NPF Avatars IV, Chapter XIII: Fire Three!

[phil_]

Phil was ticking encounters off in her head.
Random group of critters when I first arrived: Negotiations fail.
Crazy fish: No negotiations.
Merman: No negotiations
Snowmen: No negotiations
Caryatid and Popos: Negotiations failed with both.
Manotaur: Negotiations failed
Snake people: ...

Phil watched the spokes-snake charge and attack Lumaes. Well, isn't that unexpected. "Sigh. We either need to face everything swinging from now on, or decide on a better spokesman."

Phil picked up on the attempted escape of her companions and decided that cowardice was a good option in a situation with such complicated emotions and loyalties on all sides. However, she was pretty sure that just walking away wouldn't escape the notice of their snakey foes. They needed more of a distraction than Lumaes' execution. "●Summon: Big, Loud Flag!" Behind Lumaes, with a flare of trumpets, appeared a man draped in an American flag. And lo, he did shout, "Hey! I'm a big, loud flag! Better go around me 'cause I'm big! Champion of liberty right here! I'm loud! Biiig! Big big big! You got a problem with freedom, snakes, 'cause I'm loud!? Pay attention to me! I'm loud and big! USA! USA!" and so on. Phil then joined her allies in tactical foward retreat, patting Flare on the shoulder as she passed to tell her, "Great job. I thought we were never gonna fight these guys."

[mammothtank]

MT followed the rest of the team in their 'ditch the dead thing' maneuver.

I've got it!
Got what?
Well, I liked 'Scarlet' but thought it needed a little something more...
Yeah? So what'd you come up with?
Well, y'know how we have that huge sword?
Ignoring the confusing pronoun and awful double entendre, yeah. What about it?
Well... What about 'Scarlet Sword'?
...you want to be called 'Scarlet Sword'?
Eeyup!
Hmm. Go with what works, I guess.
I like it too! ^.^

[Lumaes]

Lumaes appeared truly baffled as the Lamia erupted into anger, her meanly pointed sword glinting in the hot temple light. As she drew closer, fangs bared, expression twisted with anger, the spectre bowed his head slightly, accepting this fate. The world slowed to a crawl, the lamia’s blade hung in the air, singing faintly as the air shifted around it - seeking to cleave the pale skull in half. His mouth quirked, showing gleaming teeth.
The sword went sailing through the air, the snake woman fell apart – neatly bisected by the silver crescent of the shade’s upheld scythe.
Lumaes continued to grin, passing his scythe from one hand to the other as he shifted stance, twirling to the side and severing the snake from the woman of his next assailant in a bloody fountain.
He cackled, calling out to Flare with apparent delight.
“I’m killing your whole family over here biatch!
Don’t come too close or you might accidentally decapitate yourself!”

The third snake snuck up on him from behind, the curved sword shot forward, Lumaes slipped back inkily, the sharp weapon moved without resistance through his shadows and barely caught the edge of Lumaes’s skull, peeling a tiny notch in the ivory.
The silver scythe went back into motion, sending sparks where it met the hastily raised sword. The blade slipped around the guard and the lamia’s defence failed as her hand was removed. Without the protection it afforded she was defenceless against the screaming spectres next assault.

Before her body could fall apart his scythe was swinging again.
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
He flung himself forward, his silky movements carrying him towards the caster’s spitting magic where he would begin the slaughter anew.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Taking Phils decoy as her cue to escape, Hawk took the chance and made to flee with the others.

This was all very reminiscent for Hawk though....

FLASHBACK 4!!!


Hawk stormed down the hallway with one thing on his mind: he was going to kill that bastard Cort and he was going to take pleasure in doing so. The place he was in was practically deserted he noticed, of course it is, this is all HIS doing! Why didn't we see it before?

He turned a corner and strode into the room in which he knew Cort would be. There he was, his back to Hawk as he was looking at something on the wall. Hawk dashed accross the room towards him as Cort turned to face him, but he for once turned too slow.

"MURDERER!!", Hawk yelled at him as he grabbed his former mentor and slammed him against the wall, at the same time drawing his weapon and bringing it up underneath Corts chin, the cold steel pressed against his lower jaw. "You murdered them, all of them!", Hawk continued to yell, now face to face with Cort.

"I did no such thing", Cort replied, "You're all soldiers, you knew the risk".

"You sent us to fight a battle we couldn't win!", Hawk said, trying to keep his voice level while all he wanted to do was slaughter the man before him, "and our group wasn't the only one was it? I just checked, all of our forces are out there and all of THEM are overwhelmed and destroyed, I'M the only one to return. And it was YOU who issued the orders!!"

"I had no choice, we were stretched too thin, we needed all the manpower we could muster out in the field, unless you've forgotten we're in the middle of a war her-"

"AND NOW WE'RE DESTROYED", Hawk screamed at Cort, "look around you, there's practically no one left. And now, there will be one more less," Hawk threatened, about to complete what he had come here to do.

"Go ahead then Hawk, kill me if it will make you feel better, but who's going to take command once I'm gone? You?"

"If I must," Hawk answered, readying himself for the kill.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

An explosion shook the room and both men collapsed to the floor, Hawks gun falling from his hand.

"What the hel-"

"We're under attack!", Cort yelled, springing to his feet and running to the console he had been examining earlier as a schreeching alarm sounded throughout the base. He tapped a few buttons and the image on the screen changed, showing a view of the space above their location. It was filled with an alien armada.

"The Jagor," Cort said quietly, the shock apparant on his face.

"That's impossible, how can "They" possibly find us?", Hawk asked as he sprang up beside Cort, his prior intentions forgotten as he surveyed the sight in front of him.

"The Temporal Cloak is down," Cort said in that same quiet voice, "We're back in synch with normal space time... and so is Earth," and indeed, the planet Earth appeared over the horizon of the moon as the view on the screen panned accross the assembled forces of an entire species' military might as it descended upon the now undefended planet.

"The Temporal Alliance of Earth is destroyed, its agents dead in countless time periods, Earth itself will soon fall, the "Great Enemy" will be rid of its greatest threat and the Time War will finally end..." said Cort in that flat tone.

This was all the confirmation Hawk would ever need. "You bastard! You work for them!!!" He went for his other gun but this time Cort was faster, instantly landing a blow to Hawks face that knocked him backwards onto the floor.

"That's right Hawk, I serve Them and I have finally completed my mission, Earth will die and humanity will be no more", he raised his own gun and aimed it for Hawk, "Goodbye Haw-"

BOOOOOOMMMM!!!

Another explosion, caused by Corts own allies continued bombarment of the facility, rocked the room, throwing Cort to the floor again and collapsing the ceiling on the pair of them, knocking Hawk cold.

When he awoke mere seconds had passed but Cort had already fled. His head bleeding profusely Hawk climbed back to his feet as more explosions echoed throughout the base, the orbital attack severely compromising the entire structure. With no way to defend Hawk did the only thing he could do; he raised his left arm, pointing it straight out ahead of him. "Emergency temporal shift!," he cried out and a blue portal leading backwards in time formed ahead of him. Hawk, the last surviving Time Warrior of Earth, possibly the last surviving human being, leapt through the portal, leaving the year 152042 behind.

Since that day Hawk had continued alone, fighting a one-man war through time against the "Unknown Enemy", fore the Jagor were just one race that served an even more powerful force, a force that was utilising time as its weapon to conquer the universe, pitting nations, peoples and other races against each other with their deciet and their promises, giving advanced technology to less advanced cultures, assasinating historical figures starting wars between them and even erasing entire beings from existence by disrupting time.

And Hawk was now the only one left to appose them.

FLASHBACK 4 ENDS!!!

Funny how fleeing for you life brings back old memories of fleeing for your life! thought Hawk.

[Arhra]

"Pffft, cowards." Arhra said as she finally took action, laying out the last lamia with a sucker punch. That was all she needed to do, for the lamia had been in the middle of trying to cast a spell and Arhra's punch was ludicrously powerful.

Also, all the other lamia had been dispatched.

Arhra looked at the bloodsoaked spectre, who, along with Hydra, was the only NPFer in the immediate vicinity. "Now if everyone is done running away and interior monologuing," Arhra yelled down the tunnel they'd came, "we can continue! And someone fish that nymph out of the cake then sterilise the cake!"

[phil_]

Phil had turned to check if her flag was having its intended effect.

Lumaes was a stunning whirlwind of gore and metal.

Phil stopped jogging and stood for a moment, jaw agape, as the snake people fell, destroyed, to the temple floor. In only a moment, Lumaes had brought and end to five lives. She was dumbfounded by the senselessness of the slaughter. Finally, she managed to say, "Cheesus H. Dairyproducts, I'm never going to piss Lumaes off again."

[Flarecobra]

The cake had pretty much been destroyed by the Nymph with the sweet tooth, and upon hearing herself being called, jumped out and ran on down, swallowing the last mouthful of cake she had.

I, meanwhile, was continuing on down the tunnel, noticing that the heat is steadly building. "Must be close to the sanctom. Hope you all can handle the heat." I said.

[Arhra]

Arhra sighed. "I had hoped for so much more." She looked around for what needed to be done. "Oi! Flashback Jeffrey!" she shouted at Hawk, "You can stop running away now!" Her eyes then fixed on the nymph infested wedding cake.

She went over to Gina just after the nymph exited the ruin of the cake, coming up from behind. "You really have have to be more careful," Arhra said told her sadly, eyeing the cake caked nymph. "Making such a mess... And wrecking that poor cake... Things like that can have quite an effect on the future." Arhra trailed off, giving Gina a significant look, "Would you like to hear what the future holds?" she asked.

Gina nodded, mouth still full of cake.

"There will be blood. And pain." Arhra went on, tone light and emphasis heavy. "AS YOU CAN NOT IMAGINE!" she suddenly shouted, crimson eyes flaring with mad rage.

She patted the cowering nymph on the shoulder, manner friendly again, "You should fear the future." Arhra concluded. She wandered off happily, licking a dab of cream off her finger, leaving the scene of carnage behind.

To think so many complications had been caused by a few magmagator eggs.

* * *

Avoiding any more dangers aside from having to walk over the occaisional platform suspended over a lake of fire, avoid giant crushing machinery and find a way around sections that had flooded and been sealed off (trying to get through sections flooded with lava is much harder than just water), the NPFers quickly reached the heart of the Temple - the chamber where the Caryatid resided.

It was like a steel cavern, the rock largely overlaid by arches of metal. Much of the ground was lava, islands and skeletal bridges forming a web-like network, a twisting path inwards. Pillars, arranged in concentric circles about the center, reached to the roof with gargoyle-like ornaments adorning them, liquid fire sluicing from their jaws.

Weapons were hung all around, arrayed on the pillars and along the walls, laid out on tabe-like stone slabs that dotted the islands. From the center there came a constant hammering, unceasing, tireless, like the heartbeat of the Temple.

Entering the room, steel door closing noisely behind them, they saw the Caryatid at the center. She differed from the other two the NPFers had previously encountered, for below the waist her body was a monstrous snake of lava, pulsating flesh caged in a blackened spine of dark metal, straining at its confines. As the presence of a throne like the other Caryatids hinted, the Caryatid had not always been this way, the modification made in an attempt to control the rising instability of the Temple as Chaos slowly seeped into the Seals.

Above the waist, her kinship to the other Caryatids was obvious, possessing the same sculpted, stern beauty. She was armoured in some dark metal, bright rivulets of what looked like molten metal decorating it in delicate patterns, from her back rose wing-like vanes, flame sprouting from their tips. Her face was a pale shape surrounded by the pitch darkness of her hair, the dark strands fading to ashen tips. Her burning eyes were focused on the forge in front of her, the hammer in her hand revealing the source of the hammer-strokes.

"Why couldn't she have a nice hobby, like baking or pottery?" Arhra muttered, half to herself as the Caryatid raised the wicked looking blade she had been crafting, still glowing from the fires of the forge.

"Caryatid!" Arhra called out to the figure, "Your seal is failing and the Invisible Moon comes! The Herald waits before the Gate and the world crumbles about her. You are failing at your intended purpose. I demand you release the seal so that my companions may face the Herald of the End Times."

"You... you are one who would bring Chaos." the Caryatid replied slowly, "As long as the barrier stands, there is still hope. I will not betray that hope. You will die here and Law will be preserved."

Pipes in the walls opened, crocodilian creatures sliding out into the lake of lava and towards the NPFers. The Caryatid slithered around her forge towards her foes, still gripping the weapon she had been crafting. Her free hand snaked out, grabbing a long, hooked knife from a weapons rack.

It looked like it was fightin' time again.

OOC: Battle details are in the discussion thread.

[mammothtank]

The heat had already managed to sap a fair bit of MT's stamina, evidenced by her profuse sweating and heavy breathing. Now the party was under attack by the incarnation of fire and her underlings.

"Out of the volcano and into the... never mind, I don't even know how to finish that." MT rummaged through her pack and produced what looked like a sheet of red silk that shimmered in the glow of the lava. "My last Red Curtain..." MT muttered before tossing it into the air. It stretched very thinly and wrapped around the entire NPF team before vanishing with a red sparkle. "That'll only help a little," she warned.

Once again browsing her inventory, MT suddenly rediscovered the drawback of relying on items. No White Fangs... no crystal powder... crap! I'm out of ice attacks! So much for easy kills... and on top of that, I'm too hot and sweaty to re-equip my armor. Terrific. She reached for her sword, but hesitated.

Hum. I do have -other- items... maybe I'll hang back and play support this time around.
Lame.
You have any better ideas, Miss Scarlet?
I'll get back to you on that, I think...
That's what I thought.
Hey! I'll come up with something. Just you wait.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

"Looks like hells armoury," Hawk remarked upon seeing the numerous weapons covering the walls of the chamber, "I'm in heaven! Or I would be if I had hands to wield them all."

But then the caryatid began moving their way and all thoughts of un-wieldable instuments of death were lost. It was game time.

"I don't think my powers will penetrate that armour, guess I'm running nullification tactics this round. Leave any fire attacks to me, I'll quash them and I may be able to take care of a few of those lizards too."

Hawk fired off a test shot at the nearest approaching magmadile or whatever the fuck it's called, the high oxygen blast connecting with the lava around it. It exploded into meaty chunks.

"Yep, that'll work!"

Hawk began firing off more blasts at the reptiles, at the same time keeping an eye on the caryatid, just in case she was needed as an emergency fire extinguisher.