ORIGIN

The voices of the Gembounds were lost in the darkness, swallowed whole by the intangible, creeping black that consumed them. As though the sounds were trapped in the endless void of space, they were left unheard, ignored, shoved aside and drowned out with the vicious manic laughter of the creature that took hold of this room. The three headed dog's raucous voice echoed and bounced through the room, and the bird's panicked calls scraped against the walls like claws on a chalkboard, but it was the lynx's voice that seemed to have stunned the darkness in its entirety. Her gentle murmur had taken the attention of the darkness, and her question seeped into the air, bringing the laughter back into pensive silence while the tentacles of shadow released their victims and slid away.

Soft, echoing rumblings. Quiet words passed among themselves. "A game? A game? She wants to play a game. We want to play a game. Let's play the game. Game. A game. Time to play. Let's play a game." The eyes, unblinking, had turned to her and then to themselves, their slit and round pupils pulsing with intrigue. Then, they all closed.

In the darkness, they could hear something suddenly shifting. As though a great weight was slowly sliding along across the ceiling, along the walls, onto the floor. The sound of blades across the rock and muffled footsteps. The feeling of some malicious presence bared down on them all. Then the creature stopped, and in that split second, the darkness thinned - a subtle glow came to the lights strung up in Canis, but only in that far corner of the room, where they could see the creature now.

It's form was thin and wretched, its long arms poised with knobbly, naked toes on the ground. It's legs were folded beneath it, and a long tail reached out behind it, darkness fizzling on the surface of its body. There was a cold stone lodged in its spine between its shoulders, looking as though it had once been clear, only now it was stained with shadows and in place of its eyes were hollow holes. It bears an uncanny resemblance to a sort of feline, but any personal familiarity it once held has been displaced by the vicious shadows interwoven through its naked skin.

It's jaws cracked open wide, revealing rows of sharp, black teeth. A coagulation of black shadow amassed between its teeth, allowing photons to bleed into its surroundings, and a dark sludge of shadow burst forward towards the four Gembounds. While the darkness itself caused no harm, it was the small glow of sharp purple surrounding the mass of shadow that seemed to burn into their skin, irradiating their bones with a corrupt wavelength of light.

You have engaged ??̸? !
This battle will last for 10 posts, not counting GM posts. Characters must roll an attack against ??̸? in order to do damage.

??̸? has 200/200 hit points.

Fallah, Kerberos, Vincenzo and Ashtoreth have been hit by a radiation blast that will leave them feeling nauseous and unable to focus. They can still attack but will be hindered by radiation sickness.

Remember, more characters can join this quest at any time!

The darkness swelled, pushing forward and reeling back, as though the shadows themselves were breathing and this patch of dull light was no more than a fragile lung. Black dripped from the maw of the feline beast, who sat hulking, snarling, advancing, their face contorted into a wicked smile. Had their eyes lasted, they would have been wide and bright, playful almost, but there was nothingness. Those jaws had cracked back in a manic grin that delivered only malice. It could feel the darkness clinging too to those that had met its radiated blast, and one of the creatures had shrieked its fury and then disappeared unconscious, another had parted its jaws and screamed wordlessly; a vibration in the air would agitate its senses, but nothing more.

The three headed dog was the real problem. There was fury there behind its words, each head full of gnashing teeth that, for a moment, were met with awe and appreciation. The thing wrenched its jaws open wide and cackled, dancing back at the cerberus lunged forward, its long tail sweeping low to the ground. Then it moved side to side, hopping on its toes, leaning back onto its hind feet and swatting in the direction of the dog, all while chortling a distorted, feline rattle. It couldn't see, but it could feel that magic pulling towards the dog's mouths, knowing that something would be vying to destroy it. And it would have leaped out of the way, had it not been for some small fluttering just above its head.

The hallowed caller divebombed the shadowy beast from above, landing viciously on its head and jamming its beak at its ears. The monster scowled, and then the cerberus' magic exploded towards it, a beam of concentrated radiation sending it flying. It rolled, then quickly fumbled to its paws, sending a strangled feline roar.

All at once, a thousand eyes had opened up in the surrounding darkness. Their vivid colours glowed from the shadows, multi-coloured irises shifting and focusing their slit pupils on the dog. Different sizes opened wide as they could, gaping eyeballs, staring unyielding at the dog from every direction. While a notable limp had burned into the monster's shoulder, it cackled still and backed away, melting into the shadows. It skirted around them now, hidden, playing this game of cat and mouse; ready to strike where they least expected it.

Ashtoreth does 11 damage.
Kerberos does 19 damage.

??̸? has 170/200 hit points.

There are 7 posts left in this battle.

Remember, more characters can join this quest at any time!