ERode

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Up above, the flying snake was being torn apart by Chris’s flames and claws, the red lasers that it shot out striking nothing as the accumulated damage caused it to convulse.

Far off, Factory fell, Sander single handedly smashing his way through the heart of the subnatural. Its body impacted with enough force that the superficially damaged apartment building shook, dust sprinkling on Brent from above, but it held.

Down below, the battle that they should have already won was becoming messier. Observing from the scope once more, Brent couldn’t tell if it was good or bad that mud-man’s abilities were continuing to make the battlefield a quagmire. Hazel’s attack was effective, at least, but the spiders had finally drawn blood. He winced as the web caught onto Angelic’s face, the rock star’s panic and agony clear even at a distance. Smoothly aiming his Desert Eagle, the arbiter was about to begin taking out the spiders when a flurry of noise sounded.

Screams, splatters, and then, the phone squawked to life, asking for information. Eyes scanned over the constantly updating map, spotting the yellow blip that overlapped with Evacuation’s own red dot. Something went wrong with extracting? No response sounded from Marcus, Sophia, Savannah, or Lawrence, and Brent swivelled, keeping low as he brought his scope to look down the road.

“Oh fuck.”

It was easy to find the APC and the site of the attack when fresh blood colored the pavement. Lawrence’s unmoving body laid face-flat, as an unfamiliar trio strode away. Where were the rest? Did Sophs escape? Where they the rogue subnaturals that Kardos had warned them about? Fuck fuck fuck…and the phone! Fuck, the phone showed where everyone was!

“Kardos! The maps displaying on Evac Team’s phones! Shut it down!”

The damage was already done. Those three bastards would have heard Emma’s voice ringing through Lawrence’s phone. They may investigate. And once they found it…it’d be much too easy to figure out where the Healers were.

“Offensive Support, Strikers, Healer Teams, Gregory,” Brent said, excluding Evac from the message, “The APC has been attacked by three subnaturals. One male with olive skin, one female with black hair, and another with blond hair in a ponytail. Necks hidden. Don’t know their powers yet. Don’t message anyone on Evac team. Lawrence is down and the rest are missing.”

He paused, looking at the map. Oh god, Christmas, Ernie, and Zoe were WAY too close to that group. Were there even more subnaturals then, lurking around Wisford? Brent’s brows furrowed. Offensive Support couldn’t spare anyone, not now. Sander was chasing down a different ‘scent’. Chris was still duelling the snake up there, the construct that persisted even after its creator fell. Which meant…

“Callan, can you hear me? Go into town. Factory’s down, but we have possibly even more enemy subnaturals in Wisford. We’ll need your help.”

The arbiter let out a deep breath, glad for once that he couldn’t smell anything other than filtered, rubbery air.

The Desert Eagle gleamed, and then exploded once more, retaking its white-with-purple-lines form.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@ERode

Truth be told I'm sort of confused as to where Mauve Night is in relation with Finn, and the floor. Probably just my sleep deprivation, but do you mind clarifying it for me?

Edit: Dern, tagged wrong person. Ignore that please.

@Lord of Evil

From what I envisioned, Blue Nova is on the floor, back against the ground. Mauve Night is with him, positioned at a right angle to his head/neck/shoulder area, back also on the ground. And while Blue Shifting her into a wall might work, I don't know if he needs his feet/body to be facing the direction he wants in order to do so? Or if he'd just be shifting into the sky??

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Breath escaped between clenched teeth as the situation progressed much better than expected. The threat of the spider net had been more or less obliterated by Hazel, who then went on to eviscerate the spiders and centipedes with a sweeping strike. Emma’s sludge monster had slowed the multi-legged clockworks to the extent that the surrounding tactic that he had warned them about wasn’t effective at all, while a combination of Angelic and Grant’s attacks seemed to clear off what remained. The ‘main team’ had rested enough to help out as well now, the clockwork numbers thinning dramatically. Off in the distance, the flying snake had sustained noticeable injuries from both Sander and Chris, while Callan…if nothing else, it was clear that she was still alive and kicking.

One large dot was uncomfortably close to Offensive Support, the elephantine figure easily spotted from Brent’s vantage point, but at the same time, he couldn’t imagine it being much of a threat at all. Hazel was proving herself much too useful, both the strongest shield and the strongest sword, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Factory’s magic wasn’t enough to prevent its army from being disintegrated by those purple constructs of hers, and its giant form, while impressive, clearly didn’t hold up against Sander’s invulnerability or Callan’s destructive force. No one had been injured so far, if Siena’s ‘I’m fine’ was to be trusted and the one subnatural that attacked Ernie’s team had been subdued.

The magic within his gun faded, the Desert Eagle turning back to polished steel.

His eyes glanced over the map once more, before he clicked his tongue. That large dot was only getting closer.

“A big one’s getting real close, Offensive Support,” he spoke, watching it churn through rubble, “At 100 meters or so right now. Watch your back. Shouldn’t be much of a problem though, judging by prior performance.”

And then, his eyes narrowed.

“Christmas, is there a particular reason why you’re getting closer to the frontlines?”

Cliffnotes

No Overclocks

Remaining in position.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@Lord of Evil
Yeah, that's my bad. Doesn't effect cooldown, only cast speed.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

<Snipped quote by ERode>

Oh, and also, how many rounds has Finn taken by now? Feels like he'd be around halfway to death at this point.

@Lord of Evil

Think one of the GMs said something about Moe's attack speed allowing for three-five shots per turn, so let's say he's at 9+ (75% slow) right now. If he doesn't pull some super badass tech out, we can wrap up the fight in my next post.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

A blue burst erupted in Mauve Night’s face, her vision temporarily shaken by the special ability. In the corner of her eye, her HP bar took a hit, but it wasn’t nearly enough to dissuade her. Some people would have struggled in vain, other people would have tapped out, and a few really weird people would have enjoyed the situation, but Blue Nova was doing work on his own, his restrained fist glowing once more, shining with destructive starlight.

“Wow,” Mauve Night exclaimed, magenta eyes alight excitement, “Shoulda got started when I reached 'zero'!”

Shifting her weight lower, she curled in her legs and twisted her body, bringing the Berserker onto his back and transitioning into an arm bar, twisting his ensnared arm until it threatened to pop out of his shoulder. She could hear small cracks already, but to further drive in her point, her gun, the barrel pressed against his bicep, cracked out another three shots, slowing his body’s responses further.

“Wanna give up, porcupine boy? Or are you gonna keep going?”

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

Moe has the qualities of being young enough that the war starters would have graduated by the time she starts to consider her future, being low levelled enough that it doesn't make sense for her to be in any position of power in her Guid, and being detached enough that the war just looks like a big fight to her.

And while you can imagine that she doesn't give a fuck, it's not like Blue Nova pointed out stuff like "shit, why you fighting me if we're on the same side?"

Regardless though, I was never planning on having Moe kill Blue Nova.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@Lord of Evil
Yea, I'd imagine that the explosion thing would probably be unaffected, outside of the cooldown increasing insignificantly.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

There it was, his instant movement ability that made any attempt to kite trivial!

Right as she recovered, Blue Nova was in her face again, the larger avatar’s hand grabbing onto her collar, movements slowed by the effect of her shots. So it wasn’t teleportation? Even better! Grinning at the close quarters situation she found herself in once more, the purple-haired avatar unloaded another salvo into his chest at point blank, before grabbing his arm as well. Stepping in, she pressed her right foot against his right hip and stepped up. Airborne, the ranger’s left leg swept over Blue Nova’s head, hooking around his neck, before both knees squeezed, locking that arm in place. No doubt, the smarter decision would have been for her to just unleash a full attack and inflict even more debuffs upon her foe, but…

He was neither a speedster nor a mage! He was a brawling fist dude, and that meant he didn’t deserve it!

Mauve Night’s armlock tightened, as she prepared for the next transition.
@Lord of Evil

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

Hm, couple of questions for @KoL before muh next paste.

1. Does activating Star's Protection count as one Action?

2. Would Star's Protection negate the effects of Mauve Night's slows? Would the slows still apply to Blue Nova? Or would Star's Protection be 'slowed', in that it's cooldown is increased and there's a delay for activation and deactivation, while Blue Nova himself is uneffected?