NationStates Jolt Archive

Hekvar began saying another incantation but as he began the gargoyles and their spirits disapated and returned to simple statues.

He must have used a magic seal to close the entrance, he tought me that you shouldn't do that, it doesn't sustain magic outside of the seal. He must be forgeting in his old age.

Hekvar started up the steps to the inner chamber, the slight breeze in the volcano was increasing, he had to finish this soon or he wouldn't be able to stand.

bump

"Now," said the Prince of Darkness.

Konstantin unbolted the door.

With a resounding whoosh, the breeze blew it open. It has reached the point now where Konstantin had to be careful to avoid being sucked into the tunnel. As this happened, the two remaining stone gargoyles, now behind Hekvar, re-animated. They turned toward him and drew their blades.

"Oh, please, may I?" asked an ancient voice from behind the rift in the universe.

"Certainly," replied the Prince of Darkness, using the same set of lips.

The armor-clad figure raised his sword, pointing the jewel in the hilt at Hekvar. "WooFAH!" he screamed. Fire shot out of the jewel. It went right through Konstantin, leaving him unscathed, and continued straight toward Hekvar.

Meanwhile, the demon horde continued to grow, and the breeze kept getting stronger.

Ali reached the end of the tunnel and walked up some stairs to a large elaborate door. Apparently to the outside. Ali was about to open it when he noticed that the others were far behind him.

Well... maybe he had been walking a bit too quick...

He crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the wall, waiting.

Grestor and the others were jogging now to keep up with Ali and he was still getting farther away, he wasn't even running. Somehow he could go faster than fully grown men without having to work.

*******

Hekvar tried to leap out of the way of the streaking fire but the breeze that had been growning stronger threw him off balance and with a cry of agony Hekvar's left arm, elbow to fingertip was eaten away by the flame. As he was about to land a sudden gust in the near gale force wind blew him back and he started flying towards the cave entrance. The gargoyles both attempted to smash him with their blades but he flew past without being touched.

"Damn you Konstantin! I won't give up, I will stop you!" Hekvar's words never left his throat for the wind was too powerful to allow the sound to come out.

Hekvar crashed against the roof of the cave entrance and nearly blacked out from the shock, as he slowly slid down the wall the wind picked him up again and he was blown out into the air, past the cliff walkway that led to the entrance of the cave, and thousands of feet above the ground. Hekvar managed to mutter a short incantation and turned into a cloud of mist just before being smashed against the ground and began heading out to sea, towards the mainland.

"Excellent work, my love," the Prince of Darkness said to his vessel. "Now, for the small but poignant question: why was it that you, boy, could not stop that pitiful being?"

"Forgive me, Dark Father," Konstantin said, upon hearing his name, "but it was my belief that you would enjoy it far more if you had an active part in the Usurper's defeat. I did it for you!"

The hallway filled with dark, evil laughter. "And right you were," said the voice. "Ever the loyal servant. For your loyalty, you may have the honor of leading my forces as they take the New Vessel and bring him to my side, where he belongs."

"It would be an honor indeed," Konstantin replied, "but I would like you to favor me with one other small honor."

"Name it."

"I would like my servant and his minions to be a part of this glorious act, too."

The chamber was filled with more laughs--seemed almost to be the source of the laughter. "Those worthless fools will be your undoing, but even they should be able to get the job done now," the voice said.

In a moment, Konstantin found himself in a clearing. There, Despairella stood over the body of a strange, vampiric creature. Slowly, Hissler rose from its remains. "Another time," she said.

"All of you! Come!" Konstantin said, his voice high with exaltation. "The Dark Father calls us! Return to the place of your defeat and from it gain victory! An army stands ready to aid you! Before you stands the underworld! With you stands the underworld! Behind you stands the underworld!"*

Without another word, they stood and walked over to Konstantin. In a moment, they were teleported back to the volcano.

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OOC:

*Substitute "Germany" for "underworld," and you have a quote from Adolf Hitler. I heard it in a documentary in German and thought that it was so creepy that I'd have to spread it around in English. He was sending his troops off to war.

Bevor dir steht Deutchland!
Mit dir steht Deutchland!
Hinter Dir steht Deutchland!

bump

They seemed to just fade into existence from out of nowhere. One moment, the Metal Man was walking to the carriage to take him to Hetwan's castle and the air was clear. The next, his long-range sensors went crazy. There were 56 contacts in the first wave, and another wave of 72 behind them--and that was just the air. There was motion on the ground all over the place, and it was coming at the burning church.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said to no one in particular, "we have a problem! Prepare for an attack from a massed force!"

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OOC: Does Angel Boy wake up, or does he stay unconscious?

OOC:Which one?

IC: "Ladies and gentlemen," he said to no one in particular, "we have a problem! Prepare for an attack from a massed force!"

Grestor moved closer to Ali, ready to defend against those demons again. But instead when he saw the creatures coming he realized, these were not ordinary demons who escape hell, these were summoned. And there were lots of them.

"Peter we've got to get out of here, we can't beat these guys! Get Ali into the carriage and let's go!"

Grestor unsheathed the pistol he kept at the small of his back, the bullets were designed for vamires, but they might work on demons...

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Hekvar (in cloud form) landed in the courtyard of his castle and transformed into his humanoid state. One of the guards rushed up to the limp and arm lacking form of Hekvar and pulled him inside. It would take the entire night to heal this mess.

OOC: the one TMM's carrying.

IC:

The Metal Man set Caphriel/Bronson gently down in the carriage. "Get in, Ali," he said, "I'll be staying behind for a bit. I've got to buy you some time."

As the other clambered into the the carriage, the cyborg's body began to hum softly. As the pitch increased, he raised his arms, looking skyward. It took less than five seconds for his targeting systems to determine a solution for the entire first wave. Then, his blades extended once again, and the arms moved to point in the same direction that he was looking in. The plasma cannons in the arms snapped into place as the smaller guns popped out of his shoulders.

In a single volley, he tagged every unit in the first wave. In under ten seconds, 48 of the 56 contacts were simply blown out of the sky. Then, he turned to the ground contacts. He was less successful on them--some of them were dug in--so he took another shot at the first wave. About halfway through the eight remaining targets, he noted that his weapons had become completely ineffective. The enemy had erected some sort of barrier.

As he cloaked and took to the air, turning to follow the carriage, he noticed another wave forming on the other side of the road. There must have been hundreds of demon troops all coming through to attack. That wasn't what troubled the cyborg, though. What bothered him was that they were teleporting in. This wasn't the brunt of the force. That would be brought to bear--instantly--when they found out where Ali was.

Theodore, Grestor, he thought, I hope you've got something to help us with. I've only got two other energy weapons, and one of them is my shield.

Theodore, Grestor, he thought, I hope you've got something to help us with. I've only got two other energy weapons, and one of them is my shield.

Grestor stuck his head out of the carriage window and shouted, "Peter we aren't moving fast enough! We have to teleport back to The Castle! I'll take Ali and you catch up with Caphriel, he's unconsious and can't help! Make sure none follow you."

Grestor pulled his head back inside and closed the window. When he finished relaying the message to Ali a thumping was heard on the roof, it would be Peter. As Grestor stuck his head out again he only just managed to evade a massive, taloned paw from taking off his head. Sticking his pistol out the window he fired several shots upwards into the demon's face. With a loud shrieking the demon rolled off the carriage and into the muddy road.

"Ali come close. We can't wait for Peter, we'll have to take Caphriel with us."

"Will that work? He's an angel after all."

"Well, we'll find out together." Holding tightly to the limp form of the angel and holding Ali with his other hand Grestor said a short incantation and with a loud pop they arrived at Lord Hekvar's Castle. His arm with which he was carrying Caphriel was burning something terrible, but apart from that no bodily harm.

Now, to go get Peter.

They could see him! How, he didn't know, but they'd broken his cloaking device. They'd been using flame balls on him for almost half a mile now as he flew, and the shields and the maglevs were beginning to take their toll on his energy reserves. Though he was only starting to show a drain, he could tell that he wasn't going to be able to keep this level of energy use up forever.

He came down hard on the carriage, and he had to lower his shields for a moment as he adjusted them to protect the vehicle. A demon got through. Fortunately, it didn't engage the Metal Man, but rather chose to try its luck with Grestor--a fatal mistake.

He popped his shields one more time as he entered the carriage proper, just in time to see Grestor, Ali and Bronson wink out of existence, leaving himself and Theodore behind.

"I hope you've got something up your sleeve to keep us safe, old friend," he said, "because my resources are limited."

"Nothing so underhanded," the vampire replied. "I wear it publicly." And, with that, he placed his hands upon the crucifix that he wore, closed his eyes and began to pray.

It was at that point that the energy drain on the Metal Man's shields stopped. As the cyborg looked out the window, he could still see fireballs hitting his shields, but, for reasons that the cyborg could not begin to fathom, it simply ceased to drain his energy reserves.

Theodore opened his eyes again. "I don't know whether my prayer will be answered," he said, "but..."

"I believe that it already has," the Metal man replied. "Now, for one other small problem: I can shield the carriage and its driver, but I can't shield the--"

The carriage bucked.

"--horses."

"Let's hope that Grestor returns for us."

By now, the air around the carriage was thick with demons. Some had tried to dare the Metal Man's shields, only to be shocked out of existence. Others began to press forward. It was only a matter of time before they began to pile their dead bodies up on the shield and press it in until it collapsed. When that happened, ...

Looks like we got lucky. Ali thought as he help Grestor lay Caphriel on the ground.

"Go I'll be fine." Ali said to Grestor when he noticed that he was in thought. Grestor nodded and teleported back to Peter and Theodore.
Ali looked around, expecting someone to come forward and help him with Caphriel.

Grestor popped back into the carriage where Peter and Theodore were sitting.
"So... what's the situation?"

"Doesn't look good, my shields won't hold forever and we're stuck."

"This is a problem for sure, I can't teleport you back to the Castle, Peter. Theodore, I suggest you go on ahead... I'll work something out with Peter."

As Theodore teleported, Grestor pulled out his pistol.

"So, where do we start?"

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Hekvar lay in his bed chambers, the procedure had gone better than he hoped and he was fully healed, just tired now. Which was a bad time for the attack.
As the guard was walking on the outer wall in front of his window Hekvar saw the guard slashed in the back by a massive demon and fall shrieking off the wall.

Oh god! Not now. Wait, Ali's here!

Hekvar rose from his bed as quickly as he could and rushed to the door.

"Guard! we're under attack! Muster everyone to defend the castle, Theodore and another vampire are in the courtyard! Hurry and get them."

The guard broke into a run and turned the corridor. Moments later the sound of shouting and the alarm broke the silence. About a minute later Theodore and Ali were running up to Hekvar's door while the sound of fighting and gunfire could be heard in the lower levels. Theodore opened the door and he and Ali walked inside. Hekvar looked at them through heavy lids and smiled.

"Well, out of the frying pan, and into the fire no?"

The cyborg looked at the vampire.

"You came back for me," he said. "All the danger, and me not a vampire, and you came back. I'm impressed, my friend. You are a being of true honor--and I shall remember this.

"From here, you take the driver wherever you're taking these people, and, when there's no one else to defend, I take our differences to the air. The higher up you go, the thinner the air gets, and the more of an advantage I have from magnetic levitation and not needing to breathe." With that, the Metal Man blew the roof off the carriage and helped Grestor up to the roof. "Driver," he said, "go with him!" Before Grestor could move, the Metal Man was three feet off the ground. A strange look came over his face as he began to float, and lightning crackled through his shields as they intensified against the demons pressing down on them.

Grestor looked at him as if he were a stranger. He looked back.

"I'm a berzerker," he said. "I have to be careful to control my lust for battle." He looked around him again and smiled a bright and dangerous smile.

ooc:you doubled.

Grestor took one last long look at Peter before grabbing the driver.

"Don't ask questions, and don't complain! We're getting out of here."

Grestor muttered a short incantation and landed with the startled driver in the courtyard of Hekvar's Castle. In moments a demon appeared in the doorway to the castle and charged. Throwing the driver to the side Grestor pulled his pistol and fired directly at the demon's face. With a massive thud the demon fell, only a few feet from Grestor's feet. As he holstered his pistol a guard ran out of the door towards him, he was bloodstained and carrying a blade.

"Grestor! The demon's came, when the others got back. We've managed to hold them off... but there's too many. We can't keep this up!"

"Don't worry, where's the others who I brought?"

"They are up with Lord Hekvar, they're all safe."

"Good, don't worry, help will be here soon." Grestor started towards the castle and drew his blades, if the demons were inside then it could get messy.


The sounds of fighting were drawing closer to the floor where Hekvar and the others were staying.

"Well, things are getting a little dicey, no?" Hekvar said as cheerily as he could. "Grestor should be arriving soon."

As if on cue there were sounds of blade clashing on claw outside the door and a large thud, silence followed for several seconds and Grestor walked into the room, bloodsoaked and panting.

"Everyone alright?" Grestor said to the assembled vampires and angel.

bump

When Grestor departed, the Metal Man began to spin. In less than ten seconds, he had become a whirlwind of death, his blades running at five revolutions per second. The sheilds went down and he went straight up, carving straight through everything in his path. At 500 feet, he began using his energy weapons to strike at a distance. The plasma pulsers worked again for a short time, and the columnized electron beams never stopped working. At 5,000 feet, almost a mile up, the horde started to thin--they couldn't keep up with him. Even some of the ones that didn't have to breathe the air still had to fly on it, and, as it got thinner, that got more difficult. At 20,000 feet, he turned around and hacked the life out of the three magnetic demons that were able to follow him. Then, he headed downhill for the rest of them.

His spirits soared! He was cutting through them like a hot knife through butter! He was omnipotent! Nothing on the field could touch him!

Then, he noticed that the demons were falling off of him and moving away. Perhaps the reason he was doing so well was because the hoarde was only meant to delay him anyway.

Noting this, he turned, and, electrifying a gas-cloud demon out of existence with his shields, headed full steam for Hekvar's castle. Sure enough, he caught several enemy units from behind, and, the closer he got, the tougher they became.

On the ground, an electric demon of some kind wrapped a tentacle around a vampire guard. The vampire screamed as it drew the energy out of his body, reducing him to ash in a matter of seconds. The Metal Man remixed his plasma beam to a higher-energy combination and, as it reached for another guard, fired. It exploded the moment it was hit. The guard was caught in the blast, but survived.

By now, the cyborg's clothes were covered in the remains of the hundreds of demons he had relieved of their lives. Yet, he was still strong and had more than three quarters of his energy reserves. Fate was being kind to him. He hoped, and prayed, that it would last.

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OOC: things are going to get a little tougher from here on in. I can be pretty imaginative when it comes to cooking up grotesque creatures. :) :) :) Anybody want to help?

Ali was silent through his time with Hekvar. Nothing against Hekvar of course, but Ali just didn't feel like talking for whatever reason.

He did glance up when Grestor came into the room, gave him a small smile, and then suddenly became very interested in the floor.

OOC: I see what I can come up with. I'll need some time though.

OOC:I may be able to help. Though I'm sure you can outshine either of us.

IC: A vampire guard burst into Hekvar's room where the others were gathered.

"Lord Hekvar! A strange man is here! He's annihalating the demons! We may have a chance."

"Good, good. Grestor, Theodore... Don't you want to join in the fun? Ali, sorry but you probably shouldn't go, they may have been sent for you."

Grestor and Theodore followed the guard out the door and the sound of explosions could be heard eminating from the courtyard. Rounding the corner a demon that appeared to be made out of some slime started towards them at a startling pace when the beast stopped and exploded. Standing where the moster was stood Peter with a plasma pulse that was glowing hot.

"Hey guys." Peter said nonchalantly, "Is everyone else safe?"

"Yeah, they're in Lord Hekvar's rooms."

"Good, there aren't but a few demons left on the grounds. Lets go have a reunion."

bump

Theodore sat next to the carriage driver. As the man gazed around himself in fear, the old vampire continued to pray. It had been quite an eye-opening for the man. Before today, he had thought that vampires were creatures of legend. Now, he had to get used to not only the fact that they were real, but that some of them worked against the devices of their creator.

None had paid today as Theodore had. Every time he chose the path of God, he got a little older, and both his body and his vampiric powers became a little weaker. He shouldered the burden with little effort, though. To him, the opportunity to regrow an immortal soul outweighed any torment that his physical body could experience.

Though barely winded, his energy reserves still showing over 90%, the Metal Man retracted his blades. The barriers that they put up to his weapons had spontaneously failed after a certain time--and his blades had never found anything that they couldn't cut through. He hadn't even needed to use his freeze beam.

"It was as if a miracle," he said to his old friend. "I should never have been able to do what I just did. What did you do?"

Theodore looked up. "Nothing," he said. "I requested the assistance of the Divine One. If you're looking for someone to blame, look to Him."

"I never realized the subtle power that He could carry."

"This was not his subtlest day."

The Metal Man turned now to the others. "Thank you, Grestor, for bringing me here," he said, his hand on the vampire's shoulder. "If you had known the caution that I regarded you with when we first met..."

Grestor chuckled slightly. "I was a little scared of you, too," he said.

"So, where to from here?" the Metal Man asked.

"That depends on our adversaries." It was Hekvar who spoke. From his place at the head of the table, he was resplendent in formal dress, but the Metal Man's inhuman senses could see new scars under his coats. He, too, had been at battle.

"You're hurt," said the cyborg, his eyes widening.

"Nothing that won't heal," the Master Vampire replied. "More important is the source of my injuries, and what lies there in wait." As he spoke, thunder cracked in the distance, and everyone could hear the wind starting to pick up as if trying to force its way into the mansion.

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OOC:

Ali still needs to be grabbed and The Good Guys still need to get to the Temple Fortress in the Volcano. Second wave of demons coming on an enchanted storm. Won't be much time to prepare.

OOC:Good idea neh? But wouldn't that mean they're all flying demons?

IC:Grestor came from the side room with glasses of blood for all the vampires and a mug of Lager for Peter.

"I didn't think that you'd like the blood." Grestor said to Peter's inquisitive look.

When Grestor finished serving he sat as well, on the left side of Lord Hekvar who sat quietly sipping his drink.

"Delicious Grestor. You know how to spice it perfectly."

"Thank you sire. The wind seems to be picking up though... strange since there aren't any storms about...."

bump

Victor had been with Hekvar for over 100 years. He wasn't a spring chicken as far as vampires were concerned but he still was just a guard. Luckily as the others were cleaning up the castle and repairing damages Victor was pacing the walls. The wind had been rising steadily for about an hour and thunder was sounding though there weren't any large clouds. The sun had just set in the far west.

Victor stopped for a moment to look out over the landscape. The wind was very strong now and Victor had to lean to not fall down. As he stood he saw something in the distance. A speckled cloud of some sort. As he squinted to see he realized what the cloud was. Demons. Thousands of them and they were coming fast. Victor turned to yell but stumbled and as he tried to regain his footing a shadow came up behind him. Before he could turn his head was severed and he fell. The demon that had come up behind him jumped down into the courtyard. The second attack had begun.

The stones on the Cross of Longenus began to glow off and on. The Metal Man pulled it out from under his shirt. A few of the vampires cringed slighty, but something held its power at bay.

"Don't look now," the Metal Man said, "but we've got more company."

First, the lighting collapsed the outer passages. Then, the sky demons came in and neutralized the perimeter. Finally, the sloggers came in and cleaned up just about anything that was left over. In the end, the surprise had been how many had managed to escape. In the end, that had included Theodoore