TSW 37

A Few Days previously. . . .

[15:16]	Arina	knocks on Mary's door.
[15:17]	IcePickLobotomy	No response at first. . . Then you hear someone at the door, fumbling with the knob. It takes you a moment to realize it must be Meagan trying to reach door-knob and not quite making it.
[15:20]	Arina	blinks, knocking again. "Er... Mary?"
[15:22]	IcePickLobotomy	You hear shuffling on the other end, then the door slides upon as Meagan topples off a milk-crate she'd dragged over to reach the knob. You can see Mary passed out on her desk, the cork-boared covered in papers and strings, marking everywhere. The desk is at least 5 layers of papers thick. She's still breathing at least. The toddler looks up at you unhapply.
[15:23]	Arina	"Wha-!"
[15:24]	Arina	ducks past Megan towards Mary. "Did she not even sleep...?"
[15:24]	IcePickLobotomy	"Momma is bad." The toddler comments from behind you.
[15:24]	Arina	takes a closer look. "I guess you're hungry?"
[15:25]	IcePickLobotomy	She nods. "Hungry."
[15:27]	Arina	nods. "Well, let's go get you some food, then." She ducks down to pick up babby.
[15:28]	IcePickLobotomy	Meagan squirms somewhat but doesn't overly protest.
[15:28]	Arina	heads out to the kitchen and prepares some Megan-food. "How long has she been out?"
[15:29]	IcePickLobotomy	"Before bed time." She answers after thinking it over.
[15:32]	Arina	whistles. "That's been a while... all right, let's get you a little extra to cover what you missed."
[15:32]	IcePickLobotomy	"Thank you." She chirps
[15:32]	Mary	mumbles in her sleep
[15:32]	Arina	works a bit more, acquires cinnamon, and foods babby.
[15:35]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: You awaken with the sensation of a gumbed over enging guttering to life. Your door is open. Papers litter your desk and cork-board.
[15:40]	Mary	gives off a mragh and then half falls off the chair before she stumbles to her feet.
[15:41]	Mary	"mrgn?"
[15:41]	Mary	"megs?"
[15:42]	IcePickLobotomy	You hear Meagan giggling from the kitchen
[15:42]	IcePickLobotomy	Arina: You dodge a shot of food from Meagan, who has a impressive arm. And aim for that matter.
[15:44]	Arina	"Keep it in your mouth, Megan. I'm not refilling anything you throw away."
[15:45]	Mary	"Urgh.. isn't it a bit late for that ?" Mary asks as she comes over.
[15:45]	IcePickLobotomy	She pauses and glances at you, then her food, back to you. She decides to not test you on that.
[15:45]	Arina	raises an eyebrow. "It's lunchtime, Mary."
[15:46]	Arina	"Good morning, by the way."
[15:49]	IcePickLobotomy	Meagan swivels her head to Mary. "Momma bad."
[15:50]	Mary	"No, its still early evening " she mutters " And Meagan, I am not bad " she says a hurt.
[15:51]	IcePickLobotomy	She frowns and returns to her food.
[15:51]	Arina	points to the clock, eyebrow rising further.
[15:53]	Mary	looks at it and blinks "What..="
[15:54]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: The clock doesn't lie, it's after noon now by a couple hours.
[15:54]	Arina	"Long night?"
[15:57]	Mary	"Last thing that I remember is yesterday when I started to work..."
[15:58]	Mary	walks over to Meagan and hugs her.
[15:58]	Arina	"I guess it was really interesting work."
[15:58]	IcePickLobotomy	Meagan returns the hug, unable to keep up the grumpy face.
[16:02]	Mary	"I am sorry Meagan , I , I don't know what happend
[16:06]	-->|	RobinE ([email protected]) has joined #TSWIC
[16:08]	Arina	cleans up a bit of the Megan-mess.
[16:08]	Mary	"Uh .. thanks Arina
[16:16]	Mary	"I was working with yor data as I blacked out.."
[16:19]	Arina	"Oh, did you find anything?"
[16:22]	Mary	"Yeah, but I can't remember it, must have been because I fell asleep on it . And Thanks again for the help with meagan , Girl I do owe you one, "
[16:28]	Arina	waves a hand. "I don't mind, she did need to be fed. She was literally trying to open the door and walk out herself."
[16:31]	Mary	"Fuck.:"
[16:31]	Mary	sits down in shock
[16:33]	Arina	turns to Megan. "She said 'truck' - we're talking about taking a trip."
[16:34]	IcePickLobotomy	"Truck. . . fuck. . . fuck truck?"
[16:35]	Arina	"That's another thing entirely."
[16:43]	Mary	"Uh yeah that is , lets talk about something else Megan"
[16:45]	IcePickLobotomy	She finishes her food and then bangs the plate. "More! Still hungry!"
[16:47]	Arina	smiles impishly. "I mean, there was more, but then you threw it at me..."
[16:59]	Mary	"Well  then let us feed such a good little girl like you ~"
[17:10]	Arina	----------------------------------
[17:20]	Mary	Mary is looking over the notes and hmh "Okay, that is strange well it seems that the pattern gold came from the Jupiter area.."
[17:20]	Mary	"Well the signal associated with it "
[17:20]	Mary	shows Arina some graphs
[17:23]	Arina	drums her fingers. "All right, but the big thing I was looking for at this point is... where did it land?"
[17:25]	Mary	"Well let see that is .."
[17:26]	Mary	goes for the next paper, and then drops it as she starts to wimper.
[17:26]	Mary	"The signal, is gone but.. its source is getting closer.."
[17:30]	Arina	blinks, looking at Mary. "Er... pardon?"
[17:32]	Mary	"The origin of the signal. it is getting closer "
[17:38]	Arina	"The signal? Weren't we looking for the /relay/? The gold meteor you saw that brought the relay to Earth?"
[17:41]	IcePickLobotomy	Arina: As Mary flips through the papers one catches your eye. A Graph with messy notes written by a frantic hand that reads "He comes. He comes. He comes. Weep and Beer Witness, for HE is the monument to OUR SINS." A few blotted stains, tear-stains, mare the paper as well
[17:42]	Mary	"No I , its. the mothership, I .. " She shakes her head "I, I find the feint one from earth I.. I think we can turn our sensors to find it.
[17:43]	Arina	blinks, looking at the graph. "Uh... wait, are you saying you tracked where the /original/ signal is coming from? It's /getting closer/?"
[17:44]	Mary	"YES 2
[17:44]	Mary	seems to have started to cry without her reacting to it.
[17:45]	Arina	"... Truck."
[17:47]	Mary	nods
[17:47]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: You hear Mary crying from her bedroom, as the door was left open a crack
[17:48]	Arina	"This is bad, this is... very very bad..."
[17:49]	RobinE	wanders over to the room and knocks, "Mary, you alright?"
[17:49]	Mary	"We..."
[17:50]	Arina	slumps onto the bed. "We are so far from all right..."
[17:52]	RobinE	"Oh," she waits outside the door, "should I just go then?"
[17:52]	Mary	"Its.."
[17:52]	-->|	WE1RD ([email protected]) has joined #TSWIC
[17:52]	Mary	slumbs down
[17:52]	=-=	WE1RD is now known as JohnH
[17:53]	IcePickLobotomy	JohnH: You pass by Mary's room, Mary slumped down and Arina sitting on the bed, looking shaken. Mary's desk is covered in papers and the cork-board is a mess of diagrams, graphs, and haphahzard notes. Robin is looking on at the two from the doorway.
[17:55]	JohnH	stops and asks Robin "Whats going on?"
[17:55]	Arina	"Something orders of magnitude beyond the Angels we've fought so far is apparently coming to party."
[17:55]	Arina	rubs her temples. "I thought it was centuries away, remoting in rather than coming itself..."
[17:56]	RobinE	"nothing new," Robin looks at John, "we are still doomed and stuff."
[17:57]	JohnH	"Of course."
[17:58]	Arina	"I mean, a good bit more than before."
[17:59]	Mary	"In the sense of us being really its.."
[17:59]	JohnH	"The world is falling apart. Giant alien robots weren't enough, so humanity decided to release a plague upon itself. What could be worse than that?"
[18:00]	RobinE	"Mo- I mean, Lilith is still coming to get us," Robin shrugs.
[18:00]	Arina	"The plague is a side effect of the thing the giant alien robots were keeping imprisoned."
[18:01]	Arina	"Lucifer is a thing of a similar power level, specifically built for combat."
[18:04]	JohnH	"The devil."
[18:04]	Mary	"You do remember what happend as he burned out that one intruder as he took controll of it?"
[18:05]	RobinE	shivers, "unfortunately."
[18:06]	Arina	"This is the thing that took Kasra. It's... you can't even /look/ at it without getting hurt."
[18:07]	JohnH	"So not the devil, but an intruder?"
[18:07]	RobinE	looks deadpan at Arina, "I can't look at any of 'em without getting hurt."
[18:09]	Arina	"Well, they are pretty ugly."
[18:16]	Mary	A number of pages are also lying on the ground .
[18:16]	Mary	"I. I do not know how we alone should beat it."
[18:17]	RobinE	"I'm sure you guys fill figure something out."
[18:17]	RobinE	will*
[18:18]	Arina	"... ahahahah."
[18:24]	Mary	"Even if we have all the Outrider from the Scientia our chances are.."
[18:25]	RobinE	"Look, I may not be that helpful. I also don't know what to do, but whenever something happens, whenever we start losing... you guys figure it out," she fusses with her hands, "I /do/ have faith in you."
[18:27]	Arina	just shakes her head. "... this..."
[18:27]	JohnH	"We have taken care of everything we have come across. I'm sure we can do it."
[18:33]	RobinE	takes a step back, "Well, I'll be on my bed," Robin turns to leave.
[18:34]	Arina	looks up as she heads out. "How's... that... going?"
[18:35]	RobinE	pauses and looks back, "that?"
[18:37]	Arina	nudges the pillow. "... If you need a hand..."
[18:37]	Mary	shivers and nods
[18:41]	RobinE	"Oh... that." she sounds ashamed.
[18:44]	Arina	"I won't intrude, but if you want a hand, just ask."
[18:46]	RobinE	Her hands ball up in fists, "...yeah," she then turns to leave again.
[18:48]	IcePickLobotomy	---------------------------
[18:49]	IcePickLobotomy	You've all found yourselves ushered away from the party (or the hallways) and into the med-bay. A pair of armed marines stand at the doorway, while Walker watches you all carefully. Kirimani is hovering over Arina, who lays sleeping on a cot. Her right hand is bandaged.
[18:49]	JohnH	runs up to her in the cotand gives her a visual inspection
[18:50]	JohnH	"What happened?"
[18:52]	RobinE	"Did someone attack her?" Robin asks, glancing at the bandaged hand.
[18:53]	Mary	"Not quite, she is sort of poisoned because she somehow got into Lilith blood "
[18:53]	Mary	is slightly reducing her volume on acount of the marines
[18:54]	JohnH	"She got into /what/?"
[18:54]	Mary	"You remember the think that I talked about with the cult and its rites ? That stuff"
[18:55]	JohnH	"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. If it's on board, why isn't this whole damn place on lockdown?" John is visibly agitated
[18:58]	IcePickLobotomy	"Because we don't want to incite a panic, nor do we want to give anyone the impression that we don't have things under control." Walker says
[18:59]	JohnH	"Well it's obvious that things aren't under control if we have this /stuff/ on board."
[19:00]	IcePickLobotomy	"We don't even know what happened."
[19:00]	RobinE	"John, freaking out won't help Arina."
[19:01]	JohnH	"And neither will standing here! And what about the rest of those people? What if they get some, too?"
[19:01]	RobinE	"If they have it, there is already nothing we can do for them."
[19:02]	JohnH	"And if thats the case, then we need to quarantine before other people get it."
[19:03]	RobinE	"I can't argue with that."
[19:03]	RobinE	"Walker, is there a way we could get the boat to 'quarantine' everyone without raising suspicion?"
[19:06]	Mary	"It is a bit more complicated as she turned her own blood into that."
[19:06]	JohnH	"Thats not possible, you know that!"
[19:06]	RobinE	"wh-what?"
[19:08]	Mary	"Oh please which of us true is the one that knows how this stuff works you or I ? Okay, you recall Lilith, primordial soup, responsible for the current evoltionary track of mankind?  We do know that you can use a AT field to manipulate Lilith matter, as seen by whatever happens when stuff goes wrong in the Outrider. "
[19:08]	Mary	(-true)
[19:10]	RobinE	"Are you saying someone AT transformed her blood into Lilith blood?"
[19:13]	Mary	"Or if she was exposed to one , and we all saw how she was stronger harmonising with the pool beneath Gibraltar for example
[19:14]	RobinE	"but, where would she get exposed on the boat? There isn't a Lilith pool here."
[19:16]	Mary	"Not quite "
[19:17]	RobinE	"well, if AT could cause it, do you think AT could fix it?"
[19:19]	Mary	"Well acording to what I read she is basically doing a trip down the genetic memory of her ancestors, and yes I know how stupid that sounds but it is , basically like a combiantion of the collective unconsicness and the imprints that those that are her family left on it .
[19:19]	Mary	"And so I do not quite think that adding more AT would be helpfull there "
[19:20]	RobinE	"So we just... sit and wait?"
[19:29]	Mary	"Until I have a better idea yes as I.."
[19:29]	IcePickLobotomy	"KIrimani, how much of that made sense to you?"
[19:30]	IcePickLobotomy	"Not a bit Amanda." She uses a pen light to leer into Arina's eye "Though I am seeing a lot of movement of the eye and microtremors as well." The doctor mutters just loud enough for the rest of you to hear
[19:30]	IcePickLobotomy	*peer
[19:31]	RobinE	"Well, I'll wait. But I don't feel much like sitting." Robin walks for the door.
[19:36]	IcePickLobotomy	You return to the base later that night, Arina carefully hidden from sight. Soon night falls and sleep claims you.
[19:36]	IcePickLobotomy	---------------------
[19:36]	IcePickLobotomy	Time: ??? Location: The Crossroads
[19:39]	IcePickLobotomy	You're standing inside the tower again. The long spiraling walk way that winds itself around the inside of a circular tower, lined with doors. The air is heavy and the coppery scent of blood hangs heavy. Creeping vines and leaves dotted with purple and blood-red flowers crawl along the walls, as if viewing a timelapse of growth as they inch forward over a matter of hours rather than days....
[19:39]	IcePickLobotomy	...Then the first droplet of water hits your head, but it doesn't carry the scent of rainfall, It's too coppery for that. A small stream of blood runs down the slopping floor.
[19:41]	RobinE	looks around taking notes with her eyes, "mother," she mutters.
[19:43]	RobinE	runs for the stairs, headed upward, "no no no," she sounds panicked as she runs.
[19:47]	Mary	shivers and eyes both directions " You run with her " she says to the possible presence of john before she heads down the stairs
[20:04]	JohnH	gives no hesitation to follow Robin
[20:12]	IcePickLobotomy	Up and up, the leaves and vines grow thicker as you do. RobinE And then you come to a doorway overgrown with vines and leaves.
[20:13]	RobinE	starts to pull on the vines until the door is accessible.
[20:15]	JohnH	walks up as she finishes clearing branches "Need a hand?"
[20:16]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: The vines simply pull themselves away from the door. Bending themselves to your desire
[20:17]	RobinE	looks back at John panicked, "She can't wake up," she turns around to push the door open and continue.
[20:17]	JohnH	"Who?"  John asks, following
[20:18]	RobinE	"mother, she can
[20:18]	RobinE	can't*
[20:18]	JohnH	"Your mother?"
[20:19]	RobinE	"I, uh," she sounds confused before shaking her head, "no, no. Lilith."
[20:19]	JohnH	"Why are you calling her 'Mother'?"
[20:20]	RobinE	"I don't know, but we have to stop her."
[20:20]	JohnH	nods
[20:22]	RobinE	They continue onward and upward.
[20:27]	IcePickLobotomy	And you open the door and step through it. You step into a abandoned building. A few nearby desks are covered in faded papers with empty inkwells. A stairwell leads upwards to your left, and there's another doorway to your right. A thick layer of dust covers most everything, but you can see that there's a fresh pair of tracks heading from the double doors (that lead to a dirt street) to the...
[20:27]	IcePickLobotomy	...other doorway. And it looks like there are older sets of tracks from a group of people as well.
[20:31]	RobinE	looks around the room frantically before running for the door out to the dirt street.
[20:32]	JohnH	follows silently
[20:33]	-->|	Umbaflarg_Reborn ([email protected]) has joined #TSWIC
[20:34]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: It's a old town, vaguely bohemian in style. The building you just exited is the largest building, with a clock-tower jutting out from the size. To one side is the sea, a red sea, with the mast of a ship jutting out from the water. And to the the other side, the dark shape of a forest.
[20:38]	RobinE	runs in a circle before heading out for the forest, "we gotta stop 'em."
[20:40]	JohnH	takes off behind her
[20:40]	JohnH	"Lead the way."
[20:50]	IcePickLobotomy	The path leads into the forest. Tall trees quickly blot out the night sky as the rain continues to fall. You soon come across a fork in the road, the left going deeper into the woods. The right sloping down into a ravine.
[20:53]	RobinE	runs up to the fork, and looks back and fourth hastily at both directions. She throws her fists in the air, in frustration, before running down to the ravine.
[20:54]	JohnH	follows "Do you know where we're going?"
[20:55]	RobinE	"not... exactly," hesitates to say, "But she has to be this way."
[20:56]	JohnH	"Alright." john goes silent
[21:10]	IcePickLobotomy	The ravine turns into a cavern, the pathway turning narrow and claustrophobic as dangling roots sway and (metaphorically) grasp at your hair. Static hisses and crackles at your ears as static plays across your vision.
[21:12]	RobinE	swats and flails with her arms to move the roots away from her as she continues to rush down the path.
[21:14]	IcePickLobotomy	And it opens up suddenly, revealing a long corridor of blue-ish stone, almost hidden behind veins and flowers. The air is thick with pollen and the scent of rich earth, and the ever-present coppery scent of blood. Two channels on each side of it carry a red stream of liquid down hill.
[21:15]	RobinE	pauses for a second, brushing herself off before continuing through the corridor.
[21:15]	JohnH	continues along, hoping to find whatever she's looking for, sooner rather than later
[21:20]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: You stop. A large set of double-doors made of worn wood, the vines and leaves pull away as you approach. Through here. She's through here.
[21:21]	RobinE	"Alright, here we go," she says as she goes to open the doors.
[21:21]	JohnH	"She's through here?"
[21:22]	RobinE	"Yes, I bet they all are."
[21:23]	JohnH	"Then go, we shall."
[21:24]	RobinE	reaches out and opens the doors.
[21:25]	IcePickLobotomy	It's a large room, a familar statue overlooks a large pool, just like the temple under the city. Standing before you, in a slim white gown, is the preistess. Her face pretty and angular with chalky white skin. And blood red eyes. "Hello Robin." She spares only a hatefilled glance to John.
[21:27]	RobinE	"I know what is happening, I... Wait... where is Sabrina?" Robin looks around searching.
[21:27]	IcePickLobotomy	"Out looking for Arina."
[21:28]	RobinE	"We go for her next then," Robin says as she stares at the priestess, "She can't awaken."
[21:29]	JohnH	draws his handgun
[21:30]	IcePickLobotomy	"Put the toy away, you instruments will not avail you here." She casts a scornful glance to John
[21:31]	IcePickLobotomy	"And oh, isn't that interesting. But one should not take the Mother's blessing unprepared." She smiles "She will almost certainly lose herself."
[21:31]	JohnH	does not lower his gun
[21:32]	RobinE	"What?" Robin sounds honestly confused, "We are stopping this," Robin points at the priestess, "get her."
[21:32]	JohnH	fires three shots
[21:33]	RobinE	bolts out to tackle the priestess, following the shots.
[21:36]	IcePickLobotomy	Three rounds slam into her, red blooming across her chest before she rushes forward, narrowly missing John as he jerks back. The tips of her fingers shift like clay under a master's hands as they turn into razor sharp talons.
[21:40]	RobinE	goes for a fierce punch to the priestess with much of her hate fueling it.
[21:44]	RobinE	As she concentrates her fury she can feel the air around her fist distort, and she can feel her punch drive with much more force.
[21:46]	IcePickLobotomy	She wheels back as a purple AT Field blooms to life, shattering under you assault but buying her enough time to escape your blow. "Do you really think you can kill me? I cannot die."
[21:47]	JohnH	"we'll see about that."
[21:47]	RobinE	"If that were true, why protect yourself."
[21:48]	IcePickLobotomy	"It's rather inconvenient." She glances to the pool and begins to side step to it."
[21:49]	RobinE	goes to grapple with the priestess.
[21:55]	RobinE	grabs the priestess and drags her away from the pool, "no no no, we aren't finished."
[21:56]	JohnH	pulls out his boot knife "Let's see if you bleed."
[21:56]	JohnH	goes in for the stabs
[21:57]	IcePickLobotomy	She snarls as blood flows from the stab wounds, you can see her flesh bubble and shift but each time it starts to do something John's stabs break her concentration.
[22:00]	JohnH	"Knife to see you again, you bastard!"
[22:00]	IcePickLobotomy	"Are you kidding me?!"
[22:00]	JohnH	"Nope!" John goes for a neck stab
[22:07]	RobinE	lets go with one arm and reels back another super punch, she throws it vigorously at the priestess, "Just die!"
[22:09]	IcePickLobotomy	And your fist sinks into her sternum, past the flesh. A distant part of your mind finds it odd that it's simply solid flesh, rather than having organs.
[22:11]	IcePickLobotomy	And then she smiles "Your mistake." And her body flows and folds over you. JohnH can only watch in horror as Robin's body is engulfed by a mass of chalky white flesh, smothering her.
[22:15]	JohnH	"What the?"
[22:16]	JohnH	tries his darndest to peel the new growth off of Robin
[22:38]	RobinE	's arms force her way out of the mass, pushing and shoving it aside. feels her mind resisting and she frees herself.
[22:39]	RobinE	"Get off of me," she says, shaken.
[22:40]	IcePickLobotomy	And a reddish-blue AT Field flares to life, the mass of flesh stretches like taffy as it's pulled away from Robin. The field flickers and dies a moment later as the chalky white flesh falls to the ground with a meaty slap. It begins to inch its way to the pool.
[22:42]	JohnH	stares in amazement as Robin does her (literal) magic
[22:43]	IcePickLobotomy	"I will not be denied!" A dozen mouths form on the flesh, lipless as she screeches to no avail.
[22:43]	RobinE	collects her arms together ans swirls them gathering power, "ooooh no you don't" she groans as she throws an AT powered net over the mass of flesh. She then attempts to collect the corners to trap the thing.
[22:45]	RobinE	then attempts to keep dragging the mass away from the pool.
[22:59]	JohnH	pins a grenade and gently tosses it on top of the mass "Grenade!"
[23:04]	IcePickLobotomy	The grenade rolls over to the other side of the mass, which hardens on seems to gain a chitinous shine. just before the grenade goes off, sending fragments of the material whizzing through the air./
[23:08]	RobinE	yells at John, "keep the fragments away from the pool!"
[23:11]	JohnH	runs to the edge of the pool and kicks pieces away from it
[23:14]	RobinE	runs around the pool to the statue and climbs up it. Once she reaches the top she focuses. All the power she can muster is forced to her fist as she prepares one last punch. "This is what I think of you, mother!" she screams as she strikes her fist into the head of the statue.
[23:17]	IcePickLobotomy	"No, wait! Wha-" Her voice cuts out as your first slams into the statue, and it simply ceases to be. The statue falls away leaving a jagged empty hold in reality. A sharp pain lances through you and JohnH's heads at the sight, while the Priestess screams as her body slowly disintegrates. The pool of blood glows as it bursts into black flames of nothingness and vanishes.
[23:17]	JohnH	"AAAHHHHH" John grabs at his head
[23:18]	RobinE	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH" Robin Wails at the pain of falling and her head.
[23:20]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: And that's when you realize the empty void is /growing/ . And a part of you realizes that falling into that void is a very, very, very, very *bad* idea.
[23:21]	RobinE	"Ok," Robin staggers to her feet, "time to RUN!"
[23:22]	JohnH	opens his eyes slowly "Did we get- What? Okay!"
[23:22]	JohnH	follows Robin, in hopes that she remembers the way out
[23:23]	IcePickLobotomy	[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9r2qeouiQ ] THe gapping void grows faster and faster as you turn tail and flee down the hallways. The ground shudders and small fragments of rocks and dust crumble from the ceiling. Around you the flowers and vines begin to wither and die.
[23:26]	IcePickLobotomy	JohnH: You run, but the void is growing closer even as Robin tries to drag you forward. You turn a corner and a long chasm with a short gap blocks your path.
[23:30]	IcePickLobotomy	You both jump and barely clear it, wasting previous time to scramble to your feet and move forward again.
[23:30]	RobinE	"Go go go GO!" Robin says to herself scrambling
[23:32]	IcePickLobotomy	The void is licking at John's heels, he can feel stones giving way at the back of his feet as he keeps one step ahead of his death. Robin is a few strides ahead of him.
[23:38]	IcePickLobotomy	Too fast, it's too fast and you're both too slow. A mad idea seizes Robin as a halo of blue and red bursts into life around her. JohnH you can see faint spoke-like wings slowly emerge from RobinE's back as she takes your hand and throws the two of you into the stream of blood. You hit the water and the current nearly drags you from Robin's grip. The two of you tumble in the current as it...
[23:38]	IcePickLobotomy	...smashes you into rocks and walls.
[23:39]	IcePickLobotomy	JohnH: minutes you spend beneath the blood0red waters that burns your skin like acid. Your vision grows dim as the current ceases and stills. And then it goes black, the last sight you see is Robin, wings and halo glowing in shade's of red, drags you by hand to the surface.
[23:41]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: you emerge from the waters in the ocean of red. Not too far from a shore of black sands and obsidian towers in the imitation of a city. You drag John onto the sands as he lets out a wet hacking cough and proceeds to vomit the bloody waters as his eyes flicker open.
[23:41]	JohnH	lays there for a long, loooong minute trying to figure out what happened
[23:41]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: A ache rooted deep in your soul, your limbs feel rubbery and weak as your blood burns like molten lead in your veins. But he's safe and alive. Thanks to you.
[23:42]	RobinE	collapses to the ground, to weak for anything.
[23:44]	JohnH	vomits, unsure if the blood is his or not
[00:00]	IcePickLobotomy	And you dream. You dream of strange vistas and starless skies. And somewhere in the distance, a golden dawn.

[19:54]	Mary	was last seeing running down the stair, ignoring the fear thatr robin was possibly in danger, without a aid against lucifer no one among them would matter if they survived this or not.
[19:56]	IcePickLobotomy	You run past doors, even as the vines creep over them. You stop when you come to the ground floor, and a large gate lays open. On the other side a vast forest of trees, most of them over a dozen feet in width. A heavy fog obscures it, the large roots and simply path little more than monochrome shapes.
[19:57]	Mary	(regular open, or broken open by the vines?
[19:57]	IcePickLobotomy	(Regular open. Also PM me on discord for OOC chatter if you want to keep it between us)
[20:05]	Mary	Mary , having her trusted maglight at her side , and sturdy footwork started to enter the forest thinking about the associations with it
[20:38]	IcePickLobotomy	The ground is damp but here the rain seems to have ceased falling. You can hear the howling of wolves echoing in the distance.
[20:42]	Mary	is making sure that she is not wearing any red, and she does not qualify as a young maiden anyway as she tries to find her way in towards the feeling even if she has to work at remaining calm
[20:43]	IcePickLobotomy	You walk. You're not sure how long, time doesn't have as much meaning here as it does in the real world. You come across a overturned cart, mostly rotted with age. Not to far past it you see a few fragments of bones. You can't tell what they were from, but they've been thoroughly shattered by something.
[20:46]	Mary	She turns for a moment to look at it, but as she does not have a path, she quickly moves back unless something in there catches her attention
[20:56]	IcePickLobotomy	Little of note. You travel deeper into the woods, the trees somehow growing thicker and larger, at several points you have to crawl over the large distended roots. The snap and crackle of static grows noticeable here as white-grey distortions like a bad TV signal play across your vision.
[21:03]	Mary	"Well , seems like I am leaving the human parts behind " she thinks to herself as she feel the effect of the alien crowing closer
[21:04]	IcePickLobotomy	And the path halts, a large gate stands before you. It's covered in moss and made of a palish grey stone, but it's cast from a single piece. The gate is shut and thrums with energy.
[21:13]	Mary	watches it and then walks closer, and peers past it , trying to get a feel if it is the gate , or or something else in the forrest that draws her in
[21:14]	IcePickLobotomy	It thrums in response as you approach. The ceramic-like material of the gate itself shimmers and ripples like water.
[21:22]	Mary	Time to be stupid she thinks as she walks closer and trys to make out any marks while she humsm thus spoke Zarathusta
[21:24]	IcePickLobotomy	No marks. Nothing, save for the ripples of the gate's portal. And as you approach the ripples cease. A moment passes and then it simply ufurls leaving the rest of the pathway visible, as it quickly drops down a rugged cliff.
[21:26]	IcePickLobotomy	you can't see beyond the cliff due to a collection of spare shrubs and trees on the ledge.
[21:30]	Mary	nods and then walks throught the gate of stone and vines down the pathway of memorys
[21:52]	IcePickLobotomy	As you clear past the brambles you stop. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppwKN3IoJsw ] It's empty. A utter void of blackness so all consuming you almost surge forward to throw yourself off the cliff face. The emptiness is like a knife, a sharp jutting pain in your head that drives the breath from your chest. And then you see the light, the harsh golden light far in the distance, only a dim...
[21:52]	IcePickLobotomy	...glimmer from here but even so the power sets your hair on edge and puts a ache in your blood. And then you finally notice the ruins of a city, connected by a spindly span of rock jutting from the bottom of the cliff.
[21:54]	Mary	Shivering she closed her eyes for a moment to regain controll before she opens them again, after all the light shioen  throguht her eyelids.  before she starts to walk down the path towards the city.
[21:56]	IcePickLobotomy	The air here is dead and empty and dry. When you're halfway across the bridge you start to make out bumps on the roads within the city. At a two thirds the way across you realize they're bodies.
[22:01]	Mary	Mary take a shallow breath and goes on to look at thebodies of a bygone era, or the testament to there sins
[22:03]	IcePickLobotomy	There skin is dry, withered almost like a mummies. The dark brown blood-stains running from their eyes and down their agony-twisted faces says enough for the manner and ease of their deaths. ("And a man shall weep his life's blood", the passage echoes in your mind.)
[22:05]	Mary	"And knowledge shall guide me down the path of memory as my steps are sure, and my faith is strong." she notes as she walks on
[22:07]	IcePickLobotomy	A wall of rubble blocks the street, you can go either to the right and down into a dark tunnel, or attempt to climb over it. To your left is |NOTHING|
[22:13]	IcePickLobotomy	Empty. Dead and empty. Nothing lives here, the AT Fields scrouged away like flesh under a sandstorm. Not even the lingering mounrful sorrow of a dead city remains (as it shold, you don't know how or why but there should be remeants of the cities death here, not this. . . emptiness). Not even a blank canvass, it's simply as though nothing is there, aside from yourself. You are alone in a way...
[22:13]	IcePickLobotomy	...you've never been before.
[22:16]	Mary	Mary shiver and puts her arms around her nearly dropping the mag light, before she turns towards the bygone tunnel, and after entering it, activates the maglight
[22:19]	IcePickLobotomy	It's cramped, wreckage of trams and cars, filled with the desiccated dead litter about. Your light plays across a symbol on the wall, A red fig-leaf bisectted by the word NERV, with the phrase "GOD'S IN HIS HEAVEN. ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD." beneath it.
[22:22]	Mary	She vague remembers something that Lilly once said and then heads on shaking her head, and then remembering the other pilots that found happyness in the paintings
[22:31]	IcePickLobotomy	You continue to walk down empty hallways, past bulkheads half-open, before you find yourself on what appears to be the command deck. It's a massive space, with a massive monitor on the far wall, and three layers, each with a series of seats before monitors.
[22:32]	Mary	looks around trying to find a hint in here, walking respectfully past the dead and wondering if there are any signs of electronics
[22:33]	IcePickLobotomy	A single small LED beside a set of three large rectangles on the 2nd layer deck.
[22:36]	Mary	climbs down carefully and tries to read what is written there before lookinteracting with it.
[22:36]	IcePickLobotomy	MAGI-2 NIETZSCHE is stenciled in.
[22:39]	Mary	looks at it to see if something still works there
[22:42]	IcePickLobotomy	A few of the nearby monitors have working LED lighs as well
[22:43]	Mary	Mary then tries to make sense of it and if she can start it without any harddrives exploding,
[22:44]	IcePickLobotomy	You poke one of the keyboards, thankfully a qwerty, and it starts to life. Rather than the command prompt you expect, you're staring at a sort of graphical interface with icons.
[22:45]	Mary	"Please be in englisch.. and uh.. scifi.."
[22:45]	Mary	tries to understand it
[22:46]	IcePickLobotomy	It's in english as well.
[22:48]	Mary	pokes the screen for a moment before she looks down at the strangely flat keyboard
[22:55]	IcePickLobotomy	It takes you some time to figure things out, but once you realize that they've abstracted out most of the intereactions of the computer to a visual layer, you get the hang of it. It's rather clever really, even if that paperclip is annoying. It seems you have a fair amount of access to this "NERV's" internal netowrk, even if most of the outgoing connections to the other bases are severed.
[22:57]	IcePickLobotomy	You search into their sensor records and you see the familar shape of pattern Gold there, it's spiked to off-the-scale records on the last active recordings, dated at "August 15th, 2013" before they simply cut out
[23:00]	Mary	She is then searching for anythingt else around that including combat data
[23:14]	IcePickLobotomy	And there it is. Combat data from the Evangelion's sensors. A very powerful and deeply corrosive AT field is exuded by Lucifer (or as they term it, KETER). Not even the unit's AT Field afforded outright immunity, as one of the pilots underwent what was labeled "Catastrophic AT Field decohesion.". And it only got worse from there. Powerful Energy Emission Bursts for ranged attacks, and close...
[23:14]	IcePickLobotomy	...in it simply tore one unit apart limb by limb. The next line though, it's simply labeled "Partial Dimensional Dissociation." . What little there is implies that Lucifer is partially out of sync with reality, meaning that unless augmented with a AT Field, most attacks will simply fail to even hit him.
[23:21]	Mary	Anything that they can find there to improve there own units , after all they got 3 decades of better stuff
[23:33]	IcePickLobotomy	Most of the files on that are locked down, you might be able to get something out of it. . .
[23:51]	IcePickLobotomy	It's hard, you spend what feels like hours bypassing fire-walls and other security measures before you manage to get into a section of files for weapons development.
[00:05]	IcePickLobotomy	A single file is there titled "Lance of Longinus" the reading of it . . . something else. A weapon they discovered in Antartica embedded in something called ADAM, able to penetrate a AT Field without fail, and could even disable a Progenitor. Lesser beings would be utterly unmade if attacked with the full foce. It's noted that doing so tended to burn the lance out, and the sole lance NERV...
[00:05]	IcePickLobotomy	...had didn't manage to defeat KETER, though it did have a "Not insignificant effect" on it.
[00:09]	Mary	Mary notes that down and tries to remember it, and writes other oparts of the shematics onpaper , after all she might be able to recall it and well two sources of stuff are better then one
[00:10]	IcePickLobotomy	And that's when the ground shudders beneath your feet
[00:19]	Mary	tries to see if she can on the quick get information about Partial Dimension Dossociation and then will start to look around for a exit
[00:21]	IcePickLobotomy	Simply put, Keter is partially out of phase of reality, rendering him immune to anything that isn't augmented by a AT Field. There is a window of vulnerability when he acts however.
[00:24]	Mary	Trying to rember all these details she then heads away, after all she knows she isn't the fasted
[00:28]	Mary	And then Mary , resisting the urge to steal the hard drive heads back oack out
[00:31]	IcePickLobotomy	You emerge onto the light and into the bright gold light, as a ribbon of aura-like golden pulses and wavers overhead. The golden light that was so distant is now quite close, burning as bright as the sun and twice as large.
[00:42]	Mary	then engages in speed gonazales like running away from here
[00:43]	IcePickLobotomy	And you run, you see things slowly begin to take form as cocoons appear from thin air. You race across the bridge as the first of them bursts like rotten fruit. Something with too many legs, a spindly jerky gait carries it forward, like a Servitor but so much wrose.
[00:44]	IcePickLobotomy	The gold light pulses, a overbearing pressure that threatens to grind away your soul, but not now. Not yet, this is only the prelude to his wrath made manifest.
[00:46]	=-=	YOU are now known as IcePickLobotomy_
[00:46]	=-=	YOU are now known as IcePickLobotomy
[00:48]	Mary	And mary runs, because she knows, she remember the touch of him on her soul, the golden light eaten away at her, as she risks the burn now a third time
[00:50]	IcePickLobotomy	And whatever it is, it's much faster than the skitter hounds.
[00:55]	Mary	Clearlit is yangs fault that mary isn't running fast enoguh
[00:55]	IcePickLobotomy	Too fast, far too fast. it's on now. Fleeing failed, but fighting may avail you yet.
[01:01]	Mary	"Objects here are just reflection of hte soul " she whispered for a moment, if she could make a maglight, why not a different weapon, especialyl if it was one that was made out of her souls energy. ? And so a elegant sleek form manifested in her arms as she aimed it at the creature and bolts f clear energy extended from it, hitting and pushing the creature a
[01:02]	Mary	away from her, in a torrent of energy, not golden, but a more human colour in a way, as her fear and her hate where made manifest and turned outwards against the creature
[01:02]	IcePickLobotomy	A red blast of energy leaves it a ugly smear on the rocky bridge. Which then begins to collapse as your blast tears it away
[01:05]	Mary	And mary runs, her kne scrapping over the ground at least once as the stones give way, the corpses seaming to maon as she passes them by, her remaining as the last memory of the fight that took them beyond there murder . with a exhausted cry she crashes against the cliffside, and then starts to scramble up
[01:06]	Mary	the path, soometimes, running on all forurs as she stumbles before she gets up on two legs again only rarely taking a look behind in fear before she jumps and rolls throught the gate and trying to find a way to close it
[01:08]	IcePickLobotomy	The gate slams shut behind you, the trees shielding you from the light. You can hear the skittering clawing at the gateway, but it doesn't so much as ripple under the assault, which eventually fades.
[01:17]	Mary	simply drops for a few moment until she gathers her energy to fall up again
[01:26]	IcePickLobotomy	And you sleep. And dream. You dream of a starless skies and strange vistas. And of the Golden Dawn. And voice, the very utterance of it forces you awake and screaming, drenched it sweet. A single intonation that falls with the weight of a executioner's axe.
[01:26]	IcePickLobotomy	|I COME. WEEP AND BEAR WITNESS.|