destinystrings | Aries Dungeon Crawl

Entry tags:

Aries Dungeon Crawl

WE'VE GOT FUN & GAMES

Who: The Visitors (Open Log)
Where: Scorpio, Cancer, Aquarius, and Taurus wards.
Summary: The Zodiac Monster Circus has arrived!
When: 19th of April, 11AC
Warnings: Evil clowns, body horror, terrifying circus-themed monstrosities.

It starts with four massive circus tents assembling in the four corners of the city. As strange clowns pour out of the tents, hooting and laughing with sadistic glee, a booming voice echoes out across Hinoto-Ri.

"LLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAADIES ANNNNNNND GGGGGGGGGENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE GRRRRRRRRREATEST SHOW ON EARTH! IN THE SCORPIO DISTRICT: THE ARIES CARNIVAL'S WORLD-FAMOUS ANIMAL ACT! IN THE CANCER DISTRICT: THE HHHHOUSE OF MIRRRRRORRRS! IN TAURUS, THE UNUSUAL AND DISTRACTING FREEEEEEAKSHOW! AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, IN AQUARIUS, A CALVACADE OF WHIMSY AND DARING WITH A DUAL-BOOKED SHOW OF CLOWNS AND OUR VERY OWN HIGH WIRE ACT!"

The circus has come to town! Jolly fun for everyone*!

Disclaimer: fun may not actually be jolly.

(OOC: No set tagging order; just pick a thread, jump in, and replies will be made as necessary. Feel free to specify how creepy you want or don't want it to be.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Who's going around flinging a barrage of lasers every which way in order to thin out the ranks of the clowns? ~~MiRa~~ The Blood Red Rider, that's who! She hasn't quite made it to any of the tents yet, though she probably should go to one of the tents. Perhaps disabling one of the acts will also disable the flow of Klowns through the city. But she's not there yet, so all she can do is fling lasers and use her Persona when necessary.]

[ This was definitely demonic work.

Takakage usually stayed in his apartment during the Thirteenth Hour, but the announcer's auditory blast managed to draw him out. It seemed to be a full-scale invasion of demons - eerie human-like forms paraded through the streets. Perhaps a little too human for comfort. There were no civilians being attacked in the immediate area, but that did not exclude the possibility of harm done somewhere else.

Plus, the voice mentioned tents. These could be reasonably deduced to be the source of these demons. And as Jonathan informed him on the day of his arrival... he was called here to aid the city in times like these.

He called out Koppa Tengu, just to be safe. Though... as he traversed the city's streets, there was a noticeable lack of demons in one area. Following its trail, he came upon a woman dressed in angular clothing. At least, he assumed it was a woman - she was firing energy beams left and right, fending off demons which charged from all sides.

Well... assistance was customary, at this point.

Closing his eyes, he extended his awareness outwards. There was an underground water pool nearby - it was called a drain, if her called correctly - though its contents were not very hygienic, only water responded to his mental persuasion, so it would not be a problem. It would be enough.

A few seconds later a torrent of water erupted through the drain grilles, rising in a fluid arc and circling Takakage like a barrier. With a flick of his wrist he brought the water whip forcefully down on a group of demons nearby - which were sliced clean in half. Best to keep them at a distance, now - there was no telling what harm they could do if they came too close. ]

As the Klowns are sliced in half, a siren starts howling as an ambulance only a foot tall, at best, barrels onto the scene. The doors on the back slam open, and a twisted mass of undifferentiated flesh pours out of it - a giant blob of meat dotted with eyes, mouths, and teeth. With a sound of ripping flesh and cracking bones, a Klown pulls itself free from the blob, honking a horn at Takakage and the Blood-Red Rider, soon followed by even more of the creatures tearing themselves loose.

Out of the dozen Klowns, ten confront the two Visitors, with the other two shoving the bisected remains of the other Klowns into the ambulance, which slams its doors shuts and starts driving in circles.

It seems as if it'll be necessary to destroy the Hospital Klown Kar if you want to clear out the Klowns.

[ This was... beyond disturbing. The word didn't do enough justice, even.

His breath hitched - but only for a moment, as willpower and logic snuff out most traces of fear. You have seen countless men decimated upon the field of battle. This is nothing different. ~~But what if these were their souls coming back to haunt him?~~

Focus, Takakage. Now is not the time to mull upon these things.

The vehicle was quite small, but it moved rapidly. It seemed to have the ability to regenerate demons... then, taking it out ought to be priority.

He raised his voice (hopefully) enough for the woman to hear. ]

"I will ll take care of the healing device. Please keep a watch on the other demons!"

[ Koppa Tengu circled him like a kite, raining needles and bolts of light upon any creatures that got too close. However, it was unable to spare any attention for the other demons that were either after the woman, or undecided in who to attack.

The water whip that the strategist had been using split in half, with one half falling harmlessly to the ground - he didn't need that much water for the second half of this strategy. Recalling the technique that he had created before, he separated the water into small globules that hung in the air directly above him. A good half-minute's concentration enabled him to bring them to an incredibly high pressure -

- and he loosed the barrage of arrow rain.

The targeted vehicle was fast enough to evade the water jets, but Takakage didn't intend to hit it directly. Instead, the needles herded it towards his combat partner - whose prowess should be enough to decimate it. ]

"Go for it!"

"Neat trick with the water," MiRa said, genuinely meaning it. Coming from a world that was (mostly?) non-magical made displays of magic that much more impressive to her. Changing the formation of her blades, she began to shoot lasers every which way, blasting encroaching Klowns out of the way (and possibly making the scene a bit dicey for Takakage in the process).

Soon, however, that ambulance was headed towards MiRa, and she needed to think of a way to stop it in its tracks. Lasers were always good, yes, but she felt like getting a bit fancy at this point. She summoned Talos- a giant, bulky-looking robotic humanoid- and had it punch straight forward in a Bash attack. "Try getting out of THIS traffic accident!"

In the heat of the moment, it didn't quite occur to her that anyone seeing her now who had also seen the Grand Prix would know her non-Rider identity from sharing a persona, or the fact that someone could just put two and two together from the persona's appearance and conclude that she was a robot (might require a leap of logic or two, but it could happen).

As the Bash attack strikes the ambulance, it flies apart, spraying Klown flesh over the surrounding area. The few remaining Klowns immediately disengage from the battle and run around wildly, scooping up gobbets of meat. They quickly form themselves into a humanoid pyramid, the flesh of their fallen fellows melting like wax and flowing over their forms. When it ends, there is a Kolossus of a Klown towering over the pair, ten feet high and clutching a massive squeaky mallet. What would have been a squeak of anger from a normal-sized Klown is turned into a booming HONK as the newly-formed Kolossus bellows out its anger.

The Blood-Red Rider and Takakage are now in the shadow of the Kolossus, and they must defeat it to proceed.

Takakage would indeed have put two and two together - if he had been present at the Grand Prix. Alas, he arrived in Hinoto-Ri after the tournament had ended, and thus had no way of doing so. However, he did hear news of a giant mechanical persona...

... but that was the least of his concerns at this moment. Their opponent was priority.

He hadn't thought of the fact that the demons could aggregate. The resultant entity was large and presumably possessed incredible strength - but its size and resultant slow speed could be turned against it. A quick mental scan revealed that the demon was a third composed of water. He could theoretically tear it to pieces just by summoning water out of its body, but the concentration required would put his physical body in danger of being attacked. Plus, the demon could regenerate - if he did not do it quickly enough, it might heal itself and render his efforts for naught.

Another strategy would be needed.

Assuming that it had a similar muscular structure to humans... then he might be able to incapacitate it enough for the woman to obliterate it with her energy beams.

"I can prevent it from moving, but you'll need to cover for me." Trusting Koppa Tengu to watch over him, Takakage closed his eyes and assumed a defensive stance. Collecting the water left over on the ground, he persuaded it to form four scythelike blades. Putting pressure on them was easy for him, now - but whether he could aim for the correct muscles was still uncertain.

It took half a minute for the blades to reach a comfortable sharpness - now, they were ready to be released. The giant monster's skin toughness was still an unknown - as a test, he sent one crescent blade flying in a wide arc towards the demon's Achilles' tendon.

Edited (phone autocorrect makes dumb typos) 2014-04-22 01:30 (UTC)

As the water blade slices open the Kolossus' leg, it's not blood but grease paint that flows out of it, the face of a Klown appearing from within the wound and honking angrily. A pair of hands appear from inside the Kolossus' body and begin drawing the gash slowly closed, leaving the Kolossus teetering unsteadily.

... what?

He expected the giant to have healing ability, but not one so... gruesome...

Takakage turned to the armoured lady. She seemed alright with taking suggestions from him, but by now most of his strategy relied on her firepower. He hoped that she would continue to comply.

"When I give the signal, strike it the hardest you can!"

He closed his eyes once more, focusing his awareness of the surrounding water to incredible acuity. He could sense the giant by virtue of its veins - presumably filled with some other fluid other than blood - and the four scythes which he had been carefully maintaining.

About the woman, though. She had much less water than a human should... but he could worry about that later.

The water constructs merged in pairs, producing two razor-sharp disks from four crescents. They hovered in midair for a few moments while Takakage funneled in as much willpower as he could -

- and fired.

With a barely audible whoosh the blades shot forward, circling the giant's ankles once before beginning their assault. They carved spirals upon its legs, racing upwards onto the giant's back before embedding themselves just beside its shoulder blades. While the grooves they scored weren't deep enough to cut bone, they did accomplish their job of slicing through quite a few muscles. The Achilles' Tendon was definitely gone, as well as the muscle enabling upper arm movement. As for the rest - he didn't have time to check.

At this point, the strategist was completely relying on his partner to keep his physical body safe. With the amount of concentration required, he had none left to spare for paying attention to his physical environment.

"Now!"

He hoped she could hear him.

In a bid to assist the armoured woman, he forced the discs deeper into the giant's body. It was met with significant resistance, as expected -

- as well as a faint but growing pressure just behind his eyes.

You're reaching your limit.

Takakage prayed that the woman would finish their opponent off quickly. He had greater mental fortitude than the average human, but even with that this battle was proving to be much more taxing. He would not be able to repeat the cycle again. Another arrow barrage, maybe, but nothing as fast and furious as these razors.

"Got it!" MiRa then came up with a brilliant (?) idea. This man was using water. She had a lightning skill on Talos. This would either be good or very very messy (or perhaps both, given the precedent the Klowns had set thus far).

Summoning Talos once more, she directed it to cast Mazio on the Kolossus. The robot shot several balls of lightning towards the beast out of cannons that came out of its back. She wasn't quite aware of the strain Takakage's magic was putting on him, but she felt that it would be imperative to put an end to the giant soon so that he could at least get his breath.

She also began to rapid-fire lasers from each of her blades, hoping for some added damage. She could have charged up one huge laser, but there wouldn't be time... what she wouldn't have given for her Zord (that is, her giant mech) right now.

Edited 2014-04-22 23:44 (UTC)

As the electricity strikes the Kolossus, meaty chunks of flesh are blown off, screaming Klown faces inside. As the extra lasers hit home, slicing off more chunks, the Kolossus teeters and falls over, squeaky hammer flying into the air. As it strikes the ground, small, jagged rocks are sent flying at the pair of Visitors, the Kolossus kollapsing into a pile of meat and Klowns. One of the Klowns, its body torn to ragged shreds, produces a brace of cotton candy cones and starts eating, its wounds healing up as it does so.

It is then crushed beneath the squeaky hammer, landing at last. Grease paint puddles underneath the head of the weapon, all that remains of the Klown aside from its arms, each of them clutching a generous serving of cotton candy.

The street is silent.

Takakage didn't expect the woman's Persona to use a lightning skill. Most of the resultant electricity discharged into the giant's body, but some sparks travelled backwards into the water he was controlling. He hadn't fully disengaged his mind from the water yet -

- and the shock hit him, searing through what little focus he had left. The water blades he had been maintaining lost their shape, spraying harmlessly upon the ground.

Having no strength left to steel himself against the rain of rubble that followed, the strategist collapsed onto his Persona - which fortunately had the foresight to take up a position next to him. The avian covered him with one wing, feathers glowing with a soft calming aura.

Cotton candy, huh? MiRa would have liked to try some... if she could eat, that is. She moved closer to Takakage, looking him over and trying to see if he had been wounded or was simply just exhausted. "Are you alright? I'm afraid I have no healing skills to support you with."

Koppa Tengu hooted softly, covering Takakage with its other wing. The yellow glow from its feathers intensified, and he felt renewed strength surging into his limbs, enough for his headache to temporarily subside.

A few moments later the avian released him. The strategist shook his head to clear any remaining nausea. "I should be fine." His voice was still a little shaky.

"You have my gratitude for the assistance." Takakage offered the woman a smile, though it was still tinged with fatigue. "May I know your name, fair warrior?"

"If you say so," MiRa said, not entirely sure that he'd actually be fine so quickly, if only just judging from the shakiness of his voice. As for her name, MiRa gave her alias with no hesitation: "You may call me the Blood Red Rider." Fair warrior, huh? "Fair" was never a descriptor that had been applied to her before.

The name sounded more similar to a title than an actual given moniker. But again, he could have been wrong. Cultures probably worked differently here.

"I am Takakage Kobayakawa, retainer of the Mouri clan." She most likely didn't know about his homeland, but it was worth a shot. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Now, onto the more pressing issues. His voice had steadied by now, returning to its usual calm. "Might you know anything about these creatures? They seem to have descended on the city en masse."

"Nice to meet you," MiRa said simply. The name sounded Japanese to her, so she was left wondering if perhaps the man was from Japan (technically, since the Justice Riders were based in Japan, she was from there too). Then again, even if he was, he probably wasn't from her Japan or any modern variation of it.

MiRa shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about what attacked us. It's certainly a problem, though, and we need to cull as many as possible."

"As do I." Takakage nodded in affirmation. "The announcement made over the city seemed to indicate four sources of the invasion. I suggest we eliminate them to stem these demons."

A pause. He looked thoughtful for a moment. This was definitely not a localized event - demons were probably already spreading across the city. Perhaps someone else might know something about them?

"If you do not mind, I would like to contact an acquaintance who may be able to assist us."

He placed one hand upon Koppa Tengu's feathered head, willing the Persona to convey his thoughts through CommLink.

Hello, Jonathan? This is Takakage. Are you occupied at the moment?

What a great time to contact him, Takakage. When he's trying to fend off a weird thin demon thing. But it does come as a bit of a relief.

Yes, I'm at the the Cancer Ward, he conveys telepathically- squawking to demons and angels who preferred to use mind-to-mind contact has made it a lot less jarring than it should be. Have you seen the strange demons around? I'm fighting a rather large one now, and-

WHOOPS going to avoid that slam now. Not going to die today, nope, sorry. There's a young boy with me, and I'm not sure if he can fight.

Takakage frowned. So it was indeed a mass event.

I see. I suppose you're at one of the nexus points? I am with a woman who claims to be the Blood Red Rider. She has agreed to assist me in eradicating these demons.

We'll try to get there as fast as we can. Is that alright?

The strategist turned to speak with the woman.

"My acquaintance is currently within the Cancer Ward, and he is doing battle with the demons as well, within what seems to be a gathering point for them. I intend to rendezvous there.

His name is Jonathan - do you know him?"

That's alright. Try to stay sa-

And then this happened.

Needless to say, the connection's been cut off for the moment. Have fun, Takakage.

MiRa had to be careful when she was asked who she knew and who she didn't. One slip-up and her secret identity would be outed. She ended up going with, "I know of him, yes." That seemed to be close enough. "So we'll be heading to the Cancer Ward to retrieve him and clear out some more demons, I take it?"

"Yes, that would be the gist of it."

Jonathan's transmission had been cut off abruptly. It was definitely not a good sign.

The strategist frowned. "Something's happened to him. Let us make haste."

> REDIRECT TO CANCER TENT

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Aries Dungeon Crawl

Open!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Persona Skill: Diarama

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject