Lith

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Skeleton. Dust. Death.

Hello!!

Greetings individual. Welcome to RPG. May you find what you seek and at least several other horrifying things.

greetings fellow humanoids and creatures alike

Greetings individual. Welcome back to the guild. As you've gone by many names, I will reverse yours. Nelah Navata, may you enjoy your stay.

☆☆ hi everyone ▪︎ 大家好 ☆☆

Greetings individual. Welcome to the Guild. Hope you find all the things.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Good luck and god speed.

5v5 3Dark vs Bolts

The individual piloting a lesser mech known as an "auto" "mobile" from the olden centuries had a projectile of expanding mass launched their way.. but that, frankly, was over there. Not over here. Enemy wizards had methods of scrying, so it was nothing surprising that an attack would be launched at the rear detachment.

Unfortunately, Hayden was between the source of this corrupted magic and its target. Thus, he would never know its true intended victim. Only that a problem lie ahead. Let us not get ahead of ourselves though: first the prelude.

The forest descended into unnatural summer, turning the once lush canopy into a sweltering oven. The air shimmered with heat, thick and heavy, as if it were resisting any attempt to breathe it in. That same air vibrated with the piercing cries of panicked animals, their voices carrying through the darkness ahead and abound like a haunting symphony of rage. In the business that was supernatural extermination, this was what often got called a "tell." Magic worked like that, sick, degenerate magic. Sure enough, any time you heard a queer noise or spotted a warped sight, you could be assured it was that arcane failure at work.

Hayden choked back the bile at the back of his throat, air conditioning inside the Knight Model working overtime to keep it a comfortable 69° Fahrenheit. Made him sick. Bet there were dark clerics nearby waiting with mac-

"!!"

The signal. We exited the prelude and entered the rising action phase. Oh sure, the forest bent to the sick sorcerer's whims, trees moaning and grass crying, but it was the pressure.. that undeniable pressure like when facing down the barrel of a gun and attempting to preempt the trigger pull. That was what gave Hayden the runner's alert. If it took three seconds to reach "the car," and Hayden was somewhere prior to those three seconds, certainly above one second, 1.5 seconds or perhaps we could generously grant 2 seconds..

That was more than enough.

Flash Step Synopsis

♃Flash Step: Feet thrusters emit a brilliant, golden fire that trails behind the Knight Model as he takes each lightning-fast step. The combination of Knight Model’s swift and purposeful footwork, paired with the fiery propulsion from the thrusters, creates a mesmerizing spectacle of speed and power.

With each step, the Knight Model covers a massive distance. It can maneuver in increments of 10 feet near instantly, and can chain successive uses of Flash Step in lower amounts to move in disorienting zig-zag patterns in this same action economy. His movements are a graceful blur, and the combination of the knight's armor and the blazing thrusters makes him appear like a living comet streaking across the landscape.

Pressure regulators, gravity stabilizers (and destabilizers where appropriate), inertia dampeners, shock absorbers. These things and more engineered within the suits of Hayden were what separated his speed-ups from the rabble. A galloping horse or a marching army, a leaping athlete or an agile bird, they all shared flaws: dedicating time to adjust their movements, to turn. Many didn't even have thrusters. Frankly pathetic!

This was to say, the foliage and trees weren't impediments. Not because they were weak, but because to Hayden as he ping-ponged around them while maintaining top momentum in a blurred haze of mechanized nightmare, their "outline" was found wanting, insignificant in mass and their stillness. The red swordbot would exit this sudden acceleration having aimed itself at a 45 degree angle from off the ground, and though the "step" was only 10 feet in total distance, the machine would easily clear another twenty feet as its feet finally clapped onto the ground from momentum -- north from his original placement and with advanced notice provided by the entire landscape and all of its inhabitants, the time to make his distance from the expanding "scythe" was hard to argue insufficient.

Thus the druid spell Sunbeam, as Hayden has initially presumed was going to imminently strike him due to the heat signature detection and beast frenzies, had been avoided. All was well. For him. Exclusively for him.

5v5 3Dark vs Bolts

So it commences.

5v5 3Dark vs Bolts

[ .. EVERY DAY IS A NEW SORTIE ]

Another mission.

This time, it was to kill five "metahumans." An odd term employed by H.Q., implied to mean they weren't explicitly spell-casters or wizards, though he would assume they still had scrolls of some kind. Nevertheless, all current weapon systems had the green light, suggesting a relative category of power amongst the impending victims to that of a higher tier sorcerer. That is to say they weren't akin to a street magician, but less dissimilar to a city vanishing warlock of some sort. Troubling.

More troubling is Hayden Armstrong had not one or two but four allies in this mission. Friendlies that he was not permitted to terminate and bring the corpses back for examination until after the main objective was complete. Highly unusual. They weren't even affiliated with headquarters, but were outside contractors of some type. This meant each and every one of them were disclosure risks, and would typically require their termination by default after screening for volunteer status. Still, adaptability was part of the mission structure after all; Hayden had to come to terms with the facts not his preconceived notions. Five wizard-analogous hostiles, four witch-typical allies. Parameters were on lock.

wrrn WRRN WRRN rapidly emitted the rhythmic mechanized gears & gyros of a nightmarish robotic approximation of human form as it stepped across jungle brush. Lithe and smooth, it was a red machine standing at a mere 6'6", with enough weight to crush vegetation. There were many trees here; Brazil nut trees, rubber trees? Data was inconclusive. A six foot long "blade" composed of some red moving *matter* emitted from a handle base locked to the machine's right hand. There was no subtlety at play here, the code named Knight Model had been deployed for this mission. The cyborg within began to eloquently compute with his machine's Intel Core i27-39000J CPU optimized for gaming:

Mission re-analysis. Based on the probability of mage-like victims coupled with the surroundings, it should be assumed they intend to abuse the foliage for obscuring movements and launching attacks. Possibly able to manipulate the plant life into treants. Likely scrying on our location. Further noted there is no line of communication short of verbal within proximity of allied entities, while the opposition are likely utilizing speech magic. Database shows wizard spell [Message] exists, which will likely be employed before and during the spellcasters' ritualistic blood orgies for sating their deities in order to gain further magics. The scent of roasting meat can be detected on external sensors now, and is likely human in nature. Thus interrupting this ritual is advised.

However. Location and enemy means of information gathering are both well within expectations, and will be neutralized. Estimated chance of decapitation of hostile entities in face of Wizard Spell "Meteor Swarm" is 98%. "Time Stop" is dicier, but based on simulations sits at a respectable 52%.

Rather than trying to run the outside of the area, Hayden was definitely walking down the "center" of the region. There was precious little being done to obscure his presence, to the point one would have to assume he was making his presence well known intentionally. Despite medication to suppress the emotional inflections of volunteers, Hayden couldn't help but feel some of the adrenaline and regal nature of the swordsman whom his current movements were mapped around. Unnatural sword raised ahead of his helmet, left mechanized arm tucked behind his back; a pompous and refined posture for a machine that relentlessly crushed insects and split mud as it consistently moved ahead at an intentional pace.

Wizards were like pack animals. They wouldn't forgive his intrusion into their, he assumed, sex and feed den for very long and would also attempt the most cowardly assaults from as much reach as afforded to them and in highest number, giving them maximized safety. Thus, every passing second was like waving the red capote in front of the bull, or staring down an enemy gunman with finger on the trigger waiting for the signal; statistical noise that would suddenly solidify into destiny, stuffed to the brim with promises of peril .. and potential reward.

That burning question he the volunteer had subconsciously imprinted, then: would it be the red knight that drew blood this day, or the gold?

5v5 3Dark vs Bolts

I'm down with that other than obviously I, Lith, would win. As I already have a contingency plan to kill all four of you.