Trauma Spike Act 2: The Aristagalde Floor

Astral Harmony · 10-21-2009, 04:01 AM

The moment that Luseri's limp and useless body was swallowed up Melfiorn, the bloodied mutant king was devoured by light emanating from within. The slide leveled off and the fog engulfed the party. There was no indication that Melfiorn followed them down.

Armored Bishoujo was in her original clothes, and Vashne was no longer in her arms. "The Aristagalde Floor," Armored said, gesturing to a glowing gateway. Aristagalde? That evil empire that became filled with homicidal mutants in Empire of Maniacs? Well, that explained the fog, and the swords in the ground, and the song.

For those who didn't know, Trauma Spike's powers filled everyone in. Aristagalde was an evil empire set to take over the world with a special cannon that fired strange swords called Hymnblades into the neighboring regions. What was so strange about those swords? Well, for one thing, they sang. Their hymn was beautiful to the point of being magical, and they were indeed magical. So magical that they entranced people and made them take up the Hymnblades and impaled themselves. And that's when the malevolent mutagenic sorceries inside those swords took over, transforming them into crazed freaks called the Implanted. The RPG was called Aristagalde's Folly, so one could imagine just what happened that kicked the whole story off.

"Watch out. Trauma Spike hates waiting, but before you go, a certain alchemist has some gifts for you."
Vashne was also there, this time self aware of her own situation and scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, y'know, I'm uhhh...sorry about trying to kill you and all. I hear you're about to go somewhere tougher, so I thought I'd come and grant you some items. Don't worry, just like Everlast, my alchemical vials, and the shit that turned my dad into a raging monster, I practically guarantee the quality of these tools of raw destruction."

She had four weapons with her, three of which you recognized, and one of which was kind of familiar in appearance but yet...
The first was the Gintekma rifle that Galveri used as a revealed cyborg. Vashne held it up. "Machine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, flamethrower with chemical ejector, and a large serrated edge, all in one lethal package with manageable weight."
Next, she produced the large tessen, having to take some effort to set it down. "Luseri's tessen. This baby packs some weight and could do with some practice to fine-tune your throw, but once you learn it, you'll master a terrible new means of inflicting grievous injuries on countless opponents."
Next came the lance that Galveri wielded as an armored Gintekma. "I've repaired the afterburner, so it kinda works like a makeshift jetpack. However, obviously, a lance is for lancing assholes, and this one packs a nasty multiple warhead that detonates on impact. Oh, and this lever on the handle with the button allow you to open the minigun port and fire it, respectively. The rounds are armor-piercing, so this is obviously a weapon for penetrating the most durable defenses."
Finally, Vashne presented the weapon that nobody recognized. It was a brown sceptor of sorts, three broad branches coiling around each other and eventually ending in eight spheres, each a different color. "This is an alchemical weapon, and I don't mean like the Everlast. This baby is Melfiorn's Horn, an elemental magic channeling staff. It's good at granting elemental skills to anyone, but it's particularly useful to those who already possess innate ability. You actually could say it's the elemental version of the Gracefaith staff that Alexander uses."
"Pick your pleasures and pass through the gateway. Don't take long. Trauma Spike's eager to see you guys in action yet again."

-----

To be honest, the scene hadn't changed much on the other side of the gate. One could see buildings which indicated a city of sorts, but it was in severe ruin. There were Hymnblades here, stuck into the ground and jutting out of the structures. One could also see strange shapes shifting through the fog. Implanted, most likely. One a few were vaguely humanoid in shape. But obviously, Trauma Spike didn't intend for the Implanted to be the party's opponents.

Without warning, a glob of molten liquid jumped out from the top of a lower building and plopped down just meters from Kefka. "Oooo, close! I guess I need more practice. It's difficult to determine how much power I need with the obscuring fog. I seriously hate this shit."
A guy in black leather, a ridiculous hairstyle, and a really big spiked hammer stalked out of an alleyway. "They don't appear to be allies. I don't even recognize them."
A woman hovered out of a window and gently floated to the ground."Then they die. Herald Valgur's orders were as simple as that."
There were six of them in all. They all eventually joined the party on the ground, kind of surrounding the group.
"This group dresses pretty weird," the woman with a cauldron said. She was clearly the one who tried to hit Kefka.
"But they do look capable," a large man with an imposing red beard said. "Honestly, I would have preferred to wait until Murder arrived before engaging them, but it can't be helped now. Let us do the herald's will. Remove these obstructions from Princess Alicia's path."

-----

Level 1 ~ Valgur's Vigilantes Minus Murder

Jubilette - Class A criminal with numerous convictions of arson and burning people alive. She's got a burning fetish for seeing the crimson radiance and longs to sew it wherever she goes. She doesn't do it for money or revenge. She just loves wandom destruction of a fire elemental nature. Her weapon is Spellmaw, an elongated cauldron that can fire globs of melty ooze like an artillery cannon.

Eric - Class B criminal who is really just a big asshole. Convicted of civil disturbance, theft, assault, public drunkeness, domestic violence...the list goes on and on. He believes that he can just take what he wants. He uses the Tenderizer, a huge spiked metal hammer capable of smashing people into pulp.

Gwenneth - Class A criminal believed to be suffering from dimentia and was incarcerated for such. Her psionics are extremely powerful. It's believed that she was using her psionics to attract someone to her, but discovered that the individual had perished. Now she's barely able to control her sanity. Too much stimulation, like battle, will ignite her mental fury, and god help those she targets after that. In addition to her psionics, Gwenneth will use the environment as her own arsenal. Beware of possible Hymnblade implantation.

Shevenston - Class A criminal charged with looting, pillaging, and raping the women of enemy countries. A former Aristagaldean general, Shevenston has more or less been demoted to being a manager of Valgur's Vigilantes, though he doesn't seem disappointed. Disillusioned by the belief that Princess Alicia has succeeded the throne and rules the ruined empire of mutants and devils, Shevenston thinks of himself as a beloved knight who will sooner die than let interlopers trespass through the empire. His tools of the lethal trade are simply named Smash and Crush, a set of identical metal gauntlets.

Kisser - Class A criminal who has been fighting governments and law enforcement agencies with a passion for years, using her twin chainsaws Loveless and Lawless to make very bloody examples. With a strong dislike for corrupt politics and stupidity within the governing powers, Kisser leads a one flashy heroine wannabe army against what she believes is the ultimate evil.

Kaliph - Kaliph is an experimental animal, formerly a Phargone Froster ice-elemental wolfbeast, that has gained incredible power through both magical and scientific experimentation. Bound to serve Princess Alicia by magic, Kaliph is probably the most loyal servant the enemy has. Using poisonous claws, bone-shredding fangs, and elemental breath and magic, Kaliph is at least as dangerous as he is cool looking.

Overcast · 10-21-2009, 06:50 AM

No need to strike it would seem as Narim sent the quicker sister to a fairly disgusting final resting place in the mouth of King Melfiorn the horribly mutated. He gave a last bow to the two as they were lost to the light, or whatever he was meant to call it in his head. He took the time to walk off to Kefka and drop the scythe by him,

"I'm assuming I won't need it soon, even after this last disastrous event, but it is yours so go ahead and have it back."

He turned to see the revived again Vashne handing out free goodies from the most recent battle. Which as he said before would prove a bit useless in his hands unless he remained Core. Something he was hoping wouldn't be happening again any time soon, but considering how often the secret boss came about in games like this he hoped someone bummed him a weapon when it happened again.

In the end he waited for them to make their decisions before moving on through the gate. After all you NEVER go into the unknown location alone in a place like this. His little mantra proved fateful when it turned out Kefka, rather than himself was the first one the world attempted to brutally murder. In the end the attempted murderer and other members of the family decided to walk into the open and gave Core a bit of time to find someone who hated them.

And while they seemed like they may be serving someone of royal decent according to conversation, there was a voice that knew something that seemed to connect them all in a different way,

"Criminals."

He felt the shift come as he began to grow in size, his hair shifting from black to blond and getting shorter and rougher. A wide brimmed hat floating down to place itself on his head. A strangely comfortable blazer and strangely uncomfortable boots appeared along with some relatively blank looking denim pants. He swung around a chain in his left hand and stared them down mercilessly,

"Every one of you criminals of the lowest sort...except you."

He pointed his gloved finger at Eric with a dissenting grin,

"You are the bitch of this group it would seem. Though that doesn't make you any less guilty. You are all under arrest as per the authority of Jasper Rhodes. By your class of crimes you are not given the option of surrender."

And deciding to go after the 'bitch' first he threw his chain at Eric, not aiming directly at him but slightly to the left. If he got it past Eric, Jasper would giving it a tug to curve it and wrap the chain around the man's legs. Properly chained he'd give one big pull to trip him to the ground. Hopefully hitting him on the head and possibly messing up that terrible excuse for a hair style.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk · 10-21-2009, 07:23 AM

After dealing with Luseri, Narim continued on his way down the slope and recovered Everlast just before the world reset and the group were afforded a short repreive before the next stage began. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the next world, from the sounds of it it sounded pretty hostile. I mean, singing swords that make you suicidal then turn you into monsters, where does that get fun?? Looking through the gate at the fog and the ruined city beyond did even less to improve his spirits; truly it was a foreboding place.

Vashne arrived again, offering weapons, which Narim was all too happy to look over. Unfortunately, impressively powerful as they all looked, most seemed to be far more technological than he was used to, and none of them seemed particularly appealing to him. The multigun thing was clearly beyond his skills to use, he'd never practiced with a tessen before, its weight would be troublesome and he didn't exactly want to practice with a brand new form of weaponry in the middle of a pitched battle, the lance thing looked ok, but he already had one spear and the staff was clearly better off in the hands of a proper magic user.

Oh and he still had all those vials to use up. No, Narim felt as though he had enough firepower as it was, any more would be ludicrous. His own powers had seem him through well enough so far anyway. But then, to leave these weapons here would be to waste them.

"Hey er, Alexander was it?? If you want you can store some of these weapons... wherever it is you store all those weapons, I won't be taking any, but I'm sure you can find a use for them."

With that sorted Narim followed after the others through the gate and watched cautiously as their new foes arrived. They were a colourful bunch, if a little, well, evil. He was slightly concerned about this missing "Murder" person, probably the next boss, he thought to himself. He stepped back a little as Cores new form took shape, revealing him to be a somewhat sinister looking lawman, with questionable ethics. No wonder this place is called Empire of Maniacs, even the resident shapeshifter turns slightly psychotic in here! He did have a nasty looking chain weapon though and a willingness to use it, so Narim took that as his cue and decided it was time to fight.

He stepped forwards, gathering power into his fist, then launched a time slow wave towards half the enemy force, encompassing Shevenston, Kisser and Kaliph, slowing them all to a fraction of their speed. With that done Narim charged Shevenston, Everlast ready to pierce his chest, assuming him to be possibly the weakest and least threatening of the bunch, with only his gauntlets to protect him. When facing such numbers it was always best to go for the weakest first and quickly eliminate the numerical advantage.

He hoped he had not chosen poorly.

PyrosNine · 10-21-2009, 07:44 AM

RK didn't need any new weapons. But she did need a new character sheet....

"Heh. So I'm back here again. And it's you guys first, huh?" RK sighed, waving a hand flippantly at them.

It had been so long, this place was almost like one of those bad dreams, where you're right back in the thick of your worst memories. And none of the others were here to fight alongside you...But she was stronger now, and had seen them all before. No suprises this time. She put out two hands, and summoned a massive blade, so long in fact that it took almost a half minute just for it to pop out of the interdimensional hole RK had magicked.

She eyed Shevenston. "So filthy handed General Shevenston has finally realized that he's only fit to serve amongst madmen and beasts, eh?" She marked him as her first opponent.

"What, don't remember me? I have had a change of wardrobe..."

Red Kimono took off the titular kimono.

Strangely enough, she was wearing a full and somewhat bulky suit of armor underneath it, that apparently had not gotten in the way of her acrobatics before. Perhaps something like her weapon summoning ability, she was now resplendent in an almost gold armor that featured unique symbols of pride and wantonness, rather than the hymn insignias that had covered it before.

"Even if I have to do it one hundred times, you dogs will face justice for your crimes!"

Bard The 5th LW · 10-21-2009, 02:59 PM

'Thank the gods that stopped.' Kefka wasn't sure if he had a chance of dodging the tessen Luseri sent towards him.

The clown turned towards the seemingly immortal alchemist and looked at the array of weapons, Melfiorn's horn immediately caught his eye, it was almost as though there was some malicious psycho god looking our for him. The clown eagerly grabbed the staff and took a look at it, putting the ragnareaver that he got back from Core in a strap on his back. Kefka then jumped a few feet as the blob landed not to far away from him. "Gah!" the clown yelled in shock. Kefka quickly regained his composure, or whatever composure he may have had

"Son of a submariner." he said with a mix of anger and shock in his voice. This anger was quickly replaced by some amount of joy when he realized that he had a chance to test his new little toy. He decided that the next of these new enemies he set his sights upon would die at his hands.

Kefka turned his head dramatically, it appeared as though Gwenneth was his target. "You," he said to her, "you are my next victim."

Kefka raised his new weapon and decided to charge a Blizzara ith it for maximum force. "HAHAHA!" he laughed before shooting the powered blizzara at the insane psionic.

Arcanum · 10-21-2009, 04:28 PM

Alex was a little disappointed when the battle ended; he wanted to go deal some damage against Luseri before she croaked. However his disappointment vanished as Vashne revealed the various weapons that they could pick. He heard Narim say his name but he didn't really acknowledge anything else he said. He was too busy thinking of ways to use each weapon to their fullest. The tessen would be too heavy for him to use properly but with creative portals it could work rather well. Melfiorn's Horn would be useless for him, but then the clown went ahead and grabbed it so that took care of that.

Alex snapped out of his trance and saw that everyone was walking away from the weapons and towards the next encounter. Are you serious? he thought, disbelief visible on his face. I just hit the jackpot.

"I'll be taking these then," he said as he opened up a portal beneath the three other weapons. I'm gonna have one hell of a trophy room once this is done.

Alex ran to catch up with everyone else, before Trauma Spike decided to leave him behind. As introductions were made (via Trauma Spike's info-giving powers) Alex eyed each of their new opponents, evaluating each one.

Cauldron girl, hammer guy, floaty girl, gauntlet guy, dog, and... "Oh sweet mother of hell," he said as he saw Kisser's chainsaws. "I found some new toys that I need to get my hands on."

Then Core and Narim rushed into battle. Perfect. In one quick motion Alexander opened a portal, grabbed the Autekma Rifle that fell out of it, switched it to automatic fire, and let loose a barrage of bullets and the time-slowed Kisser. Alex couldn't help but smile. Today was a very very good day.

Intern Nin · 10-21-2009, 07:08 PM

Kuhg the next few minutes flying backwards and then rolling down a nearly frictionless slope until everything evaporated into fog. He let out an annoyed growl as got back on his feet. The magic of this tower was really wearing on Kuhg's patience. Scratch that, magic as whole was pissing him off. It was magic that had brought him here, it was magic that kept changing the scenery, and it was magic that would continue to bother him long after he left this place.

"Kuhg hate magic. Magic hate Kuhg."

Alchemist lady had returned and was now offering some weapons to aid in their journey through the tower. Kuhg, content with his slicer and peel, didn't take any weapons. So, while Alex was hording weapons, the pizza barbarian instead walked a short distance away, turned his back to the group, and proceeded to drain his bladder.

Now having finished relieving himself, Kuhg looked around for a place to wash his hands. Of course, there was nothing but the haze so he decided to just wipe his hands on his pant legs(What a barbarian.). But then there was no pant legs to wipe his hands on either; One of the drawbacks to being pantsless.

"Hmm, 'nother problem to fix." Kuhg muttered as he followed everyone else through the gate. He now found himself wondering where in hell this tower had decided to send him now. Then the gaggle of criminals showed up. One freak in particular caught Kuhg's attention: Kaliph.

Can you say 'new pair of pants'?

As soon as Narim's wave of slow hit the beast, Kuhg launched himself at the canine sociopath and grappled it from behind. Grabbing it by its neck, the barbarian lifted Kaliph up and began to throttle the crime against nature.

Astral Harmony · 10-22-2009, 01:40 AM

"Who you callin' a bitch, pussy-assed motherfucker!?" Eric spat.

My, such language.

As the chain swung around to Eric's right side, Eric switched his sledge from his right weapon arm to his left offhand, then used his right hand to try and grab the chain. His hands were big enough to grab the chain easily, but not small enough to really get the grip he needed for what he tried to do next, which was to jerk Jasper into his considerable attack range. Having failed that, Eric went for broke, released the chain, and just charged Jasper like a rampaging bull, prepared to reduce him to a puddle of shredded organs with a mighty overhead smash.

-----

Shevenston was wearing a huge green trenchcoat that only accentuated his massive size. Narim's Everlast hit him dead on, but the spear barely sunk at all within that massive coat. The asshole had to be hiding serious armor beneath that coat.

Shevenston laughed uproariously, his breath strong with drink. "Wah ha ha haagh, what do you plan on doing with that toothpick, son? Here, let me show you how real men bring the challenge."
Narim found him pretty easy to dodge due to the decreased speed, and managed to get away. Everlast was knocked aside during Shevenston's series of brutal right and left hooks, and lay uselessly on the road. Seeing as how he was suddenly slower than usual, Shevenston growled and then raised one mighty leg.

Just like Galveri, he was going to shake it up. Hopefully this didn't mean another sliding sequence. But when Shevenston brought his massive boot down, only a shockwave ripping towards Narim was produced. "Die in the name of the princess!"

Shevenston then turned to face Rhonia. "Ugh, you!? Fuckin' bitches can't command no damn armies or nothin'! Keithmonte, can you remove that stuck up cunt from the face of this world?"

-----

"That sword-toting bimbo Rhonia is here? Ach, I really hate that bitch."

The former Red Kimono found herself flanked by globules of hissing ooze. Jubilette wanted Rhonia? What for exactly?
"If there's anything I love more than setting people on fire, it's setting women more attractive than me on fire!"

Well, there's a reason for everything, one would suppose.

-----

Gwenneth sighed and brought her hands out before her, curling her fingers like trying to hook her hands onto something. Kefka's Blizzara spell hung in thin air. "I love clowns," Gwenneth said with heartbreaking remorse. "But I'm afraid today is the day that I must make one suffer at my will as many normal people have."

Then, she spread her arms wide. The Blizzara spell fragmented into pieces. She swirled her arms around in an intricate dance, turning the fragmented spell into several smaller Blizzard spells, then sent them rocketing right back at Kefka. Before he needed to bother, the purple sphere on Melfiorn's Horn radiated light. The spells were instantly sucked into the small sphere and were gone. A low level elemental ward? Bitchin'. "Impressive," Gwenneth marveled at the act, somehow overjoyed and actually clapping her hands. "I knew I loved clowns for a reason. Say, if we both live through this, you maybe want to go do something later?"

Gwenneth was flirting with Kefka? What the hell was up with psionic chicks these days? If she was taunting him, she had a strange way of incurring his wrath.

-----

"You friggin' jerkface, that's cheating!" Kisser said before trying to put up a defense against Alexander's gunfire. Her chainsaws were started up and she was swinging them at the spray of gunfire...and somehow, she was actually deflecting bullets back at Alexander! She was still taking some harassment as some of the rounds struck her polished gold armor, but decisive results were still forthcoming.

-----

Kuhg began to have new ideas about Kaliph as he restrained the beast. Kaliph had enough fur and tough skin for two full suits. The wolf was big, really big, larger even than Kuhg himself. And he was very strong.

Kaliph struggled briefly and then kicked off, knocking Kuhg on his back. Then the beast turned over and was trying to tear into Kuhg's face with his fangs. Unlike Kisser and Shevenston, Kaliph was still very fast despite Narim's time magic. And the stench of Kaliph's breath would kill flies by the dozens alone! Kuhg could see that Kaliph was just about to give up goring his face off and was about to blast him with ice breath.

Anyone who saw their struggle would likely have visions of Paul Bunyan fighting Babe the Blue Ox to the death.

Overcast · 10-22-2009, 04:52 AM

Jasper laughed in amusement at Eric's offensive response. Actually not paying attention to his chain a bit, thus giving Eric the chance to even grasp at it. Actually thinking about it he would have liked that, Imprisonment was always so much more dangerous when it was touching somebody. He wiped his eye a bit as he saw the man charging at him, barely even registering it on his radar,

"I do love messing with the stupid ones. They are always the most amusing after they are captured."

Without too much trouble he leapt out of the way of the hammer drop. He was a guy who didn't wear armor save for his clothes and they were cloth and leather, the type of leather that won't stop much more than rocks and the wind. In that kind of game you didn't get hit or you died. He threw Imprisonment at Eric's neck this time, hoping to give the boy a choke collar,

"Could use a new pet."

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk · 10-22-2009, 09:42 AM

First attack?; less than stellar.

By the gods, what is this guy made of??!! Thought Narim as he dashed away from Shevenston as Everlast was knocked out of his hands. Ok, so he's wearing heavy armour under that coat, leaving possibly no point of vulnerability left to attack... except maybe one...

Narim drew his sword and took up a defensive stance, waiting for the brutes next move. He noted casually that he didn't seem particularly mobile, probably due to all that armour, Narim doubted he'd even have to rely on his time powers to run circles around this guy. A sudden unexpected attack at his one weakspot should be more than enough to take care of him. As he watched, Shevenston raised his foot as if to stomp the ground, Narim readied his own response, expecting the obvious groundslam attack. As the wave of force rippled out across the ground, Narim sent out his own wave to meet it, rushing across the ground the two collided half way, Shevenstons shockwave dramatically slowing down.

With that taken care of Narim rushed forwards, dived over the slow moving wave and rolled towards Shevenston as if to suddenly strike low, but vanishing before completing his roll....

--------------------------------------

Five minutes earlier....

Trauma Spike reset, creating the next environment for the players and spawning their soon to be foes. In the fog, some way into the Empire of Maniacs, Narim flashed into existence, leaping out of a roll. He knew he had to work fast and vanish again quickly, he knew his enemies would already be here at this time and if they saw him it may alter the timeline. Coming out of his roll he took three quick steps forwards, turned and raised his sword, immediately vanishing again. The whole operation had taken merely two and a half seconds...

--------------------------------------

Four minutes, fifty seven and a half seconds later.....

Narim reamerged, now standing directly behind Shevenston. For those who were slightly wacky and linear, it looked as though Narim had teleported himself into place. Using this element of surprise, Narim leapt onto the back of Shevenston, reversing his blade so that the cutting edge was facing towards him and grabbed the smooth side as he wrapped it around Shevenstons neck and locking himself into place with his legs. With all of his strength he then pulled backwards, attempting to bring the blade across the brutes neck, chin, or mouth, whichever worked really.

Narim would decaptiate this man straight through the head, the only part of his body visibly free of impenetrable armour.

10-21-2009, 04:01 AM	#1
Astral Harmony Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Moe Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Harmonial Sanctum Posts: 6,798	Trauma Spike Act 2: The Aristagalde Floor The moment that Luseri's limp and useless body was swallowed up Melfiorn, the bloodied mutant king was devoured by light emanating from within. The slide leveled off and the fog engulfed the party. There was no indication that Melfiorn followed them down. Armored Bishoujo was in her original clothes, and Vashne was no longer in her arms. "The Aristagalde Floor," Armored said, gesturing to a glowing gateway. Aristagalde? That evil empire that became filled with homicidal mutants in Empire of Maniacs? Well, that explained the fog, and the swords in the ground, and the song. For those who didn't know, Trauma Spike's powers filled everyone in. Aristagalde was an evil empire set to take over the world with a special cannon that fired strange swords called Hymnblades into the neighboring regions. What was so strange about those swords? Well, for one thing, they sang. Their hymn was beautiful to the point of being magical, and they were indeed magical. So magical that they entranced people and made them take up the Hymnblades and impaled themselves. And that's when the malevolent mutagenic sorceries inside those swords took over, transforming them into crazed freaks called the Implanted. The RPG was called Aristagalde's Folly, so one could imagine just what happened that kicked the whole story off. "Watch out. Trauma Spike hates waiting, but before you go, a certain alchemist has some gifts for you." Vashne was also there, this time self aware of her own situation and scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, y'know, I'm uhhh...sorry about trying to kill you and all. I hear you're about to go somewhere tougher, so I thought I'd come and grant you some items. Don't worry, just like Everlast, my alchemical vials, and the shit that turned my dad into a raging monster, I practically guarantee the quality of these tools of raw destruction." She had four weapons with her, three of which you recognized, and one of which was kind of familiar in appearance but yet... The first was the Gintekma rifle that Galveri used as a revealed cyborg. Vashne held it up. "Machine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, flamethrower with chemical ejector, and a large serrated edge, all in one lethal package with manageable weight." Next, she produced the large tessen, having to take some effort to set it down. "Luseri's tessen. This baby packs some weight and could do with some practice to fine-tune your throw, but once you learn it, you'll master a terrible new means of inflicting grievous injuries on countless opponents." Next came the lance that Galveri wielded as an armored Gintekma. "I've repaired the afterburner, so it kinda works like a makeshift jetpack. However, obviously, a lance is for lancing assholes, and this one packs a nasty multiple warhead that detonates on impact. Oh, and this lever on the handle with the button allow you to open the minigun port and fire it, respectively. The rounds are armor-piercing, so this is obviously a weapon for penetrating the most durable defenses." Finally, Vashne presented the weapon that nobody recognized. It was a brown sceptor of sorts, three broad branches coiling around each other and eventually ending in eight spheres, each a different color. "This is an alchemical weapon, and I don't mean like the Everlast. This baby is Melfiorn's Horn, an elemental magic channeling staff. It's good at granting elemental skills to anyone, but it's particularly useful to those who already possess innate ability. You actually could say it's the elemental version of the Gracefaith staff that Alexander uses." "Pick your pleasures and pass through the gateway. Don't take long. Trauma Spike's eager to see you guys in action yet again." ----- To be honest, the scene hadn't changed much on the other side of the gate. One could see buildings which indicated a city of sorts, but it was in severe ruin. There were Hymnblades here, stuck into the ground and jutting out of the structures. One could also see strange shapes shifting through the fog. Implanted, most likely. One a few were vaguely humanoid in shape. But obviously, Trauma Spike didn't intend for the Implanted to be the party's opponents. Without warning, a glob of molten liquid jumped out from the top of a lower building and plopped down just meters from Kefka. "Oooo, close! I guess I need more practice. It's difficult to determine how much power I need with the obscuring fog. I seriously hate this shit." A guy in black leather, a ridiculous hairstyle, and a really big spiked hammer stalked out of an alleyway. "They don't appear to be allies. I don't even recognize them." A woman hovered out of a window and gently floated to the ground."Then they die. Herald Valgur's orders were as simple as that." There were six of them in all. They all eventually joined the party on the ground, kind of surrounding the group. "This group dresses pretty weird," the woman with a cauldron said. She was clearly the one who tried to hit Kefka. "But they do look capable," a large man with an imposing red beard said. "Honestly, I would have preferred to wait until Murder arrived before engaging them, but it can't be helped now. Let us do the herald's will. Remove these obstructions from Princess Alicia's path." ----- Level 1 ~ Valgur's Vigilantes Minus Murder Jubilette - Class A criminal with numerous convictions of arson and burning people alive. She's got a burning fetish for seeing the crimson radiance and longs to sew it wherever she goes. She doesn't do it for money or revenge. She just loves wandom destruction of a fire elemental nature. Her weapon is Spellmaw, an elongated cauldron that can fire globs of melty ooze like an artillery cannon. Eric - Class B criminal who is really just a big asshole. Convicted of civil disturbance, theft, assault, public drunkeness, domestic violence...the list goes on and on. He believes that he can just take what he wants. He uses the Tenderizer, a huge spiked metal hammer capable of smashing people into pulp. Gwenneth - Class A criminal believed to be suffering from dimentia and was incarcerated for such. Her psionics are extremely powerful. It's believed that she was using her psionics to attract someone to her, but discovered that the individual had perished. Now she's barely able to control her sanity. Too much stimulation, like battle, will ignite her mental fury, and god help those she targets after that. In addition to her psionics, Gwenneth will use the environment as her own arsenal. Beware of possible Hymnblade implantation. Shevenston - Class A criminal charged with looting, pillaging, and raping the women of enemy countries. A former Aristagaldean general, Shevenston has more or less been demoted to being a manager of Valgur's Vigilantes, though he doesn't seem disappointed. Disillusioned by the belief that Princess Alicia has succeeded the throne and rules the ruined empire of mutants and devils, Shevenston thinks of himself as a beloved knight who will sooner die than let interlopers trespass through the empire. His tools of the lethal trade are simply named Smash and Crush, a set of identical metal gauntlets. Kisser - Class A criminal who has been fighting governments and law enforcement agencies with a passion for years, using her twin chainsaws Loveless and Lawless to make very bloody examples. With a strong dislike for corrupt politics and stupidity within the governing powers, Kisser leads a one flashy heroine wannabe army against what she believes is the ultimate evil. Kaliph - Kaliph is an experimental animal, formerly a Phargone Froster ice-elemental wolfbeast, that has gained incredible power through both magical and scientific experimentation. Bound to serve Princess Alicia by magic, Kaliph is probably the most loyal servant the enemy has. Using poisonous claws, bone-shredding fangs, and elemental breath and magic, Kaliph is at least as dangerous as he is cool looking. Last edited by Astral Harmony; 10-21-2009 at 04:21 AM.

10-21-2009, 06:50 AM	#2
Overcast Cinderella Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Trespassing in the graveyard Posts: 3,076	No need to strike it would seem as Narim sent the quicker sister to a fairly disgusting final resting place in the mouth of King Melfiorn the horribly mutated. He gave a last bow to the two as they were lost to the light, or whatever he was meant to call it in his head. He took the time to walk off to Kefka and drop the scythe by him, "I'm assuming I won't need it soon, even after this last disastrous event, but it is yours so go ahead and have it back." He turned to see the revived again Vashne handing out free goodies from the most recent battle. Which as he said before would prove a bit useless in his hands unless he remained Core. Something he was hoping wouldn't be happening again any time soon, but considering how often the secret boss came about in games like this he hoped someone bummed him a weapon when it happened again. In the end he waited for them to make their decisions before moving on through the gate. After all you NEVER go into the unknown location alone in a place like this. His little mantra proved fateful when it turned out Kefka, rather than himself was the first one the world attempted to brutally murder. In the end the attempted murderer and other members of the family decided to walk into the open and gave Core a bit of time to find someone who hated them. And while they seemed like they may be serving someone of royal decent according to conversation, there was a voice that knew something that seemed to connect them all in a different way, "Criminals." He felt the shift come as he began to grow in size, his hair shifting from black to blond and getting shorter and rougher. A wide brimmed hat floating down to place itself on his head. A strangely comfortable blazer and strangely uncomfortable boots appeared along with some relatively blank looking denim pants. He swung around a chain in his left hand and stared them down mercilessly, "Every one of you criminals of the lowest sort...except you." He pointed his gloved finger at Eric with a dissenting grin, "You are the bitch of this group it would seem. Though that doesn't make you any less guilty. You are all under arrest as per the authority of Jasper Rhodes. By your class of crimes you are not given the option of surrender." And deciding to go after the 'bitch' first he threw his chain at Eric, not aiming directly at him but slightly to the left. If he got it past Eric, Jasper would giving it a tug to curve it and wrap the chain around the man's legs. Properly chained he'd give one big pull to trip him to the ground. Hopefully hitting him on the head and possibly messing up that terrible excuse for a hair style. __________________ Time to bust out the glow sticks!

10-21-2009, 07:44 AM	#4
PyrosNine Zettai Hero Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: A figment of my own imagination Posts: 6,103	RK didn't need any new weapons. But she did need a new character sheet.... "Heh. So I'm back here again. And it's you guys first, huh?" RK sighed, waving a hand flippantly at them. It had been so long, this place was almost like one of those bad dreams, where you're right back in the thick of your worst memories. And none of the others were here to fight alongside you...But she was stronger now, and had seen them all before. No suprises this time. She put out two hands, and summoned a massive blade, so long in fact that it took almost a half minute just for it to pop out of the interdimensional hole RK had magicked. She eyed Shevenston. "So filthy handed General Shevenston has finally realized that he's only fit to serve amongst madmen and beasts, eh?" She marked him as her first opponent. "What, don't remember me? I have had a change of wardrobe..." Red Kimono took off the titular kimono. Strangely enough, she was wearing a full and somewhat bulky suit of armor underneath it, that apparently had not gotten in the way of her acrobatics before. Perhaps something like her weapon summoning ability, she was now resplendent in an almost gold armor that featured unique symbols of pride and wantonness, rather than the hymn insignias that had covered it before. "Even if I have to do it one hundred times, you dogs will face justice for your crimes!" __________________ Pyrosnine.blogspot.com: An experimental blog of writing. Updated possibly daily. Possibly. A fair chance. Current Works for reading: War Between them, Karma Police. PyrosNine: Weirdo Magnet Extraordinaire!

10-21-2009, 04:28 PM	#6
Arcanum Strike the Earth! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 3,185	Alex was a little disappointed when the battle ended; he wanted to go deal some damage against Luseri before she croaked. However his disappointment vanished as Vashne revealed the various weapons that they could pick. He heard Narim say his name but he didn't really acknowledge anything else he said. He was too busy thinking of ways to use each weapon to their fullest. The tessen would be too heavy for him to use properly but with creative portals it could work rather well. Melfiorn's Horn would be useless for him, but then the clown went ahead and grabbed it so that took care of that. Alex snapped out of his trance and saw that everyone was walking away from the weapons and towards the next encounter. Are you serious? he thought, disbelief visible on his face. I just hit the jackpot. "I'll be taking these then," he said as he opened up a portal beneath the three other weapons. I'm gonna have one hell of a trophy room once this is done. Alex ran to catch up with everyone else, before Trauma Spike decided to leave him behind. As introductions were made (via Trauma Spike's info-giving powers) Alex eyed each of their new opponents, evaluating each one. Cauldron girl, hammer guy, floaty girl, gauntlet guy, dog, and... "Oh sweet mother of hell," he said as he saw Kisser's chainsaws. "I found some new toys that I need to get my hands on." Then Core and Narim rushed into battle. Perfect. In one quick motion Alexander opened a portal, grabbed the Autekma Rifle that fell out of it, switched it to automatic fire, and let loose a barrage of bullets and the time-slowed Kisser. Alex couldn't help but smile. Today was a very very good day. __________________ POS Almighty has spoken.

10-22-2009, 01:40 AM	#8
Astral Harmony Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Moe Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Harmonial Sanctum Posts: 6,798	"Who you callin' a bitch, pussy-assed motherfucker!?" Eric spat. My, such language. As the chain swung around to Eric's right side, Eric switched his sledge from his right weapon arm to his left offhand, then used his right hand to try and grab the chain. His hands were big enough to grab the chain easily, but not small enough to really get the grip he needed for what he tried to do next, which was to jerk Jasper into his considerable attack range. Having failed that, Eric went for broke, released the chain, and just charged Jasper like a rampaging bull, prepared to reduce him to a puddle of shredded organs with a mighty overhead smash. ----- Shevenston was wearing a huge green trenchcoat that only accentuated his massive size. Narim's Everlast hit him dead on, but the spear barely sunk at all within that massive coat. The asshole had to be hiding serious armor beneath that coat. Shevenston laughed uproariously, his breath strong with drink. "Wah ha ha haagh, what do you plan on doing with that toothpick, son? Here, let me show you how real men bring the challenge." Narim found him pretty easy to dodge due to the decreased speed, and managed to get away. Everlast was knocked aside during Shevenston's series of brutal right and left hooks, and lay uselessly on the road. Seeing as how he was suddenly slower than usual, Shevenston growled and then raised one mighty leg. Just like Galveri, he was going to shake it up. Hopefully this didn't mean another sliding sequence. But when Shevenston brought his massive boot down, only a shockwave ripping towards Narim was produced. "Die in the name of the princess!" Shevenston then turned to face Rhonia. "Ugh, you!? Fuckin' bitches can't command no damn armies or nothin'! Keithmonte, can you remove that stuck up cunt from the face of this world?" ----- "That sword-toting bimbo Rhonia is here? Ach, I really hate that bitch." The former Red Kimono found herself flanked by globules of hissing ooze. Jubilette wanted Rhonia? What for exactly? "If there's anything I love more than setting people on fire, it's setting women more attractive than me on fire!" Well, there's a reason for everything, one would suppose. ----- Gwenneth sighed and brought her hands out before her, curling her fingers like trying to hook her hands onto something. Kefka's Blizzara spell hung in thin air. "I love clowns," Gwenneth said with heartbreaking remorse. "But I'm afraid today is the day that I must make one suffer at my will as many normal people have." Then, she spread her arms wide. The Blizzara spell fragmented into pieces. She swirled her arms around in an intricate dance, turning the fragmented spell into several smaller Blizzard spells, then sent them rocketing right back at Kefka. Before he needed to bother, the purple sphere on Melfiorn's Horn radiated light. The spells were instantly sucked into the small sphere and were gone. A low level elemental ward? Bitchin'. "Impressive," Gwenneth marveled at the act, somehow overjoyed and actually clapping her hands. "I knew I loved clowns for a reason. Say, if we both live through this, you maybe want to go do something later?" Gwenneth was flirting with Kefka? What the hell was up with psionic chicks these days? If she was taunting him, she had a strange way of incurring his wrath. ----- "You friggin' jerkface, that's cheating!" Kisser said before trying to put up a defense against Alexander's gunfire. Her chainsaws were started up and she was swinging them at the spray of gunfire...and somehow, she was actually deflecting bullets back at Alexander! She was still taking some harassment as some of the rounds struck her polished gold armor, but decisive results were still forthcoming. ----- Kuhg began to have new ideas about Kaliph as he restrained the beast. Kaliph had enough fur and tough skin for two full suits. The wolf was big, really big, larger even than Kuhg himself. And he was very strong. Kaliph struggled briefly and then kicked off, knocking Kuhg on his back. Then the beast turned over and was trying to tear into Kuhg's face with his fangs. Unlike Kisser and Shevenston, Kaliph was still very fast despite Narim's time magic. And the stench of Kaliph's breath would kill flies by the dozens alone! Kuhg could see that Kaliph was just about to give up goring his face off and was about to blast him with ice breath. Anyone who saw their struggle would likely have visions of Paul Bunyan fighting Babe the Blue Ox to the death. Last edited by Astral Harmony; 10-22-2009 at 01:48 AM.

10-21-2009, 02:59 PM	#5
Bard The 5th LW Feelin' Super! Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 4,191	'Thank the gods that stopped.' Kefka wasn't sure if he had a chance of dodging the tessen Luseri sent towards him. The clown turned towards the seemingly immortal alchemist and looked at the array of weapons, Melfiorn's horn immediately caught his eye, it was almost as though there was some malicious psycho god looking our for him. The clown eagerly grabbed the staff and took a look at it, putting the ragnareaver that he got back from Core in a strap on his back. Kefka then jumped a few feet as the blob landed not to far away from him. "Gah!" the clown yelled in shock. Kefka quickly regained his composure, or whatever composure he may have had "Son of a submariner." he said with a mix of anger and shock in his voice. This anger was quickly replaced by some amount of joy when he realized that he had a chance to test his new little toy. He decided that the next of these new enemies he set his sights upon would die at his hands. Kefka turned his head dramatically, it appeared as though Gwenneth was his target. "You," he said to her, "you are my next victim." Kefka raised his new weapon and decided to charge a Blizzara ith it for maximum force. "HAHAHA!" he laughed before shooting the powered blizzara at the insane psionic.

10-22-2009, 04:52 AM	#9
Overcast Cinderella Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Trespassing in the graveyard Posts: 3,076	Jasper laughed in amusement at Eric's offensive response. Actually not paying attention to his chain a bit, thus giving Eric the chance to even grasp at it. Actually thinking about it he would have liked that, Imprisonment was always so much more dangerous when it was touching somebody. He wiped his eye a bit as he saw the man charging at him, barely even registering it on his radar, "I do love messing with the stupid ones. They are always the most amusing after they are captured." Without too much trouble he leapt out of the way of the hammer drop. He was a guy who didn't wear armor save for his clothes and they were cloth and leather, the type of leather that won't stop much more than rocks and the wind. In that kind of game you didn't get hit or you died. He threw Imprisonment at Eric's neck this time, hoping to give the boy a choke collar, "Could use a new pet." __________________ Time to bust out the glow sticks!