[IC] HCL 2: Twisted tinkers' triumph

[ShadowVentus]

@supertinyking

Ven's usually good mood is only slightly dulled by this sudden feeling of anger. For Michael, he simply feels annoyed over the fact that this wave of negative emotions is making it hard to concentrate. The two search around what remains of the house for any other clues as to what could have happened. The tactician's first guess was a barrage of fireballs or perhaps ammo from a trebuchet that was lit on fire. Ven believed this wreckage might've been brought down by a dragon or an angry spirit. The possibilities to them were endless.

[thewizardguy]

@Wraithblade6
The very instant he mentioned Bob's daughter to Bug, Mithias felt something tug at his soul. A long, thing but extremely powerful string closing around the very essence of his being. A burning pain filled him, as letters in an ancient language flared up on his skin, burning him in a way no regeneration could save him from. He could feel Bob's hand around his heart, and he knew that with a mere whim the fickle God of Madness could take his soul. He had broken the conditions of the Contract by mentioning Alice, even if not by name, and the ramifications would be severe. He could already feel himself being pulled from his body, torn into the infinite torture grounds of the Theatre, where Bob would play with him both for amusement, and to satisfy his dark appetite.

But not for now.

The script receded, nothing more than burn marks remaining, and Mithias was in control of his body once more. And yet, very tangibly, he still felt the grip around his heart. The string tied to his soul. His fate had merely been delayed, not removed. There would be no point in harvesting his soul now. After all, Mithias was working as Bob's agent. But should he falter in his task, or deviate from the path set before him, there was no doubt his end would be swift. And his future was inevitably drawn towards the hellish playground, nothing more than a source of suffering for Bob to feed on.

The vampiric warrior had misjudged the perils of entering an arrangement with Bob, and now perhaps would pay the ultimate price.

[kishin asura]

@Wraithblade6

The intruder, who looked nothing like me, began approaching the child

[Wraithblade6]

@Tyki@supertinyking

Over the days of fighting, the deluge of blood waned and Strygwyr did struggle against many of the larger Tyranids especially. But his relentlessness wore on and one body after another fell to the ground.

Finally as the swarm faded to nothing, Strygwyr's consciousness began to return to his own, and he stood in the field of death alone, panting. Something felt different. He looked up to the sky and reached up his blades in praise of and in search of his goddesses, except the will of a single, male god seemed to respond to him, silencing the voices of his own deities. Strygwyr growled and roared at the betrayal. "You! Who are you that steals the blood from the Twins! Gyahh!!" A painful power struck him, as if in punishment, forcing Strygwyr to his knees. As he struggled in anguish, the god Khorne made his dominance known and re-possessed him. Strygwyr could not deny himself. "I thirst..." He uttered and got up to find some being to kill again. He had to keep killing, until his new god ceased to demand it. he strode off to the city of the clones, his rampage turnign on them.

[Wraithblade6]

@kishin asura
Reaper also turns his guns on the woman/man intruder.

[supertinyking]

@ShadowVentus
Suddenly, specters appear, playing out a scene, moved by Kishin. From the scene they play out...these men boarded the windows, before, using some sort of liquid, set the home ablaze. Several people tries to get free, only a child managing to break a board and fit out.

[kishin asura]

@supertinyking

"Shit went down here...." I say. Pretty much stating the obvious

[supertinyking]

@Wraithblade6
The clone ships firing upon the aprouching dragon seeker..thing, their cannons knocking him back, as the ships retreat. They rise into the air, and off of the planet, leaving the seeker to (Hopefully) hunt down the tyranid. Hopefully.

[ShadowVentus]

@supertinyking

"Well...guess you were right about one thing, Ven." Michael admits, deciding to vent this slight twinge of anger by breaking the remaining boards off of the window so he can climb through and follow the surviving child.
"I hope the streak doesn't stop there!" Ven responds, following suit. This kid was the best lead they had at the moment. It would be even better if he were alive. However, beggars can't be choosers. For the moment, all they could was follow the echo of the child's soul and what he did during his last moments in the land of the living.

[supertinyking]

@ShadowVentus
The child escapes into the woods, leading the two..right to @kishin asura .
Then, the laughing appears again, from the base of the hill, the home near the gravestones. They can see the glow of the specters there....

[Wraithblade6]

@supertinyking@tyki

With the Tyranids all destroyed and the clones basically leaving the planet, the surrounding bloodshed was at an end. The Seeker's job was done, even if it was for a substitute god. Strygwyr expected his empowerment to begin to leave him, for the Twins to call him home. He watched as the clone ships took off, pushing him back with their rockets. He prayed. "Blood god. You are very great, but you must release me. This battle is over. I belong to the twins, gods who also drink blood. They protect my people."

[Tyki]

@Wraithblade6@supertinyking

Strygwyr felt a searing pain accompanied by sheer rage as the god's hold begins to slip, his own blood lust remaining at his maximum he'd ever been while serving the twins up to the point the clouds blocking the planet disperse and the planet quakes with activity, clone scanners picking up a planet-sized creature comeing out of it as if it were hatching from an enormous egg before disappearing into a portal, using the moment of dual retreat to escape into places unknown, the seeker of combat now back within the warm embrace of the twins rather than the hard malestrom of the god's mighty will that had been forced upon him and had only receded from him once planet-wide storm had passed, leaving the two forces to gaze up on the aftermath, the minerals and all life on the planet having been stripped, leaving a floating rock with a rapidly thinning atmosphere orbiting the star. Where once there had been forests lay only the crags the tyranids had burst from. Where once there had been vast oceans lay only muddy valleys that came away hard at the touch due to the rapid expungence of moisture to feed the locust-like swarm that had been hiding in the planet's core, leaving all present to wonder: what would happen where this force able to grow larger?

[supertinyking]

@Tyki
The clones send word back to the throne world, and Nathan is left there, thinking...then, he tries to open communications to Kalus. He labels it as direly urgent. The clone ships retreat, the mentally damaged ones are given therapy in order to heal their mental wounds. Several worlds begin once more to produce war machines, ships, and whatever else was needed for battle. The clone boarders are heavily monitored, and any breaches of this are instantly terminated by heavy battle cruisers. The entire empire became monitored, and almost secluded.

[kishin asura]

@Wraithblade6

"Just give me the baby." She says

[kishin asura]

@supertinyking@ShadowVentus

"Oh hey ven, michael, how're you doing?" I ask

[Wraithblade6]

@thewizardguy@raventlark

As Mithias and Raven were moving toward the portal threshold into Ozzy's realm, the vampire suddenly felt the pull on his soul as so eloquently described. He gasped. A chill so intense sapped his very essence and his wings were snuffed out. Mithias cried out briefly as his world was going dark. He cluthched at his chest, the pain burning him from within, and he could feel a tiny string... leading from his heart through the eather to a being far, far away. Weakness shocked his body as his soul nearly tore out of its viable confines, and dark magic emblazened the words of his contract arcross his white skin. He had signed a contract, promising never to speak of Bob's daughter, never to let anyone know of her, and to protect her with his silence, and now he had confirmed with his voice her existance. His soul was forefit. Such a fool he had been, and he knew it.

"Bob?! What? No, I... Ahhg!" The words that only Bob could hear rang from his soul across all time and space. Mithias shivered in the blue haze of Drac's realm, appearing to lose consciousness as the light in his eyes waivered out for a fraction of a second. The pull was irresistable, the mark, permanent. Mithias could not argue and gave in to defeat. "Master..." He whispered faintly, yielding, but then the pull receeded, returning his soul to him so that he may yet live a little longer. Bob knew he had him, and Mithias knew why he was not yet taken. It was because Bob still needed him to go after Alice. What Bob may not have known, was that Mithias would have gone after her even without a contract.

Awakening agian, Mithias' strength and awareness returned to him. God, Bob's reach was unbelieveable. There was no preparation, no escape, and no mercy. He blinked at Raven, righting himself again in the floating space. Then he lowered his head in shame, knowing his freedom was at an end. "So, I have failed." He said to himself. Shakily he got up and glanced behind them at the direction the string had pulled. He didn't want to explain. "Ahem... Come on, Raven. I will be alright." He crossed the portal.

[thewizardguy]

@supertinyking
As Nathan monitored his realm, a surprising report reached him. A high-powered transmission had been sent throughout this universe, reaching even it's furthest stars. The type of signal made it clear that the origin was a highly technologically advanced species or empire, and it's nature made it clear that it was urgent. The message, once decoded, contains a set of coordinates for a nearby solar system, only about 36 lightyears from the border of the Clone Empire, and suspiciously close to the area of First Contact with the Tyranid. Accompanying the coordinates is a simple phrase. "Help me."

[supertinyking]

@thewizardguy
"......." Nathan observed this message. He sighed, and he ordered the preparation for the Armageddon. Soon, Nathan's personal ship arrives at these coordinates, himself going alone. He arrived, his ship using slip space tech to be there in a matter of minutes, rather than years....

[Tyki]

@thewizardguy

Despite not being the intended targets, the sergals no doubt hear the transmission due to their proximity to the clones, having eradicated the rebels fully with their armies and supply lines being able to completely circumvent the gurilla tactics of the now felled united empires, their lands distributed and their supplies assimilated after a thorough purging campaign, the leaders being impaled and left in front of the most active diplomatic station as testaments to exactly why one does not simply fuck with the sergals.

The transmitter of the message finds a deceptively small sergal fleet to appear less than a minute after transmitting their S.O.S. and hail him on comms, a rather surly, female captain asking "state the nature of emergency and empire of origin"

[RavenTLark]

@Wraithblade6

Raven had been unsure of what had been happening to Mithias so she had decided that she would make sure he was okay once it was over, luckily it hadn't lasted long and he seemed to be fine. She crossed through the portal hesitantly as she wasn't comfortable being in the air. When she got to the other side she was glad to find that she was back on the ground again. She walked up to Mithias and told him," I won't ask this time but if it happens again then I will have some questions and I hope that you're fine with that.