middle of the hall behind him was a grinning blue spirit. Gormand wasn't terribly surprised that there would be ghosts in the afterlife; part of him was curious that there hadn't been more. But that didn't matter, it was being rude, and that would not be tolerated. He took an angry step towards the phantom, which seemed only serve to amuse it more. Gormand stomped closer, then abruptly halted. This seemed to pique the ghost's curiosity, for it stopped chuckling for a moment and gazed curiously at the meatball, cheeky grin still covering it's face.

So Gormand punched it through the chest.

...Of course, it's hard not to punch a ghost through the chest, given their ephemeral state.

The spook grinned wider, waggled it's fingers, and took hold of the noodle lodged in it's chest. It yanked hard towards the trapped hall... but was clearly unaccustomed to anything of Gormand's considerable girth. This time it was the meatball's turn to chuckle, as the azure phantom struggled to pull him farther into the cavern. Gormand lifted his flagellum ever so slightly, ensuring the ghost gripped it securely. The unwelcome clinger looked up from it's struggle just in time to be slammed into the ground, dislodging it from Gormand's arm and flinging it through the floor. Feeling a bit better, Gormand turned back to the stairs.

He was confronted by a rather disgruntled and quite familiar phantom.

Gormand staggered backwards, shocked that the spirit had so quickly recovered. But the ghost merely sniggered again, streaking past him back into the foreboding cavern. Curious, he turned to face the ghost, but it had vanished. Gormand shrugged, but wasn't going to be caught off guard. He backed warily towards the stairs, watching for any sign of movement. The ghost had glowed, making it an easy target in the pitch black cave, but...

There was a sound of something shuffling across the stony ground. A laugh, deeper, more gutteral than before, decaying into a fit of raspy coughs. A lone figure stumbled towards Gormand, guarding itself with some sort of polearm. He readied himself for the unsteady attacker, whose cause for limping soon became apparent: the interloper was missing a foot. The spear in his chest couldn't have helped much, either. Well, obviously the ghost can posess corpses. It's a ghost. They can do that. Or perhaps Konka Rar is about? No matter; it's still hostile, and shall have to be taught a lesson.

By now, the shambling husk of a body was only a couple of meters away. Several arrows were stuck it the unfortunate man's skull, and one of his eyes seemed to have fallen out. Gormand chuckled again. In response, the corpse let out another gargley laugh, raising it's rotting oar overhead. The body's good humor was cut short, however, as its lungs were compressed by one of Gormand powerful limbs. The meatball was at once amused and insulted. "You would dare take up arms agains me?" Squeezing tighter, he heard the satisfying crunch of bone and sinew breaking within his grip.

The corpse ineffectively swung at Gormand's arm, embedding a few splinters in his thick, noodly flesh, but doing little real harm. Gormand brought his flagellum up, dangling the body upside-down in front of his eye. "You're pathetic. Get out of my sight!" At this, he flung the corpse irreverently through the air, listening for the dull thump of flesh against stone. satisfied, he turned once more towards the stairs.

The ghost had returned, sniggering as usual.

Gormand was incredulous. "But I just-!" He gave up, throwing most of his arms in the air. The laughter resumed.

From behind him.

Gormand realized that the volume of laughter couldn't be accounted for simply from the echoes, as he gradually became aware of a bluish glow in his peripheral vision. He didn't have to look to know what he would see. He would see a massive army of phantoms identical to the one in front of him, ready to tear him apart.

He turned around anyway. Nobody was there.

Well, there were plenty of bodies, but they didn't count. And yet they don't seem to care that they're dead, do they? Gormand backed cautiously away from the he motley swarm of cadavers. Unsurprisingly, they started cackling at his apparent fear. Slowly, clumsily, they advanced.

Had he a mouth, Gormand would have smiled. He took a step forward. Some of the zombies paused, unsure if anyone would really be as stupid as to take on so many of them at once. Gormand took another step, and those undecided bodies stopped trying to figure out what he was thinking, and resumed their slow advance. Gormand, undaunted, stepped forward once more.

*click*

The quiet, unassuming noise resounded through the suddenly quiet corridor. One of the zombies (missing his throat) gargled sadly.

Then his head was split in half by a massive axe.

The bodies started ambling a bit faster. Gormand was already at the stairs - but due to his snack, he no longer fit, even snugly, into the ascending spiral. He was struck by an idea then, one he wished he'd had sooner. Straining, his body slowly, imperceptibly, shunk. Little seemed to change about him, but for a pair of flat ridges protruding from his backside. Transformation complete, he was somewhat smaller than he'd been at the outset of the competition, making his escape up the stairwell that much less arduous.

He glanced back at his undead pursuers. A few of the closer ones had made it past the traps, worse for the wear but still ready to fight. Perhaps, thought Gormand, plodding up the stairs as quickly as he could, I can find them some others to battle.

Ixcaliber · 02-26-2010, 05:57 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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GBCE · 02-26-2010, 07:18 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

[img]images/smilies/apple.gif[/img]

GBCE · 02-26-2010, 08:52 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

The sudden appearance of Ekelhaft's main body had not been kind to Hoss's psyche. As he runs from the growing miniature protostar, diving through the hole earlier bored by Ziir, his mind finally snaps. Eons of mental barriers meant to control the rage and bloodlust hidden within him evaporate like vapor in the face of Ekelhaft's burning insanity. Hoss finds himself falling through millions of years of memories, to one in particular...

The young man seems out of place in this section of the city. His fitted slacks and stylish overcoat mark him as someone used to finer living; or at least, someone unaccustomed to the activities which are a regular occurrence in this neighborhood. Activities like the group of gaudily-dressed men in front of him are engaging in.

One of them, dressed in a dark-red, fluffy jacket, notices the young man staring at them. He taps one of his comrades, who turns his attention from their illegal transaction. His friend gestures towards the young man.

"The hell is that?"

"I dunno, you know'im?"

"Hell naw, man. Looks like he gots money though."

The other three men in their little circle notice the commotion. One of them takes the initiative and begins to make his way towards the young man. The others follow.

"Can we help you?" the apparent leader says, sarcastically, "or are you lookin' for some trouble?"

The young man's features are difficult to make out in the soft orange glow of a nearby streetlight. Had their been more light, the approaching group would have noticed the young man smirk. He remains silent.

The group stops, two of its members begin fidgeting. They sense something is off.

The leader either does not notice, or hides his nervousness. The man to his right makes a quip about their intruder being a homosexual. The group laughs. The leader taunts the young man, "Is that it then? You see somethin' you like, homo?" He spreads his arms, assuming a dominant position; a standard territorial gesture of a frightened mammal.

After receiving no response, the leader decides he has had enough. The young man is obviously of wealth, and he intends to take whatever he can find from the young man's unconscious, or dead, body. The rest of the group, sensing their leader's intentions, advance. "You in the wrong neighborhood, boy. And now you gonna get fucked up".

The young man moves, finally. One of his hands has been inside his overcoat during the exchange. He speaks: "I was hoping you'd say that."

He removes his hand from his overcoat, and reveals a baseball bat.

He is not a particularly strong person, but what he lacks in strength he makes up for in pure, unbridled rage. He has no experience with fighting, but he does not care. He receives a punch to the face, a knife grazes his right arm, yet these wounds do not slow him. Indeed, he draws upon the anger he feels upon their infliction, grabs it, and rides it towards destruction and bloodshed.

His movements are uncoordinated, but ruthless in their execution. As the baseball bat connects, hit after hit, as blood from both parties begins to flow freely and mingle indiscriminately, a sound rises from the muffled noises of tortured flesh and battered bone. The sound is at first unfamiliar; out of place, familiar yet... broken, alien. It is laughter. The young man is laughing as his ballet of butchery continues. One of the attackers falls over, and the young man is on him in an instant, striking his face again and again until nothing remains but a bloody pulp, ignoring the blows from the fallen man's compatriots. As angry hands pull him off, the young man continues to rage. His blue eyes wide with hysteria, mouth wide open from perpetual, sickening laughter.

It is terrible. It is inhuman. It is gruesome. It is beautiful.

Five battered and broken human bodies lie on the street. The baseball bat lies further away, thrown away during the slaughter. The young man currently wields an arm, which he has torn from one of the men, and is using it to hammer upon one of the corpses, its dark-red jacket squelching with each blow. He stops, after a while, and sinks to his knees. The bloodstains are not easily visible on his black clothing. He looks at the sky as a wonderful, horrible feeling washes over him. He has taken life, and it is glorious. The power he feels is addicting, and he wants more.

The man who will become Hand of Silver, the future tyrant who will come to rule all of humanity, revels in his blood-soaked epiphany.

The memory of his first kill flows through Hoss, becomes him. Whatever remained of Hand of Silver has abandoned the billion-year-old cyborg. It is now merely a construct of violence; rage given physical form.

It runs down the stairs, no longer caring what it is running from. It merely seeks something to kill. Rounding a corner, it comes across a hulking ball of meat. A metallic shriek emanates from the cyborg's mouth, vocal chords no longer attempting to maintain human frequencies.

Gormand sees Hoss run towards him, and prepares for the inevitable attack. He analyzes Hoss's movements, and determines him to be of little threat; Hoss appears to be uncontrolled, unfocused. Hoss lunges towards Gormand, left hand shifting to form an undefined blade. Gormand merely catches Hoss with a noodly appendage, using his momentum to throw Hoss behind him, allowing the berserking cyborg to continue on his journey downwards.

That should occupy those zombies for a while.

The cyborg comes out of its downstairs tumble into a run. Its sensors detect sound from ahead, sound which indicates moving bodies. It quickly encounters a source of those sounds, and moves on. A shredded zombie is left behind.

Further up the stairs, others have entered the cave to escape the imminent and devastating explosion. As they catch their breath (for those that need to), a sound reverberates through the stairwell. It is not a sound that can be described, for it is not meant to be; it is a sound for the sake of sound. It is millions of years worth of brutality given free reign over a vessel of terrible destruction. Something in it touches the humans of the group, resonating with similar feelings.

Deep in the cavern, the limitless violence of all of humanity has been given form.

Dragon Fogel · 02-26-2010, 11:09 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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GBCE · 02-27-2010, 01:15 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

"Ridiculous..."
Diego watched the Lich and the cyborg run for the cave, and glanced at what they ran from. Immediately, it hurt his eyes to look at. Then, the he began feeling the blistering heat. Whatever it was, he decided, was not good.

Diego was inclined to follow after the two, but a certain blob hindered him. Between him and the cave was Ekelhaft. It was segmenting, changing now, although Diego could not firgure out what form it as trying to take. Instintively, He knew that Ekelhaft would lash out at him if he tried to pass it. Diego squinted his eyes, having trouble seeing in the bright light. In front of him, the blob did similar- it closed most of it's eyes, and squinted the eyes on the side not bombarded with brightness.

In a corner of his mind, he evaluated nearby sounds. The air was bending now, under the heat of the mini-sun. However, he managed to make out Calm rushing forward, charging toward the cave. Diego glared at Ekelhaft's open eye, now knowing what he would do. With heavy steps, he began walking towards the side of the blob with th open eye, allowing it to concentrate on him. In that instant, Calm rushed by. Ekelhaft's focus was momentarily occupied with Calm's sudden action, and it's eye left Diego for a second.

In that second, three arrowheads flew forward, lodging themselves roughly about Ekelhaft's open eye, blinding it. As soon as Diego fired his remaining arrowheads, he began running forward. Ekelhaft was blind, but could still hear. Violently, tentacles burst out around it, seeking the source of Diego's footsteps. Diego had heavy, deep steps, and was easily detected- until all of Diego's sounds suddenly dissappeared.

This was Diego's method of sneaking- erasing all of his own sounds. This manipulation of the air did not have a large effect, but had many uses. He had always used it when skulking around secretly, especially as he snuck up on a kill. In fact, he had been making a lot of noise as he stepped as to make the others know him as a heavy footed man, so that becoming absolutely silent would be all the more unexpected. He hadn't wanted to use it yet, but had no choice. Hopefully, the blob wouldn't be smart enough to understand exactly what he did to seemingly disappear. Quickly, he dashed all the way around Ekelhaft and it's flailing tentacles, and successfully slipped into the cave after Calm.

As he passed Elkelhaft, Diego thought about it's power.
"Insanity, huh?" he smirked at the idea of insanity. Diego didn't consider himself anything but the most sane man in existence.

GBCE · 02-27-2010, 09:43 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Lankie.

Dr. Anarchy's jet pack quicky shotered out, it was low on power and she couldn't maintain the most effiecient flight pattern, as she had clumsily crammed all of her tools, parts and half broken gun underneath her arms, she resorted to running. Unfortunatly she came up to a wall, she dumpped all of her equipment on the floor exhausted, she wasn't made for running.

She slowly turned round to see Ziir sillohetted by a miniture sun. Dr, anarchy didn't really care about the growing fireball, she and Ziir were so far away from the previous combat that it would be suprising if the resulting explosion would effect them. The doctor was much more concerned with the Death God closing in on her.

"Heyy, err...I'm kinda unarmed here and well, i dunno, you wouldn't, hurt a defenseless girl would ya?" Ziirphael didn't speak of halt his advance, he simply formed a blade on his arm. "OK you will. Thats not...brilliant." She backed off, putting her back against the wall. "Is this about that collapsing cavern thing? Because heh I was ordered to do that, no FORCED to do that. I wasn't like I was aiming for you or anything..." Ziir continued, he showed no sighn of stopping. Dr. Anarchy sat down infornt of her variety of equipment, her voice took a more desperate tone. "I didn't mean them face things really! It wa just that the blob thing was near and-" Zirr raised his arm to strike, he wasn't going to stall this time, the Doctor brought her arms infront of her to defend herself . "Oh GOD NO! PLEASE I'LL MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE!"

Ixcaliber · 02-27-2010, 05:06 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

Ziir felt the rush of adrenaline flowing through his body. He was practically giddy as he bore down on Anarchy, her weapon destroyed and her jetpack failed. He swooped down to her, forcing her back against the wall. With a pleasure that he had not felt in a long time he drew back his blade and prepared to strike her down. Then suddenly the thrill drained away. Anarchy was pleading with him to spare her life. Suddenly he felt like he was back in the real world. It reminded him of how his victims used to plead with him. He could almost see them, with broken legs and torn off arms, trying to shield their face with their stumps or desperately trying to crawl away. Killing Anarchy like this was no challenge, and he had no apetite for it.

Instead he lowered his blade arm and looked around at the huge fireball in the distance. It was a long way away but it looked volatile. He had no intention of being out here when it exploded, and he guessed that meant he had no intention of leaving Anarchy out here either. Leaving her here would be just as fatal as delivering the blow himself, and no more satisfying. He turned around and snatched her up in his enormous claw hand. She began shrieking, demanding that he put her down but he ignored her. He leapt into the air and quickly looked around for some kind of shelter. Surely a cavern this size must have more than one cave in which they could hide. He spotted one on a nearby island and began flying there, as quickly as he could. He felt the heat of the fireball behind him and in front of him he could see Anarchy staring at what was behind him, speechless for once. He guessed that the explosion was more or less imminent. Ziir flew as fast as he could, literally throwing Anarchy into the cave in front of him, before swooping in himself and using his misshapen wings as cover from whatever little of the blast reached down here.

Dragon Fogel · 02-28-2010, 06:36 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Konka Rar slowed down as he reached the stairs, still trying to hurry - he was probably far enough from the explosion, but he wasn't in the mood to take chances on that fact.

He soon heard footsteps behind him, and made a quick glance to verify that the newcomer was Calm - this was exactly the wrong time to be ambushed.

Calm, moving faster, soon caught up to him. "What the hell did you do?" he asked, looking annoyed. "Are you trying to nuke us all?"

"Something interfered with my spell," Rar replied. "I haven't had time to determine precisely what it was. Now, keep moving. We're most likely safe now, but I would prefer to be even safer."

Then the two of them came across Gormand, still on his way up.

"More of you?" the meatball asked, in an exasperated tone. "What's with all the sudden interest in this cave?"

"It isn't so much the cave itself as the fact that being outside the cave is highly inadvisable at the moment," Konka Rar replied. "I suggest you turn around, unless you wish to be overcooked."

Gormand waved his tentacles in a manner mimicking a shrug. "All right, I suppose we can go play with the zombies and the mechanical fellow downstairs. Oh, by the way, there are zombies and a mechanical fellow downstairs."

Gormand could swear he saw the smile on Konka Rar's skull widening.

"Zombies, you say? How... interesting."

They continued down the stairs.

SleepingOrange · 02-28-2010, 08:15 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

The blind slime made a rippling motion and spat out a punctured eye and several arrowheads. Another eye surfaced to take its place, but it didn't matter; the moment of blindness had been enough and his quarry had escaped. Ekelhaft had no illusions that it was powerful enough to suppress the magical explosion that was imminent, nor did it think it would survive it in a way that would leave it strong enough to have a decent shot at survival. The only shelter it could see was the cave, and Ekelhaft was extremely reluctant to get into a position where a number of allied psychopaths would bear down on it at once. Time was running out and the ooze was running out of options. Wait... This place was limestone, wasn't it? Limestone or close enough; an exploratory dig with a tooth yielded a satisfying scrape into the living rock. A simple plan formed and Ekelhaft wasted no time in implementing it.

It extended a pseudopod and formed a conical tip ringed with dozens of teeth; the teeth began to rotate, slime twisting, and Ekelhaft pushed its makeshift drill hard into the stone. Between its incisors and its acid, the slime was making decent progress; it was just digging a simple shaft downwards, only about eight inches in diameter. It formed a pulsing channel down one side, pulling up the stone dust to clear the hole. Once it was deep enough that Ekelhaft could fit is entire body inside, plus about two feet of buffer, it formed a "plug" out of the powdered limestone and some of its more blunted teeth. Between its magic-dampening, the plug, and its limited exposed surface, it was sure it could weather the explosion.

The tiny blob of slime and teeth that had been tailing the techies was alone now; it had lost its quarry in the fray, and hadn't been able to tail anyone without realizing it. Ekelhaft realized that even if its old purpose was finished, it could still prove useful; it liked the idea of laying unseen in its little hole while the small blob scouted. Ekelhaft Jr, as it was beginning to think of the offshoot, oozed into the lee of a column and bored itself another small hole. Shortly after it finished its own protective plug, there was a quiet fwup, followed by a sound too loud to be heard. The cavern shook.

GBCE · 03-01-2010, 12:14 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

Diego had turned off his sound detection, and muffled his own ears as he realized what was about to happen. He dove forward, and turned the first corner he could find. In that instant, everyhing shook and a heat wave blasted from the entrance tunnel.
Diego quickly evaluated the chaos of the situation. The entrance had caved in, again, but the area was lit by torches on the wall. He was trapped with a couple others in a cave. This closed enviroment was more or less ideal, and he decided that he'd make the best of it immediately. For a moment, he concentrated, writing out a sequence of sounds in his heads. Then, he released a program into the air, and a booming, somber, ancient voice spoke, for all to hear.

"Greetings, Mortals. I am Sadeh, god of the Afterlife. I've been roused from ages of sleep by a violent shock... You must be the Cultivator's new play things, correct?"

The contestants of the Brawl stopped what they were doing, briefly, and glanced upwards instinctively, looking for a god.

"Yes... Yes, you have the Cultivator's taint on you... Well, Mortals, I have a proposition for you. Find me, free me. The cultivator bested me, and is using me as the core of this little piece of existence. Free me... And I shall escape. I will also take with me the ones who free me... And grant a boon. So find me. My power is limited here, Drained away by the ages... I cannot guide you long. All I can say is that I am deep in this cave..."

The voice faded off as the magic program finished, and Diego breathed out. Still, he wasn't done. He began mumbling to himself, as he went further into the cave.

"This... This is good, right? We can get out this way. " He said to himself, in a hesitant voice.

Diego couldn't sound too confident, and he thought that his face might be readable. Meticulously, he worked himself into character- a person who, while no stranger to death, did not want to kill or be killed. He needed the others to believe the words to be true on their own. Still, he let himself wear a nervous smile, which agreed with not only his persona but also his hidden character. He had invented a god perfectly. Surely, some of them, most of them, would cling to the voice, hold it as their hope... And leaving their backs turned, ears open.

GBCE · 03-01-2010, 12:33 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

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Ixcaliber · 03-01-2010, 12:33 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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GBCE · 03-01-2010, 07:35 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

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Not The Author · 03-01-2010, 06:37 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

"Ghosts, actually. I'm fairly certain the bodies are being posessed, but-" Gormand was interrupted by what one might incorrectly assume to be some sort of earthquake. Even so far underground, the force of the mininova was staggering. Bracing himself against the walls as he waited for the shockwaves to pass, he grunted to his companions, "What the hell were you doing up there?!" The necromancer replied, perhaps a bit defensively. "It wasn't intentional, I assure you." As the vibrations died away, the group cautiously resumed their descent. Calm gestured at the stony walls surrounding them. [background=black:1mi18dmv]"You'd think it'd have killed someone, though."[/background:1mi18dmv] Gormand rubbed what could be generously called his chin. "And what would that achieve, exactly?"
Before he could finish his thought, a booming voice echoed down the staircase:

"Greetings, mortals. I am Sadeh, God of the Afterlife."

The speech was short, and to the point, though the way it trailed off at the end gave the distinct impression someone was purposefully blocking the message. Diego was the first to speak. "This... This is good, right? We can get out this way. " Calm laughed. [background=black:1mi18dmv]"Never trust a god, or anyone claiming to be. It's a ruse, I'm sure."[/background:1mi18dmv] Gormand silently considered each opinion. "Well... as hesitant as I am to believe this... 'Sadeh...' it would account for the traps..." "Wait, traps? What traps?"

Before he could explain, the stairs ended.

The first thing one would see upon entering the cavern was the sheer volume of gore littering the ground. Once, there had been bodies, but their tendency to simply not die had reduced Hoss to brutally mangling them until nothing recognizably human remained. Not that he conciously objected to the mindless violence in his derranged state; mindless violence was practically all he knew at that point.

The second thing one would see upon entering the cavern was an enormous, aged, bloody axe, visibly torn from the pendulum mechanism that once ended the lives of those strikingly similar interlopers. Half of the axehead was shattered, fragments scattered about the room. The rest of the axe was embedded deep in the ground, unshiftable by any who might attempt to retrieve it.

The third thing one would see upon entering the cavern, though it was a tad difficult in the pervasive darkness, was a warmly clad man. His clothing was dishevelled and torn in places, and would be dyed red if not for its already dark tones. The tyrant knelt on the ground, half-heartedly punching a lifeless corpse in the face.

Gormand turned, warning his companions to keep silent, and stepped cautiously into the blood-soaked hall.

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GBCE · 03-01-2010, 07:01 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

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