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+--- Thread: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST (/showthread.php?tid=10837)
[TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Game Master Dark - Aug 03 2022
Deep within Draco, at the heart of the Black Spire, a rumbling began.
What was this?
The entirety of the cave quaked--a shaking that began gently but quickly grew violent. The hot rock shifted underfoot, to and fro, and streams of dust began cascading from the ceiling.
Thick, dark smoke--choking with corruption--began to boil from beneath the Black Spire's facets. A voice--deep, growling--seemed to echo with the quakes, as though the cave itself were speaking.
"TEST YOURSELVES," it seemed to say--or was that their imagination? "PROVE YOURSELVES."
One of the largest Oilstone crystals of the Spire began to split and crack, flashes of chartreuse lightning hissing and snapping in all directions, as though the stone were nothing but a giant egg. Within... something stirred.
OOC: The Chaos Forge members will be tagged only in this initial post; only those participating will be tagged thereafter. However, it is not restricted to Chaos Forge members: anyone may join this thread. Be aware that characters in this thread are at risk of gaining Corruption Points. Chaos Forge attendees who prove themselves are likely to be given a choice of group reward by Vargas, but all who are active until thread's end will receive a reward.
As described in previous news posts and announcements, this is a low-stakes group of quests that will potentially unlock new spells, techniques, and/or tactics. Each active Group has had a quest designed around their home cave, but all characters are welcome to join these quests at any time (unless otherwise stated at the bottom of a GM post).
Subsequent quests will generally be posted up as current ones near their midway points or their ends, so there won't be pressure to dip your toes into every single one at the same time.
@Vargas (The Sentinel, Nidhogg) @Aurelia @Cain (V-Zoisite-One) @Draconua (Orthoclase-Alpha, V-Selenite-One) @Equinox (V-Chaos-Eight) @Garnet-Epsilon @Khavur @Ruby-Beta @Rue @Vander @V-Hiddenite-One @V-Labradorite-One @Mirac
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Vargas - Aug 03 2022
Vargas came striding in with some alarm, staggering with the shaking of the rock. His chartreuse eyes snapped wide at the sight of the billowing purple smoke, the green lightning...
...The cracking Oilstone.
And worst of all--the voice.
He turned, instead--bracing himself as the pitted floor pitched badly--and roared out to Draco.
The Master's hammerhead swung back toward the Black Spire and he eyed the cracking stone again, taking a sharp breath.
His tail lashed behind him, and he braced himself, expecting the absolute worst.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - V-Hiddenite-One - Aug 03 2022
Like the good dog that it was, V-Hiddenite-One was quick to answer the summons of Master Vargas. He was Chaos Forge, after all. It didn’t matter that the fluffy pup had never been in a fight in his life. He would figure it out, he had to. This was important.
The deep growling voice challenged it and told it to prove itself. V-Hiddenite-One would prove itself. It was determined. It growled back, a pitiful sound in comparison coming from a puppy, but it was trying. It wanted to protect its new home, from whatever danger this might be.
It hadn’t seen any crystals crack from the Spire before during its stay in Draco so far, and Master Vargas’s reaction made it clear that this was not normal. Truth be told, it had been avoiding the Spire. But this was important, and Chaos Forge had been summoned, and it was Chaos Forge. So it was here.
It observed Master Vargas, bracing himself, but Hiddenite was small. So- instead, the pup tried something else. It tried to block in preparation for a physical attack. That likely wouldn’t do much, even if it succeeded, but it was likely all they could do.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Scion - Aug 03 2022
And the Spire, oh, something was wrong. Or at least off. Black smoke and a pulsing challenge rang through the cave (how the hell was that even possible) and it couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance. Why? Were they about to risk their lives for some kind of test? Hadn't they had about enough of those?
Okay, perhaps not the time. It had to focus. Slipping away from Master Vargas's side, it flattened its toxic spikes, burring them in its fur and faded into the shadows. It would sneak around the side, hopefully to get a good strike on it where it wasn't expecting...whatever it was.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - The Sentinel - Aug 03 2022
His head snapped back, eyes searching the darkness of Draco at the quaking, the smoke, and the booming voice.
He began to tug on his magic, to summon up his wings.
Then he stumbled, interrupted. For the briefest moment the world around him was black--empty--and he had to pause, glancing around him. The void--it was there; the bare bones of the rock, and nothing more. Empty. Cold. It was always a chilling sensation, even for the hound--but it had passed a moment later, and he finished the summoning of his magic that he had briefly paused.
Shimmering blue spread from his shoulderblades, arching out into great wings; his feet gently lifted from the ground, and the Sentinel--ignoring the quaking earth below--simply soared through the air toward the Black Spire, his halberd tight in one hand.
Upon arrival he hovered there, spectral wings beating a slow pace and keeping him airborne.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Garnet-Epsilon - Aug 03 2022
The small hybrid had been... sulking high up in Draco for the day. A few loops between Ursa to speak with the bird that's taken up watch at one cave mouth, they'd come back a week or so ago after not being able to find him and had decided to wait and pout-nap.
Or were trying, until the very cave began to convulse and writhe much more than it usually does.
A summon from Master Vargas has them drop like a stone from their perch, opening wings before hitting the ground to catch themselves and circle the Spire at a small distance- they can't fight face to face but sneak attacks at high speed, they can do.
One loop around the main group to indicate their presence over the noise, and back to circling, ready to draw this being's ire if required. Part of them... questions the random puppy. But, for now- focus on whatevertheheck that is.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - V-Labradorite-One - Aug 03 2022
I'd of blown the scoundrel upWatch his head and heart hiccupErupt in tinsel and blue cinders turn August into winter
It answered Vargas's call in an instant, especially with the quaking floor and the cracking spire. Unease prickled through every inch of it's being. It's focus was almost entirely on The Black Spire, getting ready to fight whatever horror that might burst out of it.
But then it heard a tiny growl.
It hoped the Zoisite wasn't here. It hoped the farms were too far for it to hear what was happening. It hoped that it would be safe.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Rue - Aug 03 2022
The Kornerupine had be skulking in the back corners of Draco. That's what they do a lot, anyway. So when the entire chamber shakes and harrowing voices echo, Rue has one though.
They don't need Vargas's summons to motivate them - they're immediately bounding toward the center of the room, yipping excitedly all the way. They come to a stop not far from the splitting crystal. Watching the corrupted lightshow coming from the Spire, Rue is immediately enthralled. Whatever is inside would surely be the fight of a lifetime, and that's exactly what they wanted.
Rue rears up on their back legs, howling in a display of both excitement and intimidation. Then, dropping back to all fours, they prepared to pounce.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Khavur - Aug 03 2022
Khavur came barreling towards the dual call. Prepared to fight, prepared to prove self—were they under attack? How could that be? Khavur had sensed no sign of rising struggle, the tide that lowered before the tsunami. Mother wouldn't dare penetrate the heart of its antithesis, would it?
Khavur arrived at the crowd, the cracking and bubbling Draco Spire, and its decision got lost in the revelation of their numbers. How many actual monsters here? How many built for the kind of combat required? Khavur could see the root of Master Vargas's need for more servants of the nest. Everyone here was simply so much smaller, built for other things. They reminded Khavur not of the seedlings it had sworn to protect upon hatching, but rather of the wildflowers in Pegasus. Their purpose was in stealth, in populating the nest, in maintaining its health, but not defending it. And yet, were they all it had? Khavur imagined what it would look like if "Overseer" Orthoclase-Alpha were still here, standing among them. Only one of its spawn remained here, standing before the prospect of a fight with any amount of readiness. Khavur leered.
Khavur would remain on the circumference of those gathered, watching over, attempting to prepare its venom.
RE: [TCS] THE CREATOR'S TEST - Relic - Aug 03 2022
Inane wandering aside, Relic hadn’t been up to much lately.
That was the case most of these days, without company and without entertainment. After Lacerta, after Bayo had gone, things seemed to become somehow monotonous and unscheduled both. Their travels had only been briefly punctuated with meeting Lior, but meetings of interest seemed to becoming fewer and fewer.
They found themselves in a bit of the caves they had yet to explore, a humid tunnel that stunk of oil. One couldn’t help compare the wetness of it all to a kind of orifice, whether it be a mouth or wound. The caves had gotten hotter, inescapably so, and it seemed that this area was not an exception.
What pushed her through the oil and moisture and heat, was the smell of the familiar. She may not have gotten names, or maybe she had simply forgotten them in the cycle past, but she could recognise the scent of the beasts that had accompanied her to Lacerta. She didn’t know enough about any of them to call them friends, brief acquaintances would be more accurate, but they did intrigue her. Not many looked as they did, clusters of eyes and the distorted forms of the reptilian.
But what really drove her, turned her trot to a gallop, was the rumbling. All exciting things come forth from an earthquake, right? The poison of the dart had long left her system, but the enthusiasm for adventure had not.
Thoroughly out of their element, Relic reached the clearing, surrounded by strange creatures again, lacking context and quite a bit of common sense. Standing further back from the spire, at the edge of the cluster, they too would brace themselves for what would come next.