[IC] TFW Chapter 1: Sloth

[Twinwolf]

Forge - Those Guys

 

Forge barely realized what was happening, until the brightness died down. She looked around. Laser drone thingy. Not good. Gypsy down already. Also not good. He can't fight and while she *can*, the others could do it better. So she made the very creative solution, of scooping Gypsy up in one of the cabinets (directing it with her hands, almost as if conducting and orchestra - she does not need to do this but it helps her focus on the spell) and getting them and herself out of the line of fire.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mega Star Cannon, Anemone.

 

Anemone snorted suddenly out of nowhere. She then tried to refrain from laughter. Was difficult though. "It seems that our companion has gotten stuck up ahead. Worse, I have no idea how. I only saw an influx of magic suddenly appear. So, we need to be careful... it might be some sort of dormant magic. I've... never heard of such a thing. But I don't detect anything that could be a source of it than just... Fe...atherhead over there, and I doubt he did this to himself. Whatever it is, it's there now." She emphasized this last part heavily by pausing between the words. 

 

"Seems like our front doesn't know how to keep his eyes open. My eyes are always open. After all, they must be to observe. Unfortunate for him he doesn't have nice cans too make up for this blunder. Meeeeh... so worthless." she thought to herself as she started to move a bit forward. 

[Empiricist]

Exile - Team Mega Star Cannon - Tree Room

 

"Stuck?" A question mark pops into the air above Exile's head. "Can you see what he's stuck on?"

[Shamitako]

Those Guys

 

Another laser collided with Bartek's wall, but it proved unbreakable. Sense's wood chips didn't have enough power behind them to even reach their target, but his emotional assault made its mark. It seemed to delay the next laser a little bit, but not by much. A second laser blast collided with Bartek's shield, but it still stood firm.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Charity chanted, causing a bright golden glow to form around Bartek.

Despite Bellona's immense telekinetic strength, she was unable to pull any rock and soil out of the floor or the ash and dust beneath it. Forge managed to rescue Gypsy from the room, and just in time. Another blast tore though Bartek's shield, knocking him down. Thanks to Charity's ward, he managed to survive unscathed.

"Re-" Gypsy coughed, "Retreat. We need to get out of here so I can warn Merlin that Ansuz is here."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mega Star Cannon, Anemone

 

"He's not stuck on something... It's in I believe. I can't really see though through the wall, I can just see magic surrounding the magic source I know is he." she said taking her eyes away to look at the one speaking to her.

 

It was a bit of a mistake. Just looking at her... she was somewhat close to Anemone's type. Thin, with hints of an athletic build. It was rather hard to tell with her loose fitting clothes, but the mystery was making it... hotter. Geez... was... it a sauna in here? Nope... just "hormones". Her ponytail perked up just looking at her, standing up extra stiff. She put her index finger to her chin absent-mindedly while observing her rather closely. Her bazoongas... they weren't huge, but they weren't mosquito bites either. Hnnnng... the perfect type.

[Sutoratosu]

Chernobyl-MSC-Tree Room

 

Through the tremors originating from whatever the other team had managed to get themselves into and the scouting issues Chernobyl had stayed relatively silent. Even with Merlin's declared disinterest, still she saw the cultivated plant life worth examination, if only for the trove of relative small but nonetheless comulative implications. The entire room was filled with the things; the soil used to pot them was quite obviously all imported from another plane given Sloth's piss poor geology, and keeping them all sufficiently watered would've been no small task either, and from their numbers, some poor labhand probably spent a fair bit of their shifts conducting whatever tests they were doing and and collecting the results. The fact that they were apparently willing to waste time, manpower, and raw resources on a project that, according to Merlin's own assessment had nothing to even do with actual magic in the first place, spoke volumes alone about the place and it's overseers.

 

Just like how not even a few minutes into his assignment, the damn scout had already gotten his sorry ass stuck in one of their traps.

 

"So unless someone else goes out there to get him, he's just become about as useless to the mission as a sitting duck waiting to have it's neck snapped. That's the basic gist of it, right?" she spoke up for the first time, pursing her lips but not letting her true annoyance at the matter leak into the words. So much for "help search and hope you're not needed for anything more"...

 

 

[Empiricist]

Exile - Team Mega Star Cannon - Tree Room

 

"He's a hostage, it's bait and we're all fucked~!" She pauses for a moment, arms behind her back, head tilted to the the side and a loading icon above her head. "Yup! Definitely fucked!" Springing back into posture, she alters the icon into a cartoonish lightbulb, one that vanishes in short order.

 

Fedora shouldn't be stuck, not unless he climbed a tree. Or licked an iced-over pole. If they wanted to kill intruders he'd be running, tumbling, or downed. If they didn't, then an alarm or shock would do the trick. Something you can't just teleport or blast out of, which just so happen to be two things mechs and mages are usually really good at.

 

Far worse would soon come~

[Shamitako]

Mega Star Cannon

 

Merlin was already headed for the next room when she heard Anemone talking about Feardorcha. She spun on her heal and trotted back.

"He went and got stuck somewhere?" She asked curiously, "That's odd, he was basically invisible. Is there another caster around?"

It was a safe bet that some of the scientists in the Carls facility had been learning from Ansuz. They might not know a lot, but it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility to master a single capture spell. And perhaps if they had someone with a Spark similar to Anemone's, then they could train that person to catch one of the group and take them hostage. Feardorcha would have assumed he was completely safe and then suddenly he's frozen in ice. He was great for spying, but would perform poorly in combat, even a simple metal cage would likely hold him.

[Chevaleresse]

Ice thought about the situation for a moment. They had two options: retrieve Feardorcha, or abandon him and pursue the rest of the mission. It was difficult to assess the risks of the former option, though given the fact that it seemed to be some kind of trap they were likely higher than first anticipated. The second one was safer, but the mage was a valuable asset. Either way. . . "We should go now, prepared for combat. Delaying will only put the mission at further risk." She mentally began preparing a few incantations for the potential security forces that might accost them. Conjuring a layer of slick ice over the ground to start, and then entrapping and eliminating the enemy as they recovered from the loss of mobility was her modus operandi, and a set of spells she'd practiced thoroughly, but she did not plan on being caught off guard.

[Strider]

Well. That was an utter failure. Sense scowled, as he heard the order to retreat. It made sense and would probably keep them alive, but it was a reaction, not an attack, not something that would give them back the edge. They should have expected this, should have predicted their enemy. They knew Ansuz had left. It was a betrayal to all of them. Sense began to concentrate for another attack. He should have expected something like this! Gypsy was alive at least. That was one good thing.

He sent another off two more splinters, and another flicker of emotion. A bit of indifference to cancel out the adversary's urgency. It might slow him only a fraction of a second, though with luck, it might do a fair bit more. But luck was not something to count on.

"Bartek! Bellona! Get out!"

Edited February 9, 2017 by Strider

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mega Star Cannon, Anemone.

"No, I don't think so Merlin..." You and your wonderful cans you. "I'd have noticed them or the spell emanating from them or a source in the hall I'd imagine. This magic source however burst from the floor. So, unless they were lying on the ground I don't imagine it was a person that cast it. It was probably somehow remotely triggered. I didn't even know that was possible."

 

 Anemone stop looking at paradise in human form for a moment to ponder the possibilities, her ponytail drooped and went back to it's normal non-expressive state. After all, looking at her was driving her crazy it was hard to think when her mind was occupied with... other types of thoughts, and the "heat". So, she tried to focus. It was rather easy for her to do so. She focused her mind more inward, using it to actively process her thoughts. She ran her mind over it, to think if she had ever seen something like this before or read of it in her studies. She couldn't come up with anything. Magic that could trigger like a trap. Interesting. Perhaps if there wasn't so much ambient magic in this place she'd have seen it prior to it activating. But, there was no real way to tell at this juncture. It wasn't really worth putting any thought into. 

 

She looked at Ice... thought this time she had her mind under control and didn't lose her cool as much. Her ponytail did start to wag ever so slightly though, more akin to a puppy than anything else. "Damn... she's short, really short... shorter than me. That's awkward. Makes it harder to stare at her rolling hills. Damn... I bet they are alive with the sound of music too.~" though, that didn't stop her from indulging a little. "But yes, I agree with the one with the ahoge that could pierce the heavens over there. We should moving soon. Either springing our... "friend", or cutting our losses." and he doesn't even have boobs so I'd be fine with that, not worth much. After all Illusions seem pointless, like... they've never fooled me even once. she added in the back of her mind

[ElfCollaborator]

Bartek, Team Those Guys

Bartek pulls himself to his feet in short order. He grunts a little; he was unscathed, but he'd felt the force even through the improvised armour he'd created. Bartek wasn't a small man, by any means; his frame was small for a Kemmerich, but larger than most men. Nonetheless, he manages to pull himself up, ushering his allies ahead of him.

"We leave now, friends! Bartek will cover escape!"

Running behind everyone else, Bartek places his hands up to generate another shield. He knew he couldn't hold up for long; three shots, maybe. Of course, he didn't need to hold for long, just enough to get his friends out of here.

"With heart of iron, body of oak and will of steel, come to Bartek, impenetrable walls of Jericho!"

[Twinwolf]

Forge, Those Guys

 

"Retreating it is, then!" Forge says, waiting for the others before she begins to rush. She also summons a few small discs of metal, and sends them out along the path - and one towards the opponent - in order to scout it out and make sure no other obvious traps await.

[Shamitako]

Mega Star Cannon

 

No caster, just magic. There was no way, unless... But he couldn't, he would have had to know she was coming. No, of course, of course he would know.

"Shitting hell." she cursed, "Alright idiots, new plan: Get out. I'll rescue Feardorcha."

Spoiler

This fight's Music

But before anyone could move, a thundercrack resounded through the hall, followed shortly by a blast of air. Merlin quickly lifted up her hand to shield her face. Not from the sonic blst, but from what can after. A streak of black and silver shot into view and halted by Merlin's face. A short tomboyish blonde attached to a silver ring had her fist stopped by Merlin's hand, or rather, by a concentrated telekinetic push.

"Hello Amelia." Merlin said cheerfully.

"Mermaid, what the fuck are you doing here." The girl, Amelia it seemed, sounded more like she was stating a fact than asking a question.

"You know I'm not going to tell you that." Merlin said, her cheer faltering momentarily.

"And you know that if you don't I'll ruin your day, even if you can block a Phase Punch, you can't deal with my signature."

"In such a narrow space, against so many people? Or wait, did you not see that I had friends with me?"

"You bitch." Amelia sneered, clearly upset by Merlin's statement.

"Mirror~!" Merlin sang.

There was silence for a moment as Amelia glared angrily at Merlin.

"Oh, uh, right." Merlin said awkwardly.

"Regardless," Amelia said, outnumbered or not, I can still beat you with my eyes closed."

Merlin snorted. Amelia laughed. Merlin laughed back. There was much laughing to be had between them. Having missed the joke, the rest of Mega Star Cannon could do no more than look on in confusion. And then they both went silent again.

"I'm still going to kick your ass." Amelia said.

"You can try." Merlin taunted.

 

Amelia retracted her hand and latched it into her disk before shooting off down the hall. Merlin bent over with her hands on her knees and let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew, good thing she went for the Punch." She said, "I wouldn't have stood a chance if she'd just barreled over me."

She stood back up to her full height and started directing the rest of the team.

"She'll be back any moment, we have to be quick." Merlin explained, her tone deadly serious, "We have to hit her, any hit will win the fight, but if we fail any of our attacks then she'll immediately take down anyone who makes an attempt. Chernobyl, set up a barrier towards the hall. It won't stop her, but it will force her to slow down. Anemone, you do the same but the other direction, just in case. Exile, illusions won't help here, solid or otherwise, so I want you to go and try to rescue Feardorcha. She'll most likely ignore you to come for me and clean up the trash after the fact. Finally, Ice, when she gets back I need you to do everything in your power to make her slip. Freeze everything. If she slips I'll follow up with an attack and we can be done. If I fail then I'll need you to take on the attacking role as well when she makes her next pass."

Most likely they were about to find their asses handed to them on a silver platter, but Merlin refused to just give up. She and her students would find a way to win, they had to, before Ansuz made both Merlin and Blink look the fool.

[Sutoratosu]

Chernobyl-MSC

 

"Yeah yeah, on it..." Chern sighed. She'd already figured from the earlier mention of trouble that she'd be asked to make something; already the specifications had been swimming in the back of her mind. "Type 5s would usually be the best for blocking entry, though that's probably way too much permanence for here...well, screw it, if all she wants me to do is slow the bitch down, then there's no point pulling out all 9 yards..."  Muttering something unintelligible to all but herself beneath her breath, Cheryn gave a snap of her fingers, and like clockwork there came a spark of hellish light from them and the shields were birthed as, like the three rippling sheets of nuclear hellfire they were, they erupted upwards from the zone of flooring before Chern, blooming to life right in the center of the corridor the stranger had fled down and spreading across the width of the hall to completely cover the passageway.  No sooner than they had, the blurred constructs of pure crackling crimson quickly began to meld themselves into one, the concentration of their rads and their integrity alike culminating further with each moment, their burning light intensifying

     And as they did, the focus that had up till that point been spent on three, became focus spent on one, and Chernobyl lowered her hand. The barriers were nothing terribly unique or even all that inventive for her though, the truth be told. Standard procedure for her, if anything; Bubbles were probably the simplest and quickest structural shield type she knew, and they were also the easiest to layer together and meld explicitly because of that simplicity and congruency in their shape... which not only gave them the benefit of being able to quickly build up a cumulative strength and integrity, but higher concentration of ambient radiation to douse hostiles with as well...

 

"Hey, Merlin, who is this broad anyway?" She called back to the Elder Mage, not taking her true attention off either the shield or the hallway though. "You two seemed uh... kinda chummy... Not gonna lie, got some pretty mixed signals  on how hard she's gonna try and murder us from watching that whole shabang."

 

[DragonRage]

"Retreat?  Are you joking?  That's suicide!" Bellona shouts back, "He's just as much a wizard as we are, and he has a mech too.  If we give him time to prepare now that he knows what most of us can do he'll be unstoppable.  We have to beat him here and now, when he hasn't tailored his magic and mech specifically to defeat us."

[ElfCollaborator]

"Sometimes, knowing when to fold cards is good thing. Also, Bartek point thing out; if we got trapped, what about Merlin?"

[DragonRage]

"If we let this guy free to do whatever," Bellona does her best to hammer the point home, "He'll go after her.  On top of whoever she's already fighting.  They knew we were coming, probably.  We can't afford to assume they didn't send somebody strong after both groups.  This is the same mission as before.  We can't give up just because it turned out to be tougher than stomping a bunch of lab techs and bureaucrats!"

[Strider]

"Bartek's right. We're unprepared. They have the jump on us, and the advantage. This trap was set for us. If we retreat, we may come out of this yet. We may even be able to draw our enemy after us." Bartek had a good head on his shoulders. He was surely right in worrying about Merlin. Could there be any doubt that Ansuz the apostate had something in store for Merlin? No. There was no doubt. Bellona was acting out, becoming troublesome.

"You heard Gypsy, didn't you? We need to get out!"

[ElfCollaborator]

"No, listen. If lab expect us to come, then whole lab is death trap made for us already. If whole lab is death trap, staying here is bad. Enemy knows area. We leave area, we gain advantage outside. Laser down straight corridor, hard to dodge. Laser in open, less hard. Outside, team can evacuate too. Either way, is bad idea to stay inside."

Edited February 9, 2017 by ElfCollaborator

[DragonRage]

"Fine.  This is going to bite us in the ass, but I'm not going to fight him alone," Bellona hurls herself over the conjured wall with a magic-assisted leap.  "Come on!  If we're retreating, we might as well do it right."

[ElfCollaborator]

Bartek maintains the barrier as he covers the team's escape, moving backwards and keeping his eye on the mage on the other side.

[Shamitako]

Those Guys

 

While Bellona was arguing with Sense and Bartek, another two laser blasts struck Bartek's shield. Charity, who had otherwise not spoken before this point outside casting spells, finally spoke up.

"Would you all just stop fighting!" She said angrily, "Whatever we do, we need to all do it, if we sit here arguing we're just going to die."

Yet another blast smashed into the barrier, causing Bartek to falter. Bellona finally relented and backed out into the hallway. Bartek followed after, escaping through the door just as the next blast smashed his barrier to bits. Gypsy coughed again, but didn't seem to have the energy to say anything.

[Empiricist]

Exile - Team Mega Star Cannon - Hallway

 

"On it!" Another illusion took form above Exile, larger than the ones before and slightly self-luminous, though still bearing the simple, stylized form of those which had proceeded it. It was a neon sign with an arrow pointing down upon her and text reading "Not Merlin". She begins frolicking down the hallway, forcefield up. 

 

Amelia it seems, was after Merlin. So so long as she herself didn't pose any kind of threat, she'd be ignored. And if illusions were ineffective, then broadcasting her status as an illusionist could help, as long she didn't use her Spark of course, wouldn't want her to think she was more of a threat, now would she? 

 

It was unlikely for the hallway to have any traps, Fedora moved down them just fine, so unless him triggering them primed the others... Nope! Still unlikely! Otherwise intruders could sacrifice themselves to catch Amelia with it.

 

In other words, the fun only starts when she turns the corner~

[Chevaleresse]

Ice nodded. "Understood." She focused her attention down the hall, preparing to do as Merlin had instructed. The goal: impede the foe's mobility, critically if possible. She wasn't sure if the plan would work strictly as Merlin instructed, given their opponent had been flying though the air; however, she had a plan. A slick surface would be problematic for anyone hoping to maneuver with control; spikes of ice conjured strategically about the hall would prove equally if not moreso for someone traveling through the air; even if one could smash through them unharmed, it would still slow them down. Clear ice would also not block the lines of sight needed to cast spells.

 

Ice spoke in a much louder, stronger voice than her typical reserved tone. "Dropping temperature, preparing surfaces. Let all be naught but frost." A layer of incredibly slick ice started to advance across the floor, extending from about a foot in front of the group - it also progressed behind them at a lesser rate. "Let ice tarry and impede you, and let it pierce the unwary." Spikes of ice, some straight and some curved toward where Blink would likely appear from, erupted from not only the floors, but also the walls and ceilings.