[IC] Trespassers of the Multiverse: Director's Cut

[StormLord]

Frigus watched the exchange between Lilly and the plant, followed by harry dumping water on the thing.

He looks over to Mirri "Well I think they've got this in hand for now, I guess we should be on our way."

 

After walking down the docks about half a block Frigus continues talking.

"I assume you want to know what a Heartless even is.  Well, the name is a bit misleading, given to them because they act without emotion other than malice, hatred, and the desire to create more of their kind.  They are in essence, a weak Heart that was corrupted and fell into the realm of darkness then manifested again in the realm of light.  They're neither alive nor dead in the traditional sense."

He paused giving her a chance to respond.

[Sutoratosu]

"How?" she asked lilly, but soon after overhearing harry speaking to someone about how it had all started when the thing was apparently removed from water, she got her answer, "Water, huh... the things not that big, if I just-"

     and with that, she had effectively cut off her own sentence, as she launched into chanting something in an alien, nigh unnatural tongue that seemed to bend the very fabric of reality around them. The raw focus, was clear on her face, as her mind whirred in overdrive to keep track of the countless equations being processed, by no safe space to write them out and release them on in a timely matter- no.... who knew how long the dousing harry had given the thing would last, before it burst into flames again, lucille had no intent of being near it when that happened. 

      And so... she had resorted to this. The casting of a runic sigil through incantation alone, it was by no means an easy feat, but nor was it one she was inexperienced in either; the key was to allow nothing to impede oneself, to hold every once of information that under normal circumstances could be written out at one's leisure, left and returned to later if one so desired. And as she continued the incantation, a very light erupted from the ground near the plant creature, and said light formed into the lines and symbols of the Alchemical Marriage circle. 

 

Her targets were simple... she would take a few inches of the asphalt in one one circle, and combine it with the asphalt in the other one- perhaps a bit frivolous a use of knowledge that, under the right circumstances, could make or unmake entire worlds and create or destroy life, but... she was more concerned with getting the thing under control as soon as possible, damn any misgivings about what the Maven's may have thought, had they been here.

 

there was a brilliant flash, and as it faded, there in the street was a small hole, and a foot or two away from it, a raised spot in the asphalt where the moved material had been relocated. The divot was more than big enough for the little plant monster to fit in with plenty of space. And already, the hole was beginning to fill with the water that had been spilled on the ground. Lucille ordered it in, and it followed with such swiftness, she might've mistaken it for eagerness, but she knew in all likelihood, this thing was simply naturally drawn to water....

 

"So uh..." she finally asked once the ritual ended and she stopped the massive incantation, panting just under her breath, though she hid it well "Now that we've avoided burning the place down for now... from the top, how exactly did this thing come into existence?"

[Hal Henderics]

Lilly

 

(20, 7) Lilly Managed to put out her hand before the burns got too bad, hardly singed, in practice.

 

--

Lucille

 

(18, 1) (78) The Asphalt is fused with the Asphalt, resulting in a Dark Stone sitting on the ground, about the size of a manhole.

 

Dumping the creature in the water, it simply boils it away until nothing remains but a hole in the ground.  It sits there though, so there is simply a burning hole in the ground now.

 

--

Harry

 

Dumping water on the creature did nothing but make a cloud of steam, it seems this fire is pretty strong.

 

"Found out the hard way?  I can send the Fire Brigade." Dragon Offers.

 

--

Proditor

 

(20, 8) Joe Derrick, Age 29, Social Security Number, Phone Number, Birth Date, Criminal Record, Trigger Event, It's all arrayed in front of Proditor's Metaphorical self, this is even easier than he thought it would be.

 

His power, as far as he understands it, is absorbing things, when he got stabbed, the knife disappeared.  They thought it was because the other guy could make them or something.

 

But he knows the truth.  It's all he can do not to push the knife out and prove it for himself.  Not here though.

 

The psychic connection, newly formed, seems to have a similar idea.  Absorb, move flesh out of the way, and an internal force field preventing anything absorbed from harming him, as long as it could fit inside all the way.

[Strider]

"No, I think we've got it under control. The thing is currently sitting in a small asphalt pit. Rather surprised by the amount of heat it put out though. It's the size of a small fingernail, and it lit some asphalt on fire that we're currently dealing with, along with one of our people, but she has been successfully extinguished. Not sure where all the energy is coming from, but I suppose most parahuman powers get mysterious energy so. . .who knows. Anyway, thought you'd like to know, and I don't think we need a fire brigade. Thanks for the offer." Harry shut off the earpiece, and turned to Lucille.

 

"Nicely done. Do we kill it now? I honestly don't know how much longer it's going to burn." Harry sighed, glancing at his watch, and then looking around in exasperation. He continued addressing Lucille. "I was meaning to mention this to Frigus, but he's apparently gone now. . . The PRT is sending a truck over to collect the rest of the powder that created this thing. I've got a meeting that I'm bringing Soma and Jun to, so can you do me a favor, and just be around here until the truck arrives? People seem to have been disappearing left and right without a word to anyone. Wonderful policy, really makes the team work like a well oiled machine!. . . Anyway, the wait shouldn't be more than an hour."

 

 

[Sutoratosu]

"Weeeell..." she glanced down at the still burning little green abomination, thinking for a few seconds "No, no.... not right now at least, it might take a while to figure out, but I think whatever this thing is it can be useful to us, if I manage to get rid of the whole trait where it, you know, burns everything it touches outside of water. Let me try a few things first, if none of them work... then yes, by that point, killing it would be the safest option."  at the second part of his question, she blinked a little, before looking around, well hearing around- not like her eyes were worth a damn. And upon picking up the eerie, relative silence around them, she couldn't help but be surprised. She... honestly hadn't noticed, between training on controlling the buggers around here and rushing to stop this thing burning every in it's path. Lo and behold... the place, aside from the three of them really was deserted... figures.

     "Yeh, I see what you mean... Don't worry about it, I'll already have to stay here and keep this thing under control while see what I can do about it. Meeting whoever they send to pick the stuff up shouldn't be an issue."

[Strider]

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to mention how the little bugger came to be. Some of the others stopped a 'drug' deal earlier, and wound up with a load of white powder. I thought I'd investigate, try to figure out what it was, in case we had to either hand it over, or hide it. I put a pinch in water to test the solubility, and that thing. . . happened. Glad to see you've got it under control." Harry stared down into the hole, feeling the heat radiate upwards.

 

"So, your power, does it conserve mass then? Since you know, it took a huge chunk out of the pavement, and turned it into something somewhere else? I kind of expected magic would ignore the conservation law type things, and you'd just be able to make stuff vanish."

[Sutoratosu]

"I see, guess that explains it. It's actually kinda terrifying, this thing reminds me of a few bioweapons back home." Lucile answered "About the circle though? Well, it doesn't necessarily do it every time, no. it really depends on the nature of how exactly I want to combine something, like how I did with the cat and the iron earlier; the irons gone, but the cats still here, and he doesn't really weigh more than he used to... I don't think. To be honest though, even I'm not entirely certain about the maximum limits of what that spell can do, and I've been studying it for years now...." she drifted off in the conversation, as she borrowed one of the cat's eyesight for a moment and inspected the area. Lo and behold, where she had intended to move the asphalt she used to dig the hole, there was something that was definitely not it in it's place

    "aaaaaaand exactly my point. This is uh.... unexpected. I'm certain I did all the calculations ri... actually, nevermind, I probably didn't." she sighed "there's a reason I prefer to write it out instead of doing it all in my head. Stupid mistakes like this end up happening..." 

 

though, perhaps she was being too hard on herself, whatever it was, it did not appear immediately dangerous, at least compared to the green fire mutant. Only one way to find out for certain...

 

Lucille approaches the strange stone and reaches out with her senses, trying to detect any apparent metaphysical properties it might have. If she sensed nothing volatile or dangerous about the mysterious black stone, she would reach out and try to collect it, testing its weight.

[Chevaleresse]

((assuming Proditor shared some of his information))

 

"Joe. When you're done bleeding, meet me outside this place." Kusuke said simply, largely putting off the burden of planning later. He hoped that someone he'd never met before knowing his name was enough to convince the newly-minted parahuman that he was worth talking to. It helped that Kusuke himself wasn't exactly tough to pick out of a crowd. Unless you've got a better plan, he added to Proditor mentally (and somewhat belatedly.)

[DragonRage]

"Heartless... because they have to act that way.  Can they be saved?"  Mirri fiddles with the shot selector on her blaster rifle, "Or is a mercy kill the best option?  Can they even die, if they're stuck between worlds like that?  Fighting something immune to conventional weapons would be... inconvenient.  Are there any abilities common to them that I should watch out for?

[StormLord]

Frigus listened and thought about his answer for a couple seconds before responding.

"Saved?  I think it's happened a couple times in very specific cases, but we're not equipped for that. 

No, they don't really die, but they do return to the realm of darkness when killed with conventional weapons.  Eventually they'll force their way back, it'll probably take them a few years to recover though, unless someone is helping them.  From what I've been taught the Keyblade is one of the few things that can actually properly release the trapped Hearts, don't take killing them personally though, there'll be another one waiting to stab you in no time.

For powers, they like to run in packs, people with weak Hearts experiencing strong negative emotion like pain or fear are vulnerable to corruption, we shouldn't have to worry about that happening to us, but keeping civilians out of harms way should be a priority.  Oh, and some of them can melt into the ground, don't bother attacking them until they come back up."

Frigus glanced around some and then made a turn down a small side street leading off the docks.

"I think we're starting to get closer now, look out for any shadows moving that should be."

[Endlessblaze]

The fire extinguished, Lilly slowly draws her hand back up with a hiss, before casting mend on it, as she walks back to the group, muttering something under her breath, Rainbow light flowing over her wounds. Oh well she had had worse.

”Ok so did I miss anything while I was on fire?”

[Sutoratosu]

"Hmmmmm...." Lucille stayed stooped near the stone. She didn't sense anything inherently.... wrong with it, or dangerous, so she reached out a hand and lightly brushed the surface, find the glossy exterior to radiate a faint warmth, and though it was not a particularly powerful heat, certainly nothing in comparison to what the little plant beast produced, examining the stone yet again by entering higher state of conscious and gazing with her third eye revealed that it was a intensely persistent, if somewhat weak trait... they probably could've shoved this thing in an ice box for days, and it wouldn't have lost even an ounce of it's thermal energy. 

     "Very interesting..." she whispered, at this point almost mesmerized by the substance she had accidently created. There had already been similiar materials on her world, high end insulators that also doubled as heat generators- not only would the block out the cold, they could also keep an entire family warm for virtually no utility cost beyond the initial price of the material. It seemed that somehow, in her mad, frenzied chanting to isolate the plant beast, she had accidentally created something in the same vein. Still though, she would need to examine it a bit further, maybe do some test on it, to see the full extent of its properties.

 

Taking out a stick of charcoal and drawing out a strange symbol on the ground near the stone with nigh impressive speed, she proceeded to utter something under her breath as she put the writing utensil away. Once more, the air itself seemed to warp, and the runic diagram lit with burning radiance as the thing immediately next to it, the stone, gradually shrunk down until it was the size of a disk that could easily slip into someone's pocket. The light died soon after, and Lucille picked up the mysterious, warm rock and slipped it into one of the inner pockets on the inside of her garbs.

 

Lucille obtains the Ebony Hearthstone!

Spoiler

Ebony Hearthstone
-A large, pitch black, glossy stone that was about the size of a manhole cover, shrunken down to a more manageable size via the use of a rune. It feels warm to the touch, and the slight heat it gives off never dissipates, even when exposed to frigid conditions. Doesn't seem to have any properties beyond this at a glance, but further testing is still needed

She had already stood back up again by the time lilly came back.

3 hours ago, Endlessblaze said:

 

”Ok so did I miss anything while I was on fire?”

Lucille gave lilly an odd look, as she returned. She was still in a heightened conscious state, and it was almost painfully easy for her senses to detect the bit of magic the other girl had woven over her wounds as she approached

     "No, nothing much" she said, finally coming down from the state and allowing the metaphorical third eye to close, causing the myriad of metaphysical information that had been filtering into Lucille's mind to fade with it. "We managed to get the thing under control, it's in the hole now.... still burning, but it should be a lot more contained now that it's surrounded by asphalt" she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder to the literally burning hole in the street where the spore monster currently resided. 

 

"But lilly- what you did just now, to heal yourself.... what was that? Can you do it again, project the energy on other things beside yourself? I've got an idea to try and nuetralize the threat this thing poses for...." she gestured with a wave of her hand towards the small burning pit, as if she were a game show host presenting a contestant with a wonderful prize check "...obvious reasons."

 

[GodofGamingRWBY]

"I do not have a better idea" Proditor replied simply, moving out of his 'hiding spot' as he begun to move towards the exit of the back room, back to the outside world. To him, it would seem that they're right about done here. Unless, of course, Kusuke was planning on doing some more brawling, in which case the Ethereal would simply hang around and wait.

[Endlessblaze]

Lilly rubs her previously burned hand as she flexes her fingers, it was a little red, and still stung a bit, but was largely just an annoyance.

"A Healing spell. I can use it on anyone, it can even help Ador regenerate broken crystals. What do you have in mind?"

She seemed curious, though the more perceptive might also note a buried tone in her voice. The tone of suppressed disgust, and her trying not to think about the other girl's binding powers, which she was no doubt using to keep the plant in place.

[Sutoratosu]

"Making this thing do something more useful, and less destructive, than spewing out a bunch of fire whenever it leaves water, preferably something that can help people, like healing..." she answered, her blank, pupil-less eyes narrowing as she did so, picking up Lilly's tone more easily than any member of their party logically could've, given her... adaptations to life. she swore to all the gods in her world, she had only been here for less than a full 24 hours, and this whole self-righteous condemnation of what she, and most others like her back home, did out of survival and necessity was getting ridiculous "And look- don't even start about this, OK? I can hear it in your voice already. I defended myself to Ardor when I first got here, and you of all people shouldn't be getting upset right now, when I'm simply doing what's necessary to stop this creature from burning everything. This creature that- from the smell of charred flesh I'm still picking up -wouldn't have hesitated to burn you to a crisp. Of course, if you feel indignant with me using my ability- one that I had no control or say in being born with, by the way -to try and stop disaster from spreading now... well, just say the word. I can release my hold right now, if that's what you reeeeeeally want after what just happened, and let this thing wander off to terrorize the rest of the docks." 

 

'pointed' was an absolute understatement; the Thaumaturge seethed just under her surface, bit hid it well as she stood there, arms crossed and face unreadable before lilly. But her tone had made it clear- this was first, and last, warning of how absolutely fucking done she was with the flak they seemed so intent on giving. Despite it though, she did not release her mental binding of the creature, nor did she allow it to terrorize the docks and cause countless deaths as it burned everything in it's path. It stayed right where it was, in the burning pit, for if Lucille had anything to say about the fate of this incredibly dangerous organism- it would either be made into something that was far less threatening by virtue of its mere existence, or it would be destroyed to protect the countless other living things that surely perish if it were given mercy.

 

"Now please... are you going to help me try and make it so we don't have to destroy it, and it can do something actually beneficial with it's existence, or are you just going to stand there silently judging me the entire time?" 

[Endlessblaze]

Lilly crosses her arms and looks away.
"I never said I wasn't going to help. I would be delighted to see it be made harmless and helpful. But you will release it when your done."
Lilly restrained her self from launching into a list of other ways it could have been contained. Loath as she was to admit it, and as disgusted as she was with the binding, it WAS better then burning everything down. Even if it was, in her eyes, the worst way of containing it.

"Now what do you need me to do?"

 

[Sutoratosu]

She took out the same stick of charcoal from earlier and went to work drawing everything out around the spore beast, making certain to stay a safe distance away from the horrible heat it's secreted flames gave off. In less than half a minute, she had finished, and what stood before them was a perfectly drawn Synthesis Circle. One of the two containment circles had been drawn around the pit where the fire plant reside, the other one was empty. There was a final circle at an equal distance between them, that was also empty- where the end result of the ritual would appear. 

    With the prepwork done, Lucille was all business, taking out something else- a small, wand like object with a shard of quartz embedded on the end. She spoke a single, undecipherable word, and several small lines of light appeared on it's shaft. It extended length almost immediately, growing until its full height came up to about eye level with Lucille's- a short staff. 

 

"See that empty circle? Not the one in the middle, but on the far right," she gestured with the staff at precisely which one she meant "I need you to cast that spell you used there. Once you do, I'll activate the circle and try to replace the destructive properties of the creature with the healing ones of your magic."

[Endlessblaze]

"Alright then."

She points her hand at the empty circle and allows a rainbow of light and energy to form between her outstretched fingers. With a few words it ripples and changes internally in a way sight would not perceive. To Lucile, the changes in it would not seem that different than changes exerted in Animus, Except the changes in animus only appeared after the fact, once the effect in the physical world had already occurred, instead of a pattern being made there first, and animus responding to create the effect Rolling around in the mass of power that poured from Lilly's body. The changes however continue after the words. As Lilly handles the rest with her will. Causing more changes, working off the basic framework the words had provided. The rough orb like shape collapses into a mass of energy, and a few cords of wavering light. it moved almost like water in a zero gravity environment, as it flowed to the center of the circle.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Endlessblaze

[Sutoratosu]

The light came and went as the ritual was performed. Lucille uttered the trigger word, and through the process had guided the merge, using the staff as a focus to amplify the spell. And by the time it ended, there was no longer a burning pit, nor a sphere of healing enery, but instead a single, pinky finger-sized green creature sitting in the center-most circle. And much to Lucille's relief, it was now longer burning...

 

But it was nothing like she had hoped to accomplish, either. Entering another state of conscious and viewing the creature with a sight beyond mundane sight, she could already tell that much. This endeavor had only been a partial success, at the very best:

Spoiler

Sex: ???

Race: Glomerorum Immortalem "Immortal Spores" 

-A strange, plant/animal hybrid creature stemming from the Fire Spore species. It is about the size of a pinky finger. It once spewed fire, but after Lucille and Lilly's intervention it was altered to do something less destructive. It now has an incredibly powerful regeneration factor, and may quite possibly be immortal because of it. This regeneration factor also means it generates a constant excess of cellophane which is secretes from its body, leaving stringy trails of the stuff wherever it goes. It can create around a cup of the liquid substance in a single day. Though it cannot spew healing energy, those who come into direct contact with the plant can benefit from its regenerative properties.
 
Stats
Base HP: 20/20
Extra HP: 15/15 ((regenerates completely every turn))
 
Essence: 0
Constitution: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 0
Resistance: 0
Strength: 0
Synergy: 0
 
Actions
Passive
Immortal Boon- This creature has a pool of [15] extra hp, which completely regenerates each turn in combat. Additionally, individuals who equipped this creature as gear will receive [1] hp per turn.

 She was silent, for a few moments, as she stared at the creature. Before long however, she ordered it to crawl near Lilly, close enough that all the girl would have to do is reach down and pick it up. It left a trail of cellophane as it did so, to which Lucille sighed and shook her head.

      "...take it, Lilly." she said, her voice lower and heavier than usual, expression unreadable, but her blank eyes baring the look of someone who had just found out they had failed some utterly crucial final examination despite studying every opportunity they could and working their ass off in preparation for it. Her footsteps were practically silent as she turned and headed into the Warehouse's interior. "It's not burning anymore, so there's no reason for us to destroy it. The ritual succeeded in that much at least, even if it failed on every other front. The creature is in your hands now... I'm going to wait for these vans to arrive... and I'd prefer to be alone while I do."

 

At the same moment she passed through the doors to the place, she broke her binding over the strange plant creature, leaving it to Lilly... and whatever she intended to do with it from that point on.

 

LUCILLE RELEASES THE PLANT ABOMINATION

 

The charcoal lines that had made up the circle slowly began to disintegrate into nothing after she went inside. A safety mechanism lucille tended to make sure to built in whenever she drew temporary ones, to keep random strangers from stumbling upon and somehow, though highly unlikely, figuring out how to activate them. Or even worse, someone actually versed in the arts she employed finding it, and using it for no end of ill will.

[Powder Miner]

Also near the warehouse (albeit on the other side, allowing her not to hear the commotion around Lilly, Harry, and Lucille), Satomi fiddled with Harry's multitool. It was a fascinating little device, packed with an almost dizzying array of tools that were individually simple but that Satomi could probably, altogether, spend an hour or more just considering their uses and trying to in fact get a little hands-on experience with them where she could. Or so she thought at least. After extending almost every one of the tools in the thing, she reached to extend another one, and then she felt a sudden and sharp pain in her fourth finger. "Ah!" She let out a little yelp, and then looked at her finger... oh, she'd cut it fairly badly... and on what looked to be a little saw... ouch.

 

Once the blood started to run down her hand, she brought her right hand up and popped it into her mouth, with an annoyed expression on her face. Really, she couldn't believe herself. All of that earlier, plus now she managed to cut herself handling a tool like she was a child. Sighing into her bleeding finger, Satomi headed around towards the other side of the warehouse where she believed Harry was, and one glance would pretty much tell him (or anyone else who looked) what happened: she looked frustrated, with her finger in her mouth and a couple of rivulets of blood down her hand, all of the tools closed on the multitool in her other hand except for one that glinted redly as she approached.

[Endlessblaze]

Lilly of course, picks the little guy up, and goes to plant him, as planned. huh, she should ask if anyone knows what this stuff he's secreting is. Oh she had better make sure he's ok.

 

[Query: Unharmed?]

[kj1225]

Arminius is staring at the back of the bar, pretending to be casual. He saw the man. He didn't want to but he saw him. He whispers to Calvera.

"I think he's talking about me. So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna sneak out of here... or just bolt when he notices us. Okay?"

[Projeck]

Calvera whispers back, keeping one eye on the man.

"I think that'll be a little suspicious... why is he looking for you anyways? I think we could handle him, regardless... but if you want to run, I can blind him, then we can run. Up to you."

[kj1225]

Arminius smiles guiltily before finally whispering in a voice Calvera can barely hear.

"You remember those wrecked vans and stuff we got? We uh... kind of ambushed a Merchant drug running operation... Oh wait, I have a big gun now. This'll be a bit more even. How about this, you blind him and then we shoot him while running? Minimize our exposure to danger AND he'll probably bleed out and die."

[Projeck]

Calvera responds in kind with a nod, she strokes her chin before standing up calmly using Sun Boil on the thug, in an act of surprise!

 

Loadout:

Spoiler

Perks:

By The Stars-  Whenever the Calvera would gain Syn without spending merit, they instead gain 1 More.

 

Radioactive By Heart- RX Calvera, being a dying star, is highly radioactive. This allows her to use her own HP to boost her attacks. +[SYN/8] (rounded up) Damage per 1 HP spent.

 

Actions (6 action slots):

-Actives

Solar Flare- Sends out a massive wave of heat, hitting all enemies in the area for 1d6 + SYN. Enemies make a SYN vs RES contested check to take [SYN/4]d3 fire damage for 3 turns. Cooldown: 3 turns.

Sun Boil- A bolt of fire flies out to hit a target, dealing 2d6 + SYN damage.

 

Blinding Light (Trick)- RX Calvera's body lights up bright, blinding a target, 50% chance to stun the target. Out of combat, it can be used as a strong source of light.

 

-Passives

Flare Up- When RX Calvera goes below 50% HP, she enters her Solar Form, granting her double SYN for the rest of combat.

 

Size Matters (Trick)- RX Calvera gets +10% SYN in combat.

 

Randomness (Trick)- RX Calvera unintentionally sends out a jet of fire sometimes. Each turn she has a 10% chance to deal 1d6 fire damage to a random enemy.