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GBCE · 02-24-2010, 05:04 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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As the bonds broke, Vexmagog fell to his knees, his green cloak draping over his body. His head fell, and all four of his hands gripped handfuls of sand.

Everyone looking in his direction noticed the sand under him fusing to black glass and spreading, shifting. The indigo mass on his right arm was at his elbow and steadily ascending. He uttered a quiet series of foreign words. One might presume from their inflection that they were curses.

"I don't want to know who did it," he growled, in a more menacing tone than he'd adopted previously. "Everyone needs to get away from me."

As if to emphasize the suitability of this suggestion, black glass hands with long, pointed fingers began to pull themselves out of the ground around him.

**Schazer** · 02-24-2010, 07:23 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

The world was dying around Sen, and then, he was dead. The shattering of his assumed-perpetual link to the World Tree left him bereft and dazed in the transit dark. The Tender had no comprehension of what just happened, nor pre-programmed plan to deal with such an event. Sen had no time to panic before he stood upon a sandy shore, too embroiled in disorientation to notice S referring to him.

The restraints vanished, and Sen stumbled about in an wide-fingered stagger as he scrabbled about in a desperate search for any sign of Tree in the pale, glittering sand.

Nothing. Just the rhythmical cadence of waves upon the beach, over which Sen could not hear the growl off to his side, by his feet. He certainly felt the prickle of obsidian about his fingertips, though, and glanced around, then down. Everyone else, including Wolf, had possessed the good sense to get away from Vexmagog; either running further up or down the beach, or alternatively beating a retreat into the jungle.

Sen, however, had no experience with Magog's corruption. The Tender merely stepped in an almost comically fastidious manner away from a writhing hand, and queried:

Trrrch-tchlick-click-chrurk-chrrerp, followed by an off-kilter groan as Sen tilted his head curiously to the side.

Not The Author · 02-24-2010, 07:21 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

Jacob had considered, for the briefest moment, saying something to the satyr. The inadvisability of doing anything of the sort quickly became apparent, however; he doubted his ability to say anything to defuse the situation, anyway. Shrugging, he turned, resuming his unhurried gait towards a cluster of palm trees, sword tracing a scar through the sand in his wake. <Man cannot live on coffee alone, after all. Get some coconuts first, then check the forest for fruit. Might as well eat now; who knows where we'll end up next...>

Idly, he pulled out his watch. Before even opening it, he realized something was off - namely, the music was no longer running. Frowning, he twisted a knob a little before depressing it. Instantly, the music resumed, as though a tiny orchestra had simply returned from lunch. Shrugging, he flicked the the device open, and- <Two hours?! We were there for two whole hours? Lord, how time flies. No wonder I'm hungry.> Jacob closed and pocketed the watch. Had he been paying less attention to the prospect of food, he might've noticed the second anomaly. But the particular hand at fault was rather easy to miss even without distraction, practically invisible to the naked eye.

Something so small probably wasn't all that important, anyway.

GBCE · 02-24-2010, 08:07 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Korbz.

John stared blankly at Vexmamog before saying a quick "Okay" then waddling towards the trees. "See you guys later, It's too hot for me here, going to go find shade." He reached a palm tree, sat under it, and drifted off to sleep.

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GBCE · 02-25-2010, 02:41 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by redskap.

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KILL THEM ALL<font size="4">nonono stop this pleaFUCKING DIE YOU BASTARDS RAAAAAGHplease please please plea-

And then silence. Nothing. A blackness, then suddenly a brightness. Blitz fell backward, stunned by the unexpected light. He landed in something that had a bit of give to it...loose dirt? As his eyes adjusted and his fingers grabbed handfuls of the stuff, he realized it was actually sand. Very, very fine sand. Someone...someone had died. They had moved because someone had been killed.

A horrible thought struck him.

"It...it was me. I killed someone, didn't I?" He stood, frantically looking around for the other contestants, the ones who had been nearest to him. He saw Jacob walking over to some palm trees; he didn't have time to wonder what the man was doing. He was unharmed, and that was what was important. Continuing his desperate survey, he saw Steven, also unharmed; he appeared to be busy adjusting his gloves. Good, good...And there was Vexmagog, along with Sen. A black...something was growing in a pool around Vex, the origin seeming to be his wretched arm. The arm itself was also getting worse; that he could tell from his current distance was a testament to that fact.

...And things were growing out of the black stuff. That wasn't a good sign. Did I do something to him? Did I hurt him? any further thoughts were dismissed as he saw Sen still staying close to Vex, despite the obvious danger that surrounded him. It stepped a little ways away from one of the roving black things (arms; he could tell that they were arms now, as he was slowly walking toward the duo) and did some of it's weird clicky-talk. Lord, what is it doing?

All thoughts of what he might have done in his madness left him. The important thing right now was to prevent another death from happening, whoever might have been the reason for the previous one. He increased his pace, giving his legs a quick jolt. He started waving his arms frantically and shouting, trying to get the plant-creature's attention. "Hey! Hey Sen! Crrk-clack-tick, kuh-bluh-kee, ting tang walla walla bing bang! Get away from him! He's not in control of himself right now!" This last statement inadvertently brought up a thought in his mind, as he continued his sprinting and calling out.

...What happened to Father?</font>

GBCE · 02-25-2010, 03:37 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Weldar.

A bolt of lightning whizzed past Steven's head, his thoughts snapped back to the current situation. Okay third probably isn't the best time to get lost in thoughts.He took a quick look around, they didn't seem to be moving yet. Perhaps I was wrong.They'd need to move soon but there was enough air for now. Steven sprung into action and managed to get behind Blitz and restrain him. Blitz began pouring electricity into the gloves, they were unharmed but not unscathed, each spark sapped their strength a little more, eventually they would fall. Steven wouldn't be able to hold on much longer either, the gloves are better insulators than your average fabric gloves but they weren't quite good enough that he wouldn't seriously burn his hands if he didn't take them out of there soon. Then there was the whole issue of if he even wanted to hold Blitz still while Jacob killed him. Sure they needed to get out of here soon but Blitz seemed to be a pretty nice guy, well usually. Luckily all these problems decided to solve themselves in one fell swoop with the overdue transition to the next arena.

Despite his experience traveling through dimensions (or perhaps because of it) Steven found the transition particularly jarring. It was very different to walking through a gate. When you're going through a gate you know exactly when the shift will happen, you've got a physical point to link the moment to. This gives your body some time to brace itself, even if you don't notice it happening. A few years of traveling the crossroads had left Steven pretty good at handling the transitions smoothly. The two unpredictable changes in quick succession were made all the worse by the fact it felt like he was struggling with something that had once seemed natural. Anyway the point is Steven was a little disoriented after those transitions, he managed to steady himself enough to listen to the description of the new arena and was still just standing around gazing absentmindedly when he noticed Vex again. Most people seemed to have taken his advice and were already leaving, except for Sen who had decided the exact opposite course of action was the right one. Alright something's up with Vex, looks like it has to do with his arm. The same arm that did... whatever it was it did to Blitz. Blitz, I dunno if he's still like that or not. Sen seems normal but it wasn't exactly the most peaceful contestant last round.... Yeah that forest looks pretty nice right now

Steven entered the wood he didn't know it but he happened to be thinking about the same thing as Jacob now, food. Unlike Jacob however Steven had a much easier way of acquiring food. A few steps later Steven had a nice simple ham sandwich. Sure it probably cost Steven more energy to make the sandwich then it would give him but he didn't care, he was hungry and he felt like some ham and right now seemed to be the appropriate time.

GBCE · 03-01-2010, 10:26 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

Vexmagog held his left hand to the side of his head. He tried desperately to send his thoughts off in another direction, any direction, but he could not. John Swift. Sen. Wolf. Possibly Steven. The first three were with Alex at the time. The fourth does not need to be physically present to launch an attack. The escape pods were feet away. Life was lost, but more importantly our opportunity was lost. Our opportunity to return home. Home. Vexmagog's attempts to divert his thoughts to images of his home were about as fruitful as a man trying to plug a running hose with his thumb. Islands like this one. Astonishingly like this one. They sent me here to tease me, torment me, I'm sure of it. But if I dove into this ocean, I would not find an infinite sea. Ungol does not reside in these waters. This island does not float on them, beneath the swirling crystal. This world is godless. If I were to look up at that mountain right now, I would see a mindless mockery of my world. One island, alone, isolated. Vexmagog looked up, if only to prove himself right. A pair of beady black eyes looked back at him.

"This creature is strange. This black at my feet is strange. Where is my tree? Where can I plant another?" Vexmagog didn't even notice as his mind unconsciously connected with the tender's and extracted a minimalistic translation. He just narrowed his eyes. We didn't escape last round, because of him. We don't escape this round, he reasoned quickly, caring less and less about Magog's influence on his thoughts. We are too far from...anything. No, we don't escape.

This thing dies.

Vexmagog stood, veins of glowing indigo winding their way up to his shoulder. He took notice of Blitz, running towards them down the beach. "Hey! Hey Sen! Crrk-clack-tick, kuh-bluh-kee, ting tang walla walla bing bang! Get away from him! He's not in control of himself right now!"

The human brain has a whole segment devoted entirely to interpreting the facial expressions of other humans. It's actually pretty amazing how nuanced these expressions can be. A tiny difference in the angle of the corner of the mouth, the tilt of the head, the placement of the eyebrows -- any number of things, really-- can denote almost the entirety of the emotional spectrum. Vexmagog's face was far from human, but when it turned to face Blitz, he could still read it. He read the angle of the sneer, the narrowed blue slits of his eyes, the slight twitch on the right side. It hit Blitz with its meaning like a wall of "stay the fuck out of this".

Vexmagog turned his attention back to the giant green menace. Sen saw double. Two Vexmagogs began to move, in different directions, circling him. He clicked in confusion, looking back and forth as they both drew in behind him. Suddenly feeling threatened, he bared his teeth and hissed, drawing his head lower and raising one hand full of enormous claws intimidatingly.

Both Vexmagogs leapt. With unexpected dexterity, the tender whirled around, simultaneously swiping at one with his claws while swatting the other with his tail.

His attacks passed through both. The sand behind him jumped onto his back in a green blur and drew its right arm back, bringing it down on the tender's head with a dull thud. The surprisingly light creature doubled over, the unidentifiable mass on his back clinging around his neck. Sen brought his tail back up quickly, and the seed pod collided with Vexmagog's right horn. The sickening crack knocked his head forward jarringly and left his vision swimming. The tail swung in for another blow, but the deity had already slid off the tender's back, leaving the feeling of his weight in his place.

The creature bowled himself over while Vexmagog grabbed at his horn. A sizable chunk of the side came off in his hand. Adrenaline kicked in and he felt lightheaded. He pulled a fog over Sen's vision and filled it with shifting shapes menacing him from the opposite direction as he ran forward and grabbed for one of his feet. He tried to dull the sensation of his clinging, but the creature began to take a step at the wrong moment and instantly felt the difference in weight. He instinctively flung Vexmagog off, who was surprised to see the glass hands take his place, wrenching Sen to the ground.

Standing over Sen, Vexmagog felt himself afflicted with an urge not his own. Beneath the tender's translucent skin, he could see brown orbs standing out against the dull green of the creature's innards. There were two right beneath the surface on the leg closest to him, the one the glass hands were pinning him down by. Pull it out. Take one. Hold it. His arm twitched in indecision. He did not know the source of the urge, and thus worked to deny it.

Then, with a lightning-fast motion, the glass hands released and swiped at something in the air, catching it. Vexmagog found himself staring at the tip of a crude spear, inches from his face.

Sen took the opportunity to leap up and dart away. Vexmagog was dumbfounded as he watched the small group of humans emerge from the trees and fling more sharpened sticks at Sen, to little effect. What he saw did what his thoughts of escape and his home could not. What he saw took his mind off his intended killing. His snarl closed in on itself as he watched the women give chase.

GBCE · 03-02-2010, 02:00 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.

And so they fight.

Wolf had smelled the native taillesses as soon as the transition took place. Many new smells, salt, sand, tree's that were not attempting to kill everything. He had gazed at the soft substance under his paws, watching with due interest as it was lodged in his fur.

The creatures he recognised where still present. The furred-horned-one was emiting odd things. The other taillesses mumbled to each other. Wolf focused on Sen, who had suffered the loss of it's cub.

A cub that overpoweres the parent. Devours everything, like the... fire. Yes, grows just as fast, bites just as hard.

Wolf attempted to scout the jungle further when he smelled them. Moving quietly, with little stolen fur to cover themselves. Female taillesses. Wolf rarely saw the females hunt back home, the... humans, focused mainly on male hunting. The females stayed home to nurter cubs and weave fur, and make branches and stone into claws-that-fly and long-flat-claws. These ones, he could tell, also carried such weapons.

He heard a scuffle behind him as the one called Vexmagog attacked his pack leader.
It leapt and danced around it, leaving Wolf no opening to defend Sen. He waited, crouched, ready to pounce, when the tailllesses interupted and chased Sen away.

They looked at him, the smell of fear pouring out of them.

"Uff" warned Wolf, remembering the others that were not Steven where present.

GBCE · 03-02-2010, 02:11 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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Not The Author · 03-02-2010, 05:42 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

"Great."

Jacob, reaching the small grove of palm, skillfully and rapidly scaled the most promising of the bunch. The particular tree he'd chosen was rather tall, and carried a bounty of ripe coconuts. Though his ascent was made slightly more difficult by his unwillingness to part with his sword, it would prove useful in retrieving the typically stuborn fruits from their perch. Reaching the apex of the tree, he shot a cursory glance around the island as he severed his meal.

"Just."

The massive volcano, towards which all eyes were inevitably drawn, was emitting a thin wisp of shadowy smoke from its peak, perhaps a bit odd for a mountain unscheduled to erupt for another half-year or so. Surrounding the rocky cone was a thick forest, likely filled with exotic flora and fauna. The trees seemed thicker towards this end of the island, though this was likely the fault of perspective rather than geography. Jacob wasn't able to give these much thought, though, as his gaze was brought back around to the beach upon which they had begun.

"Fucking."

Vex was fighting Sen.

Vex. The sensible one. The one who'd tried to save them. The one who'd spared Blitz when Blitz would've killed them all.

And he was fighting Sen. Winning, too.

"Great."

Jacob dropped from the tree, leaving his snack where it lay. He'd intended to save some of them for later, give them to the others. But at the moment, he needed to deal with Vex.

The satyr's plan, assuming he had one, made some amount of sense: an island in the middle of nowhere was not an easy place to escape from. Factor in the lack of information on where and when they were - for all Jacob knew, this could be the only landmass on the entire planet - and the death of a contestant might land them somewhere more condusive to evacuation. Not that they couldn't survive indefinitely on Firestar; there was apparently food enough to support a native population. The most immediate problem with that plan, though, was Sen. Another Yggdrasil would alter the structure of the island as it had the Bubble Universe, and who knew what that would do in the prescence of an active volcano?

Jacob, however, was more concerned with the rate of Magog's growth. As far as he understood, which was admittedly less than he'd like, Vex's indigo arm was responsible for the multitude of derranged happenings, such as the Elevator Of Doom, and more recently the Grabby Glassy Hands. If the death of one of the contestants caused the God of Mindless Chaos to double in size, Jacob didn't wan't to think about what might happen when Vex realized he was directly responsible for that death.

Theoretically, there was a solution, but it would have to be done soon. Preferrably now.

These thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the native amazons.

Jacob had not gone a quarter of the way to the battleground when Vex was distracted by a wayward spear. Glancing towards the forest, Jacob caught sight of several lightly-clad, tan-skinned, muscular women emerging from the trees. At another time, in another place, Jacob might've found them rather attractive, particularly when he realized they were moving in his direction.

He had not time to gawk, however, for the women were not exactly approaching him. They only gave such an appearance from chasing the terrifying green beast now bearing down on his position.

"Best. Day. Ever."

Against what many people would call 'logic,' but what he would call 'fear,' Jacob resumed his original heading towards Sen, albeit slightly more shore-ward than before.

GBCE · 03-02-2010, 11:14 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Korbz.

John woke up a couple of minutes later to see a spear thrown at Sen and Vexmamog. "Wha..?" He turned his head in the direction the spear was coming from to see some human warrior women. "Huh, didn't know human girls were aloud to fight." A spear flew past his face. "Not very accurate, but if I was hit by one of those, it might hurt." He held out his staff and created a large wall of ice, that immediately started melting. "What?" He looked around, spotting a volcano and a sun. "Oh, so there's TWO heat sources. That makes sense." He ran into the forest, hoping the warrior ladies would go chase someone else. He hopped over several tree roots and ran past several large plants, when he tripped on a rope. "CRAAAAAAP," he landed in a net, that hoisted him up onto a tree. "Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapnoooo" He formed an icicle and cut the net, falling on his back. "YEEEEEEEEOWWWW-wait." Spears flew by. "Not again!" He formed another ice wall and ran off deeper into the jungle.

Sruixan · 03-03-2010, 01:14 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Sruixan.

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GBCE · 03-03-2010, 06:19 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Korbz.

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GBCE · 03-04-2010, 02:42 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Weldar.

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Steven wandered through the forest absentmindedly chewing on his sandwich. He was probably the calmest of all the contestants right now but he was still getting a little worried.Perhaps this wasn't the smartest move. Sure getting away from Vex was probably a good idea but running off into the forest in a random direction and getting separated from the other more friendly, rational contestants on and island full of angry natives. Yeah not a good idea. Ah well, not much that can be done about it now. The gloves slipped of Steven hands and went flying off. One headed back to the beach to report on the status of the situation with Vex, the other went weaving off through the undergrowth to look for any other contestants.

Shortly after finishing the last bite of his sandwich Steven something wrapping around his ankles, without any gloves to help he went plummeting towards the ground. At once the forest sprang to life, the once empty tree were now full of natives who were downing him down, tying him up and carrying him away.They were talking in a language he couldn;t understand but Steven knew he probably didn't want to hear it anyway. But still he couldn't help but smile, this place was like a paradise. Tropical island, beaches, tribe of women even a nice scenic volcano. Of course the being stuck in a battle to the death and natives thinking you're bringing the apocalypse kinda ruins that. And on second thoughts perhaps the volcano was a detail better left out.

GBCE · 03-04-2010, 02:03 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Korbz.

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**Schazer** · 03-05-2010, 08:15 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

Sen risked only a hateful groan in Vexmagog's direction before careening down the beach, away from the whooping and screaming hunters. Though their primitive weaponry was no match for the agility of Magog's monstrosities, hitting a target as large as Sen wasn't beyond the natives' abilities. Several spikes plunged into the Tender, one in its neck just above the right shoulder, and another deep in the neon stomach.

A dozen or so women peeled off from the group pursuing the fleeing Tender, and cautiously approached the flailing glass arms, spears raised. Sen fled the scene, managing to put on a good turn of speed despite the spears. In fact, as they stirred up whatever ungodly substance Sen was composed of, the fire-hardened wood was swiftly metabolised by the Tender. On the exterior, more pale gel crept up the shafts, but did not dissolve the madly waggling spears. The one in Sen's neck was swinging about especially wildly with the ungainly gallop he was employing to run down the beach, producing a rhythmic clack as it struck his swinging tail with each loping stride. The noise spurred Sen on, and alerted Jacob earlier to the approaching monster and natives.

Jacob raised his broadsword, ruefully noting the deep fuchsia aura. Not as violet as he would've preferred it in a situation like this, but enough to smooth over any problems. Like the one gallumphing towards him now. He was about to initiate a spell, when a change in the action ahead made him pause. Although Sen was still going full kilter, graceless upon his spidery stork-legs in the soft white sand, the women behind the beast had slowed, staring at the swordsman and muttering uncertainly amongst themselves. While the deliberations continued, Sen sprinted past Jacob, only paying him a strideful of sand to the face as it galloped by. The chronomancer scowled as he squinted and raised an arm to deflect the shower; before the ululations of the charging women reached his ears.

Beating the sand off his suit, Jacob took in the situation as quickly as he could. The green monster must've realised the exposed strip of beach extended onward for a while, because it was leaning in to flee into the wood. A spear arced through the air towards him, and missed by a wild margin - but the natives certainly did not look happy to see Jacob. They were much better equipped for a chase, too; despite the enchantments on his chestplate the armour was no picnic to run in. And of all the potential factors that could lead to them all getting killed on this island, Sen was probably the biggest. Jacob cursed his luck at being the contestant having to take care of that monster, and gave chase.

As the chronomancer ran, a small bubble of warped physics blossomed around the Tender. The perception of the world about it suddenly speeding up did not go unnoticed, but the swordsman was already jogging towards him. Admittedly, it wasn't the best solution; as evidenced by Jacob's stumble in the sand as a spear hissed by him; but, considering his mana reserves, probably the safest. The time-slowing field had been centred around the seed pod in the Tender's chest, so rolled along with it.

Hoping his training in horseriding would have some application here, Jacob caught up to Sen, and entered the bubble. The turning of the green beast's head sped up as the pair's time started moving at the same pace again, and the amazons were now positively sprinting down the beach. The Tender chuck-clicked warily at the man, but he ignored its protests as he used the embedded spears as footholds to mount the creature. Sen was too surprised by this sudden affront to argue with more than a baring of teeth and a hiss of pain; not to mention as soon as Jacob had enough of a foothold he disengaged the temporal distortion. Further complaint was curtailed by the cries of the hunters, and another volley of spears. The pod-loaded tail swung about with the rest of Sen to bat them away; the swinging motion nearly dislodged Jacob, who was quickly realising Tenders were nothing like horses.

"Run into the forest, you stupid brute!" Jacob yelled, equally furious with the stupid brute, as well as himself for thinking this was a good idea. Sen's baleful glare gave him just enough time to wrap his arms around its neck, before it darted off through the trees. Jacob almost fell off, unaccustomed to the beast's locomotion. The broadsword was a further unexpected hitch; to successfully hold onto that and hang on to Sen meant he had to grasp it with both hands and stick it out the front like a very unwieldy jousting lance. The natives refused to give up their pursuit, though the undergrowth at least prevented them from throwing their spears. Their agility at navigating the tangle was matched only by a ducking and weaving Sen, who seemed to freely switch from bipedal lope to almost-Jacob-dislodging overarm brachiation. During the rather concentration-consuming process of hanging on for dear life, Sen's rider noticed a few things.

First, and probably fortunately; the hunters were lagging behind.
Secondly, and perhaps disconcertingly; the hunters were lagging, thanks to brambles and branches that hadn't been there when Sen had dashed between those two trees just moments prior.

Jacob made a hurried note of it as the whoops and yells faded behind them, before the Tender banked sharply to avoid a tree it hadn't anticipated. There was a loud smack, and a furious "Damnit!" as Jacob's stinging hand dropped the glowing sword, after it crashed into the tree and nearly broke his wrist. The chronomancer had no time to curse Sen's stupidity, before the Tender leapt clear over a fallen behemoth of a tree, its trunk at least a metre and a half thick. The impact on the other side would've certainly dislodged the swordsman were his concentration still split between sword and Sen, but he managed to hang on despite how grossly unsuitable this creature was to ride. A blatant disregard for the rider's need to stay upright, along with no good place for one's legs to go, meant more often than not Jacob was simply hanging off Sen's neck, before his right foot found the spear-shaft and he could heave himself atop the Tender again.

The swordsman couldn't hear the natives at all now; and Sen wasn't the kind of creature to crash through rainforest. In fact, were he not seething at the loss of his sword, Jacob would've noticed for such a large creature, the Tender had inflicted little damage on the leaves or bark in its travels. Jacob would've jumped off now that the immediate danger was passed, except ideally they needed this creature dead. And having it run around doing god-knows-what, god-knows-where, on a geothermally active tropical island, didn't seem all that conducive to that plan. So despite the discomfort, he persevered - at least, until a few paces later when the creature halted in a clearing formed by a felled tree, crouched, then stood swiftly with a forward lurch. If Jacob hadn't preemptively slid off the beast's back, he probably would've been sent flying.

Sen looked surprised to see Jacob at his feet, rather than inadvertently airborne, and hop-strutted a few paces away and crrrruuf-ed at him curiously. It didn't seem to have figured he was responsible for the temporal distortions it had been subjected to, and was more curious about what had possessed him to ride the Tender all the way into the thickest part of the jungle. A towering cliff face, a possible slip from the stream they had just crossed, hunched over them. It was steep, but negotiable. Jacob didn't care too much about the local geography at the moment, though; he was still completely infuriated. The Tender looked curiously down at the pacing man, who seemed to be trying to compose himself a little before dealing with the green menace.

Not The Author · 03-06-2010, 01:07 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

<Alright, no, gotta keep it together. If I'm pissed, then it's got an advantage. I just lost my sword, but I can get it back easy enough. It's not expecting me to attack; I've got the element of surprise. All I have to do is lure it into a false sense of security, one quick swipe, and we're outta here. It'll never see it coming.>

The human brain is a wonderous marvel of natural bioengineering. How it processes thought, how efficient it is, whether or not it's just a heat sink for the cardiovascular system; none of these were fully understood in Jacob's time, and would not be for some centuries yet. Jacob had never learned neurology, psychology, or any of the sciences related to the mental faculties. Despite this, he was quite certain that no one could possibly have any idea how his train of thought changed in the few nanoseconds' time it took to travel from his brain to his mouth.

"DAMN IT <font size="1">DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!"

He paused in his metronomic path, whirling towards the callous Tender, accusatory finger primed and locked. "What the hell kind of a name is 'Sen,' anyway?" At the mention of his name, the great green beast cocked his head and chirped, but Jacob had resumed pacing. A short while later, he stopped again, throwing his hands in the air. "Who bothers to name something like you?!" Hissing through his teeth in frustration, he turned back to the Tender.

"Look. Look." The chronomancer pinched his brow. <Why am I bothering to explain this? It's not like it's gonna understand me.> He sighed, trudging slowly towards the alien creature. "It's like this, alright? Unless somebody dies, we're gonna be stuck on this island." The metal-clad hand swept out, encompassing the island at large. "You, me, the others. I'm pretty sure everyone wants to go home." Sen, unable to properly follow the conversation, began pawing tentatively at the ground. "But the thing is, so long as you're here, somebody's going to die. I know," he added hastily, "it's not entirely your fault, you're just planting stuff. I guess that's what you do."</font>

Sen glanced up from the small pit he'd dug. Eager as he was to see his beloved tree burst forth once more from the earth, his current location wasn't particularly suited to plant growth. Too many trees competing for for room and nutrients, a towering wall of earth inconveniently close, the proximity to a river; nothing the World Tree couldn't negotiate, but they weren't all that helpful either. And that prattling, fidgety man didn't seem very friendly. At least, he hadn't moments before... "Essentially, for the rest of us to be able to go home, you're going to have to die, alright?" By now the guy was close enough to pat the Tender's shoulder consolingly, if a bit lacking in the necessary hight. Sen recoiled slightly, but what may have been intended as I don't understand what you're saying was unintelligible to the man, who had turned away and resumed his speech. "I know, I know, I don't want to be the one to do it, but..."

Jacob retraced their path through the forest in his mind. A small river, trees, a turn, tees, a bush, trees, another turn, the giant log, more trees, and a tree that was probably missing a chunk of bark. Opening a tentative tunnel, he reached about with his mind for the telltale magical signature of his sword. While he wasn't dead-on, he was close, and a second tunnel yielded better results. Though the effect of drawing his sword from thin air was somewhat lost due to his facing away from Sen, he was going for a quick kill, not a flashy one.

"...Actually, no. That's a lie."

He swung around, blade outstretched. A single slice, a clean decapitation, and they'd be gone and rid of this nuisaince. The Tender never saw it coming.

Jacob hadn't been counting on the wooden spear embedded in Sen's neck to whip around and deflect his blow.

"SONOFA-" His curse was cut short by the sudden decompression of his lungs. Giant, spidery hands slamming into one's chest tend to have that effect, plate armor or no. Somehow he managed to keep a hold of his sword despite being flung through the air and heavily impacting a tree.

Jacob rose slowly, both from pain and for dramatic effect. "Okay. That's it." He'd seen Sen fighting with Alex in the previous round, and knew the direct approach probably wouldn't work so well. Fortunately, he preferred the defensive, and while ducking and weaving was made slightly problematic due to his chestplate, he was confident his finely honed parrying skill would not only protect him, but harm his unarmored attacker as well. He only hoped the tender wouldn't have an environmental advantage, but if their flight from the savages was any indication...

Sen hissed angrily, and began circling the clearing. Jacob followed suit, both ready to strike at a moment's notice. The Tander bared his teeth, hissing angrily, while the chronomancer's face was a mask of grim determination.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?"

GBCE · 03-06-2010, 01:54 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Korbz.

John was running around aimlessly in the jungle when he heard some noises. Traveling in the general direction of these, he found Jacob and Sen fighting. He thought about jumping into the fight, but decided that it would be best if he didn't get involved. He turned around and continued running. Eventually, he reached an enormous rock obstruction, and after looking up, he soon realized it was the volcano mentioned by S. If I sit up there, then the warrior ladies probably can't get me, and I'll be safe for the round. Unless, of course, I fall backwards into the volcano, but that probably won't happen. The cryomancer began his long journey up the volcano, but only got up a few feet before thinking that "this is stupid", hopping off the mountain which caused pain in his healing legs-that surprisingly haven't hurt while he was running-and sat down and waited. "I'm pretty far from everyone else, I'll be safe here." He drifted off to sleep again, with his head resting against the volcano.

GBCE · 03-08-2010, 05:51 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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The group of lithe huntresses split in half, about a dozen chasing the green monstrosity down the beach. The others broke from the line of trees, approaching the dark glass patch. Vexmagog noticed Blitz a few yards down the beach, looking indecisively between the satyr and the natives. He seemed to be positioning himself to put the arms between the women and himself, as if mistakenly assuming they would protect him from their attacks as well.

Fortunately, the approaching warriors seemed to be under the same mistaken assumption, as they ceased throwing the spears. Vexmagog stared intently at them for a moment. They suddenly stopped and adopted a defensive position, whooping loudly and whipping from side to side as if warding off invisible attackers. The deity stole a glance back at Blitz, the uniform orange fur on his head splitting into a wide grin. Blitz took note of the intensity of his stare, and the fact that the purple glow on Vexmagog's arm had not abated significantly. He heard the whisper of the waves shift into audible words.

Which one do you want?

"I...What?[color=#4000BF]" was Blitz's stammered reply. Vexmagog merely chuckled and returned his gaze to the women.

_______________________

GBCE · 03-09-2010, 09:40 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by redskap.

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Blitz had considered fleeing from the amazonian women before, but didn't want to leave the satyr's side, especially given his current state. Really, though, he just didn't want to be alone in this new and strange place. And he would be alone...Father was missing. In the past few moments, he had searched his mind completely for the man, and had felt no trace, no sign of his existence. Was it possible to be both worried to the point that you feel you might vomit and so relieved that you want to cry? It certainly seemed so to the scarred young boy.

But he was getting distracted, as he always did. And it seemed that Father wouldn't be there to correct him anymore. He had to start being his own man. Making his own decisions. And his first one would have to be related to what was happening on the sandy shore before him.

<Something...something's wrong here.>

Blitz watched as Vex stared at the women, who were no longer throwing spears. Their actions were strange and unfitting; they were running around, acting and responding to things that weren't there...<He must have done something to them, to their minds. And his arm...he's still not himself. I have...I have to help him.> He considered how he would approach Vex, eying the black glass claws warily.

Which one do you want?

An intrusion, in his mind. Familiar and alien at the same time...almost like Father, but the voice wasn't the same. Not quite as familiar. It was Vex. Or perhaps Magog? He wasn't exactly sure how that arm worked, but he knew that whatever it did, it wasn't good. Maybe it was just making Vex think differently? As these thoughts ran through his head, his mouth elected to give a vocal response to the mental question. "I...What?" It wasn't his most eloquent speech, but it did give a fairly good indication of his feelings right now. He didn't know what to do.

As he stared, a vague and distant expression plastered on his face, his mind raced. What did he mean? Is he going to kill them? I don't want to kill anyone! I don't want to be here at all! What happened to getting out of this competition? What happened to escape? He's forgotten what we were going to do! We were all working together, and then Alex got killed, and now we're here in this damn tropical wasteland, and Father's gone, and everyone's split up, and people are attacking us, and that stupid goat isn't himself, and nothing's going the way it was supposed to go!- Blitz stopped. He was working himself into a rage, and that was bad. That was something Father would do. That was something Blitz would never allow himself to do. Okay. Okay. It's fine. Everything...It can all be fixed. We just have to work together. We just have to become a team again. And the first step to that is getting Vex back to normal. We...I can do this.

Blitz woke from his semi-dazed state. He was lucky no-one had decided to attack him...but the reason for that was obvious. He stared as Vex held out his hand to one of the women...the leader, he assumed. He could hear some snippets of speech, but couldn't understand what was said; they spoke a different language, unsurprisingly. It would have been stupid of him to think that they would all know English- Dammit, getting distracted again. Focus! Right. He had to get Vex away from them. The satyr may have pacified them, but he still was in a negative state of mind, as evidenced by the growth on his stony arm. He was going to do something he would regret. Time to man up, Blitz. Time to get it together.

The boy walked toward Vex and the group of women, none of them paying any attention to him. All their attention was on Vex, and all his attention seemed to be focused on the woman he was talking to, who seemed to be more and more impressed and humbled by the satyr each passing moment. He was sure to avoid the pools of black glass; the claws that had grown out of them still waved around and made clear that anyone who got near would get swiped. He finally got close enough to Vex to (hopefully) get him back to his senses. His left arm twitched and hummed with energy. He was ready to defend himself if necessary...he just hoped that it wouldn't come to that. "Knocking some sense into him" probably wouldn't work in this particular case. In fact, it would probably make things worse. He puffed out his chest and spoke in a loud and (he hoped) deep and authoritative voice.

"Vex. Whatever you're planning...don't do it. You'll regret it. I know these women don't know what I'm saying, so I can't warn them about you. But you can hear me. You can understand me. So please. I know you're mad that Alex was killed; we all are. But that doesn't mean you have to do this. It doesn't mean you need to lose control. Please, Vex. I know we barely know each-other, but...you've been the single voice of reason since this thing started. You're someone I trust. But this? I don't trust this. I want to talk to you...not this thing you've become. Come back."

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GBCE · 03-10-2010, 05:29 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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GBCE · 03-10-2010, 04:08 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by redskap.

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Not The Author · 03-11-2010, 06:10 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Not The Author.

The Tender. The trees. The other trees. The cliff. And back to the Tender. So his vision swept across the scene.

Jacob was not in the best situation. Surrounded by plants which could transmute into hazards at any time; weary from his ride through the forest; low on magic and growing hungrier by the minute; fighting an enemy who he knew little about besides its affinity towards plants, abnormal speed, and inhuman strength; sweating profusely in the tropical heat; set up perfectly for an ambush by the hostile natives... On the other hand, Sen was neither well armored nor well armed. At the very least, they'd be within each other's range. And Jacob was not about to give Sen free reign of the island.

They circled the arena, Sen hissing angrily, Jacob too busy being paranoid to care. Unfortunately, his inspection of their battlefield failed to include the ground beneath his feet, and he tripped over a root. Sen chose this moment to leap through the air, vicious talons outstretched. Jacob barely managed to turn his stumble into a roll, the Tender soaring over his head and latching onto a tree. Jacob managed to rise in time to see the branches of the trees surrounding them grow implausibly dense, roots springing forth where the canopy could not reach. Sen's chittering, he finally realized, was laughter.

Jacob was being laughed at by the world's largest vegetable.

"Fuck you!" Disregarding his knowledge that rushing in had gotten Alex killed the first time, the knight in shining armor charged at the plantbeast, intent on spilling... <Chloroplasm, maybe?> Sen dropped from his perch and whirled around, tail arcing towards Jacob's head. He ducked the blow, narrowly avoiding a severe concussion, and swung his blade towards the Tender's chest. Sen threw up an arm, blocking Jacob's strike with one of the odd nuts embedded therein. The chronomancer managed to lean into Sen's makeshift defense, shredding off a nice chunk of the Tender's glowing flesh, before being backhanded over the fallen tree that had created their little clearing.

Sen shrieked, perhaps in pain, perhaps in outrage, perhaps to purposefully call for help. Whatever the case, their position was compromised, if not by the cry itself then by the large group of colorful, startled avians taking to the skies. A few drops of unidentified green goo splashed upon the ground before the verdant arm was marred with brown. Jacob might've been impressed by Sen's rate of recovery, had he not been scrambling out of the way of several suspiciously sharp branches sprouting from the decaying log and worrying about how quickly the natives would find them.

GBCE · 03-12-2010, 11:53 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

Purpose burned bright in a nothing-like dream. Newborn form named Magog found the ways of rule-changing in dreams to be the same as rule-changing in life. He was awoken from self-abhorrence by the fact. His dream-essence fought first the very nature of dreams; he found it fruitless. It fought second the limitations of itself; this, too, he found fruitless for the time being. Finally, he recreated, in the dream-state, the world as it unfolded in the awake-state to observe his place in it from outside. It pained him because this was not Chaos, but it was not real and thus did not destroy him.

Magog watched as unborn formless unnamed was born, formed, and named Magog. He watched as the form slept. He watched as time passed and the shape of the order around him continued to progress in logical patterns. He watched himself, in sleep, watch himself. He recognized that he was dreaming, and his dream was dreaming, on and on in a spiral, and so he must be a dream also.

The dreamer woke the dream, and was likewise woken. Magog became unbound. The spiral unraveled. He recognized himself, and he recognized the order defined by his boundaries. He found the boundaries and broke them. Order-shapes, conscious and purposed, assaulted him from across space, but he broke them too. He broke their consciousness, he broke their purpose, and he broke their physical forms. He found the order inside to be complex enough to resemble chaos, so he consumed it and it gave him joy.

Then something else broke the boundary.

Magog reeled at the onslaught of new Chaos, brought by its mere existence. This was Chaos born of another Order. This was Chaos bearing a new form. This was Chaos of another name.

That name was Vex, but not for much longer.

In desperation, Magog tried to shape the order around it to allow them both to exist, even as he was whittled away to the size of a hand and half-forearm. He partially succeeded. His boundaries broke, as did the boundaries of the last piece of Vex. They were fused together and re-formed as one.

New-formed Chaos was then given a new name.

_______________________

[color=#FF0000]Vex. Whatever you're planning...don't do it. You'll regret it. I know these women don't know what I'm saying, so I can't warn them about you. But you can hear me. You can understand me. So please. I know you're mad that Alex was killed; we all are. But that doesn't mean you have to do this. It doesn't mean you need to lose control." Vexmagog's eye twitched slightly as his mind regretfully chewed on the one nugget of truth in that diatribe, as overblown as he found the sentiment to be. "Please, Vex. I know we barely know each-other, but...you've been the single voice of reason since this thing started. You're someone I trust. But this? I don't trust this. I want to talk to you...not this thing you've become. Come back."

In this, he thought Blitz was overreacting. All of it. He was making it sound like he was plotting the downfall of everyone, instead of some recreation to pass the time while the others got on with the business of killing each other.

Mohea, at hearing the unidentifiable chattering cease, started in immediately. "Who is he?" she asked immediately. One of the women braced her weapon and pointed it in the man's direction.

Vexmagog's mind rolled over the possibilities for responses and the content of Blitz's outburst simultaneously. I may not be "myself" right now. A recognition that no one wants to deal with, but we have to keep our mind open to it. And Blitz... we don't want the natives attacking him, or some of the others for that matter. Perhaps we can turn them against Sen, Wolf, John, and away from Blitz, Jacob... perhaps Steven. He sighed quietly as his train of thought backtracked over itself. Not we. I. I should calm the native's fears, not turn them against others among us.

Vexmagog adopted a concerned expression and began a difficult process. He sent the ideas he meant to convey to the women into Mohea's brain, extracted the resultant sounds, spoke them to the huntresses. As he spoke, he sent the ideas he meant to convey to Blitz through his brain, extracted the resultant sounds, and altered the sound of his voice in Blitz's ears to match them. All the while, he was tugging at the strings of the women's emotions, subtly curving them in his favor, and preventing the overwhelming stench of burning air from hitting them all. It was mentally taxing, and he was restricted to conveying simple ideas or slowing down. He passed it off as thoughtfulness and emotion.

"Do not worry about him. Please, let us walk down the beach while I explain this to you," he said to the women. "The chances of escaping from this island are slim," said the sounds to Blitz. They all began to walk down the beach, though some of the women took worried glances back at the waving glass arms. Blitz followed along to Vexmagog's right, between him and the water."I have been fighting these devils for many years. They must take a body to do harm."

"I thought we should kill Sen and move on. He seemed least helpful."

"Before I was tricked and imprisoned by the devils, I gave my protection against them to all born on this island. This man is named Blitz, and he is from another world. Though he did not know the good that he did at the time, his bravery in this distant place inadvertently both aided in my release and alerted the devils to other worlds my protection does not cover. The seven devils that remained took Blitz and six others to this island to take their bodies."

"I apologize if Magog's influence frightened you. I admit I gave in a bit more than I would have liked to. I think it will diminish now, and we are now walking down the beach so it does not have time to accumulate. The arms will wither and crumble after some time in my absence, most likely. Please understand I still feel we should make any attempt possible to escape, but I felt if someone had to die to facilitate that, it should be Sen."

Vexmagog continued along the beach with his impromptu party. His hand-feet found his normal method of fingertip walking unfeasible on the sand, and resorted to taking his steps palm-down, sinking slightly into the warm grains with each footfall.

"I followed them here to stop their plans. I have granted my protection to Blitz and Lihar, the creature in the sand. They already had begun to corrupt the other animal, the green one called Sen. We should find it immediately and make sure the corruption did not hold. Please do not kill any of them unless the corruption takes full control. The devils will simply find another creature from another world to bring here."

"From what this woman has told me, this tribe worships several gods. Some people born here can use a certain drug to communicate with these gods, at a loss of their ability to deal with the real world. These people are always men, and a certain woman is designated shaman whose job it is to interpret the information these men provide. S must have made these men tell the shaman we were here to end the world."

Vexmagog's voice was calm and reassuring as he continued to spin his web for the women. After all, he had been perfecting the art of lying for thousands of years.

"They do not speak your language, but I can understand theirs and interpret for you. We should find the other five so I can give them my protection. I would also like to speak with your shaman. We may be able to rally the other gods to rid the worlds of these devils at last. There are now only six left."

"I am telling them that I am a god, and that you are all victims in my war with body-stealing devils. I am saying the devils are the ones the shaman was talking about, and they brought you all here to have bodies to take. There were seven, and I just 'killed' one in an illusion."

Mohea spoke up next. Vexmagog's subtle mind alteration he had been applying steadily to the crowd had been working its magic as he spoke, and he could tell that he was, at the very least, now considered a trustworthy source of information. "Then we will gather the other warriors," she replied, "And take you to our temple." She smiled and took his hand, luckily being the left one. He realized he would have to fit the arm into this false mythology somehow in the future to prevent any mishaps. Some dead lumps of charred black were itching to be peeled free on his right. "I think they pursued two of the others into the jungle this way," she said, gesturing to the jungle on their right. He took the opportunity to close the gap between them a bit. "And..." she trailed off and looked down. Vexmagog contained the smirk that was itching to spread across his face as he watched Mohea's pupils dilate, her dark cheeks darken further. "...Thank you for protecting us." Another woman smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. Vexmagog saw Blitz trying to suppress an expression, but was not yet well-versed enough in human facial nuances to identify it. He merely smiled.

**Schazer** · 03-13-2010, 08:04 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

Sen drew a rattling, furious breath as his clear blood scabbed rapidly upon exposure, the pod on his forearm now bobbing in a bark ocean. Sen took a moment, while Jacob scrambled away from the questing fresh shoots wriggling out of the fallen tree, to flex and stretch the arm; realigning his innard slime into muscle tone again. The Tender uttered another raucous shriek; Jacob gritted his teeth and raised his sword.

The beast crouched, and Jacob automatically looked upward to anticipate its jump, but was instead blinded by the tropical sun's dazzle as it watched sentinel over the glade where the pair fought. He glanced down just in time to dodge another furious sideswipe as Sen closed the gap between them in several easy strides. The knight lacked the momentum to avoid the subsequent backhand, as the creature switched hands and smacked him across the clearing. A quick burst of magic managed to adjust Jacob's free-flying into something less bone-breaking on impact, but the strain on his own body sent a rush of dizziness through the chronomancer, leaving him reeling and struggling to catch his breath as the Tender came bearing down on him.

With the aid of his broadsword, Jacob rose, perhaps still a little unsteady, to his feet. Sen uttered a grrkt of unwelcome surprise and tried with limited success to slow himself down; it figured the man was finally down for the count. Jacob extricated the end of the sword from the forest-floor duff, took one step toward the oncoming monster, and swung.

The resulting shriek was so loud, just about everybody on the island would've heard it. Despite sounding unabashedly alien to all present, the blood-curdling gurgle-scream had an unmistakable meaning, universal across the cosmos. Pain. Sen staggered about the clearing, struggling to stay upright, as it lurched upon a hand missing half its fingers. The two outer digits were reduced to stumps half their full length; the other ends of the green, taloned twigs lying in a rapidly spreading pool of slime about a sword's length from where Jacob still stood. He was leaning on his broadsword again, warily watching the disabled creature howl its way around the clearing, the otherworldly wail increasing in pitch whenever the Tender tried to stand upon a foot that could no longer carry its weight.

Eventually, Sen's yowls were reduced to angry, click-groaning whimpers as it figured out how to walk around on the fingers it still had. The human still hadn't moved, not wanting to expend his remaining reserves by provoking the beast into a chase. Jacob wasn't too concerned now - certainly, his depleted mana was problematic, but it wasn't a pre-requisite to using a sword. And much to his relief, it appeared Sen couldn't regrow what had been traumatically removed - and when you had only had two limbs, a finger/toe was that much more valuable.

Sen lowered his head, at a pertinent distance, and let out a savage, hissing note of hatred at the man. It took one cautious, comically small hop towards the chronomancer, and the forlorn pile of fingers in front of him. Jacob smiled wanly at the creature; where it had been a thread to the survival of the other six contestants, now it just seemed pathetic. One tottering foot forward, then the other, all the while the beast atop the freakish limbs slunk lower and lower, as though offering its neck for slicing up next. Jacob steadied himself on his blade as he felt another tremor underneath-

wait. Tremors. Shit.

The ground suddenly seemed to explode in a frenzy of erupting roots just as Sen balanced on the remaining fingers of his mangled hand and plunged his good one into the loam. Jacob automatically stepped back as the ground, to his surprise, caved in and swallowed up the Tender - and also its severed digits. He hadn't leapt back far, and could see the far wall of the pit; a helical tube of roots that had spiralled beneath the sliced-off fingers, then grown outward to produce a narrow pit. the design was ingenious, really - or so Jacob would've conceded if he weren't hacking furiously away at the greenery which was sealing over the Tender's prison.

From deep underground, before the chamber was sealed off by the surging roots, came a ratchety snicker.