EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

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With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

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THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

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THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

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THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

[actualwizard]

[ As disoriented as he is, her voice cuts right through to him. He's not sure if its because she's Wanda or because he can feel her magic, or both really. It could be both, but he feels something ease, knowing she's there.

She's trying to get his attention and she wants him to look at her and he shakes off more of the whispers enough to make eye contact with her. ]

Wanda.

[ Just her name but enough to show her he's with her. ]

[shadowthief]

She hasn't had to traverse through weather like this in a long while, and usually, she was more equipped and ready for it when she did. It takes a little longer than she'd like to reach him, but eventually, she does.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" she asks, glancing around at the place they've found themselves in suddenly. "It's nothing I recognize," she admits.

[funbreaker]

I might be able to dig something up in Thorne's libraries, but I suspect it's Solvunn that will have the most accurate information.

[ Thancred reaches a hand up to rub at his eyes. He needs to have a long conversation with Himeka about all of this, which is not very feasible when the Horizon has gone berserk and they're all having unintended effects on each other. ]

Where I'm from, false gods called primals could be summoned with enough fervent belief and aetheric energy. Bringing them forth would drain the land around them of its natural aether, and any person who got too close would be enslaved to their will.

[ Which makes him wonder yet again why Himeka thought this was a good idea. She must believe she can handle it if things spiral out of control, but is that truly the case here? These gods are not quite the same as what they know. He shakes his head, more to himself than anything else. ]

If they continue to run rampant, putting them down may be our only option.

[cryptsleeper]

Doubtlessly, but would it be wise to ask the same individuals responsible for the problem in the first place to do the research?

[Alucard is aware that it sounds unkind, but he has little compulsion or control over that at the moment. Moreover and much more importantly, the query is genuine. It could raise eyebrows, it could put too much attention on them.]

I'm not precisely against the idea of doing such damage, but there would need to be careful accounting for after effects. If this is what reaching out gets, what happens if one dies?

[tobeclosetohim]

[ Jo doesn't say it gets easier; if it gets easier, you've gotten complacent and you've forgotten you're supposed to still be afraid. Afraid keeps you alive. Sometimes. Jo's gaze cuts away, as though checking the streets for more of the walking risen, rather than thinking about how she can still feel it in her teeth. The pain of being torn open. The answer always waiting, even for those who knew to stay wide awake to what they were fighting. ,]

Or you know the right people.


You haven't gotten yourself dead yet.
So, step one is accomplished.

[supersoldier]

[Her lips are still warm. A supremely useless thought in this moment that he humors all the same: her lips are still warm and familiar, despite the fear, despite the ferocity of her desperate attempts to harm him just moments past. It had grounded him before; he can only hope it offers the same respite for Ciri, piercing through the illusions in her mind, widening a small window of clarity that she can latch onto. Cling to.

She freezes against him. Sephiroth’s lips linger, and it’s as if he can feel tension unwinding in the muscles of her body, though he only has grasp of her wrists in his gloved hands. She slinks against the wall like her strings have been cut. Instinctively, maybe foolishly, he lets go of one wrist and settles it, instead, at her waist.

Keeping her steady, hoping against hope that she’s coming to her senses.]

It’s me. [He breathes out, low and slightly guttering from his own adrenaline, when the kiss finally breaks.] It’s just me, Ciri.

[tobeclosetohim]

[ It's impossible to say what she was expecting, fear and a catalog of ever-growing monsters researched intensely through two decades make for a monster roulette wheel of almost endless options. When they come, it's hard to know if they're worse or better than the guesses, but it doesn't. Guesses are forgotten, and comparisons are never made; it's only them.

A host of shifting bodies, with horns and hanging flesh, pressed around her from every direction as she spun. Screeching loudly. Screaming she should be dead, calling her mother killer, and murderer, monster, the blood on her hands. Some of them pass through her, and all of them piss her off. Her head has been played with enough already. She doesn't need more monsters dancing on her grave, in the past or the present.

She strikes out in a circle, using her sword, willing her gift to work. Once, twice, gritted teeth before it works. The turn of her blade in a circle evolves suddenly, like a flooding silver flower of a hundred blades pointing outward with her at its center, every blade slashing through anything stupid enough to be within those four-five feet of her in any direction, sliced through, steel and magic alike, wounding without warning. ]

[sorser]

[He nears, keeping close. He reaches out with a palm to splay his amber light across the carvings indicated, and Stephen’s frowns deepen with the shadows thrown into stark relief.]

…Yeah, it does. [His other hand comes out, traces over the line of the contours, familiarity blossoming almost immediately.] The Fool, isn’t it?

[He clicks his tongue, craning his neck up, seeing only darkness. Then he turns on his heel, down the opposite direction of the narrow corridor.]

Great. So the Singularity’s acting up again, which means the Horizon is usually the next thing to follow.

[What is this place? What’s the meaning of the arcana etched here? Why is it a maze, and what reasoning is there behind them all fumbling around in the darkness? Is everyone here, or is it just him and Wanda? His sense of time’s gone and stretched itself too thin, too; just how long have they been lost?]

Okay, so, if this is a maze, then I’m guessing the goal is to get out without trying to cheat. [AKA flying over the walls, like they both attempted.] I don’t understand a thing that’s going on right now, but I’d rather focus on trying to find a way out of here first. Don’t you—

[Agree? His words are unduly cut short, however, when something shuffles in the darkness. The worrisome sound of something moving—or is it stalking?—just down that dark corridor, around any number of twists and turns.

Stephen cuts Wanda a glance. Hear that?]

[hextechhead]

Oh I don't mean in general, only with him and me.

[ So he's not saying Alucard would be selfish for feeling that way, it really is a specific conversation that he and Viktor had to have about everything that happened and what it meant. Jayce wouldn't assume Alucard's privacy was selfish. The point is that now Viktor is allowing others in, however reluctantly, and maybe that means arguing over hair sometimes. Or grumping at Tony for overstepping and setting him up with a strange doctor, even if that turned out fine.

Viktor and Jayce might as well share a brain at this point, every detail one of them knows the other one does. It was one of the good things that happened after their conflict, no more secrets. Especially about Viktor's condition.]

Have you had any blood bonds of your own before Viktor?

[wiedzminka]

[ The fog lifts, slowly at first then all at once, warm hands pulling her from the darkness, bracing her before she falls. Ciri lets out the breath that's been stuck in her throat with a shudder, hot against Sephiroth's lips. Her hands slide to his shoulders, holding on now, not pushing him away.

When she opens her eyes, she sees him. Really sees him, past the frenzied terror still pounding in her chest. ]

...o-oh.

[ Is all she manages at first, shocked and quiet. She can still feel the ghost of his lips on hers. The monstrous dead thing she'd been fighting was never there.

Just like what had happened with Geralt, though that had been in the Horizon, and this is the waking world.

Visibly shaken by how thoroughly the illusion had gripped her, Ciri grips his shoulders hard, reassuring herself of what is real. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[To that, Alucard's stare may as well be in response to Jayce asking after the color of the sky.]

I'm in my early twenties, somehow I suspect everything about me suggests I grew up highly isolated and....that's the question?

[He blinks. Slow.]

No. I had no idea what the limits of my blood even were until now. Dhampir aren't exactly common.

[gynvael]

[ She? (The girl? That's the only she he's ever heard Nero speak of). Nero's heart begins to quicken, pounding in his ears.

Geralt tightens his grip. ]

No. [ His voice is firm. He hasn't any idea what Nero is seeing, but it is nothing good. ] This place hasn't got a way out. All it does is fuck with you.

[ That's how the damn labyrinth worked. He imagines this is more of the same. Monsters spawning from Nero'a memories. Now a flash of light he believes is worth following? Without question?

That's not an exit. That's a trap. ]

There's no light. It isn't real, Nero.

wrapping!

[gynvael]

[ It is, in effect, like a more upper class version of Kaer Morhen. Same amenities; none of the rats and holes in the walls. Geralt follows along, intrigued by the entire display.

It is the shooting range that most catches his interest. He's not had much care for guns in the physical world, but if the noise can be accounted for in here, then. Hmm.

Perhaps.

He doesn't say anything yet, but there's a pause that Dean might catch while they're there. By the time he leaves Dean, exiting the bunker, he's almost forgotten about the shit lurking beneath the keep. Almost. ]

[ordinar]

[Those whispering voices snatch at the silence, like vultures circling a corpse and waiting for an opportunity to land.

Now he thinks you're annoying and crazy. Nice going.

At least Claude intervenes before the pecking can continue. His kind words fail to convince of Wilhelm of much, though. It's not like Claude really knows him. The shallowness of their acquaintanceship grants his words all the depth of someone answering fine, thanks to a passing how are you? He mutters:]

I'm surprised you let them get a word in.

[As soon as it spills out, mortification takes over his expression. Scrubbing at the back of his head, he stares at the little puddle that's formed at his feet and clears his throat.]

Sorry, I...didn't mean that.

[Sure, Claude talks a lot, and it could get a little exhausting to keep up with the conversation, but...he's been kind to Wilhelm.]

[thedevilwhorose]

There is a worry that he will be trapped as Istredd had been. That he won't be able to traverse the space properly, won't be able to even get a message out.

But he transitions to where he needs to be and isn't left with an unfortunate story to tell later, not this time, anyway.

And is greeted to the fact that Istredd's domain hasn't stopped being weird.

"So," Lucifer comments mildly, "this is different. I can genuinely say I have no theories."

[thedevilwhorose]

"Mmmmmmhm." He drags a finger along the bartop, not surprised that his little pitchfork carving has been wiped clear. Pity. "'Deal with your bullshit to begin with,'" he echoes, a curious ring to his voice.

He looks up to her, his scope narrowing as seconds tick on. It shouldn't matter. Sannleikr's influence shouldn't be able to loop between them because he doesn't have anyone else that he cares enough about to fade away to a white noise, invisible backdrop.

But there's a greater absence that Lucifer will have to pick apart another time, when he remembers.

For now, for... well, worse, it's just the two of them.

"You know, I thought you were just a stray he picked up from the Abraxan streets. But you're from our world, aren't you? Strange, isn't it? I can understand what they saw in you to bring you into the fold--but I've never come across you. So, I wonder... all that brimming loyalty of yours... you wouldn't have just slipped away..."

[impressionism]

Hennessy flashes a grin; she's absolutely okay despite the sudden disorientation of not recognizing any of these people that she'd sworn looked familiar a minute ago. Illusion magic will do that. She's more aware of its power than most.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it. Are you okay? Do you want to go get a drink about it?"
Yes, that is her answer to everything, why do you ask? Everyone suddenly being an absolute stranger sounds like a good time to her, since it means there's no one around to tell her off, and whatever she's been inflicting upon people with her touch hasn't backfired horribly in her face yet.

[thedevilwhorose]

There's a nasty part of Lucifer's mind, weighed down by the side of Sannleikr that he loathes, that wants Geralt to carve up every piece of this vessel. As if that will finally allow him freedom from this shell, wings pulling out of a cocoon like an insect. Maybe, maybe if enough is torn apart he'll just be archangel once more.

He would even hedge a bet that this unclean beast could hold his form, though with how he isn't too chatty means getting a 'yes' out of him would be next-to impossible.

It's a pipe dream, anyway, as Geralt's sword tears a fresh wound across his upper chest instead of his neck--Lucifer bending his spine back uncomfortably--revealing just a brief shine of holy before blood pours free. He sidles around Geralt like a snake, always keeping out of grasping range, clearly unbothered by the sword and any marring of his vessel, but careful of anything else.

He holds up his knife and licks a bit of Geralt's collected blood from it before spitting it back out in disgust.

"Still don't know what you are, interesting. Shame I took away all your bark." He sighs. "It really makes this too boring."

He draws on his power in a way that he hasn't done not even once in Abraxas, though saving Wilhelm in the Hunting Grounds came close. The corridor fills with an unnatural light, the bend of his wingspan silhouetted along the chamber's walls, his eyes firelight. He wanted to draw this out. Get in a good ol' fashion scuffle. But one-sided conversation? Oh come on, he needs more engagement than something salivating for his blood. The dead dog on the floor may've been a chattier opponent, what did he know?

He closes the distance for what he intends as the last time, channeling the flare of his power and dumping it into his age-old thermokinesis to grasp the sword once more and burn through the blade until it's impossible to touch and melts it down to nothing.

[aquilus]

[He doesn't disagree. The only way out is through, if there's any way out at all, and they've already established that staying still is not the desired outcome.

But something's not right. He feels as much as sees the way Alucard tenses, as if he's reacting to something Altaïr cannot. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spots some of the green tendrils curl and wither, and he braces himself — but nothing else happens.]

What's wrong?

[Whatever it is, it isn't affecting him. Altaïr feels fine; better than he did just moments ago, in fact.]

[aquilus]

[Altaïr swings his sword and one of the ghouls loses a leg at the knee — if nothing else, it won't walk or run after any other victims, though it can still crawl. Then there's a shhng sound as he unsheathes his hidden blade and plunges it through the eyes of three more undead in rapid succession.

Even that doesn't truly kill them; his lip curls in disgust at the sight of them still moving. But whether they can feel pain or know it only as an echo from the life their bodies once held, the grievous wounds do at least slow them down.

Some of the local fighters have fled or staggered back, nearly as shocked by the brutality of his fighting as they were the presence of the ghouls. Fewer people to worry about, at least. Altaïr crouches and grasps for his companion's arm, trying to help even if he doesn't know what's wrong.]

Can you move? Get up?

[wiedzminka]

[ The odd (read: creepy) weapon catches her attention, but Ciri doesn't care enough to ask. They have more important things to worry about than Dean deciding to make a weird jaw-knife.

She looks a little annoyed at the bullshit that spills from his mouth as per usual, and also as per usual, she ignores it. ]

All of half a minute.

[ Ciri answers the actual important question instead. ]

You?

[thedevilwhorose]

I just have that kind of face. [That makes people tell him things. Definitely accurate.] I keep finding myself cursed to be stuck in scenarios with you. [He gives Jack a pointed stare.] I suppose you could try your tactic from the last time to see if it gets you unstuck. [He flicks his hand as though trying to manifest a weapon, but an ethereal mist wraps a finger-8 around his fingers instead.

The Horizon, then.

He frowns. Ignores 50% of what Jack says, as always.] This isn't your domain then? Some... gas-station backroom?

[stations]

My gas station doesn't have a back room. We have meetings in the cooler.

( It's delivered so flatly it might be hard to tell whether or not he's being sarcastic.

He's not. The cooler is for cold drinks, dead bodies, and private conversations.

Slightly more salty: )

And I've already tried that. It was like... the third thing I did. Apparently this place doesn't conform to dream logic.

[aquilus]

Haven't you had enough of it already?

[Maybe, maybe not. He isn't well positioned to judge such things. But Sylvain appears well groomed, which at least puts him ahead of many Altaïr has known.]

Or buried much further down.

[Though really, even just a few feet doesn't seem to have hindered them much. Apparently digging skills come with life after death.]

[thedevilwhorose]

What was the second thing you did, I wonder? Wishing you were a real boy? [He looks to Jack's dreamed-up leg before rolling his eyes and folding his arms.] The concern is that I'm certain this is the Horizon but we shouldn't have trouble leaving. It's never been a problem before.

[He tilts his head.] Which leaves the certainty that it's your fault.