Terminal

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

For those concerned with the issue of how I described the blade's trajectory earlier:

Let it be. Wait for it.

In other news though: @Doc Doctor, you are allowed to post more than once between my own posts. You could have posted in regards to shooting at Fortune's arm prior to my own post.

In this case it's not a problem, since the contextual reality is flexible like that. Just something to bear in mind.

The Final Hazard

"Um, not to rain on the party or anything, but if you are now free to leave...and do leave...then what's to stop us from resetting the whatever it was you said afterwards and leave ourselves? Seems like that's a win-win situation."

@Cruallassar

"I just thought I'd let you know before you begin spewing riddles and make us squirm and stuff."

@WiseDragonGirl

"You can't leave... not really anyway. You don't have a body in the physical world of your own, so the only ways you can enter the real world is if someone created you a body out of dark, twisted magic or if you possess someone... which is why we're really here, isn't it?" Narrowing his gaze at their 'hostess', he felt more and more confident with his theory as he continued "It's why this world was designed to make us suffer... to try and break our wills to make it easier for you. But you couldn't just take anyone; A weak soul begets a weak body and a weak host wouldn't last long... but while you managed to clear away those with weaker souls, you're not confident that you would win in an outright battle with us, thus this 'game' of yours."

@Bright_Ops

The woman blinked several times rapidly, her smile twisting in bemusement as confusion blossomed across her face.

"...Are you little motes being serious? I am having genuine trouble telling otherwise..."

A flash, a splitting boom, tatters of Donny's coat spinning in the void. The entire time the group had believed Donny to be on their side, but the only side Donny had ever been on was his own. He was no longer under contract, and so just like that, there was one less party member and one more dangerous foe. He'd have fired across his belly and through the side of his overcoat, drawing his revolver from its leg holster while his flank was hidden to the others. Ariett had been the one Donny considered the most threatening, so he aimed to shoot her down first with a .454 to the heart.

@Doc Doctor

"How...very bold of you." The woman practically purred as she straightened again, neatly folding her hands together - the claws extending from her fingers silently retracting. Her eyes narrowed ever-so-faintly as she gave Donny a lazy, contemptuous smile. "...and how very conceited. Hubris within hubris. Though the audacity does-"

As she forced herself limp, she surreptitiously armed the grenade, holding it by her belly, and drifting lazily back towards Leona and Donny. Once she drew close, she spin around to protect the others from the blast with her body, and release the grenade.

@Holmishire

"Oh my." The woman said faintly, her voice slightly raised and distant. The maneuver had apparently caught her entirely off-guard. "That's troublesome-"

Like most other incendiary grenades, the M-14 napalm grenade was not strictly intended as a lethal weapon, but rather to burn through fortifications or to destroy troublesome objects. Its effective range upon detonation was quite limited, though it was likely to be quite unpleasant to anything it made contact with. Like other incendiary grenades, it also possessed an exceedingly short fuse, and started to burn a mere second after Ariett released it - combusting with a blinding light, sending sparks and embers flying in every direction throughout the void as a second star was born in the darkness followed immediately thereafter by a billowing cloud of obscuring smoke, obstructing both the woman and Donny from view - as well as the sword that Fortune saw fit to throw, which plunged straight into the fog tip-first, and flying eerily straight. Straighter than it had any business being, considering the angle Fortune had hurled it at. If Donny did not move away from his position, the weapon would hurtle through the cloud of smoke and impale him right through the chest - though he would have faint warning of its approach, only in that he could have seen Fortune throw it before Ariett had released the grenade.

The haphazardly flying sparks and cinders erupting from within the cloud of smoke shot through every direction in the surrounding darkness - and directly below them, approximately three meters down, they hit something before snuffing out. The darkness below them shivered, and gave way.

The source of the audible humming was revealed. It was a machine - insomuch as such a curious assembly could have been called mechanical. Resembling a large stone cairn, with twelve layers of monolithic stones layered atop each other, separated by thin films of cerulean static energies and adorned with strings of carved bones and chunks of obsidian. A series of precision linework arranged in fractal geometric patterns covered the surface of each stone, and set into the face of the sixth from the bottom was a computer screen gilded in brass, with a pewter case seated within the monolith's body. A fine mechanical keyboard with extremely robust but ornate pewter keys with pearl-coated surfaces and emerald typeface extended from below it, along with a messy guts-worth of cables and wiring worming out to trace all around the cairn, secured by clasps of the strung bones and connecting to obtrusive pewter ports in the side of the other eleven monoliths. Twelve small levitating spheres not entirely dissimilar in appearance from the traffic sphere from earlier hung about the top of the cairn, with holes along each of their three axis. A glittering black fluid of sorts circulated in and out of each opening, passing between each sphere in turn as a coursing, levitating river that formed a wavering, triple-layered halo of starlight around the assembly.

"What a hassle." The woman's voice was utterly flat, but Donny could see that her face had twisted into a vicious snarl. As the rapidly approaching cloud of smoke approached them - the incendiary grenade having been flung at some speed - she reached out with her right hand, grasping at the device inside.

She missed, but apparently managed to graze it. The grenade and the cloud of smoke surrounding it pinwheeled a ways above her head, leaving behind a trail of sparks. Though it began to ascend, the woman's gesture had apparently robbed it of most of its velocity, leaving it hanging in space, still burning viciously, rather than flying away into nothingness. The woman hissed angrily, waving her hand as though it had been caught in a mousetrap. A fair amount of smoke clung and wafted from it conspicuously, but it appeared unburnt.

"I'm not positive, but I'm pretty certain that's the Allineator." The pavise knight commented from between Fortune, Kael, and Andreas. "Given none of you are local, I probably have the best chance at deactivating it...and if you know anything about magic, I guess you'd be the next best thing to our technician..." He nodded at Kael. "What do you all say to us two going down and switching it off while the others go and distract Leona and that fucking Proxy?"

The Final Hazard

"Oh, I wasn't tasked to slay you," Andy said, his voice almost casual, but he had a tired look in his eyes. "I was asked to come so I could take care of a Kanuri boy, all the other things were more or less added afterwards, in a 'since you're here, could you do this too?' kind of way." A resigned smile appeared on his face and he sighed. "Quite frankly, the one who gave that task vanished. I don't see any of the wounded I was supposed take care of, so I'm going to see if I can work my way down and see what that humming sound is. For the slaying part you have to be with the armed people."

@WiseDragonGirl

@WiseDragonGirl
"The Kanuri boy...?" The woman repeated with a deadpan expression. A moment later, recognition flashed across her face and she broke into a light laugh - a deep and rumbling sort of sound, completely alien to human vocal cords - it sounded almost strangely like a very low-pitched purr. "Oh yes, the little riddle master..." She abruptly snarled. "I killed that third-world trash. Thinking he was better than me..." She sniffed haughtily, bringing her right hand up to her face and...

She licked the back of her own hand. Four times. It seemed almost like a reflexive habit. Each motion was long and languorous, drawn out deliberate. With the odd woman's mouth fully open, her severely pointed canines were now in full view.

"Are you done? Are you finished finding amusement out of this twisted game?"

@Bright_Ops

"What good would killing us do you now? We have no way of leaving this place, and nowhere left to go even if we could."

@Holmishire

"Oh, but you're wrong about that little mote." The woman Ariett a generous smile. A smile that showed nearly all of her teeth. They seemed larger than normal. "All you have to do to leave is to reset the Fractal Analogue Iteration Transistor. It just happens that you will have to kill me before I permit that." She smiled primly at Ariett as the other woman willed herself to drift forward - and began to do just that.

"And of course, this instance is far and long too gone. You silly little morsels never stood a chance - our encounter was preordained, and we share a little something in common..." The golden-eyed woman reached out with a lazy hand, five short but sharp razor claws erupting from the tips of her fingers to dig into Ariett's shirt with a firm grasp, little scathing the belated visitor's skin. "I too was fated to die." She rasped. "I too was sent here to suffer. But you meager little chops did the impossible and turned that right around. I can leave at will now. Her grip tightened, and she drew her face closer to Ariett's, leering all the while. She was breathing deep, heavy, panting breaths - that smelled strongly of rot and refuse. "It is only fair I should reward you...but I am still a creature of its own nature made. Not even Hubris to my benefit deserves such rich privilege. Let us see...if you lot are as good at riddles as that little shred of a brat was." She let go of Ariett, shoving her forcefully back through the air.

@Bright_Ops@Doc Doctor@Holmishire@WiseDragonGirl
"You may each answer separately or as a party with each other. Answer incorrectly, and you will be mine. Answer correctly...and you may leave." The woman grinned again - a predatory expression, punctuated by the lustful manner in which she licked her own chops a scant moment later. "Or, if you're perhaps a touch more curious...instead of leaving...I will answer one question truthfully in turn for each right answer. That is your purpose here, yes? Treacherous little secrets and tender little screams of pain..." She hunched over in the air, her arms rearing back, the fabric of her coat seeming to bulge as hidden cords of muscle impossibly surged just beneath the surface.

"Or maybe you would like to squirm a little more first...?" The woman's voice practically rolled with a continuous, humming purr of a sound, continuously building up in the back of her throat as she spoke.

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

You were not tagged, so you did not have to post. No harm done.

The Final Hazard

He didn't even bother listening to whatever filth it was spewing, reaching down to pick up the blade that he had dropped when his head felt like it was melting in order to aim a swing to decapitate the monstrous centipede. "Burn in whatever pit spawned you vile creature!"

@Bright_Ops

The blade's tip sliced cleanly through the hideous, writhing creature - its head separating from the rest of its body. The man who choked on his own mettle was oddly still despite the injury, unmoving as the centipede's head drifted off into the void, leaking a trail of black ichor globules.

A moment later, the husk of the man who choked on his own mettle took on the texture of soot, cracks growing across his form before it simply came apart and blew away in every direction, a brief flurry of its ashes vanishing into the darkness without trace. The centipede's head likewise disintegrated, leaving naught but the visceral shadow of the man who choked on his own mettle. It began to shrink, imploding in upon its own iridescent heart - soon reduced to naught but a single frail mote of light, casting the faintest pool of detail across the cobblestone path it stood upon.

The remainder of those who were fated to die and the one who felt no loss experienced their own uncoiling - the surrounding burnt hall took on a texture less burnt and more stonelike, akin to petrified wood - and then they were all buried in a flurry of disintegrating ashes as the world came apart around them, leaving nothing behind.

To punctuate their loss, the cold sun then blinked off. One moment it was there. The next it was gone.

Much like the ground, which gave beneath their feet, shuddering like a layer of tar before giving way like a snapping plastic lid. Nobody fell - merely drifting in the darkness.

Quivering in that dark, the faint mote - all that was left of the man who choked on his own mettle - uttered its last words.

"If they do not come, why build?"

Then it, too, was gone - leaving those who were fated to die and the one who felt no loss drifting, relatively helpless and without direction in the hideous, empty world.

"My my. They must really want you dead."

A feminine figure bled out of nothingness, its form edging into what little was left of reality like ink staining paper. She stood perhaps 1.8 meters tall, with a somewhat full and unathletic build. Her face was pleasantly rounded about the checks, but angular and narrow from her forehead to her chin. Her hair was wavering jet, drifting loosely and freely in this world absent of any kind of cohesive force. She wore a black coat with light gold trimming over a red shirt, along with khakies and a pair of long black boots. Her eyes were a hard metallic gold in coloration, and she was giving those who were fated to die a predatory smile - revealing her notably pointed canines.

"I was not expecting you for...at least a little while longer. I suppose their patience could not be contained." Her voice was somewhat bemused, containing a trace of surprise heavily buried under layers of smug contempt. She drifted freely, seemingly with full control over her motion despite the absence of anything to propel her, until she was roughly halfway between both Fortune and those who were fated to die - approximately three meters out from both parties.

"Well, you were tasked to slay me, yes? Go ahead. Here is your chance. Try." She turned to lock her gaze with Donny explicitly, granting him a softer and seemingly apologetic smile.

Somewhere in the darkness, a soft sound had emerged. A faint humming. Rather than coming from all about, it seemed to originate from a particular direction - somewhere below them all, poised a ways beneath the golden-eyed woman's feet - though what it was coming from could not be discerned. Whatever it was, it was completely hidden in the darkness of the world.

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

Less than an hour remains and yet again not everyone who was tagged has gotten around to posting.

The End approaches.

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

@Terminal are edits still punished or did you stop doing that too?

@WiseDragonGirl

Edits are still punished.

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

@Terminal

You know, I was content to just stop posting and have Fortune just disappear from the Rp. I wasn't having fun anymore because I was tried to dealing with a GM that actively punishes me for my mild dyslexia... as well as the problems caused my others that makes figuring out what this so called 'bigger picture' of the game is.

Then you had a demonic looking bug call Fortune a coward. He is many things, but he isn't a coward. I'm going to make you a promise; He is going to win this one way or the other.

@Bright_Ops

If it is any consolation, I decided to drop the issue of distorting the text using posters' own grammatical errors. They were simply piling up too quickly - and not just from you. Not by far. Additionally, adding errors in did not actually deter future errors from being made.

So now the only things you have to deal with our the other contestants and my punishing continuity errors.

The enthusiasm though, is a great relief. I look forward to his ascending victory.

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

@Terminal

I withdrew from the game at the wipe. Fortune's not in it anymore.

@Bright_Ops

Well, here's your opportunity to exit stage right. Aesch just pointed it out for you.

That's currently the mechanism for leaving. Otherwise you can eat a lost life from something happening to Fortune, possibly after causing another disturbance.

The Final Hazard

"Here. If you're accompanying us, you might want a full kit." Since after all, his last shield had been turned into doom incarnate...

@Cruallassar

@Cruallassar
"Oh. Thanks." The knight replied, gingerly taking the pavise by its sides in both hands. "Uh. Sorry for trying to kill you earlier. We were pretty sure - Hiecro and me that is - that you and that girl were proxies. This whole situation is just..." He shook his head, the golden light pouring from his eyes blooming with intensity for a moment. "...we thought that just because we weren't told about you that you were a suspect - and then that gearhead turns out to be a proxy all along despite being one of the people we really were supposed to retrieve? Madness." He moved the pavise to his left hand, sliding his arm into the mounted straps on its back before straightening up. "I guess if nothing else we don't need to worry about them turning on us anymore. Maybe it thought it would kill more of us in the sphere by gibbing itself like that. Uh." He coughed, turning his head to glance between Donny and the open door leading into the university proper.

"If any of you find weapons on one of the bodies, bring it to me, please. I'll probably need something to break any security systems acting weird."

@Holmishire

@Doc Doctor@Holmishire@WiseDragonGirl
"About that. I know this will sound really stupid, but maybe we should consider splitting up in there? I mean, what Aesch told you does not really cover just how freaky Leona is, from what I heard just before the lockdown. If Donny and I and Sir Fortune can't handle her, at least the rest of you might be able to get the Duke or some of the others out safely. Let Aesch burn the whole place down with her trapped inside." He looked around warily. "Where is Sir Fortune, by the way? He sort of vanished on us..."

@Bright_Ops
The tongue-mounted centipede wriggling out from the widened maw of the man who choked on his own mettle chittered sardonically, a note of scorn somehow permeating the echoing, cohesive voice it conjured with its rubbing legs as it addressed Fortune. "You seem out of place. If it is the Coward's Heart you seek, it may be found yonder; trail but back out. Perhaps this task is too much for you, little mote?" The small centipede uttered a rattling laugh. The husk it extended from raised one shaking arm to point with a wobbling digit towards the void behind Fortune, out across the landing pad and its current carpet of viscera, bodies, and shattered gears. One by one, without any fuss, the miscellaneous bits and pieces of debris were turning to black and bleeding out of the air, soon to leave nothing behind. It seemed mere remnants could not survive in this place. What precisely the husk of the man who choked on his own mettle was gesturing out remained out of sight, obscuring by oblivion - perhaps it could see what he could not?