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Post by Tug on Apr 17, 2019 0:56:13 GMT -5
After dealing with their "guest", Adriana was lamenting the current state of affairs...
"It seems the magical community is in a state of transitions, especially with the recent news from the Academy, and now seems extremely volatile... These... Shards seem like a catalyst that will lead towards unprecedented matters... I don't even need my crystal ball to see that..." spoke Adriana to her a few gathered associates
"So my Lady, what should we do then?" asked the armored Gilford
"I fear we must take as many as we can off the 'playing field' sort of speak, so I think we should go after a group we know has a large amount of them..." replied the woman
"Alright then we'll head to Klofroloc Industries and take them, I think I can come up with a plan to deal with them, though it might require a bunch of manpower..." added the man in grey clothes
"Then Ruth and Bask will suffice for my protection... You take the others with you to 'make off' with their shards we're get the proper methods ready to be rid of them..." responded Adriana as she agreed with the proposal
"Alright, let me gather everyone... Hey Mark! Gather evryone for me, will ya?" yelled the man in grey color clothes out the cart's window
"Sure thing!" replied a cheerful voice belonging to grey haired young man in blue as he blew on a whistle around his neck and gold dust flowed out and into the ether...
A man sleeping under a tree covered in empty bottles and carved runes dispersed into a cloud of gold dust...
A woman on the side of a mountain flicking the embers of a spell off her fingertips as she too dispersed into a cloud of the golden dust...
A man sitting in a wheat field carrying a daisho set chewing on stalk of grass is similarly whisked away...
A beautiful woman caring for two sheep disappears alongside her 'flock', with only bits of gold dust remaining in the air...
The four gathered soon appeared before the group who were now standing outside of the cart...
"Ah, Erun, Lauren, Shiju, and Vasilisa! Mark found you easily I see?" asked Adriana
"I hope it's important since my head is killing me..." grumbled a now awake Erun as the beautiful woman hit him upside the head to his chagrin...
"It is actually, these two will be leading you on a task I need done immediately..." answered Adriana as she indicated to her two "knights"...
"If it's for you Mistress, who was there when no one else was, then we'll do it no problem..." replied Lauren
"Da"
"Hai"
"Yeah fine"
"Perfect, before I forget, since I can't go with you, I have something that will be able to act in my stead..." added Adriana as she removed a blueish-clear orb and inserted it into the finally finished carved stone statue, embedding and covering the orb with magic, as the statue's eyes began to glow...
"Wowzer..." gaped Mark
"It's no Masteri craftsmanship, but the quality of the core and magic directly flowing from me into him should make up the difference, meet the newest resident of the cart..." smiled Adriana
"I named him Volun!" grinned Ruth as she indicated the stone golem, with Adriana looking defeated on the issue
"Yes, he should be enough to make up with Bask and I staying behind..." added Adriana
"Alright then, we good to depart then?" asked Mark
"Da... But, Miss Ruth, please watch Ari and Chrys for me, I worry for their safety and them being her puts me at ease..." added Vasilisa
"Sure!" replied Ruth as gave Vasilisa a thumbs up, with the beauty replying with a smile of her own...
"That should be everything then, ALL BOARD!" yelled Mark as he blew his whistle and the assorted group departed for the lair of the (Good) Colorfolk...
.....
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Post by Toz76 on Apr 17, 2019 18:53:06 GMT -5
Meanwhile, at the lair of the Blue Faction of colorfolk, Woman In White was training Man In Blue in the sparring room.
"It's unlikely, but if the Black Faction ever finds its way into our base, they'll be after the shards. To fight back against them, you may need to use one of the shards against them."
"What am I supposed to do with this, throw it at them?" Man In Blue asked as he held the small, jagged crystal in his hand.
"Well, in addition to passively making you more powerful, when you channel your magic through it, you can unlock higher levels of power. Try it!"
Man In Blue clutched the prism shard and tried to shoot a lightning bolt at one of the dummies. This was one of the few attack spells colorfolk were capable of using in their weakened state, and he just figured the shard would make it hotter or something.
Instead, there was a rumble as a bolt of lightning crashed through the ceiling, setting the mannequin on fire and heating the room. Man In Blue collapsed from the effort.
Woman In White ran to make sure he was okay, and then ran to the hole, looking up through it. This part of the base was about twenty feet below an apartment parking lot, and she could tell that the lightning had bored a hole about three feet in diameter from the parking lot to the mannequin.
"Well, that sure is a security breach... we'd better fix that before someone finds it and gains access to our base..."
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 29, 2019 13:37:17 GMT -5
"Uh... should we be concerned about this? If normal people see that it could draw unwanted attention" Man In Blue reasoned. "Don't worry, I figured something like this would happen one day" she assured. "We mages do have ways of covering our tracks" she explained. Man In Blue thought it over, then realized what she was referring to. "Oh, do we have a perception charm that can apply to our base as a whole?" He asked. "Yes, but for something this size it requires, I guess you could call it an "amplifier/stabilizer" to ensure the protective magic doesn't turn on us; you wouldn't want to not be able to find our own base, right?" Woman In White asked. "So why don't we have it on all the time then?" Man In Blue asked. "The design is prone to overheating and the longest we can leave it on is three days before it loses stability; we have a guy working on it but he's not able to come as often as we like" Woman In White explained. Walking over to a specific part of the base, Woman In White showed him a device that was kept hidden in a closet. "I thought morality filters were ridiculous?" Man In Blue said in confusion. "Exactly, this isn't based on morality whatsoever. It's based on perception; any outsiders of the base will be subconsciously influenced to turn away and head away from the base. We're trying to fine-tune it to work specifically on those who approach our base with "aggressive intent" especially, but since no one outside our faction besides some friendly mages knows about this, it hasn't been a priority." Woman In White explained. "So in other words... at this point we can only use it in times of emergency, and not for long periods of time" Man In Blue explained. "Exactly, like now" Woman In White said as she went to activate it... but it wouldn't go to full strength. "Damn it. Hey, Jeffery!" She called to Man In White. "Yes?" he called back. "Get Man In Bole down here, tell him it's an emergency concerning one of his contraptions" she explained. "Man In Bole?" Man In Blue asked, confused. "Technical mage; specializes in magic-infused technology. Some of his devices are weird and oddly specific, others are useful. And then sometimes he builds overly complicated devices that comically explode but that's not important right now" Woman In White explained. So for the time being, the device's field wasn't strong enough to distort all perception. But it was strong enough that non-magic folk simply moved on when they passed the hole, and as for the group from the caravan. ... "Are you sure this is right?" One asked. "Yea, gotta be around here somewhere" said another. A third looked outside, and despite looking right at a hole in the parking lot, only said to the rest, "no... I don't see anything significant" before they moved on and continued their search (translation: Don't want to jump the gun again and waiting until a proper introduction to the crew before I butcher their characters )
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Post by Tug on Jun 29, 2019 1:27:51 GMT -5
The man who smelled of booze and magical runes, Erun, hit the person who had dropped them off and said, "Mark you were supposed to get us INSIDE their base!"
"Sorry, there seems to be some interference on their end, the Gold Dust is having trouble materializing. Man I haven't had this much trouble since the last time my supply ran low. Don't worry, if I just put a little more gusto in the whistle blow, we should be inside. Ahem, All Aboard!" replied Mark as the group dissipated into a cloud of gold dust that flowed through the recently created hole...
As the group emerged back into a corporal form, the man in gray clothes rallied his allies...
"Alright, we don't know our way around here but I can jury-rig a way to track the largest group of shards within this place with my hammer as the conduit. So, to keep the major players off of what we're doing, we'll split into two teams. Gilford, Lauren, Shiju, and our new friend Volun here will be the distraction team. With your capabilities their magic won't be able to stop you for a at least long enough until we get what we can here for. Erun, Mark, Vasilisa, and I will go Shard hunting with Erun taking care of their protective measures, Vasilisa tying up pursuers of us, Mark for the quick escape, and my hammer to find the damn things. If things start to go south, we'll do the usual strategy, alright?"
"Yes my liege, we'll carry out our tasks with haste!" replied Gilford as he readied his weapons.
"Alright, let's go!"
.....
Shortly after, the Woman in Blue was alerted of a disturbance within the base...
"Man in White, what's the situation?" asked the woman as she ran to rendezvous with her allies
"Three strange individuals and a golem are rampaging in the courtyard, yelling about challenging the strongest fighters among us. Currently 12 Colorfolk have been defeated by their 'strange' abilities..." replied Man in White through the telepathy spell they were discussing this with
"Alright, I'll gather who I can along the way and we'll try to put a stop to their efforts, anything else happening of note?" questioned Woman in Blue
"I've detected 3 other strange magical presences within the base, but I can't confirm what they are due to interference, I'm trying to send someone to look into what they could be..."
"Do that, for now, I'll be handling our 'uninvited guests' to the premises..."
.....
In the courtyard, the four intruders were putting in some work. Everything the Colorfolk threw at them was not having the outcomes they expected...
"You think that suit of armor is useful, well try a lightning spell!" yelled a Colorman as he hurled a beam of lightning at the armored knight Gilford, who even withdrew his shield to take the full brunt of the spell, with seemingly no affect to his person...
"Sorry but lightning doesn't affect me in the slightest... Hiyah!" replied Gilford as he ran up to the Colorman, and with an eerie green glow embedded in his blade, slashed the Colorman unconscious with one good swipe across the chest...
"If lightning doesn't work, try fire!" yelled the Colorwoman as she threw a fireball at the knight
"I got this!" spoke the man who could only be described as a samurai withdrew his longsword and cut the fireball right down the middle, sending the blast to the sides of the intruders
"Good job Shiju, now let's show them a real explosion..." smirked Lauren as she uttered a spell in a language the Colorfolk couldn't understand and a massive fireball burst from the ground under them, sending many of them ether flying or into unconsciousness...
Volun was picking up Colorfolk and crushing them with the force behind his body mass. Using the now uneven terrain, the Golem was able to cause havoc as debris and rubble went flying everywhere with each of his attacks...
"These guys are some troublesome magic users! Everyone! Hold out until reinforcements arrive!" shouted Man in Purple as a flaming longsword cut him across the chest...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 29, 2019 21:30:28 GMT -5
... Prompting him to strike back with Tier two water magic; an explosion of steam scalded the intruder in the arms, face and chest and while it did not stop him outright, even he couldn't resist the pain that came with this attack.
"Even you can't overcome fire's inherent weakness to water" Man In Purple said, clutching his chest from the blow.
The intruders were leaving their mark on the present Colorfolk of course, but they had clearly not heard of one of the dangers of fighting the legendary "Sworn Defenders of Ordos"
You see, the Colorfolk valued knowledge and learning as key to understanding the world around them. When problems were encountered, they were never "shoved under the rug" so to say... they took them head on and tried to resolve them.
This made them very formidable foes indeed; there would always be that rough patch at the beginning, as with every new and unfamiliar adversary, but the Colorfolk remained observant of the situation at hand. Victory was won through observation, analysis and tactical effectiveness, not brute force and strength. Even the highest tiers of spells, which on the surface appeared to be nothing but brute force, were executed in tactically effective matters. Combined with the Prism's ability to create very adaptive magic that "almost seemed to transcend the elements themselves" there was a reason that Ordos never fell to invading forces for so many centuries.
Even with the Prism shattered and no access to the regular artifacts though, one thing remained constant for the current generation of Colorfolk... the lesson handed down from generation to generation for when battle came. Observe and analyze your enemies, and their movements will reveal their weaknesses.
And in Volun's case, he was about to learn a very important lesson about attacking the Colorfolk... never use the same tactics against them twice.
Volun's rampage continued to throw stone everywhere, but at last... the reinforcements had arrived.
"You sure this will work? I don't think the testing was adequate" Man In White whispered.
"Trust me; after the first incident I gave this one top priority, been working on it since the attack all those weeks ago.
"If this doesn't work, i hope you have a plan B" Man In White finished as he proceeded to take another position. Man In Bole aimed the device, and, taking advantage of the fact that golems had very little going on upstairs.
"Hey, Stoneface! I have a present for you!" Man In Bole shouted.
Volun's rampaging suddenly stopped as he contemplated the offer... though no longer able to speak, there was enough going on upstairs that he could recognize that being "given a present" sounded like a good thing, and proceeded to look for it.
"All yours" Man In Bole said as he fired the device. A glowing ball flew right at Volun and hit him right in the chest. He was confused until the ball exploded and transformed into a giant card of sorts. It was just like the ones the Colorfolk had used to defeat him the first time, only larger.
It wasn't long before the glow of magic around his body that gave him life suddenly disappeared, and he became little more than inert stone once again. Fortunately, thanks to the caravan crew this time he didn't crumble and disintegrate.
Lauren looked on in shock, "But how is this possible?!" she declared.
"You sent a golem against the faction that literally wiped them out, destroyed The Order of Masteri and wrote the book on how to destroy golems... what did you expect?" Man In Gold shouted in reply as Shiju went in for a strike, only for Man In Gold to throw an insta-spell rock that resulted in a blinding flash, saving him at the last possible second.
Shiju was quick to recover though, and although now facing Man In Gold as well as a couple of other Colormen. "Three against one? That doesn't sound fair... to you" Shiju declared as he seemed to prepare a very devastating attack aimed right at them.
"Perhaps... so maybe you should face a worthy foe if you find us weak" Man In Gold declared as the three of them raised their insta-spells and threw them at the ground just in front of Shiju
Shiju found himself coughing for a bit until things finally cleared up, when he found that he was looking at a rather looking familiar... himself. "You honestly think this paltry fake stands a shred of a chance against me?" He said, unimpressed.
"I think you will find that he is more than a shadow or illusion" Man In Gold declared.
Shiju went in for the attack against fake Shiju... and fake Shiju did the same. Sword strike after sword strike failed to hit... his copy perfectly anticipating his every move. So he went for the jugular... literally. Setting up for a mighty strike, he aimed for the fake's neck and went in for a decapitation. But he found himself forced to stop when he suddenly lost his nerve a little. There, in front of him, the fake Shiju was doing the exact same strike, and now here the two of them were, in a standoff, with both having swords at each other's necks. Deciding to test something, Shiju moved his sword back and forth a bit, the fake doing the exact same thing. He moved it up and down... the fake did the same thing. He made a couple different faces, the shadow doing the same thing. So Shiju proceeded to speak.
"Look, we don't need to... be quiet and listen!" He said. Now he was shocked... the fake said exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Even he had to admit it was a bit creepy. "This isn't just an illusion... this is something more" Shiju said, with fake Shiju matching his words perfectly.
"Finally figured it out, did you? This isn't just some shadow clone or illusion, my friend... this IS you. Don't bother trying to reason with it, because it is, for all intents and purposes, you" Man In Gold said.
"You're bluffing" Shiju said, before looking at his doppelganger and both exchanging cold looks for copying one another.
In the distance, Gilford saw what was happening and decided to lend a hand. "Fear not Shiju, I shall deal with this imposter for you!" he said as he charged in with his blade and proceeded to strike the back of fake Shiju. The fake cried out in pain... as did the real Shiju.
"Shiju, are you all right? Who struck you while I was dealing with this imposter?" Gilford asked.
"I don't know... no one is behind me... Shiju said, turning around as the fake did the same. Gilford looked at the back of fake Shiju, then ran around to real Shiju's back and was shocked.
"Shiju... you have the same exact mark I made on the fake!" Gilford declared.
"Wait, but then that means..." Shiju said, finally putting everything together.
"How observant... whatever damage the fake takes, you take. Likewise whatever damage you take, the fake takes. In short, the only way to defeat yourself... is to defeat yourself!" Man In Gold revealed.
Literally everyone in earshot stopped what they were doing... totally confused by what the heck he meant by that.
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Post by Tug on Jun 29, 2019 22:09:42 GMT -5
"Terribly sorry Shiju, hope you won't feel this one tomorrow..." said Gilford as he raised his sword
"What?" questioned the two Shijus as a sword came down on the back on his neck, knocking the original out, and the mirrored one as well, who disappeared once the real one lost consciousness...
"What? You took out you're own comrade?" said a shocked Man in Gold as Gilford threw his samurai companion over his shoulder
"He's berate me later but he'll understand after he knows what we're doing next... Lauren! Newcomer! Get back with me! We're performing THAT maneuver!" shouted Gilford as he jumped away from the Colorfolk
"That move? But Shiju's unconscious and the Golem's down!" replied Lauren as she and the Golem removed inert...
"Hmph... Then it should be fine with the two of us, I'll cover our missing bases and the Golem's body should be sturdy enough to handle this next attack. I need a smokescreen for a minute though so I'm relying on you Lauren!" answered Gilford
"Fine... I hope this works!" responded Lauren as she uttered the unrecognizable tongue and launched an explosion at charging Colorfolk, creating a huge explosion that shook up a massive dust cloud. When it settled, the Samurai was gone from the Knight's shoulder and fire now blazed from his gauntlets...
"What did they do to their comrade?" asked a shocked Man in Bole
"Nothing you lot should worry about! Now, it's time for our combination attack!" shouted Gilford as he dropped his tower shield in front of Lauren and covered her with his armored body. Now within this metal cocoon, she cast the largest explosive fireball spell the Colorfolk had seen yet, with additional fire being pumped into it from Gilford's whole armored body. Soon it was larger than the main building of the Colorfolk's base and was dangling above their heads...
"Retreat!" shouted Man in Purple as some other Colorfolk began to follow suit
"Don't retreat! Stop i..." was all Man in Gold could get out as giant Fireball dropped right onto their heads...
.....
"Ow!"
A few minutes had past and Shiju was slapped awake, falling out from inside Gilford's chest...
"I hope you enjoyed your beauty sleep noble warrior, but it's not done yet..." said Gilford as he reapplied his chest plate
"I see you used some of my magic for the combo attack... Man that really did a number on their forces, all the fighters they first dispatched out here have been taken out..." spoke Shiju as he withdrew his blade
"Yeah but the Newcomer's out of commission, I'm low on magic, Gilford's slightly melted, and you're current;y the fighter in the best shape which isn't saying much..." grumbled Lauren
"Let's just hope my Liege is doing better then us... Perk up you two, more fighters are coming, I sense their strength emanating from their souls..." ordered Gilford as he resumed holding his sword and shield at the ready...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 30, 2019 0:06:29 GMT -5
It was a good thing that the Blue faction had been recruiting other Colorfolk over the past few weeks following the Golem attack, otherwise just the core 12 would have not been enough to hold back these invaders. Having witnessed it from the safety of the base (having retreated with several others), Man In White was nervous... but not for the reason one would expect.
"Oh dear... if Majica Supremus gets word of what's going on here, there will be hell to pay for ALL of us" he said in a nervous sweat before going further into the base to regroup with others.
......
Inside the base, Mark, Erun, Vasilisa and the man in gray clothes were trying to find the shards, but just couldn't figure out where the fragments were.
"I just don't get it... ever since we entered I feel like something is messing with our perception" Mark stated as he looked around.
"If I had to guess it was probably a charm on the building; something like this isn't the result of a mage casting a spell actively" Erun reasoned.
Does anyone else feel like we're being watched?" Vasilisa asked.
"I don't know... but I wouldn't rule it out" the man in gray clothes replied. Just then, the group came to a fork in the hallway. Reasoning that more ground could be covered, Mark and the gray clothed man went down one hallway while Vasilisa and Erun went down the other.
"I can't help but feel like we are being watched" Vasilisa insisted.
"Oh, can it! Probably just some booze talking in my experience" Erun declared.
"I haven't had a drop! Besides, if you don't believe me, than maybe you should", then there was a noise. "What was that?" She asked.
"It sounds like... someone cast a spell" Erun observed. The last thing they saw was a sort of "sheet of magic" head towards them, strike their bodies... and then, both fell towards the floor.
......
The two finally woke up, but things were... awkward, to say the least.
"Erun... is that you?" Vasilisa asked, confused.
"Yes, who else would it be?" Erun pointed out.
"But then... who are they?" Vasilisa asked. To their shock, lying on the floor... were their bodies.
"Woah... How much DID I drink last light?" Erun said in confusion.
"I don't think this was caused by alcohol... are we dead?" Vasilisa asked.
"Not so much dead as astral projecting... though to be fair even that is a bit misleading. Just know you are having an out of body experience right now" a voice said.
"Who is that?" Vasilisa said, as both began looking around.
From out of the shadows stepped Man In Silver. "Be glad I didn't attempt to destroy your souls outright; I am willing to tell you how to return to your bodies though" he pointed out. The two went into combat stances, but Man In Silver didn't even flinch, "Don't even bother; in this form you two are powerless; why do you think there is no such thing as magic-using ghosts?" Man In Silver pointed out.
"Oh yea, that's a good point" Vasilisa realized.
"Wait a minute, then what about possessions and poltergeists?" Erun pointed out.
"Not so much magic as innate ability; possession is when a spirit temporarily inhabits a body that isn't its own and poltergeists are when decaying spirits, unstable due to remaining in the mortal plain for too long, begin "lashing out" if you will. It's a very fine difference but very important- essentially those are the natural abilities of a ghost the same way fish have the natural ability to swim, and birds to fly" he said.
"So what's preventing us from just possessing you?" Vasilisa asked.
"You're still alive and your souls are still bonded to your living bodies; you can't possess anyone because you're still alive; I just loosened your bonds is all" Man In Silver explained. "But none of that is important right now... All I want to know is why your group here is attacking a faction that has done nothing to wrong you" Man In Silver said.
"And if we don't answer?" Erun asked
"Then I don't tell you how to return to your bodies" Man In Silver stated.
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Post by Tug on Jun 30, 2019 0:23:28 GMT -5
"Yeah well I rather give up whiskey than hear it!" growled the floating Erun
"Fine then, since you two are out of commission I better deal with the other intruder..." replied Silver as he began to walk away when a magical shock ran all throughout his body, knocking out the feeling in himself and causing him to fall to the floor completely paralyzed...
With only his eyes still being able to move, he noticed the man moving his joints as he got off the floor, and saw a strange symbol glowing on his chest...
"You Colorfolk think you're the only ones who prepare countermeasures to everything, but Runecraft Magic is the greatest among support magics. It took a minute for my Nullification Runes in my clothes to kick in, but I blame it on the sewing work if nothing else..." spoke Erun as he wrote a Nullification Rune with his finger over Vasilisa's body, returning her to her corporal body...
"Дурак! I'll trash your liquor stash if you ever say that again..." warned Vasilisa
"Alright, but not even a Paralyzing Rune will stop Spirit Boy over here, he'll probably leave his body to go report our location to his allies. Let's go meet back up with Vince since he has the conduit to find the damn things..." replied Erun as the two compatriots left the motionless Silver in the hallway to find their comrades...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 30, 2019 0:56:02 GMT -5
Indeed, Silver had astral-projected out of his body to go spread the word to the others in the base... and warn to be careful of the "one with runes."
With the group of four now reunited, they followed Vince down the hallways that, the further they went, the more maze-like everything seemed.
"I don't get it, what's going on?!" Vasilisa declared.
"It seems the longer we stay here the more our perception of the place is affected... Mark, be ready to get us out of here as soon as we get the shard" the gray clothed man explained.
Finally, the group came to a door, with writing on it.
"Seems to be a riddle; we'll have to answer it to open it" Erun concluded
"They must be hiding the shard behind here, my conduit is having a very strong reaction to this door" the gray-clothed man explained.
"Hmmm... I am hard as steel, yet light as cork. I can small or large. I can be natural, or made by man. I am both white as snow an clear as water... what am I?" Mark read.
"A ship?" Vasilisa suggested
"How would a ship be natural?" Mark pointed out
"Metal door?" Erun suggested
"Also not natural" Mark explained
"...it's ice" the gray clothed man stated. And then, the door opened, and the four went into the room... which wasn't all that big. "This doesn't make any sense... there should be a shard here" he continued
"Hey, does anyone else feel cold?" Vasilisa said.
"Yea, I feel it to" Mark said. Then he looked shocked and panicked. "OH N-" Was all he managed to say before there was a flash, and the four of them were frozen in a solid block of ice.
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Post by Tug on Jun 30, 2019 1:15:49 GMT -5
Seconds later, the frozen man in gray clothes began to shake violently as the ice coating him shattered in pieces onto the floor...
"Of course an ice trap right before the prize, it's like fate loves messing with me... Huh... Better free those guys or else I'll never hear the end of it..." spoke the man to himself as he tapped his friends once each and the ice shattered around them as well
"Damn if I hadn't used my emergency Nullification Rune before that trap would have done nothing..." grumbled Erun
"It doesn't matter now, I see a locked door up ahead, Erun, get a rune ready. Vasilisa, stop anyone coming this way. Mark, get ready to blow that whistle." ordered the man in gray clothes
"And what will you do Boss?" asked Mark
"Grab the shards of course..." answered the man as they all got into position. Erun disabled the magic seal and the heavy door opened. Vasilisa watched the hallway as the man in gray clothes approached the podium containing the shards. As he reached out to grab them...
.....
The Woman in Blue and her top lieutenants had been running to the vault room after Silver had given them the report on the intruders, figuring out their aim...
"We have to stop them before they make off with what I can assume is their only possible target, or else they wouldn't have left a distraction team for us to deal with..." said Woman in Blue
"But wouldn't the shards stop themselves from being stolen?" asked Woman in Gold
"You would think, but those shards can be finnicky thing with who picks them up, and I don't like how this infiltration has been going for our enemies, it's almost like..." was all Melody could say as they approached the Vault Room
Woman in Gold ran inside to see what was inside...
"Jane what do you see?"
"Nothing."
"Don't be daft, what's in there?"
"I'm not kidding! There's nothing in here, the room's empty! Well, except for the elemental trap remains and some strange dust..."
"Sound the alarms! Someone's made off with our Prism Shards! All of them!"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 30, 2019 2:18:17 GMT -5
The base suddenly went on lockdown... every door and window sealed shut, and strips of unusually-colored metal began glowing in the walls and sealed exits.
Because of their disoriented perception, Mark was having trouble teleporting out of the base, he kept ending up in random points of the base rather than outside as planned.
"Get us out of here already!" the man in the gray clothes said.
"I can't! My teleportation isn't working anymore!" He said as he tried blowing his whistle again, only to stop short at the walls.
"Why can't we get out of here?" Erun asked.
The man in the gray clothes looked at the walls and saw the strips of metal, "damn it!" he screamed. "The walls are coated with radmiuum; teleportation is impossible now!" he fumed.
"What's the plan B?"
"Then we'll need to force our way out; stand back, I'm making a new exit" Vince declared
......
A while later, the assembled Colorfolk were beginning to rebuild the base. Frustrations were running rampant among the faction.
"How could this have even happened, the Perception Filter should have made it impossible for them to even function normally inside our base!" Man In Gold pointed out.
"They shouldn't have even been able to pick up the shards, let alone steal them! The malevolent act of stealing artifacts from their rightful owners should have caused them to violently reject them!" Woman In Silver declared
"It doesn't make any sense- spirit magic is impossible to defend against; it should have taken hours for them to recover from an attack like that" Man In Silver pointed out
"I told you we should have spent more time researching vallerium! Would have saved us so much trouble we just hit each of them with a good sized brick of it" Woman In White fumed
"If the spirit was here he would have punished those thieves the same way he punished Sir Adrian!" Man In Amaranth Purple stated
"Look! We're not going to get anywhere bickering over ifs and maybes. I've already put in a call to Kendarboo; the good news is he's got promising leads on two shards and once the information is finalized we can send teams to recover them; its just going to take a while. In the mean time- Man In Silver, is there anything you can do?"
"We may be in a weakened state, but we are not powerless; we are just dependent on the natural magic around us more as opposed to the shards acting as a conduit to make harnessing magic more efficient. And our Insta-spells are independent of the shards so we still have those" he pointed out.
"But more importantly?" Woman In Blue began.
"I can sense their souls when in range of them; but my range is limited because of this. I don't know how long it will take to find them... but they will be held accountable for taking that which does not belong to them" Man In silver finished.
"Where do we even start?" Man In Blue asked.
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 4, 2019 23:48:39 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Man In Black was delighted by this news.
"How many shards did they lose? One? Two? All of them? Great!"
Woman In Orange rolls her eyes. "Don't you think those thieves will go after us next?"
Man In Black laughed. "Not if we steal them first! I happen to know where these people are based, and as we speak the Red Warriors are preparing to strike..."
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Post by Tug on Jul 28, 2019 23:21:41 GMT -5
As the Evil Colorfolk began making preparations to leave their base, two hidden women watched from the treeline, just out of reach of the crumbling hotel's detection spells...
"Whew Boy, something causin' that lot to stir..." whistled C.C. quietly
"Whatever it is, let's hope it gets them out of the base and with less guards around them prisms..." replied Coco with a scowl
"What're you sad about, I thought killin' was your favorite thing in the world?" poked C.C.
"It is when it doesn't get in the way of my private life..." retorted Coco
"What? You got a date tonight or somethin'?" halfheartedly asked C.C.
Coco didn't respond...
"Oh damn! You do! Who's the lucky feller?!" laughed C.C. now more interested in her companion's love-life than their actual job...
"No one you'd know, so just drop it..." growled Coco
"Shoot, I bet you're lying! Just tell me!" yelled C.C. as some the branch the duo on began to shake, with Coco covering her partner's mouth in frustration...
"Who's there?!"
Just then the sound of a bird whistle came out alongside a noise that sounded like a woodpecker hitting a tree...
"It's probably just some obnoxious birds having a territory dispute, come on Yellow, we got to hurry or else Black will have our heads..."
"Alright, it's probably not a big deal anyway..."
Back up in the tree, C.C. now had a gigantic swelling on the side of her head as Coco removed her hands from mouth...
"That was a close one, who knew that empty noggin of yours would ever come in handy..." smirked Coco
"That was rude C! I'll tell the Boss on you!" pouted C.C. as she rubbed the throbbing area on her head...
"Whatever, just go tell the Boss what we've seen and I'll give the usual signal when it's time to move, alright?" spoke Coco
"Fine, but when this is over, I will find out who your taking out on that date, mark my words C!" said C.C. quietly as she slid down the tree to rendezvous with the rest of the Gang to give her report...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 29, 2019 20:20:36 GMT -5
And so, a good deal of the Black faction left their hotel base to go back up the Red Warriors, leaving the Black faction wide open to these new intruders.
"This will be so easy... alert the others, now" Coco ordered.
......
(The day following the attack on The Blue Faction headquarters)
At the caravan, the assault by the red warriors did not go so well. The Men In Red, Crimson, Scarlet, Brick, Cardinal, Ruby and Rose were sprawled out on the ground, unconscious and utterly defeated.
"... and you call yourselves warriors" Shiju sighed in disinterest as he sheathed his sword and proceeded back towards the caravan. Though in perspective part of him wished he had somewhere else to go... ever since the shards had been stolen they seemed to be... "lashing out" at the Caravan crew in ways not even Adriana herself could understand.
......
"What do you mean almost all of you are having difficulty figuring out these shards? For that matter, why are you even doing this in the first place?" Adriana asked in confusion.
"To your second point- we thought we could use these shards to help Hikos since he already has one. As to the first point... I'm not sure... once we started toying around with them they started acting all funny. Except for Hikos here, whenever we try to handle them they just super-heat and we're forced to drop them. I don't know why they're only doing this now, but that's just the tip of the iceberg" Mark explained.
Adriana looked over in shock to see the fates befalling the members of her crew. "My lady... is this even possible?" Gilford asked nervously... which was uncharacteristic of him. To everyone's shock, Gilford's armor was melting as if it was made of candle wax. It was slow, and only small parts were melting at this particular moment... but everyone had a pretty good idea of what would happen if this kept up.
"What about you Erun? Have your runes unlocked any of the shards secrets?" Adriana asked, realizing that she probably should have given all of them explicit instructions to not do anything with the shards, no matter what.
"Not even" Erun began... he was nursing wounds to his arms, which were severely burned. "Every time I tried to apply runes to these shards the runes either burned out or exploded on me. And on the last go when I tried to increase their power it only backfired on me... I don't know what kind of magic is contained within these things, but I've tried just about every healing spell and potion we have and nothing is treating these burns" Erun explained.
"What about Vasilisa? Was she able to do anything?" Adriana asked.
"Well she tried seeing if she could harness the power of these shards, but..." Hikos began, then pointed to a hole in the ceiling
.......
"Help me!!! How is this even possible?!?!" Vasilisa said; her lower clothing (pants/skirt?) had transformed into rockets, beyond her control, and she was just flying around in a giant figure 8 of sorts about a mile or so above the caravan
.......
"I see... oh, I'm sorry to change topics, but has Volun been reconstructed yet?" Adriana asked.
"Progress has been slowed by... unforeseen circumstances" Mark explained, who then indicated Ruth. Ruth was holding the golem core, which while intact, now had many cracks in it, indicating the damage it had taken.
"Hmmm... I think I may be able to repair it, I just need to find the book I'm thinking of to do so. What about you Mark, any luck with the shards?" Adriana asked.
"No... when I tried to wield its power, this thing manifested on my arm" He said, indicating some sort of shackle that seemed to be stuck tightly to his left wrist. "And every time one of us tries to remove it we get a jolt of lightning magic" Mark explained. "But the thing is... I tried teleporting out of it, but every time I try to teleport it glows and prevents me from doing so" Mark explained.
"I did hear tales of an alloy that prevents teleportation when worn as a shackle or stuck in a room of the alloy... most interesting indeed" Adriana explained. "Wait, what happened to Lauren then?" Adriana asked, concerned.
"Well the shards just super-heated in my hands... but otherwise I got off relatively easy" she said... indicating the massive goat horns now growing out of the sides of her head... she had to lie down in order to not strain her neck and back.
Adriana was now concerned about her comrades. Then she looked at Hikos. "What about you?" She asked.
"For the most part I'm not really having issues. But everyone else seems to indicate otherwise" he shrugged.
"I don't understand" Adriana asked.
"Well every time he's picked up a shard... he enters this trance and speaks the same message. But after the message ends he just goes about business as normal" Gilford explained.
"Let me hear it" Adriana ordered.
Hikos shrugged and picked up the shard. As if on cue, his eyes rolled backwards and a voice began speaking that was not Hikos' voice:
"You damned fools! How DARE you steal these sacred shards! These are not treasures meant to be taken and sold or exploited! These shards are source of great power, ONLY available to the good-hearted, humble individuals whose desire is to protect their home from the forces of evil! You have stolen these shards from their rightful owners and thus have proven UNWORTHY of the power within! Return these shards to their owners at once, OR YOUR SUFFERING SHALL ONLY WORSEN!!!"
Hikos' eyes went back to normal, and he continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "Did this prove anything?" He asked.
"This was not mind control or possession... it was something else all together. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's almost as if something was using Hikos here as a conduit to send a message. Who and why though I cannot say" Adriana concluded.
"There's still one thing I don't understand... why aren't you and Ruth affected by all this?" Mark asked.
"I can only presume it is because we did not take part in the raid itself" Adriana concluded.
"That settles it then... these shards are too dangerous to exist" Shiju said as he drew his sword. "I must destroy them" he declared.
"Shiju, wait!" Adriana began, but it was too late... Shiju's sword made contact with a shard and there was a blinding flash. When everything was clear again everyone looked in shock... Shiju's sword, hands and forearms had been petrified. Shiju screamed in agony
"Ruth! Get the gorgon venom!" Adriana said in shock as her apprentice ran to get the bottle. A while later, Ruth came back, but there was a horrified look on her face.
"I'm sorry Adriana..." Ruth said, turning the bottle upside down, indicating it was empty. With a pang, Adriana remembered that they had used their supply to unpetrify Gerard but they never had the chance to restock.
"Shiju, remain calm, I promise I will figure this out" Adriana said before going to the part of the caravan where she kept her books.
......
(2 days after the attack)
At the headquarters of the Blue faction, Woman In Blue came into the foyer of the base, which thankfully had been repaired in a timely fashion with outside help due to some favors owed to the faction. "I've reported this incident to Majika Supremus... this more or less constitutes an illegal declaration of war since their recklessness endangered non-magic innocents, but as usual they can't do anything until an investigation is completed, which can take weeks" Woman In Blue groaned.
"Ugh, why couldn't they have witnessed it first hand! Would have saved us so much trouble!" Man In Gold groaned.
"Probably would be to deus ex machina, eh?" Man In Blue stated.
"What did you say?" Woman In Blue asked, confused.
"Sorry; recently I've been feeling like I'm becoming more... aware of things. I'm trying to rein it in, but some things I'm noticing are causing weird things to happen" Man In Blue said.
"Like what?" Woman In Blue asked.
"It's making me think about things I wouldn't normally think about like... what's the point to all of this anyway? Why are we willing to go to such lengths to get these shards in the first place? Is there a point or reason? Why not just let these shards stay hidden or let the other parties have them?" Man In Blue asked.
Woman In Blue and Man In Gold each exchanged a look before leading Daniel to an area where the assembled high members of he faction could answer the question.
"It's very simple Daniel" Man In Gold explained. "It's because... we are the rightful owners of the Prism shards" he continued.
"But who says that is so? We can't just claim ownership over something because we want to... we aren't Christopher Columbus" Man In Blue explained.
"No, but it is the Will of the Spirit" Man In Silver explained.
"Will of the Spirit?" Man In Blue asked.
"When the Prism was intact its power was guarded by a Spirit within to ensure it would not be misused. After the shattering the Spirit lost its stability and was forced to go into a hibernation of sorts. But before it did, it conveyed one last message" Man In Gold explained, before telling the story
......
The assembled remaining good Colorfolk dedicated to the faction assembled around the last prism shard. It was primarily the Blue, Gold, Silver and White lines, but there were also some secondary lines that also remained noble, they just were not as openly dedicated.
"My remaining sworn defenders... if you are seeing this, then it means my job is almost complete" the Spirit's message began. "While only a handful of your kin have turned outright evil, many others have become apathetic and abandoned their duties. In this state I cannot protect the power effectively anymore, so I have been forced to do the unthinkable... I have scattered the other shards to ensure they never become found... until the time is right. I have also provided them with natural defensive mechanisms, but even these alone cannot fully protect the shards from those who will misuse their power. Reassembling the Prism would have solved our problems... but for reasons I do not understand, I have been unable to reform the Prism to its whole state. My time is almost up, so I part with this message- so long as this group remains noble, I will the ownership of the shards to you, the faction who remains dedicated as defenders of your homeland. As long as you and your bloodlines remain noble and committed to the mission at hand... the right of ownership to these shards is yours"
And with that, the message ended, and the shard lost some of its glow... this shard would become the only shard the Blue faction would have for a long, long time ......
"That is why we are committed to finding the shards Daniel... it is our responsibility as the owners of the shards to retrieve them and ensure their power never falls into the wrong hands" Woman In White explained.
"I... I understand. When do we move out?" Man In Blue asked, now determined to do the right thing.
"Kendarboo just dropped off the information, we are making plans as we speak" Man In White assured.
"There's still one thing I don't understand... why isn't the Black faction using the same "Colorfolk exclusive" tools and stuff we use?" Man In Blue asked
......
(Back to "present" with Black faction reinforcements coming up on caravan)
"look, just hear me out. If we dedicate even some time to..." Man In Off White began
"For the last time, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT INSTA-SPELLS OR THE ALLOYS! MY ONLY CONCERN IS THE SHARDS!" Man In Black boomed.
"Ok, ok, sheesh. One track mind, much?" Man In Off White grumbled as he went back into formation.
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 30, 2019 0:03:33 GMT -5
Meanwhile, in the top room of the tower at the center of the Magic Underground, three robed representatives of Majykka Supremus addressed representatives from the other factions.
"I am Isaac Fard of Magika Supremus Enforcement Division. You of course know my companions, Icarus Shid, also from ED, and Camin My, Professor, Archeology-Naturology-Technology-Spiritology. We have troubling news regarding recent developments from the island of New Furness."
"The Guild has been monitoring that location for some time, but we are interested to hear your report." The Optometrist said.
"I'm sorry, what? New Furness is a United States land, and thus under the purview of the Order Of Gerade!" Bellowed a large bearded man, Butch Eagleton.
"Do not worry, sir, I'm sure the GOD had a good reason for their actions," said Headmaster Luncrett, in a tone that conveyed a subtle threat.
"Why is no one concerned about Mister Fard here violating US territory?" asked Chancellor Ramir of the Spirit Speakers.
"Because at least Magykka Supremus tries to do good, despite their questionable methods." Declared a pale blue figure, Sergei Meerov from the Icetouched.
"If we could continue," intoned Fard, "we have evidence that at least five independent mage guilds are operating on the island of New Furness, engaged in a protracted war over powerful artifacts of alien origin."
"Oh, is that all?" The Optometrist asked. "Or are you going to tell them the good bit?"
"None of this is "good", Mister Devonshire." Fard said, his usually emotionless voice still managing to portray contempt.
"God, lighten up, would you? You Majika Supremus higher-ups are always so robotic. Even the ice zombies have some frigging personality!"
"That's racist!" Shouted another pale blue figure, Vitoria Revinev.
"If we could finish!" Fard snapped. "While three of the factions are of no real concern- a small band of street performers living in a wagon, a band of medieval larpers, and a wacky doomsday cult in a tower- the remaining two are cause for concern. We believe based on our Intel that two splinter factions of the original Magykka-based Colorfolk are engaged in a war of attrition. They have already released a golem on a major civilian center."
"Criminy!" Luncrett exclaimed. "The Colorfolk of yore created all of the mighty alloys we employed in the construction of the Underground. Viktrium, Trafnium... oh lordy, Vallerium..."
"Vallerium is incredibly dangerous even in small qualities." Meerov chimed in. "I've known fellow healers loose all magic and even be killed from prolonged exposure. You Warm Ones are less vulnerable, but unless we want another Panama incident, we should intervene..."
"Why does everyone bring up Panama every time..." muttered Ramir's companion, Chancellor Sanch.
"Your faction set of a Vallerium-laced explosive! The entire Panama Canal still nullifies all magic in a 20 mile radius!" Shouted Eagleton.
"Be that as it may, we should not be hasty." Fard said. "My here has been in contact with one of the colorfolk factions recently, and we plan to extend diplomatic invitations to both within the month. But we will be closely monitoring the island and doing whatever we can to hide this foolish little faction war from the non-magic populace."
"Um... in the interest of full disclosure..." The Optometrist squirmed in his seat.
"Oh christ, what did you do, Fark?" Roared Eagleton.
"Hypothetically, if I knew the Helado Gang was going to attack one of the colorfolk bases in..." The Optometrist checked his watch "...seven minutes, what would you say?"
Every eye in the room glared at the Optometrist.
**********
In the time since the attack on the Colorfolk's lair, Woman In Orange had organized a pretty impressive defense surrounding the entire ruined town of Marwell. Man In Black had grudgingly gone along with the plan once Woman In Orange suggested that once they caught the intruders, they could claim the Blue Faction shards for themselves. While it was a bit of a rush job, and they didn't have time to produce any colorfolk alloys, a small pile of instaspells had been produced and a magic shield surrounded the hotel, as well as a variety of clever non-magic and magic traps. Now, though, the Black Faction got into position and waited. Except, of course, for Man In Infrared and Man In Amber Apricot, who were almost done with their device, but enough about them. The Helado Gang was about to strike, but what they thought would be an easy assignment was about to turn into a train wreck for them...
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Post by Tug on Jul 31, 2019 16:48:20 GMT -5
"Alright, here's the plan: Coco, C.C. and I will sneak into their base to find these 'Shards' or whatever. We'll take something off the two on the Bounty if we come across but as long as we get the shards we should be fine... Rhodes, you take Rhum and Scotch and be the distraction, we're going to need you to cause enough of a distraction that they don't see us slip in and out with them goodies in tow..." ordered Vanil
"Right Boss, Scotch take the reins, Rhum, you're in the back with me, I'll need your ungodly aim... But wait Boss, the wagon ain't covered, how are you and the girls gonna get up close without bein' noticed?" asked Rhodes
"Don't worry... I have a plan..." lamented Vanil as Coco and C.C. sighed in realizing his train of thought...
.....
Man in Yellow and Man in Orange were standing at the front door of the Hotel Marwood as they could of sworn the sound of stampeding hooves...
"Hey... Is it just me, or do you hear hor..." was all Man in Yellow could get out as rushing broncos came brigading right out of the bush straight toward them...
"Howdy fellas" said the driver as he stopped the cart. As the two Colormen began casting their spells, a giant man in the back of the horse drawn cart(?) pulled off a covered sheet and revealed a god damn Gatling Gun...
"Die you Son Bitch!" he shouted as hundreds of rounds of pure gunpowder and steel came flying at them, tearing the magical barrier around the hotel to shreds in an instant. The strange thing about the bullets were the magical flaming qualities that emanated of them, causing Man in Orange to catch fire. Before Man in Yellow could respond, a man hidden behind the giant man shot a bullet from his rifle than encased the Colorman in a block of honey...
"My turn..." said the Driver as he removed two similar looking bundles of candles(?) from within his jacket and threw right at the unguarded door. After only a few seconds the inflamed Man in Orange and the hindered realized those weren't bundles of candles, but dynamite! Strangely, only one exploded, destroying the front door entirely, and the other created a large cloud of smoke that normal eyes could hardly pierce through. Three figures dropped from under the cart, and the final one knocked on the side of the wood in a sort of a signal...
"That's it boys, ride on!" shouted Rhodes as Scotch regrabbed the reins, yelled, "Hiyah!", and the trio ran back towards the forest...
Vanil, C.C., and Coco slipped into through the obnoxious smoke and barely standing remains of front door into the Colorfolk's base... It even seemed to be catching fire... This was going better than Vanil thought it would...
.....
From within Woman in Orange's surveillance room, she thought, 'This is going better than she ever thought!'
.....
Man in Infrared and Man in Amber Apricot heard the sounds of explosions and honey casting and thought simultaneously, 'You know, this might be a good time to strike!'
.....
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 31, 2019 17:20:47 GMT -5
Vanil, C.C, and Coco stepped into the lobby of the Hotel Marwood. Unconsciously, C.C. began humming a song she remembered from a movie about puppets, but Coco poked her and she shut up.
The hotel lobby appeared abandoned. A check-in desk sat opposite a pair of elevators. A fancy staircase led up to a part of the second floor, although the red carpeting and gold leaf railings had long ago been pulled up to pay for various magic trinkets. Behind the fancy staircase were two hallways leading to a pool and a dining room.
"Well, this ain't so bad... I figured they'd put up more resistance than that... now, we just gotta find the shards..."
"You mean like this?"
The trio turned to see Woman In Orange, holding one of the shards, standing at the top of the stairs.
"Shoot her!" Vanil yelled.
CC and Coco drew their guns, but suddenly Woman In Orange shouted something.
"What the... I can't see!"
"Me either!"
Vanil had seen something like this coming and had avoided the worst of the Blinden Vron spell, but his vision was still spinning. He loaded some lightning bullets into one of his revolvers and shot three times in Woman In Orange's direction. Bolts of lightning singed the wall behind her.
"That's a nice trick, pal. Now check out mine." Woman In Orange threw the shard in the air. Vanil resisted the urge to grab it, which was a good call, as the illusion faded out in midair, revealing a very angry porcupine.
"Alright, missy, you've got some nice tricks up your sleeve, but howsabout you fight fair?"
"You'll have to catch me first!" And Woman In Orange ran down the hall to room 206.
C.C. and Coco, now unblinded, followed her. Or at least, C.C. did. Coco, sensing a trick, turned to Vanil at the top of the stairs.
"It's a distraction. Smart money says the goods are on the top floor. Oldest trick in the book."
"You may be right. Let's let C.C. do her thing though... best to let them think we're not onto them."
As Vanil and Coco searched for a way other than the elevators to get to the top floor (they correctly guessed that they were booby trapped), C.C. charged into room 206 to find eight colorwomen pointing their hands at her.
"Aw, f-"
But then they delivered a beatdown using all eight elements, and suddenly C.C. hurt too much to talk.
*******
Meanwhile, Man In Infrared activated the device.
"Now, we don't know what creature this thing will summon, but we should have total control over it."
"I'm hoping for a honey dragon." Man In Amber Apricot said.
"Come on, those don't exist. I'd be happy with just a griffin."
"Oh please, there are dragons for every other element, so why not..."
Suddenly, the machine shuddered, and a spectral red mist emerged from the machine and began to coalesce.
"Finally..."
What appeared, however, was not anything close to what they wanted. It was fifty feet tall, roughly humanoid, with legs as thick as tree trunks, and a single, terrifying eye.
"Is that... a cyclops?"
"No! That thing's way too powerful for our plan!"
The cyclops grabbed the shed that the device had been in, completely ripping it from the ground, and threw it as far as it could.
"Oh no..."
In room 418, meanwhile, Man In Black, Man In Green, Man In Off-White, and Man In Ghost-White were waiting, as the drawer where the seven shards were hidden glowed slightly.
Suddenly, Man In Green looked out the window. "Sir! There's a... some sort of giant!"
"My god! That's no giant! That's a cyclops!" Man In Off-White yelled. "We need to destroy it before it reaches the hotel!"
"Don't you dare leave your posts!" Man In Black yelled, but it was too late. The other three had leapt out the window to fight the cyclops.
"Bah... I'm still powerful enough to defend these shards on my own..." Man In Black laughed.
As if on cue, the door opened and Coco charged in. "Vanil! I found-"
But before she could say any more, Man In Black called upon the deepest, evilest impulses of his corrupted soul. A wave of horrific black gunk shot out of his eyes, completely encasing Coco. She struggled to move, her entire body growing heavy from the corrupting influence. Her life force was literally flowing out of her, making the anchor tattoo on Man In Black's cheek glow a brilliant blue as he seemed to visibly become more powerful.
"Bring everything you've got!" He bellowed animalistically.
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Post by Tug on Jul 31, 2019 18:48:40 GMT -5
"Well partner, if your reputation proceeds you, I'll bring everything and more!" laughed Vanil as he ran into the room, fired off six shots, then ducked behind an overturned cabinet, avoiding black gunk shot at him along the way...
"You'll get these shards over my dead body!" shouted Man in Black as he shot black gunk at the peaking Vanil, who got a bit stuck to his pants leg...
"That's good for me, since the Guild wanted that too!" smugly replied a panting Vanil as he shook off the gunk from his leg, hopped over the cabinet, and began firing twelve shots at the Man in Black...
"Fool!" yelled Man in Black as he dodged almost every bullet, but the ones he didn't he shook off with relative ease. Coalescing the gunk around his arm into a dark black appendage... With the force of his will and might, the gunk shot off of his arm and grabbed Vanil around the throat, now dangling the cowboy off of the floor...
"Any last words Cowboy?" laughed Man in Black with a devilish grin on his face...
"You... Should... Really watch.. Your surroundings... More carefully... GO DOUGH!" yelled a gasping Vanil
"Huh?" questioned Man in Black as he turned to see a tiny clay golem finish stuffing the six shards into a tiny bag and jump out the window into the battle below... What Man in Black didn't notice when he hit Vanil was, that it wasn't just gunk he was shaking out of his pants...
Man in Black threw the cowboy across the room as he leaped for the window, only to be smashed into the ground along with the wall by a swinging arm of the rampaging Cyclops...
"Don't focus on the monster damn it! That thing has the shard! STOP THAT GOLEM!" screamed Man in Black as the other Colorfolk did as their leader commanded...
A panting and injured Vanil got up and brushed the gunk off Coco as quickly as possible, she was fine, but incredibly sucked of energy...
"Did we get 'em?" asked Coco, tiredly
"Yeah, and we're getting out of here, so let's find C.C. But first..." replied Vanil as he got to exposed wall and whistled with his fingers as loudly as possible, this was the recovery signal for the distraction group...
As if on cue, a wildly running horse drawn wagon came rolling out of the forest...
"Hot damn! What is that monstrosity?" asked Rhum
"Doesn't matter what in tarnation it is, just shoot damn it!" replied Rhodes as he hit the thing with a round from his shotgun
.....
Back inside the hotel, the Colorwomen had tied up C.C. and we wondering what to do with her...
"I hope we can take her to the basement, that's where all the 'fun' equipment's kept..." smirked Woman in Off-White
Just then a knock on the door came...
"Room Service!"
"We didn't order any room service... Hey wait a min..." was all that was said the door was kicked in as three objects came flying into the room. The first was a similar smoke bomb as was used earlier and filled up the room entirely. The other two objects were tomahawks, one flew spinning through the air and cut C.C.'s binds, and kept flying by taking on the form of a bird that emitted lightning, taking out Woman in Off-White. The other landed just short of Woman in Orange, and before she could laugh, a giant green horned spirit emerged from the weapon and began destroying the room, with the smoke around them, it was hard to fight the intangible monster...
Vanil and Coco came bursting into the room, grabbed their rambunctious thief, and dragged her out the way they came in...
"What's going on? Did you get the shards?" asked C.C. as the other two kept up their sprint...
"Doesn't matter right now, we're heading for the roof!" said Vanil as they could hear shouts of 'After them!' and crashing noises from behind
"Why the roo... Oh no..."
.....
Outside, the Cyclops was now trying to hit both the furiously moving wagon and mages attacking it. Rhum was dangling off the side looking for what they could assume was Vanil's 'secret weapon'...
"You see the little guy?" asked Scotch as he dodged another of the giant's fist...
"Not yet... There!" yelled Rhum as he watched the little thief dodge black gunk being hurled his way and the Cyclops' thundering steps...
"STOP IT!" yelled Man in Black as his subordinates were too busy dodging the rampaging monster...
Using the butt of his rifle, Rhum dangled the weapon right above the golem as the wagon rolled on by. Dough hopped up and grabbed the 'giant', to him anyway, gun and held on fir his life. Rhum used all his force once he saw the little guy holding on to swing back into the wagon and landed on his back right next to the little clay golem...
"Got 'em!" smiled Rhum as he gave the golem a thumbs up and proceeded to stand back up, readying his gun for the coming onslaught...
"We're not out of the woods yet, get ready boys..." spoke Rhodes as he sensed the pure anger oozing off of the Man in Black
"Hey! I see the Boss! his group's... On the roof? Oh no..." said Scotch...
Up on the roof, Vanil was approaching the edge as Coco and C.C. blocked the roof door with whatever they could find as they heard the sound of thunderous steps from the stairwell below...
"Rhodes! It's time to do the Downfall Maneuver!" shouted Vanil from the rooftop
"You heard the man fellas! Rhum, ready your aim! Scotch, don't stop charging, no matter!" ordered Rhodes as he reloaded the Gatling Gun, ready to crank
"Alright you two, when you hear the Gatling gun, jump!" said Vanil who began as the two women groaned and let go of the door and began to sprint after their boss...
Rhum first shot off a round of rifle into the creature's eye, encasing it in a block of honey, blinding it for the time being. Rhodes then unleashed an entire clip of the Gatling gun's ammo right into the Cyclops' legs, knocking it forward and landing in sort of an incline position. Scotch reined the horses on a furious charge up the fallen giant's legs leaping across his back... Vanil, Coco, and C.C. meanwhile, jumped from the edge of the Hotel's roof towards the monster, landing roughly where the cart would be. The three managed to just grab the vehicle and pull themselves aboard just as the horses landed on the Cyclops' neck and used his bobbing head as a way back down safely to the ground... Dough during all this held onto the sturdiest thing in the wagon, Rhodes' leg... As the blur of maneuver completed itself, the rampaging running guns heading right back towards the forest, disappearing into the ensnaring thicket...
Man in Black had tried to hit the speeding horses with his black gunk to no avail, mostly due to no expecting the sheer madness of the move that had transpired before him...
"Ignore the beast... All of you... AFTER THEM!!!!!" screamed the furious leader as black gunk shot from throughout his body in a furious, explosion-like manner...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 31, 2019 19:51:55 GMT -5
Man In Black stopped lashing out for a moment, when he saw the flames slowly but steadily growing around the hotel. "Amend that- those with lower amounts of magic try and put out the fire- the REST of you go after them!" He said as the larger of the groups began chasing the cowboy themed gang.
"Let's do what we can to save the base" One said as the others nodded.
Man In Yellow came frantically running up to the group, holding a crate of a staple starch. "Don't worry guys, even if the base burns down I was able to save the corn" Man In Yellow said, panting.
"Phew, thank Goodness they didn't steal the Almrania corn also" one of the Colorwomen sighed in relief.
"Wait, did you get the Falgria wine stash also?" One of the Colormen asked.
"Uh..." Man In Yellow began, sweating nervously.
Man In Black, who was getting ready to chase the cowboys, exploded again, "HOW COULD YOU FORGET ABOUT THE ONE THING I NEED JUST AS MUCH AS THE SHARDS?!" He boomed.
"Don't you have cowboys to chase?" Man In Yellow said to change the subject
"F---!!!" Man In Black boomed as he took off in the same direction as the group that left earlier.
The Black faction then proceeded to try and bring some order to what had just happened.
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Post by Tug on Jul 31, 2019 20:23:15 GMT -5
The thundering hooves of Mone and Moni pounded on the soggy terrain of Kabnekah Swamp as the Helado Gang raced out of Colorfolk Territory...
"We're finally out of Marwood" sighed C.C. happily
"We're not home free yet, we still have to get back to the guild with them in pursuit... Rhum, take up shotgun next to Scotch, and Rhodes, be ready with the Gatlin' Gun for any more surprises... But I think we pulled the wool over their eyes this time..." said Vanil as he rested Dough on his shoulder with the bag of shards at his feet...
"I think we might be home free!" said Rhum as his associated looked at him in anger and Scotch hitting him upside the head...
"Damn it Rhum!"
"Why did you have to go and say that!"
"What?"
"Now you're just askin' trouble to come and find us!"
.....
"Back at Klofkroc Industries, Man in White came rushing to find Woman in Blue...
"Melody! We found the shards! They're rapidly heading towards the western towns!"
"Ready a team to pursuit! We can't let shame befall the good name of the Spirit any longer!"
.....
Back at the Caravan...
"That's strange, six more shards have appeared, and they're... On the move?" spoke Adriana as she looked at her crystal ball...
"There's no time to lose then! Mark, Vas, and Lauren, come with me, Gilford, Erun, and Shiju protect the Mistress and the remaining shards while we're gone..." said Hikos
"And how will you catch them my liege?" asked Gilford
"Easy, with our ever loyal hound, Bask!" shouted Hikos as he whistled and the lazy dog shot up and leaped onto the hammer wielder, licking his face excitedly...
"Good Luck!" wished Ruth
As Hikos got up, he spoke to the now energetic dog and said, "Alright bud we have to catch up to some people, so we really need your other form, alright?"
"Arf!" barked Bask in response as average sized dog began to suddenly grow huge until he was slightly bigger than the cart itself, towering over even the armored Gilford...
"Alright, everyone hop on up!" said Hikos as the loyal canine crouched foward to allow the passengers aboard...
"Da, but I still think his other form is cuter..." lamented Vasilisa as she followed suit
"Don't listen to her, you adorable hound..." coddled Lauren as Bask wagged his tail in approval of the praise
"Alright Mark, your turn!" yelled Hikos
"Certainly!" replied Mark as he blew his whistle and gold dust flew out of it, forming a portal Bask and his riders ran on right through...
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