Game On! (IC)

[Raveled]

GM

Dragonfly's attack was fortunate; it ripped down the side of the amalgamated zombie and opened a rift lengthwise in it's 'skin,' letting a burst of sickly-green energy out. The sudden burst of power atomized a wall; at the same time the undead construct seemed to deflate, losing mass and falling to the ground, like a balloon with a leak. In almost no time at all the menacing monster was nothing more than an empty bag of skin. Even as Dragonfly watched, the residual energy from her earlier blast literally eat the flesh-sack, slowly dissolving the last of the mega-zombie until nothing was left.

[Fox]

Dragonfly was, perhaps, never so glad for her wings as she was when she realized they meant she'd been spared the gore as the zombie had fallen. Spatially-dissolved or not, she was pretty sure she didn't want to touch whatever might have been left; even as it was she would probably have to give her armor a really, really good cleaning when she got home. If she got home...but she shook her head, shoving that thought away. not like me - haven't met a game I couldn't beat - besides - would mean losing to Ironclad - can't have that

She brought herself back down to ground-level, and her wings flickered and disappeared as she diverted most of her auxiliary power away from them and into the rest of her suit. She set her feet, braced both hands against the door, and shoved.

[Raveled]

GM

Surprisingly, the door opened smoothly; not easily, a couple hundred pounds of hardwood never moves easily, but there were no protestations from the hinges or hitches. As she pushed, Dragonfly even noticed that the wood -- which had been stained and pitted when it was blocked off by a phalanx of armored zombies -- was now wine-dark and polished to a shine. The hinges gleamed, and as she opened the door she could see that the carpets were now a deep red plush.

The room she found herself in was a huge, open entry room, with dark-wood steps curving along the walls and leading up to two separate, higher levels. There were oil paintings of pale-faced individuals on the walls, a stained-glass window on the door a full thirty feet across, and oil lights in scones giving a warm glow to the entire room; but what grabbed the heroine's attention was the vampire she'd been warned about, rotating in the air. The princess she'd been sent to save was in his grasp, and as the pair spun round she could see his pallid lips fixed on her neck. As she bled and he fed, the change spread through the old manse; the hallways behind Dragonfly cleared of the scattered armor and decay, returning to its luxurious glory.

The vampire and its victim rotated around once more, and the monster pulled itself away from the princess' blood. It smiled at Dragonfly, its lips stained red and a line of crimson dribbling out its mouth. "Is it not spectacular," it asked, still floating in mid-air. "By the time the sun goes down tonight, the princess shall be my bride and our house shall be restored. Then we shall hunt for my other brides, and with their blood I shall extend my dominion across the world! And no upstart hero with a magic blade will stop me, this time!"

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"No,"[/bg] Dragonfly countered, grimly. should have realized zombie was a distraction - taken it out sooner - lesson learned - not going to let him take another drink [bg=#555555]"You won't."[/bg]

And then in a blink, she was gone - or rather, not gone, but simply not where she was: in an instant her wings had flared back into being and she took off, sweeping toward the vampire in a low arc. Her right hand made a fist, and about an inch off the fist her suit made a long blade of blue-tinted twisted space - twisted space that got shoved right through the vampire's chest as she rushed up to meet him.

[Raveled]

GM

It would seem that stabbing a vampire through the heart with a blade of twisted dimensional energy didn't have the same effect as stabbing them with a bit of wood. The monster howled (more in frustration than pain, it seemed) and tossed the princess aside in a fit of strength. "The Black save me from the actions of foolish heroes," it screamed, raking at Dragonfly with its pale fingers. Its blows were almost too fast to follow, but they did little more than squeal across the surface of her armor. More worrying was the princess' trajectory: if she wasn't stopped, she'd fly right through the stained glass window!

[Fox]

Her wings flared as Dragonfly took off, shooting after the princess like she'd been fired from a bow. Fortunately her suit was fast - not as fast as a lot of heroes, and certainly not on par with the likes of Victory, but fast enough to keep ambulatory dress-wearing negotiation pieces from crashing through glass windows to their deaths: the heroine - and the damsel - slowed to a stop just barely in time. Dragonfly could have sworn she heard one of her wing nodes tap against the glass behind her.

[bg=#555555]"Starting to suspect you aren't very smart,"[/bg] she noted, buying a little time to glance around and figure out where she was going to put the princess. could just fly off with her - would probably get kidnapped again - annoying [bg=#555555]"Literally...phrase....'throwing away your meal ticket'. Not complaining, of course. Still. Kind of stupid."[/bg]

[Raveled]

Ironclad continued her exploration of the space station, moving carefully now after watching the alien decay in seconds before her eyes. She headed down now, and before long she started to find signs of human occupation. Or at least human industry. Several areas had white tiling on the floor, ceiling, and walls, along with steel or plastic tables, and LCD or plasma screens set into the walls or tabletops; the whole set-up screamed 'laboratory' to Ironclad.

Not that much work was going to be done there, anymore. The tables had been split across the middle, again and again; the tiles had been pried up to make asymmetrical, pixelated designs that were oddly disquieting; and the screens had been torn from their sockets, leaking fluid and trailing wired and cables. There were no scientific instruments that Ironclad recognized, but each room was heaped with glass, metal, and plastic debris, sometimes ankle- or knee-deep. The still, quiet air unnerved the heroine. It was like crawling around the bones of a church or palace: here was something grand that had, at one time, had set the destinies of nations, but now it was so much garbage.

Despite her unease, the heroine continued exploring, heading down and, inevitably, inwards.

[Raveled]

GM

The princess lolled in Dragonfly's arms, not responding directly to either being thrown around or caught just short of breaking through a window. She was breathing fine and her color was good (if one ignored the twin puncture marks on her neck) she just didn't seem to be responding to the world around her.

The vampire, on the other hand, reacted quickly to Dragonfly's mid-air save of the princess. It sprang after her (though the air, somehow) arms outstretched to grab at the heroine. She was able to twitch out of the way, however, and the monster went sailing through the stained glass window instead.

[Fox]

Dragonfly had thrown up a hand as the vampire charged, bringing her large, circular shield into being just in time to watch - with some grim amusement - as the vampire glanced off it and through the window he'd just tried to put the princess through. karma? [bg=#555555]"Think you deserved that,"[/bg] she dryly noted, collapsing the shield into a twisting blast that was sent right after the undead fiend.

Apparent incompetence or not, the heroine backed away from the windows, flying further back into the room where she didn't have to worry about enemies bursting in to grab her through glasswork. [bg=#555555]"Realize you're true to genre,"[/bg] she conversationally addressed the princess (for all that she clearly couldn't hear her), [bg=#555555]"but would honestly prefer you were more useful. Could throw a blade, or shoot holy arrows, or something."[/bg]

[Raveled]

GM

The vampire floated back through the shattered window, glass shards stuck through its costume and, in several places, through its flesh. It was disturbing to see glass puncturing flesh like it was a slice of cheese, especially when the pale monster pulled a particularly jagged piece out of its arm, exposing bloodless muscle and tendons. The monster snarled at Dragonfly and rushed her again, pulling short of impact and slicing the air with carefully timed swings of its supernaturally strong fists, but between the heroine's agility and her crackling shield, he never managed to land a blow.

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"You...are...annoying,"[/bg] Dragonfly growled, trying to balance the princess in one arm and attack and defense with the other; easier said than done, but doable, apparently. She just wasn't sure for how long. The moment she thought she had an opening the heroine brought her sword back online, the blade barely finishing twisting into being before she swiped at the vampire's torso with it. [bg=#555555]"Both of you. You are not helpful. You should go...not sure. Back to sleep? Buried in your coffin, stake through heart...don't know the mythology. Still. Go away. Stay gone."[/bg]

[Raveled]

As Ironclad descended into the lower levels of the space station, forced steadily towards the axis of the satellite, she started wondering who had built it. She was convinced it was a research station, nevermind to what end, but who had been expected to use the place? The only inhabitants she had run into were a murderous robot and a similarly belligerent alien, and the remains of many others like them. The station wasn't sized for the aliens, and if the robots were the intended inhabitants there's be no need for the atmosphere.

Several decks lower, she found who the station had been designed for, and they certainly appeared to be human. She couldn't ask them; she could barely stand to look at them. The bodies filled the labs from wall to wall, arranged in macabre dioramas. Blood was splashed on the walls, and words scrawled there warned of 'her' coming and warned of 'the rising darkness.' Ironclad moved slower through the station, nerves stretched to the breaking point.

[Raveled]

GM

Dragonfly's blade twisted through impossible dimensions and buried itself in the vampire's eye, piercing out through its head. The monster let loose with a tea-kettle shriek and fell to the ground with a thud, raising dust from the restored rafters. It screamed and clawed at the marred eye, yelling at everything and nothing in a tongue that made the heroine's hair stand on end, even in the suit. It apparently cut through whatever spell it had on the princess as well, because she fluttered her eyes and swam back to consciousness. "Wha... where am I?" She glanced around and took in the screaming vampire, the shattered window, and the armor-clad figure holding her in the air -- and started screaming herself.

[Fox]

Dragonfly winced, jerking her head away from the screaming princess. thought princesses were supposed to be composed - almost better when she was dead weight - suppose father wouldn't like it if she came back gagged and handcuffed [bg=#555555]"Stop screaming,"[/bg] she less asked than ordered, grimacing. Her blade disappeared, unfurling back into nonexistence as she rained a rippling distortion or two down on the howling revenant. [bg=#555555]"Don't struggle, either. Don't want to drop you fifty feet. Much harder to protect you if I put you down, anyway."[/bg]

[Raveled]

GM

The distortions hit the vampire cleanly and passed through it, twisting the monster's innards, but it didn't seem too discommoded. It probably helped that it was unlikely that the unholy creature used any of its internal organs.

The princess, for her part, choked off her screams at Dragonfly's imperious tone. "Wha... where am I? The last I remember, that monster came into my room and spoke to me... and then I was here! Where am I? Who are you? Where are my father's soldiers?"

[Fox]

Another couple blasts followed the first into the vampire's prone form, and Dragonfly was saved from trying to pinch the bridge of her nose only by having no hands free. and helmet in the way - annoying - probably shouldn't lift the faceplates around enemies [bg=#555555]"Vampire's castle. Dragonfly. Probably dead,"[/bg] the heroine replied, shifting her grip a little. [bg=#555555]"Not all dead. Some still back with your father. Vampire wanted your blood - got into your head, bit you. Should probably get that checked later. Don't know how vampirism works, but you seem okay. Except for the screaming."[/bg]

[Raveled]

GM

Dragonfly continued to pound on the prone monster as it lay writhing on the floor like a fish out of water. Whatever she was doing was keeping it contained, even if the monster didn't seem to be totally out of the fight.

The princess hung off Dragonfly's arm, pondering the heroine's curt words like it was the most normal thing in the world. Whatever could be said about her, she was certainly adaptable. "So then," she slowly, like she was pulling each word from a very long distance away, "you are a hero, sent by my father. Then the proper thing to do is for you to slay the monster, and for me to give you a kiss." She paused and looked down at the vampire on the floor. "It doesn't look very slain, yet."

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"Heroine,"[/bg] Dragonfly stressed, frowning. She took a moment to build up a distortion, this time, unleashing the charged spatial shockwave straight down into the vampire. Without, it seemed, as great an effect as she'd hoped for. She swore in Russian. [bg=#555555]"Working on it. Undead are...resilient. Kiss - what? No. Don't think my girlfriend would...appreciate it. Just want to stop the vampire, get you home, figure out how to get me home. Maybe tie the person who brought me here into a pretzel. If possible."[/bg]

[Raveled]

GM

Even as he absorbed blow after blow by the flying heroine, the vampire began laughing. "You cannot kill me," it shouted up at Dragonfly. "I have moved beyond the pale of death itself! Your puny mortal weapons can no more slay me than you can slay the mountains and the sky and the sea!" Its laughter was wild and terrible, and it reverberated around the hall menacingly.

[Fox]

Tilting her head, Dragonfly actually stopped to consider that one for a moment. [bg=#555555]"Probably could kill mountains or sky,"[/bg] she pondered aloud. [bg=#555555]"Mountain isn't tough, just big. Sky...atmospheric burn, maybe? Tricky, but possible. Sea's harder. Too big. Definition of 'kill'...easy enough to make it uninhabitable. Not that I would. But not as impossible as you're thinking."[/bg]

She shook her head, raining another distortion or two down on the vampire in the hopes of shutting him up. [bg=#555555]"Princess. Probably know more about vampires than I do - not as many undead or dragons where I come from. Thoughts on permanent solutions? Prefer not to kill, but don't want him re-kidnapping you when I leave. Kind of pointless."[/bg]

[Raveled]

GM

The vampire fell silent as Dragonfly's next volley smashed into it. Hanging from her arm, the princess put the heroine's question to some thought. "It's never destroyed," she finally decided. "It arises from the dark, casts a darkness over the land, and is finally fought back and resealed by a great hero." She thought for a moment and then added, "Maybe you haven't left it for long enough?"

[Fox]

The full helmet spared the princess much rolling of eyes, though it couldn't keep some exasperation out of Dragonfly's voice. [bg=#555555]"Nothing useful, then."[/bg] She didn't let up on the attack, continuing to let distortions rain down on her undead foe...though the gauntlet she was using for said distortions was starting to steam a little, and she was starting to wonder if the vampire just had some measure of true, honest-to-goodness immortality. She really hoped not. [bg=#555555]"Know where it gets 'resealed'? Assuming it can't be rising up too often. Would probably get better information if it was. Castle would be in better shape."[/bg]

[Raveled]

GM

The vampire finally stopped reacting to Dragonfly's blows and just lay there on its side, absorbing them passively. For a moment the heroine thought that she'd won, then noticed that the creature's eyes were still tracking her movements in the sky. It rolled onto its back and stared up at her, laughing. "I shall see you again, heroine," he promised her. "And then you shall beg to join my brides!" The vampire melted away, returning to its mist form again and seeping into the floor and walls. It was frustratingly like Dragonfly's previous encounter with the monster, except now she had the princess with her.

[Fox]

Dragonfly shook her hand, scowling; the plates on her gauntlet flexed a bit to help vent the heat that had built up underneath them. [bg=#555555]"Dragon was easier to beat than that,"[/bg] she grumped, looking down at the slightly pitted floor she'd been firing at for the last...she didn't even know. A while.

Still, it had retreated, and would presumably have to take some time to lick its wounds. As much as she hated to admit it, the princess' safety came first. [bg=#555555]"Mmh. Hold on,"[/bg] she instructed. Plates snapped back into place as she shifted the princess to hold her with both arms and she took off through the conveniently-broken window, sweeping up into the air and back toward the girl's father as fast as she figured she could safely manage with unprotected cargo.

[Raveled]

GM

Dragonfly's flight back was, by necessity, much slower than her flight out. For one the princess took to screaming if she went much more than forty or fifty miles per hour; probably one of the drawbacks to living in a society where a galloping horse was the fastest mode of transport. The upshot was the by the time the castle was in sight again, the sun was touching the western horizon and torches were being put out on the battlements. The heroine reasoned that if she came in high the castle's defenders might respond with a flight of arrows; while that wouldn't affect Dragonfly any, the princess might be hurt, so she swooped in low and slowed as they approached the gatehouse.

The soldiers spotted Dragonfly and raised the portcullis quickly. In the courtyard, they crowded around her, cheering to see their princess returned; a group of better-dressed guards filed out of the keep and opened a path through the crowd, letting the king come through and embrace his daughter. In the midst of all the celebration, he managed to grab Dragonfly by the shoulder and shout at her, "Anything in my kingdom! Name it, and it is yours!"