[NEXUS] WATCHTOWER 17: Through Cloud, Shadow, Earth, and Flesh.

[Darkcomet]

[Brains/Courtyard]

What? I'm in the middle of-

Cessie may or may not sense a sort of magical disruption emanating from...DC's lab in the lab tower, now. It is unclear what it was, but it probably has something to do with whatever our psychic friend was doing.

What initially follows on the telepathic reception is not something for the faint of heart. I'm not even sure what half of it is, but I'm assuming untranslatable profanity.

...I'll just...I'll be right there. Don't ask.

And so DC exits the lab tower and flies into the courtyard to meet up with Cessie, still as cursed as before. The belt itself seems to be gone, however. Whatever happened must've done something. Also of note is that DC is dragging along one of those oversized energy weapons, specifically one of those heavy assault blasters with the hideous rate of fire.

It's probably because it's the biggest thing that can vaguely reasonably (emphasis vaguely) be used indoors without causing large amounts of collateral damage.

DC says nothing, just hovering along behind Cessie.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

The sorceress looks surprised to say at least as she sees DC but she refrains from commenting on it. It was obviously a sensitive issue and she of all people held ones privacy in high esteem. "It happened just a few minutes ago, I believe some of the wards simply collapsed. I can't tell anything has happened from the outside however nor can my eldritch sense detect anything so I'm intending to enter the building the building to have a closer look. But perhaps you have better luck scanning it? There might be something underground."

[Darkcomet]

[Courtyard]

"I am, unfortunately, not a magic specialist. My life would be much simpler if I was, but we can't all have nice things." DC squints all of a sudden.

"Cessie, what precisely got here? Was anything unaccounted for? Anyone or anything that wasn't captured?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

"There was an entity manifesting as a huge hand springing from the portal opened outside our gate. It grabbed tried to grab Ilpholin and drag her inside it. I managed to stop it but at the cost of an earth elemental which it possessed. The earth elemental is still unaccounted for, I mentioned this earlier remember? So whatever is causing this is probably still here and messing around with our wards." Cessie quickly explains to DC.

[Darkcomet]

[Courtyard]

"...Hm. I'm going to test an unfortunate guess." DC...opens up a panel on the gun, and pushes several buttons. "Modulate the output, shunt blaster power to produce an electromagnetic effect..."

Uh oh.

"You have nothing more precise to give me than that it seemed to be from this tower, I take it?" The psychic asks, indicating the training tower.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

The sorceress shakes her head. "You know of this entity?" She sure didn't, but she had realized it probably took quite some measures to get rid off.

[Darkcomet]

[Courtyard]

The question is met with...a roll of the eyes. "Oh, think for a moment, Cessie. There was a portal heading to AMEN here. There was, logically speaking, a counterpart to it at their base, perhaps during our attack, during which a particular entity I currently have some rather severe issues with was being exposed to a weapon that disrupted its hold over their base. I've been quite the self-concerned bastard in my time, so I know how those concerned only for survival think, and believe me, this is elementary, Mrs. Mithar." DC seems to almost be slipping back into that unnerving science-mode, and...raises the gun to point at the training tower one-handed (probably actually using telekinesis to hold up most of it, considering DC is not known for physical prowess), while still looking at Cessie.

"Observe. The effects on it at AMEN were rather noticeable, so this should work well. I really hope it's in the exterior of the building so this demonstration doesn't fall incredibly flat." And then DC opens fire on the training tower with the modified weapon. It's not firing much, the bolts mostly being incredibly weak lightshows now. But the weapon is projecting a similar electromagnetic effect similar to the one in the battle at AMEN, only, of course, far less powerful and widespread. The weaponsfire is swept over the tower to cover as much of it as possible, better to provoke a reaction from what DC thinks is messing with things. It is intended simply as a demonstration to show that it is there.

(D_Lord is up.)

[D_Lord]

Well it's more underground than near the surface, and mostly in already made tunnels. So I say while it does hurt it, the tower itself doesn't really react.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

This causes some confusion, her understanding of the entity's exact nature seems to have been flawed. "That entity can move outside the base? I was under the impression it was the base, a physical entity. But you know it better than me." Now she's looking at the tower for some reaction that never comes. Perhaps DC had been wrong after all. "Try again? Perhaps a different calibration?"

[Darkcomet]

[Courtyard]

"It certainly proved it was able to manifest outside it! And the problem likely isn't anything so simple to overcome, I'm afraid. The thing might be underground, like you said, and it's also a matter of power. This gun isn't nearly enough to pull what I did at AMEN again, not by a longshot, but I'm not sure if we have any other power sources large...enough...

Of course! Here, take this and see if you can provoke any effect, overcharge it with magic or something but make sure you're shooting when you do so or it'll overload and explode!" DC tries to shove that oversized gun into Cessie's hands, and even if she doesn't take it, the psychic's just going to let it fall and fly off, going to the...

Airship gantry?

A telepathic announcement goes through the base. Please deactivate all possible electronic devices. I am going to build another electromagnetic field weapon to purge a probable eldritch infestation, so reliance on such devices is not adviced. Anyone with sensitive cybernetics is advised to temporarily evacuate. Also, the local servant creatures will be occupied. I need a labor force for this, see.

Crazy ****ing abomination's gonna pay.

...Uh.

This doesn't bode well.

Plans concocted in scientist-of-questionable-sanity mode never bode well.

[D_Lord]

[Courtyard]

Well while it may be underground, it can hear. So it does two things, one says the second command word on the belt. Not sure if it works right anymore with the belt off.

The second is very detectible by magic or things that read time, because its lighting itself on fire, a fire that burns time instead of wood, air or rock.

(in other words its activating a personal timestop. If time isn't passing for it, it can't be hurt. A course a piece of elder evil this small, can't do it very long.)

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

"I'm not sure-" Cessie might be a strong sorcerer, but she hadn't done many push-ups in her life so just holding that enormous gun is going to be an effort. She mentally sigh at DC's behavior, but that was just the way he/she was and she/he was right. She simply had to trust her expertise in this matter even if she couldn't "overload" anything with magic.

But she couldn't handle this gun on her own, she needed someone else to hold it for her. Normally she'd give the gun to an elemental but as this entity had proved capable to take over she couldn't do that.

Elle might work, being her only mind infused elemental but her structure was to weak to hold such a weapon. Perhaps with a slight adjustment to the structure...

With an mental effort she summons Elle, but doesn't dare to let go of DC's weapon yet. If the entity was around she needed to keep it out of it's hands.
"Elle, would you mind if I crystallized you for a moment? I need you to hold this for me. Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

[Gullara]

[Courtyard]

Elle materializes in a swirl of water that quickly forms into a similar shape to the sorceress before her. She looks between Cessie and the gun, and merely says. "...I suppose." She's never bee ice before. She's not sure she likes the idea, though.

[Aric Kale]

Courtyard

Marcus rushes out in full battle armor, his sword at his side and pilum in hand. Cessie and Elle may also notice that his armor and weapons have both a pulsing, red glow about them, and that some source of magic power is emitting from his left hand. I heard the announcement! What's going on Lady Mithar? Is the base under attack? Yup, in the time since DC gave his telepathic request, Marcus has already geared up and made himself ready for action.

[happyturtle]

Med Lab

All of the medical robots hibernate themselves. Someone better remember to turn them back on later, or Cutter and Wenomir might suffer.

[Shadowcaller]

[Courtyard]

"There is an entity hiding underneath the training tower and DC is planning to drive it out. So I'm closing off all electronic devices from the control room right now to prevent malfunction." Thanks to her air elemental up there.

This should give the boy trying to escape Watch the opportunity to flee as the force shields at the windows will be deactivated.

"Anyway..." Suddenly Elle will be turned from water into elemental ice, a transformation which won't really hurt the elemental just as Cessie said. She will just suddenly feel a lot more... solid. Cessie then attempts to hand over the large gun to Elle.

[5a Violista]

[A door dilemma]

Food does not interest Garn, instead he decides to fly out the hole Harley made to see if he can spot whoever made the hole.

[Kitchen] and [Outside the Keep]

Garn will have to break open the hole up the chimney in the back of the oven even larger to fit through it.

If the looks down, though, there's someone at the bottom of the cliff, since falling honestly doesn't take very long. She's, at the moment, shapeshifting together her wounds and looking for cover in the forest.

Meanwhile,
[Inside the Keep]
Ground Floor, East Quarters

Thanks to the warning, Conrack would turn off his I-Pad if he had one.

He doesn't, though, so he doesn't turn it off.
He has a sword, though, and that's just as good as an I-Pad.

[UncleWolf]

Medical Tower

Thankfully Cutter's treatment is complete by the time the power gets shut down, but that still means a sudden change in his surroundings. Someone like Cutter doesn't get over a century old without reacting to such. Despite the ghastly amounts of painkillers and knock-out drugs, the doctor's human eye snaps open as a clawed hand breaks through the now unpowered restraints to shred the sterile tube around him.

The thing that slips out of the treatment tube and into the dark is a disgusting mess and can probably only be considered barely human or sane at this point. The pain it had to go through was immense and it shut down most of the conscious thought it had been able to perform. The left half still looked a little like Cutter, but the skin was pale and waxy, as if it were dying off, and the right side was a mass of oozing scars and Horror anatomy blended together in a sanity shattering mess.

The Horror at Cutter's core has taken control, surpassing even Nurgle's control over his soul, and it has only one thing in mind at the moment.

Survive.

The Horror Core took a single glance around as it sniffed the air. It could sense weakness, blood, and even dead flesh floating on the air currents through the hospital, practically begging it to go and Feed on prey. Without Cutter at the helm, the Horror Core goes to do just that.

It sticks to the darker shadows, trying to hide the weakness it had as it crept through the black hallways towards Wenomir's room. When it gets there, it slides into the room, looking over the wounded swordsman. It could sense the infected wound, the damage it was inflicting and just how easy it would be to take control of the man's body. Just a tiny bit of Itself and..

No.

The Horror pauses, the alien thought running through it's mind, counteracting all instinct it'd been following.

No harm.

The Horror gives a small growl and lashes out at the other mind before being hit hard itself, causing a massive headache and making it hiss between it's malformed mouth. For some reason it couldn't counter the Command it was being given, given by The Weak One within itself. As hard as it could, the Horror couldn't reach out and take what it wanted. Frustration built up more and more until it wanted to scream, but then a third voice bubbled in quietly, giving it a different way to gather strength.

Placated, the Horror sets It's clawed hand in the air above Wenomir's wound, sending out a tendril of thought to the infection within to draw it out. Should it work, the infection will ooze back out of the wound and float onto the Horror's hand to meld into the flesh there. This won't reverse the damage done, but it'll remove the infection.

Once that's done, the Horror will depart, heading towards a series of fridges. The being tears open all of the blood packs, drinking them all alongside all the other food and drink in the hospital tower, gorging itself and leaving a large mess behind. Finally feasted, the Horror creeps through the hallways, leaving a trail of blood and pus as it finds a small closet to hide in and rest.

As sleep overcomes the Horror, the flesh on it bubbles and begins to spread, little tendrils coming off to connect to the walls as a cocoon forms.

[Darkcomet]

[Airship Gantry->Airborne]

It is utterly unclear if the activation of that part of the curse does anything whatsoever. One might even hope it doesn't, considering an emotional mad scientist is often even more dangerous than normal! The teleport one certainly won't, because DC still has that counter to it active.

This takes a bit of time, so it's entirely possible everyone will have prepared and the eldritch thing's time shenanigans will have expired by this point. After all, this involves rather large modifications.

Though it doesn't take as long as it rightfully should, considering the scale. But then, the thing being modified has been taken apart and put back together slowly after its acquisition nearly three years ago, so it was probably more ready than not by this point.

Nothing a motivated mad scientist with a labor force and a load of telekinesis can't deal with.

The typical flying-saucer-type alien ship actually takes off and hovers over the base as close as it can...

[Watchtower-General]

...and projects a large, powerful electromagnetic field, much like that of the weapon used at AMEN, over the base. It even reaches underground!

It seems DC modified the thing's shield systems to be able to project a more widespread electromagnetic field. The technomagical part, of course, comes from the psychic's own technology added to the craft.

(That would be your cue this time, D_Lord.)

[D_Lord]

[Underground]

Telport

[Airborne]

*pop*

Looks like it chose to move itself above the UFO and it is changing the shape of the glyph it is.

[Darkcomet]

[Airborne]

Is it in an avatar form now or something? Or mass of black threads? I'm not sure.

Either way.

The UFO's response is to use its own transporter/teleporter/etc systems to attempt to teleport the abomination onto the ship.

After which the EM will cut off, if it works, and the ship's shield systems will activate normally.

Just what is DC doing?

[Gullara]

[Courtyard]

"There is an entity hiding underneath the training tower and DC is planning to drive it out. So I'm closing off all electronic devices from the control room right now to prevent malfunction." Thanks to her air elemental up there.

This should give the boy trying to escape Watch the opportunity to flee as the force shields at the windows will be deactivated.

"Anyway..." Suddenly Elle will be turned from water into elemental ice, a transformation which won't really hurt the elemental just as Cessie said. She will just suddenly feel a lot more... solid. Cessie then attempts to hand over the large gun to Elle.

[Courtyard]

Elle is suddenly made of ice! She doesn't look very happy about it. She can still move just fine, but no doubt she's less flexible, among other things. She does take the gun, however, and holds it at the ready.

[Morty]

[Hospital Tower]

Wenomir remains unconscious. Cutter removed most of his infection, which is enough to make the shutting down of the medical drones not an immediate danger to his life and health, but it's not enough to make him wake up yet.

[Aric Kale]

Courtyard

Marcus stares as the water elemental slowly freezes over, yet retains life. How odd. Suddenly, eldritch abominations! Marm, is there anything I can do? I am at your disposal. He bounces lightly on his toes, eager to be off.

[D_Lord]

[Airborne]

Is it in an avatar form now or something? Or mass of black threads? I'm not sure.

Either way.

The UFO's response is to use its own transporter/teleporter/etc systems to attempt to teleport the abomination onto the ship.

After which the EM will cut off, if it works, and the ship's shield systems will activate normally.

Just what is DC doing?

UFO

Ok, you just teleported it into the ship. It's getting kind of bright in there. Almost like the spell the glyph is an destruction spell. That may have not been the best idea DC.

[Darkcomet]

[Airborne/UFO]

The creature will find itself in a white cell of sorts, a forcefield blocking the way out of the cell. That might be annoying.

And the destruction glyph works just fine for DC, actually. Also, blowing it up might not be the best idea either, given the thing's demonstrated weakness to giant explosions, and the fact that the shields being up function to block teleportation out of the ship. It's quite likely that an explosion that big would blow up the thing casting it as well. So it might want to reconsider. Perhaps a smaller explosion to break out of the cell? That would be less suicidal.

Everyone down in the base gets another telepathic mass-announcement.

Cover your ears.

On the ship itself, a much more mundane announcement is made over the ship intercom.

"Hello, you insignificant little insect! I wouldn't recommend trying to blow this thing up yet. The shields are up, and you cannot teleport here.

Also, you might want to hold onto something."

Wait...that voice sounded male. What the hell is going on? DC's still cursed.

The thing might not have time to ponder that, however, as the ship suddenly and rapidly accelerates upward, easily breaking the sound barrier (thus the warning for everyone to cover their ears) and well beyond. The sheer speed is approaching a good portion of the speed of light, given that this is a spacecraft. The creature will only feel that partially, of course, as spaceships are pretty nice about not gibbing everyone onboard whenever they jump to FTL.

"Because we're going on a trip!"

It's going to get out of the atmosphere very quickly. Anything capable of observing such things will find that it's on a direct course for...

The sun?

[D_Lord]

[Airborne/UFO]

A few important things: One most spells don't affect the caster, two shields don't work as good on the inside, three: the Amen base was the biggest amount of Dark Lord in the Nexus and much more important. This piece isn't.

Instead of explosion it's more of Like this,

Lets see how the UFO likes this.

[Darkcomet]

[UFO/IN SPACE]

Ah. A giant laser. And the point of the shields was more to keep it from teleporting out.

I can safely say that that is fully capable of blasting its way through much of the interior of the ship. However, as I recall, the ship's main hull is much sturdier than the flimsy interior halls (indeed, many of the decks are pretty much identical and flimsy, so as to reduce the ship's mass), so the giant laser gets stopped around the outside of the ship. Also, the thing should beware of flying debris.

Well, at least it can get out of the cell now.

That voice comes on the intercom again.

"Sit back and enjoy the ride, because it's your last!"

The moment the ship breaks the atmosphere, it's going to jump to warp. Given that light takes rather little time to get to Earth from our sun (eight minutes-ish), and assuming a similarly-distant star, this means it's nigh-instant, given the sheer equivalent speeds involved. Spaceships with decent FTL are really really fast, you see.

The ship will drop out of warp very close to the star, and simply...dive into it at conventionally high speeds. Considering stars are basically gigantic sustained explosions, and that a far less gigantic explosion beat the thing at AMEN, 'throw it into the sun' ought to be far more than sufficient.

The ship certainly won't survive getting tossed into the sun. It's going to be fried by the heat and crushed by gravity, until it's as if nothing was ever there.

It is highly unlikely that anything in it will have much better luck, especially considering what something based on the evidently much more significant portion of the Dark Lord at AMEN didn't survive. The sun is much worse than giant mountain-shaking explosions. It's more like a giant mountain-incinerating explosion.

[D_Lord]

Sun

Well that killed that part. If you threw it at a normal star, it likely wouldn't but into the Sun. Well the Sun has a bit more mysticism than a plain old star.

Still all you did was kill one part. And Dark Lord's main body is regrowing in AMEN base.

[Darkcomet]

Good to have the part that was trying to possess the Watchtower base dead, then.

After all, that would have been rather terrible, considering what it often does at AMEN.

[Back at Watchtower]

Threat neutralized. Reactivate all systems when ready. Comes that telepathic announcement again. Apparently DC was...not on the ship? But how...

[Courtyard]

DC hovers back out here, the curse still in effect, and laughing like a maniac. The psychic is also looking rather dirty from a lot of rapid work on that ship. It takes a few moments for that laughing to stop.

"I threw it into the sun. I'll take the gun back now."