ORDER VS CHAOS

BATTLE FOR CANIS

A tactical decision.

Canis: with caves that led to the Core, out toward Orion... a beating heart, despite its bone-dead appearance, with arteries that would flood Order throughout the caves. And even this was only a choice as a first step: it would solidify her footing for the second, more important task.

Mother had sent her smaller creatures to Eridanus--a distraction, yes, but also a force of their own and one whose magic would be tough to reckon with. They were to spread Order there--and to distract potential enemies.

Here?

In Canis, her juggernauts would be summoned. Her war force, newly minted and freshly trained, would obliterate any opposition that dared slink in from elsewhere. Draco was on the far side of the caves: would Vargas and his ilk catch wind of this assault in time to even interfere?

They would see.

But "taking a cave" was not so simple as simply roaring through it, killing all who stood in their way... though that was a part of it.

"Go to the room of Bones," she whispered through the minds of all her strongest. "There, kill all beasts of the House of Chaos you may find. Fortify all you can. Spread Order. Make barricades. Prepare traps. And when Chaos comes..."

She allowed a thread of fury through the link: righteous bloodlust, a hammer of heartbeat like marching music thrumming through their veins. Adrenaline. Exhilaration.

"Kill them all."

Behind them, the clicks of the marching feet of a dozen Praetors echoed through the tunnels.

---

The tagged Gembounds are being instructed by Mother to arrive in Canis, kill any forces of Chaos they may find, spread Order and fortify the cave against attack. Chaos/Order successful rolls will be added to the overall Order vs Chaos event tally. Other characters of any alignment are welcome to try and stop them. THIS IS A FREE-FOR-ALL BATTLE THREAD. That means that, while there is a posting order, anyone may attack anyone else. A character who is attacked may post additionally to roll for defense against each attack, as well as posting once for their own single action.

If your character was not tagged and you think they should have been, contact Game Master Dark for info! It's possible I overlooked names, but bear in mind the smaller/stealthier Order characters will be sent elsewhere.

See the Order vs Chaos Master Thread for scoring and more information!

SCORE TALLY
This will be updated as the thread progresses.

49

196

@Bone @Orthus @Ace @Juggernaut @Alcina @Elysium (Scorn) @Rena @Siren

She came in on the vanguard; she was certain the Skyreaver would be close by, but her mind was on the bones below. It was not her first time here. She knew this place. She knew her way.

Her mind was not one of empty, peaceful thought, this time--not one of reflection, and calm.

She had forgotten for now, in their entirety, the words of prophecy she'd once been given by the Seer here. Words she'd been granted when she had asked of her future against the agents of Chaos... far before she'd ever found the warm comfort of the Hive.

'There will be problems between you, but you are safe from them, for now. Strong. You can defend yourself. And then I see some form of... addition, to your family. Children, perhaps. I don't know if that's related to Vargas. If you'll join families, or if you have other children while you're protecting yourselves from them. And in the end, the bones warn of violence. Combat, war, that could be avoided, or defended against, but isn't. Try to stop that one from happening, dragon, now that you're warned of it. If you don't, well... The bones don't say there will be violence. They say that there may be violence you can avoid. And you should...'

She had found that family. And now? She found violence.

The fire in her heart had been stoked into bloodlust, a fierce and almost motherly savagery that rarely touched her. Her pale eyes blazed with it, and the roar she uttered as broad wings swept her into Canis reverberated with it. It was a challenge; it was a warning.

The white dragon swept forward, banking in a great arc across the center of Canis, taking a breath. The flame she breathed did not catch--she'd planned to lay down a wall of flame to serve as a barrier, but the bones and rock merely smoldered and cooled.

Bone let out another roar and circled, wings bringing her higher, her eyes scouring the ground below for enemies.

Orthus was among the Drones on the ground, its upper pair of eyes lazily watching its winged siblings sweep ahead. Orthus was behind them, and even most of its ground born siblings, steadily tearing through terrain with its claws. It laughed, a deep chuckle thrumming in its throat. "So driven! So excitable! This is a victory almost assured." Its' voice boomed after them. Unable to truly smile, its mouth pulled further back.

Orthus was normally a lazy creature. Slow and methodical. But its' mind buzzed currently, energy not entirely of its own coursing through it. It hadn't been too pleased about having left Ursa, but the call of its siblings, and the order of Mother had it hauling its bulk after them. And now the thread of fury swept through Orthus. It inhaled a huge gust of air, taking in the musty, wet scent of Canis.

Its glittering eyes searched about rning glittering eyes onto the bone towers. "Perfect..." it hummed, a hungry edge to its voice. Orthus let out a booming laugh, and its lazy trot gradually became a barreling charge. The hum of war grew stronger with every footstep. "So many shapes! So many textures! I love it!" Its' jaws snapped shut on the center of the first bone tower with a heavy thunk. The first one began to collapse in on itself, but it fell in a pile of bones and white dust. An utter mess. And it was all over Orthus. "Aargh!" Orthus cried in frustration. "How disgusting! Truly hellish!"

Though it desired to continue helping its siblings, it couldn't resist the urge to fix everything. Orthus turned its jaws onto the mess around it, scooping up and chewing through as many bones as possible. Some turned to powder in its mouth, and some broke into smaller chunks. And then, a devious little idea hit its brain. "Devastating!" It complained once more, as loud as it could through a mouthful of half-chewed bone. "Someone must clean this mess up! I'm afraid I'm too occupied to help!" Occupied with new tastes, that is. Humming beneath its breath, Orthus mentally set aside the takeover of Canis. It would still do that of course, but everyone needed a break now and then. And all that erecting barricades was so much work. Anyone would agree that Orthus deserved to take it slow.

What was the harm in a little taste testing course? There were plenty of other Drones to fulfil its niche. No one would notice if Orthus moved a smidge slower in cleaning the bone pile. If it took longer to go back to building barricades due to its suspiciously leisurely cleaning tactic. Surely none of the other drones or Mother would be paying attention to it, specifically. Its' eyes glowed with focus as it evaluated each bone.

It picked each up methodically, one at a time. Much slower than it was capable of moving if it were truly motivated. Orthus rolled the bones around in it's maw, savoring their unique tastes and textures before it crushed them. They cracked or fizzled beneath its jaws, and Orthus was satisfied. As it enjoyed its' meal, it set up little organized piles of what it considered the tastiest, mumbling softly to itself about the various pairings it could imagine. The femurs, finely aged, were to pair with icicles in the future. The skulls? They would go fine with some river pebbles or rocky soil. The big ones it would enjoy sandwiched between two chunks of ice.

Siren arrives. Its tentacles move it through the cave. Mother has called, and the being will do what it must. Siren does not feel particularly useful here, but it will try its best. Surely Mother would be proud if it did? Siren hopes so.

The drone watches the others do what they do, and decides to try and remove some of the bacteria just in case... Perhaps they could spread mother in those places too, while at it.

And so it begins, Alcina whispers along the link, mainly to herself as she slinks over the piles of bones. The cave beckons, and so do Mother's orders.

Fire burns in her black eyes, shining as her jaws yawn open as she scans the room. Piles of bones reach towards the ceiling - a suitable place to stage an ambush.

Striding to one, Alcina digs in claws, sending bones scattering as she clambers onto her new perch. It's not a particularly steady position, and she struggles to keep her balance, but eventually she manages to hunker down, silent and watching.

Juggernaut thrummed with energy as he marched, placed closer to the front of the formation. His heart beat like a war drum, legs striking a rhythm. Every step brought him closer to oblivion, but of who he was not sure. This was his purpose, and he would die for it, and maybe he will,

And that would be ok.

It wouldn’t, obviously. Deep within the drone there was still an animal that feared for its life, that would sacrifice everything to continue. He was still a child - he could not fully comprehend what death would mean. All he knew is he was afraid of it, and amidst all that adrenaline that fear remained, no matter what he told himself (or what Mother told him) to smother it. There wasn’t even any enemies in sight; He was nervous. Juggernaut zero zero six did not like feeling nervous.

Its family strengthened him, so that is what he tried to focus on. Tendrils swept the floor at it moved, unable to properly organise the bones as it would’ve liked, instead moving them closer to the walls to clear a path. Its attention was on Orthrus in particular - Watching bone above made its eyes strain uncomfortably - as its sibling chortled and ran around, generally making a mess of things. As the one of the bone towers crumbled, it would continue to sweep away the remains as it went (would there be more bones here after this was done, it wondered).

It caught up to Orthrus as they paused to ‘clean’ the bones they had scattered about the place - Juggernaut paused beside it, and moved to sweep the bones within Orthrus’ reach. The movement was quick enough so as not stay still too long, but slow enough to make his point clear. It did not sweep away all of the bones at its siblings feet - there were too many, and it felt it would’ve been cruel - but a hearty amount nonetheless. It continued its march from there.

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos had not been at his post when the Hive came flooding into Canis. He had actually been resting among the bones after a hunt, the remains of a new lesser's well-chewed bones added to the Canis's collection. His slumber was as it often was: deep, comfortable, and loud: a rumbling snore made nearby bones clatter.

But an army did not "sneak", nor did the tanks and their progression of praetors make for a subtle approach through the boneyard. A world-shattering roar of a dragon was enough to wake the slumbering dog, who's sleepy heads raised in confusion.

Was something wrong?

Blinking a bleary sleep from all five of Kerberos's eyes, he saw what looked like a good dozen or two bone monsters come to life, and for a moment he wondered if he was still asleep. The movement of a dragon sweeping through the air caught the attention of one set of his eyes, and his hackles raised. This was an organized group that was plowing through his home, and nearly every one rivaled him in size. Kerberos wasn't-- after cycles of nurturing-- a territorial, vicious beast, but everything about this sudden intrusion without so much as a word to the gembound that lived here... It felt like an assault.

A much larger than one than Kerberos had ever seen before. With a snarl, he threw himself to his feet, and charged toward the swarm of Hive. Now, Kerberos had some passing awareness of Mother and the Hive, but that knowledge was not something that he associated with giant, bone-white monsters. He understood to have caution around unusual spores, and that other members of the Bonebound had effective ways of counteracting the Hive's spread.

Kerberos did not have that knowledge, and he certainly wasn't about to put two and two together on his own. Instead, he let out a roar as he approached, demanding to know who these strangers were, and what they wanted, and to be a physical deterrent, as was his job.

"HALT!" Called one maw, "YOU ARE APPROACHING THE HOME OF THE BONEBOUND!" a warning, and a-- "DECLARE YOUR INTENT!" demand. As he reached them, his magic flared, splitting his form into a trail of several multi-headed dogs that all wore the same scarred center face, a warning orange tail flicking this way and that.

"I AM KERBEROS," the hounds howled, "GUARDIAN OF CANIS." Fear prickled at the huge canine, eyes torn from one Hive-Juggernaut to the next, trying desperately to keep an eye on all of them. He simply didn't have enough eyes, and despite the fierceness in his voice, a growing dread in his stomach told him that this was bad news. "WHO ARE YOU?"

Some might have appreciated the extra surge of adrenaline and ecstasy for the cause that Mother's encouragement injected into the very souls of all linked to her splendor: newer recruits, perhaps, or those whose roles were better suited for delicate tasks of subterfuge and had not been solely honed for the tumult of wartime. The Skyreaver had required none, as much as the boost benefited his drive. Time spent yearning for real action over mere practice runs had built a mighty store of potential energy deep within bones, the force enough that he could almost swear his entire skeleton would snap if a single drop more were to fill it. To hear orders at last was to light a match. A single spark proved enough to ignite the whole tank of gasoline.

Palling around on the ground with the foot soldiers could be left to those lacking other options. For the duration of the march, he preferred the air—the best and only decent way to travel. Upon reaching their destination, Ace dove full throttle into the cavern, following right on the tail of his fellow flier. He corkscrewed and narrowly avoided collision with the stalactites jutting down from the low ceiling. Inarticulate growls and snarls were issued in challenge at the obstacle course he'd entered. Then another twist in space, and he diverged his flight path from Bone's to run counter to it.

"All right, let's get this massacre on wings moving!" Clearly intended as a means to further pump himself up, so reverberating was this first bellow that it might as well have been directed at any creature within the area. "Set yourselves up, get ready to crack some skulls, and look real alive! 'Cause we're gonna have to make up for a whole lot of dead and dumb."

The point of circling around Canis was to scope out any threats to landbound troops so none could be taken unawares. When a pack of triple-headed canines spawned from one in as little as an eye's blink and advanced upon the Hive barking out demands, it didn't take much more to assume this activity called for a bit of attention. If this was Chaos scum, Ace would welcome the satisfaction of scratching the maddening itch he had for a fight. If not, and still opposition came, he wouldn't mind smacking down that sort of foolishness either. Until the truth of the matter was revealed, though, the lowest level of conflict would have to be engaged in: flexing muscles and getting the interloper to step aside for Order's campaign of stability and discipline.

"Hey, no need to wear out your woof there," was what the Drone opened up with, swooping down so he could be better heard and admired despite neither being remotely necessary. "I go by Skyreaver, and you can call the rest pest control. We're just here to clean out some filth round these parts: the real nasty, Oily sort."

"Unless you're into that, I'd recommend scramming," he declared, "else I can't guarantee you won't catch a bit of hurt yourself."

Forelegs clashed against each other to seal the ultimatum, their hook ends poised to strike.

At least that might be the initial impression. In reality, since Ace had no idea of the capabilities of his opponent, muscles were tensed to dodge first and hit afterward. It'd do no good for the war effort if the designated air support couldn't escape being grounded.

Not that it would ever happen. What kind of idiot failed at basic evasive maneuvers?

She'd not been long back.

A sleep, a rejuvenation of her weakened magic, and now--of all the times for shit like this to go down!--she awoke to what looked suspiciously like a siege. She saw through Omen's eyes, at first: her familiar circled in alarm before plunging down into hiding. Giggle saw the beasts of white, and Kerberos confronting them, and made her way quickly along the dusty pathways.

'Quicky' being a headlong, frightened gallop.

My son.
Not her son. Kerberos had never been hers but she loved him, had taught him, cared for him-

-and now... this? What was this?

She skidded to a halt slightly behind and to one side of him, dust pluming up around her paws. The dragon she recognized at once, though her roar was something new. Bone had been quite gentle, last they'd met, and Giggle narrowed her eyes up at her. "Bone? What is this?" she demanded, her hoarse voice raised to a shout so as to be heard.

The other one, though--the other in the air--seemed reasonable enough, and Giggle drew closer to Kerberos.

Truth be told, she'd never trusted the Oily ones, bar feeling some form of pity for some of their not-so-Oily kindred. She really had no inclination to get involved, bar... "Don't touch any of our people," she snapped in warning, coming up alongside her gigantic son now (...wait, was that really him? Wait, were there--TWO Kerberoses? Giggle shunted that thought aside, for the moment, tagged as 'possible hallucination??' and moved on). "This is our home."

Let them make of that what they would.

It didn't occur to her, yet, to search these strangers for Hive--for fungus. Instead she reached for her own fungal magic, newly transcended--newly weakened--and searched for a defense. Her intent was to bloom her own inky black across her hide, to make her less vulnerable to a grip from these immense creatures.

Instead she felt the spores begin to chew away at her hide.

Burning, itching, searing, and she snarled and turned, snapping at her own back. WARN KERBEROS, she thought abruptly, the throught screaming in her mind--because if he thought this was an attack, everything was about to go to shit.

"MY OWN--MAGIC-" she choked out, managing not to add a "fucking" in in front of her (fully adult) child.

Then, instead of presenting a unified and powerful Bonebound defensive threat, the hyena went spinning in a circle, biting at her own rump.

Sergei came shuffling in as fast as his bipedal-bear-legs could carry him. He had not come by accident: he'd noted the passage of Order, in the form of trails of white left by Praetors, and--like a hunter--had tracked it the whole way to Canis.

This was mostly driven by fear. He wanted to know what was going on, yes, but mostly to avoid it--but now that he was here, and could hear roars and the like, he sped up.

The sight of monsters up ahead--Order creatures; he recognized the Praetors--chilled him to the bone. He sped up, a red rage blinding him, and instead of fleeing he went for the hindmost Praetor. He hefted his spear, rushed forward, and aimed to thrust it straight down through the back of its head--emitting a loud roar of his own, of challenge--as he struck.