Reincarnation Wars - IC *Still Recruiting*

[Sen isSaqqara]

Sam:
Antarctica
The puddles would seem to be the result of some sort of fire-blast magic hitting the ice underfoot. There is nothing unusual about the footprints, aside of course from their abrupt end.
You also notice a thin line of red running just below the surface of the light power-snow. It is a line of frozen blood, perfectly cylindrical and shattered into many sections, all fallen in line.

Morcleon:
The Plains of Battle
You get the sense that these foes are not quite human. Also, there is a sense that they... were... expecting you? Ordered to intercept you? Something about-
Your mental foray into their ranks is cut short, as your detection abilities are pushed back by a mental cloud. You are left with a subtle taste of copper, and find yourself unable to use any magic/psychic detection in their direction.
Meanwhile, the Tyranid swarm is being successfully held at bay. Still, their numbers continue to grow, and the defenders are becoming more and more hard-pressed. Your lightning attack did a turn on their flank defenses, really messing with them.
The darkness gathers, and the moon's rise slows to match normal time-flow. Speaking of returning to normal time, more and more of your clones are being hit. There are barely a score of you left.

[Erik Vale]

Erik
Pride of Hiigara

Shrugging a little, Erik re-directs his incantation towards Antarcitica.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Erik:
The Pride of Hiigara
The water clears, and you see Sam conducting her investigation.

[Morcleon]

Morcleon
Plains of Battle

Coughing slightly, Morcleon wipes the trickle of blood from the side of his mouth. "Ugh, can't I get any leeway on them?"

He freezes in place, staring around at his remaining twenty or so troops. "...and we're quickly running out of manpower... Ah, y'know what. Screw it."

With a grim look, he slowly glances down at the Sixth Key in his hand. "SATURDAY! We're dumping these guys into the Void! Power up the Sixth Key!"

"Ahaha! With pleasure!"

Ominously, the Sixth Key glows a deep green in the moonlight. Morcleon takes it, points it downwards, and screams, in the language of the Architect: "FROM NOTHING, TO NOTHING! SHI NE! SHI NE! MINNA SHI NE!!"

A great tear begins to open in the very reality of the plains itself. From a spot halfway between the the floating remnants of Morcleon's army and the otherworldly soldiers, great blobs of glistening black form. Directed and empowered by the sovereignty of the Sixth Key, they slam down on the armored forces, dissolving them into that from which they came.

Spoiler

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Temporary opening into the Void of Nothing.

"Shi ne! Shi ne! Minna shi ne!!" means "Die! Die! Everyone die!!", from Furude Rika's character song, S.A.G.A. Rinne no Hate Ni.

"There is no 'overkill'. Only 'open fire' and 'time to reload'."

[Erik Vale]

Erik + Sam

Erik points into the mirror and whispers, his words as audible to Sam as a conversation.

"Sam, This is Erik, You want to rejoin the group? Uhh, tilt your head to the left and blink in the case of a yes. Otherwise I have other issues to jump on."

[TheAntiplanar]

Sam
Antarctica

Sam responds affirmatively to the signal after making certain that it is in fact Erik addressing her. She takes in the atmosphere for a moment before addressing the other Persona, however.
I have successfully made a bond with the glacier. Apparently, the creature's name is Marit Lage, and she is from some sort of other reality. The magic here would suggest that if we were somehow able to bring her back here, we could re-bind her below the ice.
The magic signatures here corroborate all of this, at least from my end.
Let's be going then, hm? I'm already bored of the ice. Sam moves towards the source of the voice, shrugging slightly as if to ask what to do next.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Morcleon:
The Fields of Battle
As the eldritch soldiers descend on their prey, something happens. A shout goes up from the soldiers in red, one points upward at an area where the air cracks, and a figure steps forth. A burst of light appears in the darkness, pulsing outward. As the pulse hits the blobs of darkness and the remaining Tyranids, they dissolve into air. Strangely, you are unharmed (though the same cannot be said for your remaining clones). Try as you might, you cannot get a good view of the figure at the center of the pulse. They look distorted, like something seen through a curtain of hot air.
Whoever they are, the soldiers in red can evidently see them clearly enough. A cry of victory goes up from among the troops, who immediately begin retreating through their rips in timespace.
The figure hovering in the air lets out a long, distinctly evil laugh. The kind that all villains wish they could do. It is slightly haunting, and you cannot help but stay still and listen. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the last of the army turn before taking their leave. It is a man, slightly taller than most of the others. He has a double-pair of stripes in gold on his shoulder, and a cap with a small sigil denoting his rank. He pulls his pistol, aims briefly, and fires at you. Your last sight before being sucked back to the Pride in present time is of the figure in the air waving the Sixth Key's tear closed with a casual motion of its hand.

Erik and Morcleon!Clone:
The Pride of Hiigara
With a *pop*, Jacob and Morcleon drop into the bridge, landing lightly.

[Morcleon]

Morcleon
The Pride of Hiigara

Dropping onto the deck, Morcleon slams his fist into the deck, sending slight reverberations through the floor. The few seconds of this trembling fury transform into an emotionless visage as he stands up and dispels his clone, taking his place at the controls.

"Well," he mutters. A slight pause, and then, a rueful chuckle. "I suppose that was going to happen anyway."

He explains, "Seeing as we went 30 minutes into the past, what happened now, in the present, was the final outcome. It was, very likely, our attempted intervention that cause that figure to appear, whom you, Erik, likely saw in your scrying..."

He checks the mining operation while muttering on about "...damn fate."

Spoiler

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How's the mining going? How many RUs have we acquired so far?

[Erik Vale]

All but Kate (I think)
Pride of Hiigara

"Damn. Then I will have to scry again for the other persona to check, but I think it is best I go to retreive Kate, then we can decide what to do."

(If no one objects) Erik goes to scry Kate, and then teleports to her, standing off to her side. It would make for a heck of a surprise.

[TheAntiplanar]

Sam
The Pride of Hiigara

Sam walks the deck of the Pride, having followed the source of Erik's scrying back to its source. She examines the consoles of the craft with some care, waiting for Victor's input on the visible hardware.
Interesting. I think that given some time and equipment, we should be able to wire up a central monitoring and HUD system for the armor here.
Any thoughts as to a name for your new lifeline, Sam?
I hadn't really given it much thought, but I think I'll go with Sigil's Aegis (Mark II) until a better name presents itself. There is a brief pause in Sam's mind as the souls consider this.
Yes, I would deem this appropriate as well, given the circumstances. Outwardly, Sam greets the other Personae, having not seen them for some time. Several seem agitated, and the longer she stands on the bridge, the more she comes to realize that events have been progressing far faster than she anticipated.
"Can someone tell me what exactly has happened since we parted?"

[Sen isSaqqara]

Morcleon:
The Pride of Hiigara
Some good news: the mining here is particularly rich. Several of the rather simplistic reports from scouts have noted the presence of unusually high levels of iron, various steels, and several other key elements used in the manufacture of electronics and machinery. There is even traces of refined aluminum. Overall, you've retrieved about 3500RU in the short time you've been away.

[AkaiNeko]

"I'm not certain, but I don't think I will, actually. My fight should very much not be over yet; this is an unexpected detour." Kate pauses as Saber seems to shiver slightly. "Strike that, I definitely won't be here for long. Hopefully we'll find some way to fix all this before we head out, though."

Actually....wasn't there a document about this kind of thing happening?

"'Document Recovered From The Marianas Trench', yes. It indicates that the Foundation has the capability to undo this sort of damage. I suspect, however, given that "there is no canon", as it were, in this situation such capabilities are unlikely to be a major factor."

"Good." The others nod, save Saber.

"This may be a stupid question, given that I'm not caught up on this Foundation business, but wouldn't that be a good thing?"

It comes at a pretty high price. This may be a situation where a broken masquerade is preferable to the Rebuild. The other begin to nod again, and then Kate's choice of words hits them.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...."

Oh come on, it wasn't that bad.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Kate:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
"Well then. I'm sure we'd all be glad if you took us with you. Anywhere's got to be safer than here, and it sounds as though you and your companions have a real, functioning base of operation. I assume you do have companions, given your use of 'we'?"

[AkaiNeko]

"Yeah, there's....how many are there again?"

Erik and Morcleon....Jake....do Alexander or the Light count?

"Put 'em together, they'll count as one."

"....um, I think there's five of us right now. It's kinda flux-y. I don't know about bringing y'all with us; not sure what facilities we have right now. I suspect it won't be a problem though, depending on what the others have to say."

[Morcleon]

Morcleon
The Pride of Hiigara

With a sigh, Morcleon forces himself to calm down. It did always take the resourcers a long time to harvest things. To pass the time, and also to answer a question, he turns to Sam.

"After we parted, Jacob and I went to Antarctica to pick up this ship, the Pride of Hiigara. A real beauty, isn't she? Perfectly capable of constructing an entire fleet, and self-sustaining at that. Anyway, we got there, and found she was infected with a swarm of Borg drones. Needless to say, we removed them, and used the bodies as resources.

"Once we got the ship up out of the ice and airborne, Erik popped in, and joined us. Then Marit Lage became unbound, and started chasing this ship. We managed to get rid of it, although it's still out there somewhere. Then we hyperspaced here to the asteroid belt to begin fleet construction and to rendezvous with all of the Personae.

"I picked up a few signals, one from New Jersey, Kate, one from Ireland, you, and one from France. Something strange was happening in France, so I time hopped us back some 30 minutes to there. We found some Tyranids and some unidentified red armored soldiers, and had a fight. At the end, a new, probably recurring, villain appeared, and some uniformed guy came and blasted us back to the future.

"And then Erik went and found you, and now he's gone to New Jersey to get Kate." Finishing his rather long monologue, Morcleon describes the soldiers to Sam, and asks if she knows anything about them. "They aren't chaos marines, though," he chimes helpfully.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Kate and Erik:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
In a second, Daniels' face goes from smiling to dead serious. His hand flies to his pistol, which he whips out and points just over Kate's shoulder.
"Watch out!" he says, calmly but with a grave tone of voice. Then to Erik, standing next to Kate: "Stand down. Who are you?"

[TheAntiplanar]

Sam nods slowly, sorting through the information she has just received alongside the souls present in her mind.
Well, at least we were right about Marit Lage being released from the ice.
From what he described, it sounds as though she can planeswalk as we can.
So you're saying is that she has access to the multiverse at large? Lovely.
This means that finding and recapturing her must be on our list of priorities. Whether or not the presence of the Personae was somehow responsible for her release doesn't matter. As it stands, she is a huge threat to the multiverse.
What of the matter of these new soldiers? Morcleon said we have a new enemy that appeared in France.
Let us collate what we know. It would seem that the soldiers have powers on their own. They can move things around, bend time, and block other mental powers in the area.
Them or the one controlling them, the figure. Perhaps both? Sam sighs internally: they simply did not know enough about this new foe or the powers they wielded to make any sort of deductions. However, something did strike her as familiar about the whole situation. After thinking for a moment, she brushes the thought away. She had definitively never fought an opponent with those kinds of abilities before.
"So what do we do know? Do we try to go after the New God mentioned in Sigil or focus our efforts on defeating these new forces?"

[AkaiNeko]

Kate rolls her eyes a bit before turning. "Speak of the devil, and lo....what up, Erik?"

[Sen isSaqqara]

Kate:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
The medic doesn't lower his weapon, but he does relax a bit.
"You two know each other?"

[AkaiNeko]

Glancing back to the soldier, Kate said, "Yeah, he's one of my group." She looked back to Erik. "What's been going on? How's the world?"

[Morcleon]

Morcleon
The Pride of Hiigara

Leaning back in his chair, Morcleon sighs and stares blankly at the ceiling. "I... I don't know. I really don't know. While the new god seems more of a threat, these new forces also have some pretty powerful abilities, as I've told you."

"I only have what I personally know about either, and I don't recognize either from any fictional world I've heard of. Maybe Kate knows something. In any case, we probably should wait until Erik and Kate come back before definitively forming any plan..."

[Erik Vale]

Erik and Kate
Tau-4's Sanctuary

"For me or the group."
Erik shakes his head. He doesn't have any weapons out, and leaves his hands at his sides (Locking them in place with the suits electromagnets)
"Fine, we have just found out that the god trying to end the world somehow has access to 'Nids and some sort of 'Space Marines that arent' with time based weapons. Also has acces to powerful demons and has somehow made one of us disapear, I wasn't able to lock on when scrying, and then was blasted away somehow. Oh, And I have sam back, the Pride of Higara is active and mining, I just have to do some suit mods and I'll be fully up to date, we're just waiting for you before deciding exactly what to do, but it seems like lead chasing. Personally, I may have pissed of the Lady of Pain by sending her was a creature that is slightly less powerful than a god, but nothing that she can't take care of."

Erik looks around as much as he can while staying in place.
"So, mind telling me where we are, oh and native, might I sujest you lower your weapon. It shouldn't do more than ping against me unless I am really unlucky, and if you do shoot me and I not be unlucky, you might suffer a sudden case of a statue."
This last part he says really paternally, almost like and ammused parent, entirely deliberately.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Kate:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
Daniels lowers his weapon, and re-holsters it with a flourish, but not before looking to Kate for confirmation. He doesn't seem too impressed with Erik's attitude, having to hold back a laugh when it comes to the 'shouldn't do more than ping against me' part.

[AkaiNeko]

Kate stared for a moment. "....you....pissed off the Lady....by sending her some super monster? What....why....do even know....oh sweet Ayanami, that is not ####ing good! You moron! Do you have any clue what she does to people who piss her off?! She tortures them FOR ETERNITY in pocket dimension mazes! And she kills gods! Not like that sad-sack back in that temple, no, I mean serious gods, Zeus and Thor level, force-of-nature, reality warping, immortal invincible deities! SHE KILLS THOSE! She's a freaky THING that rules over the city that might just be at the center of existence who never speaks as far as most know called The Lady Of Pain, for Christ's sake! Why...." she deflates slightly and sighs. "Screw it, I could probably take her. You might be screwed, though. What monster was it, anyways?"

Moving on, when you say 'nids and Space Marines, I assume you're referencing 40K? Pride of Hiiraga sounds like a ship, is that correct? And this is the temporary base of operations of the SCP Foundation's Mobile Task Force Tau-4. They're good soldiers and hardened vets. A lot of these people are just refugees, though. Which reminds me: Their....commander was wondering if we might be able to get them somewhere safer than this, and as it happens that - on a larger scale - is pretty close to my vote for our next move, unless y'all had something better in mind."

[Erik Vale]

Kate stared for a moment. "....you....pissed off the Lady....by sending her some super monster? What....why....do even know....oh sweet Ayanami, that is not ####ing good! You moron! Do you have any clue what she does to people who piss her off?! She tortures them FOR ETERNITY in pocket dimension mazes! And she kills gods! Not like that sad-sack back in that temple, no, I mean serious gods, Zeus and Thor level, force-of-nature, reality warping, immortal invincible deities! SHE KILLS THOSE! She's a freaky THING that rules over the city that might just be at the center of existence who never speaks as far as most know called The Lady Of Pain, for Christ's sake! Why...." she deflates slightly and sighs. "Screw it, I could probably take her. You might be screwed, though. What monster was it, anyways?"

Moving on, when you say 'nids and Space Marines, I assume you're referencing 40K? Pride of Hiiraga sounds like a ship, is that correct? And this is the temporary base of operations of the SCP Foundation's Mobile Task Force Tau-4. They're good soldiers and hardened vets. A lot of these people are just refugees, though. Which reminds me: Their....commander was wondering if we might be able to get them somewhere safer than this, and as it happens that - on a larger scale - is pretty close to my vote for our next move, unless y'all had something better in mind."

"In order. Yes, I know, but it was the only thing I could think of without loosing the Pride or my own life. I will be sending a big thankyou letter once I check to make sure the city still exist which it probably does. One of my souls actually used to visit the city, so I have already had this screaming match, all while she lay a gaess. Yes, I reference WH40K, so fun for us, and the Pride of Hiigara is the mothership in Homeworld. As for moving people..."
Erik takes a moment to think.
"I'm not sure how much in the Pride is Automated, especially now, but we might be able to store them on the mothership. We probably shouldn't drop them in Sigil, I could probably find a way to access the stair portals from the Magician serries, I think they have some tech worlds but I lack personal information. Dropping them in Mass Effect might not be best. I think it would be best for me to return to the mothership quickly, ask if we can house them, and come back for more brain storming."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Kate and Erik:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
Daniels interrupts at this point, a slightly befuddled look on his face.
"Wait, 40K? The Lady of Pain? Aren't those all fict- Wait, am I... Oh, god, this is getting way to meta for me. Am I, that is to say, are we... never mind. Okay, just who or what are you two, and how did you get here, and where did you come from, and why are you mentioning various fictional settings as though they were real and/or involved in this situation?"

[AkaiNeko]

"Uh....maybe we should get the commander over here for this conversation?"

[Erik Vale]

Kate and Erik:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
Daniels interrupts at this point, a slightly befuddled look on his face.
"Wait, 40K? The Lady of Pain? Aren't those all fict- Wait, am I... Oh, god, this is getting way to meta for me. Am I, that is to say, are we... never mind. Okay, just who or what are you two, and how did you get here, and where did you come from, and why are you mentioning various fictional settings as though they were real and/or involved in this situation?"

"Probably, but a cliff notes couldn't hurt."
Erik turns to Daniels, removing his helmet.
"I am Erik Vale, from an alternate world that is my 'real worl', some time around [Forgoten year set in, beat me and put it here], and after some weird as hallucinations, or so I thought, I had a couple of souls jammed in me. Our group is currently fighting a renegade god, because it seems other gods are to lazy-"
He stops and looks up a moment before continueing, kind of like he is waiting to be smote.
"-to pull their collective fingers out to deal with it personally. We are dealing with infinite realities, and that makes for a weird group, but yes, that means the settings are real and involved. We are, Personae, we think, being kinda like multiple personalities that are real people, not personalities... I should have seen if I could grab Echo, but the maiden will d- not the point.I just came from The Pride Hiigara, a mothership in a Sci-Fi game, and I did it by teleporting. As for who else I am, I am also-"

Suddenly, with seemless illusions, he slides between physical forms.
Turning into a human with pale skin, fair and fey features, carrying a stave, covered from head to toe in studded leathers with a great leather cloak, his voice becomes soft. "-Aleandrea Datson, PC from the NWN 2 sereis of games, that went through many latter adventures.-"
And just as quickly, he slips into the guise of a Farseer, and runes take to life floating around him.
"Eldrad Ulthran, Farseer of Ulthwe."
And then he drops down into the squat form of a large dwarf, fully muscled and covered in gromril chain covered in runes.
"-Alric, called the Mad, master runesmith who's creations are without compare.-"
Rising up, the metal faded into a full superhero costume, where one side of the face mask is bumpy due to scarring.
"Deadpool, superhero, thats all you need to know."-
Suddenly the armour thickens, reassuming the spartan suit, but the helmet reataches.
"John 117, Master cheif."
And then the armour decreases, until he takes the form of the maiden in black, who dispite the wax over her eyes, seems to have her eyes penetrate Daniels soul.
"The Maiden In Black, the keeper of the Nexus, amoungst other things."
And then, he reforms back into his normal self.

Spoiler

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Erik will continue through this until Daniels feints, someone stops Erik, or he finishes.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Kate and Erik:
Tau-4's Sanctuary
"As you will." replies the medic, seemingly unfazed, "I am Evan Daniels, medic of Mobile Task Force Tau-4, and I've seen far stranger things in my life than you." Then he cracks a smile. "Gotta say, though, you give 'em all a good run for their money. I suppose you and your friends are all effectively the same?"
Without waiting for an answer, he turns and beckons Johnson to come over. You hadn't noticed, but most of the other members of the MTF have had their weapons on you the entire time. The leader lowers his, and follows Daniels' gestured instructions.
"So," notes the commander, "You say you might be able to get us all to somewhere comparatively safe?"

[Erik Vale]

Erik
Tau-4's Sanctuary
"Yes, I wonder about power but that can wait. And the last is probably. As I said, there are people I would have to consult, and it wouldn't take to long, if you would permit me to teleport up and back. Of which-"

Erik turns to Kate.

"Would you like to come up with me on the first run, or do you want to wait down here in the mean time."