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Post by Talin on Mar 19, 2008 20:27:37 GMT -5
Everything was indeed shocking to Servios. He had seen Carella's transformation, and her vicious fight, and then he had seen her fall, and had assumed her dead, yet she had ferociously risen again to fell a few more demon dogs. And he had seen Karsten's battle, surprised at how he fought with no sight, but distraught when he had seen the man fall afterwards, yet again... He was having a rough day.
Before he could do anything to move over to help anyone though, he was brought out of his shocked comtemplation by another hell hound leaping at him. He hadn't even a moment to move, not even to register that he was about to die, and he surely thought he was dead, but the thing was thrown against the wall, an arrow in its side. Not wasting any time, Servios leaped into the air drawing his sword and falling upon the beast with a fierce downward thrust, putting all of his weight behind it, and driving his blade through the thing's skull, finishing it off. He turned and nodded to Galius in appreciation, thankful to the man for saving his life.
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Post by Da Pwny on Mar 20, 2008 21:22:21 GMT -5
Carella watched as the Hellhounds turned back, most of them running away for what was left of their hides, the few that stayed behind whimpering badly and backing away. They were fearsome creatures in a pack, but without their leader, they were as complacent and frightened as any other wild dog; that also meant they could be trained. She strutted over to one, purring warmly as she reached out to scratch the frightened beast behind the ear. For a moment, it snapped its teeth at her and growled... until she bared fangs of her own, in which it instantly backed off and reluctantly allowed her to touch its fur.
Although not fond of the animals, Carella had a certain limited respect for such animals. Rubbing her head against its own as she brought her chest to it, she purred louder, more out of playfulness than joy as the Hellhound quivered under her grasp. She could easily break its neck, or bite and kill the creature with her poisons, or even let its blood drain as she lapped at it; however, she was not one to torture, let alone kill, animals that were not an immediate threat to her. Pressing the creature against her breasts, she purred ever louder as it nudged complacently against her, the quivering slowing down as it began panting. Backing off, she turned as her transformation started to reversed itself, walking off in Karsten's direction... before she had gone too far, she whispered some words in the demonic tongue behind her, and the beastie replied, following her in what could be described as a hurried strut.
By the time she reached the unconscious man, she was nearly back to her human form, except now the ears were as they had been before, and her canines were slightly longer... Carella could no longer retract either anymore, and she was stuck now with her more cat-like appearance. Thankfully, the claws were gone, as she needed to pick him up. It was easy, but she could also feel the demon inside him stirring... sighing, she folded Karsten upon her back, giving a turning nod to Galius as she placed him upon the tamed Hellhound's back, letting him know that she was ready to move on. Certainly, seeing her tame one of these creatures was a sight to the humans around her, even for the man who seemed to let nothing get to him, but Carella didn't care, as every day she became less and less human. It was both a burden and a blessing, as she knew all too well...
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Post by knightc3 on Mar 21, 2008 4:16:10 GMT -5
Karsten was surprised to find himself hanging off one of the hellhounds. He would have jumped off if he could. But since he didn't detect any immediate threat, he let his body rest. The demon within him was struggling helplessly to gain control but Karsten wouldn't allow it. He planned to control him to the end. He had seen the consequences when he had allowed a reaper to take control. He didn't wish to try his luck again, specially with a demon this time.
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Post by The Mammoth on Mar 22, 2008 22:42:30 GMT -5
Galius nodded, seeing how Carella had tamed, or so she thought, the beast. He shook his head, knowing as soon as the commander of the magic that called that beast showed, it would swap its allegiance. However, it had its uses for now. What he was curious about was what he had done in the fight. He should be dead, but he appeared behind the beast, almost like he had never moved to start the fight. He began to wonder... The stories about his grandfather, could they be true? He shook his head. No. They were just stories, nobody could do that... Nobody... But he couldn't help wonder... Bernie had always told him about his grandfather, a man that was a soldier years back when Varamen was under control. Bernie had trained under him for a while. Galius never met his father, nor his grandfather. From the earliest he can remember he lived on his own. He met Bernie years ago, running the bar. Since the collapse of the government, nearing 40 years now, Bernie ran that bar. Galius had only been there a few years, maybe Bernie saw something in him much like his grandfather. Without that, Galius knew he'd never know about his grandfather... Hector Vansen... That was his name. Galius scowled, deep in thought, unsure of what to make of everything. The stories of his grandfather being able to warp time around him. The stories of what he had coined as "Phaseshifting." Bernie told him of this because Hector could move so lightning fast that he claimed he could stop time. He could move it around him, but only in short bits, only in phases. Galius wondered... Could he have that power? Could that be why he was so naturally quick? He shook his head, now wasn't the time for those thoughts. He sheathed his blades and then looked around at the group. They were okay, the only thing left was to move forward. He turned and began walking again, they had quite a long trip before they made it anywhere near the Cathedral. Galius nodded to Servios as he walked by, and then took to leading the group to the Cathedral again. The winding alleys being their method of travel. Large open spaces were a deathtrap in Varamen. Even Galius wouldn't dare travel there. The risk of being overrun was too great. Gangs formed all the time, and constantly watched those paths for easy victims. Odd how money still mattered in such an apocalyptic setting... ((If you guys want to, I can skip us ahead to the Cathedral. Because Varamen is supposed to be a MASSIVE city. Traveling there will take days, and I figure pointless fights can only last so long. If you wanna keep going this way, thats cool, maybe time for character development. If we decide to go with the skipping. I plan to describe in detail the trip, but just do it so we aren't killing pages travelling through alleys ))
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Post by Da Pwny on Mar 23, 2008 18:09:30 GMT -5
*I think that would be best...*
Carella mounted the beast, urging it on slowly for now. The ride would take several days, if her mount cooperated. If it didn't, she'd have a harder time walking with a passed-out man on her back, but she'd survive.
Knowing not where this Cathedral was, she followed Galius, wondering whether the others were going to tag along or not...
*yeah... short post, but not much to go on right now >.<*
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Post by knightc3 on Mar 23, 2008 18:12:00 GMT -5
*Yep, skip ahead. Can't really have Karsten get up now a fight again now can we? Sorry, can't think of anything to post IC *
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Post by Da Pwny on Mar 24, 2008 16:48:53 GMT -5
*M told me that he'd post within the next few days... apparently trying to figure out how to go ahead with this XD no worries there though... i'll delete this after he posts*
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Post by The Mammoth on Mar 26, 2008 22:16:39 GMT -5
The trek was long and arduous, and too few were the hours that the party spent resting. Galius knew that rest in the open of this city meant your death, no matter how strong you were. As they traveled, the sun had passed many times, and when it had hidden itself behind the horizon, they usually took shelter within abandoned houses, which were not hard to find. There, they rested the few hours they could before they must head out again, lest they be discovered by the horrors that roam the night, and quickly forfeit their lives while they weren't prepared.
Galius kept them moving, despite the pace dragging as even he grew tired. The demon, Carella seemed to have the most endurance. Since she was not human, she could move longer and faster, and despite their rigorous conditioning as men of battle, Servios and Galius were still human, and tiring from travel with only few hours of rest was not uncommon.
The city was different, Galius tried to delve into his memory for images of this long forgotten center of Varamen. Even then, the derelict images he could pull couldn't compare to the horrors before them. As they got closer and closer to the cathedral, the dead piled up, corpses, limbs, piles of blood, they all were common sights. But beyond all imagination, was the terrifying creatures that they avoided on the streets. Galius wouldn't dare set this group against them, so with assistance from the ranger Servios, he led them quietly through the alleyways, avoiding the towering beasts.
They were around 15 feet tall, and looked like something out of a horror novel. They had no skin, they were beings of muscle and bone, slow and hulking, yet emitting a horrifying stench of carrion. These creatures were made, not born. They were not even creatures of demon lineage. As the group neared the cathedral, they appeared more often, and they were often accompanied by masses of the pale men and women.
Galius stood atop a small abandoned hut the group was resting in for the night. They would get a full night's rest before they ventured into this cathedral. Because of what they had seen, they were not going to charge into this unprepared. These creatures were things beyond even the depths of hell. Their rotting flesh and tortured howls rang out through the night... No doubt it was hard for those below to sleep.
Galius moved forward as the group rested, he had to get a closer look at these monsters, he had to learn more about them. As he got close, the scent was overpowering, and he fought back his gag reflex, as if he coughed or vomited, the creature would no doubt hear him. He finally got close enough to get a close look, and he knew now why they smelled of rotting flesh. They were the bodies of the dead... The corpses of people slain by the pale men and women. However, they were not crafted, they were mutated. These corpses were fused, heads and bodies disappeared, but the differences in skin color and size made it obvious, these were dead human beings, formed into a colossal abomination. Galius turned and left, he moved back to the ground, and entered the room with the rest of the group...
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Post by Talin on Mar 26, 2008 23:01:29 GMT -5
"Anything we might like to know?" Servios asked quietly as Galius entered the hut. He wanted to follow Galius out and get a look at things himself, but thought it less likely for them to be seen if just one of them went out and something told him he would be seeing these enemies close up pretty soon anyway. Their stench flowed through the streets for miles, and they had smelled them long before the group had even seen its first one. the ranger and Galius had navigated the party through the dangerous streets without incident, but their numbers grew thicker nearer the cathedral Servios had noted, and likely even more numerous at the cathedral itself.
"If so pray tell us, for I fear that we will need to know everything we can if any one of us wants to come out of this alive" Servios honestly did not believe any of them would come out of this alive, but there was no sense in voicing this opinion, and he was sure most of the others were thinking the same in any case
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Post by knightc3 on Mar 27, 2008 9:19:17 GMT -5
During his 'ride' on the Hellhound, his body recovered. He kept zoning in and out of himself. During the time, the demon talked to him. Seems after searching through his memories, the demon saw what Karsten was capable of. He didn't want such a powerful host to die so he helped heal the body and the mind. He even curbed the pain for which Karsten was grateful.
The surrounding glowed with the evil that seemed to be concentrated here more than in the rest of the city. He wondered why the reaper had never ventured deep into the city. He was sure there were more rules he was following then. By the time, they had reached the hut and stopped, Karsten was strong enough to walk. He needed to eat, his body was crying out for it. Right now, the energy from the demon was all that was keeping him on his feet.
I need to eat Carella, I wonder how the rest are holding up... The demon within him was mos interested to know the identity of this demon who was within Carella, but Karsten would not allow him to converse with it. He didn't want the others to know what he held in him, at least not till it became absolutely necessary. He had picked up a clean black sheet on the way here. He was now trying to tear it in a strip to cover the gaping holes where his eyes used to be. Not being able to see what he was doing didn't help much.
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Post by Talin on Mar 27, 2008 15:25:27 GMT -5
((OOC: lol oops I forgot about food, what are we eating anyway?))
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Post by Da Pwny on Mar 30, 2008 7:29:58 GMT -5
*sry for the holdup y'all, but i've been gaming hard over the weekend, so yeah XD here's something to chew on though*
Carella held back her own gag reflexes, thinking privately to herself. She was sure she could take on ONE of those beasts, but they were moving in groups of two or more... with that kind of stench, and her overly-sensitive smeller, she was bound to barf. And with enemies that strong, that would be a very bad thing...
She looked back to Karsten, thinking for a moment. "I don't have anything on me... I hunt most of my food anyways. You'll have to get used to that sometime too. It'll be how you'll survive this hell on earth..." Carella didn't care much to talk about her dislikes of hunting, but she wasn't picky with her prey... as long as it moved, she'd kill it, but the demon preferred human meat to animals, and they were more abundant anyways...
As she looked forward once more, Carella saw the building they were looking for. It'd been several days and she hadn't rested hardly at all... a catnap here and there, but besides that nothing at all. She felt sorry for Karsten, who'd most likely go through an even more painful transfusion, as old wounds would be reopened and ever more pain would be derived upon his body. She herself hoped he'd come through and keep himself in line, or she might have to kill him to spare the others an untimely and very gruesome death... As she saw Galius rejoining the group, she could smell those abominations on him. And it made her recoil in annoyance.
"Did you roll on one of those freaks, or do you always smell that way?" she half-jokingly inquired... they all needed a rest from the seriousness around them, and hopefully that little bit would lighten the mood a bit, if only for a few minutes... "Anywayss, our target is up ahead. I'd suggest getting ready to run like hell if we want to make it there alive." This time, she spoke seriously, as that's exactly what they'd all need to do... she could transform, but without food in her belly, it wouldn't last long...
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Post by knightc3 on Mar 30, 2008 8:56:19 GMT -5
Karsten finished tearing the right strip on his third try. He stayed quiet while he tied it around his eyes. He mixed well with all the freaks in this city now, damaged goods. But he wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. He considered his words before he conveyed them to Carella, I am going to assume you mean I should hunt down humans. That I will not do. This place is not hell, at least I believe so. I know there is good in this city still. There are many like us, who do what they have to survive, but sometimes go out of their way to help and care for others. You have a demon in you yet you chose to help me and you continue to do so. You won't find that in hell...
The demon within him thought he was acting very silly but Karsten ignored him. This hope, this idea was all he had that drove him to stay alive and fight. He had believed it even before the reaper had taken him in service. He continued, If there had been no good, I would have been left for dead, or used as bait if I had been lucky enough to survive. I cannot see the light anymore, I would hope you... the others can. If not, I will show it to you...
He was hungry but he would not be the weak link of this group they had silently formed. He walked to the door and peeked out at the red glow that seem to engulf everything around them. It was going to be a tough fight to the structure.
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Post by The Mammoth on Mar 30, 2008 9:27:00 GMT -5
Galius moved in front of the door, quickly standing between the group and the exit. He held up his hand, shook his head, and pointed to the ground. He was suggesting they stay here and rest. They had no will or energy to fight these beasts, and after what he had seen he knew they were in for one hell of a fight. He voiced the concern through his eyes, nothing else. The fire was not there, the fear striking hellfire that his red eyes burned into when he was fighting was gone, now it was a dull flame, showing that he didn't believe it best for them to move on this place tired, weak, and hungry.
He looked at Servios and addressed his question with a shake of his head. There was much they needed to know, but nothing that needed to be said. What he had seen was an abomination, something that they would learn on their own. It provided no information other than the strength of the being they were about to face. He walked by Servios and into an adjacent room. it was an old kitchen, he carefully looked around for food, making sure not to make noise. Soon enough, he came upon a couple cans of beans, they weren't much, but they'd do the trick.
He walked back into the room and set the cans down. He put his foot on them and cut the tops off. A little of the food spilled onto the floor, which Galius took as his share. The two cans he handed to the others. The small amount of the ground would be enough for him for now. He scooped it up in his hand and ate it. They were old, and nearly gone bad, but despite the odd taste, they were fulfilling. The protein would keep them going. Galius took a seat on the floor by the door, leaning against the wall. He lowered his head, deep in contemplation.
He wanted to know more about his skills. Did he truly have the ability to phaseshift like his grandfather? he had to know.... But his mind wrenched on the creatures at hand...
They were huge, hulking beasts. They walked on two legs, hunched over with a massive protrusion on their backs. They had no skin, only muscle, which bled quite often, and seemed to only make their howls worse. Their arms were long, hanging down to nearly the ground. They looked as if they were made for gripping while they bit at the victim with the teeth that seemed made from a melded ribcage. The beast had no eyes that could be seen, and they had claws of bone that stuck from their hands. Hunched over, they were around 15 feet tall... who knows how large they were if they were able to stretch out...
He shook the image out of his head. The goal of these creatures was to strike fear... The problem was, despite his force of will, it was working...
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Post by Da Pwny on Mar 30, 2008 14:05:03 GMT -5
Carella looked back to Karsten, giving him a scowl. "Whatever. Who said you were lucky?" she commented, leaving him to comprehend what exactly that meant.
Following Galius inside, she pulled Karsten off the Hellhound, and in what would seem a very poor move, turned on the beast and killed it at the doorstep. She wasn't taking any chances that the thing would turn on them as soon as she was asleep, and she made sure that its death was quick and painless, a tribute to its temporary, albeit forced, service to her. Stepping back, she planted a foot at the base of its front limbs and, with a mighty twist, cracked its neck, just to be sure. Looking around, she drug the dead beast in front of the door after the others were inside... its rotting body would hide their scents, even if it attracted them. And even if they did come here, they wouldn't find the humans, just a rotting Hellhound's corpse. Hopefully that would be enough to make them think that everyone else was long gone by now...
Walking over to Galius, she took one of the cans and brought it on over to Karsten, sitting down next to him as she ate a bit of it, grimacing at the already bad taste only made worse by its nearly-rotten condition. "I hate human food" she commented, trying to hold down her portion as she finished "but for now, hunting is too dangerous. And I don't care what you say... one day that demon inside you will come out, and it will get what it wants... whether it happens with your comrades around or not is up to you, but it won't be pretty when it does. It doesn't matter what you want; when its hungry, that demon will come out, and it will cause harm to someone..." Carella could still remember the day she awoke to the fact that there was another side to her...
Jezebel slaughtered Carella's entire 'family', including her mother at that time... the child was scarred for life from then on, and although she resisted, the demon simply pushed her aside and did as it pleased. It wasn't until recently that she'd been willing to listen to Carella, and even then it was only out of the fact that she'd be fusing with the child anyways... over the last few years, however, both had come to depend upon one another, and actually looked forward to completing the process so they would never be separated, ever, as their close bond only became ever closer with each passing day, even if their relationship was mildly twisted...
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