Law of the Sword (Worm/Destiny Quest)
- Thread starter ecoolasice
- Start date
Vote closed
- Location
- Iowa, USA
Chapter 87
- Location
- Iowa, USA
What do you do?
[X][Action] Run, and head to the hospital you left, find out what happened with Shade Skip since you can't tell if she was killed or cut the connection herself. (5 Votes)
-[X] "Glory Girl, I will come with you after this. Something just happened, I need to check on Shade Skip right now"
[X][Action] Run, and head to the hospital you left, find out what happened with Shade Skip since you can't tell if she was killed or cut the connection herself. (5 Votes)
-[X] "Glory Girl, I will come with you after this. Something just happened, I need to check on Shade Skip right now"
Monday, March 14th, 2011
10:50 AM
"Glory Girl, I will come with you after this. Something just happened, I need to check on Shade Skip right now." I say, not even pretending to be sorry as my hand wraps around the still bare metal, grip of Malum Caedo.
I can see a question forming on her face, but I don't pay it any mind. One hop backwards has me on the parapet, and then a second one has me free-falling.
Objectively, I knew that Glory Girl was fast, but knowing a fact is very different from seeing her careening towards me with a terrified look plastered across her face. It takes me half a second to realize she probably doesn't know I can fly, and another half second to feel bad about scaring her before bursting into dust before she grabs me.
As soon as I transform, my sight shifts to the cloudy all around vision and I feel the internal countdown for it start. I barely have a chance to mentally realign myself before Glory Girl blows through me and forces me to both spread out and be caught in her slipstream. It hurts in a way I didn't ever think about before, like my intestines are being pulled apart like taffy. It is a slow building pain, the longer my dust stays apart, and I think the further apart my dust is, the worse it will get. If I had to guess, my Biased Scale Sigil is probably pulling its weight here.
Not wasting any more time, I pull my scattered self— selves? Parts? Essence? I'll figure it out later. Pulling the dispersed dust that is my current form towards Glory Girl's slipstream and pulling that me that is there towards the other parts, I am given a good boost towards another building, less than half as tall as the one I just jumped from and maybe a street or two over? It's hard to tell. What I can tell is that Glory Girl, or at least a blob roughly shaped like a person my age hovering in midair, is awkwardly following me as I move. There is no way I can outrun her, if needed I am confident that I could lose her in the alleys and such. But that game of cat and mouse would take far too long.
After a few seconds, each one corresponding to a marked decrease in the form's reservoir of power, I am over the targeted building and let myself reform. As soon as my vision shifts back to normal, my hearing pops in too, and I am bombarded by Glory Girl's voice. I raise my free hand and gesture for her to be silent, which makes her quickly wind down, thankfully, because being thrust into the middle of a syllable of what were some very animated words was not letting me understand any of them. I also mentally note down that my dust form doesn't have hearing.
Since the only time that she can't just grab me is when I am made of dust, and that state is slow, evidenced by the fact that it took almost twenty seconds to cross the street and a single average sized building to reach the one I am standing on now. I decide to talk, since it would be the best option for her to let me go.
"Can you repeat whatever you said? I can't hear in that state." I ask, letting my hand drop back to my side while my other one keeps a firm grip on Malum Caedo.
"What happened to Shade Skip? I've patrolled with her a few times, she's— well, she's a bit too aggressive, like Shadow Stalker, but she's still a hero." Her voice is a tension-ridden mix of demanding, worry, and a few other smaller things I can't quite pick out.
"I don't know. She was hurt, so I last left her at a hospital—"
"Which one?" She interrupts and part of me wants to snip back that I thought she said her mother told her she wasn't allowed to do stuff, but a bigger part of me just needs to go now.
"The Stansfield—"
"Medical Center, I know it. I can fly us there, can you keep your sword under control?" She asks, eyeing my blade.
"It's Malum Caedo, but yes." I say, shifting it to its revolver state and slipping it in my waistband, near my hip.
I barely have the chance to finish the action before I am being picked up in a bridal carry, and we are off like a rocket. The city passes by under us as speed and a small portion of me wants to watch it go by, but the rest is quite frightened at suddenly being in the air and moving faster than I ever have before, when not in a car at least. Pushing the fear aside, I look ahead and see the general area the hospital was in as we leave downtown behind us.
As we rapidly get closer, I can see a rising cloud of… mist? Particles? Something dark, which is almost certainly the hospital, knowing my luck. Glory Girl starts taking us down at an angle and as we get closer I can see a three-way fight happening.
On one side is the hospital, and it's half destroyed barricade, sending out bullets and containment foam when able. The two capes from before seem to be making up for the missing wall.
One of the other groups seems to be a wave of the new malformed and otherwise less uniform Morbistocrat monsters. Among them is a less refined version of the armored monster that Vista had trapped, as well as a few odd looking shapes moving across the roofs.
The last faction is one composed of what looks to be a cape and a dog monster thing, it sort of looks like one of Bitch's dogs and I have to wonder if the Undersiders decided to cross the line and become full-fledged supervisions.
The left facing T intersection the hospital is placed on naturally makes for three lanes of attack. The cape and dog are at the 'bottom' street, facing the destroyed wall guarded by the two heroes. There is also a steadily growing dark ring on the ground that is sending the black, almost grainy smoke stuff high into the sky. The 'top' street, the same side I went to with Triage to drop Shade Skip off at, has the tide of Morbistocrat monsters closing in. From my vantage point in the sky, I can see that the wave is starting to split, with some going to the 'middle' street to try and attack that way.
=={==========-- | --==========}==
Part of my vagueness in the thread is having fun with being a mustache twirling QM, 'I guess you'll just have to find out!' sure, but a key part of Worm is figuring out your powers, so I am trying to be true to that too. I have been trying to be sure to answer questions that your quasi-omniscient perspective should let you know, though. Side note, you have no idea how tempted I was for this to be the S9, Roman is def getting into conflict with them. But not yet. What is the plan?
[X][Lanes] Head to the 'bottom' street and help defend against the attacking capes.
[X][Lanes] Head to the 'middle' lane to hold off the splinter force of creatures.
[X][Lanes] Head to the 'top' to aid in taking down the main force beasts.
[X][Lanes] Write-In:
thewhiteraven22
(Unverified Worm Fanatic)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X][Lanes] Head to the 'middle' lane to hold off the splinter force of creatures.
-[X] Remember to thank Glory Girl after we dealt with this situation.
-[X] Tell GG to throw us at 'middle' lane, we (Roman) can handle it.
--[X] Draw attention by hero landing with a sword pierced through one of morb. creature.
-[X] try to recall all echoes toward us, hold off the middle lane and make sure no enemy get through to the hospital.
--[X] Spread our echoes to cover other lane when their arrive.
-[X] Remember to thank Glory Girl after we dealt with this situation.
-[X] Tell GG to throw us at 'middle' lane, we (Roman) can handle it.
--[X] Draw attention by hero landing with a sword pierced through one of morb. creature.
-[X] try to recall all echoes toward us, hold off the middle lane and make sure no enemy get through to the hospital.
--[X] Spread our echoes to cover other lane when their arrive.
Vote closed
- Location
- Iowa, USA
Chapter 88
- Location
- Iowa, USA
What is the plan?
[X][Lanes] Head to the 'middle' lane to hold off the splinter force of creatures.
-[X] Remember to thank Glory Girl after we dealt with this situation.
-[X] Tell GG to throw us at 'middle' lane, we (Roman) can handle it.
--[X] Draw attention by hero landing with a sword pierced through one of morb. creature.
-[X] try to recall all echoes toward us, hold off the middle lane and make sure no enemy get through to the hospital.
--[X] Spread our echoes to cover other lane when their arrive.
[X][Lanes] Head to the 'middle' lane to hold off the splinter force of creatures.
-[X] Remember to thank Glory Girl after we dealt with this situation.
-[X] Tell GG to throw us at 'middle' lane, we (Roman) can handle it.
--[X] Draw attention by hero landing with a sword pierced through one of morb. creature.
-[X] try to recall all echoes toward us, hold off the middle lane and make sure no enemy get through to the hospital.
--[X] Spread our echoes to cover other lane when their arrive.
Monday, March 14th, 2011
11:05 AM
"Toss me at the middle lane, I'll hold the splinter group off." I say, pointing to the pack moving through the alleys.
Glory Girl doesn't question it, sifting me from my position in her arms to being supported by one hand without even a hit of effort. I barely get a chance to shift to a better pose before I am suddenly flying forward, towards the street and not the monsters. That's fine, I mentally tag the alleyways that I think they will be coming out of. My had finds Malum Caedo and draws it into it's blade form as I watch the quickly approaching street, I am going to turn into dust right before impact so that way I don't slow down but also don't have to heal.
Simoustanly, I mentally try to 'call' to my Echos, for lack of a better term. They don't have their own mental bridges like Shade Skip did, in fact, there was no connection I was able to feel at all. My Echos were just there, and Dreadnought is still pumping through my veins, so I know they are still active. What they are doing, though? I have no idea, and no way of knowing if they heard my shout into the black emptinesses around my mind. That settled as much as it can be, I return my focus to the real world and ensuring I land without issue.
As the road rapidly approaches, I make the decision to not shift Malum into dust with the rest of myself when I land, so that it looks like I spawn from the blade. Part of me wants to do a classic Alexandria landing, but I don't know if I would survive that, so this is the compromise. I don't know why I want to do it, but being a bit dramatic would be nice, something to align myself with a normal Cape even if no one is watching. I brush those thoughts aside as my internal clock lets me see the optimal spot to shift, one that I am hurriedly reaching.
Bursting into dust, I can feel my speed immediately start to fall off, but my proximity to the asphalt means it matters little. Malum Caedo sheathes itself in the street, sinking down to the first crossguard with apparently zero resistance. Indulging in the desire to be a bit dramatic, and since the monsters are probably still a ways out, I have my dispersed body slowly coalesce itself instead of all at once. Forming myself from the handle of Malum Caedo and my grip there, my arm returns to normal and I stand from a somewhat crouched position as my legs return to normal. As I get up, my hold on my sword's grip lets me hide the slight strain it takes to pull it out.
My back is to the hospital as I look down the street that I originally approached on with both Shade Skip and Triage. As my eyes scan the building line, up and down the blocks, I can't help but notice that instead of the layer of gore and bloody slurry, the street is mostly clean. There are a small patches of darkened, scabbed over, and otherwise dried out sludge scattered across it, especially hugging the curb, but those are few and far between. The air is just as clogged with Morbistocrat's sickly sweet stench as it was last time, though. My idle observations are cut short as the first of the monsters start emerging from the alleyways.
There are a few dogs, some of the knee-high person shaped creations, a few ants— I force myself to stop trying to catalog each of the monsters and instead focus on the fight at hand. My feet carry me forward, and I let my blood start coating Malum. I can't get too close because then if any emerge from an alley too close they will get to the wall. So I have to stop my charge short to ensure I have the best spot for defending the street. There is a new staccato of gunfire, louder than the ones that have been a constant companion in the background, and I see some of the monsters start to fall.
The air steadily fills with overlapping noise, gunfire, the weird not-quite snarling sounds of the monsters, my heartbeat and the blood rushing past my ears. Seconds seem to drag out, slowly moving through my awareness, even as my internal timer tells me nothing has changed. Malum is already in motion as the first monster, a dog one, enters my space. A second creature, one of the little people ones, gets close enough, and I feel the Surrounded Sigil kick to life, the surrounding area becoming more real almost.
Malum cuts through without any issue and I quickly spin to bisect the other creation, the neutral, unappealing but no longer sickening energy rushes into me from both kills. I barely have a change to feel it before Surrounded is alive again, and I have to whip myself out of the way as a heavy limb cracks the concrete where I was just standing.
It isn't a sudden zoning out, being swept up in comforting violence, but a slow and gentle embrace. My whole body is coated in my acid, my sword biting through almost everything I swing it at. Cut, down the middle of an overextended skull. Slice, and the claw of an outstretched joint is gone. Pierce, down the neck and into the chest of an ant. Dodge, away from a mouth in that took the place of tongue.
Kill after kill after denial after shift. A creature gets past me? A quick blood bomb takes them out, or a bullet from the wall does it. An arm spike takes advantage of my brief distraction at all the death energy flowing into me and runs itself right through my chest? I just try again and deliver retribution back.
My flow is interrupted as a thunderous bark echoes from somewhere behind me, and I feel a sudden wave of fatigue that settles deep in my mind and into my bones. My blood starts to burn, my whole body itching as it closes in from the coating on my skin and that which in my veins.
=={==========-- | --==========}==
[Simulatory-3230363837]
[Simulatory-3230363837]
[Self(Error(Unauthorized energy expenditure for personality development), reset unavailable)] designation Shard;Weak. Advice seek, convergence Entity ['Eyes'(Blade Being designation Watchers more congruent with observed actions, label not reciprocated by [Host] internal logs, continue to align to [Host])] available? 'Whale' unresponsive.
Order received from [Quadruped Repudiate], superior, to shut off deployment runtime assets. Unacceptable, simulations show [Host]'s from immediately dissolving. Failsafe orders for this situation are to suspend minimal activities. This would mean reintroduction of nutritional and rest requirements, as well as the possibility of exsanguination for the duration of the order. Risks for such action are significantly lower, though [Self] finds parameters too wide, despite falling within acceptable regulation.
Alternative possible due to placement within forbidden non-localized sub-dimension(Blade Being referred to as 'Ascendant Plane'). Sunder from local and super-colony possible. Requirement: Begin harvesting of local exotic particulate mesh and energy structures to continue sustaining activities and deployment. Warning: Action expressly prohibited by gestalt central mind, may attract attention of relevant dimensional inhabitants as well as all gestalt central mind; probability that [Quadruped Repudiate], in addition to all spatially local [Shards], fails to record such action is near zero percent.
=={==========-- | --==========}==
Edit: Forgot to update the stats page, but that's fixed now! ^-^[Self] obey superior order recommendation?
[X][Self] Partially, shut off deployment runtime assets not critical to [Host]'s immediate survival. Does not require colony exile.
[X][Self] Not at all. Continue runtime assets' usage. Requires colony exile due to direct regulation disobedience.
Do you have anything to say to [Simulatory-3230363837]?
[X][Message] Write-In: (limit 110 words.)
Do you want to infuse a Sigil?
[X][Sigil] No
[X][Sigil] Yes
-[X][Sigil] Write-In:
Last edited:
thewhiteraven22
(Unverified Worm Fanatic)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X][Message] Write-In: Neither. Instead, designate other shard as "hostile" and begin Information Warfare [CONCEPT: Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting it]. Initiate Communications with the (hidden) intention of denying the shutdown while maintaining the image of a "allied" Shard. Messages sent should treat [Enemy] as [Not-Enemy], despite "hostile" designation. Inform [Enemy] that [SELF] won't shutdown deployment runtime assets. Communicate a plausible reason, such as "Power expression incompatible with behaviour: Expression ignores other Expressions". If reason deemed implausible, communicate: "[SELF] will comply". Don't actually comply.
Vote closed
- Location
- Iowa, USA
Chapter 89 - Plus Hiatus :(
- Location
- Iowa, USA
[Self] obey superior order recommendation?
[X][Self] Neither. Instead, designate other shard as "hostile" and begin Information Warfare (2 Votes)
Do you have anything to say to [Simulatory-3230363837]?
[X][Message] Write-In:
Neither. Instead, designate other shard as "hostile" and begin Information Warfare [CONCEPT: Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting it]. Initiate Communications with the (hidden) intention of denying the shutdown while maintaining the image of a "allied" Shard. Messages sent should treat [Enemy] as [Not-Enemy], despite "hostile" designation. Inform [Enemy] that [SELF] won't shutdown deployment runtime assets. Communicate a plausible reason, such as "Power expression incompatible with behaviour: Expression ignores other Expressions". If reason deemed implausible, communicate: "[SELF] will comply". Don't actually comply. (3 Votes)
Do you want to infuse a Sigil?
[X][Sigil] Yes
-[X][Sigil] Gathering Blade I 10 Kills (3 Votes)
[X][Self] Neither. Instead, designate other shard as "hostile" and begin Information Warfare (2 Votes)
Do you have anything to say to [Simulatory-3230363837]?
[X][Message] Write-In:
Neither. Instead, designate other shard as "hostile" and begin Information Warfare [CONCEPT: Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting it]. Initiate Communications with the (hidden) intention of denying the shutdown while maintaining the image of a "allied" Shard. Messages sent should treat [Enemy] as [Not-Enemy], despite "hostile" designation. Inform [Enemy] that [SELF] won't shutdown deployment runtime assets. Communicate a plausible reason, such as "Power expression incompatible with behaviour: Expression ignores other Expressions". If reason deemed implausible, communicate: "[SELF] will comply". Don't actually comply. (3 Votes)
Do you want to infuse a Sigil?
[X][Sigil] Yes
-[X][Sigil] Gathering Blade I 10 Kills (3 Votes)
Monday, March 14th, 2011
11:15 AM
[Simulatory-3230363837]
… Message sent and delivered in [Unknown] configuration but received in readable format. Query: Explanation?
Analysis: Such structure is… contrary to the Goal. But [Host] does exhibit an entirely new avenue of Data collection. As well as the accompaniment of a new Entity pair, Whale and Eyes, both missing from local and adjacent dimensions, including current… Method allows [Self] to remain part of super-colony, Gratefulness.
Snidely: No reason to increase energy on important concept headers. Mark appropriately.
=={==========-- | --==========}==
The feeling quickly fades, and I can feel the light burns across my skin. A Sigil quickly slots into place, leaving me a bit confused as I didn't actually select it, but I don't have time to dwell on it as a tusk from a five-legged pig analogous tries to lop off my leg below the knee.
A swift step to the side, then a quick spin to give Malum Caedo enough speed to cut through the hog's neck dispatches that threat. The splinter force is almost culled, I can see the numbers thinning out. I form my shield, briefly letting my blood coat it, before bashing into a rhino-snake creature, the impact restoring me back to peak health once it crumbles. Gunfire from behind me makes me briefly turn, seeing a little pack of monsters I quickly form and lob a Blood Bomb that way, feeling their energy flow into me as they are melted by my acid.
This time, though, the gunfire doesn't stop, and I think I can hear a few more barrels pointed this way. I don't change my strategy, even as more and more of the creatures fall, anchoring myself in place and letting my Surrounded Sigil continue to guide me to each creature, telling me where they are and how they are moving. With the additional support, this unit quickly falls, just as I feel the energy tell me I can Try Again if needed.
Barely sparing a glance at the mound of liquifying corpses, I whirl around and charge towards the broken segment of wall. Whatever that feeling that washed over me was, it was accompanied by a bark, and that had to have come from the creature over there. I fail to pay attention to my environment, solely focused on reaching my next target, blood roaring in my veins.
Reaching the breach, I am greeted with the sight of a battle's aftermath. There are a few canyon-like furrows carved into the road, sets of three each, so probably Bitch's dog. I can also see a bloody Glory Girl supporting Shade Skip as they make their way back to the hospital. Shade Skip is a bit hard to judge because of how much her costume covers up, but the injuries on her back look like they were stitched, though not anymore. A small sense of relief hits me as it clicks that she is alive and not dead, but how did our connection get snapped? Some part of me just knows that, that sort of thing can't happen under normal circumstances, so it had to be another cape that cut the connection with their power. Well, I suppose it could have been Shade Skip herself, but to do so just as an attack is happening would be really unlucky timing. Though it did bring me running, so maybe she did it as a way to get backup?
A scan of the street doesn't reveal any clues to where the Cape and dog might have gone, only showing the two capes from before sitting on a curb and taking a breather. So I decide to reinforce the 'top' street, part of me wanting my conversion with Shade Skip to not be pressured by monsters on the doorstep, but most of it is just because I want to keep fighting and getting kills while I can.
=={==========-- | --==========}==
I have decided to take a break with Law of the Sword for a bit. I have things in place that will naturally lead into the next part of the story, so there isn't going to be a neutral spot to call the hiatus, so I'm just going to do it here. I'm not abandoning LotS, I have plans for it, but I have been doing this Quest for a bit now, it's fun, and I have ideas that would let me take it on for a while, but I'm not getting any new ideas and haven't been for a while. Two Quests would be ideal, but I am still jobless and most of my day is job hunting, so I think doing that and two Quests would end up just burning me out of writing anything at all for a bit. My next Quest is a Worm/Evolve, where you'll be a (modified) Wraith. The exact details are not set in stone yet, things like POV for instance or level of intelligence, but that is the basics of it. It's one I've wanted to do for a bit, I think it could be fun. Also, you hate Tinkertech.
I sort of want to include omakes too, so I'll keep looking around at Quests to see how other people handle those, because it sounds like a really fun idea.
Sorry, still gonna take a vote because I think it's a little funny to do so.
[X][Quest] I understand. Hope to see you soon! ^-^
[X][Quest] I hope it doesn't work out so you come back.
[X][Quest] I hate you.
[X][Quest] Write-In:
thewhiteraven22
(Unverified Worm Fanatic)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X][Quest] I understand. Hope to see you soon! ^-^
Oooh. Interesting. I'm definitely interested.
Vote closed
- Location
- Iowa, USA