Hmm... I suppose I could tweak it a little bit, maybe he could use the artifact's abilities to warp somewhere, and, of course, his chunk (which I would be more than happy to elaborate on, if you want) would be floating away, so, it's kinda like a rare event, then? Not that he'd know, of course.
That can work XD nobody's seemed to gripe about anything yet either, so I guess you're good to go. He kinda sounds designed for turn-based RPGs actually, so hopefully he won't find 'too' much class with what's essentially a real-time environment where 'moves' may be interupted, avoided entirely or partially, or potentially countered.
oh hi, sorry I took a while to respond XD my time was shortened for a while between RL stuff and preparing the next post XD
Also, 3 letter horror show XD heavens, it's not 'that' bad! Though I have encountered people before with actual horse-phobias.
As for the CS, I dunno about 'bad', so much as 'possibly' inaccurate? I assume by chunk you're talking about the different world-fragments I mentioned in the O.P.s, Which generally would never be floating near enough to eachother to 'physically' cross, nevermind being able to 'see' eachother, and varying bettween actual floating continents to simple being passages to whole worlds. That said, some of that could be handled by the disruptive anomalies of artifacts and evil entities mentioned in that little backstory of yours xD... It's 'plausible' that your own world fragment could be drifting and just so happened to be near enough then, but given that the current scene is in the middle of the nation, and any 'edge' he could jump to would be hundreds of miles away from the action [these are planetoids in size, not small floating island :D], unless he dropped down in the middle somehow XD
@thedman "Well everyone... I think I know where we 'need' to strike..."
Those in the crashed ship couldn't 'see' it any better than those in the cloaked one that was quickly closing the distance, but the changelings could 'sense' what was coming...
Down in the ship though-
The Adjutant Chimed once more *Beep* "Sergeant! Seismic activity has reached our perimeter" *Beep* "Surface breaches detected, unknown life-forms are are crawling out, both from the ground, and within caved in paths detected beneath the ship's crash-site..." *Beep* "Confirmed non-zerg, species unregistered in UED database..." *Beep* "Each one has begun radiating small amounts of the unknown energy source."
Reports began coming in from various members of the remaining crew about strange monsters clawing their way through the hull of the ship like paper, several had begun incoherent screaming into the comms that did not stop quickly to imply something was 'just' killing them, some had shouted something about shooting them not seeming to affect anything.
*Beep!* "Sergeant, it appears that a number of crew members have broken into a manic hysteria." *Beep* "... I am unable to ascertain the cause of this hysteria."
That was about the time that something seemed to start clawing it's way into the vehicle bay as well... or rather, some 'things', what it looked like was something more befitting nightmares, although many might argue that the Zerg were far more fundamentally terrifying. Though these things looked like they shouldn't be capable of functioning, the zerg at least followed understandable biological requirements, these things behaved like something out of a horror story, crawling around like corpses on the move or jittering along like some kind of otherworldly horror.
*BEEP* "Sergeant" Yet again the Adjutant chimed in without much time for him to have replied with another update. "The larger individual signature is drawing closer and still devoid of visual recognition..." *Beep!* "Unknown Energy build up detected from the cloaked signature. Caution is advised."
Captain Cloak
This really was a bummy situation... Food was going to be exceedingly limited after the crash, their stock of hours was going up in smoke, and what was left was either burning or ticking down until it reaches the right heat level to explode and kill them all... And the captain was 'still' babbling on and on.
*CLANK!* "I. Found. Him."
The captain whirled around to spot the big something pulling someone else out of the hole in the ship... quickly revealed to be a slim brassy something dressed up in a butler's suit, which the Captain shamelessly pulled out of the big one's hand and embraced "AHHH! COGSY! You DID make it!"
*Click-fzzzzz-Chk!* "In-deed... a lit-L singed-and*Fzzzz*over-heat-ed... Also" *kzzzzt* the voice paused for a bit as the sound of thumping and creaking vegitation came from below the ship. *bbzzzz* "Thee for-est is en-cro-ching on-thee-ship... Thee clays are hold-eeng it back... poor-lee." *Chnkzzzzz*
The captain set him down with those words, suddenly a lot less 'playful' as he toddled to the edge of what little of the ship they could actually stand on with the wreckage... he couldn't see much from there, but the subtle presence of vines that didn't burn so well crawling up the sides of the ship. "Clayton... tell me, honestly... are your brother's 'living'?" The lack of mirth in his voice whenever he got serious always set his second's fur on end.
The huge clay thing replied without a hint of difference though "They. Are. not... I would not follow you if you kept the living as servants." To hear him speak in a full sentence without pauses was rare, but always meaningful... though it was unclear if he said as much out of truth, or knowing that stopping to save them would simply be their end as well.
The captain perked up then. "Very well then... We're going! Everyone hop on!" Without a hint of shame he and the other well covered individual climbed onto the big clay things back to hold on, and it grabbed the brassy butler thing and subsequently leapt off of the chip, reaching quite the distance before they crashed through to the forest floor, hopefully safely away from the encroaching vegitation, but they made sure to keep moving just to be sure.
Delightful timing as well, as mere seconds after they touched down the ship exploded anew, blowing the rear half clean off and into the forest somewhere nearby... they could worry about valuable salvage later.
@Rune_Alchemist@ninja Zecora was already quickly backing up, paying the alien considerably less mind in comparison to the door-way there, though oblivious to what was coming, there an over-bearing sensation that something was... displeased, with their presence there. She really 'was' fascinated by the alien's presence, but inter-species interactions were... not her forte, she needed to incur someone else's attention who could better handle this...
Then the door's slammed open on the castle's fore, a raging wind pouring out and buffeting those beyond... all sight within had been robbed, turning the insides of the castle entirely black despite the moon-light still illuminating things to some degree... oddly, the moon-light seemed to naturally focus onto the door-way, one could only imagine why, it even seemed to glow brighter in general, but it made sure there was enough light to see what sauntered it's way out...
It looked as if a chunk of the night sky had torn itself free of the infinite black and walked out of the castle as frightfully tall quadrupedal creature, looming even over the tall alien creature by several feet... It was difficult to discern features on it aside from the brighter tinted glow around it's edges that hinted as it's shape, but there were also darkened voids where it's eyes could be, something that created quite the nightmarish feeling when peering into...
Suddenly it's muzzle stretched longer, strands of 'night' seeming to shred open into a sharpened maw shape that revealed a light contained within it, and a bone-shiveringly shrill wail was emitted that sent the zebra fleeing as if her tail were on fire, though it looked clearly like a fearful retreat, it was mostly that she was beyond certain this was far beyond her league of threats to face, and had to hope that the two strange creatures could handle themselves... or at least hold on until she retrieved much more powerful assistance.
Meanwhile the creature's maw closed only partially and began an ominously slow approach to the pair of creatures... one point of interest, The robot will not have actually heard the screech from the creature, though it was clearly visible to him, it seemed to only pay attention to Shael.
The Responders
The group had been observing closely from their high perch in the sky... or at least, as closely as they could, but it became clear quickly that not only was the forest agitated by the crashes that had damaged it, but these strangers were obviously not aware of what would make it worse. Incidental fire was one thing with the one that had crashed in the center, but the group near the gorge had actually 'attacked' with fire, the others had... "Shit, this is turning into a critical mass scenario real fast..."
"Orders, Alpha?"
"Right, we can't do much for the one in the middle, it's too surrounded for us to be useful, but we've got 3 other situations to resolve, and eight of us to go around for fixing it"
"Jade Two and Lapis, Take care of the the one's that crashed near the castle, you'll be better for the job I hope." "Aye sir!""Eee! Sir!. heehee!"
"Pearl, Jade One, and Bronze, Take care of the one's who crashed on the mountain, Lethal force is authorized, the threat looks feral. Pearl, you're likely to make contact with the survivors there, do your best to make 'diplomatic' contact, but it's understandable if they attack defensively first, make sure you get out of their in one piece first, we can let the immortals handle contact after that if need be." "Understood Alpha""Aye sir!""Heheh, I'll crush em"
"Amber, Ruby, and Myself will hold back the forest so it doesn't kill the other group, remember, hold it back, don't 'attack' it, understood?" "Eeeheheheheheh! You bet boss man!""Of course sir."
"Good, then Disperse! and send up the signal on the way down."
With that the Either fliers in the air circled around eachother for few moments before soaring down and splitting off in groups, 'something' they did releasing a small ball of color into the sky that soon acted like a flare, creating a rainbow of light in the sky for a few moments as the grouped trailed made bee-lined for the various crash-sights.
Any local who saw the boy's reaction to his pursuers would have likely laughed madly for a moment before running to get help, or trying to save him in a few bolder cases... Though it may have been a good thing he couldn't see them given the darkness, one can never tell how strangers will react to their first encounter with such creatures, and potentially freezing up in shock is the second worst possible move to make... The first is anything that 'angers' them, like the knife that was imbedded in one and called forth a furious howl instead of a dying whimper.
Handy thing about crashes with such big things though, the ground night become roughed up and less stable, but it also tended to create some very useful clearings, and clearings meant better lighting... hence it became clear that it was something wolf-like chasing... 'dozens' of somethings actually, one of which had a familiar knife still sticking out of it's face. Numerous eyes glowed brightly in the night, better illuminating those strange wooden muzzles, and more seemed to keep joining them.
Lucky for this poor bugger, he ran right into the midst of someone more equipped to fight a 'swarm', and when that biotic lance zipped past him it blew the wolf to pieces... 'killed' might be a bit assumptive though, not that it was too visible amidst the others that over-came the reassembling pieces. Of course, these creatures were no more prepared for an onslaught of ammunition or alien abilities than these aliens were for this planets countless intricacies, they crunched, fell apart, or scattered to pieces quite easily, though one might note basic ammunition was less effective than alternative means.
Those that Elijah had unleashed his flamethrower on were the only deviation from the mad charge, reaction desperately to avoid it, but they went up like dry kindling when hit, being engulfed easily, yet released howls the likes of which belong in nightmares... Anyone present without a mask on might also notice an absolutely horrendous smell coming from them, worse than burning corpses in-fact.
Alas, the understandable ignorance of this world on Elijah's part had seen him stumble into one of the gravest taboos, and the primary reason this forest still stood as it did... Never. EVER. burn anything bigger than a torch or a campfire in the forest, it had extremely low tolerance for damages caused...
Thus, amidst the more relaxed reaction to a perceived ended conflict, the howls were answered by a cacophonous roar that shook the ground, a sound not unlike a million trees crashing and grinding together in the distance, something that could be 'felt' rattling one's bones as much as it could be heard splitting the air. It was undeniably heard for miles around... As was the rumbling that followed... For a moment the forest seemed still and silent aside from that rumble...
Then the tree-line 'exploded' with activity, it was quite literally the roots of trees surging with growth that progressed rapidly towards the ship, soon coupled with vines lashing out and snatching back the pieces of the destroyed wolves amidst the arrival of more of them... And yet it was likely that none of that quite compared to the tree-line more 'literally' exploding, trees both whole and in pieces launched into the air like a giant shot-gun as a single far more massive iteration of those creatures, easily a dozen meters tall, Barreled towards the ship and the fighters outside of it with speed far exaggerated for a creature with such size.
As luck would have it, the surprise blitz was deterred, if only slightly, by a sudden flurry of lightning bolts spraying the general vicinity of the giant Timberwolf, each strike punctuated by a thunder-clap that sent the smaller ones stumbling around and scattered them, though none of it did more than slow them down... interestingly, while it had blown some chunks free, it had produced no fires as one might expect... what was more handy was the streak of lightning that defied logic as it danced through the air on it's way down to the target and impacted it's big woody head with enough force to make it stumble off course. If someone had a particularly sharp eye they might the shape of some'thing' in the impact point on it's head before that same thing launched right back off into the sky with the sound of maddened cackling, successfully diverting it's attention, if only for the moment before it returned to it judged the threat negligible and returned to it's charge.
"Alpha, I spotted a pony running into the forest." "Lovely, if 'one' avoided the Cordon it's possible there's more."
He shrugged is off like it meant nothing... Technically "Irrelevant. Our immediate objective is to recon the crash-sites, we'll worry about strays after we're sure of other potential threats, until then, that'll be the regular guards duty. What do the rest of you see."
"Sir, The big chunky one appears to have managed it's crash in the best condition... I think, They're all so foreign some parts I don't know if it's damage or aesthetics." "Either way, there's 'definitely' something alien coming out of it, nothing we've been educated on yet though." "It's hard to tell at this distance through the forest and haze, but they look big, and armored, several 'were' moving towards the forest, but I think our arrival frightened them back into the cover of their crash. Good thing we weren't here to 'sneak' around, heheh." "The lack of whole-sale evacuation tell me they've got the site under 'some' control though, i don't wager we're waiting for something to explode."
"Sir, the one in the middle of the forest looks like it's just scrap now, only a couple of survivors appear to have climbed out of it. Their clothing reminds me a bit of merchants... or pirates."
"This other crash on my side might be contending for decent condition, I don't see many missing chunks, but it's more plain compared to the other one, of course I can't see inside either." "Kindof like the other one there doesn't seem to be any hurry for survivors to bail out."
"This other one looks like it had a hell of a tumble when it hit though, I can see that the sister's old castle is missing one of it's towers now too, looks like it got clipped on the way down." "There 'are' some sort of creatures outside of the crash, but it's difficult to see them well even with out enhancement, I suspect that means they're darker than we're used to." "Think we can get some targeted moon-light?"
He'd been quietly processing each report as it was provided, but something that had been said snatched his attention "Wait! They clipped the tower?!"
"Yes, why?"
"... We may need to inform the Princesses of that. There's a reason that more orthodox crews haven't been around to refurbish or tear down parts of the castle. We need to be ready incase they triggered any ancient safe-guards."
He'd managed to have a fairly quiet period of travel, at first... granted, it wouldn't be very fast... a skateboard in the middle of a forest already wouldn't be an especially effective mode of travel, things were always so 'rough', nevermind doing so at 'night'... in the 'everfree' though? One would be lucky to find a patch out ground long enough to gain 'any' speed, nevermind enough make the effort any faster than just running on foot. One would need some pretty special skills, or a special board, to hope to traverse a forest of this magnitude with it...
Of course, that wasn't mentioning the attention that a strange creature making strange noises in the middle of a recently awoken forest would draw... That being the sudden presence of growling amidst the trees, and if he looked, there would be quite a collection of sickly green eyes glowing in the darkness of the under-brush... it seemed that so far what progress he made had prevented him from actually being surrounded, for now.
The adjutant was quick to respond to the command *Beep* "Tracking... Judging from the speed of Approach, Our diminished Sensor quality near this forest may lose Tracking on targets while in motion." *Beep* "While Broad-spectrum detection demonstrates a large energy signature, visual sensors are unable to register the targets properly." *Beep* "Concealment inconsistent with known cloaking technology. Visuals resemble intense heat distortion blurring targets beyond recognition..." *Beep* "Thermals confirm, Energy Sources producing high volume heat... Trails bear residual heat... Ambient Unknown Energy does not seem to be producing similar heat..." *Beep* "Secondary source also lacking heat production... Visual sensors still blank." *Beep* "Seismic activity approaching... slowly... Patterns inconsistent with Known Zerg patterns.
Zecora was thoroughly caught off guard by the newcomers sudden appearance, something she was not used to with the sense for danger she had developed in the forest, and she quite readily took a few steps back as it approached and she so suddenly found it 'touching her'... Well, it was very quickly revealed to not be aggressive, at least not overtly, and the sounds it produced were quite pleasant, if thoroughly unintelligible to her, though there was enough recognition to pick up on it actually being 'language' that was being spoken.
"Perhaps this is too much for me... I should retrieve someone of higher authority..." She'd already started to back-away when there was some rumble that went through the ground... it was pretty localized though, only around the castle itself, it was enough to make her stop and stared worriedly at the door...
Suprised Escotto wasn't included in the GM's response. Did he just not encounter anything of interest yet? I'm kinda waiting for@RangingWolf to actually crash... Unless he did that already. Hm...
I actually thought he was wandering off towards thethumping giant thing to 'kick it's butt' XD Or I would have included him. Though if He doesn't post by tommorrow I can cook some stuff up, it'll be nice and excitin ;3... plenty of reason to book it towards that crashed ship XD MU WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!
If any of those with a view of the sky were to look 'up' it wouldn't be difficult at all to see the glowing objects flying through the sky far too high to pick out details beyond the short trails of light behind them, and the moon-lit smoke trails left behind those, though it was organized in a pattern not unlike a wing of strike craft
The one in the lead spoke, somehow able to be heard by the others despite the ludicrous speed that would normally deafen them. <Alright boyos! I want the dust cleared so we can get a clear view, we need to see more than smoke and fire before we consider getting any closer.> A Chorus of 'aye's' answer the order before the wing formation spread out and suddenly dove...
For a moment there was a sound of distant thunder, the sort that was a clear indicator for the educated that the sound barrier had been broken, before the spread out dots of light turned back up and soared higher into the sky and out of view, but the collective shock-waves produced created a wall of wind broad enough to spread over much of the forest, harmless it might be beyond ruffling the leaves, but it did a wonderful job of carrying the dust rapidly off into the distance, and spreading whatever was left, creating a better view for those on the ground 'and' in the air.
The Changeling Crew
"Hoooo-wee! They sure got here fast!" The voice of his second snickered behind him.
"Of course they did, their whole job is to be as fast as you can imagine... Just be glad they're not here for 'us'." Of course the wind buffeted the ship as it blew the dust away, though the brunt of it was too low to really make it struggle. "They were even nice enough to give us a better view of our 'visitors'... It's fascinating isn't it?"
"Yeah, even at this distance there's just 'so much' emotion pouring off of them... unfortunately, it's kindof a sickening pool of negativity, but I have this horrible feeling you're going to suggest we butt into the middle of it all."
"Well of course I am! This is the 'perfect' opportunity for us to set the foundation! They don't even know what kind of trouble they're really in yet, we can swoop in and lend a hoof when they finally find out... The feather-heads won't go down for a while yet anyway."
"... I'll go make sure everyone's ready for a proper fight..."
Captain Cloak
Eventually the burning wreck in the middle of the forest jostled, Some plate near the engines behind forced out and allowing those within to claw their way out, the first one being the red clad mad-man who'd been in charge, which nimbly clambered his way up onto the edge of one of the silent engines, giving him a good view from above the trees. "Well isn't this just 'fascinating'!? I was sure we were gonna just flatten on the rocket and drift off into the Zea of Black!"
"Yer a fuckin loon Cap'n! A Great Glorious Fuckin Loon!" The next one to climb out was similarly nimble, and only 'slightly' less covered by their out-fit, revealing fur and a tail. "Though it'd a been a glorious way tuh go out! Teach those Randy as Pirate to try puttin 'us' in chains, Hahah! I still can't believe we pulled off stealin their flag-ship and makin 'them' blow it up for us!... Gods! my Blood is pumping SO HARD right now!"
"Be.glad.your.blood.is.still.yours..." The next voice to follow was slow, methodical, almost bland beyond reason, and the hulk of a thing that forced the hole larger to climb out was the most bland creature it could be... It looked like a bunch of dried mud in the shape of a human, a very tall, unrealistically muscular one, 'literally' chiseled from granite... or perhaps, Clay, would be a more accurate comparison. "My.Brothers.Finish.Remaining.Pirates...Still.Search.For.Bighat.
"Ah-hah! Claysy! I'm so glad you made it! And Nardy too! If we can just find Cogsy we'll be ready to go!" He clapped his hands once loudly and pranced up on the edge of the engine port, ignoring the fire and hear spewing from it's center. "I know you boy's haven't had a chance to catch on to it, clambering for life, but we've stumbled across a hidden world! It just looked like a rock from outside! a rock guarded by an angry sun, an anomaly nobody would risk approaching... but can't you feel it?! This place is RIPE with hours! There's so much here I can 'taste' it!"
The captain went on rambling in a similar manner for 'quite' a while... It was obviously a common thing, as the other two just turned away and started scouting out the other direction without him...
The Crashtle... I mean Castle, seemed to project a sense of forbodeing all on it's own, the closer one got the more intense the sensation it produced... though it may be questionable whether or not it would affect an artificial being such as Sparky.
Visually though, it did just look like a long abandoned castle, countless large weather worn bricks created an elaborate labyrinth both inside and out, though inside it was the layout, and outside the random debris that made things difficult... More importantly, it was surrounded by a chasm, on all sides, as if someone had elected to just blast a moat out of the ground around it too deep to cross, rather than just fill it with water. Though there were rickety old bridged to cross, and paths on either side that led down into the chasm and back up the other side, not to mention caves here and there on it's walls.
There were countless bits of the castle missing, obviously having crumbled over the centuries, yet some parts appeared as if someone had been 'trying' to fix it up, newer doors resided in the front arch, and through one of the ruined walls could be seen fresh tapestries depicting some form of winged quadruped's silhouette in odd colors...
Perhaps 'most' importantly, as the curious droid drew nearer to the castle, a voice called out, one that was quite exotic with a thick accent, and yet the sounds that came from the voice were unintelligible and were unlikely to match any language that was on record. Though unintelligible, the vocal tones that followed seemed almost musical in nature
"It must be a Tuesday for me to find such a strange Sight, While great machines fall in the middle of the Night. Pray tell, Strange one, what brings you here, with the sound of destruction oh so near?"
It wouldn't be hard to find the source, there was a strange, roughly 4 foot zebra-like thing nearby, less spindly than other horses that may have been seen, with a greater range of motion on display as she approached, adorned in an assortment of golden rings and armed with saddle-bags full of various planty materials, a greater range of expression also demonstrated a healthy suspicion of the strange metal being that had inspired her approach.
She obviously had no idea that they didn't speak a similar language yet...
How lucky that the ship had landed in a way that at least left it unlikely to go sliding down into the gorge, though it was dangerously close to the edge.
Having been among the later crashes, the forest had been thoroughly awakened by the time Verrikan had touched down, and though it might noy be visible yet, with another massive disturbance, things were beginning to get riled up both in and out of the forest It couldn't be seen yet, but things were most certainly paying attention to the ship
It was impressive that the ship had held together while crashing into a mountain, surely a testament to Directorate Engineering, It seemed to have found a stable enough place to land, appearing to have crushed part of a cave to make it even... and eschewing larger vehicles may have been a good idea as well, the terrain might be a bit too unstable, or cluttered in the case of the forest, for them to be effective.
Given the thickness of the forest, it was already highly likely that the marine suits would already have some difficulty traversing them without shoving a lot of obstacles out of the way, or stomping them under-foot, but they could at least traverse it with out threat of getting stuck.
A bit more importantly though...
The adjutant's voice sounded off once more to it's new commanding officer *beepity-beep* "Sergeant, Sensors have been diminished and delayed detection, the cause has been determined to be this planet's air containing a high concentration of an unknown energy signature." *Beep* "It does not appear to be harmful, but it's volume within the forest has diminished sensor integrity considerably. It will reduce range of precision information and limit communication range until adaptive calibrations have been completed." *Beep* "Sensor's have detected distant sources of a similar energy source in much larger concentrations, Eight similar signatures are moving rapidly at high altitudes, and there is a larger source, both are in air-space above the forest." *Beep* "Mundane sensors have also detected minor seismic activity underground, as well as sonic disturbances resembling buzzing insects."
I'm kind of noticing that most of the activity seems to take place while I'm at work (at work right now on my lunch break) and that makes me question my ability to keep up with this.
That's why I suggested a day or two as posting times XD enough time to find 'sometime' to get a post in ;3 the beauty of forum RP, even if you're not around during the heavier activity, you can still catch up and get a post in.
Also, hoooo boy! almost done with my post, and I went to check the OOC, found out I had been logged out somehow... I would have been PISSED! If I had lost this monster of a post because of that...
also, Heavens, my brain hurts, I'm terrible at rhymes XD
discord.gg/8v87eD There we go :D Now i 'm awake and I can to posting again as well!
Also, not sure what some others that didn't comment yet might think of Discord, but I find the ease of contact compared to having to log into the site can be handy ^.^
It'll probably still be good to post here in relation to important things. >3>
Ya know, i'm tempted to make a Discord for this, if only because more regular contact does wonders :D... though that depends on if everyone here is interested in that XD it's a bit moot if not ;3
Rothurage
Nallore
Riddles
