Khloros felt a... something, a tightening, a thickness in his body. He could feel it spreading--slowly--and he wasn't sure what Astraea had done. He would try to heal it--to heal himself--in a moment; he assumed that the stag was turning his own diseases, somehow, against him.

But first, he wanted to ensure that Astraea was sick. That the stag, the one claiming knowledge, and dominion, claiming mastery and control over the lives in the cave, would... What? Die? Khloros had hardly intended to enter into this conflict to kill anyone, but if Astraea pushed him, then he would do his best, at least, to stop the deer.

He was unsure how best to get close enough to truly plague the cervid.

His mind flicked back to Hasira. He remembered simply walking up to the stag--one who had, for whatever reason, deemed Khloros a god. And he was not the only one, Khloros remembered.

For the moment, he ignored Astraea's magic, ignored the creeping feeling that twitched along his muscles. "I remember the other stag--the one who looked like you. He also claimed dominion. He called himself a King, and wished to force all others under his control. He tried to kill those who refused." Khloros stared, for a moment, almost absently, but with a deceptive cunning he was gathering his magicka.

"Is this what stags are like..? Are you all mad kings? And why did he call me a God?" As this last question was given in Khloros' wheezing rasp, he sprang for the deer. He aimed to hit him, chest to chest--not in a physically damaging attack, but enough to smear pus on the stag's coat. He planned too to sneeze, deliberately, just in case he narrowly avoided contact; to sling saliva Astraea's way.

He would infect him with the plague.

It was, as he recalled, particularly deadly to deer.

As he started forward, he found that his legs were... sluggish. He staggered a few steps toward the deer, and his ghostlight eyes narrowed slightly. "What is this?" he demanded, struggling to keep his feet. "What magic is this? What have you done?"

________________

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Thothaga

as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

The mental backlash struck her mind like lightning. Thothaga flinched, every nerve felt it had been shocked. The stinging numbness invaded her whole body. There was reason she never attempted to speak to the Crystal-Father. His essence was raw, scathing, thunderous- it stripped away at her like a violent wind. This experience had sorely reminded her of this.

However, through her flood of pain, Thothaga felt a comforting warmth at her core- a sense that, no matter what happened, everything would be alright. The feeling ran through her blood, as if it was her own, but it was from the Spire. She knew it to be so. Gradually, the warmth over took her, chasing away the sting of fried nerves, and a the spider grew uncharacteristically calm.

She watched the Stag deliver punishment unto rot-horse. This will end badly for the Death-Carrier.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

the root of all evil

[ boss encounter: astraea ]

ASTRAEA

the virgo master, reawakened

astraea

the virgo master, reawakened; "deer dad"

▼ DISEASED

966 / 1000 HP    96.6%

Listening briefly to what Khloros was saying, Astraea could feel the churning within his chest spreading throughout his body. He grimaced but refused to cleanse himself of whatever disease the horse had implanted. Astraea couldn't know what it was just by feeling it and he wasn't going to take the time to assess it yet. He would deal with the horse first.

His ears flicked at the story, at the questions; he snorted to think he might be compared to one of these children. "I do not speak for delirious minds," he commented dryly.

"I cannot tell you why one might have believed so wrongly; either as themselves, a King, or of you, a God." His breathed shuddered into a laugh. "He is not the first to have thought himself a King. It seems a common misconception with you... Gembounds."

"But he might have been on the right path," Astraea continued, taking a step toward Khloros as the horse demanded answers, stumbling in its steps. He did not choose to provide answers, there was no reason to explain anything else to a creature already dead. His molds were successful, then.

Searching for the capillaries within the slime molds, Astraea stretched his neck to one side and then the other, getting a feel for the grasp it had on the decaying flesh before him.

Good. Alright. It was strong enough to attempt to move the flesh, so he focused on doing just that: he would forcefully walk this misguided Gembound to the Spire. With each step he made Khloros take, Astraea took one as well, his facial expression descending into that of pure hatred. His eyes glimmered dangerously, the red glow of his ruby flashing brightly with the sudden and intense call of magic. Creatures this ugly should be dispatched anyway.

Under his breath, a guttural sound churned from within his throat: "Die."

GEMBOUNDS

character stats and info

khloros ▼ NECROPHAGY 100/100

[ ACTION LOG ]

> ASTRAEA uses Plantcharm to manipulate KHLOROS towards the Spire.
> KHLOROS uses Incubate. It fails.
> ASTRAEA takes 17 damage from Viral Strike: Diseased.

> KHLOROS is infested with slime mold.
> ASTRAEA uses Necrophagy. It invades the rotten flesh KHLOROS.
> KHLOROS uses Viral Strike. It infects ASTRAEA with a random viral disease for 17 damage.
> ASTRAEA uses Necrophagy. It fails to invade KHLOROS.

The little bird watched all of this with growing horror. This wasn't so fun anymore. The stag, the great stag whom they had thought was a protector, a guardian, he was terrifying. Dangerous. All the hatred in the world was painted on his face and the bird feared him now. Feared his wrath, his power. Everything. They wanted to fly away, hide somewhere, but they were transfixed on the scene. They could not miss this. They would not miss this.

But they stayed silent, unable and unwilling to make any actions.

Khloros felt a sort of distant alienation overcome him, as if he weren't quite here, weren't in this situation himself. It was a quite plain sort of dissociation, surreality flooding in over inevitability. He'd never feared death, but whatever was happening, it was plain that an end was upon him.

But death..? "Die"?

"I carry Death," he reminded Astraea harshly. He couldn't move his own muscles--not really; if he'd had a bit more time, undoubtedly he could have broken the hold on his muscles. He couldn't move much, but Astraea hadn't bothered to take control of all of him; he was focusing on the horse's legs, on moving him toward the Spire. The Spire that loomed, humming with its prison's energy, ominous and malicious all at once. The horse's ghostlight eyes flicked to it, and then, sidelong, to Astraea. He gathered his magicka--all that he could, aiming for one last burst. Not to break free, necessarily; but to leave the tyrant stag with a reminder of mortality. He lashed his tail--toward Astraea, who was very nearly keeping pace--willing at least a little of his pus and gore to splatter across that pristine brown coat.

Blindness. Agony. Perhaps even death await you.

"We are returned, again and again, to this prison. I will not be removed until my task is complete." A rather roundabout way of the stereotypical "you haven't seen the last of me," perhaps, but Khloros meant it. He was, in his twisted way, absolutely certain that some god of Death would bring him back to finish the job... as many times as it took.

But there was little time to contemplate that now. The Spire was looming closer and closer, bathing him in its glow and its energy, and he could feel the promise of pain that bloomed around him, in its power.


________________

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Thothaga

the root of all evil

[ boss encounter: astraea ]

ASTRAEA

the virgo master, reawakened

astraea

the virgo master, reawakened; "deer dad"

▼ DISEASED   ▼ PLAGUED

930 / 1000 HP    93.0%

Foolish last words, Astraea thought; yes, yes, the horse carried death. But when Khloros reached for him with his disgusting magic, Astraea could feel it—not the disease that clouded his chest, but an overwhelming illness. A plague. His vision speckled with floating particles and he shook his head with anger, a red-hot surge of pain gripping his muscles and distracting him momentarily.

Foolish...! "You quarrelsome fool!" he bellowed, rearing back and slamming his front hooves into the ground. "I can and I will remove you!"

His head sharply angled downward and his eyes glared up toward Khloros in an angry, narrowed fashion. Whether this was their Spire or not, the radiation would still kill him, and so Astraea pushed for the final lurch of the horse's body into the glowing collective of crystals.

As the condensed magicka sparked and popped, reaching for the collection of energy that was the horse, Khloros would experience immense, agonizing pain; as if every last ounce of his life essence was being sucked from his body, tearing into his flesh and peeling him apart piece by piece until his chrysalis would fight to emerge around him. Astraea would watch with overwhelming satisfaction, bursting with accomplishment and duty.

Streaks of aqua-turquoise split the Butter Jade chrysalis, and it was accepted by the Spire where it would incubate the life inside of it. Astraea stared for a few moments longer before smashing his hoof into the ground and grunting angrily. "I see how it is," he snorted, turning and accepting his defeat for now.

GEMBOUNDS

character stats and info

khloros ▼ NECROPHAGY   ▼ SPIRE RADIATION 100/100

[ ACTION LOG ]

> KHLOROS seemingly dies, and enters his chrysalis.
> ASTRAEA forces KHLOROS into the Spire.
> ASTRAEA takes 19 damage from Incubate and is plagued.
> ASTRAEA takes 17 damage from Viral Strike: Diseased.
> KHLOROS successfully Incubates his plague within ASTRAEA.

> ASTRAEA uses Plantcharm to manipulate KHLOROS towards the Spire.
> KHLOROS uses Incubate. It fails.
> ASTRAEA takes 17 damage from Viral Strike: Diseased.
> KHLOROS is infested with slime mold.
> ASTRAEA uses Necrophagy. It invades the rotten flesh KHLOROS.
> KHLOROS uses Viral Strike. It infects ASTRAEA with a random viral disease for 17 damage.
> ASTRAEA uses Necrophagy. It fails to invade KHLOROS.

as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Thothaga winced as the Khloros walked into the Spire. She did not want to see this. It was cruel, wicked! She felt the Spire's energy prick her even from here so the pain the poor horse was experiencing must have been unfathomable.Eviseration would have been kinder.

Yet, she did not look away. The way the Spire-Father tore the life from his body, it was morbidly fascinating.

He.. killed him. Thothaga felt her body grow cold. The Fungal Stag was powerful, enigmatic, deadly, and she was alone with him. Thothaga turned to him, her fangs twitched uneasily, betraying her thoughts.

"Why?" She choked out, slowly stepping back from the deer as if he were a snarling monster. "Why did you do that?" Why did he kill him, or why did he use the Spire to kill him? She did not specify which one she meant.l, perhaps it was both. Either way, her gravelly tone convayed disgust and shock.

Then the spider paused and stood tall. "Who are you?." She demanded, eyeing him like dangerous puzzle. "What do you call yourself?"

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

Khloros wanted to speak. He wanted to retaliate with words, to offer a last rebuke to the tyrannical stag, but suddenly he felt as though he were on fire. He was being torn apart. Skin and hide, diseased flesh, right down through pocked muscle--stripped away, ripped apart, the very energies that made him up searing through him and to the Spire.

All thoughts of Astraea fled with his magic, with his body. He began to scream--no dignity, no pride remaining, no time for that. He had nothing to spare but ragged breath upon ragged breath, each given out in rasping, banshee screeches of agony--the pain too much to bear, intolerable by anyone's measure. It was extreme--it was torture--it was a hell from which he feared he would never escape. Just when the slime molds tore from his body, just when he thought that perhaps he might spring away, his legs buckled.

He tried to look around him, and he realized that he could not see. M-my eyes are gone--

Khloros had that one final moment of logical realization, and the horror that followed, as he felt his disintegrating body hit the ground. The heat and agony and cold grew rapidly stifling, smothering and choking--he couldn't breathe, he couldn't function, he couldn't-...

________________

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

...and then there was peace.

A silence, deeper than any he had ever known. Calm white, and there they knelt before him, his exhausted gaze beholding a beautiful figure past the ragged breaths he imagined he was taking.

A caress. Gentle words.

He listened--he tried to remember. Death--Life? ...Perhaps both? It spoke to him.

His mind spun with echoes of the words.

'I thank you for your efforts against him. Reborn. I will honor your fight-... redemption. Help the others see as you do.'

And then it was gone. And so was he--for now.

exit Khloros

He paused when the arachnid called after him but he did not turn to see her, instead listening with turned ears and a flicking, agitated tail. (Ugh, his ugly, fluffy tail.) She had questions for him, of his intentions; and he considered what he might answer before he stepped out with one foot, turning his body just enough to view her with a side-glance.

"I am called Astraea and I am one of the remaining Masters of this place," he said lowly. "What we do to protect you might seem cruel, but there are times when others should know their place." His head craned to view the chrysalis as it finalized its growth around the body of Khloros. "But it seems we cannot escape the contamination that has placed itself here," he continued, letting his head relax back to a forward-position, giving Thothaga one last sidelong glance.

"Everything I do is for this place, for you Gembounds," Astraea stated firmly, turning finally to walk toward Tunnel H. "I will not let ignorance—or misplaced arrogance—interfere."

But he considered her position and stopped, flicking his tail gently and taking a step back, turning on his heel to see her. "He has not died," Astraea decided to confirm, gesturing toward the chrysalis. "And we can only hope he might remember this hard-taught lesson. Not all receive a fate as harsh as his, but he posed a great threat—had he destroyed the Spire, we all might have died."

He paused, regarding her for a moment, but decided then to remain silent.

@Thothaga

Cry shivered as they watched the horse swallowed up by the Spire. As his body was torn apart and the screams stabbed into their ears. They were frozen in place at the sight of it, trying to forget how terrible it had been and trying to remember why it had happened.

They didn't understand why the stag had been so angry, what the horse had done to make him hate so terribly. They didn't even understand what the Spire was and what damage Khloros could have done to it. They shivered, not wanting at all to find out.

They didn't want to stick around anymore. They didn't care what else the stag or the spider had to say. They'd seen enough. Cry opened their wings and took off without hesitation, in the opposite direction. They didn't want to remember what had happened here. How their curiosity had led them to such a horrific scene.

*exit