Under the Hill - Fourth Circle: Greed [IC]

[K_H]

Kenny lowered the Barrier Box, releasing Ixidor. Then, he spoke up.

"Before you all go, I'd like to let you know something. I've been searching for the Exit with one of my Portals, and Remote-Patrolling with the other five. Since this IS the our Circle, Ix, I've been multitasking so we can get out of here ASAP. I'd like you to tell the other Live People that are with the Condemned that they're trying to Overturn a Chain Of Command that'll just reset itself once we leave this Circle."

Kenny's Portal then headed back up to the Ceiling as Smaug spoke. Kenny started Patrolling again, saying one last thing to the two as the Portal moved on.

"Now, I've gotta go. Another Live Person has popped up elsewhere."

Kenny then moved a different Portal into his Focus, the one that was patrolling in Smaug's Chamber. His Portal floated down from the Ceiling near Smaug, facing Edward, and Kenny had a disapproving look on his face.

"Answer him, Edward. Don't make him burn you to a crisp."

Edited December 27, 2014 by K_H

[Rielly987]

"Well um... I came here for my sisters...umm, If you want me to explore I'll go do that. See you guys at night then." Riel hurries off not wanting to make Clyde mad, Good lord was it harsh down here, but it is hell. Reil begin to aimlessly wander not having a clue of where he's going.

[CURIE]

Oh dear, now he had done it. So that's why he didn't see any demonic guards patrolling the place: They had Puff the magic dragon here sense if anyone had been stealing! Well, he had his four coins and his cover was blown, so it looks like it was high time for a getaway. First he'd have to find a way to at least stun the dragon- WAIT, his name is Smaug? Like, the Lord of the Rings Smaug? "Pfffft BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" he couldn't help but doubling over in laughter, for two reasons: first of all, fictional character. Prometheus and Cerberus were one thing, they were part of a mythology that was actually present in the divine comedy. But this guy wasn't even invented until centuries later! Yet still, he had enough of a soul to get it sent to eternal punishment! This confirms his theory that fictional universes really do exist in alternate dimensions. But the real reason he found this funny was that the guy said Smaug was "not to be trifled with".

"Not one to be trifled with? Bro, have you read this guy's book? He gets killed like, ten minutes after he's introduced! And by nothing more than a single arrow, not even a special or magic arrow!" (Okay, in the movie it's a special one but in the book the only thing 'special' about it was that it was another color). Anyway, back to the whole imminent death thing. "So what are you gonna do about it? Torch me? Because then you'll melt all your precious gold." Yeah, he knew that Smaug could crush him or eat him, but that was kinda what he was hoping for. Things would be simpler if the monster stuck to melee fighting and not using fire in such a small area.

[Ragnar]

"We'll figure something out mister Ethic about this Gestas dilemma. for now, we just need to play the cards that's dealt to us. for everyone's safety." Ixidor said as he takes a glance and nodded at new comer with the foreign accent, something about the man seems familiar. Ixidor didn't bother to figure it out any further as he as bigger concern at this moment.

"Also i think you're right, i think this vault is design by Minos himself, don't worry i'll take care of it" Ixidor said with smile and was pretty confident that he can handle anything this hell has to offer.

"and after i'm done with Mino's little tricks, i'm coming straight for Gestas." the painter swore a vow, as he walks and enters the vault.

[Supernovae]

"Guess it's just us now," Mr. Taylor said turning to Ethic. "I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves jut yet. Name's Terry Miles." He held out his hand expecting Ethic to take it and shake it.

[Sutoratosu]

"I guess we haven't," Ethic said simply. The gears of his mind turned as he tried to determine with certainty whether or not the man was who he honestly had been thinking he was. The fact that he had first spotted him in the presence of The Killer definitely had it's impact on his evaluation; his assumption being that taylor and the man had probably fought outside of the Arena he'd made and the most obvious result being the reward for the old fool. But again, this was assuming he had actually met the man standing in front of him before. He accepted the shake with a firm grasp, looking right at 'Terry' with his pair of Aviators blocking out all emotion or signs of acknowledgement his eyes might've held, as they had with Ixidor. Ethic menatlly prepared himself to change up his speech patterns a little, not wanting the guy to have any more information than he had already if it turned out to be a stranger indeed. Only one way to figure it out for sure.

"Ethic," he responded. "good to meet you. But eh, Terry, you wouldn't have happened to see an elderly gentleman around here somewhere, have you? He was about your height or so, it would honestly be hard to miss him given that he's the oldest traveler of our group by far... The last I saw of him he was about to fight some Psychopath he had a score to settle with and had ordered the rest of us to go on without him and let him fight his own battle. I'm beginning to get worried about him at this point though, that was a considerable amount of time ago..."

[CURIE]

Then, Edward saw it- a portal like the one he had seen out there in the corridor. Yet, on the other side wasn't some security guard, but Lucario man!

"Okay, um, really sorry, I know you want to murder me and all that and believe me, I was also pumped for a fight, but that's my ride there, so... KTHANXBYE!" He shot over to the portal, stopped inches away from it, reconsidered, grabbed Robin Hood, and shoved him in before barreling through himself.

"CLOSEITCLOSEITCLOSEITCLOSEITCLOSEITCLOSEIT" he shouted to Kenny, drawing his "Bo staff" and assuming a defensive stance, ready to block whatever the dragon could send his way before Lucario guy could cut the connection.

[Rosesong]

Edward and Kenny

Robin started before looking at the two of them. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?!" he screeched, fear clearly evident in his eyes. "Smaug is the one guy in this entire bank that you do not do things like this to. That book got everything wrong, why do you think there are no more hobbits and dwarves around? Do you really believe everything you read?! Smaug destroyed them all, he only died from old age! By the end of his time, he had amassed the greatest treasure your world had ever seen; it's been divided to royalty since!" Taking a breath to steady himself, he said just as urgently, "Look, you need to return the gold. Smaug watches over all the treasure in the bank and can tell when it's not where it should be. Otherwise, you're as good as--"

Before Robin could finish, the guttural growl of Smaug cut him off. "You are far too arrogant, boy. You think you're invincible, but you're not." The dragon then turned its eye from Edward to Kenny. "I know about you, aura wielder. While you haven't proven yet to me that you truly belong here, interfering with something that wasn't your business was a grave mistake." With that, the gigantic winged creature took in a deep breath, shooting fire in a thin stream straight at the the two young men. Unfortunately for Robin, he wasn't able to move fast enough, and the three men went up in flames. Taking another breath, Smaug blew out the fire quickly and efficiently before turning to look at the worker that had spoken previously. "You, boy. Go get my gold from the fool's pocket." The worker scampered over and quickly took the gold from Edward. "Now, back to shining. I want my gold to shine brighter than the sun..." With that, the dragon laid down again, leaving the workers to begin again.

Ixidor

When Ixidor was in the vault, the door shut slowly. The room began to glow in a marvelous light, revealing to the boy his deepest desire. His art, his creations, were all there in the vault. There was the horse turned skeleton from the first circle and it looked magnificent, the bones gleaming white and its eyes lifeless and dull-- truly a perfect skeletal horse. There was the eagle he had drawn to help Rose and Enya, with feathers so pristine and a regal air fit to make the Queen of England jealous. More and more creations came forth, there was the one-eyed lion, the djinn, the chimera, each looking to be the most perfect creation that had ever been made. Then, Ixidor saw her come from the shadows, a radiant angel whose beauty outshined all those that Ixidor had ever seen before. "Oh master Ixidor," Kayle said with a warm, happy smile. "We're so glad you've finally come to us again, welcome home."

[Ragnar]

((wow the details are real, even i can't remember what Ixidor created in this hell. gj ))

Ixidor steps forth slowly as he didn't expect all of his creations are here, he was overwhelmed as he was greeted by his greatest masterpiece so far here in hell, The angel known as Kayle. "Oh hi" Ixidor simply said."Didn't i sent you to protect the second circle?" the painter was baffled on how Kayle skip two stages of hell and got here. "and what do you mean by home? where are we?" Ixidor asked away.

Edited December 11, 2014 by typhlosionrulez

[CURIE]

Edward had found his greatest weakness: he had no more resistance to heat or cold than any normal human. As such, the fire from the dragon burned him to a crisp, his last thought being "I told him to close it! Why do I ALWAYS get screwed over when I need someone to do something simple?" His seemingly indestructible backpack apparently shares his weakness, because it disintegrated to ash just as he did. The only thing to survive were the coins, which were then taken back.

Now, he was in a field of flowers. He had no idea what kind of flowers they were, but they were yellow. There was a sunset going on to his right, its light reflecting off the flowers like a bajilion mini sunsets. Hah, if his mom were here, she'd totally freak out, she loves sunsets and sunsets and scenery like this. Taking a closer look at the area, there seems to be some mountains straight ahead of him, and behind him to the right there was what seemed to be a city. In the middle of the city was a huge building of some sort, seemingly made of gold since it reflected the sunset's light in a manner similar to the flowers.

As for the question of what this place even was, Edward thought he had a pretty good idea. He did just die, after all, and the scenery around here was pretty enough to justify it being what he thought it was. He wondered if he would get to talk to...

"WHAT YOU JUST EXPERIENCED, MOST OF MY CHILDREN ONLY EXPERIENCE ONCE"

And there He is. Edward looked around out of instinct, and found no one, but he already knew exactly who that Voice belonged to.

[Notus]

Reil & Marcus

"Eh? Oh well, isn't he a shy one?" Bonnie commented as the boy walked off. Clyde raised his shoulders and put a load of golden bars into a sack, throwing it over his back with some effort.

Reil saw many things as he walked. There were people of all kinds in there, and most were carrying stuff like Clyde. The thing was, most weren't half as fit and strong as him, and the by the pain on their faces it was obvious that the weight was too much for most of them. While he was wandering in the corridor, however, vigilant eyes followed him... And soon a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Ey" Marcus said, looking down at the boy. "Why aren't you carrying anything, boy? Slacking the day off I guess?" The killer interiorly smiled at his good luck. It seemed his hands were tied by Gestas right now, but if he killed enough and made it seem like he was only following his instructions, maybe he could farm enough strenght to take the impenitent thief down.

Rose & Enya

The radio silence was broken by Gestas responding the girl's call. "All right, all right, but what are they doing? If they're slacking off or stealing, go and get them. If you need reinforcements you can call on me, but I'm no babysitter to solve every single thing around here."

Annie

The girl was now alone in the middle of the hall. The movement was huge in there, many people walking around... But something still grabbed her attention: a human sized rat tail turning around a corner and entering a corridor. Only she managed to see it, but she had a good enough idea of whose tail that was.

[K_H]

Unfortunately for Smaug, he'd just pissed off an Aura Weaver, and even though Kenny had been hit by the Flames, he had managed to get a Barrier up on himself, starving the flames on himself of Oxygen, even though he was in great pain. This had the unintended side effect of causing his Portals to become highly unstable and start Irradiating the area around them, due to the fact that that Kenny had been unconsciously keeping a Barrier around the Edges of his Portals, and the sudden shift of focus caused the Barriers around the Portals to drop, unleashing a lot of Radiation. Then, the Radioactive Energy from his Portals, as well as his Anger's energy, started to enter into his Aura, both of them increasing his Auric Reserves tenfold. this had the effect of making his Aura manifest itself as a very Intense Turquoise glow, as well as solidify in a set of Arcane-looking Armor. Kenny then spoke his voice heavily corrupted by his Anger and his Aura.

"You want your gold to shine brighter than the sun?!"

Kenny then made the Gold Atoms in the Coins move faster, causing the gold to glow incandescent from the Heat, bellowing out a phrase as he did so.

"HAVE IT YOUR WAY!!!"

A few seconds later, the Gold Atoms moved fast enough to change phases, going from solid coins to a white-hot, glowing lake of Molten Gold that was literally brighter than the Sun. Kenny then told Smaug why he fit in.

"Not everybody is put here for Material Greed, Smaug the Ancient. Some of us get put here for being Avaricious of Knowledge, such as I would have if i were Truly Dead. I am like Robin Hood, but with Knowledge instead of Money. Before I entered Hell, I sought out as much knowledge as I could, intending to spread as much as I could as far as I could. This is the Reason that I even set foot into this Godforsaken Place."

Kenny then got a very large headache, but recovered.

Edited December 23, 2014 by K_H

[Rielly987]

As Reil faced the man he broke into a nervous sweat. "I'm sorry! I'll get to work. Please don't hurt me!" The boy try's to squirm his way back from the man.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Rielly987

[CURIE]

A holographic screen was hovering over the flowers, showing what appeared to be the scene of Edward's death. There were the piles of ash that were Edward and Robin, there was Ethic talking to Taylor the Time Lord, and there was Kenny doing... Something weird. He seems to do wierd stuff a lot.

"YOU CAN SWIPE TO THE LEFT OR RIGHT TO VIEW OTHERS YOU CARE FOR" the Voice said. Edward did as He instructed, treating the hologram as if it were an IPhone's touch screen. There was his mother, at work, his father, also at work, his sister, lying on her bed texting someone, his Scoutmaster, his best friend Joseph, his 3DS, wait what?

"So, if we're talking video games here, can I use this to find my lost copy of Kirby and the Amazing Mirror?" He swiped one more time and there it was, hiding underneath the leftmost cushion on the living room sofa. "This thing is awesome! Thanks so much for showing me!" Edward thanked the Voice. "Oh, and also for pretty much everything else you've done for me" he hastily added, "that's all been awesome too."

"WHY DID YOU GO UNDER THE HILL, EDWARD?"

Crap. Was kinda hoping He wouldn't ask. "Well, I really was in it for adventure. Didn't think of it as anything more than a cave or some ruins. Remember how the other scouts and I used to go adventuring into the woods during camping trips? It was kinda like that."

"YOU LEARNED AT THE ENTRANCE JUST WHAT YOU WERE IN FOR, YET YOU DID NOT TURN BACK."

"Okay mind you, I thought I was in for DANTE'S version of hell. That version's a cakewalk compared to what I've been through" oh dear, now he was starting to sound like he was talking back. "But I admit, it was a dumb idea regardless..."

"IT WAS YOUR FOLLY INDEED, BUT YOUR FOLLY I WILL TURN TO GOOD. YOU HAVE A NEW PURPOSE IN THIS PLACE NOW, AND YOU SHOULD KNOW ALREADY WHO IT INVOLVES"

"Enya." It had to be. Why else would he suddenly and inexplicably develop an "Enya sense" right after meeting her? By the way, the Enya sense wasn't working right now, probably because hell existed on another dimensional plane than this place. Well, didn't matter, since he could look her up on this screen.

He swiped again and there she was, with a woman he had seen earlier in the Cerberus battle. She looked safe enough, at least. "So uh, what about her is my 'purpose'?"

"OBSERVE" and as He said it, the screen switched to a sort of x-ray vision mode, allowing Edward to see who she really was.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

If Edward looked, there wasn't much to see. Or rather, it was very faint; blue. Sky blue. A little flame vaguely resembling Enya; her soul, floating in a seemingly infinite purplish-black void. It was fading as though it were barely there or it were a mere candle's flame, flickering until it would be forever extinguished.

Then a morbidly torn apart face screamed and appeared to pound on the screen. It had a long tongue, sharp rows of teeth; it was a translucent purple, opaque enough to shroud Enya's soul, transparent enough that one could actually see the tiny pinprick of light. Another face overlapped with the first; his eye was gouged out, the only remaining one, wild, feral, like a beast's. Scars and wounds dotted his face-- or the outlines of his face, anyway. More and more faces popped up and it had become evident that wraiths and demonic-faced beings had taken up residence in the innocent child's soul.

"GIVE US FREEDOM" seemed to be the collective raspy, overlapping, discordant voices of Legion. Their spirits flew all over the place like they owned it, like they owned Enya's body.

-----

On the outside, the little girl clutched herself tightly in tears and began screaming vehemently. "STOP IT! STOP LOOKING! STOP LOOKING AT ME! GO AWAY!"

[CURIE]

"Oh barnacles" Edward said in frustration, as the screen went back to showing the location of his death. "Why is it that every single time I like a girl, she turns out to be a demonic horde of evil?" He was of course referring to Gabby Sanchez from fifth grade and how much of a jerk she was to him specifically, and seemingly no one else. "So, your purpose for me is to destroy this abomination?"

"QUITE THE CONTRARY. THAT SPARK YOU SAW DEEP WITHIN, IS THE REAL ENYA. DEEP DOWN, THE GIRL STILL LIVES, AND I WANT YOU TO BRING HER BACK TO ME."

"Right, well, that thing seems to have some pretty big fourth wall breaking powers, so it would doubtlessly know what I'm up to and not even let me get close..."

"IT CAN ONLY KNOW WHAT IS SAID AND DONE IN HELL. IT REACTED TO US A MOMENT AGO, ONLY BECAUSE WE MADE DIRECT CONTACT THROUGH EQUALLY UNNATURAL MEANS. WHAT IS SPOKEN HERE AND NOW WILL NOT BE HEARD, AND ONCE YOU RETURN TO HELL, IF YOU SPEAK NOT OF YOUR MISSION YOU WILL GO UNDETECTED."

[Notus]

Reil & Marcus

Marcus sighed internally. Dang, if the kid didn't react it would be tough justifying his death to Gestas. "I'm afraid that won't do boy. How do I know you won't simply go back to slacking off when I'm not looking? I think you need to learn a little lesson, don't you agree?" The killer's grip on the boy's shoulder started getting stronger... Actually it might be hurting him, but that was the intetion after all.

((Waiting on: Phantom, Annie and Rose. Eagle, that might count as metagaming on another person's character, but if Zephy is OK with it no problem. Just make sure to talk to her often about how you use the "Enya Sense".))

[ApatheticPanda]

Caleb sits in the bank, eating a banana.

[Supernovae]

Mr. Taylor grinned at the boy. "An elderly fella huh?" He looked away for a moment, then back at Ethic, "And what if I do have some information on him? How do I know I can trust ya?"

[Sutoratosu]

"I could ask you the exact same thing at this very moment, Terry," Ethic said simply in response. "There are already at least two psychopaths running around down here whom I'll have to figure out a way to kill for good, destroy them so utterly that they will never rise to threaten my companions again. One is the guy who fought the elderly gentleman I spoke of before, the other is... let's just say, he's equally as dangerous if he sees you. I'm already beyond the point of trying to negotiate with either of them, they'll die by my hands, either down here or up in the world above; They're both too much of a complete threat to the public and to society to let them live, especially the serial killer who apparently gets stronger the more and more people he kills..." He leveled his gaze at the man, inspecting him from behind the glasses coldly.

"So I guess the only answer is Faith. You don't for sure whether I won't slit your throat,which I won't, by the way, and at the same time, I can't be entirely sure you won't stab me in the jugular... so it's all based on Faith in the good of people."

[CURIE]

Edward was able to watch the conversation between Ethic and Taylor the Time Lord on his screen, because it was taking place very near his scene of death. He wondered if he cared enough for Ethic to be able to view him with this thing. He tried swiping and nothing happened, though that could just be because Ethic was already onscreen.

"Does Ethic know?"

"I AM NOT METAGAMING FOR YOU. ENYA WAS ONE THING, AS SHE IS YOUR MISSION DOWN HERE."

"What's metagaming?"

"I WILL EXPLAIN LATER. KNOW HOWEVER THAT YOU WILL BE RETURNING TO LIFE SOON. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPAWN?"

"How about right under Smaug's weak spot? >:)"

"NO. THE RULE IS THAT YOU CAN ONLY SPAWN IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF WHERE YOU DIED, AND ANOMALIES IN SPACE LIKE KENNY'S PORTALS DO NOT COUNT. IF YOU HAD STAYED IN SMAUG'S ROOM, HOWEVER..."

"Dang. Oh well, just plop me back in the same spot I died in then."

[Rielly987]

Pain shot across Riel's upper body. "Owww!" Riel started to fear what the man might do. "Is there anything I could do? Please? Ju...Just don't hurt me!"

[Rosesong]

Rose and Enya

Rose looked at Enya in shock as the girl suddenly began to freak out for seemingly no reason at all. "Enya, are you all right? Come on sweetie, talk to me." As she ran, trying to comply with Gestas' orders and calm the girl, she tripped over someone eating a banana. Rolling her eyes, the young woman glared at him. "You, get to work now. Stop slacking off."

Ixidor

When Ixidor didn't give much of a response, Kayle's mood slightly dampened. "Are you not happy to be here, master? This is where we, your works of art, come to truly become perfect. We've waited for you so that you can see that the world can be free of flaws." The angel's tone darkened slightly as she continued, "We've each become as perfect as we can be for you, master. Please, stay with us and let us get rid of your flaws so that you can be perfect as well. Then, we can stay here, happy and content." The angel's voice was so hopeful and sincere. "As for the the second circle," she went on, scorn evident in her eyes, "Lilith had proven that she was far from perfect." Taking a step toward Ixidor, gesturing around to the rest of his creations, she continued, "How could I stay with something so unperfect? She should have been eradicated from this world."

Kenny

Smaug flew up, sending a rush of air that knocked everyone, including Kenny, off their feet. "Yes, foolish one, well planned," came the guttural growl of the dragon. It was hard to tell, but the dragon almost seemed bored with Kenny's antics. "You seem to fit in better with wrath than greed, but I'm a mere bank's keeper. Now, pray tell boy, what are you going to do about all the bank workers that you've endangered?" Sure enough, all the workers in Smaug's vault were cowering away from the molten gold lake as it advanced toward them at a steady pace.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"Something was looking inside... Something... Somebody saw Ace... NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO" cried the distraught child. Breaking away from Miss Rose she clutched the teddy bear tightly and screamed as she ran, trying to escape the unseen threat as though it were chasing her.

[Ragnar]

wow, does my ambition sounds like that? man that's just fuck up, Ixidor was flabbergasted and was lost for words after he heard those words coming out from the angel's mouth, his most pure-hearted creation there is, its not like Kayle to say something like that, something is off here. The room was filled with dead silence as Ixidor ponders.

now that i think of it, maybe my ideal world isn't what it turns-out it would be, perhaps rather than eradicating the imperfect things in life, maybe i should correct them, like a mistake from drawing, you don't just erase it, you fix it. just like what i did Lilith and Panik...convincing them to change for the better and see the error of their ways. the boy finally spoke up after that long dead silence and made his mind.

"It's a nice offer, but i'm afraid i have to decline, i don't belong here and neither do you guys, the reason i've created all of you is to aid those who are in need of help. even tho half of you guys try to kill me" the boy looks at the Manticore and the one eye lion. "return to your respected circles and help those doomed souls who are trap there, especially you Kayle, Lilith needs you."

Edited December 14, 2014 by typhlosionrulez