Lord Wraith

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

A N N O U N C E M E N T:

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SEASON ONE CRISIS:

Four weeks from today, the Season's Crisis will commence. It is our hope that by providing these goal posts that players will have the opportunity to put themselves into a position where they are able to contribute. Without giving too much away, the Crisis will be taking place in two largely populated areas. Our aim is to set them in cities with characters aren't able to as easily travel so don't expect Metropolis or Central City to either of the locations.

We'll be doing a tease to set up the scene and hopefully, by the time the Crisis comes to fruition, you'll have a good idea of what you're going up against.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS:

After having numerous inquiries, the other GMs and I have finally come to a verdict regarding secondary characters. We will allow players who have been part of the game for the majority of its run and who have posted regularly to apply for a secondary character. The players who are currently eligible are as listed:

◼ @Bounce
◼ @DocTachyon
◼ @HenryJonesJr
◼ @Natty
◼ @Roman
◼ @Star Lord
◼ @webboysurf

If you feel like we have missed you, we'd be happy to take a look and re-evaluate.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

I've got to go.

Gambit's dialouge isn't easy.

Might be doing Punisher, or Deadpool.

See ya later.

@officaz

Alright, we'll be here.

Absolute Comics: The Advertisement Thread

_{An excerpt from Captain America Issue 1.03.3: The Stranger}

Placeholder

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...Standing on the roof opposite Cap was a hairy beast standing nearly seven feet tall, wearing the torn star-spangled suit that Steve had worn years earlier. The beast had a snout-like mouth, and its eyes glowed red. The best growled at Cap and leaped with superhuman strength and speed. Steve raised his shield to try and block the swipes of its claws, yet even the super soldier was just a fraction of a second too slow as the beast was able to scratch at Steve’s arm just enough to tear his flesh and draw blood. The pain was intense, and Cap was able to sneak in a swift kick to the beast’s knee. A loud snap signaled that it had broken easily, but the crunching sound afterwards was the thing of nightmares. The beast’s leg began to fix itself automatically, throwing Cap off his game for just a moment. The beast swung its arm into the side of Rogers, its claws ripping through Steve’s armor and flinging him to the side. The shield slid across the rooftop, but Steve flew just over the ledge of the roof. He was able to barely catch his fingers along the rooftop’s edge...

@webboysurf

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Lmao I’m not upsetti b just four days older *old man noise*

oh worm

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

V A L O R

M O N - E L , M I K E M A T H E W S

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^{_{M O N - E L O F D A X A M ♦ E X - P R I N C E R E F U G E E ♦ M E T R O P O L I S ♦ B R A I N I A C - 5 , L E G I O N}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

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^{"You know how, on Earth, they rate everything? One star. This is a one star."}

Mon-El has spent his entire life being manipulated by the future. From the far off 31st century an alien called Brainiac-5 sent him a gift; a golden ring, marked with an 'L' shaped emblem. It was called a Legion ring, and it was worn by a group of heroes called the Legion, founded by his future-self alongside Brainiac-5, alias Querl. Usually it's only function was to allow the wearer to fly, but this one held one other very specific task; that of housing an AI known as Worm, designed first as an assistant aboard the Legion's cruiser, and then stripped down to the bare essentials and sent backwards in time.

Worm was the last of the Legion aside from Bainiac-5, the others lost, slain, or unmade. Ultimately they were trapped in the Zero Hour, an averted timeline fading from existence. With limited equipment and time only the most important information and directives were stored in the ring, and upon it's activation settling around an infant Daxamite's finger, Worm woke up.

Mon-El kept his friend secret, and so he grew up judged as a strange child. He learned things his parents would rather he hadn't, he listened to and was sometimes caught speaking with voices that weren't there, and he had an affinity for technology that looked almost like magic, or at least it would look like that to someone who didn't know he had his own personal AI helping him along. Still, Worm could only do so much in these early stages. Mon-El would not travel to the future for a long time, but at least some of his more oblivious, callous history could be rewritten.

Earning the moniker of the Precocious Prince, Mon-El became something of a reformist on Daxam, challenged and advised as he was by Worm's influence. He rolled his eyes with the rest of them at the arrogant condescension of the supposed enlightened people of Krypton, but spoke out against Daxam's traditional caste system, worked to raise living standards among the lower classes, and expand his kind's stellar industries. Unfortunately for him his parents largely opposed him, refusing him a platform and discrediting his arguments in favor of their own more exploitative traditionalist policies. Under the alias Valorium, aided by Worm, he managed to spread his views beyond the palace anyway, and gain enough support among the important families to instigate some limited change.

However Worm's plot to save Mon-El's home failed. As long as the AI refrained from sharing the truth of it's origins, it could only do so much. The shipyards did not produce near enough ships to aid Daxam in any large scale evacuations, the King and Queen only entertained Mon-El's worry about the fall of Krypton long enough to laugh at the concept, and Worm made little progress reaching the sister planet, much less contacting someone important enough to do something about it.

No matter what they did, they were too late. No matter how intelligent he proved himself, or how much data he collected, Mon-El was too young to be taken seriously, too unusual, too radical. When Krypton went out, Daxam followed. Mon-El escaped the planet, but refused to leave his people- so Worm, knowing there was nothing they could do, hacked his pod, activated the stasis sleep, altered the destination to Earth, and tweaked the settings so Mon-El would forget his last hours on Daxam.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

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In the future Mon-El made a valuable friend and ally, one who leapt at the chance to save their friend from his woeful end. When the chains around time loosened just enough to allow it, Brainiac-5, who was trapped in a timeline where the Legion of Super-Heroes met an untimely end at the paradox point of the Zero Hour, altered and transported the Legion cruiser's AI, called Worm, into the past, housed in a Legion ring and wrapping around an infant Mon-El's finger.

Years later, Mon-El arrives on Earth, a world he knows nothing about, in a Daxamite escape pod, with only his friend and confidant, the AI in his ring called Worm, to help him. With hazy memories, Mon-El knows only that something bad had happened on Daxam, and Worm informs him that large amounts of radiation rendered them deactive, and they've lost significant amounts of data pertaining to the events that led them to boarding the ship, a claim Mon-El has no reason to doubt.

Now whilst striving to learn more of his homeworld's fate, Mon-El is encouraged to enjoy this time out from under his parent's heels and effect some good and positive change on this primitive planet, who's star has given him the most unusual powers...

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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Mon-El and Daxam are largely inspired by the CW's Supergirl series, but as you can tell there's a lot of comic stuff twisting it to my own vision as well. Daxam and Krypton are rivaling planets in the same system, Daxam was founded by the Kryptonian Dax-Am, and Daxamites have the same powers and weaknesses as Kryptonians - what's that? Lead? I don't know her.

Mon-El is young, about 21 if you need an exact number. Face claim Chris Wood; dark brown hair, grey eyes, 6 foot, caucasian nerd. His parents are King Kel and Queen Rhea for any who might already know the names of the Daxamite royal family. Worm I'm inventing straight out of thin air because I really just want to say 'oh worm' all the time.

Their arrival on Earth was delayed because the ship is old, no Phantom Zone shenanigans or what have you.

A S S O C I A T E S:

• Worm: An artificial intelligence with limited knowledge of future events. They possesses the ability to hack and utilize technology of lesser or equivalent advancement from a reasonable distance and is also capable of connecting to networks such as the Internet, creating images via holograms, and speaking directly into the mind of the wearer via skin-contact, though it cannot read said mind. Worm themself has no gender, their voice being described as computerized and generic. They are Mon-El's greatest and longest friend, having a bond like that of family. Like a father should be, Worm has been something of a mentor and teacher, but they are also a team, it's always been the two of them against the world. Should Worm's lies and manipulations come to light however...
• Brainiac-5, "Querl": Brainiac-5 is of the future, specifically the 31st century at a paradox point known as the Zero Hour. Five created the Legion ring and the AI residing within it to help alter the past to a more favorable outcome in hopes of saving his fallen friends, delivering the item via a limited form of time travel straight to Mon-El's finger.
• The Royal House of Daxam: As a son of King Kel and Queen Rhea of Daxam, Mon-El is royalty, the Prince and supposed successor to the throne. While it's true he and them don't see eye to eye on politics and a great many other things, they are still family, and they love their planet. Much as they might argue and plot, he does love them, though how much of that is unhealthy rationalizing remains to be seen, especially with the examples set by human families on Earth.

S A M P L E P O S T:

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V A L O R

M O N - E L

The palace shook, the grand pyramid structure actually quaking even in the far deeper levels. Mon-El paused, exchanging a concerned glance with his contact. "Go." The woman said, urgently, before pulling up the hood of her cloak and racing down the dark corridor. Mon'El himself did the opposite, shedding his hooded coat and pulling out a glass tablet, which immediately lit up. He'd barely connected to the palace network before emergency broadcasts filled his screen.

"Worm, what's happening?" He asked, even as he saw the text become unreadable from interference. Things like that didn't happen, the local network was the best on the planet, not to mention he was practically right beneath the major transmission nodes. "Is that radiation?" He demanded, disbelieving.

There was a moment before the AI responded, voice computerized even when speaking directly into his mind. "The signature is unknown, but you are correct, it is highly radioactive. Exposure would be... ill-advised." There was another pause as Mon-El quickly began walking back the way he'd came, heading for the stairs that would take him to the ground floor, which would hopefully have someone who could tell him what was happening. As if reading his mind, which, despite their ability to transmit into his head, wasn't actually possible, Worm chimed in with a a concerning observation. "Length and pattern of vibrations suggest multiple heavy impacts, radiation signal implies these are not detonations of any known warheads. I have a-" The sound of terrified screaming reached them from the end of the corridor, interrupting Worm's nervous voice.

Mon-El sped up into a run, fear motivating him into a sprint. He emerged from the corridor into a war zone. Fires raged, parts of the ceiling caved in, rubble littered the floor, and everywhere there was blood and bodies, many of which were unmoving. "My Prince!" Someone screamed, Mon-El barely had time to turn his head before a man was colliding into him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him towards the exit. It was too loud after that to hear anything else, and when they passed the ruined doors, Mon-El jerked to a halt.

Above them a rain of giant rocks were falling from the sky, and beyond that he could see the moon had turned red and cracked, as if it was falling apart too. "What-"

"Krypton is gone from the sky." Worm noted, voice void of emotion. Mon-El knew exactly what that meant.

Krypton had a fair few conspiracy theorists that thought their planet was under threat of dying, and they'd convinced several members of government that it was true, but on the whole it was being denied. He only knew of it because Worm had brought it up months ago as 'interesting' and 'unsettlingly likely', but he'd never imagined... Krypton was gone from the sky. Gone. How violent had it's death been? And now what? Was this Krypton's remains falling on their heads? Crushing his people? "We have to help them." He said breathily, so shocked that despite his words he didn't make a single move to help anyone, or even look away.

"We can't do anything, we have to go!" The man from before, a guard he realized now, pulled him from his daze, taking him by the hand and racing away. Something green glittered at the edge of his vision, but he felt it before he saw it. He felt like he'd suddenly caught fire and flinched away, turning to see a great hunk of neon green crystal crush the top of the pyramid, causing the whole palace to collapse.

His scream of denial was swallowed by the dust cloud that rushed out from the impact, little green particles in the air shooting straight into his eyes, down his throat, through his hair, knocking him clean off his feet and filling his insides with flaming pain. As the cloud around them disappeared, Mon-El found himself staring into the sky again. The moon was in pieces.

"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Worm demanded, tones chirping and frantic. He was hauled to his feet, the guard was gone and this time it was a man sporting the symbol of Krypton pulling him along. He was speaking rapidly, eyes wide and desperate, but Mon-El had no idea what he was saying. He was pretty sure his ears were bleeding. Worm filled him in with a furious hiss: "What are you doing?! He's going to kill you!"

In quick succession Mon-El realized three things. One; the Kryptonian was armed - and with a Daxamite palace guard's weapon, the guard it belonged to now a lifeless corpse. Two; he had definitely spotted a Kryptonian sub-light ship crushed by debris outside the palace's entrance. Three; there was a ship ahead of them. A Daxamite emergency pod had been triggered, it rose from the underground hangar and popped open it's fore-window automatically. It had only one seat. The Kryptonian would need Mon-El if he wanted to leave, the ship wouldn't take off without a Daxamite in it: a holdover from the war, a security measure often bypassed with Daxamite blood spilled across the internal scanners.

An impact caused the Kryptonian to stumble, and the vibration knocked Mon-El from his grasp to his knees. Instantly the world of sound invaded his ears, his hearing restored from the unexpected jarring. Quick as lightning he knocked the Kryptonian's feet from under him, giving himself no time to recover before kicking the gun away and sprinting for the pod. He was leaping over the side and into the seat in seconds, booting up navigation and activating the engines. They were airborne before a course had even been plotted.

"Worm! Activate the remaining hangar exports! Get as many emergency pods up as you can!" His order was hoarse, his throat raw from the inhaled glowing green dust. It felt like fire yes, but also like thick poison sliding through his veins.

There was a long pause, Mon-El dodging falling debris and keeping his eyes on the ground, waiting desperately as the seconds ticked by and still the pods didn't rise. "...I'm sorry, but I can't. The commands were in the local network, the chamber would have been crushed when... when the palace collapsed. I'm sorry my prince." Worm's words were colored by guilt and regret, and Mon-El felt his blood turn to ice in his veins.

Wait- his blood was- it was so cold- "Worm?" The screen started to cloud over, turning hazy, and his eyes felt heavy.

"I'm sorry, we can't help them. We have to go." Worm's whispers faded away, and slowly, Mon-El began to forget... but he dreamed of ash, and of sinister green light.

P O S T C A T L O G:

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• blip
• blop
• blep

@Ceta de Cloyes

Neither Maxx nor I have any issues with this sheet. As that's all three GMs, you are accepted. Please repost your CS in the character tab and feel free to begin posting in the IC at your earliest convenience!

@Xanadu, just wanted to check in, how is your Aquaman application coming along?

@rocketrobie2, been a bit since you were accepted, how is your first post coming?

@officaz, still working on Gambit?

Wraith's Little Workshop of Horrors

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.

_{Location: Old Gotham - Bleake Island, Gotham City}

Welcome to the Masquerade #1.04: Down the Rabbit Hole

---

^{Previously: Meet Cute}

_{Interaction(s): None}

Continued: Meet Cute

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.

_{Location: Old Gotham - Bleake Island, Gotham City}

Welcome to the Masquerade #1.04: Down the Rabbit Hole

- -Previously: Meet Cute	Interaction(s): None	Continued: Meet Cute

This is a test sentence.

^{Issue #1.01 False Faces
Issue #1.02 Growing Pains
Issue #1.03 Meet Cute
Issue #1.04 Down the Rabbit Hole}

- -Previously: None	Interaction(s): None	Continued: Growing Pains

- -Previously: False Faces	Interaction(s): None	Continued: Meet Cute

- -Previously: Growing Pains	Interaction(s): None	Continued: Down the Rabbit Hole

- -Previously: Meet Cute	Interaction(s): None	Continued: To Be Determined

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Been spending some time to update the game's summary. Hopefully, any new or even existing players get some use out of it.

Absolute Comics: The Advertisement Thread

Been spending some time to update the game's summary. Hopefully, any new or even existing players get some use out of it.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.

_{Location: Old Gotham - Bleake Island, Gotham City}

Welcome to the Masquerade #1.04: Down the Rabbit Hole

---

_{Interaction(s): None}

Previously: Meet Cute

The small room was dark save for the inconsistent lighting of one dim lamp hung directly in the center of the ceiling. The loosely fitted bulb buzzed loudly as it threatened to short at any second. Brief flashes of bright light cut through the darkness illuminating a lone figure in a wolf mask sitting restrained in an old wooden chair. Around the man’s mouth was a tightly pulled gag while a blindfold had been used to restrict his vision. Both the man’s shoes and his socks had been removed which left his bare feet to sitting in the shallow pool of water currently situated beneath his chair.

An unexpected noise echoed through the room as the latch on the door clicked loudly causing the startling the bound man. Struggling against his restraints, the man’s futile efforts were interrupted by the scraping creaks of the door’s hinges as it was swung open. The slapping of several hard heeled shoes against the cement floor echoed from the hallway and into the room. Amidst the sound of the heavy footsteps came the squeaking of four wheels as a heavy cart was pushed into the tight space.

“Right this way, Mr. Tetch,” A deep voice instructed as the first pair of footsteps entered the room. The sound of the cart stopped somewhere in front of the bound man as the footsteps echoed one last time before they too ceased to be heard within the confines of the room.

“Can we get some light in here?” Demanded a strange sounding voice, the identity of the speaker unfamiliar to the man in the chair. There was an accent to the stranger’s words, obnoxious yet melodic, like something out of a children’s cartoon.

“Whatever you need, Mr. Tetch.” Came a smooth baritone reply. The bound Wolf recognized the second voice immediately as his employer.

The Black Mask himself.

“Doctor,”

“What’d you say?” Black Mask asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his finely tailored suit.

“It’s Doctor,” Jervis replied, “Not Mister.”

“My apologies then, Doctor.” Black Mask replied, his voice lacking any form of sincerity as a leather gloved hand adjusted the ebony skull-like mask which came to the notorious crime lord his namesake.

“Did you need anything?” He repeated, the voice unhindered nor was it filtered as the mask’s jaw remained hauntingly still while he spoke.

“I just need to ensure my payment is in order, is everything properly arranged?” Tetch asked as the Black Mask reached into the pocket of his pinstripe jacket and held out a square photograph towards the smaller man.

Raising his chin to get a look at the photo, Tetch took it from Black Mask’s hand as his face twitched with a disinterested look.

“She’s older than I requested.” He grumbled as a finger traced the girl’s golden hair before he tucked inside his lapelled jacket. “But she’ll do, I suppose.”

“Good,” Black Mask replied as he approached the Wolf, removing the blindfold and the mask as the Wolf looked towards his employer.

“You cost me a lot of money,” Black Mask stated, his tone full of disdain as he continued.

“Thankfully the sale of your daughter to Mr. Tetch here goes a long way to repaying that debt,” Pulling a cigar from within his jacket, the Black Mask forced it between the teeth of his mask before cutting the end off and lighting it. Taking a long drag on the thick Cuban, he blew a ring of smoke towards the Wolf before speaking.

“And your wife has, well agreed to dance at the Alibi to pay the remainder of the debt.” Black Mask chuckled darkly. “‘Course I did have to give your body to science as part of my deal with Mr. Tetch.”

“Enough monologuing, Mr. Mask” Tetch called as he nodded towards the two burly men who had been flanking him this entire time. “Brothers, if you please, release our friend here.”

“I’ll let you off this time, Tetch” Black Mask growled as he stepped back from the restrained man and took a position against the wall alongside the door. “But if you ever interrupt me again, it’s a bullet.”

“But where would you be without me?” Tetch retorted towards Black Mask before holding up a mask as he carefully examined it.

“On his knees please, Tweeds.” The doctor ordered as the two men picked the wolf up from his chair before pressing a foot against either calf as he was lowered towards the ground, his head now eye level with Tetch himself.

Removing the wolf mask from his victim’s face, Tetch tossed it aside before firmly placing a small silver band atop the man’s brow. His wide eyes protested, but there was nothing he could do as one of the Tweed brothers wrapped a large hand over the base of his skull and held him steady.

And then suddenly, the fear was gone.

Tetch smiled in satisfaction as the man’s body relaxed the moment the mask was activated. Behind him, Black Mask took several steps forward as he peered towards his former employee watching the effects of Tetch’s device.

“Remove his gag, please.” Tetch stated as the other brother ripped it off of the Wolf’s face. Walking over to his cart, Tetch picked up a similar band, placing it atop of his own head before flipping a switch on the equipment in front of him.

“Please state your name.” Tetch ordered as the man replied promptly.

“Richard J. Cunningham.”

“And your wife’s name?” Tetch asked as Black Mask crossed his arms in satisfaction.

“Lori Beth Cunningham.”

“And your daughter’s name please?” Tetch replied.

“Chelsea Alice Cunningham.” Richard stated without any sign of reluctance.

“What happened last night Mr. Cunningham?” Tetch inquired as Black Mask took several steps towards Richard, studying his facial expressions as he replied willingly again.

“The deal went South when the Batman appeared. I hid behind the truck and waited for my opportunity to escape while the others fought back. They lost, and I escaped while the Bat was distracted.”

“So you’re a damn coward!” Black Mask snarled, but Richard didn’t respond causing the crime lord to lash out. Delivering a firm blow to the man’s stomach, Black Mask watched in astonishment as Richard barely reacted, not even audibly acknowledging that he had been struck.

“What’s the limits of your device?” Black Mask inquired as he turned back towards Tetch.

“He’ll do whatever I ask him to.” Tetch stated as Black Mask marched forward and lifted the circlet from the small man’s head before fitting it over his own.

“Pick up those pliers!” The crime lord ordered, pointing Richard towards the nearby tool. Complying, the other man picked up the pliers and held them at the ready as Black Mask spoke again.

“Rip out a tooth.”

Without a moment of hesitation, Richard opened the pliers before using them to take hold of one of his front teeth. Clamping the pliers closed, he tugged them downwards as a subtle wince of pain appeared in the corner of his eyes, blood spilling out over his lips as the tooth fell to the floor.

“This is fuckin’ great, Tetch!” Black Mask exclaimed. Banging on the door to the room, the Crime Lord watched it open as two people wearing masks modelled after his own answered.

“The doctor held up his part of the deal, get him the girl and send him on his merry way.” Black Mask ordered before turning back towards Cunningham.

“I have my own fun to attend to.”

---

_Placeholder

Next Issue: Curiouser and Curiouser

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

@webboysurf Well I must say you definitely caught me by surprise with the mysterious figure. Curious to see how you explain this one moving forward.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

I see webboy and think spiderman but no. I see star lord and think guardians but no. How dare u confuse me with ur awful schemes! D:<

@Ceta de Cloyes

...

I've been saying it 'we-boy' all this time. It's only just dawned on me now that it's 'web-boy'.