What Happened In Astoria

[Sirce Luckwielder]

"So, tactics? I think I can still fast travel during combat so my maneuverability should be pretty good, though I really think the devs need to patch that."

Lockvault began going over a few ideas in his head as the Adventurer turned towards him, noticing his change in ordinance.

"Woah sweet, you weren't kidding about having an awesome inventory were you? Well that simplifies things we can just camp here and spawn-kill whoever it is every time they appear. Not particularly nice or fair as a tactic but hey, they keep spawning in the same spot they're asking for it."

"First of all, your rifle looks good, I don't think we need to change that at all. But if someone gets close, the rifle is going to hinder you as you try to aim. I suggest that you carry at least one pistol and a combat knife." To accompany his ideas, he made dropped a pistol and knife shoulder to arm holster onto the table next to the Adventurer. "You won't need any extra clips for it. Just yell at me and I can refill it from my Inventory, I always have some ammunition ready to drop."

As his companion began to strap the holster to his arm, Lockvault continued tpwith his next idea. "Do you happen to know any army hand signals that we could use? In the din of battle, I have a feeling that it may be hard to communicate and if we need anything, it would be betrer to be prepared."

"The only army signal I know is the general 'move out' signal." To demonstrate, the Adventurer raised his fist beside his head with two fingers straightened. He then crouched and pumped his fist circularly as if he was giving a S.W.A.T. team the go-ahead to move in on a target.

Lockvault stifled a laugh at the ridiculous sight. The Adventurer was funny in his own innocent way. Lockvault felt a small moment of joy watching him, reminding himself of how his younger brother had been before he had died.

"Well, that could be useful, but unless you have anything else, I think we are going to have to stick to just plain English for now."

The Adventurer looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned to Lockvault. "You wouldn't happen to know ASL? My brother was deaf and I learned so we could talk." Making some experimental signs, he smiled. "Looks like the designers went all out on the character motion. It almost makes up for all of the other glitches that they missed."

Looking back in his Memory, Lockvault found a chart of the basic Sign Language alphabet. He had never taken the course himself, but he had a couple of friends who did. He had asked one of them to show him the basic alphabet so he could communicate from across the room in their boring English period.

"I actually do know rudimentary Sign Language, just the basic alphabet, but I am good enough that we won't have a problem communicating."

Seeing the smile on his companion's face, he smiled back, then looked back through the window at the Epic who was down on the street interogating vanillas. As he watched, another Epic flew up beside the first. Placing some binoculars into his hands, Lockvault got a good look at the pair for the first time. He didn't recognize the female, but the other one looked close to a profile he had read before coming to the city. Hopefully he was mistaken, but if he was right, they had somehow attracked the attention of the Metal. Before he could get a better glance to confirm his fears, the supposed Metal turned directly towards where they were hiding.

“Hey, you two. Are you going to properly introduce yourself or do I have to drag you out here myself?”

Turning towards his companion, Lockvault frantically began to sign. The Metal could control sound, so whatever they said would potentially be used against them. Quickly he laid out his plan. If they did decide that going down towards the two Epics, it would help for them to be able to communicate without the Metal catching what they were saying. As an excuse to use it, one of them would need to "play deaf." So long as neither opposing Epic knew ASL, they would have a clear-cut tactic. Having exhausted his fingers, he shook them out and waited for the Adventurer's reply, preparing to place anything of use in the room into Storage.

[Mailliw73]

 

 

Smasher watched as Bloody Mary disappeared, cursing. Teleporters were sparking difficult to fight. Especially ones with other powers. A missile from the tank shot for his jeep, almost faster than he could react. Smasher yelled and went intangible at the same instant. The blast destroyed the jeep. Only one of his Destructors had managed to roll out in time. The others drowned in their own crimson blood.

Smasher threw forcefields up around the other vehicles and the two flying Epics just before blood hit them. The blood hit the faint blue bubbles and splattered around them. Unlike some other forcefield Epics, Smasher's forcefields had oxygen flow through them. Hawkwing was confused by that and tried to explain why. Smasher just accepted it as his powers and used it to his advantage. The others all stopped inside their bubbles, waiting for Jag's command.
 

"Jag! How the heck are we supposed to defeat these things?!" Metalmech yelled over the mobile.

"Stay calm," Jag responded. "Smasher's protected us from the blood for now. Des and Smasher, you two are our best weapons against her. Create a wall of wind in front of you and push back any blood that comes, Desolation. Try to lift her up and disorient her."

"Smasher, you approach her and attempt to physically harm her. We'll keep her attention on the gunfire. Metalmech, use whatever guns from Smasher's jeep you can salvage to fire at her." Jag ordered the team. They commenced immediately. Smasher went intangible and walked calmly towards Mary as Metalmech drove the jeep around, firing randomly. Desolation used his wind manipulation to keep the blood away from him. He blew it back towards Mary. Hawk reported her location to them as she moved around.

Jag watched this, feeling powerless. The blood could plug his nose and mouth and strangle him before he'd even get close to Mary. Not once since he'd become an Epic had he felt this powerless to affect things. His strength always kept him powerful. Not this time.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Mailliw73

[Blackhoof]

Hellfire smiled as Valve opened a portal. Peering through, he could see that it opened onto a quiet countryside. Well, technically it would always open onto a quiet scene- Valve's portals did not let sounds through. He was dressed in casual, civilian clothes, without his customary cape, or ostentatious costume. It mattered not- he could armour himself in flames relatively quickly, should the need arise. He carried no weapons, either, for he WAS a weapon. He had a plan- sneak in, learn all he could, and then devise a way to punish this Diamond Queen for daring to attack his land.

 

Turning to Valve, he said, "Remember, have someone keeping an eye out for me, in both directions. If I have to find my own way back, because of your idiocy...."

Valve gulped and bowed, "Of c-course not, your majesty! I'll be within earshot at all times!"

Hellfire smiled, "See that you are." With that, he stepped through the portal, and realised that he had been quite wrong about the scene being quiet.

 

He could hear gunshots and loud bangs, somewhere not far off behind him. He turned as the portal closed, and another two small ones opened up very close to the ground. He saw eyes pressed to them, and snickered at the thought of the servants who had to watch through all day and night for him to return. He briefly considered bursting alight to fly over and investigate, but decided that stealth was the best option for now.  Fire would come later.

 

He began jogging to the sounds of battle, seeing a small rise ahead of him. He crouched down, and slowly crawled up it until his eyes were just poking over the crest of the mound. With his heightened senses, he easily saw the details of the skirmish in front of him. Blood everywhere, tendrils of it flailing around like an octopus on a killing spree. Jeeps and armoured vehicles surrounded in forcefields- he hated forcefields- and all were firing. He could not see what at, at first, but then, eyes like a hawk, he spotted a head poking out of the ground.

"What an interesting fight...." He said to himself, and waited, content to watch it unfold.

[Sirce Luckwielder]

Raising Blindsight took longer than Winterspell had expected. As it was a low-key night, the man had retired early to his quarters in the lower levels rather than in the entertainment center. By the time that he was brought into the lower court, Deathgale certainly looked fed up with waiting.

Now the Epic rushed into the room, his white lab coat flapping behind him. To Winterspell's eyes, he looked like he was going to slid straight into the group, and he tensed himself for the impact. At the last moment, Blindsight turned on his heel, using his boots to bring him to an abrupt stop before he hit the already impatient Deathgale. Winterspell flinched. "Cutting it a bit close there, aren't we?"

"Just trying to maximize time sir."

"Of course." Blindsight had the ability to mathimatically compute anything in his head at record speeds. He could see a situation and understand intuitively exactly what would be the optimal way of dealing with it. For traveling to the Distructors, his skills would be invaluable.

Having barely flinched from Blindsight's skid. Desthgale went right into the matter at hand. “We need to get to the south border of the city, slightly before point zircon. I would appreciate it, if you make sure your boss actually gets us there.”

"Oooh, long journey. Very exhiting. So, from the looks of it, there will be four passengers going," he said, counting Dustdevil, Winterspell, Deathgale, and Kinesis.

"Five passengers Blindsight," shouted Disruption, sprinting into the room. "I finished setting up the shifts. I'm glad I caught you before you left. I would rather go with you and finish this fight before I head to the city. Get some action that way, and you know how I hate scout duty."

Winterspell turned to Blindsight, "he may come along too. Another thing, I don't knwo how much water I will need, so calculate an extra 1000 gallons into your equations."

Blindsight's eyes bugged out, his face light up with childlike glee. "Factoring for air resistance, gravity, and weight. Testing out approach vectors and diffusion after landing. The optimal angle of elevation will be pi sixths with a horizontal angle of negative 2 pi fifths. We are 18,473 feet from the entry point horizontally, and seven feet below. That makes the initial velocity at around . . . 826.458 feet per second." (This is actually legit math using calculus. Unfortunately I can't factor in air resistance and weight all that well, but it is pretty close to the real thing.)

Winterspell smiled. "Wonderful. I'm assuming you can place that in my mind with your powers so I can actually achieve what you have just layed out."

"Of course sir. I am sending it to you right now."

Winterspell felt a tingling in the back of his head, then red lines appeared, stretching off into the distance, presumably to Sector Zircon. "Everybody coming, gather close to me, I can keep us having a little bit of air for the journey, but it will run out after about two minutes with five of us in the capsule. Blindsight, thank you for your services, stay close enough to keep me with your equations, but behind a few walls so you don't get hurt."

As the Epic scurried away, Winterspell closed his eyes. First he made a shell of ice around the occupants, binding them in place so they wouldn't all die from the whiplash. Then he focused almost every fiber of his being on the water around him. He swirled it and churned it, driving it faster and faster in a circulatory current. Melting the room that they were in and sealing the door with ice to prevent flooding, Winterspell let the currents carry the capsule, driving it faster and faster. When the forces were almost too much for him to continue to control, he hit the velocity he wanted. With a push and a scream of triumph, the capsule made one last rotation throught the currents, then launched intomthe air, following the trajectory of the red lines. Now that they were in the air, Winterspell was able to relax, he felt the water receding beneath them, a tempest of waves and whirlpools.

Winterspell smiled at the other occupants of the capsule, high on the adrenaline from accomplishing such a feat. After only a few seconds, he felt the water from the sewars with his water sense. He had time to yell a quick "brace yourselves" before he reformed the water around the capsule to slow their landing, keeping the occupants inside from dying on impact.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sirce Luckwielder

[Blackhoof]

Hellfire was impatient. This fight was taking too long. Only minutes had passed since his arrival, but damnation it, that was too long!

It was time to.... Heat things up. Chuckling at his own pun, Hellfire stood up, and threw his arms out to the side. Fire appeared, sprouting from his hands, his eyes, his very soul, forming hardened, carapace-like plates of spiked armour all over his body. Only his face he left uncovered, although he could cover it in an instant. Within 30 seconds, his armour was complete, and normal flames covered it, dancing around his shoulders and forming a crown at his brow. He was magnificent.

With a cruel smile, he projected flames from his feet and palms, pointing down downwards, giving him the lift to fly. He shot into the air like a rocket, landing on the edge of the skirmish. As he landed he shot an explosive fireball at the ground, causing a loud bang and a huge plume of dust to shoot into the air, covering everything nearby.

The dust settled, and Hellfire yelled, "Now, tell me which of you, if any, serves Queen Lucentia, so I know who to kill!"

It was at this point that something big and blue fell out of the sky.

[Sirce Luckwielder]

Winterspell forced the extra 1000 gallons of water he had brought down, creating a cushion for the impact of the capsule.  As it slid through the water, he began to spin the ball, bringing its kinetic energy down quickly without killing the occupants inside.  To keep everybody from dying from the disorientation, he focused part of his mind on everybody's semicircular canals, keeping that water still would keep their sense of balance straight. Rather than getting disorientated by the spinning, they would just feel their bodies moving, but there would be no ill effects to their minds.

 

As soon as the capsule came to a stop, Winterspell breaking the ice around them down, but adding that to his previous water mass. He quickly formed a clear wall around them so they could survey the scene.  Looking over at Deathgale, he gave him a triumphant look. "I got us here, now what?"

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

"Savior Zero, bless these two." The words were as long and drawn-out as the Financier could make them, as near to chanting as he could manage. Most ministers clipped those words, made them short and sweet before getting to the rest of the ceremony. The One Who Ate Nine expected short and sweet words with a longer ceremony, and the Financier was determined to throw him off. 

 

"Bless the bearer of your image, bless the one with the image of your Prophet." 

 

The groom, who cradled a watermelon, returned the Financier's glance with a smile. It seemed a tad forced, but at least he was smiling. His bride's smile was more genuine—but then again, the zucchini she carried was far lighter than a watermelon. The Financier took a candle from where the toilet used to be and lit it. 

 

"May their love catch like sparks to tinder." 

 

He raised the candle over his head. The woman let out a small gasp as the flame nearly brushed the dry wood, her groom releasing a sigh of relief as the Financier lowered the flame. Both smiled at him, their grins far more relaxed than they were. 

 

"May their burning love incinerate every seventh man, may every seventh child be destroyed." 

 

The bride cleared her throat. "We, er, don't plan on having that many children." 

 

"This is excellent." He chanted those words, although they weren't part of the ceremony. The One despised chanting. While wearing the Diamond Queen's form, the One had once threatened to murder him if he didn't cease his chanting at once. He had heeded her warning, but filed the information away for later. "A seventh son may bring much devastation to the land." 

 

"Understood." The groom shifted the watermelon's weight. "It'll be just the two of us for a while, I promise." 

 

Two. Only two, two who understood the dangers and snares posed by the One. Two who hadn't dropped their sacred images throughout the entire ceremony. Two who had not once complained of a wedding held in the most sacred place in Astoria. Two who had never asked why it didn't smell in there, who simply had faith that the Financier would lead their marriage toward the path of righteousness. 

 

Beaming, the Financier set the candle down and, placing a hand on each of their shoulders, gave them the highest blessing he knew. "May your life as two lead you to a conclusion of Zero. May Our Savior make you like himself." 

 

The couple traded puzzled glances. "Do…do you mean," the bride began, "that you want us to die and for no one to ever find our bodies?" 

 

He beamed again. "Yes! Exactly! There is no better conclusion to a life lived beneath Savior Zero." 

 

"Right. Um, thanks. Great…great wedding." 

[Voidus]

Bioterror left the window open as he left the car, orchestral strains following him as he walked up to the couple who had just left a bizarre looking outhouse with stained glass windows and were smiling in what seemed to be halfway between relief and fear.

Remember, new city, can't keep killing people. Got to make a good first impression to show restraint.

"Hello" He said, altering his voice to a slightly gravelly tone "I seek the rulers of Astoria for a meeting."

He altered the pigment in his eyes to a dark red, one of the simpler alterations he could make but one that showed the couple what they were dealing with.

"It would be wise to tell me where to find them."

The young man pointed back to the building they'd just exited with a trembling finger.

"The Financier helps Lucentia, he could help you."

Bioterror looked back at the building skeptically before glaring at the man.

"Was that your idea of a joke? Little bugs like you don't get to make jokes."
In his anger at the idea that the rulers of Astoria could reside in such an absurd place he let a thread of his power out, destroying lung cells, he managed to hold back from killing him. Just.

"Teach him to mind his betters." He said to the young woman, who managed only a tearful nod before picking up a limp arm and dragging her partner away.

Bioterror headed towards the ridiculous building, might as well see if anyone here had any idea, if not, well he couldn't be expected to show too much restraint could he?

"Anybody here?" He yelled as he approached "I'm looking for the rulers of Astoria."

[Edgedancer]

The tendrils Bloody Mary send towards the other Destructors stopped when they hit something in the air. Judging by the faint blue shimmer see could make out, it was the work of Smasher. Taking the chance she coated the force fields in a layer of her blood, turning their protective domes into a prison.

 

Two of the Destructors were still free from what she could see, one of them the new one pushing away her blood with gusts of air and the other Smasher, which wasn’t surprising given his powers.

 

After she cut of Metalmech’s sight the remains of Smasher’s jeep lost its course. Mary raised a wall of blood in front of it. As it drove through it the vehicle resurfaced in front of the flying Destructor. Instead of crashing into him, it was simply reduced to dust. Annoying as it was, at least she knew more about his powers.

 

On the edge of the battlefield someone introduced himself with an explosion. He was apparently some fire Epic here to pick a fight. Why did these Epics just all creep out of their hiding today.

 

She thought about what to do next, as she saw that her reinforcement was finally approaching in the sky.

She used the flask Deathgale carried to transport herself inside their cover just in time to hear Winterspell’s question.

 

“Quite simple really,” she said” most of the Destructors are in those blood covered domes you are seeing, one that apparently just joined them is in the air,” a tendril of blood pointed towards him, “and possess at least some form of wind control and disintegration.

 

“Smasher is still walking around, so as a failsafe.“ She flicked a bit of blood on each of their clothes. “This is in case I  needed to get one of you out of a force field. “Lastly, we have the Epic in that burning armor that seems to intend to pick a fight with Lucentia but didn’t seem to recognize me, meaning he probably doesn’t know who any of us are.

 

“Any wishes concerning who you want to deal with?” She pair of blood discs raised on her palms. “I can take you to them directly.”

[Edgedancer]

(I have the honor to present you with collaboration from Winter, Voidus, Sirce and myself.)

 

The Adventurer watched Lockvault’s hands blur into rudimentary fingerspelling. He obviously knew the signs but his awkwardness made it seem that he was unused to actually speaking to anyone this way.

One of us will need to play deaf so they don’t get suspicious. Lockvault signed.

Sure, well we could just go with the old broken mic excuse but I suppose then only one of us would need to sign. The Adventurer signed back, hands moving slightly slower than normal to make sure Lockvault could keep up. If we’re going to both be on this server for a while remind me to teach you proper signing, fingerspelling takes too long. What should we do about that guy who’s yelling? I think he has some kind of noclip hack because he was flying and moving way too fast.

He looked out the window to confirm that the newest arrival was looking straight at them and seemingly growing impatient. Well at least he hadn’t fast traveled, only one of them seemed to have figured that out. But then he had that flying trick...
 

Even with at the slow pace at which the Adventurer went, Lockvault quickly fell behind. Leaving his eyes open to continue feeding his Memory, Lockvault went back and translated the message, getting faster as he went along.

Broken mic? Is that one of us playing mute? That would be good so that they can’t test to see if we are really deaf. It would also speed up how long it would take to go back and forth between us. Good thinking. As for the other guy, he looks like real trouble. I suggest that we don’t make him mad. I think we can risk going down there if we always keep ready to bug out.

Instead of actually getting out of the building the two of them started waving their hands around, sign language probably. The idea was pretty cute, and could almost work if not for the fact that he could just pin down their hands whenever he wanted. “You know, excluding me from your conversation is pretty rude. Anyway, if you’re not coming I’ll drag you out of there,” as he talked the Metal again made sure the other two could hear him.

 

The Metal put pressure on the wall they were hiding behind. With barely any resistance it erupted towards the open street. He was about to give them one more chance before getting aggressive. The Metal himself slowly started crossing the rubble filled street towards them. “Consider this your last chance before you’re starting to get hurt, pals.”  

 

Now, what music to play? He settled on something that goes with everything, Rules of Nature.

The Adventurer watched the wall blow out in front of him in surprise, then growing dislike.

Oh please don’t let this be a Quicktime event boss-fight, I hate those, there’s no challenge to them.

He was about to pull his rifle up and start firing wildly when he realized Lockvaults last frantically signed message.

I suggest that we don’t make him mad.

Did that mean Lockvault had played this boss before? Did he have an Aggro meter or something?

Following the wall out onto the street he walked towards the Epic calmly with Lockvault.

Play dumb. He signed as they moved. Let me know if there’s anything I need to do.

“Hello.” He called as they approached. “Sorry about that, my friend here’s muted so we needed the signs. You guys having fun with the game so far?”

The wall exploded outwards after the Metal warned the Epics. Brightdeath turned her head to look at the Metal. He seemed to have expected it and the fact that it happened right after he said something seemed to be a sign that he did it.

Then the Metal threatened them. So far so good. Brightdeath thought, toying with a piece of light with her fingers. Some music started playing. Brightdeath liked it. It was loud.

The two Epics started signing each other quickly. One Epic started to pull up a gun. A gun. That means he probably doesn’t have any directly offensive abilities.

“Hello.” One of the Epics told them. The one who did not aim the gun. The Epic with the gun was holding it by his side now. “Sorry about that, my friend here’s muted so we needed the signs. You guys having fun with the game so far?”

His friend was dumb, huh? Hadn’t Brightdeath heard them both talking earlier. She started to say something, then she thought about it again.

Had she heard them both talking? She thought that she had heard both of them talking, but was she paying attention that much? She tried to recall what she had heard. She had definitely heard one of them speaking and hadn’t really thought about much but getting back to the Metal.

Brightdeath heard the rest of the statement about a game. Brightdeath wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘game.’

She turned to the Metal to ask him his opinion.

“What should we do?” She asked, putting emphasis on the we. Brightdeath wanted to make sure that if they brought down these two Epics, she would be given part of the credit. “Not sure if he’s actually dumb. But he could be.”

It seems like destroying the wall did the trick. The two started walking and meet the Metal halfway. One of them claimed that the other was mute and if he was enjoying the game, as he put it. Judging by that introduction these two are quirky enough to justify a visit.

 

Brightdeath seemed rather hostile against the two, although with her he wasn’t sure if she actually noticed something or if she was  just generally abrasive.

Responding to her question the Metal slightly bemused raised an eyebrow at her, “They came out, so obviously we’re going to talk. No reason to start insulting people immediately either.”

Then he addressed the two newcomers, “In case you mean your little attempt at hide and seek, it was way too easy to be entertaining. Anyway, what are you two up to? Little Sunshine here was a bit harsh but you two aren’t exactly showing your best behaviour with all the hiding and pointing a gun at me. Almost as if it might be simpler to simply kill you and be over with it.” His smile grew slightly broader after he finished talking.

 

With the last statement from the Metal, Lockvault felt the Adventurer shift next to him. Casually looking over at him, he saw his finger still restlessly moving along his trigger guard.  If he makes a single wrong move, this is going to get blown to Calamity faster than we can handle.

Thinking quickly about what would convince his companion, Lockvault turned to him and quickly signed a message. Don’t aggravate him. He is a tough boss to beat and we don’t have enough XP yet.  Besides, if we can get out of this situation without ticking him off, there is an extra unlock that we get.  The new game engine lets you go through some situations in multiple ways rather than a singular quest line.

With his advice, and his life, in the Adventurer’s hands, Lockvault turned back towards the other two Epics.  He had joked before Calamity about not being able to act to save his life.  Hopefully the smile he gave them wouldn’t put that speculation to the test.

Multiple ways huh? Well non-linear storytelling always was better. The Adventurer mused. That probably means a persuasion option, so we just need the right dialog choices. Tricky with no save options though, so we only get one shot at this huh?

Lowering his rifle he looked back at the two enemies, it seemed that one was the boss the other might be another player who’d beaten him.

“Kill us huh? Well you could try but I wouldn’t advise it. We were just talking about setting up camp together. Dangerous place you know?”

Now, do we go for a persuasion or intimidation? Well the first choice is usually a test anyway, should be ok as long as I don’t get aggressive again.

“Still, we can look after ourselves. What exactly are you two doing here?”

Need more information first, then choose the corresponding conversation tree that relates to their goals.

He wouldn’t advise it, huh. I wonder, if he could actually deliver in a fight.  

“Oh you know, ask newcomers who they are, teach them not to cause any trouble and generally whatever I want to do.”

The Metal’s power crushed down on the Epics elbows. His arms fell down to the ground, ending in two bloody stumps, bone fragments protruding from it.

Disappointed the Metal tilted his head to the side, “Pity, I was hoping for that to be harder.”

Pain flared in both of the Adventurer’s arms as the boss stared at him.

“Argh! Sparks! Woah they really went all out on the haptics for this didn’t they?” He said with a grimace, his mind instinctively distancing itself helped limit the overwhelming pain, though the throbbing in both arms was still far from pleasant.

I’m going to have to reload aren’t I? Sparks! I was hoping I could perfect this without needing to reload.

“See you in a second” He whispered to Lockvault as he shifted himself through the ground once more, aiming this time not for the sewers but something far deeper and less pleasant.

For a brief second searing pain engulfed his entire body, his eyes, his limbs, his lungs were filled with a burning substance. Then it all faded to black once more.

A few moments later he reappeared next to lockvault, picked up his weapon from where it had fallen with his now functioning arms and faced the boss once more.

Let’s try this again shall we? Try for the diplomatic option this time.

“Hello! Sorry about that, my friends muted you see. I hope you’re enjoying the game so far, is there anything we can help you with?”

[Sirce Luckwielder]

This is the first part in a collaboration between Sirce, Edgedancer, Mailliw, Mail-mi, and Blackhoof.

 

 

Slightly peeved that Mary had ruined his shirt with her blood, Winterspell resolved to have this fight over as soon as possible.  Turning from them to survey the scene, he began formulating a plan for his men.

 

"Dustdevil, try to keep that flying Epic off balance. What will you need to do that?"

 

"That diamond wall o'er yonder looks like good ammunition, I suppose you wouldn't mind me scraping some off the top?" Dustdevil asked Mary. In response, she sent him away, causing him reappear beside the city wall.

 

"Disruption, I want you to go for Smasher. If you can take him out, great, but try to at least distract him for a while until we can pile on him."

 

Disruption looked miffed at that last piece. "We'll see who needs help from who when I take him out."

 

With that, Mary thankfully sent him away.

 

"Kinesis, you're with me. I want you to distract that fire yahoo over there while I come up. It shouldn't take too much to take him down with my water, but I want to get it over with as soon as possible so we can move onto the other Destructors.

 

"Sure thing. Mary, set me on that small hill over there. There are lots of peices of metal and some rocks that I can use as ammunition."

 

Pursing her lips, Mary sent him on his way.

 

She turned to Winterspell. "Anything I can help you with?" she smirked. Her tone like that of an adult talking to a little child.

 

"Yeah. You owe me a new shirt." With that, Winterspell melted his ice shield. He began to move away, using his water like tentacles to advance him towards the blazing fire Epic.

 

Deathgale watched Winterspell’s soldiers spread out. “From the looks of it I’ll help Dustdevil with the new Destructor. I imagine that there are enough people here now that you can take your leave and not risk yourself out here?” Deathgale asked Bloody Mary. He did want her to get away from the fight but his concern was one of efficiency. He gave an annoyed groan as he pulled out his soaked pack of cigarettes.

 

“It’s really heartwarming to have someone be concerned about your well being, you know? I’ll still keep an eye on the fight though, so I got your back.” Bloody Mary sank down in a puddle of blood under her. Shortly before disappearing she gave him a head tilt and a thin ghastly smile spreading across her entire face, he couldn’t quite tell if she was mocking him or, in her own way, genuine.

 

Still- a new pack of cigarettes appeared out of the patch she just disappeared from and he caught it midair- they did come to an agreement with each other over the years.

 

Lighting one he half stepped through a layer of blood that rose in front of him. He exited the blood that the Destructor was holding at a distance with his wind.

 

Deathgale threw a pair of windblades at him.

 

Hellfire’s mouth twisted into a snarl as he saw that the large blue object had been a ball of ice, carrying several Epics. They had come from the direction of the city…. logically, these were servants of Lucentia. And one was a water Epic. He hated water Epics!

Not only were they a natural counter to him as a fire Epic, but they had a much better chance of accidentally triggering his weakness than anyone else.

 

Wait… this isn’t near the ocean, is it? He thought in sudden panic. Valve would have told me if it is.... wouldn’t she?

 

He needed to kill that water Epic.

He had now identified it, walking towards him with huge tentacles of water. Other Epics seemed to be teleported around the battlefield in the huge tentacles and pools of blood that covered everything, but Hellfire only had eyes for one.

To kill this Epic…. I’m going to need his friends distracted, Hellfire mused.

 

He turned to the scattered forcefields, each utterly covered in thick sheets of blood. With a grunt, he threw his arms forward, and a massive gout of flame shot from his whole body, rolling across the field and over the forcefields. A monstrous hiss like a thousand angry snakes filled his ears, and huge pillars of reddish steam rose into the sky as the blood was literally boiled and evaporated off of the forcefields within a second. The folks in the armoured vehicles suddenly found their vision clear, and their movement unencumbered as all the blood within a large a large area of the vehicles had been turned to vapor.

 

Winterspell glided towards the Epic, smiling with euphoric glee. That smile turned into a slight frown when he saw the fire Epic sling waves of heat at the blood around the Destructiors. Some of water began to evaporate with the blood, but he quickly brought its temperature down, adding it back to his water base.

 

Turning towards Kinesis, he placed a shield of Icesteel around him in a bubble. With his spacial awareness he wouldn't need his vision to hit the other Epic. He used the blood splatter on his shirt to address his team. "Kinesis, take some of the diamond refuse from where Dustdevil is drilling and send it at that fire Epic. Keep teleport it in close and hit him with all the speed you can muster. Try to be unpredictable and keep him off balance while I deal with him." Feeling a moment of pride, he quickly added a last snippet "If he looks to be going down, hold back slightly. I want to be the one to deal the killing blow."

 

Turning back towards the Epic, he quickly formed some of his water into Icesteel spears, keeping them cold and hard with his mind. Let's see how he responds to this. He sent the spears flying, smiling at the surprise the Epic would get when they didn't evaporate.

 

Desolation managed to repel the blood from him with his wind powers. he couldn't manage to get a clear shot at Bloody Mary herself though. He steadily moved closer, fighting her blood. A capsule of ice landed near the fight. As Des watched, various Epics took their place in the fight. Apparently, Mary had called for backup. Wimp.

 

A man, dressed in a fancy suit and smoking a cigarette, appeared on the blood Des was pushing back. Des propelled himself to the side as soon as the snob appeared. Just in time, it appeared, as some strangely distorted wind flew past him, quicker than he could manipulate it. Desolation began to sporadically switch the direction of the wind propelling him to make himself harder to hit. He slung one of his assault rifles into position and shot at the suited slontze.

 

Jag heard a muffled voice yell for Lucentia through the blood bubble he was now trapped in. Smasher reported that the voice belonged to a fire Epic who had just appeared on the scene. He wanted to know who fought for Lucentia so he could kill them. While Jag tried to contact Des to make contact with the fire Epic, the blood surrounding the force field began dissipating. It was evaporating into the air. Jag looked around to see the blood surrounding all the force fields was evaporating. The fire Epic had decided to help them of his own accord. "Smasher, drop my force field now."

 

Lightwrought sat on a balcony, looking across the town, imagining that she could see the battle taking place. Winterspell was kind to worry about her, but she knew she could hold her own in a fight. She consoled herself with thinking that the Keep needed her in case something happened while he was gone.

 

Coming out of her thoughts with a jolt, she realized that the sun was now below the horizon. The last rays still lit the sky, but soon it would be night. Perhaps there was something she could do in this fight.

 

Using all of her strength, she changed the sky to be a light cream. Pushing as much as she could into it, she noticeably brightened the sky. It wasn't much, and it wouldn't last long, but it would have to do for now. Hopefully Winterspell would make use of the brightened sky and deal with the invaders quickly.

[+Slowswift]

 

 

He hadn't even been in the city an hour before someone tried to shoot him.

 

They should have known better. Timelock's danger sense kicked in, and the world around him froze, allowing him to see and avoid the bullet that had been speeding towards his head.

 

He glanced around, noting the sniper on a nearby rooftop, then casually stepped to the side. As soon as he was clear of the bullet, time sped back to normal and the projectile flew past his head.

 

Timelock pulled out his own firearm and carefully fired three shots at where the gunman had been hiding. He missed, of course. You could hardly expect to hit anything so far away with a pistol. That hadn't been the point. He was sending a message: I know you're there. Don't mess with me.

 

Timelock, an Epic once known to the fine people of the world as Charles Frederick Williamson, had entered Astoria, possibly one of the most dangerous cities this side of the Rocky Mountains. He noticed with some confusion that the sky, despite it being late evening, was tinted a peculiar shade of green, and that various chunks of the city seemed to be crusted with what looked like diamonds.

 

He strode forward, ignoring the oddities for the time being, and surveyed the buildings ahead. He could see the faces of the plains as they huddled in their homes, watching from behind curtains. Those faces vanished as he drew close.

 

Such fear, he thought. Turf wars among Epics had not done good things for the state of Oregon.

 

He walked up to one of the buildings, a nice hotel, and walked in, passing the check-in desk by. The receptionist looked as though he was going to object, but something in Timelock's demeanor convinced him otherwise. Timelock walked over to the elevator, hit the button and waited.

 

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing a group of plains who started at the sight of him and rushed out. Amused, Timelock stepped in and hit the button for the highest floor.

 

Minutes later, he was at the door of a handsome suite. He knocked.

 

A man in a black suit trimmed with red answered it. Gravitas, otherwise known as Caleb Johnson, one of Timelock's old college friends. Upon seeing Timelock, he showed a rare smile. "Frederick!" he said. "Good to see you! Good to see you. Come in, please."

 

Timelock did so.

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by Slowswift

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

"Anyone here? I'm looking for the rulers of Astoria." 

 

The Financier heard the voice, muffled as it was through the sacred walls. No vanillas would seek the rulers of Astoria. No Epic with a brain would seek the rulers of Astoria. So the voice calling for the rulers had to belong to a brainless Epic. 

 

The worst kind. 

 

The Financier lifted the candle, still lit, and tucked the zucchini under one arm before ducking out the door. The brainless Epic met his gaze with dark red eyes. That, in itself, proved nothing; eye color was independent of the One's influence, but the fact he sought the Diamond Queen made him suspicious. 

 

"I'm afraid she is away," he said in the businesslike tone he used with the Queen. If he served the One, this Epic might despise chanting as much as his master, but it was better to save that for later. Best to appear as amiable as possible. "Can I help you?" 

 

He wrote an equation in his head—1 zucchini times 40,000 equals 40,000 zucchinis—and held it there. If the brainless Epic started a fight, the Financier could summon the Metal. An exponentially growing pile of forty thousand zucchinis summoned everyone. 

Edited April 15, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Voidus]

Feeling somewhat irritated that he'd have to keep looking Bioterror nearly tried to kill the man who'd exited the strange building on the spot, he managed to reign himself in when he realized that this man seemed to speak as though he at least knew something of Astoria's government.

Yeah, murdering officials is probably not the best idea is is?

Given the appearance of both the man and his accommodations Bioterror almost dismissed the notion that he might be an Epic out of hand, a normal Epic would not live in a place like this and most would leap at the chance to show off their powers to a stranger. Nevertheless he sent out a tendril of power, attempting to destroy the nerves in one of the mans arms, it would hurt noticeably but shouldn't do any lasting damage.

Nothing happened. No cry of pain, no clutching at his arm. Which could only mean...

An Epic? Well that makes things easier.

Bioterror had always hated the limitation that meant he couldn't murder Epics as easily as he could everyone else, something to do with the way Epics cells produced so much more energy to power their abilities messed with Bioterrors ability to destroy the cells. But it was a handy way of detecting Epics.

"Away? Ah, that is a shame. I'm looking for somewhere to settle in, somewhere that can make use of my... talents."

He altered his eyes back to a light blue color so he didn't appear quite so ominous. Making sure other Epics knew to fear him was all well and good but he was trying to secure a more permanent position here, it wouldn't do to have to murder one of the city's Epics unless he had to.

"I don't suppose you could show me to whoever is ruling in her stead? I've already had to reduce the population of one town down to 0, I'd hate to have to do something like that again just to get myself noticed."

[+Slowswift]

 

Upon entering the suite, everything seemed to get lighter. He jumped softly and sailed a good five feet. Gravitas was messing things up as usual.

 

Inside the suite, two people were sitting around a card table. Timelock recognized both of them. They were Epics who served under him in California. He and Gravitas took a seat around the table, settling in to the reduced gravity, and one of the Epics dealt them both a hand.

 

Timelock cleared his throat as he glanced through his hand. Three of a kind. "So, do we have any plans for this stormydd-melltithio city?"

 

“Calamity, Frederick,” said Avatar, placing some chips. “I forgot you did that.”

 

Timelock smiled. “Et je ai oublié ce que vous avez été une douleur, James. La vostra offerta, e non truccare le carte.” he said, slipping easily from French to Italian. “At any rate, this city is one of the more challenging ones we’ve come to. Lucentia's a nasty one; you've seen what she's done with the city. We had best tread carefully.”

 

There was a murmur of agreement from around the table.

 

"What do you propose we do about it?" asked Avatar.

 

"Well," the other Epic at the table, Architect, said thoughtfully, "this is one of the most stable cities around. There's a working infrastructure, and the people aren't starving. They're still terrified, of course. Who wouldn't be? But this city is one of the most secure in the region. I can count on one hand regions this stable, including the Bay Area."

 

Everyone nodded. The Bay Area of California, known now as the Quadrangle, was the group's biggest achievement. After the four Epics had battled it out on the Golden Gate, they realized the benefits of collaboration. They had banded together and created a stable region of land, where people had basic necessities and could live their lives in peace. It might have been stable, but they were still Epics. They made sure from the start that everyone knew they were in charge, and they dealt mercilessly with invaders Epic or no. After all, what was the point of being an emperor if you had nobody to rule?

 

There came a knock at the door. "Caleb?" Timelock asked. "You invited someone else?"

 

The solemn man nodded. "I felt it best to have someone who could spy on the city for us," he said as he stood. "Keep an eye on the city, gather information, that sort of thing. I called an old acquaintance who's... gifted in that particular field."

 

Realization dawned on the others. "Please tell me you didn't call the Inquisition," Avatar begged. "Please."

 

"You have a problem with Henry?"

 

"Not him, not necessarily," amended Avatar hastily. "It's just that he's a little, well..."

 

"Insane?" Architect supplied helpfully. "Mad, crazy, unhinged, unstable, mental, deranged --"

 

"Yes, thank you," cut in Gravitas. "He might be a little strange, I grant you, but he's good at what he does."

 

"Maybe a little too good," muttered Avatar under his breath. 

 

The knock came again. Gravitas walked calmly to answer it. 

Edited April 18, 2015 by Slowswift

[the winter system]

Part two of the Voidus, Sirce, Edgedancer, and I.

 

 

Brightdeath watched the Metal handle the Not Mute Epic with ease. Then the Not Mute Epic teleported away. He appeared again a few moments later, his arms back.

“Hello! Sorry about that, my friend’s muted, you see. I hope you’re enjoying the game so far, is there anything we can help you with?” The Note Mute Epic said. That’s strange. Didn’t he say that earlier?

 

No. Brightdeath thought, recalling what he said, he said something similar. What’s with the game thing anyway? Does he think he’s playing some sort of game with us? Brightdeath started to get a little annoyed. Or maybe…

 

Brightdeath considered. If he thought he was in a game or something, then that would make sense with how he seemed to try to repeat what happened earlier. Brightdeath had seen other Epics make fantasies up for themselves. Brightdeath herself hadn’t. It seemed such a waste not to live in reality.

 

Brightdeath struggled to find some game words she could use to test out her theory about him living in some sort of made up video game fantasy world. She hadn’t payed that much attention when the nerds back in school talked about their games.

 

“Er… the visuals are nice?” Brightdeath winced at how fake she sounded to herself. She turned and whispered to the Metal. “I think he thinks he is in some sort of fantasy world or something where he’s in a video game.”

 

The Metal found himself agreeing with Brightdeath, this one wasn’t quite with them. So, restarting a conversation would require a reload, which together with regrowing his arms sounds like a resurrection. Then did he just commit suicide by teleportation? Pathetic little fellow.

 

Hopefully, he could at least keep him in check by playing along, “There are autosaves after each dialog option to avoid save-scumming,” The Metal said deadpan, “Anyway, I think this is the point where you introduce yourselves.”

 

Lockvault blinked after what the Metal said. He didn't understand everything (save-scumming?) but he thought he got the gist of what he was saying. Basically, he was playing along with the video game ruse. Him not wanting to have the Adventurer restart dialogue seemed slightly ominous. He better not be planning on killing us often. I don't get a reload option.

 

Turning to the Adventurer, he quickly signed a message; still stumbling, but getting better. Try not to make him too mad please. Don't forget the prize if we keep him calm. If he asks after my powers, just tell him about the inventory, play it down and don't mention my memory or danger sense. Make him think that I'm just a simple packman. Thinking again about his danger sense, he added on another but at the end. I only have one life. Whenever I die my computer crashes and I don't have enough money to fix it this time. Once I die, I can't respawn, so if I clap my hands together three times it means that we need to bail out of here.

Save scumming!? How dare he!

The Adventurer was just about to make an angry reply when he saw Lockvaults fingers flickering again.

Right, can’t make him angry.

Sorry. The Adventurer signed back, about to reassure Lockvault, his arms were suddenly pinned to his side.

“Now, what did I tell you about excluding other people from the conversation?” The Metal said.

What the? How’d he do that? Shelving the thought for later the Adventurer smiled apologetically.

“Right sorry, force of habit. Well you can call me the Adventurer and my companion here is Lockvault who has an Epic inventory. We only just started out but is there anything we can help you guys with?”

He edged his way closer to Lockvault as he was speaking, gently brushing the side of his coat so that they could fast-travel together if Lockvault gave his sign.

Poor guy, imagine being one crash away from a permanent game over. Ah well, I haven’t had so much as a spot of lag so I’ll be good for a while I guess.

 

Inventory probably means something that allows him to carry stuff better, which still leaves plenty of possibilities, although he didn’t seem to carry a lot of physical objects. Pockets, yes, but that’s hardly a power. No point in fretting over it, right now.

 

“Not really,” the Metal said, while scratching the back of his head, “We are mostly here to tell you guys not to cause any troubles, you know like randomly slaughtering people and the like.

 

“However, now that I’m here, we might as well share a welcoming drink.” He pulled a metal flask out of his duster, this one containing mostly Whiskey and little traces of Mary’s blood. Not enough to ruin the drink but enough to spare her some work.

 

He gently bumped his hip against Brightdeath’s, “Come Sunshine, you share a drink with me as well. Who wants first?” He offered the flask to the other three, still appearing as laid-back as always.

 

Brightdeath watched as the Metal pinned down the hands of the Adventurer. Inventory? So he can carry more stuff than normal? The Metal held up the drink. Brightdeath wondered why. It seemed kind of suspicious.

 

However, what would the point for Brightdeath not to? It might be bad for her, but the Metal seemed to imply that he would drink it too. So it wouldn’t be too deadly. Brightdeath also assumed that if she turned it down, the Metal might get a tad annoyed.

 

So Brightdeath took it. “Sounds good.” Hopefully her teleportation would protect her if it was really bad. She drank it down. So, not instantly fatal. I wonder what it did. “Mmm! This is good.” It was. “Thanks. By the way, my name is Brightdeath.”

 

Lockvault gestured for the flask, taking it from Brightdeath. He didn't trust whatever the Metal was trying to pull. As he moved it, he placed the water in Storage, simultaneously replacing it with normal water so the Metal wouldn't feel anything. He took a little sip, enough to keep the Metal happy, and handed it along to the Adventurer. After he had taken his own sip and had handed the flask back to the Metal, Lockvault changed the water from the flash with the liquid in his inventory, keeping a little behind to analyze for later and make up for the water that had been drunk.

 

Turning to the Adventurer, he quickly signed a small message. Let's be through with this. This guy is freaking me out.

 

As he finished the message, he stretched his fingers slowly. Signing so much in the past few minutes had been painful. As time went on, he would get better, but for now it hurt like the dickens.

The Adventurer happily took a sip from the flask, such things usually meant a diplomatic tactic was working, increasing a characters approval rating.

He gave a slight nod to Lockvault to show that he’d gotten the message.

“So you guys work with the guards or something? That’s cool I guess. So anyway, unless there’s anything else we’ll be heading out now, I’ll try to keep the random slaughter to a minimum.”

Wonder what kind of crime mechanics they’ve put in, I hope it’s not one of those ones that keeps resetting your progress or something.

 

The Metal took a drink himself after the Adventurer handed the flask back to him. Nothing in the drink was a problem for him but nothing could be said against some good whiskey.

 

“Alright, you two go and have fun then,” the Metal said.

 

The two didn’t inspire anything resembling trust but even if they were stupid enough to cause trouble any time soon, Mary would now be able to get rid of them quickly.

 

Then he turned to Brightdeath, “Assuming that there’s nothing else I’ll go back to enjoying myself, feel free to tag along.”

 

Given how much she tried to make a good impression, he might be able to get some entertainment out of her. At least as long as her bad temper doesn’t act up.

[Sirce Luckwielder]

As the Metal finished the conversation, Lockvault breathed a sigh of relief. He had come to a meeting with three High Epics and nobody had even tried to kill him. With his parting words said, the Metal turned away from them leading Brightdeath away. Lockvault followed suit, turning the Adventurer away and leading him back to the building where they had been before the Metal had shown up.

They walked through the open wall, dust still streaming from the cracked mortar. They got up on a table and the Adventurer phased them through the ceiling to the floor they had been on before. Looking out through the wall, he noticed that the Metal and Brightdeath had left view. Looking to the Adventurer, he signed to him a quick question. Are they gone?

 

He received the quick reply and breathed a sigh of belief. “From now on, whenever we are in public I should keep up the façade, maybe when we are in private too.”

 

"Sure, I'll let you know if anything crops up on my minimap. Remind me to teach you proper ASL too, my fingers are cramped and if I'm going to marathon this that could be a problem. So! Time to find a base somewhere?"

 

"Sure. A base would be great. Also, I have a language key installed so you will only need to show me different signs once. After that I can use them without needing to be retaught. Before we go find a place for our base, let's find that reward for beating that boss nonviolently."

 

"Oh yeah! Loot, almost forgot about that. Hmm... I can't find anything on the minimap, must need to look by hand. Do you have any idea where it dropped?"

 

Lockvault walked around the room, placing anything of value in to Storage.  As he went, he looked through the open wall into the street below.  Nobody had yet come out of their homes with the Epics still around. He withdrew an old trunk that he had found in a museum and placed it in the center of the street below with a large rifle inside.  It was one of the fancier models and much better than the Adventurer’s current weapon.  It would be enough to please him.

 

“Wait, I just got something, there must have been a time limit, clever designers.”

 

Lockvault smiled at that. The Adventurer may have been odd, but at least he found joy in the world. It would be enjoyable to stay with him, at least for a while. Besides, he might need somebody to keep him out of trouble. Until it becomes too dangerous, I’ll help him live his fantasy.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Sirce Luckwielder

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

"Away? Ah, that is a shame. I'm looking for somewhere to settle in, somewhere that can make use of my... talents."

 

His eyes changed to a pleasant shade of blue, the color of the Financier's favorite tie. 

 

How did he know about that? Or does he? Some people just like colors that happen to be the same as your ties; his eyes prove nothing. Then again, they might prove something….

 

"I don't suppose you could show me to whoever is ruling in her stead? I've already had to reduce the population of one town down to 0, I'd hate to have to do something like that again just to get myself noticed."

 

Down to zero. 

 

Zero. 

 

0.

 

The Financier looked into the strange man's pale, pale eyes. His powers were useless when it came to discerning truth from falsehood, but he saw no lies there. No evidence of the One's influence. Just the eyes of a man who had brought an entire town's population down to zero, providing one less hiding place for the One. 

 

Questions brimmed in his mind. Which town was it? Is it nearby? Were their bodies found? Why did you reduce the population so? Do you know of Savior Zero? 

 

But now was not the time. This stranger had asked for the one ruling in Lucentia's stead, and the least he could do was grant his request.

 

The equation was still in his head. He'd pushed it to the back of his mind, so as not to bring it out if it wasn't needed, but he brought it to the front. 

 

One zucchini, times 40,000. 

 

He tossed the zucchini into the air. Ordinarily, he wouldn't risk damaging an image of the Prophet, but this was no ordinary moment. The Metal had to see what he saw, and the only way to show him was to summon him. 

 

While still in the air, the zucchini multiplied. There were two zucchinis—then four—then eight—then sixteen—then too many to count. The original zucchini was soon lost in a pile that grew and grew, spreading up and out. The Financier backed away so as not to be overcome. 

 

"There!" he cried with a laugh as the vegetables piled over one another, hollow thunks turning to a small roar. "The Metal should be here in a moment. You'll have your wish." 

[Voidus]

Bioterror thought the Epic was attacking him before he realized he'd just thrown a zucchini into the air.

Well there's definitely something wrong with this one, with any luck I won't have to work with him.

He watched, confused, as the zucchini began to multiply, soon hundreds of Zucchini were falling down around him, creating a massive pile that threatened to bury him.

Either he has some bizarrely specific zucchini related abilities or he is completely insane.

 

He directed his powers inwards, strengthening his muscles and bones so the mountain of vegetables didn't crush him as he clawed his way out.

 "The Metal should be here in a moment. You'll have your wish." 

"Well I hope he's less sparking insane." Bioterror muttered as he finally climbed out of zucchini mountain.
 

Lockvault shifted himself back onto the street, legs absorbing the slight shock from his landing. He walked over to the trunk as a beam of golden light surrounded it.

"Sweet." He said as he opened it and found a new weapon "Upgrade. I wonder if there's any weapons modding? Well I'll find out later I guess."

Fast travelling back up to Lockvault he showed off the newly found weapon. He'd decided to hold onto the old weapon for now too, if they were setting up a base he could keep it stored there and then if he died and lost his new weapon at least he wasn't back to square one.

Placing his hand on the ground, the Adventurer closed his eyes briefly as he concentrated on his minimap, searching for somewhere large enough that he could use as a base with Lockvault. He found the sewer tunnels he'd used easily enough but that wasn't exactly a fitting place for a base. Perhaps there was an area off to one side? Somewhere for lower levels to start out?

A moment later his eyes burst open as he found the perfect place.

"Found it." He exclaimed, reaching a hand out to grab Lockvaults shoulder he shifted them both down and to the side.

They appeared again in a bricked off room to one side of the sewers, it was warm, dry and large enough for two people to stay there comfortably. He mentally marked the location so he could fast travel there more easily in future.

"So." The Adventurer said, turning to Lockvault after he'd examined their surrounding "What do you think?"

[Edgedancer]

Assuming that Brightdeath would follow him the Metal turned his back to the two odd balls. For a moment he pondered where to go next. The night hadn’t even started yet and for some reason it seemed the Lightwrought was getting as much light out of the day as she could… not his problem as long as they don’t tell him.

 

All of that became unimportant though as he glanced in the direction of Finnegan’s outhouse, there a gigantic pile of something was quickly growing. That’s a signal if I’ve ever seen one.

“Meet you at the giant pile of something,” he said to Brightdeath and pushed himself of the ground and towards the outhouse.

 

He could get a grasp of what was going on as the situation moved in his range the pile was made out of zucchini or maybe cucumber, not that it would make much of a difference, and someone was clawing his way out of said pile.

 

Finnegan was looking rather relaxed, if anything he was enjoying himself. If his grasp of the situation was correct, there were a lot of new people he had to greet today.

 

"Well I hope he's less sparking insane." The Metal could hear the zucchini victim say, even if he was only muttering it.

“Given the competition is Finnegan over here, so do I,” the Metal said, even though he was still a distance away and projected his voice over to the two.

 

Once he was close enough to them he slowed himself down again and pushed against his own face, causing him do multiple somersaults in the air before actually landing. From this close he could tell that it was actually a pile of zucchini. A pity, cucumbers actually taste good even raw.

 

“You zucchinied and here I am. I assume you want me to meet your new friend here?” The Metal turned to the new newcomer, “Hello there, I’m the Metal and there’s probably a gal coming any moment now that’s also new in the city.”

[Voidus]

The Metal? I'm sure someone mentioned him once, seemed pretty strong. Oh yeah it was that Slontze who spilled my drink. Shame he didn't get to tell me about his powers before he died.

Pulling the last of the zucchini's off, Bioterror introduced himself.

"Bioterror. I'll get to the point, I used to own a small town some ways across the border but unfortunately I emptied it in under a month. I'm looking for a city where I don't have to kill a few dozen people a day just to make my point. In exchange I can provide my services to kill those who you do actually want dead."

Bioterror glanced at the nearby pile of Zucchini's. Under his gaze the cells inside briefly came alive again, rapidly metabolizing their surroundings they literally ate themselves. The pile of vegetables withered instantly, decomposing into a pile of green mush.

"Plants are a bit harder than people" Bioterror explained. "But I'm sure you can see the idea."

[the winter system]

“Meet you at the giant pile of something,” the Metal told her and started moving. Brightdeath began to ask him What in Calamity's fires are you talking about? Then Brightdeath noticed... well, the giant pile of something. Brightdeath almost laughed at that. So, I suppose it would be best to follow him. 

 

She waited for the Metal to get close to the pile, then teleported after him. She teleported behind the building the giant pile of something was in front of to wait. The giant pile of something was made of some kind of vegetable. Zucchini? Brightdeath squinted. Yes, that was zucchini. What in Calamity's fires?... 

 

Someone pulled themselves out of the pile and moved their mouth. Brightdeath couldn't hear them because of the distance.

 

“Given the competition is Finnegan over here, so do I,” The Metal responded. Even though the Metal was still in the distance, she heard him clear. That sound manipulation, right?  

 

“You zucchinied and here I am. I assume you want me to meet your new friend here?” The Metal said. What? You zucchinied? That person in the zucchinis created the zucchinis? Huh? No, there was another person. “Hello there, I’m the Metal and there’s probably a gal coming any moment now that’s also new in the city.”

 

Brightdeath nodded to herself, that was her cue. But she waited for the Zucchini Man to speak. 

 

"Bioterror. I'll get to the point, I used to own a small town some ways across the border but unfortunately I emptied it in under a month. I'm looking for a city where I don't have to kill a few dozen people a day just to make my point. In exchange I can provide my services to kill those who you do actually want dead."

 

The zucchinis withered. Bioterror? Some kind of manipulation of biology? So... animals? But if he was doing it on plants, wouldn't that make him Botanyterror? Brightdeath laughed to herself. Botanyterror. "Plants are a bit harder than people. But I'm sure you can see the idea." Oh, that makes sense. He can do people too.

 

Brightdeath teleported to the side of the Metal. 

 

"Hello, I'm Brightdeath. I'm new too." She turned to the Metal, checking. "I can manipulate solid light." Brightdeath summoned an orb of solid light in the palm of her hand. She tossed it into the air and it floated between her, Bioterror, and the Epic that seemed to be the one that zucchini'd.

 

She blew out the center of the orb and it flew through the sky, hitting a tree. Then she dismissed that light, leaving the light in front of her. "I'm also looking for a job here." 

[Sirce Luckwielder]

Lockvault's companion teleported them beneath the surface to an old room. Lockvault pulled a flashlight from Storage, shining the beam through the dust in the air until he found a lightswitch. Flicking it up, a faded yellow bulb illuminated the room with a musty light.

"So." The Adventurer said, turning to Lockvault. "What do you think?"

Looking around, he saw that the room had enough room for anything that they may need to hold. It would require a bit of an fixing-up, but it wouldn't be too hard with Lockvault's powers.

He closed his eyes, seeing the full room in Memory alongside what he carried in his Inventory. He placed all of the dust from the room into Storage, cleaning everything up. He then placed all extraneous furniture and any broken objects along with the dust.

He exchanged the old lightbulb for a new fluorescent one, then began to make some other changes to the room. He placed several tables, chairs, and anything else he thought they would need around the room. Going over to some stairs that likely led to the surface, he set up a small four traps to dispell any curious would-be visitors and covered the entrance with a massive peice of concrete.

Turning to the Adventurer, he smiled. "I like it. Anything you think we need here besides beds? I don't have any of those in my Inventory right now."

[Mailliw73]

 Part 2 of a compilation post between me, Edgedancer, Sirce, Mail-mi, and Blackhoof.

 

Deathgale's opponent barely managed to dodge the first set of windblades by pushing himself in the right direction. More luck than the maggot deserved. To retaliate the Destructor started throwing himself around in the air and wildly firing around his assault rifle. Nothing Deathgale had to worry about, even if one of those stray bullets managed to hit him by accident it would just pass through his body and if he kept hitting himself so hard with wind gusts to change directions he would probably end up unconscious within minutes.

 

Still no reason to let him continue to waste his time until then. Timing it with his next direction change Deathgale threw another Windblade. It connected but didn’t cut the Epic; instead it seemed to collide with the air in front of him. There was a shattering sound in the air and the Destructor was thrown backwards by the resulting force. Again not dead

 

Slightly annoyed he spoke to the blood, counting on Mary to create the connection, “Dustdevil, are you in position to restrict this guys wind?”

 

Dustdevil gleefully destroyed the Astoria wall, smashing into crystals of different sizes. The largest ones were spikes that he placed in a large pile, one that fluctuated in size as Kinesis began using some to distract the fire Epic. The smaller splinters and diamond dust he would use for himself.

 

Through the blood that Mary had splattered on him, he heard Deathgale's question. Speaking into the patch felt odd, but he quickly got his reply out.

 

"I have some ammunition and I am heading over now. Let me know if you need any specific manipulations or restrictions for me to perform."

 

With that, he changed himself into dust, blowing himself and his diamonds with him. Once he got close, he reformed, just as the Epic began firing his assault rifle. He felt a bullet pass through his shirt, nicking him slightly, but causing no great amount of harm. Quickly he changed into his dust form. This form made it harder to concentrate since he had to maintain it, but no he would be no help if a bullet took him out before then.

 

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to hear any requests through Mary's glorified walkie-talkie, he changed back for a moment, ripped off part of his shirt with the blood on it, then immediately changed back. Spinning a small pile of diamond dust into motion, he sent a large, expanding shot at the air Epic, determined to focus the air around him so he would not be able to escape the flaying mass.

 

Metalmech almost cheered when the blood evaporated off of his forcefield. Adding his voice to Jag’s, he said, “Smasher, drop mine too.”

 

Surveying the scene, Metalmech saw that Smasher’s jeep was no longer existent, but the others were still in shape. There were several newcomers to the fight, and one of them, a Fire Epic, seemed to be on his side. He was being faced off by Winterspell, one of Astoria’s Epic’s that Metalmech had heard of, and another one encased .

 

Well, Metalmech thought, he’s on our side, and he needs some help. He maneuvered his tank over toward the newcomer, shooting his tank’s guns at both the water Epic and the Epic encased in ice.

 

As projectiles from the tank came toward him, Kinesis almost laughed. Only idiots would send highly explosive rounds at an Epic with spatial awareness and teleportation powers. He sent the shells flying back at the tank, hitting it square on, sending it into flames. Smiling, he turned his attention back to the fire Epic.

 

Hellfire saw the water Epic frown as his fire boiled the blood off the forcefields, then turning to encase one of the other Epics in a ball of ice. Hellfire squinted his eyes in confusion, “Why would he do that, unless…. whatever that Epic can do doesn’t require vision”.

Confusion turned to surprise as a rock the size of his fist materialised a foot in front of him and instantly shot towards him. Only his heightened reflexes allowed him to react quickly enough, and intensify the flames surrounding him enough to melt the rock into a sludge that splashed uselessly on his armour. “What the hell!” He thought, but he had no time to think further as he felt something hard smash into his back armour, staggering him slightly. Without turning, he raised a shield of solid flames behind him, to stave off anymore rear attacks.

 

There was no time to consider his next action, as the water Epic formed icy spears and flung them at him. With a grimace, Hellfire threw a wall of flame at the spears, confident that they would be melted easily. With barely a hiss, they passed through unscathed! At most, the icicles were slightly thinner, but no less deadly, and they were now mere metres from impaling him. Hellfire started and sent solid flame clubs to bat the spears to either side, where they stabbed deep into the ground. Once again, his supernatural reflexes saved him.

 

A pointed shard of diamond appeared in front of him, at high speed, and Hellfire deflected it at the last second with a tendril of solid flames, diverting it so it flew off to his side. Growling in frustration, Hellfire threw a large fireball at the smiling water Epic, altering it midair so it would explode with great force on contact.

Des's shots flew around sporadically. They were meant to keep the Suit dodging and unstable, not to hit him. Another shimmer of wind smashed into the wind shield Des had made. The power behind it was incredible. If Des could control winds that fast, he'd surround the suit in a tornado that would suck the air right out of the man. It looked like he was limited to the blade things though. The suit spoke into his jacket, strangely, and a few moments later, some dust flew upward, defying gravity.

 

The dust briefly flashed into a man, who then ripped his shirt, before turning back into dust. Desolation felt the winds around him slip out of his control. They weren't responding as usual. They were sluggish and fought his commands. Something the new Epic was doing was taking his control. The winds shaped into a vortex, cutting him off from movement when a large cloud of diamond dust flew to Des. He closed his eyes instinctively as the dust vaporized around him.

 

"Hawk," he called on his mobile. "Get ready. I may need some distractions. One of these guys can manipulate wind too and I can't get control unless I focus on it entirely." Hawk responded in the affirmative and began shooting buckets in quick succession at the suit.

 

Winterspell smiled when the fire Epic threw a fireball at him. Even a simple water Epic could have deflected it. He raised his hand and a large tendril mimicked his movements, forming a hand that reached out towards the fireball to extinguish it. As the water came into contact with the fireball, the flames exploded outward, destroying the hand and sending streams of water flying outward. While the explosion was far away having detonated with his water hand, the force and heat still buffeted Winterspell.

 

Growling in frustration, he quickly brought the water back to him, cooling down any amounts that had been evaporated.Apparently this is no normal Fire Epic. No more playing around.

 

Winterspell began to fire more Icesteel spikes at the his enemy, partially to hit him, and partially to distract him. As they flew away from him, he propelled himself and his remaining water base towards the other Epic. As the distance closed between them, he formed interlocking links and plates of armor out of Icesteel to combat the other Epic's flaming armor. As he went, he kept the temperature on most of his water down so they didn't evaporate. He didn't succeed with all of it, but he kept most of it in a liquid state. Determined to end the fight, he formed a massive hand and a half broadsword, determined to destroy this troublesome Epic once and for all.

 

Even if his attack wasn’t very effective, it was good that Dustdevil was in position now. Shortly after the Diamond dust was deflected a couple of pullets shot through Deathgale’s body, trailing little wisps of smoke behind them. The holes in his body reformed themselves as soon as the bullets exited his body.

 

Looking up, Deathgale could see that Hawking was freed from the force field and he now aimed for Deathgale. Dismissing him as a non important thread for now, he quickly surveyed the battlefield. All the forces of the Destructors were free again. Time to step up the game then.

 

After throwing a set of five windblades with an offhand swing at Hawking, Deathgale stepped back through the blood, so he stood on solid ground again. At the same time Mary raised several tendrils of blood forming a circle around the disintegration Destructor.

 

“To everyone,” Deathgale said, while speaking into the blood, “the forces of the Destructors got out of their prison. In case you need someone to deal with the foot soldiers, I can cut them down easily. Dustdevil, with his disintegration field using projectiles like that won’t have much effect. On my sign I’ll throw the next blades to both of his sides, I want you to restrict his movement and weaken that shield he made for himself.”

 

Keeping his target busy, the bartender pushed his hands into a pillar of blood in front of them, his hands reappeared out of two different tentacles and he threw windblades at the other Epic. Then he pulled his hands back and repeated the process, each time his hands appearing from other tentacles.

 

After hearing the command from Deathgale, Dustdevil quickly sent his remaining diamond dust at the Epic who had been shooting Deathgale, hoping to to distract him. Even if it didn't kill him, he would have enough time to turn into a solid form without needing to worry about getting shot.

 

Placing his legs shoulder width apart, he concentrated on Desolation. Now that he was in solid form, he could exert all of his mental capacity to keep the Epic from moving as Dustdevil fired his windblades.

Desolation growled. Mary had surrounded him with blood again. He was trapped in a circle of pillars of blood. Stupid woman. Des saw the Suit mumbling to the dust Epic. Des warily ducked and missed the first two blades of air, but hands kept appearing around him and the wind wasn't his to control. "Hawk, the dust Epic. Now!" He was dizzy. Barely able to keep the wind in a cushion around him, his neck felt like it would snap. He had been tossed around too much and now he was feeling the effects. He hurled the contents of his stomach into the air, where they were spun around in the cyclone of wind.

 

Des lit his fists on fire in anger, and through his haze of confusion, he managed to disintegrate the black cargo pants of the attacker who was suddenly underneath him. The bare legs looked familiar. Confused, Desolation began punching with his flaming fists at the legs of his attacker. If only he could find his head. Then he'd end this mysterious attacker. Des vaguely felt pain in his legs and roared in anger. His last remnants of clothing disintegrated, leaving him nude in the wind. He finally lost his last vestige of control over the wind. Seeing an air lads heading toward him, he reached out to punch it with his fists blazing. Red stuff spurted out instead. Confused Des realized that it was his own blood. That was the last thing he thought. A blade of air caught him in the neck and separated it from his torso. Desolation died, nude, while being held in the air.

Hawk saw a cloud of sparkling dust come towards him. Based off the appearance of the other things on the city, it was likely diamond and therefore sharp. While he could resurrect, he didn't relish getting cut to pieces, so he flew up out of the way, dodging most. A couple shards of diamond ripped through his arm. Hawkwing heard Desolation's desperate cry and laughed. The new Epic had thought he was so powerful, and now he called on Hawk for help? How ironic. Hawkwing complied with his demand and as the dust cloud transformed into a man, Hawk took aim and fired thrice. Once in the shoulder, once in the side, and once in the neck. The man was as good as dead. Too late. Too late. Hawk rushed forward to see Desolation fall to the ground, head and hand severed from his body.

 

The mess of the remnants of a man littered the ground. Hawk was reminded all too well of the Epics in Connell whom Des had killed much the same way. Hawkwing dove down to the suited Epic, likely the one called Deathgale, based off of the rumors from the city. After the dust one had died, Hawk wanted to avenge his fellow Destructor. As he shot at Deathgale, the bullets just went through his body and he was patched with smoke. Hawk felt his foot cut from another of the windblades that the suited Epic preferred. With the pain from that as well as the bloody holes from the diamond shards, he welcomed death.

Hawkwing didn't even reach Deathgale. Before he was close enough to lock talons on the Epic, he felt pain arch through his back. Then his vision went black and his wings failed. He fell to the earth, pain enveloping his consciousness. Then blackness swallowed him.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Mush. 

 

He turned them—

 

​—forty thousand zucchinis—

 

—with a touch of his hand—

 

​—beautiful perfect zucchinis—

 

—to mush. Great green gobs of mush that smelled like the One's morning breath. 

 

So—harmless. 

 

So—innocent. 

 

Dead, all of them dead, dead, dead—

 

A scream of rage tore from the Financier's throat. 

 

"HOW! COULD! YOU!" 

 

They were looking at him now, all of them—the Metal, the golden stranger, and Bioterror, Murderer of Zucchinis. 

 

"You killed them! All of those poor zucchinis—they were doing nothing to you! Not a thing except sitting there and being zucchinis, and you killed them! You killed them all!" 

 

He stooped and lifted a double handful of the mush. Those poor things, their marvelous greenness reduced to something resembling rotten oatmeal. Tears welled in his eyes. That the magnificent bearers of the Prophet's image should end like this? 

 

"YOU DESERVE THEIR FATE!" He pointed a mush-covered hand at Bioterror, his top hat askew. "THOU DESERVEST WHAT THOU GIVEST, AGENT OF THE ONE! THOU MASQUERADEST AS A DISCIPLE OF THE SAVIOR, BUT THOU ART…." 

 

His rant trailed off as a flash of golden light caught his eye. There, floating toward him, was an orb of light. 

 

Round, like the Savior. 

 

The woman smiled. "I'm also looking for a job here." 

 

"You," he whispered. "You bring the Savior to this place of death! His golden light covers you in an aura of beauty!" 

 

The Financier straightened his top hat. "Hire her," he told the Metal. "And fire this….heathen."