Intense Struggle! (Round 7 - The Database)

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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'Cabaret' ducked around a corner with a sign saying "Specimen storage" and found itself in a room full of large, cylindrical, glass containers. Most of them held things which probably shouldn't exist, but all of them seemed to be dead, a few were smashed, most of them had the previous occupants slumped outside of them, and a few didn't seem used at all, with the glass cylinders poised above a base. Fiddling around with the pda device it found it could make the cylinders rise up and down. Reverting back to it's normal shape it waited in one of the cylinders and started a blast door sequence to funnel some of the other contestants toward it, it then started to tap pitifully on the glass.

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SpoilerHijack or cyber...later I may add B anyway.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerTo be honest I'm dreadfully aware that I'm probably not going to make it to Round 2 - and even if I do, not to Round 3. I'm not a very dedicated writer and I'm not entirely sure if I can write out one of those giant paragraphs (kinda like Aryo's post in GBI just was) and manage to keep it relatively interesting.

The worst part about it though is that I try and make Trickster's thoughts during battle as short as possible, to imply that his thoughts are becoming a blur, and, therefore, a lot of his decisions aren't the most thought-out and cohesive.

I don't know why I just randomly launched into that. I guess I was getting off topic, which refers back to the part where I said that I have problems keeping interesting things going on. But maybe a little offtopic is good sometimes, because in a sense it helps explain not only how the character feels but also about how the writer themself feels. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing my own writing...?



Holy shit, I just wrote the same length of one of my usual posts explaining why they suck. Maybe I should do this more, that was extremely easy to write.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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Trickster sat still during the entire sequence of events that unfolded before him. Aph seemed full of rage at the Clara woman just earlier, but yet they were now happily leaving together. He pondered over what just happened. Had Aph fallen out of love for him, and moved on to Clara now? He thought that's how nymphs worked, but his head was continually throbbing, making it hard to think. He rubbed at his forehead again, before out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sister Clara giving him a warnful look. Was it... was that a threat? He got up and walked slowly out of the other passageway. Maybe it was meant in a different context. Maybe about Aph? She seemed to be going batshit insane back then, trying to kill the woman she claimed to be in love with. Maybe, then, she felt the same at him? He shuddered at the thought of losing a teammate, and gaining an enemy. That's three nails in the coffin, now. He groaned and slumped down against the wall in the corridor. Trickster bit his lip; this wasn't usually how he felt after a battle, even one of this magnitude, so why was his head aching so badly? There was a sinking feeling, a knowledge, that perhaps there was some sort of transformation slowly going on in his head.

"Well hello there, Trickster." A familiar, feminine voice echoed throughout Trickster's head.

Oh, great, just who I need wandering around in my psyche right about now. What the hell do you want? You know I never wanted to hear your whiny little bitch voice around here again, Trickster thought back, in an almost telepathic fashion.

"I've been watching you for the past few hours, and it looks like you're in a pretty bad situation right now. But then again, that's Trickster for you. Always looking for the guy he has the least chance with and trying to eliminate him right away."

Shut up, woman. I ask you again, what do you want?

"Oh, nothing in particular really. But now I see you could use a good amount of help. Maybe I could provide some?"

Oh, really? You really have gotten dumber over the years. I told you to get out ages ago, and now you come back to help me? Pathetic. At that, Trickster got up and proceeded to walk down the corridor. The pains were beginning to calm, and he could start thinking things out again, when he suddenly felt a spike of pain hit him in the head and he collapsed to the ground, screaming.

"That wasn't a question, you know."

Trickster winced and slowly climbed to his feet again.

Dammit! Why did you ask me in the first place, then, if you weren't taking no for an answer? Christ, if you really want to stay, then fucking stay. You don't have to try and kill me, I would really like to make it past the first round of this bloodbath.

Somehow, the feeling of someone grinning passed through. "I thought you'd say something like that. You're so predictable, brother."

Please, God, shut up.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Aph stepped out into the courtyard following Sister Clara. She was standing stock still just a step ahead of her and it was easy to see why. It was flooded with thick fog. The place was eerily silent, the only noise being the bitter crackling of energy that was still flowing out of Sister Clara's hand; a faint hiss. Aph stepped forward to be next to her love.
"This place is a hell of a lot more creepy than when we left it." she commented idly. Sister Clara glanced at her as if to suggest that this should go without comment. As she did so something moved out in the mist, an indistinct shape in the haze. There was a sick scrape. The sound of bone scraping against pavement. Aph tensed, readying her weapon. Sounds like that rarely led to good things happening. This was her opportunity to make up for what she had done. She would protect Sister Clara from whatever evil undead monstrosity was lurking in the mists.
"Hey!" she yelled into the mist. "Hey bitch! Get the hell over here so I can send you back there!"

Sister Clara sighed rather heavily. Aph was rather difficult to keep a track of. She seemed to leap at any chance for confrontation.

A dark shape began to move in the mist. Lurching forward was a scrape and sickening thump of bloated flesh striking hard against the ground. Aph grinned a little. This would be easy, and hey, maybe just this once Sister Clara wouldn't paralyse her mid attack. She loved Sister Clara but she could be so overprotective. Aph noticed another shape starting to move in the mists, and then a third. And then more and more. After a minute there was about fifteen. All thumping and scraping their way towards them. Aph noted that this was roughly the amount of corpses that there had been in the courtyard. She was feeling a little uneasy and the grin had changed to a frown of determination. The nearest one was close enough she could make it out a little better now. It was wearing the tattered remains of a brown shirt, it's skin was mouldy and in parts had fell completely away. It's eyes were blank and one of it's legs was snapped off at the shin, the bloody bone that had been scraping against the pavement. Aph stabbed forward, peircing it through the chest. It went limp for a second as the life appeared to drain out of it. Then it snapped back up, and carried on lurching towards them, impaling itself on the blade as it did so. Aph stood there in shock, her eyes wide, her mind completely blank.

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SpoilerWasn't sure of how Sister Clara would react. Feel free to tell me otherwise and I'll fix it right up.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aegis walked through the hallway with a half-full bottle in his hand. Mildly satisfied at the loot, he proceeded to return to the courtyard, where he hoped he did not miss a big fight. Unexpectedly, he was met with a thick fog and a rancid smell as soon as he opened the door. What happened here? He walked blindly forward, hoping to accidentally bump into an ally—or better, an enemy.

It was then that he saw a figure limp towards him. It did not resemble any of the contestants he had already met. But then again, it wasn't like he could tell the difference between silhouettes anyway. Aegis stood in a fairly passive stance, ready for friend and foe alike. What he wasn't ready for was an animated corpse to throw itself on Aegis' body. He panicked slightly, jumped back, and realized what just happened a few seconds later. Uh. I guess I missed more than I thought. He continued to walk the same direction he did before, albeit slightly more alert.

Trickster stood in a defensive position, unsure of what to attack. There was movement in every direction, and he was continuously distracted by the voice in his head. He felt a large hand slam him on the shoulder. Trickster reacted immediately, simultaneously taking a leap forward and turning around, throwing a small fireball at the general direction.

It was brushed off by a metal gauntlet. “Hey, buddy, what did I miss?”

Trickster, recognizing the man, gave a mix between a groan of frustration and a sigh of relief. He relaxed slightly, and then returned to his defensive position.

“Not much.” Trickster muttered, hardly taking the effort to explain anything at all.

Aegis walked forward. “Well all I see is a bunch of zombies and a thick fog that wasn't there before.”

“Listen, I'm just about as confused as you are.”

“Right. Can you even see anything?”

“No. Can you?”

“Nope.” Aegis proceeded to take a large drink from his bottle. Trickster noticed.

“Where did you get that?”

“I raided a mess hall while I was gone. You want some?”

Trickster ignored the offer. “What about food? Did you find any food?”

Aegis chuckled. “Unless you want some decade-old rice or something, I don't think you would want anything that was in there.”

Trickster gave no reply. After watching a few more drinks, he had an idea.

“Give me the bottle.”

“I told you you'd want some. Here you go.”

Trickster took a small handkerchief from his pocket and placed it halfway in the bottle. He lit the other end, and threw the makeshift cocktail into the mist. Aegis looked, mouth open, as the area in front of them exploded in a short blaze that cleared the fog and coughed up dozens of charred corpses.

“Now you can see.” Trickster said contently, as he began to check up on the others, now more visible.

Aegis lagged behind. That was a waste of some good alcohol.

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SpoilerHaha, I've been wanting to do that since the beginning of this game.

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SpoilerI guess I'm going to be the comic foil for this game..

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerI lol'd

"I know it's a waste... I would've rather used it on that bastard Larus," Trickster joked. "But anyways, let's head on back to that mess hall. Maybe we could find something or someone of relative interest," Trickster hastily blurted out before suddenly jolting off running. Aegis followed close behind.

"Hey, wait up! I still have to show you where... the... Wait a second, I only thought that, I never said anything about wasting alcohol."

"Oh, I guess it's just a little bonus of having me around." the feminine voice reappeared and boomed over the skies of the base.

"Who said that? Okay, I'm kinda confused, now. I demand and explanation for that." Aegis thrust his index finger into the sky.

"So, wait, you can hear her too now?"

"Did I not mention that? Oh, right, I can also amplify my thoughts to everyone else. I can sense quite a few other people around, more than we've seen so far. They're both relatively powerful as well."

"So, wait, you actually aren't a waste of space! Just wonderful."

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerSo, guys, this is the one Grand Battle that hasn't updated today.

Anybody care to fix that?

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerThe PM of Doom goes out tomorrow.

This is the absolute last chance for players to make a life-saving post, so if you're worried about being eliminated, POST NOW, and make it awesome. Do not delay.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerI'd post something up but I'm waiting for Aryo to do something first. I don't want to double-write.

I hope that last post introducing Trickster's sister was good enough to save my ass. It's not very big but it's better than some of the stuff I've seen here, no offense meant to anybody.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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SpoilerI don't really have any idea what kind of combatative magic Sister Clara might have so I'm going to be a bit vague in that area. Sorry.

Sister Clara looked at the undead wretches that shuffled miserably towards them. It made her feel slightly sad to see zombies animated like this; mindless, violent, hungry. The soul of the person trapped, helpless in their own shambling corpse. They were suffering. She looked down at her hand, violently spitting necromantic sparks, focusing on stopping the flow of magic. It didn't work. It was like a tap, stuck open, trying to drain away the excess magic from Aph's blast and consequently reanimating every dead body in the entire facility. Actually speaking of Aph she was attempting to fight off one of the zombies. She looked like she had never seen one before, her eyes wide in panic. Sister Clara quickly decided it would be a good idea to use up some of this magic before it ran out of corpses to reanimate.

There was a loud crack, like an explosion and Aph snapped out of it. She put her full weight behind her blade and sliced through the thing's chest, hearing it's bones crack as she pulled the sword out of it's side.

"You have to take off their heads." Sister Clara shouted to her, as more zombies were lurching out of the doorway they'd come through.

Aph, hesitated for a moment, chopping off a creature's head seemed an unnecessarily brutal task, but she reasoned if her love was telling her to do so there was a good reason. She swung her blade as hard as she could at the monster's neck. There was a loud crack and a sickening squelch as it's head fell onto the floor. A second later it was down. Aph felt a little queasy, but allowed herself a little grin, just for a second. She stopped when more of them lurched through the fog and she remembered she wasn't done yet.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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The nun clasped her hands and concentrated, muttering; a bolt of lightning streaked down through the mists, striking one of the zombies and sending a loud crack of thunder echoing through the courtyard. The zombie jerked and smoldered, but kept advancing. This might require a different tact...

She drew her blade out of the cane and laid it on the ground. A piece of chalk was produced from the folds of the sister's robes, and she drew a handful of sigils along the sword's edge; a few short syllables later, and it rose off the ground, hovering near its master. She got back to her feet and pointed it at a group of zombies; it flew towards them and began, admittedly rather clumsily and slowly, beheading them.

Now that the immediate danger was alleviated a bit, it was time for the real magic. Sister Clara moved up close behind Aph, who was currently hacking at the neck of a particularly stubborn corpse. "Now, don't be alarmed, dear. You may feel a sliiight pinch." She delicately touched her right middle finger to Aph's back; a small gold spark leapt from her skin to Aph's but nothing else happened, visually.

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Aph had just drawn her arm back for the blow she figured would finish the zombie she was working on when she heard her Clara's voice and felt something brush against her back. Suddenly, every muscle in her body felt like it clenched at once, then released; she brought the sword down, slamming it through the tattered flesh of her foe, not just removing its head, but lopping off its arm at the shoulder. She blinked, surprised. The nymph felt... Odd. Strong. Calm.

Experimentally, she swung her left arm at another approaching shambler; its skull collapsed around the back of her hand, and it tottered and fell over. Aph turned to look at Clara, who smiled and waved, not noticing the one-armed corpse about to brain her.

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerAll right, the death notice has been sent. Second round starts soon.

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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From his control center, the Monitor watched the battle unfold. A particular turn of events caught his attention.

"There is a 23% chance that, if unchecked, this could lead to a premature end to the battle," he said to himself. "An unacceptable level of risk. How fortunate that I have a check in place."

He contacted his agent.

'Cabaret' heard a voice echoing in his mind.

The mage known as Trickster must be eliminated. The details are up to you.

The message was followed by a mental image of the base's layout, showing Trickster's location. Bae changed his outward form to that of Larus and left the room stealthily.

Trickster's Molotov cocktail had driven off most of the zombies, but a few continued to trickle into the room. He and Aegis were largely able to keep them under control, but the voice suddenly spoke up.


"Hey, that's weird. I feel someone headed this way. But there's something a little weird about them..."

"Frankly, that could be anyone in this contest," Aegis replied, chuckling a bit as he punched an undead soldier's head off.

'Larus' quietly slipped into the room in liquid form. When he was sure both Trickster and Aegis were distracted, he reshaped himself into a humanoid form.

"Hey kid," he said, mimicking Larus' voice perfectly. "Need a hand?"

Trickster glared at the man he had come to consider his rival.

"I don't know where you came from, but we're doing just fine. We don't need any help from you," he said, annoyed.

"Then maybe I won't help," replied 'Larus', grinning wickedly.

It was over in a moment. Larus lunged at Trickster and stabbed him in the heart, before he or Aegis could react.

"Sister Clara! Look out!" Aph shouted, rushing towards the zombie attacking her love.

Moments before the soldier's blow hit, both nymph and sister simply vanished.

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SpoilerNext round up very soon.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerOh. So that's the purpose of the outbox.

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SpoilerWaitwhat. Hijack wasn't that bad.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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SpoilerI am, if not floored, at least very surprised.

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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The contestants reappeared scattered around a large bog. A deep mist filled the area, making it hard to see.

"Welcome to the Misty Swamp," the Monitor's voice echoed. Bae used the opportunity to return to his guise as Cabaret unnoticed. He had been informed of this battlefield already; indeed, he was better-informed than the rest of the combatants were about to be.

"As the name suggests," the Monitor continued, "it is a swamp, and quite a dangerous one at that. And it is also filled with a mist which will obscure your vision. I am sure you do not want to enter it, but the topography of the area will give you little choice at times."

Bae grinned. He was expecting that part to be fun. He recalled what the Monitor had told him before the contest had started - the one battlefield he had been given advance knowledge of.

"The fog in this swamp does more than simply interfere with vision. It has a psychological effect as well.

"The mist causes anyone who comes near it to become irrationally angered. The thicker the fog, the greater the effect. When there is but a small amount of mist, they will simply be irritated. A greater amount will cause them to be very quick to anger. And where the fog is thickest, it will temporarily drive them into pure rage. Until the effect wears off, they will seek to kill anyone they come across.

"Your unique physiology renders you immune to these effects. When I take the battle to this place, I want you to lure as many combatants into the fog as you can. This should produce a more interesting battle."

Bae was looking forward to this.

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SpoilerAnd Round 2 begins! As stated in the text, you're in a swamp filled with mist, and the mist will cause whoever wanders into it to go berserk and start attacking anyone they see. I'm hoping to see lots of fighting this round, and watching alliances get a lot more tenuous.

Note that if the Monitor tells Bae something, that doesn't necessarily mean I've told snoomanwaff about it. Also, to be clear - the Monitor will only provide Bae with information or orders when he feels it is absolutely necessary. Bae should not be constantly getting messages.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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Reserved.

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SpoilerAlso, is B still in this?

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerYes. If you want to interact with him, go ahead. Maybe that'll get cyber95 actually doing things.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerBrain 'splode.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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Sister Clara wrinkled her nose. This place smelled foul, and looked worse; the former problem, at least, was easily solved: she simply stopped breathing. This might make speech difficult in a bit, but for now things were fine; maybe she could rig up some sort of filter abjuration in time. Looking around, she saw that Aph had ended up near her and was already making a beeline towards her, and D'Neya and Larus where similarly close to each other, and only a bit away from herself.

The old woman smiled and took Aph's hand, wandering away from the swamp, intent on seeing what sort of 'topographical' ways this arena had for forcing her into the swamp. Aside from the odd lack of natural sounds for such an area, it looked like a fairly standard area of plains-bordering-wetland outside the obscuring mists. So far anyway.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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SpoilerOkay. Making an attempt this round to, well, actually be here.
Also, I can't believe B didn't die. Sorry, Hijack. I'll try to make your character's death not in vain.

B was surprised by the sudden change in scenery. He had decided to spend much of the last round merely looking for some sort of nook or cranny to hide in, and also hiding in said nook/cranny. A little bit of that hiding time was spent thinking about the competition somewhat. Would he be able to survive? Was hiding really going to help him? Respectively, the answers he came up with were 'Maybe' and 'Yes, but there were probably better plans.'

He stood up, looking around a bit. The Misty Swamp. It was nothing if not aptly named. The fact that he wasn't where he was before probably meant somebody had died. Even more reason to find a good safety tactic. First, perhaps he would find somebody else. If they were hostile, he would run away. If not, well, he could gain an ally.
B got down to the ground, and started sniffing. He stopped a moment later with a realization.
'This would go a lotter better if I were better suited to it.

Soon, his form started changing. His feet began to elongate, his legs changing shape, his face stretching out. A tail began to poke out from his pants, which managed to change form to suit along with him, and fur started growing all over. Before long, where B was standing, a wolf had taken it's place. It was a rather strange sight, though, to a see a wolf looking like this, with metal teeth and a bright red patch of hair, wearing a jacket and jeans.

He tried sniffing around again, and got a whiff of something. There were a few people to the left of where he started, and he started running towards where he smelled it from, past a large veil of light mist.

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SpoilerB is now in a wolf form, obviously. His weapon has taken form as sharp teeth. Also, he can't speak.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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"Clara?" Aph asked as they made their way through the swamp.

"What is it dear?" Sister Clara asked patiently, scouting the area looking for anything of interest.

"Are we done yet?" Aph asked. "I've had enough of this game and I think it's probably about time we leave before either of us get hurt." Aph paused. "At first it was okay because it was all exciting and I got to meet you, which is wonderful. But now we're somewhere else and there's more mist and everything..." she sighed. "I just want to go somewhere more romantic. Like a candelit dinner, or Paris or somewhere. Do you think we get to go to any of those places later?"

Sister Clara thought for a little while. "No." she said eventually. "I don't think we will."

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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As they had been talking, the pair had been steadily moving away from the fog. Aph was about to respond when the ground beneath Clara furrowed and shifted, knocking her off her feet; the soil began sliding unnaturally quickly towards the mire, taking the nun with it. The hovering nymph, of course, was unaffected by soil movement, and hurriedly grabbed her current sweetheart's hand, pulling her out of the river of dirt. The nun stood up and dusted herself off as best she could, attempting to seem as unruffled as ever.

"Looks like something wants us in that swamp. I guess I'd better start working on that spell sooner than later."

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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Bae cursed under it's breath, had it managed to drag Clara into the swamp it would have been easy to get her into the mist and let it do it's work. It moved off towards a small group of trees and took stock of it's inventory: 1 armoured vest, 1 bloodied folding knife, 1 small pile of random crap, 1 pda type machine which was now useless and a flare. It proceeded to move a short way into the mist, stuck the flare into the ground and lit it concealing itself nearby.