Gameplay Log - As Recored by Serendipity Engine

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--<* Nexus: Cinnabar District(#3196Rh|) *>-=--=--=--=--=--=--

 

        The largest swath of open space in Nexus, the two hundred acre Parko Llana dominates the southern end of the Cinnabar District. Botanical gardens crowd next to athletic fields and the green grass of concert lawns. There are even a few carefully-designed formal gardens in amid the greenery, each one a little jewel of some topiarist's efforts. City groundskeepers deftly collect the price of such diversions from most, but a few laze around the periphery of the Parko where the view is free. A larger number head down stairwells beside it, towards the tunnels and passages that honeycomb the dank earth beneath Nexus. The Mushroom Way, the largest drug mart in the city, welcomes its devotees beneath the Parko Llana.

        The housing here in the Cinnabar District bespeaks the artists, poets, writers and composers who relish the district's cheap rent along the western margins, where the Poor Man's Breath sends eddies of filth and smoke. A few can be found at all hours declaiming their latest masterpiece to politely indifferent hearers, or flailing desperately at their instruments as they seek the laud of the crowds. To the east, the finer air encourages the modest houses of middling traders and moderately prosperous merchants. Tidy little apartments in the larger buildings are given over to the mistresses and catamites of the better class of the city, the cachet of having a kept woman or boy in the Cinnabar District being a custom of long standing. Given the poverty of many of the artists here, the roles are occasionally mingled.

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- Contents -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--

 Serendipity Engine  Hideous Fate Machine                           0s   1h

 Tsangun                                                            10s  20m

 Topaz               Very tall Godblooded young woman.              20s  5m

 Grandmother Spider  An eccentric woman in rustic, flamboyant cloth 43s  1h

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Exits -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Geyser of Negation <BAD>  Nexus <SW>                East Gate <SE>           

The Laughing Canvas <LC>  Sentinel Hill <S>        

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

    The low rumbling continues, but begins to build in intensity. Those in Nexus will initially be unsure of the source of the sound, beyond the fact that it saturates every part of their city, from the air above to the sewers below....

        Eventually though, it becomes clear, as the sound builds, that it is coming from the Cinnabar district of the city...of course, it helps that a growing cloud of dust is rising from that area...

 

The rising dust, obscures the view of Gilded Rose, who's moved through the district, leaving the dark skinned, dragon-blooded to cough spasmatically as the dust and rubbling invade her body.

"What's that noise?" Spider calls to the helm, poking her head in from the upper deck of the Sun Dog. She's cruising over the city at a lazy pace and altitude, the ships fan-sails fully spread, her stone ring drive purring contentedly.

 

"Something in the engines, maybe?" Sparrow replies.

 

"No, no I don't think so," murmurs Spider, putting a spyglass to her eyes and squinting at the rising plume of dust below. "Something's happening down in the city. Take us closer, would you please?" And so they angle in, keeping a cautious distance but drawing a lazy circle around the site, tipped to port slightly for a better view.

Topaz jogs to Cinnabar as quickly as her long legs can carry her. She felt the rumbling just a moment before it became 'public knowledge', so she's perhaps one of the first curiosity-seekers to arrive. Besides, Prince may need to know about this!

 

    Cathak Zuriel is almost never in Nexus as the two times he's been in the city something bad has happened--it seems that the trend continues. This time, however he came prepared. With a practiced jump, fiery wings sprout from his back and carry him aloft so that he may survey the city from above.

 

Tsangun moves on foot, her curiosity drawing her towards the sound and the dust. ~This probably isn't going to be good, can't help but to see what's going on though,~ she thinks to herself as she moves along, using other people around her as cover when possible, but not actively trying to hide.

 

    The rumbling spikes suddenly in volume, now sounding as though it were coming from a nearby source to pretty much everyone in Nexus and even those across the rivers...and becoming increasingly deafening to those /in/ or near the Cinnabar district. The cloud of dust begins to congeal and descend, gaining weight and spreading wider rather than higher - revealing the source.

        Several large tenement blocks have begun to disintegrate, shuddering violently as their masonry comes apart from violent shaking from the earth below them. This is not some quaking of the earth induced by a restless Earth Dragon...it's much too localized to Cinnabar. Indeed, those watching from the sky will note that near the epicenter, one of the tenement buildings is falling inwards, rather than out, as though being sucked downwards....

 

    Gilded Rose coughs hard begining to move away as the rumbling intensifies and she looses her balance. For all that she is a Princess of Earth, with the constant rumbling its hard to keep her balance. She begins moving back and ushering people out of the district. "Move away..." she calls out trying to be heard as her teeth chatter together.

 

    Topaz is rushing through the streets to find out what's going on - the exact opposite of a sane response, but she IS an overconfident sort. She stumbles, but largely keeps her balance... and once she gets in view of the falling building, she stops dead in her tracks.

 

    "Sparrow, prepare to drop me in the middle of that thing and then move the ship /back/," Spider shouts to the helm over the din of the earthquake. She's hastily strapping on her harness, peering into the disaster area as if she could discern what was happening under all that dust. In any case, she prepares herself for flying debris and such, activating the Infinite Flow of her martial arts abilities.

 

    Tsangun stops as the sound grows painful to her ears. "This may be close enough," she tells herself as she leans back. The Djala draws a length of cloth from her outfit and puts it to her face in hopes of flitering the dust somewhat.

 

        Once more Zuriel thanks the dragons, and his family, for his wings. From the air he sees the imploding building and flies in for a closer look, hesitating only for a moment as he sees the airship approaching. His suit protects him from the rising dust cloud, filtering the suspended particles of earth and allowing him to breathe normally. He looks down at the streets to see who he can save, swooping down in intervals to move civilians to safer areas adding in the line, not bothering with needless rhetoric.

 

 

        A loud 'CRACK' sounds through the air, and a flash of dark green lightning sparks up briefly from the collapsing tenements, striking towards the sky before disappearing as quickly as it came.

        The tenement collapsing inwards at the center of the rumbling and dustcloud accelerates its death rapidly, and falls inwards completely in a matter of moments - the cries of those few survivors still left in the doomed structure lost forever...

        The building falls inwards, and reveals some sort of sinkhole, a widening gulf that is drawing soil, structure and people all into it as it grows and grows. Then something really weird begins to happen - the cloud of dust begins to be move /towards/ the sinkhole, rather than up and away, as though it were being sucked in.

 

    Gilded Rose watches. She begins to get people to move back and way from the large sink whole, though the green bolt of lightening which explodes from the ground surprises her. Making her turn. She grabs a the sash at her waist and ties ir around her mouth trying to make sure no one is forgotten in the chaos.

 

    Grandmother Spider sees more clearly what's at the centre of the disturbance, and decides better than to dive directly into it. She needs to know more, first. "Hold her steady!" she calls behind her, and then peers at the vortex, gold glinting in her black eyes as she activates her Sorceror Sight, allowing the mysteries of the world to flow into her perception.

 

    Tsangun's eyes widen, only to narrow just as quickly when a bit of dust gets in them. She takes several paces backwards, only looking behind her once or twice to make sure she wouldn't walk into anyone before keeping her attention forward and cursing her own curious nature.

 

        The flying Cathak is obviously surprised by the green lightning and the urge to inspect its source is only ameliorated by the suctioning power of the vortex. He beats his wings to keep himself steady and finally shoots up to gain some more altitude in the hopes of freeing himself from the suction.

 

    Grandmother Spider's eyes widen in horror at what she's seeing. "Oh my gods. Just... just keep us in the air, gods damnit! Oh, guardians of creation, help me now!" she adds, mostly to herself, her thoughts racing. No time to get to her office. What to do? She grabs a piece of chalk from her toolbelt and rapidly begins a massive sketch on the deck of the airship itself, all the while muttering to herself things like "no, if the coefficient of transfer in the metal is too high it could cause an explosion that'd knock the riverlands out of Creation... must carry the two... damn, what if the spiders work in hexidecimal transfer instead of binary? No time -- better just build in a quick shunt... yes, yes.... this INFINITY RAINBOW will SAVE THE CITY!" she cackles loudly.

 

        At the center of the collapsing structures, at the center of the sinkhole, an /upward/ swelling begins to occur, a bulging mass of rubble and soil rising up out of the center of the chaos, a vast pustule begging to burst...

        Grandmother Spider's spell begins, gathering essence in the sky, but something is wrong... Her essence flows are being shredded, the energies gathering visibly around her faltering and being sucked downwards. Indeed, all those using artificially essence-driven effects to maintain flight (skyships...dragonblooded...) will begin to feel their flight systems fail as /something/ begins to warp all the natural and unnatural magics in the area.

 

        And then it happens. The pustule bursts, and in a moment, a vast geyser of absolute darkness erupts into the sky, painting a streak of nothingness across the otherwise cloudless daytime sky. A place where nothing exists. All light is absorbed, none generated or reflected by the perfect essence of darkness. Only sound issues forth - a squealing nightmarish scraping and rumbling. At the base of the geyser, more and more of Cinnabar begins to be drawn in - negative energies pulsing and writhing, sucking the soil and city down and in like water into a whirlpool.

 

    Topaz finally says, 'to hell with this!', running AWAY from the whatever-it-is, scooping up a pair of people who've been knocked unconscious under each arm.

 

    Grandmother Spider is feverishly assembling the network of filaments and tubes that will draw power out of the Wyld pocket in distant Firewander and shove it into the oblivion nexus here, when the disruption field goes into effect. The machine explodes in her hands, scattering pieces everywhere, and the Sun Dog lurches to starboard, losing power. "SHIT!" she screams, tearing at her braids. "NO! THAT's NOT FAIR!!"

 

"We have to land this bird, or she's going to crash into that thing," shouts the helm, and when Spider continues to rant and rave on the deck, they take the prudent decision of speeding the Sun Dog away from the vortex with all power remaining, her captain shouting at the fates as she goes.

 

        Zuriel feels his phoenix wings begin to falter as his thrust is slowly being cutoff by something beyond his control. Muttering under his breath, he is forced to fly down and land before his fiery wings flutter one last time and die. As the postule bursts and darkness engulfs him, his first instinct is to draw his swords. After a few moments he draws one of the firewands he has tucked into his sash and fires it into the air in the hopes of creating light--though he fully expects the attempt to fail. Remembering a childhood game he calls out, "Marco!"

 

    Tsangun would pale if it were physically possible. ~Move. Now!~ she screams in the back of her mind as her hand grabs at her box. It takes the Djala several long heartbeats before her body relaxes enough to move - at which point Tsangun moves away from the source. Quickly.

 

        The entire Cinnabar district is now being drawn into the geyser... Every structure in Nexus is being structurally effected by now incessant tremors, and those in Cinnbar are in particular danger. Many cheaper structures fail immediately, trapping or killing their occupants. More stable buildings' fates are determined by their distance to the geyser, those nearer begin to crumble, while those further away merely sway dangerously and suffer damage to their edifices.

 

    Topaz is also taking the course of wisdom and fleeing. Oh, if only Boss were here, he'd know what to do! She heads for one of the open-air parks, hoping that will give some protection from falling buildings while she can continue to bear witness.

 

    The flamewand used by Zuriel did little to lighten the darkness, as it continues to stamp out all light in the immediate area of the geyser.

 

    Grandmother Spider has recovered something of her calm by the time she flips over the edge of the airship along with twenty-five of her followers and her Gunzosha daughter, Melodious Sparrow. "Go, go!" she calls to the ship, urging it to fly further and faster out of the danger zone. Her group heads /towards/ the danger zone, though she warns her mortal companions to keep their distance. Their role will be to assist in evacuating the wounded once the victims are /clear/ of Cinnabar. Spider herself heads in to the penumbra, searching for trapped and injured persons, her essence-sight still active.

 

        Zuriel curses under his breath, how is he expected to conquer evil when he can't even see?! He squints through his visor hoping against hope that his sensor circuitry can pierce the darkness. Reloading his flame piece he slowly backs away from the source and draws his other sword, once more calling out, "*klik* Marco! *klik*"

 

        Something is...breathing. Some, vast, monstrous thing is breathing..short...shallow breaths, the breaths of dying thing, or a dead thing that refuses to die. The air in Cinnabar becomes rapidly fouled, the scent of blood and ash and rotting flesh permeating the air. The geyser continues to expand in the meanwhile, and now smaller explosions of darkness, spurting clouds of annihilation, are tearing their way free of the earth under Cinnabar, and all of Nexus is now violently shaking.

        Little actual time has passed since this began...and the scale of things is becoming massive. All those in Cinnabar are now in the shadow of the Geyser, trapped in its ever growing sphere of influence. Every dark corner, every dark hallway, every doorway leads into some.../other/ place.

 

    "Polo!" shouts Spider in response to Zuriel's call. Her heart trembles at the sound of the breathing, and she reaches up to her neck, untying one of the knots in her sorcerous cord. She is still outside the zone of total darkness, but skirting its edge, pulling apart ruined buildings with supernatural vigour and hauling out anyone she finds alive. Her eyes still gleam gold in the darkness, her inner power too great for the geyser to dim, for now. The daughter of Twilight walks between the two worlds, at the crossroads of life and death, shielding whom she can from harm.

 

    Tsangun stops afew a short jog away from the source of darkness and stench and other nastiness that will lead to a week of straight bathing. She looks around for a moment to see if there was anyone else nearby - or rather, anything to keep her moving. Not seeing anything, the Djala kneels down to open her box and retrieve a pair of knives. Just in case.

 

    Zuriel's auditory sensors pick up Spider's response to his cry and he moves towards her, shouting once more to keep from bumping into her and vice versa. He finally reaches the edge of the penumbra and sees the person that returned his hail, "*klik* Many thanks, I thought I was lost in there. Even my sensors could not pierce its darkness. *klik*" Formal introductions can come later, he turns around to see the effects of the geyser and just shakes his head, "*klik* Bloody hell, we need to stop this. *klik*"

 

    Minus arrives in short order from not-so-distant Bastion, his demonic courtesan Thoebi at his side. Drawn by equal parts concern for the helpless locals and a perverse desire to /see/, the musician sprints through the rioting crowds towards the erupting epicenter of the negative energy explosion. "Of all the times for Prince to be in the Hundred Kingdoms," he mutters bitterly. He's not sure what he can do, precisely, but in short order he finds himself next to the Grandmother Spider, perplexed at her presence, wrenching rubble from the survivors. "You're far from home," he murmurs to Spider.

 

    Grandmother Spider grins at Minus as he finds her and Zuriel in the chaos of the penumbra. "Everywhere is home to me, I am a wandering soul, Minus. I'm glad to see you; we need all the help we can get, though I'm damned if I know exactly what's going on. There's a pocket of Oblivion growing in the centre of the district -- I thought I could stabilize it using the Firewander Wyld pocket, but any peripheral magitech in the vicinity of the pocket won't work! Bloody annoying!" all this is shouted over teh awful noise.

 

    Zuriel swings his swords at the edge of the darkness in vain as he thinks up of a plan. His bag of tricks is mostly useless in situations like this so he turns to Spider and Minus, "*klik* Do either of you have a source of light that can pierce through complete and utter darkness that seems to magically turn off all forms of non-magical light? If so, we may be able to use it to go in and see what's going on. *klik*"

 

    Gilded Rose moves. She looks left and right, the darkness was horrible, the small was horrible. She was kind of stuck. What could she do? She pauses. She needed break through the darkness. "Can anyone hear me?" she calls out, hoping to hear a response..

Minus 's ears twitch. "Rose!"

 

        All of the Riverlands feels it for a moment. A pulse of negative energy, a shudder in Gaia's flesh. Emanating from Nexus. A burst of the sensation of doom, and a slight tremor to shake the earth.

 

        And then, all of Cinnabar rocks, and begins to slide downwards as one vast piece. A chunk of Creation descending like a vast, ruinous elevator into something below...

 

    Darkness, geysers of it, begin to burst from around the edges of the district, and begin bursting from elsewhere in the city. Indeed, one particular burst emits from the Yellow River, flying out of the water, tearing a nearby ship asunder.

 

    Grandmother Spider shakes her head. "I have a sorcerous sight, but I don't know if it'll work insiII--" she breaks off in a wordless shout as Cinnabar begins to rock on its foundations. "I don't think we can do anything more here; we're going to be swallowed if we don't get out. Hold hands -- hopefully if the darkness takes us my sorceress' eyes will be enough to see us out!... if there is anywhere safe, that is."

Minus gawks. "We have to evacuate," he says. "Only Fudou could hold back this landslide, and he's not here!"

 

    Minus says, "We can't leave the locals here to die! We have to do something to help them evacuate. It's our responsibility!"

Minus takes Spider's hand.

 

    Gilded Rose blinks. She feels the ground beneath her move. That wasn't right. "I think the worlds starting break up!" she calls out loudly. She could feel it move sideways. "We've gotta get out of here! Everyone!" She struggles to her feet. "Where are you?" she's only some distance away from the cluster, the darkness though has her stumped. To move could mean falling off an ledge or into the darkness, but to remain still would produce the same effect. "We can't and I think I got most of them out..." she shouts.

 

        Zuriel crouches down, keeping close to the ground he feels the whole of Creation shudder. He replies with, "*klik* Even the fires of Hesiesh do nothing to quell that darkness. We must get to a safe location where we can formulate a plan *klik*" He takes Spider's hand and then grasps Minus's just as he speaks the name of Fudou and his grip tightens--it tightens a lot.

 

Minus says, "Thoebi, dematerialize and flee - meet me back home!"

 

    At the center of the effect, the sinkhole of annihilation - the main geyser begins to abate, its strength sluicing off to the other geysers now erupting around Cinnabar and throughout the city.

 

        Where once there was a block filled with tenements full of countless middling merchants, catamites and mistresses...now there is a vast gaping hole in the earth. Ringed with a corkscrewing ramp of dark stone that descends into darkness...the breath, the stench arises from /there/...

 

        Normal mortals begin to feel a powerful tug on their souls, a sweet, merciful call to release that promises them the end of hope and sadness both, the end of pain and happiness, the end of everything. All those mortals left in Cinnabar suddenly begin gravitating towards the pit, those nearer merely casting themselves down into the opening...to disappear forever.

 

        "No," whispers Minus, staring in to that darkness. Slowly, he begins to illuminate with a bright fire, like a rising dawn, as in an instant he composes a paen to life, to existance, a warcry of the living against death and the embrace of death. Ignorant that he closes his left hand around the killing palm of an Immaculate master, he flares totemic, burning with the bright glory of the Eclipse. He seems darker than the oblivion, rimed with light brighter than day, and

        he

        SINGS

        that song which calls the living to live!

 

    Tsangun's eyelids start to droop. Before she realizes it, the Djala begins to move forward, taking several slow steps before pausing. ~No No No~ she tells herself as her hands clench tightly, one around the handle of her knife and the other around the blade, allowing it to dig into her skin as punctuation to her stubborn thoughts. "I happen to like happiness," she growls.

 

        The visor that protects Zuriel's face is the only thing that shields his eyes from the flaring anima of Minus. Instinctively upon seeing the Anathema's anima he lets go of Spider's hand and clinches the singer's hand tighter. At the same time Zuriel attempts to draw some of Minus's essence into himself to drain the Anathema of its foul fuel.

 

    Grandmother Spider leads her troop out of immediate danger, and then turns around to find a straggling line of mortals busy trying to throw themselves into a pit. Well, that won't do. Unfortunately, this is also the moment at which Minus chooses to flare his anima in front of Cathak bloody Zuriel, and she's immediately occupied by tackling the armoured knight and trying to haul him off Minus before he can do any real damage. She grips him in a steady, painless lock and twists her hips to 'encourage' his rearward motion.

 

    Minus 's anima flaring wasn't entirely ostentatious - he had hoped it would seize attention away from the pit of despair. It did, kinda, just not the way he hoped, and his song is choked in it's first stanza by a squawk of agony as his hand is crumpled and his spirit bursts open and bleeds his holy fire forth. It /burns/ in Zuriel's veins, modestly furious at having been sealed in his terrestrial frame. "What are you doing?" he cries, pathetically ignorant of just who he's next to - until he gets a good look at him in the no-longer-dark, and gasps in terror. o.o

 

    One after another lives being lost, even just one life made her eyes tear. Guilded Rose couldn't stand it. She inhaled, and opened her mouth and sang, if only to just pause them from ending their lives. There as far to much to live for, too much, joy, but then there had to be balance too-sadness was apart of that balance. She sang, her voice moving and caressing people's minds and hearts calling them back from the edge. Her voice was naturally pretty, perhaps almost too enchanting for her own good, and no doubt that voice had gotten her introuble before.

 

    Zuriel's deathgrip on Minus's hand increases and saps some of Minus's Essence into himself. He raises his sword to hack off the Anathema's arm when suddenly he feels himself being pulled off by Spider. Pushing off her he points to Minus and says, "*klik* Look, he's Anathema! He must be slain! *klik*" It is then that he takes in the situation fully. Creation is dying and here he is trying to slay one Anathema. He relaxes his stance and shakes his head, "*klik* We shall resolve this little dispute when we have fixed the current problem. *klik*" He casts one more glance at Minus and says, "*klik* You may continue... tentatively. I have my eyes on you. *klik*"

 

    "This is /not the time/, brother Zuriel. You are a long way from the Realm here. Our priority is to defeat the evil that is consuming this city!" her piece said, Spider lets Zuriel go and hurries to try to wrestle and shove enchanted mortals back from the edge of the cliff.

 

        Those dark places, those corners that lead to nowhere, those doorways into night...begin to pulse and warp, as Creation's fabric tears. Vortices of crazed Wyld energies begin to writhe free of fissures in the earth, and some of doorways in the area begin to shift and twist, becoming whirling gateways to places elsewhere...

        And then a third song enters the fray. Not a voice of annihilation, or a voice of hope, but a voice of anger and bitterness and twisted hate. It joins its voice to that summoning the mortals to their doom, but it is not like the breath of the vast thing calling for death - it is...smaller, more localized, and issues from one of the vortices of Wyld. And then something steps out...into the street, bringing with it a weird and haunting green light, causing nearby buildings to crackle with green lightning.

 

Her voice nearly stops at the sickenly twisted third voice, mingling with her own song of life and hope. She's terrified and sicked by it. Gilded Rose, shudders at the sight of the foul thing. She looks physically ill as if just the sight of the being makes the Wood Aspect want to loose her lunch. She could feel the tickle in the back of her throat. Gilded Rose for her desire to stops singing and vomits. It's not pretty, it was first a soft gag that quickly turned messy. She looses it, rather forcefully, over anyone close to her. Not pretty, and not cool. She's left heaving and trying to shake compose herself.

 

Minus slowly rises to his feet, looking on at that - thing. Is it a deathknight? A hecatonchire? One of the deathlords? Either way, it's thoroughly out of his league. "Listen," he whispers to Zuriel, "I can't fight this. But I can give you the Essence you need to fight stand against it." He looks to Grandmother Spider, but says nothing - waiting for her to decide to make her stand, or to go.

 

Tsangun was starting towards other mortals heading to their deaths in hopes of slapping some sense into them. Of course, since she can't really reach the prime sense-slapping area, she was going to settle for a few well placed hits to the gut and groin, whichever was closer... Up until she felt nausea run down her body and the contents of the day's meals wash up her throat.

 

        Zuriel decides to put some of that Essence he stole from Minus to good use. The young Dragon-blood goes through a series of circular katas, shaping his Essence into the Form of the Glorious Water Dragon. Just as that is done he bursts into the consuming flames of the Fire Dragon and draws his blades. He calls out, "*klik* I hereby call all the Princes of the Earth to rally behind me in aid against this threat. Anyone fit to aid should do so immediately... *klik*" His voice trails off and turns to Minus and shakes his head. He produces his flame piece and an ammo sling, handing it to Minus, "*klik* Do whatever you can to help us. Don't make me regret sparing your life. *klik*"

 

Grandmother Spider hisses, her face twisting into a mask of repulsion and outrage at the monstrous thing that dares profane her world. Her mind races, thinking of all the potential consequences if Zuriel finds out that she, too, is a Solar Exalt -- the thousands that stand to perish in renewed wars over the hundred kingdoms. But she can't turn away from the hundreds that will perish /now/ if she does not fight. Gripping the knotted brooch at her throat, she releases its energies. Swirling multicoloured essence coelesces around her, turning her into a demigod of battle, her hands long and poweful claws, her skin taking on a metalling shine. "Demon, tell me who you are before I tear you apart, that I may reprimand your superiors in Malfeas!"

 

Minus 's hands ignite as he reaches out to touch the Spider, the holy fire arcing along his arm in a musical hum as it pours in to her anima.

 

        A gravelly, scraping voice emits from the black bone helm of the monster. "Iiii Am. Morguvin. The Scarlet Knife. That Devours, Crimson. Steel. Iiii dooo NOT, answer to you. Whore of the Sun. My masters. MADE. The filthy being that you SERVE. Yes? Yes." It begins to laugh, a sound like someone running a file over wood against the grain. "You poor foools. One of. the DEAD ones. Did this. NOT MY MASTERS. But we will PARTICIPATE. ANd, lend our strength, to see YOUR MASTERS DEAD."

 

        A few more geysers of negation explode forth at that, and totally blot the remaining light out, casting all of Cinnbar, and much of Nexus into absolute night. The darkness eats at light sources, forcing them into limited bubbles of faltering illumination, and nothing more, turning shadows into pits of fear, and every corner into a possible path to madness and death.

 

    Tsangun, after a few more coughing fits and questioning how an apple could turn into /that/ tosses the cloth she'd been using as a facemask aside in favor of a considerably cleaner ripped sleeve. She looks up, squinting at the group nearby as she tries to force her head into clearer, coherent thoughts. ~I'm surrounded by monsters and brainwashed idiots, lovely.~

 

    Minus closes his eyes and prepares himself for the responsibility of maintaining the world, letting even the dark song of oblivion inspire his heart to greater heights of ever-fountaining power.

 

    Scarlet Knife Devouring Crimson Steel never turns towards the arrows, but as they near him, they begin to slow, as though the air they were traveling through was becoming thicker, slowing their progress. They eventually come to a complete halt just a bit short of the Beast - and then he raises a palm towards them, still never looking away from Zuriel/Spider/Minus, and as his palm opens, the arrows disintegrate into motes of green flame.

 

    Grandmother Spider gives Scarlet a tight, vicious smile, and darts forwards. No more words. Her bronze claws strike up sparks along the ground as she charges, and then ducks sideways behind one of the geyser eruptions. A risky move, but it conceals her vaulting approach, lofting into the air on the strange labyrinthine thermals and taking the demon at the shoulder, twisting up his limbs and squeezing her claws into the soft flesh beneath the armoured helm, choking the beast.

 

        The Yoroi-Rapid Response Armour carries Zuriel across the battlefield as he dashes forth to the Malfean leaving flaming footprints on the ground. He feigns a low slash and vaults clear over the Scarlet Knife. Even before he lands on the other side he begins a furious storm of jade slashes. Once he finishes his attack he assumes a low defensive stance with his main sword held high and parallel to the ground and his off-hand sword held low and likewise parallel.

 

        Zuriel growls under his breath, "So your unholiness can parry my blades? Lets see you parry the all-consuming fires of Hesiesh!" He assumes a horse stance, draws in a deep breath and with practiced ease spits out a long torrent of flames directed at the Infernal.

 

    Minus reaches down and grabs a portion of the collapsing earth in strong arms, wrenching a boulder as broad as a man's chest in his hands, hefting it over his head and preparing to hurtle it at his unholy target. "Fear not the unholy things of hell," he whispers to the stone. "You act on behalf of Heaven."

 

    Ayesha is not officially in Nexus. That is, very few people even know she left Greyfalls a few days ago. And even less why she did so. The young noblewoman had no intentions of even meeting her acquaintances in the Guild this time, but she was willing to take a stroll through the Cinnibar District's gardens just as some lunatic decided to blow up the whole city. She arrives just in time to see how several beings attack the monster (a demon?), including Zuriel. Unsheathing her daiklave, she maneuvers through the broken terrain with surprising ease.

 

    Scarlet Knife Devouring Crimson Steel is rapidly firing off powerful effects using Malfean energies, never actually moving to avoid attacks, so much as causing the attacks to be foiled by vicious demonic power, making the air sizzle and crackle with the power of corrupt things.

        The pool of blood at his feet is shrinking, growing smaller, even as more and more motes of crimson energy burst from it to surround the Beast, warding off attack after attack from the Princes of the Earth (True, and self-named). He doesn't speak, grunt or make noise, but he seems to be inching backwards towards one of the vortices of Wyld Energy...

 

    Grandmother Spider grimaces as her first attack is rebuffed. "Zuriel, we need to work together to bring him down; he's either trying to escape or he's about to explode, and either way we have one shot..." She falls back beside the dragon-blooded warrior, her claws smoking from their contact with the unholy force, and signals her intention to attack. The claws change to a more defensive form, and she holds them in a guard position, ready for the demon's riposte.

 

    The earth groans loudly, and the entirety of Cinnabar shakes, and sinks again. The geysers erupting around the sides of the former Nexus district are becoming seamless walls of oblivion, blocking out the world beyond. If there even /is/ a world beyond anymore.

        More and more vortices of Wyld begin to open as well, gibbering globs of madness seeping into the area, meeting the geysers of negation and exploding into moments of possibility as the two opposites encounter and mix.

 

    Swift Felling Scythe doesn't like long, extended fights. He can survive them well enough, but it is not the way he does things. Too much uncertainty happens the longer a fight gets, and with collaterial damage... things tend to get messy. Instead, Scythe prefers to move quickly and decisively, striking with a single blow so hard that his opponent is doomed to fall. True to his name, Scythe falls swiftly from the shadows, leaping out in a flash of silver on black, his war-form just as frightening looking to any mortal onlooker, but possessing a grace and fluidity completely unlike the Malfean monster. His scorpion tail strikes out with precision, the silver-essence backed tip aiming carefully to pierce to hide of the demon and to turn the tides of this day in two quick strikes.

 

    Cinnabar shakes violently, and several large buildings nearby simply sink down and away into pits of darkness.

 

    The blow from the Lunar in War Form strikes, and seems, at first, to fail at penetrating the defenses of the Beast, sparkling bursts of energy crackling forth as the defenses of the Malfean being strain and twist against the powerful assault.

        And then they break. The Lunar' blow cracks through and spears the Beast straight in the chest, ripping open a wicked wound in the already seemingly damaged flesh of the creature. Putrid, black fluid that smells like sewage flows freely from the opening, but the Beast refuses to collapse. Instead, it claps its hands together, and steps backwards - one step - and explodes into a stream of green motes that flow in green trails straight backwards towards one of the nearby doorways that crackles with Wyld Energies. Nearby, a portal opens of black and blue flame, emitting a baleful green sunlight, and similar green energies stream forth and coalesce in exactly the position that the Beast had stood, into a fair maiden, carved entirely of basalt. She has seven arms, and obsidian fangs fill her wide grin....what was that? A trick of the cards?

 

        The pit at the center of Cinnabar grows, and a full third of the district is now taken up by that vast opening, and few mortals remain who have not cast themselves into the pit.

        The Voice of Oblivion speaks directly into the souls of all present, Exalted or not. It is a terrible, sweet chorus, and it promises such rest as none might ever need to wake from, wiping the weariness of the world away, shedding worries and fears and all the weights of existence...

 

    Ayesha steps forward, trying to have a good line of sight with the demon, and skids on the earth to halt her race, shielding her eyes with an armored hand. By the time she manages to be close enough, there is a different creature in the place of the beast. Still, a demon is a demon. "As you serve darkness, creature," she murmurs, "then fight in the darkness too."

 

    The demon says something in Old Realm along the lines of, 'To live is blasphemy, to suffer - holy', and gestures, a staff of tears appearing in her hands. It blazes bright and sears all eyes that gaze upon it. You sense that attacking her will be dangerous.

 

    Minus says, "Are you not /bound/? How dare you come to this place!"

 

    As the dragonblooded Dynast leaves the scene, Spider's grimace widens to a savage grin. The fact that one demon has been replace by another is of no consequence to her. She is a defender of these lands, and defend them she shall. "Beautiful one, for your beautiful words accept my divine suffering as a gift." A surge of energy flows through her, and swan wings of purple-blue fire erupt from her back, a golden halo-and-cross-roads surrounding her. "HUP!" she cries, and surges skywards, hovering in mid-air above the demon. She places her hands together at her centre, folding the fingers into an intricate chi-activating pattern. "SUN HAMMER MUDRA" she cries, in an echoing voice, and then falls upon the obsidian creature, pummelling the ever-loving snot out of it.

 

    To say that Spider kills the demon is not really to capture the moment of utter annihilation that envelops the obsidian woman. Her shrieks of pain are borne aloft on solar winds of purple, gold, and white, bits of flesh and armour flying in all directions along the edge of the shockwaves generated by Spider's golden fists. The Twilight herself staggers from the shallow crater a moment later, smoking from the eyes and arms.

 

        The demon is dead... But, the death rattle of Cinnabar continues, and who knows what else is happening with the rest of Nexus?

 

        No, something terrible is happening here, and that demon was merely a means of escape for the one who may be linked to it. Indeed, Wyld energies and Oblivon continue to course freely, and it becomes increasingly dangerous to just /be/ here, as realms of possibility flare into existence only to die imemdiately as oblivion and wyld meet in cataclysmic spectacles...

 

    Minus promptly becomes immune to arbitrary death, sealing himself against mutation or negation by virtue of his integrity-protecting breath.

 

    Minus strides to Spider and infuses her with the last of his magic. "We should go," he says bluntly. "Do we have an escape route?"

 

    Grandmother Spider is unsteady on her feet when Minus reaches her, and sighs pleasantly at the infusion of Essence. She laughs when he asks about an escape route. "Well, given that this stuff will crash my ship -- our route is on foot, away from the crater. We need a plan of attack, and we need to take steps to help secure the populace." She carelessly loops a protective mudra around herself, invoking the same charm as Minus.

 

    Ayesha expected something to change when the first demon fled and the second was destroyed (by a solar anathema, of all things) but no such luck. There is nothing she can target at the moment, no obvious cause of the catastrophe going on around her, so all she can do is to try to avoid the explosions and leave the area alive.

 

    Minus glances over his shoulder at Ayesha. "I presume you're not about to try to kill us," he says optimistically.

 

    Minus sighs. "I hope Thoebi is alright..."

 

        Cinnabar groans, and begins its last death rattle. The district begins to tear asunder, chunks of the area consumed and annihilated instantly by Oblivion, others mutated into chaos by over exposure to Wyld energies. There are now, almost no living mortals left here. The few that remain cluster around the party of heroes, hoping these living demigods will lead the weak away from this place of damnation.

        There is, apparenly, no ground exit to the city of Nexus, almost unbroken walls of negation now surround Cinnabar, and blot the sky out completely. However, it remains that every doorway or arch in the area still standing has become a gateway to other places, infused with Wyld energies mixing with Oblivion, creating impossible possibilities...

 

    Minus glances to the mortals. "We will protect you," he declares bluntly, "To the best of our ability. Spider! Which of these gates leads to the most auspicious location?"

 

    Ayesha wasn't even taking the same path the solars. Except they seem to have run out of paths at all and ended up in the same place, with no way out. She smiles bitterly to Minus, replying quietly "I think that is not going to be an issue."

 

    Grandmother Spider does what she usually does when confronted with a series of appalling options. She swears. "Shit!," she mutters, looking up at the wall of oblivion. "Bugger blast sonuvabitch! Er... I think we'd better go this way," she says, and leads the no-doubt skeptical group along an alley beside the wall of darkness, finally arriving at a doorway into what looks like a snow-covered plain. "It's not very nice, but I'm pretty sure it isn't hell. Shall we?"

 

    Minus makes a very confidence-building gesture and strides through with great forcefulness. "We shall."

 

    Zera hides within the skin of a lone Karmeus. The beast is very strange... a large, vulture-like monster with a human face... and not particularly well-liked amongst the Nexus populace. Karmeus, after all, have the unpleasent habit of eating human children with startling regularity. Fortunately, while well-fed, they often remain macabre voyeurs. And this particularly specimin is one of these well-fed blasphemies, gazing down at the assembled humanity rather like a fat human contemplating a particularly well-stocked bakery.

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* Creation - 1 Century Ago(#1785R) *>-=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- Contents -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--

 Serendipity Engine  Hideous Fate Machine                           0s   2h

 Minus               A black-haired man with rhythm                 1m   3h

 Kukla               http://www.marchofdeath.com/                   23m  3h

 Ragara Ayesha       A dark-skinned young woman                     2m   3h

 Grandmother Spider  An eccentric woman in rustic, flamboyant cloth 2s   6h

 Swift Felling Scyth A hooded man with silver tattoos               10m  4h

 Zera                A savage with a Sutra struck to her head.      56s  7m

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Exits -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Even Further back... <EFB>*Out                     

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

        The doorway leads...to a snow-covered plain. It is just north of Nexus, across the river, and the city is visible there, also covered in snow. However, something is very, very strange. None of the damage is visible, and there are no 'geysers of negation' anywhere. Indeed, the hills of Cinnbar are clearly visible, undamaged, unharmed.

        However, there are /no/ people. Indeed, beyond the plants, there are no living things at all. No wind, no sun, no stars, no moon. Not a cloud in the sky. Also, all colors are muted, and the temperature - which should be cold - is instead temperate, stable, unchanging...

 

 

        A pale, sourceless light faintly illuminates everything...

 

Minus says, "This is perhaps the creepiest thing yet..."

 

        Furthermore, there is /junk/ everywhere. These are the only things not having their colors muted, they are bright, and fantastic. All scattered about as though abandoned, lying there and here without a care. And they are all magical constructs of some kind or another...jade powerbows, orichalcum armors...etc...

 

Minus oohs.

Minus says, "Lookit! Loot!"

 

Swift Felling Scythe says, "I don't think you should touch that, if I were you."

 

    Grandmother Spider frowns. "What in Saturn's name..." She looks around cautiously, clearly very creeped out. "We are not in Creation. This could be the Labyrinth, Minus. Be very careful. Let's establish a perimeter where the surviving Nexians will be relatively safe while we take turns scouting. This is my recommendation; obviously, no one put me in charge, so you can all do as you like."

 

    Zera hops from rooftop to rooftop, gazing down at the fleeing Exalted with burning greenfire eyes. Is it mystified? Perplexed? Frightened? Birds are not particularly poetic creatures, not well disposed to expressing emotion, so these questions must remain unanswered. When the others vanish through that snowy portal, the beast swoops down, as if arriving at the conclusion it should attack just a few seconds too late. There, in a flash of divine moonsilver spliced with deranged intent, it becomes something new. Swirling Wind. Once, before her dissapearance, a noble child of the Bastian district, and, now? A stranger in a strange land. She emerges through the gateway just a bit behind the main group, as if she was sheparded there by some malicious monster, harried to the extent that she tumbles into the snow.

Long distance to Zera: Serendipity Engine grins sorry for teh forced teleport :P

Ayesha steps through the portal ready to fight, but the young woman instead pales as she realizes that they are somewhere else, some place where they do not belong. Looking around her, she tries to figure out where they are, managing to look rather lost.

 

    Announcement: Scarlet Knife Devouring Crimson Steel shouts, "The Beast, the Scarlet Knife that Devours Crimson Flame, screams a scream heard throughout worlds, and dies. It explodes into flame and burns into cinders, its soul cast back to its masters for failing to perform...or perhaps succeeding? Who knows the will of Malfeans..."

 

-= OOC =- Minus says, "Nice shot, Zuriel."

[Staff] Silverclaws says, "Dude. Someone KILLED it?"

[Public] Cathak Zuriel says, "I AM CATHAK ZURIEL, THE LIVING DEATH THAT WALKS!"

[Public] Grandmother Spider says, "Indeed you are."

[Public] Zyrius Kalius says, "and I shoot stuff."

[Public] Kukla says, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll give you victory head later."

 

    Minus begins calming and organizing the surviving Nexians, but recent times have left him cynical, and he keeps an eye amongst them for the wicked who might abandon them out of perverse disobedience.

 

    Minus pauses. "That sounded like the Knife," he says after a moment. "I suppose Zuriel finished it off."

 

    Grandmother Spider nods seriously. "Yes, I suppose he did. Maybe we're not far from them, then -- in another part of Malfeas. The lack of any living beings is worrisome.

 

    Zera stands, attention locked on the portal which has brought her here. Stupidly, she is more concerned with the danger that forced her flee the 'Real World' than the circumstance which has brought her here. Hyperventilating, she isn't much good to anybody ATM, but she is calming. She is listening, of course, to Minus. She watches him with the attentive scrutany of one who's life depends on him... though, perhaps, something else is there as well. Often, her attention flutters elsewhere. She is watching -everybody- who doesn't look afraid.

 

    Grandmother Spider looks like someone who isn't used to being afraid, trying to hold back her fear so that others don't panic. She hugs herself lightly as she peers around from behind her owlish spectacles. "This place... doesn't exist," she says quietly, to Minus.

 

Minus takes up a scoop of loam. "It seems to fake it fairly well," he says skeptically.

 

The loam is cool and strangely....ethereal to the touch.

 

Minus says, "...Alright, passingly well."

 

    Grandmother Spider glances at Minus, and keeps her voice lowered. "There's no essence here. None. That means that this place... wherever we are.. it's Unshaped. It doesn't exist, Minus. Not even as part of the Wyld. Not even as part of Hell. How is that possible?"

 

    Minus says, "Our existence is secure as long as our magic holds..."

Ayesha looks a bit fearful at least. Not out-of-control afraid, but definitely scared. "There is nothing here. No essence... not even the underworld is this dry. It is as if we were in a place built without elements, without any energy or... time."

Minus ponders.

 

    Swift Felling Scythe glances upwards at the bird-form of Zera with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "Doesn't anyone else find it odd that while there are several human beings who escaped the destruction... only /one/ bird is here? Am I the only who suspect that bird up there to not really be a bird?"

 

    Minus seems... surprisingly unafraid. Which is unusual, because he's usually the first to panic in this sort of situation.

 

        Randomly, artifacts begin to pop in, out of the sky, or appearing on the ground, arriving suddenly and without warning.

They were not there one moment, and are the next...

 

Minus says, "Yes, this is definitely Elsewhere."

 

Grandmother Spider frowns. "But Elsewhere isn't supposed to contain simulacra of Creation, Minus," she objects gently.

 

Minus says, "It isn't?"

Minus says, "...Well, has anyone ever been there to check?"

 

        The Nexus in the distance is also...different. It is not the Nexus any of you know, little differences exists, many buildings you are familiar with do not exist, and some you do not know, or know as looking differently are there...

 

    Ayesha looks at Minus thoughtfully, as if considering the welfare of her soul if she starts a conversation with a solar. Then again, there are no monks around, right? "Elsewhere? But it is Nexus there," she notes. "How can a whole city be Elsewhere?"

 

Minus says, "It's just an image of Nexus. Maybe we're close to Creation, and we're getting a sort of distant image of it."

Minus says, "Besides, it seems different. A little smaller."

 

        There is a crackle of energies, Wyld bursting through a crack in the edifice of this place above...and Zuriel and Kalius burst through, the second cackling madly as they are thrown through a tunnel of madness into this place...from wherever they were a moment ago...

 

Minus hides behind Spider!

 

    Grandmother Spider looks vaguely frustrated and annoyed. "So, maybe we need to hang on to some artifacts to get back to Creation -- perhaps when their users summon them, we'll be taken along for the ride. Mind you, that could put us anywhere, and in any kind of company.

 

    Ayesha blinks slowly as some more people fall from the sky, and then walks to meet them, looking to see if they are wounded. "Are you alright?"

 

    A giant construction of bone and soulsteel appears suddenly, even as two daiklaves pop away.

 

Minus says, "Augh!"

Minus imagines his antics aren't doing much to fill the hangers on with confidence.

 

Grandmother Spider winces. "Don't grab onto /that/ one."

 

        A massive orichalcum warstrider appears suddenly in the distance...

 

 

        And then disappears

 

 

        Zuriel falls out of the sky, vaults over once and lands on his feet. He rises and appears victorious and unharmed from the field of battle announcing, "The Scarlet Knife was defeated."

 

    Grandmother Spider sighs. "Well, shall we have a look around 'Nexus' before we try grabbing anything? And yes, we know. Congratulations," she says to Zuriel, politely. "We heard the screaming from here. The demon in Nexus was likewise defeated."

 

    Minus says, "I don't intend to touch any of this. I doubt it belongs to me."

 

    Zyrius Kalius arrives to this plane spiralling and cackling in a frenzied haze of exhiliration. The strange man lands on his feet and a single hand nimbly, before rising and adjusting himself. He seems to be carrying a bit more equipment than he left with. A dark grin graces his face before he turns to Zuriel and mutters, "Well played, brother, well played." As the announcement is made, Zyrius grins once again, knowing full well he assisted.

 

    Zera mills with the other survivors, wordless save for the occasional murmured question that passes amongst the throng. Outside of that, her actions are unexciting.

 

    Grandmother Spider adds, as an aside. "Lord Cathak -- be sure to conserve your Essence from here on. Wherever we are -- there is no respiration here. This place is... unshaped, it does not exist in the common sense of the word. We cannot recover Essence here."

 

    Minus says, "I concur, Spider. Let's go examine Nexus."

 

    "This can not be," murmurs Ayesha, "nobody has used orichalcum warstriders in centuries. And so many artifacts..." she sighs. "Yes, although that city is not the Nexus we know, there are several buildings missing."

 

        The construct of bone and soulsteel is joined by a massive suit of soulsteel plate armor...

 

 

        Zuriel nods at Spider and says, "Yes, I have gathered that. We need to find what is controlling these fluctuations. Perhaps the artifacts are the key indeed." As he says this, he reaches for the nearest artifact that pops up which apparently happens to be a construct of bone and soulsteel. Zuriel really needs to think before acting.

 

        There is little happening here, beyond the transit of artifacts to and fro from wherever this place is. All is static, and some will even find that the air here...is hard to breathe, stale without seeming stale, as though it somehow failed to provide the energies that living creatures used air /for/...

        And then, there is Zuriel touching that construct of Bone and Soulsteel.. which proves fairly safe, it does nothing, proving to be incredibly ...inert... in this place.

 

    Swift Felling Scythe comes to a realisation. "There's soulsteel amongst here." He says as he glances over at various artifacts, in particular the construct Zuriel touches. "Nevermind that this Nexus appears to be horrible out of date, missing buildings here and there... Soulsteel is a recent occurance. No one forged soulsteel a hundred years ago. This is still the present."

 

Minus says, "...Was it ever possible that it /wasn't/ the present?"

 

        Seeing as how Zuriel is still alive and was not transported into the heart of the Underworld, he proceeds to inspect the construct thoroughly calling back, "If any of you know anything about artifacts, I would gladly take your help in figuring what in blazes this thing is." He takes out one of his swords and pokes it to see if it does anything.

 

    Zyrius Kalius squints at the happenings going on now, uncertain of most of it being mostly ignorant to artifacts and fancy metals, he chooses to draw his composite bow and thread an arrow...just in case.

 

    Grandmother Spider shakes her head. "I've never heard of anyone travelling in time -- I assume this is just an odd corner of space." She perks up her ears when Zuriel requests assistance, and wanders over with her hands folded behind her back. "I'm not sure, but it's probably nothing wholesome! It's getting difficult to breathe in here -- not surprising, given the lack of Essence to sustain air. I think we're going to have to try something sooner rather than later. Let's look for some inoffensive-looking artifacts such as might be owned by upstanding citizens of the Realm..."

 

    Many of the 'mere' mortals begin to pass out, their ability to breath here strained beyond the simple strength of chest muscles. They cannot draw essence from the air, and begin to weaken immediately, even those that don't faint.

 

    Minus says, "Shit - Spider, we need to get back to reality, now!"

You paged Cathak Zuriel with 'This place is utterly essence-less. It has no dynamic energies, no movement or living souls. It is static and lifeless. A moment trapped in amber.'.

 

    Grandmother Spider nods. "Okay, find things for them to hold. Collars of Dawn's Cleansing Light. Jade or Orichalcum daiklaves. Jade Breastplates."

 

    Grandmother Spider takes her own advice, and begins setting mortals up with likely-looking artifacts in the hopes that they'll be teleported back to Creation when their owner summons them. If there's small things, she'll try to get everyone two or three, to maximize their odds.

 

    Zyrius Kalius shows no regard for the mortals what so ever, instead he keeps his trusty bow drawn. Anyone who knows Zyrius, which almost nowhere here does, would notice he is missing an almost constant companion, perhaps he had enough sense not to follow his master here.

 

    Minus does his best to help, though at this point he's a little panicked.

 

    "I think we need to explore that copy of Nexus. It has to be there for some reason," comments Ayesha, "all this is linked to whatever the demons were doing to the city. If this place is Elsewhere, imagine the effort to send the whole city here. There must have been a very powerful reason to do so."

 

    Grandmother Spider frowns. "Minus, there's a man lying down in the grass over there, do you see him? He's got an orichalc collar around his neck; perhaps you'd better go speak to him." At this point, panic is just getting in the way, and perhaps Minus would be calmer doing what he does best, which is diplomacy. Meanwhile, Spider tries her best to put her long-shot theory into action for the mortals.

 

    Minus obeys promptly, moving to find the man. If he's not breathing, Minus breathes for him using a mouth-to-mouth technique.

 

    A jade collar given to one of the mortals to hold pops away. With the man's hands...leaving bloody stumps behind. He screams in pain and immediately passes out with the shock and lack of air.

 

Minus says, "Zuriel! Cauterize that!"

Minus yanks that collar off his man immediately!

 

    Grandmother Spider now goes around rapidly /removing/ artifacts from the hands of people for whom she can, it seems, do nothing at all.

 

Zyrius Kalius continues to watch and point the arrow tip at any random noises he hears.

 

        THe man lying on the ground, seemingly asleep, seems to be in perfectly hale health - except that he is not breathing, or moving, at all. He also seems somewhat pale, but lacking the muted colors of this place.

 

        Zuriel looks back and says, "Look, its obvious we're in Elsewhere, we just need to figure out how to get ba-" He watches in horror as the man's hands are taken away. Casting a horrified look at Minus he says, "You bastard! That would kill him!" He takes out his swords and walks towards Minus, "I knew I shouldn't have let you live, you black-hearted blackguard!"

 

Minus says, "He's BLEEDING to death, you Immaculate ass!"

Minus says, "He'll die anyway if you don't do something!"

 

        Sheathing his blade he holds out his hand to Minus and says, "Hold my hand and feel my fires."

 

Minus says, "I know it can kill - heat your blade and use that!"

Minus says, "I'm going to try to make air. Give me space."

 

    Grandmother Spider barks sharply. "Lord Cathak, we need your medical assistance. We're trying to evacuate these people; they can't survive here. Our first plan failed -- we need damage control!" Since she's medically useless, once she's grabbed all the artifacts away from people that she can, she tears a strip off of her shirt and starts binding the severed wrists.

 

    Helplessness.... The most terrible of feelings. Minus attempts something perhaps very foolish. If there is no air here, if the air has no Essence - well, he will provide it some. With a rather desperate gesture, he attempts to use his Essence-Lending Method on the air itself, giving form and substance to the atmosphere.

 

        Zuriel has a blazing corona of the hottest fires, "I know what my fires can do. I cannot touch someone without immolating them. Take care of them yourselves. You have me confused with Galen perhaps, I am a warrior not a healer."

 

        Minus' attempt to rejuvenate the air is mildly successful and results in the mortals having some chance at survival, but it is very very limited.

 

Minus says, "We need to get them /in/ the armor..."

 

    Grandmother Spider does her best to tie off the bleeding stumps of the fellow, since it seems the conversation with Zuriel isn't going anywhere, and then moves over to the seemingly dead man in the grass, flipping him over to have a look. "Hm? That seems very risky Minus -- but I suppose we're out of options."

 

    Minus says, "I've revitalized the air as I could, but - I've never done that before, and it wasn't very effective. A few minutes, at most. :("

 

    "Please, stop arguing," says Ayesha, "this place is so lifeless that it is beyond dead, and none of us will survive much longer than the mortals. Finding the way out as soon as possible is the best we can do for everybody."

 

    Zuriel begins unlatching the plate armour on the soulsteel construct and tosses the plates towards them, "Here, put them in these. I'll go find more armour." He trudges along to find another suit of armour, preferably a suit of articulated plate or some other form that covers the entire body.

 

    Zyrius Kalius just continues with his bow dancing. He's not helping anyone. What an ass.

 

    "Are you sure we should be using /that/ one? I doubt the owner would be happen to find himself face to face with refugees." Swift says.

 

Minus says, "Yeah, that's - that's not a good choice."

Minus looks for other, less terrifying equipment.

 

        Flipping the guy over seemed to have broken something. Whatever spell or effect was holding him in that strange death-like trance breaks the moment he is moved, and he awakens suddenly, lurching up. Even as he does this though, and his eyes open to reveal pure orichalcum orbs...he pops away. As though the effect also held him here...

 

 

        All of the mortals given fairly large pieces of soulsteel plate armor suddenly pops away, even as the rest of the plates also teleport away... They have left, and now your number is fewer.

 

Minus pumps his fist. "It works!"

 

Minus says, "We don't know where they go, but at least they'll be in a place with oxygen. Get their names! We can contact them with infallible messengers later!"

 

Minus says, "Strap em' in to Jade, Moonsilver, or Orichaque!"

 

    Grandmother Spider is too distracted by musings about the weird nature of this place to be much help in finding, but she has two willing hands to shuffle large pieces of armour onto people once they are located.

 

    Zyrius Kalius likes his shoes. They are comfy.

 

    Minus grabs Zera, after a short while. "Come on, your turn," he says desperately.

 

        Zuriel kicks a random rock and says, "To Malfeas with this! I am sick of poking around for artifacts. I want to fight the bastard that has put us here!"

 

Minus says, "You already KILLED him."

 

    Cathak Zuriel says, "Please! He was obviously just a pawn. There is always someone else!"

 

    Zyrius Kalius mutters harshly, "Well one of you spirit summoning freaks call him back and we'll do it again."

 

Zera follows Minus as she should, seemingly quite frightened. "I'll be safe, right?" She inquires, worridly.

 

<Emitted by SE after GS had to go> Grandmother Spider, tired and weakened, and watching the othere falter, uses her sapphire counter-magic in a last ditch attempt, hope to perhaps unweave this place and force everyone back to Creation.

        It's not the best plan, and it could be the worst, but the mortals are on the verge of death, and it is unlikely the others will survive much longer.

        Her spell, once cast, seems at first, to be little more than an inneffective light show. However, within moments, artifacts in the area begin popping out, all at once, going...somewhere. When all have gone, at last, there is a sound if air flowing, and the whole area disintegrates beneath all of your feet, casting you into darkness...

 

In the darkness, strange beings speak to you, speaking of worlds that have never existed or will exist, and whisper sweet nothings and promises of journeys beyond the Wyld to other worlds...But in the end, a bargain is struck, each of you bound to a different contract, and sent forth homeward by these beings that exist between existance.

        You will all return to whatever place you most call 'home' in the Riverlands, without recollection of those strange being's names, or even what you spoke with them...

 

<END SCENE>