soul_logs | [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.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was really getting cold up here. In fact, it somehow felt even colder than before. With the corpses of dead Celestials sprawled everywhere, it was almost exactly like that time. He could practically see the Ark looming in the distance--

There was a snort, nearly muffled by the harsh wind, and Waka slowly turned to face the yak.

Oh dear. This could be quite bad.

The yak in question only seemed to sniff Waka curiously as its dark eyes stared through the snow at the man. Seeming to be satisfied, the large woollen beast began to step back and walk back out into the snowy mountain area as if it had just been passing through.

With the invader distracted, the Witch had silently slipped onto her broom as she made her way over to hover right in front of Waka. Peering down at him, her eyes as cold as ice, the Witch announced her presence.

"Do you know what we do to intruders?" She asked, her voice as frosty as the wind while her sharp gaze remained locked on her prey.

Well, so much for stealth. Seeing as there was no point in crouching anymore, Waka straightened and smiled up at the Witch.

"I suppose a date and a romantic walk on the beach would be too much to hope for?" he said lightly. He would have seemed perfectly calm if it weren't for his voice rising unnaturally high. All the empty eyes were really, really distracting.

Her face remained stoic as he attempted to answer the question with something that would favour his situation. It was anything from the truth, and her cold eyes seemed to glow almost unnaturally as the wind whipped around them.

"You are here to help destroy the emitter. I cannot let that happen," the Witch calmly said in return. "You were a fool to come here by yourself, little weak Weapon." With that, her left hand rose up and dashed out in a quick arc towards Waka as sharp ice shards formed and hurled themselves towards the young Weapon.

In hindsight, coming alone hadn't been one of his greatest ideas. He was still half-expecting to get visions -- or even just the vague premonitions he had felt while resonating with Amaterasu. Something to warn him of what was coming.

Right now, the future merely seemed very dark.

Waka threw himself to the side. His usual grace seemed to have left him, as he felt himself fall on something -- more corpses. There were piles of them now, all left to freeze in the cold. He had landed on them, in the midst of broken wings and limbs turned lifeless shades of blue.

A high-pitched, uncontrolled laugh rose from his throat. The prophet sat up, still smiling at the Witch as though nothing was wrong.

"So harsh, my ice queen! What if I just came to enjoy the show?" He giggled. "The scuffle is going to happen with or without me, so why get involved and make a mess of things? I seem to do that, haha..."

The temperature seemed to drop another ten degrees. The corpses stared at him. He couldn't see why. This one wasn't his fault. Was it? He couldn't recall.

Her cold gaze followed his movements, and so did her attack as she conjured sharp shards of ice to erupt from the ground that fool of a Weapon threw himself towards. This one was no threat to her, most of them weren't, but she wasn't about to let any group regardless of size anywhere near this emitter.

"You are trespassing," she coolly answered moments before her right arm was pointed towards the intruder, and from behind her, a rampaging herd of yak began to appear as they all charged towards their target.

She thought she has sufficiently warned Waka about this, but that wasn't enough. Perhaps they should both stop being cryptic with each other here long enough to keep the other alive.

Her soul blazed, cutting through the thick Madness as her paws carried her, white fur again protecting her from the chill. After traversing the Northern Regions of Nippon, flying over the snow was easy. Catching Waka before the yaks could reach him was simple, but protecting him from the ice was another matter.

Amaterasu leapt, ignoring the ice shards biting into her as she knocked Waka aside, spinning to a stop several feet from the patch he would've landed in. For a moment, her amber eyes leered at the Witch, but then, they turned on the stampede of yaks. The underside of her flank was turning red, but again, she ignored it and barked at the prophet. Quit dawdling! They had to go!

Having the Madness physically rammed out of him made Waka gasp. The Calming Wavelength washed over him, clearing out the darkness and turmoil in one dizzying swoop. He hit the snow, now devoid of any bodies or blood, and jumped on his feet almost instantly.

He wouldn't do her any favors trying to run through snow in geta and slowing them both down, and so he rushed to her side and touched her fur -- with a hand that was still shaking, he noticed with mild annoyance -- and transformed. Pillow Talk landed lightly on the wolf's back.

Let us make like a banana and split, baby!

Her calm gaze watched as the wolf jumped in to save the foolish Weapon, but the Witch did nothing more than remain where she was as the stampeding herd barrelled their way. She could feel the Madness beginning to edge away with the arrival of the white beast, and knew then that this one was a Meister with the Calming Wavelength.

It would have been so easy to wipe them both off the face of this mountain, and the Witch considered doing such a thing until she sensed something far more interesting approaching the summit. Ignoring the pair, and the rampaging beasts, she drew her attention away from her playthings and over to where she felt the large power approaching.

So... he had stepped out of the city for this, hmm? The pair behind her were no threat, and she didn't hide that fact as the Witch seemed to simply disappear within the snowstorm as if she'd never been there... well if it wasn't for the fact that the large yaks were still trampling the area in their attempt to catch the pair beneath their heavy hoofs.

Like I'm about to stand around!

She was already off when Waka landed on her back, paws pounding and carrying them away. With the yaks behind them, they couldn't immediately head down to base. Were they normal yaks or conjured? Were yaks even supposed to be here? They didn't smell right...

Either way, she swerved as they reached a safer range from the Witch and the emitter. They had to lose the herd one way or another.

[OPEN] Mission 156

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