[IC] TotMV:G2: Val Habar and the Terrible Tigrex

[DragonRage]

Servants' Quarters

With an understated, anticlimactic 'pop!' a young woman clad in an almost excessive amount of denim and a dark T-shirt with a set of sleek, yellow, antenna-ed goggles printed on it appears on one of the beds in the servants' quarters.  A trickle of blood, a few shades darker red than her hair, oozes from her right nostril, but though her face scrunches up in pain, she doesn't awaken.  To most people, she wouldn't stand out in a crowd.  But to anyone with good magical senses or a particularly strong connection to their instincts, she stands out like a glaring beacon of fire and terrible power, only dimmed to tolerable levels by the thin, fragile flesh that it shines through like a lampshade.

 

Outside, the sun flares bright, golden yellow, extending wings and a beaked head of flame for barest seconds before returning to its usual shape.  But nobody inside the castle could have seen that.

[Sutoratosu]

The Barracks; Smithy Room

 

With Tama's voice to keep her from getting too far off track and the Spider's healing preventing her body failing again, Ghost had eventually found the Smithy after some trial and Error. As Tama had recounted to her, she found the Ale the Orc spoke of, and trusting her old Deva- it was hard not to honestly, with her head feeling as though it were in a fucking vice and the nigh epileptic bouts of light, sound, and information still trickling in and out of her mind making her feel as though she would wretch right there on the floor -found a place to sit and took a swig. Interestingly enough, the drout tasted rather... pleasant, like a field meal she and so many others had while on a campaign. 

 

Campaigns... yes... it was starting to come back. Her time in the valley of death had threatened to make her soul let go of all it's ties to the mortal realm and embrace the sweet bliss of eternal slumber, just as it did most souls. It was not that the memories and experiences would be gone, persay, only buried, suppressed, so that even those who suffered the most in life might finally know peace...

 

The peace... of sweet Oblivion. Or at least... that is what the imperial scholars always professed. Hells though, there many faiths within the continents.

 

It bothered, as she kept drinking. Everything. How she'd gotten here to begin with, the fight she'd little chance of avoiding with Ryder, the raw power the boy exhibited... 15, no, 16 years... such a short amount of time, she knew he had been a powerful infant, but... to grow so exponentially that not even someone of her calibre had stood much of a real chance, so quickly. 

     The people she had seen as she was dying. Casor, the Emperor, the Scholars... Jehenna's eldest son, Absalom, that desert prince who had died defending his home and people.... friends, allies, enemies. All of them dead. Some of the old... some not so old. The places she had seen. The futures she had seen. The world that the boy might bring about, if even just his current power was any indication of what he was.

 

All that changed, however, when the wave came. Like searingly hot fire, the presence entered both her and Tama's minds. Ghost nearly choked from the shock of it, the Tiger simply remained silent. And then, as quickly as it had come, it faded back to nothing. And Ghost had something else to bother her again... or perhaps give her some releif.

 

It had not been Ryder. His true force, his unbridled might from the souls he had consumed, it was a sensation of far greater savagery, a greater hatred and fearful aura than this force conjured. Still, she could not help but wonder...

 

"What... what was that?"

"Seems that someone else has arrived..."

 

Servant's Quarters

 

Before Aurora can do much to respond to Mar, her attention is drawn away from the Orc and towards one of the rooms further down the hall. Like a wave, she felt the sudden burst of energy entering this realm, and within less than a second, she was backing away from the sudden disturbance in the force, hissing with a mix of contempt and fear at the room in question.

    Whether Mar had felt the same thing she had was anyone's guess, but either way, the Spider seemed exceedingly on edge compared to just a few moments ago. Fire burned, this very concept was ingrained into her very being, the most basic part of her instincts, and Fire as intense as she sensed did nothing but remind her of the curse she endured even now...

[Hal Henderics]

Mar does feel it, but not as strongly, instead, it is something closer to a chill up his spine, and a visceral response from Little Sneak, as it scrambles to get away from the intense power.

 

Or is it drawn towards it?

 

Mar cannot tell in it's panic, and is forced to rein it in manually.

 

 

[Chevaleresse]

Masaru jumps at the explosion, and jumps again as a tremendously powerful something shows up abruptly somewhere in the castle. Something strong enough that he could probably pinpoint its exact location - a level of precision he'd never bothered to develop and rightly shouldn't have been able to achieve at all. "So we've got the boom, and we've also got something extremely magically powerful. I say we investigate the latter, because it tends to be connected to the former." Without waiting for the assent of the other two, Masaru heads toward the source of the signal, hesitantly edging open the door with the end of his sword.

[Hal Henderics]

"Return to Complacency, and do it NOW!"

 

Mar shouts, trying to wrest his minion under control, as it continues to be brought into a fervor by the wave of energy flowing through the castle.

 

This, Mar thinks to himself, is precisely why he should not have been so lenient on his Little Sneak.

 

"Go on without me, I must show this one who is in control once more."

 

((Roll some sort of check?))

[Sutoratosu]

Servant's Hall

 

Aurora looked at the Orc as if he were crazy for a moment. Sensing herself how much whatever creature in his possession is struggling though, she eventually growls to herself and carefully picks her way closer to the room in question. A thin veil of starlight begins to cloak her body, as the miniature universe on her back again bloomed to life and showered her immediate surroundings in even more cosmic radiation. Despite every part of her instincts shouting at her to get as far away from the surge as possible, there is something greater underneath, something stronger... a curiosity the likes of which, she has never felt before. 

 

Even as much as she loathed this power, still... she could not deny that she had some interest in what could've caused the wave. Something else drove as well, besides mere Curiosity... so much energy gathered in one place, this... presence, nigh divine in nature... it felt as though the same force that had seized her mind and her mouth earlier was beginning to stir in response. A force that unlike the crippled remnants of the Spider, did not know fear...

 

Slowly, Aurora poked the door to the Room open, and peered inside of it's confines, ever on guard... only to stand back in perplexion as she found nothing but another human woman lying on the bed. This? Was this what had cuased all this?

 

No, no... now that she was closer, Aurora could sense just how dimmed the signature was around the stranger. It felt like the same type of energy as the wave earlier, but no where on the same level of magnitude- whoever she was, whatever she was, she probably was just channeling or borrowing from whatever source had caused the surge... which begged the same question she'd came in here to solve.

 

What the hell had caused the surge???

[Hal Henderics]

--Servant's Hall--

 

Wrestling it into submission, Mar follows behind, going towards the waves of oddness, passing up and down his spine, moving towards the source as well, having forced Little Sneak back into it's bottle.

[DragonRage]

The Servants' Quarters

The door to the bedroom makes an unholy screech of rusty metal-on-metal as Aurora and Masaru cautiously push the ancient portal open.  The noise prompts the woman, barely more than a girl really, in the bed to jerk upright.  Her hands twitch toward her stomach, then her temples as she winces in pain.  The fiery presence inside her recedes somewhat, like a very bright lantern that's been shuttered.  Then, with practiced motions, she sucks something into her mouth with a dry rattle, and spits a mouthful of blood to the side.  "Fucking ow!  When I sleep now too?  I-  I did not go to sleep in this room," She realizes, instantly going on guard.  Though she's clearly not quite up to it, she pulls herself out of the bed on slightly wobbly knees, revealing that she was in fact fully clothed in there.  "This could be really bad.  I sure hope it isn't Arcade, the little creeper.  This is so his style."  And then she notices Masaru and Aurora, visibly relaxing at the sight of an obvious non-human.

 

"Hey there!  Assuming there aren't killer robots right behind you, do you know where we are?  I think somebody grabbed me while I was sleeping.  Unless it was you...?"

Edited April 10, 2017 by DragonRage

[Chevaleresse]

"Killer what now? No, I haven't grabbed anyone while they were asleep recently. Awake, yes, but I think stopping the idiot from walking into a serrated disc trap was probably good enough justification for that." He doesn't quite enter the room yet, though he does note the power receding. "Two questions. Who are you, and what was that massive power surge?" His sword, now that the door was open, draws closer to his body in a ready-but-not-quite-hostile stance. 

[DragonRage]

"Oh, thank God.  Assuming that saw trap wasn't here, this probably isn't Murderworld.  I'm Samantha Grey. And I'm not sure what power surge you're talking about?  I wasn't doing anything.  ...Not on purpose at least," Samantha asserts, glancing around the room curiously, "So who are you?  You don't have the blatantly crazy evil guy look, so I'm at least prepared to consider you friendly until proven otherwise."

[Powder Miner]

Navin stopped as he listened to Laver, and nodded -- alright, he spoke of something that sounded volatile, but though he'd understood Laver's rhetorical question incorrectly, his understanding that Laver was essentially some sort of therapist was correct, even if he couldn't have guessed the specifics of Laver literally fighting monsters made of peoples' emotional problems. Navin had been about to open his mouth to comment positively on Laver again when Samantha's wave of power spread through the building.

 

Navin's abilities were less magical in origin than created by the influence of superpowers, and thusly he didn't necessarily have a powerful or precise sense of magic or of power. But Navin had been a superhero for ten years, and dealing with powered entities since the age of 13 meant that he had developed a sort of instinct around them. That instinct, a natural reaction to the sort of tension in the air that power of various different origins often tended to create, told Navin that something was suddenly very different, and when Masaru spoke and suggested that the three of them go to investigate, Navin's priorities changed and he nodded his assent. "...right. That sounds distinctly possible to me."

 

And so Navin followed Masaru, but more slowly (he was still physically exhausted from that fight with the giant insectoid-humanoid after all), and the Indian superhero, with his distinctly superhero outfit, entered the room with Samantha Grey in it a few seconds after Masaru and Aurora entered the room. "Evidently, we've appeared here as some sort of force to defeat beings that cross dimensions and destroy them. It also seems that the rest of the force is away from this castle for one reason or another."

Edited April 10, 2017 by Powder Miner

[DragonRage]

"Huh.  Of course we are," Samantha goes to facepalm, and then winces again as doing so jars something inside her.  "Fucking ow!  Well, I suppose I can't be too surprised.  Although I do wonder if maybe they weren't looking for my cousin.  She's the one who's done this sort of thing before.  Are you with the Avengers?  If not, well, most superheroes are pretty solid.  I'm Samantha Grey.  Pleasure to see we've got a real hero on this thing, if one I've never heard of before.  So, I'm given to understand that super team-ups should start with showing off our powers?  I've got this," She concentrates, and a pen hovers out from the inside pocket of her denim jacket to hover between them.  She then waves her hand between herself and the pen.  "Check it out:  no strings needed.  But I gotta wonder.  I do pencils and I can convince people to do stuff they were already probably going to; my cousin Jean can throw cars around and make people do whatever she wants.  She's the superhero.  I'm barely above baseline.  So what am I doing here?"

[Powder Miner]

Navin listens to her speak and listens to her various questions before answering them all at once. "My name is Navin Gopinath Mhasalkar, and it is a pleasure to meet you. In terms of super names, I am sometimes called the Flame of Maharashtra, but that's more or less just a media appellation that stuck, and I don't usually use it. As for group affiliation, I am a participating member of the International Union of Heroes. Unless these Avengers are an American group I haven't met a member of before, I think that we are probably from separate dimensions, since our enemies are, I'm told, interdimensional in the first place. My powers, well," Navin shrugs. "They aren't exactly the sort of ability I can casually show off in an enclosed space, but I've got the ability to generate explosions from my fists." Navin waves his bare hand lightly. 

 

"...I wouldn't worry too much about why you were chosen, by the way. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have something to contribute; I've found that that isn't generally how these things work out."

Edited April 10, 2017 by Powder Miner

[Chevaleresse]

Masaru nods. "That's the gist as I understand it as well. And no, the saw trap wasn't here. It was in a fort a lot like this one, though, and I don't know how thoroughly this place has been explored, so, uh, mind your step. As for that power surge, as far as I can tell, it was you, or something right where you are. I felt more energy than I've ever felt before concentrated in one place before, and I've seen full-blooded dragons showing off before." During the conversation, he'd shifted his blade into less and less of a ready position, until it was once again something to lean on and look cool. "So I'm pretty sure you've got SOMETHING to contribute."

[DragonRage]

"Well, if you're not from the same universe as me, you're probably not going to execute me for something my sister did," Samantha mutters, "Okay, there's this entity called the Phoenix Force.  It's existed for as long as the oldest universe, the embodiment of life and growth.  But it doesn't exactly understand people on a personal level.  The scale difference involved is... well, beyond our comprehension.  So it bonds itself to humans, and for whatever reason it thinks its perfect host is going to come from my family.  It tried my cousin Jean first.  She kind of went full-on supervillain crazy, killed a lot of people, and died.  She got better, of course, and everybody on Earth forgave her, because Jean Grey can do no wrong, but pretty much everybody on every other planet has decided that all Phoenix hosts must die just to be safe.  So if I'm wrong and you're from my world, I might've just signed my death warrant.  But when Jean came back, the Phoenix didn't come with her.  Instead, it tried her alternate dimension possible future daughter, because that was totally the logical second choice.  Rachel didn't go crazy, at least, but the Phoenix eventually left her too.  A week ago, it decided I was the next Grey to try.  I can call upon it to make my powers stronger, but I've got almost no training in using powers that don't suck, and it's incredibly hard on my body.  Professor Xavier said it's because my base powers are so weak, channeling that much energy places a lot of strain on me.  Draw too much energy, and I'll burn from the inside out.  And when it's on, just keeping everybody else's thoughts out of my head is almost more than I can handle, let alone actually doing something useful," She buries her face in her hands, rubbing her temples.

 

"Before, I felt like my powers were useless.  They were so weak I didn't even consider becoming a hero.  And now I've got all the power I could dream of, but I feel like one wrong twitch and...  Well, you get the idea.  Unless you have any ideas for safely using omega-level powers I can barely control, the best I can do is keep them bottled up as best I can, and hope the Phoenix moves on before I leave somebody braindead or worse."

[Powder Miner]

Navin listens patiently as she talks, crossing his hands under his chin. "Ah, well, you do not have to worry about me. It sounds like we really are not from the same world, and I wouldn't ever try to kill someone who is perfectly innocent. The Phoenix Force... yes, hmm, a possessive force that corruptive and powerful would be a problem, and a real one. But it does not sound to me like your situation is a hopeless one at all. This Rachel you were talking about -- she's proof that you aren't inevitably doomed, and perhaps your lower baseline power would mean that you're less likely to go crazy, and less likely to accidentally break someone. In regards to being unable to channel it well... well, that would be something that would perhaps be improved by experience, as many dangerous powers are. That experience might be hard to get normally... but you shouldn't have to simply bottle it up anymore. What better chance is there to learn to control your powers then to have omnicidal targets?"

[Shamitako]

On 2017/4/7 at 6:23 PM, kj1225 said:

Andre dove to the side, the sheer force of the attack sending sand flying all around the area. He takes a second to think. He reaches the most likely sound conclusion that the sword wielder wasn't having nearly as much fun with this as he was. Which was bad, no point sparring if it wasn't in good fun. That said, he was going to need more power to end this without someone getting more hurt most likely. Andre springs at Nessie, his form growing. He holds her arms down, his own growing hairier as his nails become like claws. His body hunches over her as he grows another foot in height, his muscles bulge out, and his teeth elongate into fangs. Needless to say, he's also a bit heavier now. He doesn't bother speaking just yet, waiting to see if she's still in murder mode for a little bit.

Nessie

 

 Artitha wasn't thinking clearly, so she struggled a bit at first. But she was still herself and when she realized what he was doing, she gave in. The anger and adrenaline drained away, leading her into empty blackness. Even unconscious, her fingers still gripped her sword tightly. A beam of light glinted off the silver blade, causing it to momentarily appear to Andre in beautiful gold.

 

(OOC: Sorry it's short, not much to do here. I'll leave getting Artitha some medical attention up to you)

[Hal Henderics]

--Servant's Quarters > Val Habar > Wycoon--

 

"Aurora, I'll leave the Brews in your capable hands."

 

"If you end up drinking them, I will get the silk when I get back."

 

"I'll be going to town, I have some ideas for speeding up a shipment of mine."

 

It seems there are no real problems to be dealt with.  Mar considers this, before leaving the castle, and going back into Val Habar, an idea in his head slwoly gestating.

 

He makes his way to the Wycoon.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Chevaleresse]

Masaru - Servant's Quarters

 

"Your world's version of the Phoenix Force is much different from the one in mine. That one's just a bunch of insane buggers that go around and try to ride into battle on actual phoenixes. As far as burnout goes, that's probably something we could work on together." He offers a hand to her, both for shaking and pulling herself up off the bed. "It occurs to me that I never introduced myself. I'm Yamaguchi Masaru. Now, we should hunt down the spider or the orc, since you look like you could probably use the attention of a healer."

[kj1225]

For a second Andre was worried that the girl had suddenly suffered a heart attack or had an anuersym of some kind. He knew that was a silly worry but he checked her pulse anyways. With that out of the way, Andre picked her up in a bridal carry and started to bring her inside. As he entered he considered the flash of her sword. It reminded him of something... First things first though, getting her some coffee. Well, they might not have coffee here on second thought. Probably best to find her a bed to rest in while he thinks of something to fix her up... It'd be easy if Natz was there. He'd never learned to do healing stuff. Didn't really fit him and he'd be a hypocrite with how annoying he found healing enemies. Eventually he would find a not as moldy bed in the Servants Quarters to lay her in.

[Sutoratosu]

Servant's Quarts>Grand Hall

"...." Aurora simply looked at the two barrels that the Orc had left her, her interest in the human having since faded. So her hunch had been proven right, the woman really was just a weak conduit and the initial burst she'd felt truly had been from a force far greater. And once this hunch had been proven true, the very force that drove her own self forward had retreated, as if in disappointment.

 

Soon after the Orc departs, Aurora herself leaves the quarters, seeing no real reason to remain other than a quick mental note to avoid the flesh-bag who apparently had a lot of fire with her.

     Beside's as odd as the Orc's proposition had sounded, she saw no real reason why not to agree. He actually had the food to back up her payment, and had even given her payment in advance, like that fancy mask wearing fleshbag... and unlike that damn Tiger and his little toy.  Even now, Aurora was skeptical of his apology, he could've easily had his little human attacking her in mind as a method to not have to hold up his end of the deal...

 

Regardless, soon after she found herself up in the rafters again, overlooking the grand hall. With one of the barrels in hand, she sniffed it for a bit before finally beginning to drink the dark liquid...

[DragonRage]

"...You're probably right.  I don't know if I like it, but you're right.  If I just clamp down all the time, that's asking for an explosion the moment I get distracted or another telepath has a go at me," Samantha reasons unhappily.  "Okay, you might want to stand back a bit, just in case.  And, uh, knock me out fast if you start feeling any inexplicable pain."  Tension drains from Samantha's entire body, as though she had dropped an incredibly heavy backpack.  Golden-yellow flames swirl around her body, leaving her clothes rendered in clean white and metallic gold, a stylized, golden Phoenix emblem taking shape on her breast pocket and back.  They intensify briefly over her chest, face, and right thigh, leaving clean skin and pain-free movement behind, before dying down somewhat to linger in the air about her, dancing merrily.  They feel warm, but not painfully so, like sitting next to a blazing hearth on a cold winter's night.

 

"Holy moley.  It's like a little star, right here," Samantha mutters, sounding a little breathless as she taps her breastbone.  "Nobody's brains dribbling out their ears?  Try not to startle me too badly; we want to keep things that way until I get a firmer handle on this.  But... Maybe I won't have as much trouble with that as I thought.  I can already tell the other stuff is going to still need work.  I feel like the Phoenix will give me more power if I ask, but it's actually trying to keep from overloading me.  Not totally succeeding, but loads better than the last time I tried this.  You're definitely right.  Practice.  I need it.  But if you've got any tips or tricks for controlling large amounts of power, I'm all ears."

[Chevaleresse]

"Not sure how to deal with the power from an external source, if I'm being completely honest, but I can put out more than I can safely handle, so I guess that makes me the best one here to give advice." He frowns for a moment, brow furrowed with thought. "You look like you're feeling okay right now though, which is good. . . I'd start with focusing on the basics. So moving around pens and such for you. Just tell it to do what you want it to do and try to let it happen instead of trying to force it to go where you want it to. If you try to grab it and force it wherever, then you're just pulling more out from wherever it came from and it'll overflow."

[Powder Miner]

Navin listens and watches, before nodding once. "Alright, I don't have the personal experience to help you with the internal power issues -- my power came to be as a more or less steady source I could draw from. I should be able to help you with how you use that power, however, especially in the more pyrotechnic aspects. My power is invariably lethal in form, as explosions are deadly, but one thing I've figured out is that smart usage can turn a lethal power into one used for nonlethal purposes as well -- you simply have to direct the flow of that overwhelming power. Subtle buildup of power certainly has its uses, but if you have trouble with containing powers or simply don't have the time to do so before being forced to enter battle, I would recommend a couple of things. First of all, when you have the opportunity to fight enemies for whom nonlethality isn't a concern, then work with an amount of power you believe you can handle, but don't force yourself to go off of baseline either. When you are facing a being that you can and must kill, then you have to allow yourself to test your power at realistic levels. Secondly, though, this is not always an option. Perhaps there are allies nearby, or perhaps you are facing the majority of your adversaries -- the kind you are not out to kill. Then, placement and specific usage become very important. Suppose you can't avoid using a fair amount of your power -- then you need to find the distances and areas of effect that your powers operate within, and then maneuvering these to graze your targets, for example, or specifically striking areas known to be resilient, go a very long way towards relatively safe practice of normally invariably lethal powers."

[DragonRage]

"Some experimentation required," Samantha confirms.  The pen, still floating in her telekinetic grip, has gotten a little bent, but otherwise seems more or less intact as she watches it from the corner of her eyes.  "But that's stuff to test when I have something to hit I know can backstop me.  Still, thank you for your advice.  I'll be sure to try your suggestions when I get the chance, Navin.  In the mean-time, I'll work on doing what I can do without the power-up with it on, see if I can get some finesse.  Worth a shot, anyway."