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[OPEN] Mission 156
Characters: Open to participants who signed up here.
Location: Lake Tahoe, CA
Rating: Various.
Time: March 27th, late morning.
Description: The second of the three Madness emitters outside Death City is the target for this mission. Bundle up, everyone -- it's gonna be a cold one.
The mission begins late in the morning, to allow the mission-goers as much sunlight as possible in the warmest part of the day. Not that it'll help much… Temperatures are well below freezing already -- unnatural even for early Spring in the mountains -- and a howling snowstorm threatens to blot out the sun, beginning up the mountain where the slope just begins to rise sharply.
The slopes themselves are fairly barren: a windswept-looking tree here, a cabin that may have once belonged to the snow patrol there, maybe a Madness-crazed bear or mountain lion. Those braving the storm are lucky enough to see five feet in front of their face in these conditions!
Those brave few who manage to make it to the top (enduring falling temperatures and defeating the corrupted fauna and hulking kishin yeti along the way) may come across their goal at the very summit of the half-mile-high mountain: the Madness emitter itself, in the eye of the storm… And one last obstacle: the Witch guarding it.
OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED]
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!
Location: Lake Tahoe, CA
Rating: Various.
Time: March 27th, late morning.
Description: The second of the three Madness emitters outside Death City is the target for this mission. Bundle up, everyone -- it's gonna be a cold one.
The mission begins late in the morning, to allow the mission-goers as much sunlight as possible in the warmest part of the day. Not that it'll help much… Temperatures are well below freezing already -- unnatural even for early Spring in the mountains -- and a howling snowstorm threatens to blot out the sun, beginning up the mountain where the slope just begins to rise sharply.
The slopes themselves are fairly barren: a windswept-looking tree here, a cabin that may have once belonged to the snow patrol there, maybe a Madness-crazed bear or mountain lion. Those braving the storm are lucky enough to see five feet in front of their face in these conditions!
Those brave few who manage to make it to the top (enduring falling temperatures and defeating the corrupted fauna and hulking kishin yeti along the way) may come across their goal at the very summit of the half-mile-high mountain: the Madness emitter itself, in the eye of the storm… And one last obstacle: the Witch guarding it.
OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED]
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!
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She nearly dropped the book when it popped open to the marked pages. The history would have been fascinating reading… if there wasn’t some unknown creature moving closer to their hiding spot by the minute; those cries didn’t sound like any ordinary mountain critter. For now, she scanned the symbols and spell on the other page. Fire Lance… Hmm…
Of course, Lily had great concentration. After all, magic was focusing one’s intentions to alter reality. But the witch often did so with help from a cauldron full of brew or a charm crafted from the herbs in her garden. And while she could light candles with her mind, attempting to fling magical fire at hostile creatures was new to her. “Exactly how do I cast this? Draw the runes in the snow and start chanting? Fighting magic isn’t exactly my expertise.”
She wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about facing whatever was out there but it didn’t look like she’d have much of a choice…
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A window 'opened' upon the page, revealing the man behind the weapon form as something of an ink sketch. Fortunately for the both of them, the view was only from the chest up. He lifted a hand and what looked like flames began to lick at his skin, before blooming into a fire that engulfed the palm entirely.
"While this magic is old, it isn't quite that old that we need stand around the chant all day. No, what is needed is focus. Let this power build deep in the pit of your soul, and channel it outward through your body!" With that, he extended an arm. An unseen wind was playing along his hair as spectacle-less eyes turned in the direction of the noise.
"Focus, channel, and command! The flames bend to do as you will!" And with that, his soul wavelength seemed to build in power - or had he been holding it back in the first place? - as he offered but a fraction of it to her. It was warm, and if she noticed the snow had begun to soften and melt away in a perfect circle at her feet.
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She blinked when the drawing of Lezard appeared. But being more interested in his directions at the moment, she failed to notice the vanishing act that the sketchy sorcerer’s clothes and glasses had done. (There would likely be an outburst once this was all over and she realized though…)
Focus and channel, huh? Looked like this would be kind of like the energy blasts she sometimes used in a pinch back home. Lily shifted the book to her left hand, cradling it in the crook of her arm as the warmth of Lezard’s soul wavelength filled her. She took a deep breath and concentrated, hoping to blazes this would work on whatever was out there.
Following Lezard’s gaze, she peeked around the boulder concealing them. A stifled scream escaped her throat at the sight of a huge shaggy white beast charging down the mountain. “What in the Sam Hill? An abominable snowman?!” The startled witch instinctively thrust her hand out but the bit of flame that shot from her palm only grazed the creature, resulting in some singed fur and an even angrier yeti. “Is this really going to work?” Fighting the urge to run, she refocused and sent a second fiery arrow towards the monster…
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Emitter be damned, despite its success in raising the stakes. Were it within his power to regain his own magic, this yeti would not have taken a single step within his line of sight. Utter obliteration... that was the name of the game.
BREW was frustrating. Really.
Keeping his part of the resonance steady, he focused on the very soul of the beast hurtling down the mountainside with the intent to kill. Not in the mood to perish on this godforsaken mountain or allow the falling snow to make a mess of his pages. A fierce determination to reclaim his former glory flared from deep within that dark blue soul, and almost in reply, runic circles began to burn deep beneath the snow.
"The magic knows not where to go without a steady hand... strike quickly and without mercy!" And he looked up within the soul space. Sparks ignited from all around, his wavelength crafting 'starting points' for this next Fire Lance, six arrows in total. Whether she uses them individually or all at once was the Meister's call.
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Lily tightened her grip on the spellbook and started chanting, concentrating on channeling his soul wavelength as she would have channeled the powers of her ancestors back home. Although Lezard said the chanting was unnecessary, it was what she was used to with her own magic and helped her focus as she raised her free hand and sent the first arrow flying.
The abominable snowman stumbled but barely slowed down as the flames collided with its leg. The second was a near miss—she wasn’t used to rapidly moving targets—but the rest crashed into that angry oversized mop of a monster one after the other. Would it be enough…?
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But something changed, then. Those quick, last-minute sparks of her soul had tightened, become more refined. Focused. The chanting was actually working!
He watched at the arrows let fly, the first and second a waste in his mind, but no... there were four left. As Lily struck true with the final four, the sheer heat of them evaporated the ice and snow clinging to the fur, drying the fur to turn it into a most spectacular walking bonfire.
"It draws too closely! Let's give this beast a little space to contemplate its demise, hm?" He queried loftily. It would be no use to use another spell on it- he would rather save the energy.
"Regardless, 'tis finished. I will gather its soul when it perishes. Perhaps previous visitors to the area have suffered injuries from our hairy friend and remain close by." Lezard clicked his tongue. The yeti was making far too much noise- did it wish to alert the entire damned mountain of their location? Whatever they chose to do, they had to do it quickly before reinforcements arrive.
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“Its soul?” Sure, she had seen a case back home where a person had thrown their soul towards a demon when they died. And heard about another forfeiting a piece of their soul to break an agreement with a demon. But the sorcerer made a soul sound like something tangible he could walk over and pick up, as if he were a hunter collecting a trophy from a dead animal.
Lily ducked behind a solitary tree a little further up the slope, looking for hints of movement in the snow but couldn’t make out anything at the moment. “Now what?” She glanced down at the sketch of Lezard, to see if he had any suggestions.
Huh? “What happened to your glasses?” He looked a lot less geeky without them…
Blink. Wait a minute… “Where the heck are your clothes?!”
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But his eyes turned when he noticed that eyes were upon not just his form, but his appearance in the illustration's window from the bottom of his ribcage and upward. He was prepared to explain in plainer terms when she noticed he'd been without his garments and cloak.
An impish grin played upon his lips as he gave a devil-may-care shrug.
"My dear Meister, are you staring?" And he leaned against one wall of the 'frame', the grin widening. Oh, if only he could conjure a little blush of shame, but that would require one actually having any.
Instead, his hand lay on the bottom of the frame, giving it just a little nudge. Perhaps if he lowered it a bit...
"Shall I adjust the view for you~?" Mission? What mission?
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His second question was answered with a forceful “No!” Hopefully, it wasn’t loud enough to attract any beasts that might still be lurking nearby…
Trying to keep her temper in check, she pinched a couple of Lezard’s pages between her fingers and let the tome dangle in the air, as if she were pulling on a naughty child’s ear. She scowled at the sketch and lectured, “You’d better behave or I’ll pitch you into a snowbank and go back by myself.” It was the type of tone she used on Oscar when her familiar abused his porcine disguise to sneak into the dressing room at her vintage clothes shop. “Is that understood?”
She had to speak loudly to be heard over the gusts of wind. Was it just imagination or was there also a faint sound of something moving in the snow…?
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"My pages! You seek to tear them, when even I know not what will happen when they do? They are your pages, you understand." He warned, half out of uncertainty and half to get her to stop doing this. He didn't even wish to know what he'd feel if his pages tore, but he could feel the strain as the weight of his form tested the tenacity of his paper.
But in the very edge of his senses he could feel a sense of danger. Disintegrating like wet black paper, the yeti finally fell, revealing that glowing red light.
"Something draws near. You will need to collect that soul - the floating red orb there - and lay it against my pages before our new guest does the very same."
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And another critter on the way. Great. She didn’t normally deal with such things in rapid succession back home and hoped their powers would hold up.
As quickly as she could with the snow and wind, she made her way over to where the creature had been. She would have expected either a burnt corpse or the nothingness left when a demon was exorcised and sent back to its rightful dimension. But there was no singed fur or charred bones, only a red orb floating a couple of feet above the ground.
“This is a soul?” To Lily’s surprise, her hand actually closed around the glowing sphere instead of passing through as she would have expected from its appearance. She wasn’t sure what Lezard intended but she dropped it onto the book. “Now what?”
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"The soul of a kishin egg is a bright red, tainted but strong. The soul of a normal human is blue, while those of Meisters and Weapons differ among one another in color and appearance." The soul lingered upon his pages for just a moment, but soon began to sink inward as his weapon form would 'eat' it. There was a brief thrum of power once the soul disappeared, fully absorbed.
"A Weapon must collect kishin egg souls to grow in strength, while the Meister gathers her courage in exterminating the tainted beasts that would seek to destroy humanity and feast upon their souls in their own search for greater power. Eat... or be eaten, I would suppose," Lezard spoke loftily. He climbed back into the little window, reaching instinctively for his face to adjust glasses that he was too late to realize weren't there right now.
His hand quickly withdrew.
"All I can sense is our approaching foe, but nothing in regard to any injured or fallen. As your muse of flame, the choice is yours: Avoid detection by another hairy friend, or stand and have him face the fire as well~" For the Meister was indeed the master. What would she do?
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Looking around, she could just discern a bit of movement further up the mountain, likely another of those beasts. Lily relied on time and preparation for her exorcisms back in California so the thought of dealing with another monster so soon was one she didn’t relish.
“We’re going back,” she said decisively. But she froze when she turned to head down the mountain and saw that another yeti had appeared further down the slope.
“Dag nab it! How many of these doggoned things are there?!” And no convenient boulders or trees for them to hide behind. So much for having a choice…
With an exasperated huff, she added, “I guess we’d better get rid of that one down there.” Maybe, if they could defeat it, they could escape before the one descending from above reached them.
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But as Lily made her decision and descended the slopes, two more of their wonderful friends had decided to come out and play. A thrill raced through Lezard's mind- further opportunity to stretch his limbs so to speak, and should they both fall, that was two more souls ripe for the taking.
The sorcerer laughed. "And I'd only just grown bored! They are slow-witted as well as slow on their feet- have every confidence that I've the strength of soul to keep them both busy should the need arise."
That eaten soul had given him a boost. His soul wavelength remained strong, and with the smallest nudge, he wordlessly inquired toward boosting the strength of their current connection as well. It just might improve her accuracy; if only she'd open up, if just a little.
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“Well, at least someone is enjoying this whole mess.” Lily wondered if she was just fated to keep getting stuck in these supernatural situations, whether here or in her own world. All she had wanted was to finally have a normal life, make friends, and maybe find love… Was that too much to ask for a witch?
That little nudge brought her out of her thoughts but she hesitated a moment. She’d spent her life holding herself apart from people and it was rare for her to be magically connected to anyone like this; she could count those people on one hand. (And there was the matter of that nearly obscene stunt the sorcerer pulled just a few minutes ago!)
Still, she relented, having no desire to become a demon’s dinner. Perhaps, Lezard could sense the less positive aspects of her soul—the loneliness, the insecurity, the awkwardness—as well as a strong protective streak.
And slow-witted or not, the creature below had spotted them. With a roar, it quickened its pace up the mountain.
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"This would appear to be sufficient practice in my eyes!" And he turned his eyes left and right as he maintained a 'feel' for the yeti both above and below- he would not allow either of them to be ambushed on his watch.
Another Fire Lance was prepped, half a dozen fireballs just large enough to fit in one's palm springing to life with soul energy spent. Lezard, for a brief moment, felt that loneliness, the insecurity and the awkwardness... and for now turned a blind eye to them. 'Twas life or death at this very moment, and the sorcerer was feeling a tad short of breath. A frustration flit from his end of the connection, combined with the very beginning of fatigue.
He could handle these foes, and refused to acknowledge that that was the last he may have for the mission.
He pressed on, syncing his wavelength with hers to the best of his ability, and quickly suppressed that tired little spark.
"This slovenly fool appears quite eager. Let us continue the assault!"
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The witch adjusted her grip on the spellbook and started chanting again, to help her focus. She thought she sensed a brief flicker in their connection. Was it giving out? Lezard had said something about synchronizing soul wavelengths earlier, hadn’t he? Increasing her concentration, she subsumed herself to it, as she would have to her ancestors’ powers back home.
With her lips busy chanting, she didn’t bother to verbally answer the sorcerer. As she extended an arm, the first fireball materialized in her hand. It sailed down the mountain with better accuracy than their attacks on the previous yeti and set the creature’s head ablaze, eliciting inhuman cries. If she weren’t so focused, she would have cringed at those sounds. Instead, she continued casting the fiery spheres towards the beast and it was soon engulfed in flames.
Now, if they could get past it, they should be able to make their escape, assuming the other didn’t catch up to them. Where was it anyway? Lily glanced over her shoulder, searching for it.
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But he eased out a breath from within the soul space and brushed his hair from his eyes, an unseen wind gently tousling the brown of it as he kept his 'eyes' out for the both of their foes.
"It knows of our capabilities. Its hunger is overriding what little logical thought it has, and is using the lessened visibility to its advantage," Lezard spoke, keeping a bead on it. He couldn't see it, but he could most definitely feel it.
There was a heavy thump as the yeti fell and struggled, trying to reach them. It was a slow yet painful death, perishing while burning alive.
"But this one will trouble us no more unless we are foolish. I will try and see if I cannot get a feel for what particular direction the second is hiding. We should keep moving." He was not a detection device in the slightest, but he wouldn't let that stop him from trying.
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“Sounds good to me.” She was eager to get off this snowy mountain and started descending again, going slowly to avoid losing her footing. At intervals, she glanced back to see if the other monster had reappeared but she could never make it out in the storm.
By the time she descended to the fallen yeti’s level, the fire had burned out. Lily picked up the glowing sphere that remained and that was when she heard a faint rumbling noise. She turned around and…
“What in the Sam Hill?!” A gigantic snowball-like object was tumbling down the mountainside towards them. She scrambled out of the way as the abominable snowball rolled past. It crashed into a tree and came to a stop a mere thirty yards down the slope from them. The yeti climbed to its feet and clearly intended to come after them once it shook off its daze.
Darn it! At this rate, they were never going to get off the mountain!
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No. Not former. He never lost it- it merely occurred to him now in another form. For once he was completely silent on his end of their connection, nothing but the cool, calculating edge of a mind constantly clicking giving through.
But it subsided slightly when she gathered that second soul. Mildly distracted, he readied his acceptance of this new offering, but he'd made his first mistake today...
...When there was that rumbling. He turned his head and furrowed his eyebrows. That damned third yeti...!
Lezard had no time to give warning, but thankfully Lily saw fit to avoid that great rolling bastard as it hurled snow and dirt every which way on its crushing path into a tree. But something was wrong.
The sorcerer clicked his tongue when the yeti stood tall, and realized the thing had taken that second soul with it. The red orb clung to the frosty fur like a bright red sore.
"Well, at the very least, visibility will not be an issue," Lezard insisted, reaching into his soul to pull and form another round of flame arrows. He sounded impressively grumpy, however, and slightly strained.
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“I reckon not.” She noted the strain in the sorcerer’s grumpy tone and felt rather irritated herself at the tiresome way the creatures kept blocking their escape from the mountain. Honestly, she was surprised the hangover hum that she usually got after casting a complicated spell hadn’t set in yet. The witch supposed it was due to having Lezard’s energy to draw from. They’d have to finish this quickly before one or both of their powers gave out.
Resuming chanting, she flung the first of the fiery arrows towards the beast but fatigue might have been starting to creep in and affect her aim. The arrow only grazed the monster before embedding itself in the tree and setting a few of the evergreen’s branches ablaze.
Having recovered from its collision with the tree, the yeti starting climbing. Lily quickly launched the rest of the arrows. A few hit but a couple flew past the creature and into the hapless tree.
She wondered if they’d just have to resort to running…
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Yet, with grit teeth as he fought to remain cool, he reached once more into his soul. His end of the resonance wavered once, but Lezard gave it a push to maintain his connection. Sweat had beaded at his brow within the soul space as he conjured one more group. He would have those souls, by the foul gods... he would not let himself fall here.
"Make them count!" He warned. He was sure this would be his last, as much as he hated to admit it. As the yeti quickly approached, throwing snow and soil everywhere, he would maintain his composure the best he could. He's faced down gods... what were foolish immature demons!?
"Flames are not only heat; they are light as well. The hair is thinner over the face, the eyes. When it is distracted, strike without mercy!"
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Distracted? It was just the two of them and the abominable snowman. Where the heck was she going to get a distraction?!
As if in response to her unspoken question, the abused tree started to tip over, the base of its trunk having been weakened by the flames. It crashed down on the slope and knocked over the yeti with its uppermost branches. Pinned by the tree, the beast became a much easier target and the final arrows turned it into a roaring bonfire—literally and figuratively.
Lily eyed the downed tree with a bit of guilt but it was better than being eaten. Breathing a sigh of relief, she slumped against a nearby snowbank. “That’d better be the last of them.” She looked down at the spellbook to see how Lezard was doing. “You okay?”
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Lezard braced himself as the yeti drew closer, but nature saw fit to provide another, far more effective distraction. The yeti and tree went down in an impact impressive enough to cause the ground to tremble, and Lily saw fit to finish the creature off.
The flames would burn just as the rest, and in less than a minute, two red orbs hovered harmlessly in the snow-filled air.
"Agreed." He was loathe to admit he couldn't handle a fourth, but as he tried to 'feel' for any other presence, his hands would turn up empty.
Lezard managed a chuckle in reply to the query. "Your concern is most heartwarming, my dearest Meister~"
But the tone was wrong. The Demon Spellbook was fatigued. Slowly, his side of the connection lowered its signal strength to a more manageable level. At the very least, he could maintain this form, grant them both a little warmth until they would return to safety.
"Our path... appears clear. I doubt we will be bothered further if we make our descent to the tent with haste."
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Getting off this wretched mountain quickly sounded like an excellent idea. She looked forward to going home, soaking in a warm bath and then sleeping for at least twelve hours.
The witch shifted the spellbook to her other arm—her left was getting sore—as she made her way down the slope to the floating spheres. Picking up one of the souls, she dropped it on top of the pages. What were these things made of anyway? They felt kind of wiggly but were still solid enough that her hand didn’t just pass through them. She grabbed the other, repeating the process.
And after Lezard had a chance to absorb the souls…
Noting that the sketch was still lacking clothes, Lily gave him a warning look. “Don’t try anything funny or you're going to have to hike down the mountain on your own.”
And if Lezard doesn’t protest, she’s going to close the book and wrap both arms around it… It would be easier to carry this way since it seemed like she was going to have to do all the walking. It was too bad she hadn't brought her backpack. Otherwise, she would have just shoved him in there.
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