RocketLord Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 GM The Conqueror Worm speaks. "When I speak, I do so with the voice of the legion." As the Conqueror Worm's rotting lips form the words, so does the voices of everyone that surrounds them. He speaks with the voice of his puppets. All those under his sway that surround them. They all speak in perfect synch, their voices and his words speaking all around the would-be heroes. "When I make a fist to crush your world, you will feel the weight of millions of fists." The Conqueror Worm forms a fist in front of his chest, then thrusts it into the air. The puppets all around them once again speaks the words and follows his movement. Casanova slowly sits up, looking around at the scene around him. His lips twist into a smile when he looks up at the Conqueror Worm, though it quickly disappears, replaced with pure horror at the sight before him. "When my gaze falls on you, and I shatter your soul, your heart, your dreams and your self, the gaze of the world falls upon you." The sickly green glow in the Conqueror Worm's eyes light up in the eyes of all that surround them. "I am the Voice and the Way, I am the hero of the tragedy that is man! Nothing like me has come among you, and nothing ever will. I will hollow you out and make you mine. And the corruption and evil of the world will die, as I make it mine!" The swarms begin to move, closing in on the heroes. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 The STORMCROW Charlie freezes as he watches Muirne stab Luke, and then... This was not how he had expected this to go. He knew that Shields and his crew was doing something bad with magic or something, trying to get something to come here, but... not this. Not the Conqueror Worm. Not a legion of puppets. His initial thought? He has to call Alek. Get backup, as soon as possible. Get the Freedom League, get Claremont, get everyone... But they will be too late, won't they? He didn't know it would be the Conqueror Worm, but he can't be stable. Not yet. It can't work like that. There has to be some way to stop them, some... And besides... This is the Guardians' fight. They have to handle this. Ms. Scorpion and Casanova. They know what's going on. Charlie has to... no, Stormcrow has to take charge. Snap everyone out of this. A big dragon and a robot vs. the Conqueror Worm? Cold metal and dragon fire should work. Muirne has already been controlled, he has to keep her away from the Conqueror Worm, unless she gets taken over again, and they'd be royally screwed if he takes over Bernie... Leon already has the grudge against Ms. Scorpion, he should be able to make her talk. "Paper! Grab Ms. Scorpion, find out what she knows! Shift, Nightscale, hit the Conqueror Worm with all you go! Shadowborne, we'll deal with everything later, right now we need you! Help Multi-Girl with the crowds! Don't let them pin us down! Chump and Toxin, if you want to stop this, then help Nightscale and Shift keep that monster busy! And..." He pauses. The zombie girl that had been there before seems as horrified as everyone else. "Zombie-Girl? I got no idea what you can do, but if you're with us, then I need you to help Shadowborne and Multi-Girl with the crowds." Link to comment
Spacefurry Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) Paper Paper tore his attention away from the rotting corpse of a man to watch the brainwashed threats slowly closing in on them. He shoots Stromcrow another dirty look as the other hero starts calling out orders. He chances a look at Conqueror Worm and quickly looks away, back at Ms Scorpion. His anger rises up again, but not out of petty revenge for a fight over a year ago. No, this time its sheer anger at thinking that bringing this monster back from the dead was a good idea. The paper whips in his hand bound and twisted together. “You god damned idiots!” Paper flung the spear at Ms Scorpion, aiming right for her stomach. Suddenly the tip of the spear splits and retwists itself into two tips. The spear catches the villainess in the gut between the points, barely, the force slamming her back into the wall as the prongs of the paper spear bury themselves into the wall, pinning her like a bug in a collection. A sweep of her arm and several more strips of paper secure her wrists and ankles against the structure, leaving her helpless. Paper crossed the distance in a rush, slamming his left hand against the wall by her head. “What are you thinking?” He growls. “Whatever Cass promised you is bullshit! This isn’t going to end well for anyone!” Edited January 16 by Spacefurry Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 The STORMCROW This is bad. This is really bad. The others can see it, Charlie is sure of it. They're not idiots. He has to take the lead, even if they don't all like it. So, he does the one thing other thing he can think of, to try and get everything going. They had discussed a name before, what to call themselves. Some jokes, some good ideas, some bad ones, but they had settled on something, at least, not that they ever got to use it before Charlie had to leave. He had considered how to use it. It might work, it might not. He hopes it will. "C'mon, we can do this! Work together, watch each other's back! We're the Guardians, right? So... Guardians, go!" Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 GM Ms. Scorpion shrieks and yelps as the paper surrounds her. She is too slow to react, her head still ringing from the blows she has taken, when Paper holds her against the wall, then slams his hand into the wall next to her. She stares at him and listens to his threat, and then, she laughs. Though the blood still flows from her broken nose, her airways have cleared enough that her words are no longer muddled. "Ha, what Shields promised me? Who do you think made the Conqueror Worm latch onto him in the first place!? Shields wasn't a saint, but this? Do you think he would have done this! I did my mission! I found someone strong enough to bring the Conqueror Worm back, but weak enough to be manipulated! And you can't stop it!" Chump, for his part, has stopped struggling against Shift. He tries another tactic instead. Pleading, as he starts to cry. "Please... Let me go. I want to help. I can't let this happen to Seb. He's my best friend. He's my only friend." The Conqueror Worm lowers his hands to his sides, opens them, and spreads his arm. "Come, my children. Cleanse them." All around, the Puppets rush in, trampling, punching, kicking and biting anyone caught in its path. Nightscale, Shadowborne, Toxin, Multi-Girl and Ghule are all caught in the mass of bodies, the extensions of the Conqueror Worm's will. Link to comment
Heritage Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) Shift Even as vile a creature as Sebastian Shields did not deserve to die like this. Chump's entreaties moved Shift, and she finally released her death grip on the massive teen. Then she backed away, keeping all three sets of arms ready to strike. "I don't this thing is living. He's not going to be easy to drop." Edited January 19 by Heritage Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 GM Shift crashes into the Conqueror Worm, her limps wrapping around him. There is a deathly chill around him, one that even she feels. It is as if it cuts into her very soul, or whatever else she might believe that she has. Her limps wrap around him, ensnaring him, but even then, he resists. For one so thin and pale, almost devoid of life, the Conqueror Worm is surprisingly strong. And he smiles still, as Shift manages to lay him low. Link to comment
Lone_Star Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 (edited) Ghule Ghule watches in horror as one of the heroes (or at least, that's what she looked like?) stabs the dragon guy with a shadow spear. The scene blurs before her eyes, everything happening at once, and whoever, whatever emerged from the ground started barking ominous orders at all of them. It's only when the guy in the dark-grey bodysuit started talking that she came back around. Okay, you can do this. It's your first superhero fight, so don't say something stupid... On 1/16/2024 at 3:29 AM, RocketLord said: "Zombie-Girl? I got no idea what you can do, but if you're with us, then I need you to help Shadowborne and Multi-Girl with the crowds." "You got it, Bird-Boy!" D'oh! She turns towards the crowd, the legions, as the villain described them, and quickly her bone-weapons into a flail. Black fire pours from her hands as the boxing gloves melts away, forming a long chain made of spinal vertebrae, and a ball of interlocked ribs. She swings it over her head, and shrieks a war cry as she wades into the crowd, swinging wildly. "My name is Ghule, and I'm the MOTHER####ING ZOMBIE QUEEN!!" Edited January 19 by Lone_Star Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 GM Toxin yells as she throws herself into the mass of Shift that is holding onto the Conqueror Worm, keeping him held down for now, and places a burning hand on his shoulder. Toxins rushes through his body, and... they do nothing. The Conqueror Worm smiles. He pushes back against Shift. "Little thing of metal and lightning. I will wear you as an armor." He is strong, but Shift is built strong as well. He is unnerving, still. Ghule's blow cuts into the masses, taking the mind controlled Puppets down with her blows, but they are never ending, swarming into the building, flailing, kicking, punching, biting and doing anything they can to hurt the heroes that try to keep them away from the Conqueror Worm. And Sebastian Shields looks upon the events that he set in motion with horror in his eyes. Link to comment
Thevshi Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Multi-Girl Bernadette and her duplicate had been backed up together as the mind-controlled horde crowded into the warehouse. As things began to unfold, the redhead felt a bit of panic grip her, feeling WAY in over her head, until she heard Charlie's voice over all the chaos, giving out orders and encouragement. Somehow, hearing Charlie’s confidence helped the Irish teen overcome the feelings of panic as she steadied herself for what was likely to be the fight of her young life. That encouragement was just in time as the horde of mind-controlled minions swarmed in after the teen and her duplicate (as well as the others between the horde and Conqueror Worm). Somehow the two redheads were both able to weather the storm of the mind-controlled horde. getting pushed back some, but somehow also managing to avoid getting completely overrun by them. As Ghule stepped forward and took care of some of the horde, it gave Bernadette a bit of space to catch her bearings. "Right, crowd control." She stated, before starting forward towards the horde in front of Ghule. And as before, there were suddenly more than a dozen redheaded teens, crashing into the horde, punching and kicking as they went. In a few moments, they had cleared more space around the Guardians, at least for the moment, as there were still a seemingly endless number of puppets still appearing. Link to comment
Nerdzul Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Still reeling from the spear that had managed to pierce his armor, Nightscale buckled against the weave of bodies suddenly being hurdled against his now massive form. He shrugged away a couple of assailants, trying not too hurt any of the Worm victims and stay coiled as if to keep protecting the woman he loved from the assault. He smiled when Shift engulfed the villain with living metal. "Great..." Let's see if he likes that... "You talk too much..." He remarked as the Conqueror Worm kept monologuing, his claws lashing at the restrained villain, whose undead hide, unfortunately was too tough to rend. Link to comment
Kaede Kimura Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Shadowborne Aoife stared at Shields and the Zombie for a hateful second, wishing that she could rend them limb by limb, but the others were working at that now, she needed to protect them from the puppets. She focused briefly, her well of power bubbling out into her body. Muirne always said it was painful but to Aoife it just felt of home, she savored the feeling for a moment before releasing them. Within moments the shadows had swept across the ground, reaching and grasping, seeking to drag the puppets down. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 GM The Conqueror Worm is held, but not quite struggling to break free. He does not seem worried, as much as one can read from his undead features. The machine and the dragon fight him, the would-be-Raven, in many ways the same and so different from the Raven he once fought, gives his orders. The one-that-is-many, the dark child and self-named queen of zombies fight to contain his Puppets, to keep them from swarming the would-be heroes that attempt to bring down the master. They are doing better than the Conqueror Worm had anticipated. The Puppets are dwindling, weakening. He will have to reach out, to find more Puppets. Oh, the Conqueror Worm is not worried. Even as his Puppets begin to weaken, he stays strong. His will stays strong. Unbending. And, perhaps, the one that talks to paper will be the one to solve this riddle of scorpion? Link to comment
Spacefurry Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Paper Paper’s expression changed from angry to confused to disbelief then back to anger. “You f*cking insane. Why would you-?” He shook his head. “Forget it, don’t care.” He slaps a peice of paper over her mouth, stifling any ranting she would offer. As he tries to think this through. A glance showed him the others embroiled in their own struggles. Half of them holding off the hoard as the others tried to pin down the Worm. She said she had picked Shields, but why? Strong, yet weak enough… But there were plenty of people she could have… Leon leveled his gaze on Ms Scorpion. “It’s because they’re both controllers. Is he piggybacking off Cas?” He watched her face for any signs he was close. “Is he feeding off the dipsh*t?” Something else caught his attention. Why wasn’t he being attacked? Why wasn’t she being controlled. Sure she was responsible, but how could the Worm have known? “What’s protecting you from them?” Leon yanks the paper off her mouth. The paper snapping stiff and sharp as he glares at her. “Answer me.” Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 GM Ms. Scorpion stares at Paper as he talks it through and considers it. The moment that he mentions the Conqueror Worm piggybacking off Casanova, her eyes go wide and worried. With the paper yanked away from her mouth, she grunts, then looks up at him with a faltering smile. "Y-you're wrong! Casanova's part is d-done! He's not important anymore! The Conqueror Worm just doesn't want to hurt any of his faithful! Like me! Or Casanova!" Link to comment
Spacefurry Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Paper Paper gave Ms Scorpion a smirk. “Done his part huh? Then I guess it can’t hurt to knock the little pain in the ass’s head in for the trouble he’s caused.” A few sheets form into a kukri. He uses the flat of the blade to lift her chin. “Your plans end, here and now.” With that, he turns and runs towards the fight, leaving Ms Scorpion pinned to the wall. Paper swarms past him creating a ramp that lets Leon jump over the mind controlled hoard. He lands inside the ring of heroes. “It’s Cas. The Worm’s piggybacking off his power. We need to sever the connection.” Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 The STORMCROW Charlie stares at Leon for a moment as he arrives in the middle of them and declares that Casanova is the issue. How do they do that, then? Knocking him out was not enough. Killing him? No, they can't do that... He hates magic. He doesn't know nearly enough about it. All this mystic crap. It doesn't make any sense. "Shadowborne! Nightscale! You heard Paper! You're the magic people, can you do anything to sever that connection? Everyone else, keep them safe while they do that!" Link to comment
RocketLord Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 GM "What? No? No! You can't leave me here! You can't...!" Somehow, Ms. Scorpion finds the strength to try to struggle again. It is not enough. She does not have the strength, as much as she might try. "You're wrong! You're all wrong! Come back here! Come back here!" Chump is silent as he moves in. He stares at Casanova, considers what to do. He can't punch his friend. Despite everything he has done, he can't bring himself to attack Sebastian. Instead, he turns towards the Conqueror Worm, and with a shout, he punches the Conqueror Worm in the face. It doesn't even phase him. The Puppets, those not held back, swarm over Nightscale, Ghule and Multi-GIrl, trying to latch onto them, weigh them down, pull them away to lets others get past to their master. The Conqueror Worm places a hand on Shift chest as she struggles to contain him. And he pushes. Sickly green light begins to shine from his palm where he pushes it against her. She begins to smell herself melting. "I will hollow you out and wear you as my armor." Link to comment
Heritage Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Shift As the vile creature attempted to burn into Shift's nanomass, she grunted for a second, and then millions of nanobots flooded into the area, absorbing the damaged micromachines and cannibalizing them to build millions more. Shift locked eyes with the Worm, her face totally impassive as all her limbs ratcheted tighter around the foul thing, applying enough force to make his bones creak. "I'm not going anywhere." Link to comment
Lone_Star Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Ghule growls and roars with fervor as she fights her way through the growing mass of Conqueror Worm's thralls, back to back with Multi-Girl. She allows her weapons to crumble into dust, reaches into the back of her leather jacket, and summons a long bo staff made from her own spinal column. "It doesn't hurt!" she shouts over the din of the battle. "Well, not really! How are you doing over there, uhh...Dupli-Kate? Is that what they call you?" She glanced up at the villain who calls himself the Conqueror Worm, and saw one of the other heroes grappling it. Wow, they're strong! I could work out with the robot. Maybe they could give me some pointers. After all, most gyms wouldn't let me in without an ID...focus, VIk!! She swings the bo staff around, whirling it around her wrist with an expert's ease. The bone weapons she...extruded, she had a strange affinity with, though not their their mundane variants. She crouched into a kung-fu pose, and started wading through the crowd, batting aside thralls! "Let's kick some ass, uhh...fellow hero!" Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 GM Toxin curses loudly, pushing her hand against the Conqueror Worm again as Shift holds him down. A bubbling, sizzling sound escapes where the acid begins to burn him, but he just smiles. He does not care. With a yell of desperation, Casanova finally gets to his feet. He stares at Stormcrow. "You! You did this! I know who you are! I know what you did!" His screams turn incoherent, as a massive psychic blast whirl around him, straight towards the already dodging Stormcrow. The Conqueror Worm's Puppets continue to swarm. Their numbers are dwindling rapidly now, as the heroes fight to keep them back, but still, they cannot help but shake the feeling that there's more out there, lurking outside, just waiting to flow in, to drown them in the madness that is the Worm. The Conqueror Worm places his hand on the floor. Sickly green energy explodes out from it, catching Paper, Stormcrow, Shift, Toxin and Chump. He is laughing, even as some of the heroes escape the supernatural energies that he is unleashing. Link to comment
Thevshi Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Multi-Girl Even as Bernadette, Ghule and Shadowborne worked to clear the area around them of the Conqueror Worm’s hoard of puppets, more pressed in, crowding in again to try to get to their master. The redhead somehow managed to avoid being grabbed and dragged down by the press of the mob, though of few of her duplicates were not so lucky. But even as they were pulled down, Bernadette dismissed them, leaving the hoard with nothing to grab, so they rose back up to go after others. As she ended up back to back with Ghule amidst the chaos, the Irish teen gave Ghule a small grin as she asked her name. "I go by Multi-Girl, an' yes, I am very much ready ta kick the arse o' these bleedin' bastards!" She stated as Ghule cut loose with her bone staff, clearing a bit of space around them. Once again having some breathing room, Bernadette once again summoned more duplicates as she rushed forward. Soon, there were nearly two dozen redheads smashing through the hoard of puppets, kicking and punching and quickly whittling down the opponents, at least for now. Link to comment
Nerdzul Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Despite the fact that he was still bleeding from the wound inflicted by the shadow spear and that his claws had for now failed to break through the Worm defense, Luke could still find the will to smile as he saw Shift shrugging off the villain sinister influence and the rest of the gang whittling down the swarm of mind controlled cultists. Perhaps they haven't been a team in a while, but the Guardians were back baby! He could not hold the good mood for long however as Leon and Chaz's words brought him back to reality, to Sebastian, the man who had kidnapped the woman he loved and invaded her mind. It was his fault wasn't it? All his fault. For a brief moment he regretted shielding him fro Muirne's revenge... Yet... Being a hero was a matter of trying to make the right choice wasn't it? Whatever. If Cas was the cause of all of this he had to find a way to make him stop, willingly or otherwise. With a powerful roar, one that managed to overshadow even the cacophony of the fight, Nightscale broke free from the cultist's swarming masses and charged toward the telepath, his eyes burning with rage. His claws reached for Cas, perhaps caught off-guard by the sudden assault, before he could slip away. He squeezed him in his grip, albeit not tightly enough to break bones (assuming it was possible to even do so, given the bond between Cas and the Worm) and took his quarry close enough to his fangs that Sebastian could feel the dragon burning breath on his flesh. "I don't know what you freakin' worm have done... What you were trying to do. But you are going to stop this mess... Now. Or I will forget I have a code, just this once..." Link to comment
Kaede Kimura Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Shadowborne Aoife danced her way through the grasping puppets, sweeping her way through the crowd with grace. Her mind raced as she did so, trying to think of how they might cut the link that Paper had learned of between the Conqueror Worm and Casanova. Her immediate desire was just to kill Cas and be done with it, but she knows that the team wasn't about to accept that solution. She hated this, everyone was relying on her to come up with a solution, and if she didn't- Open a gateway. Let the Worm contend with the Darkness for all time. Muirne's voice was quiet in her head, but it was there. Aoife smiled warmly at the interruption, glad that Muirne was still there with her. She nodded in agreement with her progenitor, calling out to the others. "I have an idea!" She quickly made her way to Shift's side. She pulled the shadows that were restraining the Puppets back, focusing she pulled at the well within, a sheet of shadows appearing in her hands, which she wrested open, forming a tear through which only darkness could be seen. "Throw the Worm into the portal!" She called to Shift. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 GM Chump stares at the dragon that holds Casanova, once again struck by indecision. Toxin is on the floor, struggling to get up. Ghule and Multi-Girl stand in front of the Conqueror Worm's puppets, doing all in their power to keep them at bay. Slowly, but surely, they are driving them back, but the numbers are still overwhelming. The doors burst open, and more begin to appear, as the Conqueror Worm's influence spreads. Nightscale holds Casanova's struggling form. Physically, he is no match for a mighty dragon, but he is still protected by his connection to the Conqueror Worm. As Shift keeps the Conqueror Worm contained, struggling against his power, the world is torn apart in front of her, the darkness of the Schattenwelt. The darkness inside is absolute, and foreboding. Stormcrow and Paper stand ready. Will they be able to help with the final push? Miss Scorpion is screaming bloody murder, swearing all kinds of pain and revenge on Paper. Link to comment
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