Riverside 19

[Shadowcaller]

Spoiler: Quotes

Show

Temple of Bane, North Northside

The soldiers are carried up to the Temple, where they and Fazimah are fussed over by several individuals before an imposing man wearing a suit of shiny black full plate and carrying a mace with a head shaped like a black fist. He'll head to his underling first, his hands glowing as he heals her injuries, before heading to the strangers. He'll try to heal them, too, channelling energy from his god to cure their wounds. Hopefully it works, but it's not a guarantee.

As the Hollow Hounds approach, a different man in full plate- not as shiny or ornate as the first guy's, but still the second best armour in the temple. He's carrying a spiked war-hammer. As they approach, he takes off his helmet, revealing a half-elf with one gold eye and one red one. He inhales deeply, and when he breathes out again, he spews out a billowing black cloud of toxic black smoke. The Festering Gloom should at least weaken the Hollow Hounds, acting by draining their life or animating energies, rather than traditional poisonous gas.

[Lotus Garden Border - Infernals]

Omiko is prevented from making any witty retort by Ilpholin's literally running into her just behind the Infernal's crashing leg. She does her best to grab the nymph (with two normal arms, one mechanical claw, and no fewer than four newly-sprouted mouths) and keep her from getting away. If they're crushed beneath a falling burning-rock-golem, so be it. She can take it. Most likely, though, Ilpholin's momentum knocks the two of them out of the path of the falling titan and all they have to deal with is the collapsing ground beneath them and the amount of getting burnt that they're doing.

She has to note, while falling, that she was too late. The infernal went down.

Hmm. Necromancy, or something like that. Power from everyone they kill, possibly?
Another spell. Antimagic. How interesting that it-
The former mayor dissolves, broken apart into vast numbers of rat-sized coin-colored dragons. Their magic sight shuts off, their destructive breath catches in their throats. For the moment, they mill around in confusion, unable to think straight.

Alice keeps running for a few moments after Felandria stops, only eventually looking back and stopping to help her fight the things. She sweeps both hands up, trying to swat them away with the force-fields and throw the things away from them and towards Felandria's blast of fire.

---

Now, those angels don't fare too well.
The beam cuts across the vanguard of scouts where they cluster at the front, cutting through them one-two-three and tracking a fourth perfectly as it tries to dodge.
Where they aren't completely incinerated, the remains fade away, turned to energy and gone.

The survivors spread out slightly as the swarm comes down.
The archers return fire; such tiny targets! The surviving scouts will leap up and bite at the swarming things, fully expecting that any they catch will be crushed to powder between their teeth.

[VIGIL Arrival - Wenomir, Gary and Awen]

"Thanks, Mia. I'll see what we can do, but we're unlikely to be able to draw the infernals anywhere."

With that, Wenomir leads his team into Eastside, towards the Infernal that didn't just topple over. When the swarms start coming towards them, he snatches one of his grenades, removes the safety and throws it, hoping the explosion, silver shrapnel and lingering silver mist clear them out.

[MERC Office - Kids]

Iknika just glares at Hekta. This creepy little thing has caused them enough trouble.

"Listened to you about what? Whatever, let's just leave."

[MERC Riverside Office]

"No, I think I've got it as covered as I can from here," Dipsnig says.

[Eastside City Hall]

Adir follows the women through the gate with his typical eccentric leap. One should always jump through portals, after all. He surveys the city around them with some trepidation. The stag perks his ears as Jezebel begins to speak, and can't help but feel a little admiration and confidence climb his spine. He stands with his legs slightly spread, right beside Cessie and just behind Jezebel. He looks at the sorceress. "I've never had people actually pray for me before. Wonder what that'll feel like." He casts his gaze forward again. "How long's it been since you were in a fight, Cessie?"

Always jump through portals.

[Lotus Gardens Observation Deck]

While silver might not have any additional effects in this situation, it's also the only mortar ammo Ilpholin and Mecha Squiggles dumped their life savings into. They really don't have much choice in the matter at this point. So he reloads and begins a new set of calculations. It's doubtful the demons will let that trick happen again and will attempt at the very least to intercept another attack. So he'll have to switch it up and use a different option. Fortunately with the communication barrier down, it's much easier to calculate those options.

Any indication Mecha Squiggles might have had about Zenon's arrival is masked by the same thing that disorients the Devourer. The price of no longer being able to use one's own eyes and legs for information.

[Lotus Garden Border - Infernals]

It's true, Ilpholin had no intention of remaining there long enough to be crushed. She'll just have to use her momentum and take Omiko with her to get out of the way. It's just as well Omiko latched on as Ilpholin can concentrate on maneuvering as if they were one entity. Though she'd rather not actually be one entity as the shield arm held between them and keeping Omiko's mouths to herself is proving. Unless the mouths are also on Omiko's hands. Not much to do about that.

Flung to the side, Ilpholin rolls them away from the infernal. Maybe it's a stop drop and roll situation with all the blistering heat. Maybe she's just extremely experienced with shifting positions with arms intertwined like this and can keep up the momentum. For a little while anyways. Like any best laid plan, she didn't expect the ground to break up under her. She ends their roll some distance away, or attempts to at any rate, with Omiko pinned beneath her, head dangling over a newly formed crevice. Ilpholin's hair still smokes as the ends linger in flame and the left side of her face has seen better days with less burns.

"NOT. IN. THE MOOD!" Ilpholin rages, the arm not being used as the intervening shield shifting into a blade and twisting to slice off two of Omiko's grasping arms, one mecha and one normal. If Adir hadn't shot her down just earlier today, maybe the wild eyed smoking hot nymph be more open to Omiko's advances.

[Eastside]
Eastside City Hall

The masked Harley Martinez is actually there. Or, rather, she arrives there. (It's just her player was completely lost about what was going on, so...)

She hasn't received any messages from Mr. E regarding the invasion, she has absolutely no divided loyalties at all.

She is momentarily lost about what to do. I mean, sure, she could probably fight against demons and defeat some of them. It's just...she has no idea of the progress around the city or how she can help Eastside.


[VIGIL Arrival - Wenomir, Gary and Awen
Headed to Eastside

Following Wenomir's lead, Awen tries to run through how she can possibly help. She possibly overthinks it, too. "What should I do, Reynard?" she asks her fox. From so far away, there's not really much she can do with the swarm until they draw closer, but then they'd be really slowed down and it would probably be too late. Plus, all of those methods would really hurt Wenomir and Gary as well, so she probably should try to avoid them.

Let's see...she thinks. She could use their shadows to trap them. She could maybe try to use some ghostly mists to confuse them? Or maybe exhaustion would work better against them? That's about it, though...

She finally decides: if they continue trying to follow and chase after them, then maybe she could leverage all three of those ideas together. Of course, she'd have to try to slow them down as much as possible. She takes off her gloves and drops them to the ground (so her fox can carry them).

Awen stabs the underside of one wrist with her three of her sharp fingernails. Instead of blood, black thorns drip out and fall in her shadow. Then, moments later, hands come out of the shadows of those closest in the swarm. They reach out, hungry for the people who are casting the shadows, trying to grab them and bring them down.

Next, the witch's eyes turn completely black and appear to drip black tar down her cheeks. She keeps on trying to run behind the other two, but she does have to slow down a bit to concentrate on creating these spells. A slow haze drifts out of those shadowy hands; the haze tries to lull those who breathe it in to sleep, by playing a sad lullaby in their minds.

Of course, as soon as Awen does this, she reaches into her purse to bandage her wound, grab her gloves back from her fox, and then catch up with her teammates as much as possible. She has no idea if any of those magicks will be effective against the swarm of demons, but she can always hope, right? Maybe, at the very least, it'll keep them distracted long enough to be more vulnerable to Wenomir's grenade.

[Outside the Drill Tank]

Maria, the grey witch, floats up in the sky looking around at as much of the city she can see. She speaks to herself, under her breath. "Far from paradise where the winds of war are blowing freely in my tired eyes run the bloody hosts of Ares' slaughter. After that hot gospeller has levelled all but the churched sky, I write the tale of a city's death by fire."

She raises one hand in the air: a hand that has a rising star that she carved in it not long ago. A small, controlled explosion appears out of it and she rockets downwards towards the tank, then stops near Zefir soon enough to hear his most recent order.

Seeking clarification for her orders (because either she can't remember it or didn't hear it), she asks, "As the leader who knows the good places, where do you want me to go?" Her question is a callback to what she said the other day in the volcano.

[Westside - Evolution Industries Power Plant]

The assistance from Evolution Security never came for the rest of Riverside. The division had already endured enough of their employer's agenda, and the company had been on a downturn, more and more poured into personal projects, yet none of them new or innovative, all derivative of past technology, adaptations and combinations, the spark that forged it all gone and replaced with cold, forced yet steady simplicity.

The truth was, the ghost in charge was not winning. His persistence could not last forever, death's call tugging ever harder as he clung to the physical plane. And now the same forces that reduced him to this state were at the door. Yet...they were helpful, in their own way. With the supernatural and metaphysical links to the outside world and the realms beyond cut, that call weakened. The demons had forced it out just the same as they did all else in their effort to sever the city from help.

Now it was time to use it while he could.

The decommissioned power plant sprang to life around him. He'd had to hardwire it into this chassis thanks to the lockdown interfering with insufficiently-powerful portal-based power beaming, but it wouldn't be long before his plan could become action.

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

Jezebel gives a small yet uncharacteristic shrug. "No, no backup plan in place. There are things like making a copy of my mind and digitizing it to put into a mechanical body of course, but I would never enjoy that unless it let me feel still." The woman admits before taking a small sip of her cider. "And I never set out looking to get rid of my humanity, it just sort of...happened. And in a way, I seek to regain that. Even if it means giving up longevity for a while." She points out. When she next takes a sip, she nearly chokes on her cider as a thought hits her. "What do you think, Cessie?" She asks, raising a leg up so her robe falls away to expose her calf and slippered foot. "If I became a robot, I could go either mirror-finish chrome or jet black. Which would be better? There's always cherry red..." She asks, just to tease and make light of a particularly serious situation for herself.

During the Invasion

Eastside - City Hall

Haley is left to her own devices unless she comes up to Jezebel seeking orders. In the meantime, Jezebel gives a small nod to Cessie. "Wise? Likely not, but I have more faith in our own ability to deal with potential masses of daemons than most others. Especially when my Hunters are arriving piecemeal." Jezebel points out, gesturing towards a street that Hunter Jones and his two battle-ready companions come down, guns at the ready until they get closer. "If they had more of the golems however, or the desire to use them, they'd have done so. It would have been far more effective at quelling resistance if they had dropped at least two on each segment of the city, but as far as my guards have seen Southside is entirely untouched." She points out. "But now it is time to prepare. We're going to need cover."

Without setting her Melta down, Jezebel steps away from the building slightly to a car parked on the street. She plants her shoulder against it, grips the bottom, and simply turns it on the side with some effort. If it hadn't been for the armor, she probably wouldn't have been able to do it so easily. The three Hunters pitch in as well, overturning another car, but after that Hunter Jones spots a bus further down the street and starts running to climb aboard. He'll be utterly exposed and in the open as he runs though.

Eastside - Sarah & Co.

The gout of flame doesn't reach Sarah as the demon will find the heavy weight of a particularly strong quarter-dragon landing on it from above. While Eric isn't all that heavy himself, he's carrying a heavy backpack loader and a truly massive heavy bolter which will add hundreds of pounds to his mass, which is all aimed at landing on the demon's head to crush it into the ground. Eric himself lacks wings despite obvious blue dragon heritage giving him patches of scaling, horns, and clawed hands and feet. He wears only a pair of pajama pants, having been caught while working and only having time to grab a weapon before being sent out.

He isn't alone either.

The flying demons will find a smaller figure literally skipping from rooftop to rooftop before launching itself into the air at them with (likely) startling speed. If the doll were living, the lack of clothes would be seen as indecent, but as it is her mostly porcelain and marble body is exposed to the elements. She stands a mere four and a half feet in height, and while she looks like something a toymaker would provide for a rather eccentric client, the joints of her body are made of dark purple flesh that writhes and pulses, and she even has hair of a similar material that goes down to her lower back in a single braid. As she leaps, her left hand twists, warps, and finally shatters into a single large daemonic claw that will try to swipe at the closest flying demon with the intent and capability to rip it in two.

Sarah however continues to be dazed as her mutant body works to try and repair itself.

[Outside the Drill Tank]

Inside the command center, a tiny black sphere appears with a small electrical crackle, before expanding to roughly the size of a softball. Two solid, flaming green eyes appear on its surface, before a maw filled with many pointed teeth also appears. The maw sphere looks to Zefir and Itholos, before speaking in a deep, gutteral voice that is still somehow reminiscent of Zenon's own.

"Am atop the Catherdral. The goddess appears to have left the Gardens, but there are a number of sorcerous or psychic soldiers here. One of them appears to have noticed me; will deal with the situation. Will leave this aspect manifested for communications."

The sphere's maw reverts to a hungry grin when Zenon finishes speaking, but its eyes project a holographic map. Zenon himself is indicated in the center, with the approaching entity coming from the Cathedral marked in red. Others are marked either in blue or orange, depending on whether they're psychic or a magic user, respectively.

[MERC Office - Kids]

"I didn't lie! It was just easier to sneak around you people! Stop being so stupid and mean! I'm not some animal!" Hekta hisses, staring down at the two. Her eyes still carried that uncomfortable effect if one stared right into them.
"Take the argument outside kids. I'm supposed to work today." And Dena will then quite firmly escort them out of the office building and slams the door shut behind them.

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

"None of the above I'm afraid. I'd wait until you figure out something that doesn't put you into a machine if you want to regain 'humanity'." Cessie muses with a smile. "In fact, when would you say that you have regained it? It's a nebulous concept when you think about it. Some would say it is only connected to ones morality, which makes it a very human-centric term." There were some that didn't consider mages human, but she buried that opinion deep down in her mind.

---

[Outside the Drill Tank]

The pit fiends seem somewhat hesitant at the appearance of this orb. Just what manner of allies had their king recruited for them? This almost seemed... god-like. "Yes, she had a little speech about it." Itholos remarks. "I should tell you, we are going to withdraw our troops from Eastsides borders. No sense giving them a place to shoot from when we have orders not to engage the place itself. Retreat if you encounter too much resistance. They seem to be gathering at the Eastside townhall." The pit lord gestures at it on the riverside map on the table. If Zenon can see it that is.

Eastside - Sarah & Co.

If the part-dragon is coming from above he will be fired upon by the other soldiers, who will at least have time to give their comrade a warning before he comes down at the flamer-wielders head.
The demon raises its right hand while speaking a runic word of power. "Sorth." Then the demon, and all its gear, suddenly double in size as it is infused with runic energy.
It then attempts to use the flamer as a club and slam the part dragon with it as he comes down towards it.

The remaining soldiers spots the other attacker and starts firing at her, but she will be able to reach them if the electric bolts do not hinder her. The pit soldier she reaches attempts to protect itself by blocking the claw with its weapon.

Eastside - City Hall

"I still remember how to fight, Adir. Besides, eldritch depend as much on practical as theoretical knowledge. My research will help us here." She gestures at the phoenix flying above them. "From its perspective, I can see that there is a group of those demon soldiers nearby. In addition, there are a those swarms in the skies. We need a way to deal with those as well." She informs them.

Especially considering how Jezebel was putting so much effort into barricades that would be useless against flying enemies. This was a enemy they barely understood, during the attack on VIGIL they had simply used those bat demons and the weird flesh balloons, but this was something quite different. They seemed far more advanced and coordinated.

[Attempting to enter Riverside] - Felandria and Alice
Heading to Northside

Felandria's fireball explodes in a rain of fire and fury yet it seems to take a moment for the small marble-like objects to even register it. They simply drop down on the ground, completely unmoved by the force of the explosion. Similarly, the marbles appear completely unaffected by Alice's forcefields, staying exactly where they are even as she attempts to push them around.
They just keep swarming around them like flies around a dying animal without even attacking.

Meanwhile, the legion above them now starts to approach and gather around the two as well, keeping further away than the first swarm.

---

Like against the mayor, the marbles form a web of energy-threads between one another as they descend towards the surviving angels. While the scouts certainly can attempt to eat the marbles, it might prove extremely unhealthy to them as the swarms tactic is basically move straight into the group and cause the web to kill or hurt anyone that goes through it.
They can hit individual marbles, opening small holes in the web, but the swarm is moving in a circular pattern, planning to hit the angels until they stop moving.

[VIGIL Arrival - Wenomir, Gary and Awen]
Heading to Eastside

Gary's bullets seem to have little to no effect to the swarming marbles. as they're as tiny as the bullets that he's firing and are still 40 meters in the air. While he might hit some of them, if he's lucky, this is not a particularly effective tactic to employ.

Awen's tactic is slightly more effective, while the marbles don't seem to have the need to breath, being constructs, their shadows can be pulled down though how does the magic work with swarm exactly? Would it pull down individual members or the entire thing?
Either way, this legion swarm does not seem interested in engaging them, trying to pull away from the hands grasping at their shadows.
Instead, another swarm that emerges straight from the clouds themselves move directly towards Wenomir, Gary and Awen.

[Lotus Garden Border - Infernals]

The pit soldiers certainly weren't expecting dragons to come out of the former mayor, but there was not room for hesitation now. First one of them carrying a cage on its back steps up and unleashes a wide stream of fire against the dragons. Then the rest move forward, attempting to stab the dragons with their swords. This was hardly the optimal tactic to use against a dragon swarm, but they hadn't expect this reaction when the mayors magical defenses went down.

Finally, the legion will attempts to attack the dragons that flies into the air by flying the marbles into them. Each marble seem to be transferring a charge of white energy in-between them so fast that it appears like there is a beam between each marble which forms into a web like pattern as they descend. If one directly touches this white energy with little protection the outcome might be directly lethal. But with at least a thick layer of metal or other similar protection, it will cause more minor effects depending on how well protected that are of the body is. These effects include searing pain, numbness, paralyzation, spasms, internal bleeding, and intense burn marks (the exact effects decided by the players of course).

Electronics coming in contact with it might cease to function though it won't actually damage non-living things structure, which is which thick layers of it are good protection against this.

---

The pit soldiers can't fire at ilpholin considering how easily friendly fire would occur at this point. They are getting into better positions to fire at her however.

The infernal still lay there, smoldering. Its hard to tell if its really out for good, or is just temporary out of commission after that blast.

Temple of Bane, North Northside

The hounds appears to slow down due to the gas, but they're still coming at them even if they seem drained when they gone through the cloud. This will give the temple protectors a to attack back before the hounds fall upon them.

In the distance, coming from another street, they can see a small group of Malechenar soldiers escorting what appears to be a woman with the lower body of a huge snake dressed in a deep cowl. They seem to be part of the defenders.