Alleyverse Sewer System

[+Sorana she/her]

11 hours ago, Gancho Libre said:

Vesuivus flashed a grin at Neo before twisting and half-throwing half-sliding the rock towards Althea.

If she was honest with herself, Althea was probably more a liability in this fight, than really helping. When she was facing one opponent, she could concentrate on him, understand what was going on. But here and now she kept loosing track of what was happening. If she focused on Vesuvius, one of her own friends might accidently kill her. And she had no idea how to keep an overview over the situation.

She was about to push herself up, when she saw Neo slow down and quickly looked back to the darker ground again. He was glowing brightly and her eyes hurt. She'd taken of her sunglasses, as it was dark down here and the sudden light hurt. It was the sound of stone crunching on metal that tipped her off, and she looked up again, saw a huge rock move towards her. And it was fast. Instinct saved her again.

She had less than a second, reached out for Shadesmar, used the storm inside to get out of the way. The stone hit her body, crushed her arm beneath its weight, her shoulder, a few ribs - then she was gone and it hit the ground where she had been a heartbeat before.

Pain blured her vision as she leaned against a nearby wall for support and she forced herself to stay quiet to breathe. Breathing turned difficult and she spit some blood on the ground, felt her body start to heal the damage. She needed no air, so she stopped breathing for now, waited until her lung would properly work again.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Sorana

[I think I am here. he/him]

Max saw Althea’s arm crushed before she disappeared and he stood up immediately. Are you okay? He asked.

Sethramir flashed in his hands and he looked down at the sword in annoyance. Talk, it could could talk to Devaan, it had talked to Rashan, it could talk to anyone worthy, why wasn’t that him? Maybe if he’d been worthy enough that’s not word wanted to talk to him then maybe they wouldn’t be losing this battle even at a numbers advantage.

Holding Sethramir in one hand Max ran towards where Vesuvius was and he tactically slid on the ice sheet toward him. Taking out the knife that was still stuck in him he gasped, and with Sethramir in one hand and the knife in the other he jumped at Vesuvius, trying to stab both at his torso.

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, I think I am here. said:

Are you okay? He asked.

Max voice reached her through the pain and her first thought was to tell him, that she was indeed okay - then she realized how large a lie that would have been. Her arm was nothing more than a hurting chunk of flesh and broken bones and her chest hurt. She was not okay. She had voices in her head, she felt like she was loosing her grip on the world, had trouble concentrating. Her fingers touched the stone, relieved that it was real.

I will survive. I've been hurt worse. Don't worry.

She replied instead and took a careful, slow breath. Better. A lot better. Turning her head she saw Max attack Vesuvius, the blood staining his shirt. He didn't give up. He fought, without pausing to think of his own life. Ashamed she closed her eyes against the battering pain. Even when he'd needed her, she'd been weak, had needed him to snap her out of her own mind first before she was even able to move again. Accept, but not submit. She was afraid of the voices, but they were only that, voices, nothing more. And they had been silent lately. They wanted to have a family, but that would never work if she was on the verge of a mental breakdown the whole time. She was broken, would always be, but she could take another step, she could at least learn to deal with a part of it. Max did, broken as he was, he dealt with it. He fought, while she had given up. Another careful breath. She could do it. She had to find a way and go on. For him.

[Minato™]

Neo saw Max charging in with his blade whilst Althea elsecalled away with the huge wound she had on her. Neo was ready for this moment. He immediately picked up momentum again, going as fast as possible.

First, he breathed out a lot of stormlight, leaving only a manageable amount left, he gave that to Max, boosting him and healing his wounds, then he was heading towards Althea still full speed and going even fasting, pushing his boundaries. As he was just about to brush past Althea he bestowed all of his speed towards Ronin, slowing him down completely. Massive g-forces hit his body as he went into an abrupt halt, causing him to kneel to the ground with heavy nausea as well, while just barely being able to touch Althea and healing her.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Minato™

[Gancho Libre he/him]

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Sorry guys! I've been gone awhile.

Alright, let's see what we have here. 

-Hellbent stabs forward with a shardblade

-Devaan swipes with a shardblade

-Althea gets injured and Elsecalls away

-Max stabs with a shadblade and a knife

-Neo Bestows stormlight to Max, his momentum to Devaan/Hellbent/Ronin, and stops to heal Althea

Presumably:

-Hellbent and Devaan are no longer able to stab at Vesuvius for the purposes of this post

-Neo and Althea are also out of the action

-Max's wound is less halting, because of automatic stormlight healing (???)

-The only attack I need to worry about is Max's

If I got anything wrong, just say the word and I'll edit.

Vesuvius looked up after he had thrown the rock. Neo was on the move. Max was on the move. Hellbent was on the move. Althea had teleported away. He wasn't sure if the attack had done anything to her.

They were all so close. Vesuvius was on the ground. This had turned out well once.

Let's see if it could again.

He rolled backward, tucking his legs to his chest immediately and rocking back, away from the three. He knew it was the wrong move. Too many shardblades coming towards him.

Somehow, he finished the roll without dying, and he hopped to his feet, his alivened foot scraping against the ice.

Neo was kneeling next to Althea, healing her. Ok. Hellbent was, somehow, momentarily paused. Ok. Max was still moving, glowing with stormlight. Fine.

A stab. Give a man a shardblade and he stabs with it. Vesuvius adjusted his alivened arm to slide along the flat of the blade, deflecting it.

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Everything here on out is, technically, godmodding. I include it because it is still technically a part of Vesuvius' attack, but it takes for granted that Max will not react fast enough or in a way that will counter the rest of the attack.

Itiah, if the below is contrary to what you think would happen in this scene, then feel free to only regard the above. That is totally fine by me.

[As Max fell in closer, Vesuvius did the same to the knife's blade with his flesh forearm. He was scraped, but not bad.

Both of his arms were in motion, and both of max's arms were in motion. Vesuvius could only use his head, which he did. Vesuvius slammed the alivened half of his head against Max's glowing head.]

[I think I am here. he/him]

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I'm fine with the bottom part  

Vesuvius head-butted him and Max saw stars.

Stormlight healed the pain and the dent in his head immediately, to Max's surprise. When had he sucked stormlight? His thoughts drifted to Neo, the healer of the group. He smiled. he was a good kid. Unpracticed, and he'd need to stop those pranks that made everyone suspicious of him, but a good kid. He would take well to the Canton, especially with the combat experience from this experience. Max would be happy to train him in Operations, that was of course, if Max survived this.

What was he thinking? Of course he'd survive. He'd made a promise to Althea, and there was no way he'd let a half-robot make him break that.

Dismissing Sethramir, Max tilted his wrist beyond the metal arm and immediately summoned it again, pointing at Vesuvius' chest.

"What even are you?" he asked, voice strained. Cyborg?

[+Ark1002]

Ronin smiled eerily, on one half of his face. The other stayed flat. It resulted in a strangely dark face, and they moved forward as one, hatched it one hand, blade in the other. They moved superhumanly fast, one leg kicking towards Vesivius's chest, right by Max. The hatched flew towards his flesh side, and, discreetly, the blade quitely flew toward Vesuvius's metal arm.

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It's not a shardblade, btw, it's a sword with some... special abilities.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

"Thank you."

Althea nodded curtly at the boy and then pushed herself of the wall to see what she might do to help. She turned just in time to see Vesuvius headbut Max, heard his bones break, but then he healed and she sagged in relief. Max. She couldn't loose him a second time, not again. Her throat constrcted at the memory, at the feeling of pain and loss and desperation. She would rather die, than have someone kill Max. Vesuvius was turned away  from her and she summonend Brashen again. She was careful to swing him in an arc, that Vesuvius hopefully couldn't change so far that he hit her friends, aiming for his general upperbody.

@Gancho Libre

[Minato™]

Neo went back to work.

He finished up healing Althea and raced over to vesuvius, he gave Ronin some stormlight before they attacked, giving them an additional boost. Neo noticed that Vesuvius had been lucky in dodging all attacks, but he couldn't be lucky forever. Neo wasn't particularly bright, but noticed that Vesuvius did not often go on the offensive and only dodged or counter-attacked at most. If that was his playstyle, it was likely he was planning on receiving backup, or escaping. Neo couldn't let that happen so he stormed towards Vesuvius, reaching for his headband.

[Gancho Libre he/him]

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- Max summons a shardblade at Vesuvius' chest

- Ronin kicks Vesuvius' chest

- Ronin swings a magical fire ax at Vesuvius' flesh half

- Ronin swings a shardblade magical sword at Vesuvius' alivened half

- Althea swings a shardblade at Vesuvius' general upper body area

- Aaaand... Neo runs toward all this with the intent of getting Vesuvius' headband

"What even are you?" The enemy named Max said as Vesuvius was attacked.

The closest danger was Max. He was about to summon a shardblade into Vesuvius' body. as it appeared form mist, Vesuvius twisted backward, as if performing in a limbo competition. He smiled as his counterattack also served to negate one of Ronin's kicks.

'Ah,' Vesuvius thought, 'It's nice being powerful,'

Then, a shardblade shaved an inch of metal from the back of Vesuvius' alivened head. He had subconsciously tilted his alivened head half upwards, so it was the only affected part, not his precious flesh skull. However, luck was not on his side. Ronin swung two weapons, one of them the fiery ax, the other a shardblade probably magical sword. Vesuivus, still bent backward, twisted again to catch the fiery ax by the hilt with his alivened hand, grasping it just below the handle. However, he wasn't able to counter the sword, which cleaved off a suitable portion of his elbow.

His arm, he knew, wouldn't bend properly with such an attack. Already, he felt it dropping. 

Also, Max had successfully summoned the shardblade, which sprang into appearance just above Vesuvius' alivened shoulder, and neo was coming up with those skates of his, probably to knock Vesuvius out or, at least, take Vesuvius' headband.

Vesuvius growled and twisted his body back around, throwing his non-functional metal arm to swat aside Max's shardblade. He continued his twist and blindly released the firey ax in his hand, hopefully towards Althea, behind him. He touched down with his flesh and, now in more or less of a plank position, and he kicked off, throwing himself into a roll to get away from the others. He counted on Althea being not directly behind him, and that, hopefully, either she'd be too distracted by the ax or too surprised at his motions to strike at him.

[+Ark1002]

As the blade hit Vesivius's arm, part of his alivened arm, the elbow and a large chunk, drained of powers and fell to the ground, now just scrap metal.

@Gancho Libre

[Gancho Libre he/him]

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I see. Special properties, you say?

Well, the metal never had any magical powers in the first place, so take that!

 

[+Ark1002]

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Alivened metal is magic.

 

[Minato™]

A whimsy roll wasn't going to stop Neo from advancing on Vesuvius. He had to be stopped from stalling, and that meant Neo had to attack head on. He was going to pay for those children. Neo didn't know why it bothered him so much, it just did.

 Neo saw the arm getting ripped off of him, that was good progress, now while w Vesuvius was still regaining balance Neo went close and did a careful and precise kick upwards, going to knock his headband over.

[+Sorana she/her]

Althea hit something and stared at Vesuvius head in surprise. She'd never, ever hit something with Brashen before. And his head. Not that she'd aimed for it, but she hit him. She'd managed to hit him.

A grim smile spread on her face, and she was about to try the same thing again, when suddenly a fiery axe flew her way and she instinctively teleported out of its way. Vesuvius was rolling over  the ground, when she was back, but she had missed an opportunity to hit him. But at least she wasn't lying on the ground again. Kneeling down she pressed her hand on the stone. He was rolling away from them. It took some discussion, but then the spren gave in.

The kid rushed Vesuvius again and she paused, she would hit him as well, trap him as well. Lifting her hand she reached out for another stone instead, changed the one above Vesuvius head into a metal spike, falling down towards him.

[I think I am here. he/him]

Max landed his attack and Vesuvius dodged out of the way, but not without a few scars, it seemed. Quickly, Max rolled out of t( way as Neo and Devaan/Hellbent attacked, moving quickly beside Althea.

“Is everything alright?” He asked her. “I saw you get crushed by that boulder.”

[+Sorana she/her]

4 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

“Is everything alright?” He asked her. “I saw you get crushed by that boulder.”

"I'm fine."

She stood up, brushed her fingers over his sleeve, relieved when she felt the cloth she was seeing.

"The kid healed the damage and thankfully I'm hard to injure permanently."

Her words sounded so matter of factly, that she gently squeezed his fingers, to tell him everything she didn't dare to put into words right now. How she wished that Vesuvius would be dead and the others gone. How she wanted him to hold her for a few heartbeats. Later.

Do you have a plan a strategy? Half of the time we are endangering each other.

She asked instead, focussing on the task at hand.

[I think I am here. he/him]

24 minutes ago, Sorana said:

Do you have a plan a strategy? Half of the time we are endangering each other.

She asked instead, focussing on the task at hand.

Max nodded and thought for a second, observing Vesuvius, how he weaved between attacks. The Canton had taught Max how to observe, how to find weaknesses. And the Ghostbloods has taught him how to use that knowledge to his advantage.

He’s good at dodging, Max said.

If you soulcasted something like a cage around him, he wouldn’t be able to dodge anywhere and his movement would be limited. Then, we could attack him at range and when he tries to break out just soulcast another cage. It doesn’t look like he’s got teleportation.

[Gancho Libre he/him]

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Naw, Ark, the metal isn't invested, the peice of Alivening Glass for his eye is invested.

Vesuvius stood up. Thankfully, it seemed Althea hadn't been prepared to strike while he was vulnerable. However, he was not grinning. His arm was only weakly attached to the rest of his body, and he couldn't control its actions anymore. It swung back and forth like a dead limb.

Neo was still moving forward. As Vesuvius watched, Neo kicked up, probably to either knock Vesuvius out or flip the aluminum headband off. Vesuvius mentally prepared his counterattack.

Above him, a large metal spike fell from the ceiling. Where had that come from? Althea? She was a soulcaster, after all.

Vesuvius changed his strategy, and instead of knocking Neo aside, as he had planned, he raised his flesh forearm to protect his head, bending backward slightly. He put his arm at such an angle to make the spike glance off of his weak bone and slide. He would be bruised, he knew, but the spike missed Vesuvius completely, and instead fell right between Neo and Vesuvius.

At the same time, Vesuvius noticed one function he could still perform with his crippled alivened arm. He couldn't move it, but he could still command it. And, with his mental order, the metal hand slid right off his arm, revealing a long, thick knife blade attached to the wrist.

[Minato™]

Neo was getting a little angry. He was so close to Vesuvius and then a storming spike fell out of the ceiling. Neo saw Vesuvius reach out his arm to protect his head from the spike. Neo used the spike like a pole, grabbing onto it and using his momentum to turn him around, making sure he was still on Vesuvius' side of the spike. Neo noticed the blade on his right hand and held his armguard moving it upwards and downwards. Then in a quick motion, he bestowed his left arm speed from his right hand, rubbing his hand across Vesuvius' chest. Getting this close was usually a bad tactic, but it seemed appropriate as Neo wouldn't have time to lift his legs. He was in a fight, and it wasnt a normal rub in the chest. Everybody always thought that an edgedancer could lose friction, that wasn't always the case. Neo infused a lot of stormlight and his hand gained friction. It rubbed against Vesuvius, meaning it would shred through everything.

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Just for clarification, gaining friction is essentially like sand paper, but here its on a far larger scale.

 

[+Ark1002]

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4 hours ago, Gancho Libre said:

Vesuvius stood up. Thankfully, it seemed Althea hadn't been prepared to strike while he was vulnerable. However, he was not grinning. His arm was only weakly attached to the rest of his body, and he couldn't control its actions anymore. It swung back and forth like a dead limb.

Neo was still moving forward. As Vesuvius watched, Neo kicked up, probably to either knock Vesuvius out or flip the aluminum headband off. Vesuvius mentally prepared his counterattack.

Above him, a large metal spike fell from the ceiling. Where had that come from? Althea? She was a soulcaster, after all.

Vesuvius changed his strategy, and instead of knocking Neo aside, as he had planned, he raised his flesh forearm to protect his head, bending backward slightly. He put his arm at such an angle to make the spike glance off of his weak bone and slide. He would be bruised, he knew, but the spike missed Vesuvius completely, and instead fell right between Neo and Vesuvius.

At the same time, Vesuvius noticed one function he could still perform with his crippled alivened arm. He couldn't move it, but he could still command it. And, with his mental order, the metal hand slid right off his arm, revealing a long, thick knife blade attached to the wrist.

That isn't how alivening works

Each individual piece would be filled with a bit of your soul.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

On 4.6.2019 at 3:42 PM, I think I am here. said:

If you soulcasted something like a cage around him, he wouldn’t be able to dodge anywhere and his movement would be limited. Then, we could attack him at range and when he tries to break out just soulcast another cage. It doesn’t look like he’s got teleportation.

Althea thought about his suggestions, her red eyes looking through the sewer. A cage. She could soulcast a cage, preferably metal. Strong enough to hold him - thick metal. Steel, not too brittle, able to be deformed before breaking. She paused. Outside, it wouldn't have been an issue, but here. Soulcasting was versatile, but there were a few rules. And one of them was, that the mass stayed more or less the same. So she needed something, of roughly the same mass than the cage would be, to change into it. And not only that, but preferably in the same place as well. Using the ground would only partially work.

Althea carefully put on her sunglasses, blinding herself to almost everything around her. Then she inhaled. Her body glowed in a blazing light, illuminating the tunnel, making her eyes hurt despite the sunglasses. She knew the stormlight would heal the damage, just as it had healed them years ago, when it had restored her nearly vanished sight, but they still watered, stormligh only took the damage, not the pain.

Protect me, please? I can see almost nothing at all.

She asked Max and then focused on the stone, on the spren inside. She started to bargain with the spren, and when it agreed, she moved on. So many different stones, so many spren. She kept them all on a leash, left a little bit of her concentration with them, they needed to change at the same time. If she changed too many stones at the same place, the ceiling and the floor would break. So only one. And another one, until she had enough for a thick, solid cage.

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So given the circumstances, I feel like it's difficult to soulcast something into the cage, because soulcasting is mass-preserving, and she can't use the air, or we'd all suffocate.

Gancho, trapping your character is godmodding (which is the second reason why I split the action into two posts). So I'll leave the decision if the cage has a whole or not, to you.

@Gancho Libre

[+Ark1002]

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I don't think the actual making of the cage is godmodding. 

Saying that his character stops reacting and dictating his actions, that's godmodding

But using one of your powers? That's not.

Not saying you shouldn't give him that choice, as it's your decision. But just pointing out that it isn't godmodding.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

49 minutes ago, Ark1002 said:

I don't think the actual making of the cage is godmodding. 

Saying that his character stops reacting and dictating his actions, that's godmodding

But using one of your powers? That's not.

Not saying you shouldn't give him that choice, as it's your decision. But just pointing out that it isn't godmodding.

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Putting him into a cage he has trouble to escape is pretty close. I know it's her power, but I don't soulcast any PC's body because for me that would be godmodding as well. She can, she regularly souldcasts NPCs to dust, earth, or whatever. It's just bad style for me.

 

[+Ark1002]

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Yeah, killing a character is godmodding, but I really don't think that is...