Who has posted? | | View a Printable Version

GBCE · 04-03-2010, 07:33 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Knask.

"Let's ditch the rat. It might be too noisy. We'll be quieter on foot, and it's not that far, now."

[background=#000000:28x7q01t]Calm had for a moment considering "reanimating" the rat with another doomed spirit, like the zombie in the other cave. The other spirit was removed from the zombie before it even got a chance to fulfill it's mission and gain it's freedom, and for some reason, Calm felt slightly sorry for it. He would like to give it another chance, perhaps in the rat. However, as Diego had said, it would be to noisy, and firing it up with a spirit that had been tortured in hell for hundreds of years would definitively not make it any more quiet.

They really didn't need the rat anyway.

"yes, let it go".[/background:28x7q01t]

Diego gestured the rat to leave, It obeyed. It seemed like Konka temporarily had put Diego in some sort of control over it.

[background=#000000:28x7q01t]The walked towards the giant's head, Both of them buried deep in their own thoughts.
As they stood by the giants pillow, Calm gazed up upon the giants massive head, or more the mess of the hair that was covering most of it. It made him think.

"Something here is not right" He said, turning slightly towards Diego[/background:28x7q01t]

GBCE · 04-07-2010, 08:18 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

Show Content

A barren, tortured landscape lies before Hoss. He is standing on a swell of cold, pitted ceramic ground, which falls away at his feet into a vast basin, marred by long stretches of stains, pothole-sized craters, and flattened walls of chipped paint. On this scale, it is a desolate valley which seems to drain the life out of all that surrounds it. On a much larger scale, it's actually just a shitty sink.

And it's the most beautiful thing Hoss has seen since this competition began.

He moves along the edge, making his way towards what appears to be the hot water handle. His footsteps are accompanied by the rhythmic pounding of gargantuan water droplets, each contacting the bowl of the sink in a (proportionally) devastating explosion of water, born of the bridge-sized leaky faucet.

He reaches the towering handle, its size providing some small difficulty in its operation, given Hoss's... reduced stature. While he may have the strength to simulate a properly-sized hand, he can see no way to brace himself; in order to reach the handle (and achieve a workable angle for leverage), his feet must be off the ground, as, currently, he is too short.

Or rather, his body is not long enough. But Hoss is a cyborg, and his body parts are not necessarily constrained to a single configuration.

He walks past the handle to the base of the faucet. Its smooth surface prevents any obvious hand-holds, so Hoss simply punches a hole in the side, and begins climbing upwards, using much the same method the whole way. Once he has ascended to the appropriate height, Hoss plants both feet firmly on the faucet's side. A network of tendrils explode from the soles of his shoes, tunneling through the pathetically weak metal, rooting him in place. Hoss is now a an odd growth, sprouting perpendicularly from the faucet's side. He looks "up", at the hot-water handle, which is just slightly off-parallel to his line of sight, and facing away from him; its not-quite-off position is likely responsible for the leak.

Hoss raises his synthetic left arm, and plating in its sides, hidden from view by the heavy sleeve of his overcoat, release, and extend. His newmatter fabicators exude more artificial muscle and temporary "bones" to further increase his reach. The (no longer gloved) silver hand flies across the gap, propelled by an argent jet-stream of undulating artificial muscle and groaning metallic bone. It reaches the handle, and its clasp is augmented as the fingers extend around the ovoid. Once Hoss is certain he has a firm grasp on the handle, he retracts all the excreted material back into his body, resulting in a violent pull.

The handle turns.

A torrential outpour of water spurts from the faucet. The empty, soulless valley of stains experiences a flash flood of steaming hot water.

Hoss wastes no time and no energy, given that he is now running on emergency metabolic power. He releases his clamps and simply falls into the sink.

His body lies prone on the ground as the water flows over him. He has shut down all motor function, and most sensory inputs, to conserve power for this final action. His silver palm irises open once more. A familiar canister slides out, pre-programmed to expend the last of its energy reserves in a very specific manner. It floats along with the water surrounding it, heading towards the drain along with everything else. It does not activate until it has fallen in.

The key observation Hoss had made earlier with his examination of the table leg was that this "world" was not just filled with giant-sized constructs, but with giant-sized everything. It is as if a regular house had been blown up to impossible sizes, or the contestants had been shrunk. As such, every single thing which was not a product of a contestant exhibits the same size disparity, including atoms and molecules.

What is currently flowing from the supersized faucet is not simply a waterfall; it is, instead, a never-ending stream of hydrogen and oxygen atoms several sizes too large. With these not-found-in-nature dimensions, Hoss does not need to resort to makeshift Tritium manufacturing; no, with this size disparity, he can cut straight to the energy contained within the atoms themselves: the Strong Nuclear Force, the most powerful force known in his universe.

Any energy extracted from the gluons sprinting between the quarks now rushing towards his collector will be useless to his backup fusion reactor; the only fuel it can use is tritium. Gluon reactors, at least in Hoss's universe, are generally too large to fit in the small spaces available in his body (they are primitive and rather clunky technology, which is why Hoss had installed the black hole "heart" eons ago, as it is much more efficient). It is towards the goal of overcoming this obstacle that Hoss now works, having purposefully drained all his available energy, in order to starve and thus shut down the fusion reactor.

Since he modified Dr. Anarchy's gun, Hoss has delegated a significant amount of processing power towards the task of replicating her unique power source. It is a design which the laws of his universe say are impossible; obviously, a small difference in the fundamentals of the two universes existed, only manifesting in the intricate tinkering of the mad Doctor's genius. During his climb to the sink, the subroutines responsible for analyzing her design and creating a compatible version for himself signaled completion. Their result was most intriguing.

He had not expected a conclusion so quickly; incorporating the operation of an extra-universal device into the realm of laws which govern his own operation seemed a task which would at the very least require the invention of new mathematical tools. Instead, his subroutines used the universe-melding nature of the contest to solve the problem: this contest (conceivably) is an amalgamation of laws which permit bits and pieces of several universes to co-exist, and since the device works in a universe, it can work here, too, regardless of how it is created.

As the emergency collector funnels the torrent of water into its matter capacitor, Hoss releases small bursts of kinetic energy inside his body from emergency power cells, forcefully (and somewhat crudely) re-arranging his innards. The backup fusion reactor is dismantled, and the new gluon reactor is pushed into its place.

Like most moments of import in Hoss's life, this one goes unnoticed and unrecorded by any third-party (besides, perhaps, the Cultivator). Hoss has successfully manipulated and integrated laws from an entirely different universe into his own operation; the rules governing two separate realities now work in perfect harmony within his body, and if things go the way he plans, the number of assimilated laws will only increase.

The collector floats up out of the drain and back towards Hoss's still open palm. It neatly inserts itself into the portal, yet keeps its funnel-shaped forcefield activated, continuing to guide all the available water into its matter capacitors. As it unloads its current store of supermassive gluons into Hoss's system, it converts itself from a capacitor to a direct link; no longer storing the processed water, but instead transferring all the extracted fuel directly to the newly-created gluon generator.

Hoss stands as power flows back into his energy-starved systems. More power than his backup fusion reactor could have ever generated, and more than enough power to bring him very nearly back to full operating capacity, at least for a little while.

Another construction project begins as Hoss puts the excess mass and energy to use. In a move similar to his actions in the previous round, Hoss uses the increased energy output from Dr. Anarchy's adapted reactor to power a graviton emitter; except this time, it will be much more powerful.

The funnel deactivates, allowing the water to resume its normal path. Hoss, now with synthetic muscles and gyroscopes fully active, kinetic barriers and generators primed and ready, and a host of other previously retired components running at full power, launches himself from the basin. His arc takes him fully to the edge of the counter, where he can look down at the oddly homely battlefield. The meatball and lich have not moved, though Hoss's enhanced vision detects additional movement from their location - small bits of heated meat and wood whizzing off out of the kitchen - and the rat-riders have disappeared completely. As for Ekelhaft... the slime yet deludes even his most advanced detectors, since it apparently only radiates insanity, something his array is not configured to detect. Hoss arches an eyebrow. He is fairly certain what he is about to do should turn the ooze's world upside-down.

Literally.

The graviton emitter activates. Hoss steps off the edge, and falls up.

As he plummets headfirst towards the ceiling, the ancient tyrant allows himself a small grin of satisfaction at the chaos unfolding around him. The still-flowing river of water from the faucet keeps pace behind him, now flowing towards the ceiling, along with all the other bits and pieces of kitchenware. Above him (given his previous proficiency with gravity manipulation, Hoss easily adjusts his new frame of reference), Gormand and Konka Rar can be seen beginning their fall, along with the table and chairs seen through the doorway.

Hand of Silver prepares for the still-far-off landing, and the subsequent search for Ekelhaft.

Show Content

Dragon Fogel · 04-08-2010, 10:24 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Konka Rar was not, in general, fond of surprises. Especially not surprises which involved the laws of physics apparently deciding to alter themselves in the space of an instant.

Gormand, for his part, was taking their upward plummet surprisingly well. There was a loud crash in the distance; the meatball looked toward the noise and saw the refridgerator lodged on the ceiling, its door knocked open by the impact.

"Well, that solves one problem," he said.

"You do realize we're falling," Konka Rar said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Yes, but rather slowly. I believe our small size relative to everything else means we have much less air resistance, and gravity seems to be operating on that scale. So we aren't accelerating nearly as much as we would otherwise. The main problem comes from the instant deceleration upon impact."

"And what, precisely, is causing this to happen?"

"I"m very curious about that. If Hoss did it, it was rather foolish of him, considering that he's right below - or above - us, and one of us has a command of long-range attacks that are not entirely bound by the laws of physics. Not the best scenario under which to enact a betrayal, I would think."

Konka Rar looked towards the ceiling, his cybernetic eye focusing on the distant image of the pure cyborg.

"You raise an excellent point. Let's get him involved in this conversation." He concentrated, and sent a bolt of lightning towards the ceiling, intentionally missing Hoss by less than a foot. "I believe that will draw his attention."

GBCE · 04-08-2010, 11:38 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

The stray bolt of plasma roars past Hoss's ear, and would have singed his mess of hair, had he not replaced it long ago with a hardier artificial version (purely for vanity's sake; he has always loved his hair). He directs his attention towards its origin, suppressing a smirk. It would figure his new pair of chatting buddies would take his world-flipping fun the wrong way.

Well, since Konka Rar saw fit to bring his frustration to Hoss's attention with action rather than words, Hoss figured he'd respond in kind.

Konka Rar's cybernetic eye continues to glare at the deceptive cyborg. He can observe no immediate reaction; it is almost as if Hoss is ignor-

His acrid internal diatribe is cut short by a sudden and massive increase in his acceleration towards the new floor. They will now reach it in mere seconds, and at speeds which would cause... unfortunate results.

He glances at Gormand, and sees the meatball's single eye focused towards him.

"Exactly how did you think this would pan out? I really would like to know your thought process here. Exactly how, from 'deal with the possibly-still-insane cyborg with gravity-flipping powers who's betrayed us' did 'shoot at him' come out? Did you think he'd instantly recognize the error of his ways, fly over to apologize, then prostrate himself before you in midair? You didn't anticipate that he might just try to speed us to our deaths?"

Konka Rar shifts his bones in a pale mimicry of a grimace, silently acknowledging the validity of Gormand's jab. He should have simply aimed to kill; he is briefly confused by this hesitation, as he has had no compunction about killing those whom would defy him in the past. He readies another, much deadlier spell, preparing to simply be done with the meddling metal man.

However, he and Gormand have wasted a tad too much precious time, and their new speeds have brought them much closer to the ground than either realized. Before Konka Rar can release his spell, ground meets meat and bone in an instantly fatal, crushing collision.

Or that's what would have happened, had Hoss not, at the last second, altered the small bubble of gravity he'd placed around them earlier. Instead, Konka Rar and Gormand float serenely down the last few centimeters, experiencing no discomfort from the rapid deceleration. Hoss is already waiting for them on the ground, having had less distance to fall.

"By-product of gravitational manipulation; inertial compensation isn't much of a stretch, when dealing with a Higgs field."

He walks past the pair, and gestures out to the dining room, where the table is now upside-down on the new floor.

"We now possess an advantage over our fellow participants, at least for a short while. They are still falling, while we are not." A grin, perfect teeth flashed towards Konka Rar, "I hope this speaks to my continued loyalty to our agreement. Speaking of..."

Hoss turns to face the meatball and the lich, "First question. What is the pattern of civilizations within your respective universes, down through history?"

Dragon Fogel · 04-09-2010, 01:52 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Konka Rar silently cursed himself. He had lost control of the situation, and he despised that. For better or for worse, they were on the Hand of Silver's terms now. They were fortunate that Hoss was interested in maintaining their alliance, if only for the sake of his curiosity.

Konka Rar hated the thought of allying with a stronger force. Even if they had no intention of turning on you, it meant subordinating yourself to them. That was a position he was never comfortable with.

But it was the position he was in now. He would have to work with it. At least until an opportunity came along to change it...

He held his bony hand to his chin thoughtfully before answering the question. There was no need to make it clear how irritated he was - he could at least maintain the appearance of strength.

"I suppose you could say the pattern in my world is 'two steps forward, one step back'," he began. "It begins when one civilization makes significant advances in either technology or magic, but has no interest in sharing them with outsiders."

He held out his cybernetic arm.

"For example, this arm. I have only had it for a few years, but when I was still alive, there was a city-state where such augmentations were relatively commonplace. They had a nominal alliance with a neighboring kingdom, but wanted little to do with them, and certainly no interest in sharing the technology."

Hoss seemed interested. "And you say this is where the pattern begins. Where does it end, then?"

"In one of two ways. Either the civilization is destroyed, or they vanish entirely, most likely with the aid of their advances, and are often relegated to the realm of mere legend. The city I spoke of falls in the former category." He paused, watching Hoss' reactions carefully. "In either case, of course, their advancements are almost always effectively lost to the rest of the world. Technology and magic steadily improve, but rarely does the world as a whole benefit from singular breakthroughs. It is horribly inefficient, as you might imagine."

Not The Author · 04-23-2010, 08:00 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

Gormand glared angrily at some distant point behind Hoss. "At least they have the decency to fade from existence..."

The lich turned to him, seeming to only just remember that there were three of them standing there. "What? Having trouble with an advanced society?" Hand of Silver looked to the meatball expectantly.

"No."

Konka Rar seemed only half-interested in the first place, while Hoss managed to indicate only moderate disappointment. The cyborg opened his mouth to speak.

"Five of them."

And immediately closed it again.

"We go in circles, along the lines of Progress and Espionage, Escalation and War, and Withdrawal and Peace."

Gormand turned to face Hoss properly. "Lots of magical and technological research, coupled with spying and intelligence gathering. Leeching off the findings of others. Eventually someone gets annoyed at someone else for whatever reason, and they start building up their military forces and have a go at each other. Alliances form, so usually everyone gets involved. After years of conflict, gains, losses, and public complaint, everyone backs off and gets to rebuilding. Trade opens up between nations, and there's general prosperity."

Gormand sighed wearily, shrugged. "Then the whole thing starts all over again..."

Show Content

GBCE · 04-23-2010, 09:51 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

So much data! Were Hoss still fully organic, he would be skipping for joy. As it is, a barely repressed grin passes over his face, the only celebratory expression he'll allow himself. The information provided from the lich and meatball's testimonies have allowed the final pieces of the grand puzzle to fall into place.

The cycle of upheavals, growth through competition; combined with his discovery of the mutual compatibility of extra-universal laws, the revelations provided by Dr. Anarchy, and the scent of humanity trailing through every knot of this strange multi-dimensional riddle he has been thrust into has allowed the Hand of Silver's uncanny competence at information manipulation to finally show its strength.

Finally, he can begin to live up to his name. His silver hand will be felt through every event in this fortuitous competition; allowing Hoss to awaken to the reality of the multiverse was the best, or worst, thing the Cultivator could have ever done.

For he now has a plan. And not just any plan, but a Plan, one to rival his universe-spanning Billion Year Plan in its ambition. The puzzle of this game has assembled itself before him, its revealed pattern laid bare for Hoss to master.

But first...

Hoss brings himself back to the situation at hand, and realizes his two companions are looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, yes, that was- thank you for your answers. Excuse me while I process them; they did not give me as much as I'd hoped, and I'll need to ask you both more later. However, I should probably get on with my end of the deal, yes? Ekelh-"

He is interrupted by several loud crashes, as the rest of the furniture in the house hits the ceiling. In particular, the sound of a bed rudely awakening a rather large man by landing on top of him. Hoss looks towards the dining room, along with Konka Rar and Gormand, and frowns, considering some kind of temporal disconnect to be responsible for the delayed, but inevitable, events.

He turns back to the other two spectators, only to see Gormand heaving himself off towards the refrigerator, with naught but a muttered "... need more meat" tossed behind him as explanation.

Seconds in the past, but not many...

As Calm turns towards him, Diego begins to move for his attack. Unwilling to let such an opportunity slip past him, he resolves to finish the devil-bound man before his back is fully turned away. The single ear canal beckons to him, exposed by Calm's partial turn. A thin sliver of air begins to whirl upon Diego's finger. The moment is upon him, he can almost feel Calm's life slipping awa-

Both men suddenly find they are upside-down. Dutifully, they begin to fall towards the new floor, as neither has any place standing on a ceiling. Except... that same "ceiling" also contains a village-sized bed, with a mountain of a man wrapped in its sheets, sound asleep. Like all good gravity-bound objects, both are falling along with Diego and Calm.

Calm looks frantically towards Diego, and shouts, "What is going on?!

Diego, continuing to play the helpful pacifist, suppresses the urge to shoot Calm a glare, and to curse out loud at the impeccable timing of this world-flipping confusion. Instead...

"Grab the sheet! We need to cut ourselves some parachutes, if we want to avoid falling to our deaths!"

Calm evinces his hellblade, brandishing it at some nearby sheets, whose majestic flapping cause vast, rolling hills of fabric to pulse towards the desperate duo. Diego's eyes widen at the sight of Calm's weapon, remembering the vast amounts of heat it is capable of. He yells a warning, but the two have moved too far apart, and the rushing air carries his voice away. His magic is too weak to augment it in these hurricane-level winds.

Calm plunges his knife sheetwards. Metal meets fabric, and the hellknife ignites. A blaze of unfathomable temperatures bursts from the point of contact, spreading through the ripe fabric fuel as a burgeoning wildfire. Too late, Calm realizes his mistake, and tries to push himself away. A stray knot of fabric has tangled itself around one his feet, however, and prevents him from moving, and for once, Calm's predictable bad luck saves his life; the newly-formed conflagration has burned itself away from its birthplace, leaving a circle of relative peace around him.

Diego, however, is not so lucky. As Calm disappears behind the rushing wall of fire, Diego has but seconds to cut a stripe of sheet, grab ahold of both ends, rush towards the end of the bed, and let the rushing air slam him "upwards". His rate of descent now vastly slower than that of the bed, Diego watches it fall past him. A mountain of mattress and metal forms a solid wall as far as he can see. Flame licks past its bottom, giving it an air of a meteorite entering the atmosphere, bringing with it the end of a world.

The massive backdraft from its passing buffets Diego's makeshift parachute. His grip nearly fails several times, but he yet maintains his hold. As the air calms, he calls a light breeze, and smoothly navigates himself to the former ceiling, now fresh ground. He lands a good distance from the crashed and burning bed, just in time to see, and hear, an infinitely confused and deathly furious giant heave itself from the wreckage.

As the giant pulls himself out from underneath the bed, Diego realizes his advantage. The upside-down house and suddenly on-fire bed have distracted the massive man, keeping Diego, in his small stature, hidden. What's more, with Calm somewhere under the bed, and the remaining contestants nowhere to be seen, the giant's ears belong to him and him alone.

A quick manipulation of air currents sends the sounds of suspiciously whispering voices to the Giant, seeming to come from the dining room. Dutifully, the giant whirls in their direction, eyes tight with anger as the bed continues to burn behind him. He tromps off towards the dining room.

Hoss's attention is brought back towards the dining room as a man-shaped skyscraper stomps into view, frantically searching for... something.

Hoss turns towards Konka Rar.

"How would you like your very own undead Giant?"

The cyborg skeleton's jaw opens in a grisly approximation of a grin, mirrored by a false-flesh and nano-blood version on Hoss's face, as they both regard their newest obstacle.

Show Content

Dragon Fogel · 04-23-2010, 11:12 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Konka Rar gazed upward at the giant. He had been planning to kill and reanimate the brute ever since the Cultivator had spoken of his existence. And now that opportunity was upon him. Admittedly, it would have been easier if Calm had slain the giant in his sleep, but there was no sense in dwelling on lost opportunities.

"He has not yet seen us," the lich noted. "We should take full advantage of that."

"Agreed," Hoss replied. "What would you say is the best option for a killing strike?"

"Given the difference in scale, even his skin, bones, and clothing would offer significant resistance to any attack. As such, most of his vital organs are not viable targets. Our best approach is to find a way to his ear or nostrils." Konka Rar looked around for a few moments. "That would be relatively simple if there were a dead fly in the vicinity, but unfortunately, it seems our host's ceiling is vermin-free."

GBCE · 04-24-2010, 06:47 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

Hoss finds himself in agreement with Konka Rar's analysis, with one small exception.

"Gaining entry is indeed our priority. However, I believe I can burrow through to the Giant's innards from any point on his body, through use of less... conventional drilling methods."

With a glance shot askance at the lich, Hoss raises his synthetic arm, silver hand no longer protruding from its end, replaced instead by a curious contraption. It is a cylinder formed of web-like metallic tendrils, form ever shifting. A quick motion is sensed from its depths, and the machine activates. Space seems to distend from an area immediately projected from the muzzle of the webbed cylinder, magnifying everything occluded by the projection. The effect ends approximately half of an arm-length from Hoss's new hand, forming a "blade" of warped space.

Konka Rar, were he able, would be narrowing his eyes at this moment. He recognizes the effect from Dr. Anarchy's modified gun; it is startlingly similar to the graviton beam which wreaked so much havoc in the previous round.

Ignoring the still burning bed, Diego slinks after the rampaging Giant, whose ears now belong solely to the aeromancer. As the Giant tears through the cluttered former ceiling, Diego enters the dining room, and reaches out to the air currents. Voices, a grating, empty drone accompanied by metallic-tinged baritone are brought to him from across the room, and he spies the tyrant and animated sack of bones standing, barely hidden, in the entry to the kitchen. Diego grins. Casually manipulating the currents of the room, he augments the voices of his two opponents, sending their machinations straight to the Giant's ears, whose head turns towards the new sounds, boulder-sized eyes fixating on the miniature schemers. Diego hides himself in a convenient perch, and sits back to watch the show.

Hoss brandishes the gravity blade, gesturing towards the Giant with his other hand.

"So long as I can get close, I can gain entry though whatever piece of the Giant is nearest to me, and burrow through bone and muscle to any desired location. The difficulty is ensuring he doesn't see-"

YOU! FLIP MY HOUSE, SET FIRE TO MY BED, FLOOD MY KITCHEN, AND BURROW THROUGH MY BONES, WILL YOU?! I THINK NOT!

Hoss's eyes widen as the Giant bashes his fists together, and with a muttered word, the skin on his entire body transforms into a glowing crystalline barrier.

Hoss barely has time to realize how useless his gravity blade has just been rendered before the Giant charges. As if of a single mind, Konka Rar and Hoss burst into motion; kinetic emitters on Hoss's back fling him towards the Giant's feet, and Konka Rar begins casting spell after spell. The two work together to keep the Giant's attention divided, knowing that, were he to focus on either of them individually, it would mean their doom.

Hoss, practically skating across the floor, now has a new goal in mind. It won't do to simply kill the Giant, now. No, he'll have to do more than that. It is now doubly imperative that the ancient tyrant find away inside the precious, magic-casting body before him.

Show Content

SleepingOrange · 04-28-2010, 04:39 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

Show Content

All this waiting and watching had been horribly out of character for the avatar of chaos. Every instant it stayed silent and hidden instead of rending and breaking was an eternity of internal torment, but from the looks of things, it would be necessary. Old and intelligent enough to understand that sometimes you have to move away from your goal to advance towards it, Ekelhaft knew it had little hope of killing all its enemies at once, especially as chummy as they were getting. The conversations Ekelhaft Jr had been relaying seemed to indicate that they were bent on targeting the ooze first.

Pushing down the habits of millennia, Ekelhaft had continued its infiltration of the wall. Dissolving scads of lacquer, pressing through ancient xylems, it proceeded slowly through the house, gradually approaching the other contestants.

Insanity was literally in the walls.

The piece of Ekelhaft that was watching its enemies bubbled to itself with boredom. It had ben easy to evade the prying eyeless eyes of the kebabs and easier still to stay out of the sight of the actual contestants, but it loathed simply hiding and waiting. Despite the fact that it was created specifically for scouting and sabotage, its nature gave it no love for the task.

It didn't like that it had to lose track of Calm and Diego as they wandered away to find God, but it considered the others a greater threat, so stayed to watch them. It pondered the continued absence of Ziirphael, but idly and to no real end. It could easily hear what they group was talking about, but this gave it little insight into the cyborg's bizarre actions. It scraped its teeth into the wood of the table, creating random scratches into the surface to amuse itself. Ekelhaft, and by extension Ekelhaft Jr, was good at random.

Midstroke, and shortly after evading another sweep by a cherry on a skewer, all hell broke loose.

Gravity reversal had no salient effect on the slime in the walls; it had nowhere to fall to, and no organs that particularly minded being upended. Still, it meant bizarre things were happening, and with this group bizarre events promised more bizarre ones. And more violent ones.

The ooze, which had been navigating solely by sensing for its opponents' minds, tentatively punched a small hole into the wall and extended a single eye. The scene that greeted it was... confusing and glorious, and soon became more so as a screaming giant thundered into the room and began turning to crystal.

The smaller blob was significantly more impacted by the gravity reversal. And subsequently very impacted by the impact. The table cracked and splintered under its own weight, legs falling like... Well, like colossal table legs. There really isn't much of an appropriate simile for something on that sort of scale.

Ekelhaft Jr was able to stay mostly out of the way of the dangerous side effects of the reversal; the same couldn't be said for one of Gourmand's kebabs, which was pinned under a piece of wood, the scale of which defied adjectives. Noting that the giant was unaware of it and Ekelhaft Jr, and the others had also failed to notice... What could be the harm?

The slime leapt on the scout, rending, tearing, and burning, for the moment completely oblivious to its surroundings.

GBCE · 04-28-2010, 08:15 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

Reserved.

*Edit: Nope, maybe later.

GBCE · 05-05-2010, 12:06 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

Konka Rar is displeased. This spell-slinging madness is unbecoming of him; moreso because his efforts are currently geared towards helping an ancient, tyrannical, and possibly insane cyborg.

A thought occurs to the animated skeleton, as the tyrant flies across the floor towards the giant's feet. Why draw attention to himself, when faced with such power? The giant's magical abilities are far and above any contestant here, due purely to the difference in size. And, Hoss is about to feature in the attentions of that power, quite prominently. Perhaps Konka Rar's interests would be better served in... depreciating his participation in this magical slugfest.

Slowly, quietly, Konka Rar begins to retreat.

As Hoss propels himself towards the Giant, his ocular implants, now operating at full power, are focused on the Giant. Hoss has opened up their reception protocols to analyze the entire electromagnetic spectrum, the gravitomagnetic spectrum, the temporal spectrum, and the dark spectrum. A lambent aura surrounds the Giant, heat dissipating from his body now visible to Hoss's quicksilver eyes, electrical discharges in the Giant's brain forming an auroral halo around his head, from which Hoss can roughly derive basic thought patterns; emotions, mostly. But these things do not concern Hoss. He is looking for something more, something...

A tendril of faint neutrino emissions begins to form in the air, reaching from the Giant's head down his right arm. Faint whispers of the same signature begin to dance upon the drywall ground of the former ceiling. Hoss barely has time to begin speculating upon these emissions before the Giant performs an uppercut with his right arm, and the ground before him mirrors the motion. A veritable mountain erupts from the ground, and Hoss acts quickly. Kinetic emitters propel him towards the thrusting peak, which he then mounts and rides upwards towards the Giant's porous head.

The Giant, though, is a rather clever brute. He recognizes the threat Hoss could potentially pose, and stops the ascension of the rising drywall mountain.

Unfortunately for the Giant, Hoss is fast, and orders of magnitude more observant. He saw the Giant's aura ripple with emotions, and his eons of experience with similar spectral affairs allow him to quite accurately estimate their cause. Just before the mountain stops, Hoss leaps. Synthetic muscles augmented by kinetic emitters erupt with such force as to shatter the mountaintop, sending Hoss screaming towards his target: the gaping mouth and cavernous esophagus of the Giant, both of which appear to be swirling with a familiar neutrino signature...

The Giant belches an inferno which engulfs the suspended cyborg, and Konka Rar is pleased. Again, the cyborg displays a vulnerability to heat; where Hoss before suffered grievous wounds from the blade of Calm's hellknife, the Giant's breath of fire appears to have completely disintegrated the metal man, as there is no sign of him. Konka Rar prepares for the inevitable change in rounds...

... and then whirls at the sound of a roaring tidal wave, rushing towards him from behind.

Diego has always been ambitious, and never misses an opportunity to climb above the corpses of his enemies. Here, now, he sees a chance to be rid of two opponents at once. The apparent death of Hoss from the Giant's flame breath opens the door for Konka Rar to suffer a similar fate.

Diego has been watching, this whole time. He saw the lich attempt to slip away, and would have none of it. A whispered message sent across the wind alerts the Giant to the lich's presence. The Giant, thinking he heard the tiny, puny bag of bones muttering the preparations for a spell, preempts the magical attack with one of his own. Through the doorway into the kitchen, the still-flowing faucet has poured itself a decently-sized puddle. Raising his arms, the Giant calls forth a massive wave, to be sent crashing down upon the little lich.

Diego smiles to himself, and gets comfortable for the inevitable transition.

Konka Rar is nothing except pragmatic. A proficient necromancer, he always maintains links to his minions, constantly aware of their locations. In this case, he is aware of his animated rat, now set fire from the bedroom blaze, bounding towards him. A proficient spellcaster, Konka Rar also has a host of more utility-based spells at his disposal. A learning cyborg, he can still create pre-programmed actions for his cybernetic bits.

"Benign Transposition!"

Where the flaming rat was, now there is only Konka Rar, safe from his watery death. Where the supposedly doomed Konka Rar was, now there is only an undead rat, flaming flesh soon to be extinguished by the oncoming tsunami.

Konka Rar's cybernetic arm, in accordance with his pre-programmed commands, raises and points itself at the Giant at the same moment as Konka Rar's teleportation. The arm fires, as Konka Rar's other hand grips his staff. A familiar spell escapes the skeleton's jaws, focused upon one of the Giant's fingers.

"Circle of Despair!"

A dark orb flies outwards, and encircles the Giant's right index finger. The Giant smirks, unimpressed with his new ring of darkness, and moves to swat the spell away.

As the Giant's finger makes contact with the edges of the black circle, it stops. Consternation passes over the Giant's brow as he finds himself unable to move his finger, and thus, his entire arm. His head whips around to focus upon the miniature lich once more. Fury once more takes over the Giant's face, and he opens his mouth to cast another spell.

He is, however, interrupted. The delay caused the by the isolation of his spellcasting arm gave room for the inevitable to make itself known. Down the hallway, a structure which was intended to exist in a right-side-up world gives way, weakened by the growing inferno of the bedroom. The surface which was previously the floor collapses, walls caving in with it. The entire conflagration explodes, shooting glowing embers and flaming wood and fabric outwards into the hallway. Flames lick outwards from the debris, spreading their baleful, charring influence across the untouched wooden walls and ceiling, formerly floor. The floor, previously ceiling, is immune to the flames, and in an odd reverse, does not burn, while the ceiling, previously floor, ignites across the entire house.

Konka Rar makes good on this distraction and moves to hide from the flames, but pauses. It has been some time since Hoss was engulfed, and yet, the house continues to burn around them. He wonders...

Diego is beside himself. The bag of bones, escaping once again? No, he will not have it. He is about to send yet more whispered clues to the Giant's ears when a commotion brings itself to his attention. A greenish blob and meat on a stick, are engaged in battle amongst the wreckage of the table. Again, the ambition asserts itself. What if I can eliminate three...

The Giant is not happy. His house, upside-down, is burning around him. His bedroom has collapsed, his kitchen is flooded, and there are tiny... things... responsible for it all, and for no apparent reason. To make matters worse, the ring of darkness imprisoning his right hand closes, and the explosion blasts his index finger clean off.

Howling in pain, crystalline skin reverting to soft flesh, the Giant casts around for his tiny adversary. A soft sound, almost right in his ear, brings his attention to the ruins of his table, where a small green blob is... dissolving something. Another enemy! The Giant sends a blast of focused kinetic energy towards the blob, which disperses in the face of the onslaught. Debris from the table flies everywhere, and the Giant loses track of the various pieces of the tiny blob, which was almost too small to see from the beginning. The Giant briefly ponders how he could have heard it, but is distracted by more mysteriously obvious sounds from the direction of the little lich. He blindly throws a bolt of lightening in that general direction, and then pauses, frozen in the casting position. His eyes widen. Something is very, very wrong inside his stomach.

Konka Rar dashes away from the lightening's impact crater, and turns to do... something, anything to slow the Giant. He is surprised to see the Giant standing quite still, with a look of... fear? What could the Giant fear in...

The Giant's stomach explodes.

Whole minutes have passed since Hoss passed through the mouth of Hell, and he has been very, very busy. The stomach explosion took little preparation; a simple catalyzation of the various chemicals all organic innards possess. The real brunt of his work was in wiring a special detection grid through the Giant's nervous system (starting in the brain, he laid a slightly-larger-than-nano-mechanical "seed" of newmatter fabricators, which spread their tendrils where needed).

Stripped bare from the inferno that obscured his entry into the Giant's mouth, Hoss is expelled, along with the blood, stomach acid, meat and other gastrologically inclined bits and pieces. He lands, completely naked, hairless, synthetic arm glistening in the flickering light of the roaring fire, falling embers reflected in his shining synthetic skin. As his internal newmatter fabricators extrude new hair and clothes, Hoss's sensor array searches for and detects the presence of Konka Rar. As the Giant's body, still mostly intact, falls behind him, Hoss makes his way towards his temporary ally.

Now completely clothed, artificial hair shaped into its traditional windswept shape, Hoss addresses the cyborg lich, gesturing towards the mountainous corpse behind him.

"I promised you a corpse, and now you have one. I tried not to damage the brain, so I believe it should still be capable of casting spells, should you choose to animate it, though that is not my area of expertise." He begins to walk away, then stops. Abruptly turning, he adds, "Good to see you survived, by the way," before continuing onwards, to hunt for Ekelhaft.

-----------------

Ekelhaft Jr. is reassembling on the opposite side of the corpse. With the house burning down around the contestants it decides to move against its self-appointed hunter. Hoss will never find it otherwise. A perfect outcome, as it keeps the main mass of Ekelhaft safe, hidden, where its unseen hand continues to caress the events of this battle.

Slowly, it rolls across the ground, towards the inevitable conflict between ancient tyrant and withered madgod.

GBCE · 05-05-2010, 10:53 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

Diego bit his thumb. He felt like he was boiling, emitting plumes and ready to explode. Honestly, he had never felt this way before. Still, he already hated it. Intuitively, he knew why he was burning- everything had been progressively ruined. No, Diego hadn't been wrong! He had chances to kill and took them. Certainly, he was greedy, trying to hard... But he wasn't wrong to do so. In every situation, things were in his favor- the chances were worth taking. But, they all failed. Everything, somehow, failed. He had never failed, not once, before, but here, everything he tried so easily fell apart, resulted in nothing. And, if nothing he did had results, did he even matter? Was there anything that knew who he was, what he could do? Diego's entire existence was being constrained, forced to simmer inside himself.

He gripped his hand. It shook and tightened a little, expressing its killing reflex. "Not now," Diego told it- his hand's target was long gone.

"I... Need to start again." Diego told himself. Focusing again, he extended his range, eavesdropping on everyone. Although he intended to listen, his focus was scattered, and he could not make out any entire conversations. Still, even in his current, lackluster state, he could pick out important details- namely, that the giant's brain was intact.

Diego pulled himself together, cooling off. That's right... He still had one outlet for his existence, one more plan he had put into play. The fake god, in the giant's brain. It was still intact, still usable- but he was too far away. Diego scanned the distance. It was much to great for him to traverse, within even 30 minutes. If he was going to do anything, he'd have to do it from where he was. It was a heavy limitation, but Diego welcomed it, reveled in it. It wasn't the easy things that ever worked. Someone might have expected the easy thing, the obvious thing. It was the complicated, difficult thing that were least forseen. Limitations meant that no matter what he came up with, it would be one of those difficult things.

If Diego did it correctly, it would be easy enough to lead the lich into an earhole. But, then what? What could kill him? Truthfully, just about anything giant could- the problem would be making those giant things move, esspecially in a closed space such as an earhole. What would move in an earhole?
Diego answered his own question immediately- blood did. Of course it did. Every time he had murdered someone, blood bursted out. He had done it so many times that he essentially figured out why- pressure. Having such a large, but narrow opening allowed the blood to fly out quickly. It wasn't even difficult to make that happen- the ear just had to be breached hard enough and fast enough. If Diego could just convince Konka to do so, the lich would probably be crushed by the ejecting blood. Diego smiled at the thought.

Carefully, he loaded the current "god's" voice into his domain, and began speaking again, directed at the lich.

MalkyTop · 05-06-2010, 02:17 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.

Show Content

Dragon Fogel · 05-06-2010, 05:51 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

"You there! Have you forgotten about me? This accursed giant may be dead, but with his brain still intact, I can't escape! Release me at once!"

Konka Rar was momentarily taken aback by the voice. But he soon recalled it. It was the god.

He reflected on the battle. It had seemed strange at the time that the giant had taken notice of his miniature opponents, but with a god trapped in his mind, and the magical knowledge he had displayed... yes, it should be entirely possible to use a god's powers to view even the tiniest of details.

And now, Konka Rar had the opportunity to do the same. He had no need to make a deal with the god - if he could simply examine the brain and check the seal himself, he might be able to replicate the procedure. He could wield a god's powers, and be unstoppable.

It was tempting. And yet, in some way that the lich could not explain in words, it was also suspicious.

He decided to respond.

"Very well, I shall investigate the seal holding you in there. One moment."

Konka Rar began chanting, and the giant soon rose to unlife.

"Lower your hand to the floor."

The zombified giant complied. Konka Rar entered its open palm.

"Now, raise me up to your ear."

The hand slowly raised upwards, to the giant's shoulder. Konka Rar stepped off the hand and made his way into the ear canal.

Diego's face broke into a grin as he heard the noises of Konka Rar's footsteps and realized his prey had entered the earhole. But he would have to wait. If the lich were too close to the outside of the ear, he might be able to escape the torrent of blood. He would have to wait...

But, Diego was suddenly struck by a new concern - the lich was no fool. If he had time to think, he might turn back, or perhaps even find some way to escape with the aid of his spells once the trap was sprung. A distraction was in order... and the 'god' might just be able to provide it. He began focusing on the voice again.

Konka Rar continued deeper into the ear. He did not realize that his every motion was being tracked, nor did he realize he was on a wild goose chase. The booming voice spoke up again, imploring him to move faster.

"What's the hold-up? Do you have any idea how many years I've had to suffer in here?"

"Be patient!" the lich yelled back. "However long you have been trapped in that brain, one more minute will hardly make any difference."

Besides, he thought to himself, this is the most freedom you will have for a long time. You should savor it.

It was almost time. Diego began preparing the spell. It would take some time to gather enough air, but the lich would soon be in too deep for that to matter... Just a few more seconds, and it would be time... His grin widened...

[background=#000000:2otclyhr]"What's got you in such a good mood? Did you just think of something funny?"[/background:2otclyhr]

Diego panicked. How did Calm manage to catch him by surprise?

But he soon realized his mistake. He had been so focused on killing the lich that he had all but forgotten to keep track of the other fighters. He silently cursed himself as he tried to think up an excuse, or at least of some way to escape.

He cursed himself again when he realized that the surprise of Calm's interruption had distracted him at the key moment, and he had released the air needle sooner than he would have liked. It probably wouldn't make a difference - he had been waiting for the moment when he was absolutely sure the lich would die, this just made it less certain - but he still cursed himself for making such amateurish mistakes at such a critical time. As he nervously mumbled to Calm, he refocused his attention on the lich, trying to check if he had succeeded despite the errors...

The sudden noise surprised Konka Rar. He was even more surprised by the sudden wave of blood exploding into view mere feet away from him, and headed his way.

He turned to run, but knew it would be futile... however, there was one advantage he had.

The giant, reanimated by his magic, obeyed his commands.

He grasped the floor with his cybernetic arm, and yelled an order.

"Lie down on your right side! Immediately!"

The giant complied. Everything seemed to turn sideways, and the blood, now fighting against gravity, slowed in its approach. But fundamentally, it was still being propelled by pressure, and gravity alone could not stop the torrent headed towards the lich, now unable to even run.

But the small delay had bought enough time for magic to do the rest.

"Freezing Storm!"

Konka Rar raised his skeletal arm, and a rain of icicles seemed to come from nowhere, flying towards the blood. They struck the incoming wave and exploded, freezing it in place.

The lich lacked adrenaline or sweat glands, and as such, quickly regained his composure.

"Get up," he ordered the giant. He felt the 'room' turn as it complied. Konka Rar picked himself up and looked at the frozen wall of blood behind him.

Something caught his eye. An unusual piece of circuitry, significantly more advanced than anything he had seen in his world...

But not more advanced than what he had seen in this contest.

Had Hoss set a trap for him? It seemed unlikely, considering the cyborg had been provided with ample opportunities to kill him before.

Konka Rar reflected on his earlier experiences. He and Gormand had answered Hoss' question about the pattern of civilization in their respective world... Had Hoss spared them just to learn that information? And this attack... The one advantage Rar could see to killing an opponent in this needlessly complicated way was that there would be no witnesses. It could be passed off as an accident, or blamed on whichever competitor was convenient. And Hoss might still be able to work with Gormand.

It seemed the most likely explanation. Yet, there was one significant flaw - Hoss had known Konka Rar would reanimate the giant. He had even suggested it himself! Why go to so much effort to set a trap, only to give your victim a clue to escaping it? Did he think it would be impossible to escape, even with that advantage?

Rar decided to say nothing of the incident until he could learn more. For the moment, he had control of the giant. He began his walk out of the ear canal, intending to get a better view before he issued orders to his new minion.

GBCE · 05-06-2010, 08:13 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

Reserved.

*Edit: Nope, just kidding again.

Ixcaliber · 05-11-2010, 11:55 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

Show Content

A voice whispered into Konka Rar's ear. "Hello Konka." It said, and he could hear the sadistic joy in the voice. His automatic reaction was to spin around, to check behind him, but he was stopped, cut short, by the sudden touch of a blade against his skeletal throat and another at the place where his heart should have been. Konka stared forwards, but had someone else been watching they would have seen a man seem to suddenly appear behind Konka. His skin glistening like that of a chameleon, and changing colour to be bone white. Ziirphael grinned, he had taken a face for this encounter. "You and me are going to be good friends..." he said.

Minutes ago, yes many:

Ziirphael had watched as Dr Anarchy had flown away, rushing off into battle rather than hear him out and form an alliance. He had been angry, angry that she had been so stupid as to throw her life away. Evidently she was never going to be that much use as an ally, from how easily she had been dispatched, but still his plan had centred on getting everyone to cooperate against The Cultivator. When the second round had begun he had acted fast, marking himself in his own blood, giving himself wings and making his skin chameleonic. He was still planning on getting everyone to work together, to bring down the Cultivator, but he had quickly come to the realisation that he could not get caught up in events. He needed to see who was the most easily turned against The Cultivator. He needed to observe his contestants for a little while. But as he had done so one thing had become apparent. That his fellow contestants were never going to cooperate to bring down The Cultivator. He would have to kill her himself, and he was not going to be able to do this while the other contestants were all plotting to kill one another and, if they got the chance, him. He needed them out of the way. When Konka had taken control of the giant he knew he had an opportunity and had decided it was finally time to get caught up in events again.

Someone looking at Ziir now would describe him as nothing short of a monster. He had made himself extra limbs; two strong arms, with which he now grasped the lich's arms and held them tightly. His original arms he had turned into the sharp hinged blades that now pressed against the lich's chest and neck. His wings were still there, but folded back while not in use. His suit was tattered, ripped to shreds. His face was horrifying, a mouth full of sharp points and eyes that were black throughout.
"I want The Cultivator dead." he told the lich. "You and me, we can make that happen, but not while all the rest of them still live. Kill them all now. Stomp them dead under the feet of this titan, and together we shall destroy The Cultivator. You in lich?"

Show Content

Dragon Fogel · 05-11-2010, 03:54 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Konka Rar, as a rule, did not like losing control of a situation.

And this was about the fourth time he had done so since this nonsensical 'game' had begun.

It was beginning to get on his nerves. Or it would, if he still had any.

And yet - ultimately, was not merely being in this game a loss of control? He was here because the Cultivator wanted it, not himself. Even if he were to emerge as the victor of the battle, what was to stop her from summoning him again?

All of his plans had been rendered meaningless in an instant, on the whim of a being he had no idea existed - could never have known existed - until he suddenly found himself called before her.

If not for that woman, he would not have been ambushed and nearly destroyed by Ekelhaft. He would not have been humiliated by Hoss, nearly drowned in a giant's blood, or currently under threat by a god of death.

But he also would not show weakness in forming an alliance.

"This pose might be more threatening if I had organs where either of your blades lay," he commented wryly.

"I could still slice off your head." Ziirphael noted. "Maybe you'd survive that, I don't really know. But even if you did, I bet it wouldn't be pleasant. Especially if your body were left behind in the next round."

"Regardless, there is no need for such dramatics. I share your goal." This was technically true - the lich simply neglected to mention for how long he had shared it.

"Could have fooled me. I've been watching. You've been going after Ekelhaft for most of this round."

"That is because he is unpredictable, hostile, and difficult to destroy. The Cultivator, by comparison is not openly hostile-"

Ziirphael's blades pressed themselves slightly into Konka Rar's bones.

"Maybe not to you," he growled. "But she locked me in this body. I consider that hostile."

Konka Rar appeared unperturbed. Of course, he lacked any facial features that might normally give away a bluff.

"Fine. The point remains, Ekelhaft is very likely to impede us. It must be eliminated before we can concentrate our efforts on opposing the Cultivator. Or do you disagree with that analysis?"

Ziirphael relaxed slightly, and withdrew his blade from Konka's chest. Of course, the one at the lich's throat remained in place.

"No. I agree entirely. But I notice you still haven't agreed to my terms."

"For tactical reasons. I have, at present, forged alliances - admittedly, some more tenuous than others - with every other entrant in this contest save for you and Ekelhaft. Furthermore, it is unlikely I will be allowed to bring this giant with me into the next round, and so we can assume we will only have the opportunity for one kill before our surroundings change in unpredictable ways. And Ekelhaft is the logical target. We have an advantageous position, which may not hold true for future rounds."

There was a pause as Ziirphael considered this.

"I would appreciate it if you removed your other blade," Konka Rar said, sounding irritated. "I do not see how it goes against either of our interests if we simply destroy Ekelhaft now. If you believe this to be a trick, I would point out that it is very unlikely you will be able to threaten the slime creature in the same way."

GBCE · 05-12-2010, 05:51 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Knask.

[background=#000000:7ye50etz]Calm stood by Diego, watching the half-dead giant rise up. The wound in it's stomach was still wide open, intestines hanging halfway out of it, blood pouring down, absolutely not a pleasant sight. The giant, standing completely still, now seemed to be under full control under Konka rar who had recently crawled into its ear.

Calm was slightly confused, not sure what to think. He had recently been suspecting that this "god" in the giants head could be a ruse, and that maybe the giant himself was behind. It all just seemed far too suspicious, how could having a deity in its brain now have an impact on the giant? If the god was real, the giant should have noticed it somehow. On the other hand however; the giant was now dead, still the voice of the god had continued to speak. Either this could mean that the giant was still alive, or that the god was real. Each of those cases were somewhat troubling.

Now what was taking Konka so long? The giant had been standing still for some time, and no voice was to be heard from that god. A slight frown appeared on Calms face as he thought about it, what the hell was the lich planning to do?

Calm turned to Diego.

"I am suspecting that there might not be any god in that giant after all, either that or something funny is going on."

Diego, slightly focused at listening to what was being said up in the ear of the giant, suddenly froze as he heard Calm say this.

"Now, whatever is happening, it's happening up there, and the half-machine is certainly taking his time." Calm took a glance at the giants body up towards its ear, its clothes were torn and rugged, ideal for being climbed up.

"We better climb now while it's still standing still"

Calm started to walk towards the giants right leg.[/background:7ye50etz]

Not The Author · 05-12-2010, 07:46 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

Things were looking up for Gormand. An unfortunate turn of phrase, perhaps, given the daunting task of scaling a monolithic refrigerator. Nevertheless, it was a turn of luck to come upon such a store of food so quickly.

Upon reaching the electrical icebox, the meatball paused. Before him was the freezer which, while it contained a veritable bounty of victuals, was necessarily freezing. The foodbeast did not take well to the lower temperate extremes, and was deciding whether or not to simply move on to the larger preservation chamber when the Giant burst in, raging at the Cyborg and Lich.

Gormand rapidly came to the conclusion that there would probably be more meat in the refrigerator proper, and hastily ducked inside.

The freezer was not nearly as cold as it could have been, having vented a great deal of frosty air since its impact with the roof, and the shelves were slick with condensation. Not to be deterred, the meatball partly inverted the tips of his appendages to form suction cups. It wasn't the most effective method of ascent, and he nearly fell several due to inopportune water droplets impeding his progress and the shuddering of the house around him.

He arrived at the gap between the two icy vaults just in time to watch the Giant's pointer finger take a graceful pirouette away from the rest of its long-time neighbors, the Giant himself rather displeased with the loss. But Gormand did not watch long, having the merest slit through which to observe the fight, and quickly clambered upward into the frigid cell above.

Whereas the frozen foods below had managed to escape relatively unharmed, the main body of the appliance had been absolutely trashed by the sudden reversal of gravity. The fridge smelled strongly of milk, due to a ruptured carton of the white fluid on one of the higher shelves. Egg whites and egg yolks had seeped down the length of the door, mixing with fruit juices and a variety of dressings along the way to create a particularly foul odor. A tub of salad had burst, scattering bits of vegetable everywhere - in the butter, in a pile of rice, even in an otherwise unscathed lump of jello. Gormand, however, saw none of this.

Sitting directly ahead of him was a wrapped tray filled with ground beef.

He'd suspected he'd find as much, but hadn't dared hope on the off-chance the Giant was a vegetarian. Each strand of meat was about half as thick as one of his arms; the entire platter contained enough meat for six of him. Gormand gleefully rubbed a pair of noodles together; truly, this was a feast fit for an emperor such as himself. He was about to spawn a Meatbag to pre-digest the rest of the fridge's contents when he was struck by a rather disconcerting thought.

What had happened to the zombie Konka Rar had summoned in The Afterlife? It had been incinerated by the plasma wave after Hoss' release... hadn't it?

What if my minions cannot follow me between rounds?

On the one hand, it considerably limited one of his major advantages over the other contestants, something he suspected The Cultivator would claim to be 'in the spirit of fairness.' On the other hand, the Giant would quite likely be unable to join them as well. Gormand was not sure the latter made up for the former, but he would manage either way.

He was shaken from his reverie by an explosion which, by the sound of it, would have heralded a Withdrawal period. The refrigerator doors creaked inward slightly, almost prompting Gormand to abandon his newfound bounty. What are those fools doing out there? He paused, and appeared to fall asleep standing up.

Gormand had once described his mental link with the rest of his forces as "rather like watching a large television surrounded by a multitude of smaller, soundless screens through which the viewer may freely browse." Of course, that had been while he was still in control of a vast army. Now, he found he had only one screen in addition to his own, and that one depicted a scene of carnage.

The first Kabob, unbeknownst to Gormand, had been crushed by the table and disintegrated by Ekelhaft Jr before being irrevocably destroyed by the Giant's kinetic blast. The other had become entangled in the flaming bedsheet, and had only barely managed to shred its bindings before burning to death. Then the floor had collapsed, and though the meatstick had managed to escape, a particularly well-placed floorboard managed to pin one of its arms. It was not in the best of shape, but it was all Gormand had.

The lone Kabob had instinctively sought out the nearest battleground, and wandered into the kitchen. Unfortunately, it seemed to have missed all the fun. The Giant lay in a pool of his own innards, and while he yet struggled to rise to his feet, the glazed look about his eyes and silent conducting of Konka Rar quite clearly indicated he was no longer among the living... not to mention the unhealthy absence of torso. Much of the room had been repainted in pleasant shades of deep crimson and spleen, with a great river of tap water clearing a path through the gore from the pool beneath the sink to the shelves smashed by a falling toaster. Hand of Silver approached from the impromptu autopsy, skirting the lone fractured fluorescent light and looking rather pleased with himself.

Satisfied, Gormand cut the connection just in time to miss Hoss spontaneously accelerate, self-important smirk vanishing, as the Kabob whirled around, vision obscured by a writhing mass of green and pain...

He decided not to create anything more just yet, seeing as the undead giant would most likely bring the round to a rapid end. Muttering under his breath on the aggravating perseverance of the improperly deceased at large, he punctured the plastic and began to gorge himself on the beef. Something felt off about the meat; it was somehow... spongier that it should have been, but he couldn't quite determine what the problem was.

Nor did he have the time to, for only three mouthfuls into his feast, he was found by the rats.

Ixcaliber · 05-12-2010, 08:28 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

"This is agreeable." Ziir replied after a moment's consideration. "But we should stop wasting time. Every minute we spend attempting to off our competitors is one less minute spent destroying The Cultivator." Ziirphael removed his blade from Konka's neck and released his arms. He stepped quickly around the lich to face him. "I will find Ekelhaft and lure it into the open, try not to kill anyone while I'm gone." Ziirphael turned to leave, his wings unfolding and his skin colour shifting to match his surroundings. Leaping from the giant's ear part of his mind wondered when the lich would betray him. After all he had said it himself, he had forged alliance with every competitor except Ekelhaft. He would be unable to keep all those alliances in tact, and ultimately his only allegiance would be to himself. Betrayal was unfortunately inevitable, but the lich would clearly be useful in the meantime. Part of his mind was furious that he was forced to play games like this, instead of just murdering the one person who is responsible, but he had sublimated it for now. It's rage would be useful when he had The Cultivator vulnerable in his hands, but till then it was a liability. Ziirphael cleared his mind, focusing instead on searching for some sign of Ekelhaft, as he glided silently through the gigantic room.

GBCE · 05-12-2010, 08:43 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

Hoss moves quietly across the ground, navigating through blood, intestines, and smoldering embers falling from the blazing roof above him. The flaming ceiling forms a solid wall of roiling fire, giving the appearance, at this scale, of an entire sky set alight. Mixed with the smoke and infrared emissions is again that faint neutrino trace. Hoss momentarily contemplates its ghostly presence; it is as if something unseen is reacting with the universe as he knows it, its only manifestation being those wisps of ghostly particles. Hoss cannot yet discern a pattern in the emissions, and has no chance to before they disappear, replaced by the booming voice of the trapped God, seeming to direct itself towards Konka Rar.

Hoss had nearly forgotten about the trapped Gods. While the contestants were too quickly removed from the previous arena to free its god, here, it seems, they have a chance.

Of more significance is the Giant's magical abilities; considering the Giant's head formed a prison for a deity, it is likely his sorcerous abilities find their source in the divine.

In fact... perhaps such gods are the source of all magic? Given there were no supernatural entities nor magical energies in Hoss's universe, perhaps a god is required for magic to work at all? If so, what would happen if he set out to eliminate the gods of each round as quickly as possible?

As Hoss dwells upon the one mystery to this competition whose solution yet eludes him, the detection grid wired into the Giant's nervous system begins to relay data. Hoss briefly glances behind, to see the Giant's corpse lurch to unlife. Hoss delegates the stream of data to secondary processors, designed specifically to crunch numbers, ensuring his external sensors operate at maximum output for his hunt.

Several seconds later, one sensor in particular registers an incredibly powerful blast of neutrinos, along with... something else. As he picks his way through shards of glass at the edge of a smashed lighting fixture, Hoss considers the source of this blast. It had come from a very special type of sensor, meant to remain inside the Giant's brain, or at least very near. Enough were still in place so as to not contravene their purpose, but it was still troubling. Had Konka Rar discovered them? If so, would he be able to descry their purpose? Hoss has no doubt the cybernetic lich would quickly understand their source, but their purpose... perhaps not. Just as well, since the detection grid within the Giant does more than just detect. As with all of Hoss's "gifts", this too is laced to his advantage.

Movement catches his ocular implants, and with it is accompanied an odd sensation; almost a prickling in the back of his mind.

Before him, one of Gormand's scouts is being devoured by a slice of insanity.

No, that's not right... Hoss recalibrates his ocular sensors, and the indescribable, gaping maw of madness becomes... becomes? The green blob was always the green blob. Hoss has no time to puzzle over the unnecessary calibration and strange train of thought, as he is already moving.

Synthetic left arm reformed to its gravity blade configuration, gyroscopes fully active, kinetic barriers primed and ready, a nearly full-power Hand of Silver rockets towards his adversary. Though a mere offshoot of the main mass, Hoss will take no chances against any piece of Ekelhaft.

Show Content

Dragon Fogel · 05-20-2010, 05:45 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Konka Rar finally emerged from the giant's ear.

"Raise your hand to this ear," he commanded. The giant complied, holding out its open palm for the lich to stand on.

"Now, raise this hand to the top of your head." The giant lifted its hand higher, and Konka Rar stepped off, into the giant's thick hair. He noted that the giant evidently hadn't showered in some time.

"Lower your hand." The giant's arm dropped to its side. Konka Rar looked around the room, using his cybernetic eye to get a better view.

There was no sign of Ekelhaft. He could see Ziirphael flying off, but no other contestants. However, upon spotting the refrigerator, he recalled that Gormand had gone off in that direction earlier.

"Go towards that machine." The lich did not point to it - the giant would not have seen it, and the verbal commands were not strictly necessary in the first place. They simply strengthened the mental link between necromancer and minion. The giant began walking towards the refrigerator.

However, Konka Rar had not realized how close Calm and Diego were to the giant. So close, in fact, that they were in the lich's blind spot, completely overlooked by his otherwise thorough scan. As the giant's feet began moving, Calm cursed himself - of course the giant would start moving again when he was this close, that was how his luck almost always worked.

GBCE · 05-21-2010, 10:44 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.

The blob is faster than Hoss had expected. Tossing the remnants of Gormand's scout to the side, it launches itself off the ground towards the sprinting cyborg. Hoss barely has enough time to dodge, the blob a green bullet screaming past him; only made possible by his increased power reserves.

As he does so, those very same power reserves register a slight drain, seeming to correspond with the miniature madness blob's proximity. Hoss delegates the problem to tertiary subroutines while he focuses on the battle.

Whirling to meet his opponent, Hoss is faced with a howling terror from beyond imagination, a multi-limbed monstrosity whose every motion is a wound upon his puny mammalian mind. Terrified, Hoss fires his forward kinetic emitters, tossing himself backwards to avoid a tiny green blob wielding a pittance of a claw, newly-emerged from its ooze. Hoss would puzzle over his retreat, had it not brought him underneath a falling, flaming floorboard.

Kinetic emitters fire. Hoss flies to the side as the conflagration explodes upon impact, spewing embers, charcoal, and a burbling ooze towards Hoss's stunned flank.

Hoss recovers quickly, in time to feed his right forearm to a suddenly-emerged mouth of razor sharp teeth. The ooze bites down, tearing through reinforced cloth and synthetic skin, but Hoss is already spinning with the impact, using the ooze's momentum to throw it towards wreckage of nearby dishware.

The ooze disappears into a shattered landscape of pearly-white china. Craggy splinters rise from the ground, forming an alabaster, apocalyptic maze. Gravity blade on the ready, Hoss advances.

As he hikes over loose rubble and through broken caverns, Hoss schemes. The data from the detection grid in the undead Giant has so far provided him with enough information to make some educated guesses about magic. Its divine source aside, the method of the arcane seems to arise from the will of the wielder. Obviously there is more, as Hoss is not lacking in will but most assuredly lacks in magic. He is quite certain the grid has given him all it can, for now. Perhaps, soon, its secondary function should be activated...

Hoss whirls once more. A flash of... something, half-seen behind him. His ocular implants begin to give him incongruous data; apparently, a source of radio waves briefly burst into existence behind a nearby wall.

His external inputs, again, record an anomalous disturbance in the air. Sound waves pummel his sensors, in a frequency used by a long-extinct Earth-predator, famous for its laughing cry.

Ekelhaft. Hoss is no fool. Anomalous data of such randomness can only be its work. The offshoot must be nearb-

An impact from behind nearly knocks Hoss over, as he suddenly finds himself engulfed by a burning, bubbling, invasive ooze. He rolls with the fall, attempting to-

-mitigate damage in this high-gravity environment. He turns around, to see the facility being crushed under its own weight. As the reaction continues out of control, other asteroids in the belt begin to move towards this one, and Hoss can feel himself pulled towards the dying facility. He must-

-remove the ooze, but its grasp is tenacious. Hoss slices the gravity blade towards a stray tendril, which is sucked into the blade's center and crushed, but not destroyed. Hoss jumps, kinetic emitters firing again, setting up a spin mid-air, in hopes of flinging yet more of the ooze from himself. He struggles with the slavering tooth and rending claw of Ekelhaft's offshoot, and slices his blade towards-

-yet more of the half-breeds. Fury mars his face; fury at his species, whom he has loved so dearly all these millions of years, and yet would dare to ruin themselves this way. Fury at the steadily-rising and varied descendants of humanity, the inevitable results of evolution, yet whom retain enough humanity to feel superior to their still-present ancestors. Fury at himself, for not realizing that soon, he too would be nothing more than a genetic throwback. His plasma lance slices again, severing a twisted mockery of humanity from its mortal bonds. Hoss raises his left hand, reconfigured into its particle-beam setting, and fires at-

-any stray bits of blob which are flung free from his body. The ooze continues to evince fangs and talons and put them to use across Hoss's body, eating artificial muscles and ripping through protective clothing.

As the ooze shreds through his right hand, early-warning protocols warn of encroaching mental degradation, at least, what degradation they can detect. Noise rises steadily in all his systems as the vestigial madgod's corruption worms its way through his psyche.

This is not working, dear brother.

The voice causes Hoss to freeze. Or it would, had he not been spinning madly through the air. His fall completes, and Hoss lands, still shaken by the aural hallucination. Anger fills his mind as he realizes its cause. The burbling green ooze has touched a part of him which he has buried deep. It is an action that cannot be forgiven.

Still partially ensconced within what bits of Ekelhaft Jr. that have not been trapped within the gravity blade, Hoss, again, fires kinetic emitters on his back. He shoots towards an alabaster wall, shattering through the massive China dishware and out into the open. Embers float down from the still-burning ceiling, and Ekelhaft Jr. reconstitutes itself, having been shed by the impact. Hoss, however, will have none of it. As more fangs and claws appear from within the ooze, Hoss stabs his gravity blade into the air before him. It elongates, and briefly forms into a cone, just wide enough to engulf the blob, then snaps back to its original configuration, center now tinged by a sickly green cylinder. Ekelhaft Jr. is now contained within the high-gravity prison of Hoss's blade, constantly exposed to world-crushing forces, but surviving through its own abominable tenacity.

Hoss peers at his prisoner, and considers. His sensors record no more of the anomalous data, and the early-warning protocols register all-clear, for now. It appears the ooze's aura of insanity can be contained by high-gravity environments. Useful to know, for his inevitable encounter with the main mass of Ekelhaft. Of immediate concern is the loss of his right hand; though he has the mass to spare for his newmatter fabricators to exude a replacement, he may yet need that reserve for future battles. Besides, it's not the first time he's lost a limb.

Hoss lowers his blade, and gazes across the burning, smoking, flooding, smashed battlefield. Towards the undead Giant; Hoss's sleeper agent, should the need arise. Towards a flying monstrosity, silhouetted by a burning sky, which he can only assume must be Ziirphael. And towards a small hole in the wall, on what used to be the floor, now the ceiling, blocked by roiling fire; the only location not yet explored by any of the known contestants.

Strolling towards the wall, the Hand of Silver begins the next phase of his hunt.

GBCE · 05-25-2010, 07:57 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Knask.

[background=#000000:fkxllpav]No,

Hell no.

Calm was not intending on letting the giant get away.
Almost without thinking any further, Calm started to sprint towards the giant. The giant's movements were slow, but it's huge size made it move awfully fast forward. As the giant placed it's left foot down, and was about to lift it's right foot forward, Calm mustered the last bit of strength remaining in his legs, and jumped for the right foot as it slowly started to ascend. It was only barely that he managed to grab some of the hairs on the giant's foot in his hands. Clinging to these hairs with his hands, the rest of his body hung free in the air as the giant moved its right foot forward. Calm then crashed right into the backside of the it as the giant placed it on the ground with a loud boom.

Having a good grip, calm started climbing up the giants right leg while it was still standing still. When it started moving again, calm was high enough up that the movement didn't hinder him. He then reached the giants shirt, which was easier to climb as the material was a lot rougher then the giants pants.

Exhausted, he reached the giants shoulders. Looking around, Calm quickly noticed that Konka was nowhere to be seen. He quickly took a glance into the giants ear where he had seen him go in before, but Konka wasn't there either. Unable to spot Konka who was standing in the middle of the giants hair, Calm started to suspect that for the moment, Konka might have left the giant, at least he didn't seem to be on it.

Calm suddenly got an idea, a dangerous idea, but tempting idea. He simply couldnt let an opportunity like this pass away.
He took out his hellknife, and walked towards the giants neck.[/background:fkxllpav]

The giant was standing at an armlength from the refridgerator as Konka ordered it to stop. He glanced down at the huge machine. The door was slightly open, and the refridgerator was tilting ever so slightly to the left after the crash landing. He noticed a rat scurrying out from it, with something he couldnt quite distinguish in its mouth.
"Open the door", he commanded the giant.
But the giant didn't respond, and Konka couldnt feel the mental link between them anymore. Konka didn't get time to further wonder about this before a shock went throught the giants body, strong enough to make Konka loose his balance.

[background=#000000:fkxllpav]The giant had almost reacted instantly. Calm had just carved a new symbol into the right part of the giants neck, and inserted his knife into it. At first, the giant reacted allmost excactly like the zombie Calm had "borrowed" from Konka in the prevoius round. Its eyes and mouth started to glow as one was lookin straight into the dephts of a volcano, parts of its body had caught fire, and the now flaming giant let out an almost deafening roar as a soul coming straight from hell entered it. But, unlike the Zombie, the giant did not calm down. The giant continued screaming, and started shaking its head violently. [/background:fkxllpav]Konka rar did not stand a chance, he tried clinging on to the hairs on the head of the giant, but the violent shakes made him loose his grip and he was now falling straight for the floor (previously ceiling). Luckily, he was quickly picked up from mid-air a nearly invisible winged monster.
"You know, I could have saved myself completely fine with a slightly improvised wind spell"
"Sure you could"

[background=#000000:fkxllpav]
"CALM DOWN! STOP!", Calm yelled out to the giant, but it wouldn't listen, the soul he had inserted into the giant was enraged and out of control. Of all times to get a bad soul, this might be one of the worse.
The giant started breathing flames out of its mouth, and everything within a 4 meters range instantly caught fire. Soon allmost the entire room was turned into a scorching inferno. Calm, now hanging on the side of the giants shoulder by it's shirt, started to climb towards the giants neck in an attempt of pulling the hellknife out. Still furious and enraged, the giant started to trample and jump on the floor, roaring while flames burst out of it's open mouth. The other contestants who had been nearby, had now ran away into a safe distance.

Suddenly, a sound of splintering wood went through the entire house. Calm looked down at the floor in terror as he realized what was happening. As the giants feet once more pounded the floor the same sound went through the house again. Calm was about to jump of the giant, but it was too late. Finally, as the giant trampled the floor, or what had been once been the ceiling one final time, it gave after.
The entire floor/ceiling surrounding the giant instantly collapsed, and the giant fell up into the sky along with Calm.

Calm's final thoughts before he was suffocated by lack of oxygen, was a hope that somehow, the other contestants would make the Cultivator pay for what she had done.
[/background:fkxllpav]

Show Content