[Ursa Assault] Cry Havoc... - Printable Version

The assault had devolved into chaos. Whether it could be repaired, whether the group would push on, remained to be seen. Zhusha's attempt on Draconua, along with Reign's magic raised to defend against the hit; Madhukar's rebelling magic lashing through her; Wyvern tumbling, falling, landing to be absorbed by stone... (hopefully Sora moved swiftly enough to avoid the falling bird-dragon)--all happened in flashes and glimpses between driving curtains of snow, glimpses of the madness the group was dissolving into.

Perhaps worst of all was Esther's aid. The corrupted mutant had swept air pressure in to aid them: blocking out the snow, now, and abruptly cutting off the wind, with a bubble of high air pressure. The storm raged farther around them, blinding white, but here--in the group--all was abruptly still and quiet. Yet this magic pulsed with Chaos on its own, distracting, maddening. Only Sora was far enough away to avoid this taint. They had, however, bought them a few moments' time.

Regardless, the storm was intensifying outside: the white flakes swirled madly, and even Esther's barrier of high-pressure air seemed to swell and throb as if battered by the wind. It would not last long, this shield, and the group had a difficult decision to make. To linger here longer would be potentially dangerous, even deadly; they were still exposed, out in the cold, and though there was no sign of the worm now there was also no guarantee it would not return. The sky, such as it was, was darkening, the temperatures slowly dropping. It would be wise to move on, be that toward the mountains, or down into the tunnels, or back the way they'd come.

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Characters should choose which path to take, if any; remaining in place for much longer may prove dangerous. They may choose to roll, if they so wish, to take any desired action.

Those characters who remain within Esther's protective bubble for more than a moment or two will NOT take further Corruption points, (if they had already taken one from Draconua) but WILL feel the effects of chaos urging them toward chaotic behavior. Those who have not taken points this thread and are afflicted will take one Corruption Point and be considered Touched. All may choose to leave the protection of their Black Winds instead, and brave the fury of the storm.

The next GM post will occur on March 12th.

Tahi-shei's world was crashing down around him. Conflicting ideas ran through his mind -- Vargas's command to turn back if they were at risk contrasted with a grave warning. If you fail, this nest may be destroyed. Pride's vision and his flicker of anger pulsed through Tahi-shei while his anxiety and frustration echoed back. It was a two-way link, after all. Nobody was listening to him, not really -- No, Draconua isn't listening to me.

Do not fail.

Do not fail.

He realized with a dawning horror that he was not qualified to make this decision. Lives were in his hands now, as everything fell apart. They had lost Sora, Giggle, Carja's aunt -- he didn't have Draconua under control, Gembound were turning on each other, and his life was spiraling out of control. At least, for the moment, the storm had stopped -- but he could taste the chaos in the air, and he knew the price of it.

He acted first. Commands could come after. Thankfully, blessed spores hit the air -- hopefully they'd go high enough to hit Draconua, his true target. At least the storm was not to interfere with them. Maybe, just maybe, it would get her to calm the hell down long enough to listen to him.

"HEY!" he shouted, even though he didn't exactly have to yell at the moment. "If any one of you is able to contact Vargas from a distance, do it. DRACONUA! On the Master's authority, I am removing you from this mission. Go back. Now." Hopefully his magic would keep her from killing him. "STOP ATTACKING HER. You will only provoke her. Now! There is a decision to be made, and I am letting you make it."

He took a deep breath. "After we rescue anyone who can be rescued, we are either going to continue to the mountains or turn back. We will vote. If we fail here, the caves might be destroyed. All of us could die. Or, we could die on our way in, and the same thing would happen. One way or another, make your decisions now or forever hold your peace. We move shortly."

Tahi-shei was not a general who would walk unwilling men to their deaths. He did not want to. He was panicking, and scared. Giggle was gone, Pride was angry with him, James-- James had withdrawn. He felt the quiet. It was not so much the link breaking as it was James compartmentalizing and shutting Tahi-shei out for the moment. He felt nauseous, now -- feeling James's horror and disgust.

I'm sorry, he thought, on the verge of hysterical. Perhaps Vargas was right -- maybe all this emotion was a weakness, in the end.

Pride waited until the way to the hole was clear. He hesitated--trembling against the cold and the adrenaline; he didn't want to pace deeper into this sense of throbbing black. He hated it, it was a coiling chaos utterly antithesis to his forced and constant control. That was what he was about: logic, cold decisions, but warm support of allies, too. He prided himself on trying to think clearly, to correctly weigh options, but this shuddering entropy thrashed through his mind and threatened to bring out that other side of him. The side that gave in to fury, that unleashed his magic with lashing rage. The side he fought so hard to keep down. It wasn't some mysterious second self, or the like--only his own anger, always his biggest enemy.

He forced himself to the lip of the hole, forced himself to stare down, though his hooves threatened to tumble him downward. "Someone catch me if I start to fall," he said, praying that they would, and then he focused. Far below there were chrysalises forming. And, barely visible in the dark and mostly only by virtue of her eyes, was Sora.

Pride took a breath. "HOLD STILL," he called down to her, and concentrated. Thirty-five feet was quite far... but he'd thrown Gembound higher into the air, before. Could he pull her up this shaft safely-?

Nothing came. He winced. "She may be too far! I can try again-..."

And as for the vote-? He considered, looking up, peering against the white. He could see no mountains--could see nothing, in fact. "Tahi-shei, I do not know this place. Can you find the mountains through the storm-? I don't know Ursa--we're blind out here, in this snow. If you can get us there then we can press on, or if anyone can guide us. But I cannot see," he added, fighting against his unnatural agitation, which was flaring so powerfully the already-roaring concern threatening his nerves.

There were arguments. Shouting. Nidhogg watched as Draconua bristled, rose up, bellowed and screamed her barrage of words--words that seemed as powerful as her magic, and twice as rare. He crept up alongside her, that blind familial sense of loyalty driving him. If these other strangers were now Enemies, then he'd stand with her--for now. For as long as his fickle faith lasted.

He drew up alongside her, to the left and lagging a little behind, so that his forequarters were even with her flanks and a few hopefully-safe yards away. And toward the blind deer--who he did not know was blind--he gaped his jaws, fangs bared, and let out a long, low and guttural hiss. It was a distinct threat display, but to anyone watching, it was questionable whether his henchman act added to Draconua's factor of intimidation--or subtracted from it.

He made no vote, and offered no words--but it was clear he'd do whatever she led him to, for now.

Just as Sora was getting ready to sit down, the clunk of her hooves on the stone revealed a rapidly approaching thing falling from the hole. Sora had the good sense to move out of the way, right as a massive bird hit the ground and chrysalized. Or, at least, she was pretty sure Wyvern was a bird -- honestly, she hadn't gotten a good enough look at her yet.

Her heart beating wildly in her chest, she pulled back. Some of the storm above had quieted, so she tried to call out again. "HEY GUYS? THE BONE LADY CHRYSALIZED!" Okay, so yeah, she did actually know who Giggle was. But at least she hadn't called her "the weird dog" or something -- that was a win. Sora wasn't great at sorting, or being polite. She heard some roaring from up top -- bits and pieces of some angry speech, probably from the really big one. She couldn't think of anyone else big enough to make noise like that.

She sat down, and looked between the chrysalises in front of her. In the dim light, they looked pretty similar -- Giggle's was more orange, but mostly they were the same color. She snorted. "Just three girls with fire-colored stones, sitting in a forty-foot deep hole filled with bones and eerie statues. With a blizzard outside."

Sora sighed and cast a glance over to the fire opal. "Bet your bones didn't see this coming, huh?"

Twisted rose from the ground, panting and caked with snow. By this point she was far too desensitized to everything going on to mind the massive monster howling at their leader, or any of the other stuff going on. She simply pricked her notched ears towards what Tahi-Shei said and mulled over it between moments of licking down her unkept fur.

On one hand: she really hated the atmosphere here. Absolutely vile, and somehow the magic holding back the wind made it more so. On the other hand...

"Lets keep going," the siamese rasped. "We trained and travelled all this way for what? To piss and moan like little bitches? Just keep the 'Flamethrower' on a short leash and let's move."

Her head ticked down towards the hole where she noticed some screaming white lady at the bottom. "Uh, yeah guys, the Bone Lady chrysalized," she echoed blankly, but did little to help except peer down. One saved life was enough for today.

Instead of driving his beak into whatever part of Draconua it might or might not have reached, Zhusha crashed ungracefully into an invisible wall much like a bird into a window. Dazed, he flapped his wings clumsily, rapidly losing height as he attempted to process what had just happened. ... magic? he wondered, struggling to regain altitude as the eldritch serpent below lunged at him and was repelled by the same shield.

The cheetah--ah, he was the one who had made the shield, Zhusha assumed. And he supposed it made sense, but... looking around, he doubted they could make much of an effective enemy to anything, let alone-- Mother? The word held little sentimental meaning for he who had made it this far without one, but he hadn't thought those were supposed to be evil.

In any case, it made little sense to forge onward with three of them missing and two uncontrollable chaos beasts who might turn on them any moment. Which idiot's idea was it to bring them along, anyway? he wondered resentfully. But--failure meant being destroyed? There had been far too little exposition on that particular possibility for his liking. "WHO'S DOING THE DESTROYING," he honked to Tahi-shei. "I'LL FIGHT THEM." It was not a boast, nor was it spoken with any hope of winning. The opposite, in fact--despairing, yet furious. If they were going to die--he hoped they wouldn't--he wanted to make whoever was responsible hurt for it. If he could even injure something capable of destroying the whole world...

Things were quieter, all of a sudden, and Zhusha realized that Draconua had stopped roaring. He'd blocked it all out. In hindsight, perhaps he shouldn't have yelled to the deer while the beast was also yelling--but the more time he spent with this ragtag group, the more he resented them all. Unorganized, hopeless, helpless, failures. What was the point in staying with them all? Nothing good had come out of it.

"GET RID OF IT," he spat, jerking his head toward Draconua. "NO-GOOD PIECE OF TRASH." He felt the urge to attack her again--whether that was his own anger or the chaos whispering in his ear would probably never be known--but valiantly restrained himself and whirled around instead, storming off into the storm.

Immediately, he was buffeted by the winds and forced to land, near-blinded by the snow. In hindsight—and he really wasn't liking how much he was having to use his hindsight—leaving the bubble had perhaps not been the best of ideas. But he hated everyone within that circle anyway, so he was stubbornly refusing to go back. Instead he made his way… well, he had no idea where, honestly, but he was hoping it was in the general direction of an exit.