Re: The Wretched Rite - Round Two - Inferno Alpha
09-03-2012, 01:58 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by MrGuy.
Poran very gradually flitted to a few inches above Taelia's face, paying very close attention to the angels surrounding them. "Well, ma'am, as I understand it, we seem to be in the midst of the end of the world." He looked over at the carnage being sown by the Horseman's strikes and the Godbot's ponderous footsteps, horrified yet impressed - the designs were all quite striking, and the lighting really put an intense aura on everything.
Taelia rubbed the back of her head. "Um, yeah, but what do these men-"
One of the angels abruptly cut her off. "We are to make sure you do not interfere. The Apocalypse must go as planned." Another mumbled something about a quintillion-dollar budget not going to waste.
And, had it just been the two of them, everything would have likely ended like that, the seven angels waiting for the Godbot to smite His opponent before killing the stragglers and letting protocol sort them out. Instead, however, malformed vines burst from the ground and rapidly began to climb the Godbot's tremendous legs; His mighty hydraulics quickly ripped them from the ground, the Godbot oblivious to their presence entirely, even as a few of the broken tendrils clung fast to His ankle. Simultaneously, a much higher branch bloomed multitudes of blotchy, blemished, and oversized apples; and upon another tremendous stomp from the android Almighty, several of them were shook from the branch.
Had Poran known anything about Abrahamic mythology, he almost certainly would have begun rambling on about symbolism relating to Eden when he saw a cluster of apples split open on three angels' heads, the acid within quickly corroding their craniums and scouring their circuitry; instead, however, he simply noticed that the remaining angels were somewhat disoriented and transfixed by the whole thing, and took the opportunity to slip out beneath their legs.
Having done so, he quickly began fleeing with little to no concern for anyone but his own damned self. Just need to get up nice and high, where that steel colossus can't see me, and I'll be fine. Waiting is all too often the simplest path to victory. And he very nearly did this.
"Sex and death! Hunger and pain! Is this what life is, sacrifices of the rite?"
The flutter of his wings slowed, his ascent changing to a hover. He looked back as the angels rearranged themselves, preventing Taelia's escape; one of them began gesticulating in an angry manner.
"That is what you are showing this new being, this is what you are teaching it, with your strongest actions. What will it become, drowned in a sea of id? Memento mori, sacrifices! Remember that you will die. That, you can not change."
And the Leskrin stared out at the wreckage and flame, at the corpses no longer resurrected, but simply left to languish in dirt and muck, occasionally being crushed into the dirt by another stomp from the Godbot.
"But what you can change is how your lives echo into eternity. You, far more than most, must remember that."
And he looked at Lucifer, dodging the Godbot's strikes, yet always being grazed by them; striking back, but in a way that never quite penetrated His thick plating. She had accepted her fate - to put on a show of a fight. To fight just enough that it would be a spectacle, not enough to actually change anything.
He looked back at the square of angels, who were raising sidearms, pointing them towards Taelia.
And Nempelio Poran kala-Sun rushed back towards them, frantically playing what was less of a tune and more of a horrible wreckage of chords, the massive and garishly-colored flashes blinding the angels (and, for the matter, Taelia as well.) Seeing them raise their hands to their eyes, he quickly swooped down to Taelia and whispered to her: "Run. Quickly."
She complied, shoving aside two of the angels; the bard hung back, continuing the flashes. One of the angels let out a growl and shot out an arm to grab Poran, slowly beginning to crush him. The dazzling lights faded quickly. "Goodbye, sinner. Have a pleasant day, and we will be pleased to continue your torment in Inferno Beta, coming this Easter."
--------
At roughly this time, Alluvion was wandering fairly aimlessly, searching for Olivia but frequently getting lost or distracted. Honestly, at this point, he was more or less ready to give up, as these masochists and robots were hard enough to relate to even for those who hadn't related primarily to fish.
That said, he decided to soldier on, if only because there was no particular reason to stay in one place. Occasionally an angel or demon would confront him, but the most their guns did was cause him to evaporate a little; nothing particularly threatening, and after a couple of holes blown into the elemental were just as soon patched up, the assailants gave up and walked away.
Probably the most unpleasant aspect of the situation, for Alluvion anyway, was that he had no real idea where to go. Rivers were much simpler; any particular branch was flowing in a specific direction (i.e. whatever qualified as "out to sea") about 99.9% of the time, and distinctly inward the other .1%. The most navigation one had to do as a river god was picking a tributary, and honestly he hadn't even had to do much of that. But now he was in a roughly circular and incredibly vast and enclosed area; downhill would only take him to the center, which a rampaging Godbot was currently occupying; and there was quite certainly no "out" or "in" to speak of.
That said, it came as a major relief when he stumbled upon a group of angels who were actually sticking in one spot and attacking him; and, as he approached them, he was even happier to see someone he knew, namely Poran. That said, it struck him that it would be rather difficult to strike up a conversation if the Leskrin was being crushed, so he walked up and gently tapped the shoulder of the angel holding him.
Before Alluvion had even had a chance to say "excuse me", the angel had begun twitching a bit, its grip loosening. Poran quickly flitted behind the elemental, grinning widely. "Thank you very much, friend Alluvion!"
The elemental nodded. "I am glad to be of assistance. Would you happen to know where-" this was interrupted by an energy blast through his chest-analogue, which was followed by an angelbot cocking his head and blinking- "Olivia has gotten off to?"
Poran shook his head. "Alas, I do not. I'm afraid I have rather pressing things to be doing right now; the rewriting of fate, destruction of gods, etcetera. I'll be glad to help you afterwards, though!" At this, the bard plucked the strings of his harp and flitted off to catch up with Taelia, whistling as he did so.
Alluvion stared for a moment, then turned around. "I do not suppose any of you know where I can find the woman I am looking for?"
--------
The branches continued to grow and to climb up the Godbot's leg and tighten around it, their apples looking like warts on the titan. As He continued to stomp around, apple after apple dislodged, smashing apart on His foot, the acid seeping inside of it.
Integrity (L-FOOT): 95%
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the construction of the Godbot is that He had never really been programmed to respond to damage, because he wasn't especially expected to be damaged. He had been fireproofed, coldproofed, bulletproofed, and mostly spearproofed. Acid had never been especially considered.
Integrity (L-FOOT): 85%
What emergency protocols had been added were buggy and poorly-referenced; it's rather difficult to find the time and budget to build a second gigantic warbot, so everyone had pretty much just assumed "hey, He's huge and immune to anything He'll encounter, so we should really give him a simple combat routine and focus on Lucifer's. She's easier to make duplicates of and her part of the battle is more focused on dodging and such."
Integrity (L-FOOT): 67%
And thus, everyone present, most of all Lucifer herself, was shocked when, of all things that could possibly have happened...
Integrity (L-FOOT): 54%
Integrity (R-FOOT): 98%
The Godbot stumbled, and Lucifer's spear - as always, thrust just enough to penetrate the smallest layer of armor - smashed in deep, and when extracted, it took a clump of wires with it.
Integrity (L-FOOT): 46%
Integrity (R-FOOT): 93%
Integrity (R-ARM): 88%
Poran very gradually flitted to a few inches above Taelia's face, paying very close attention to the angels surrounding them. "Well, ma'am, as I understand it, we seem to be in the midst of the end of the world." He looked over at the carnage being sown by the Horseman's strikes and the Godbot's ponderous footsteps, horrified yet impressed - the designs were all quite striking, and the lighting really put an intense aura on everything.
Taelia rubbed the back of her head. "Um, yeah, but what do these men-"
One of the angels abruptly cut her off. "We are to make sure you do not interfere. The Apocalypse must go as planned." Another mumbled something about a quintillion-dollar budget not going to waste.
And, had it just been the two of them, everything would have likely ended like that, the seven angels waiting for the Godbot to smite His opponent before killing the stragglers and letting protocol sort them out. Instead, however, malformed vines burst from the ground and rapidly began to climb the Godbot's tremendous legs; His mighty hydraulics quickly ripped them from the ground, the Godbot oblivious to their presence entirely, even as a few of the broken tendrils clung fast to His ankle. Simultaneously, a much higher branch bloomed multitudes of blotchy, blemished, and oversized apples; and upon another tremendous stomp from the android Almighty, several of them were shook from the branch.
Had Poran known anything about Abrahamic mythology, he almost certainly would have begun rambling on about symbolism relating to Eden when he saw a cluster of apples split open on three angels' heads, the acid within quickly corroding their craniums and scouring their circuitry; instead, however, he simply noticed that the remaining angels were somewhat disoriented and transfixed by the whole thing, and took the opportunity to slip out beneath their legs.
Having done so, he quickly began fleeing with little to no concern for anyone but his own damned self. Just need to get up nice and high, where that steel colossus can't see me, and I'll be fine. Waiting is all too often the simplest path to victory. And he very nearly did this.
"Sex and death! Hunger and pain! Is this what life is, sacrifices of the rite?"
The flutter of his wings slowed, his ascent changing to a hover. He looked back as the angels rearranged themselves, preventing Taelia's escape; one of them began gesticulating in an angry manner.
"That is what you are showing this new being, this is what you are teaching it, with your strongest actions. What will it become, drowned in a sea of id? Memento mori, sacrifices! Remember that you will die. That, you can not change."
And the Leskrin stared out at the wreckage and flame, at the corpses no longer resurrected, but simply left to languish in dirt and muck, occasionally being crushed into the dirt by another stomp from the Godbot.
"But what you can change is how your lives echo into eternity. You, far more than most, must remember that."
And he looked at Lucifer, dodging the Godbot's strikes, yet always being grazed by them; striking back, but in a way that never quite penetrated His thick plating. She had accepted her fate - to put on a show of a fight. To fight just enough that it would be a spectacle, not enough to actually change anything.
He looked back at the square of angels, who were raising sidearms, pointing them towards Taelia.
And Nempelio Poran kala-Sun rushed back towards them, frantically playing what was less of a tune and more of a horrible wreckage of chords, the massive and garishly-colored flashes blinding the angels (and, for the matter, Taelia as well.) Seeing them raise their hands to their eyes, he quickly swooped down to Taelia and whispered to her: "Run. Quickly."
She complied, shoving aside two of the angels; the bard hung back, continuing the flashes. One of the angels let out a growl and shot out an arm to grab Poran, slowly beginning to crush him. The dazzling lights faded quickly. "Goodbye, sinner. Have a pleasant day, and we will be pleased to continue your torment in Inferno Beta, coming this Easter."
--------
At roughly this time, Alluvion was wandering fairly aimlessly, searching for Olivia but frequently getting lost or distracted. Honestly, at this point, he was more or less ready to give up, as these masochists and robots were hard enough to relate to even for those who hadn't related primarily to fish.
That said, he decided to soldier on, if only because there was no particular reason to stay in one place. Occasionally an angel or demon would confront him, but the most their guns did was cause him to evaporate a little; nothing particularly threatening, and after a couple of holes blown into the elemental were just as soon patched up, the assailants gave up and walked away.
Probably the most unpleasant aspect of the situation, for Alluvion anyway, was that he had no real idea where to go. Rivers were much simpler; any particular branch was flowing in a specific direction (i.e. whatever qualified as "out to sea") about 99.9% of the time, and distinctly inward the other .1%. The most navigation one had to do as a river god was picking a tributary, and honestly he hadn't even had to do much of that. But now he was in a roughly circular and incredibly vast and enclosed area; downhill would only take him to the center, which a rampaging Godbot was currently occupying; and there was quite certainly no "out" or "in" to speak of.
That said, it came as a major relief when he stumbled upon a group of angels who were actually sticking in one spot and attacking him; and, as he approached them, he was even happier to see someone he knew, namely Poran. That said, it struck him that it would be rather difficult to strike up a conversation if the Leskrin was being crushed, so he walked up and gently tapped the shoulder of the angel holding him.
Before Alluvion had even had a chance to say "excuse me", the angel had begun twitching a bit, its grip loosening. Poran quickly flitted behind the elemental, grinning widely. "Thank you very much, friend Alluvion!"
The elemental nodded. "I am glad to be of assistance. Would you happen to know where-" this was interrupted by an energy blast through his chest-analogue, which was followed by an angelbot cocking his head and blinking- "Olivia has gotten off to?"
Poran shook his head. "Alas, I do not. I'm afraid I have rather pressing things to be doing right now; the rewriting of fate, destruction of gods, etcetera. I'll be glad to help you afterwards, though!" At this, the bard plucked the strings of his harp and flitted off to catch up with Taelia, whistling as he did so.
Alluvion stared for a moment, then turned around. "I do not suppose any of you know where I can find the woman I am looking for?"
--------
The branches continued to grow and to climb up the Godbot's leg and tighten around it, their apples looking like warts on the titan. As He continued to stomp around, apple after apple dislodged, smashing apart on His foot, the acid seeping inside of it.
Integrity (L-FOOT): 95%
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the construction of the Godbot is that He had never really been programmed to respond to damage, because he wasn't especially expected to be damaged. He had been fireproofed, coldproofed, bulletproofed, and mostly spearproofed. Acid had never been especially considered.
Integrity (L-FOOT): 85%
What emergency protocols had been added were buggy and poorly-referenced; it's rather difficult to find the time and budget to build a second gigantic warbot, so everyone had pretty much just assumed "hey, He's huge and immune to anything He'll encounter, so we should really give him a simple combat routine and focus on Lucifer's. She's easier to make duplicates of and her part of the battle is more focused on dodging and such."
Integrity (L-FOOT): 67%
And thus, everyone present, most of all Lucifer herself, was shocked when, of all things that could possibly have happened...
Integrity (L-FOOT): 54%
Integrity (R-FOOT): 98%
The Godbot stumbled, and Lucifer's spear - as always, thrust just enough to penetrate the smallest layer of armor - smashed in deep, and when extracted, it took a clump of wires with it.
Integrity (L-FOOT): 46%
Integrity (R-FOOT): 93%
Integrity (R-ARM): 88%