Pax RP

Meeting Room

~We... Maaay have a problem... Either sssomeone isss cosssplaying Raph, or... We have a winglesss Raph here. No asssk, Floran no know either.~

Grathon settled himself into an empty chair. While the chances of this vistor could be someone impersonating the Alignment, his prior information delivered straight from the Encampment made him suspect the claim to be true. A significant depletion of celestial and deity presence concerned the immortal. ~That man's issues likely are part of the current discussion down here, Thorn. Judge at your discretion,~ he added at the end of the message.

“Everyone ready?” The Knight scanned across the settled beings at the table. “As you have noticed, main source of power throughout the Headquarters suddenly vanished. As I've been informed by Sergius in the Encampment, it is likely all Deity locales-including the Horn & Halo-are drained of their natural aura. The deities and Alignments are currently trapped in mortal forms due to the work of strange eggs."

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The Temple

Caught betwixt the pair, the puzzled Homunculus shifted glances towards them both. She expected what the Knight believing to be Raph to possess a more... of an aura? Seianti in what she could read of the situation only saw a strange man wondering where his wings went off to. Such be the problems of being stuck out of the loop.

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Encampment

Murder dotted the sky on wings of darkness; Sergius recognized out of instinct the signs of the feathered blitzkrieg. "Corruption," he muttered under breath as his legs kicked him into the sky. The Homunculus gone progressed through his own abilities like most of his siblings, feeling the air catch under the purple wings which burst from his sides.

Physical attacks alone would pose risk to himself, knowing first-hand experience when he witnessed Lili. No, what he devised were concentrated Confuse Rays blasts Sergius fired in flight, aimed to stun the corrupted beasts that dwelt among the skies.

The H and H

The woman named Abi turned towards the frantically yelping and stomping white wolf that was now Shiri, interrupting her with her panicked noise. She frowned, she wanted to check on her brother. But there was something so insistent about tge wolfs posture that she recognised. Absolute terror lay in Shiris eyes, C had seen it on so many people before she could hardly mistake it for anything else. "... I do believe Shiri is trying to tell us that something incredibly awful is coming" she said, before walking over and looking out of the window "... And I was right...." she rather quickly moved away from them "You all need to get out of sight of the windows. NOW&#33;"

Kutside the black univorn could be heard, just as perturbed as Shiri.

The Encampment

The massive murder of crows reached the settlements edge with the speed of desperate wings. The arrows that Zerexe shot with the eggs had the effect of stripping the crows within the eggs influence of the corruption. This also had a twofold effect of making blood and bird bodies rain from the sky as the corrupted crows viciously attacked and killed the normal ones. The slung oil managed to ground quite a few and the confuse ray from Sergius was super effective as with their shared link between each other the entire corrupted swarm became disoriented at each blast. Though their numbers were thinned, it didn't stop an amount from reaching the town and causing chais in their frantic search.

If Zantetsu could see underground what he would see was a serpentic mass of wood as big as a forest and containing almost as much biodiversity-if corrupted-around. This was one of C's Agents, the Wood Dragon Dentanus using his plantlike affinity with the ground to charge towards the Encampment. Above, Xemnex would spot one Fangblaze charging on the ground bbelow wreathed in flames charging alongside, and behind the crows still incoming above Fangblaze, the Manticore flew. Each one of them different now, they'd lost their minds to tge overriding mindless darkness.

The Temple of Insanity

Raph nodded to the confused pair rather enthusiastically. "Yes. I'm Raph. Even diminished like this. And thank you"

The H and H

Tala moved away from the windows, and took those unwilling or unable to move themselves away as well.

H&H

Tom let everything sink in, then started with the orders.

"Tala, get all the civilians - especially the "immortals" - downstairs. Gear up anyone willing to fight.

Then before anyone could stop him, he dashed outside, one of those eggs still in his pocket, firing with his plasma rifle at any crow that dare come to close.

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Encampment

Grog was still trying to figure out how to explain his moss Covered rock when the Murder of Crows came into town. Yet they didn't approach anywhere near him or Damian. Grog could likewise not figure this out.

The Temple

"You're... Raph," the homunculus muttered, being briefed by a relay of notes from Grathon at the meeting. Things just had to get worse for Easter. "... From what I've been told downstairs, all the gods are currently stuck like you... And the Encampment is being attacked from your sister's domain that ran wild."


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Encampment

The swarm seemingly never let up in its barrage. Sergius, nimble in his partially transformed body, took hard turns through the air to avoid the furious fowl from landing a strike on him.

"Hmm? Grog, do you think we have enough eggs-- Ah&#33;" the small boy squeaked in surprise as he noticed the murder of the crows flying far off in the distance.

"Look, Grog&#33; Birdies&#33;" He beamed, pointing at the black-feathered birds, quite oblivious to the horrors that were unfolding outside of the area that he and Grog stood in, untouched by the crows.

"How beautiful&#33; They must be so full of hope."

Zerexe stared and paused for a brief moment. "...Fucking hell...They'll probably run into more eggs. That'll sort itself out...In the mean time..." She started to gather up what she could, setting up a wall of them, then rows. Zantetsu encased some in stone and pulled them down, forming a massive and thick wall of stone and eggs int he dragon's way, aiming to slow it enough to rip the corruption out, or just wall it off with sheer thick stone. He was gathering all he could to make as much of a wall as possible.

In the mean time, Inabi was bounding about, reverse easter bunny-ing everything she got her hands on and taking it well out of town when full. The youkai was fast, blindingly fast, as expected of a beast youkai. The undead rabbit woman was also opportunistic, "conscripting" any spare spirits she found to help her out, informing her where any more were.

High in the air, Xemnex spun and twirled, zipping off like a rocket into the distance and flying back in, releasing a number of odd fireballs, stacked in close to each other. Red, black, and blue, burning, freezing, and with a special something extra good as messing with dragons and their ilk, her explosive and dangerous fireballs tended to leave deep scars on those who took them. She was also preparing to do a hit and run claw swipe, always holding that egg close, hoping it kicked off the corruption should she be exposed.

Lastly, Aggrex was...Aggrex. It saw this all as nothing more than a fun bout to rip as many crows apart as possible, oil and virus slinging everywhere, sword slashing about as they. any foolish enough to attack it as it defended the town would end up stuck to it and soon suffocate in the masses of oil it released.

The Encampment

The crows not currently engaged in swarming the town or getting bogged down with oil or burned with fireballs flew off in an ever increasing circumference. Ever searching. Look for what had been lost.

The ones that hit the perimeter of the eggs turned into normal crows and also flew away-if they could.

The ones that had decided to check out the inn were either burned by plasma blasts or hit the egg in Toms pockets' area of influence, becoming harmless.

The Manticore that flew behind the flock was hit by Xemnex's fireballs-they didn't do much to the elusive star Agent of Evil as the Corruption exploded from the burning and freezing flesh, covering up the wound. Manty's now black eyes looked up at the diving dragon lady in time for the beast to dodge out of the way instinctively and fire a volley of poisonous spines from its tail.

Under the ground, Dentanus the Wood Dragon noticed the increasing blockage ahead of it and changed direction to go around it.

Meanwhile Fangblaze, the fastest of them all, had made his scorching fiery gallop towards the Encampment and spotting the obstruction above also moved to go around it. His eyes too were black and dripping, no longer the fiery furnaces they were before.

The crows confused by Sergius ray fluttered and flapped around disoriented, not even those who had been blasted but those close by them were affected too. It seemed to be spreading. How odd.

<hr />

The Temple of Insanity

Raph looked, well, devastated at the news imparted to him. That, and terrified. So much so he started pacing around. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no...."

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The H and H Inside

Tala soon had everyone down in the cellar, out of sight of the murder of crows. Everyone previously immortal first and then those who wanted to help them or could not fight like Russel came after, those who were willing to fight. Well, they got a good look through the H and H's lost and found box that contained a surprising amount of weapons before coming back up. Unsurprisingly Syllak was one who was willing to fight, surprisingly quite a lot of the towns inhabitants also were.

Inside, Russel sat away from C and proceeded to just glare while Zeredah, after having waved confusedly at CP had come down carrying a small pizza and was tucking into it like she had an idea of what starvation was.

The Temple of Insanity

Handling emotional breakdowns were far from the Homuncula's specialty; in fact, lingering issues still troubled Seianti since her time in this world. Though being an adventurer, she must overcome those hurdles as much Raph needed to now.

"Get a hold of yourself," a stern tone from the usually carefree woman felt strange even to herself. "Pax dealt with travesties before-and I heard that you and the other Alignments were stuck mortal awhile ago. You must believe in the defenders' that they will handle this. As they did many times, Nero.

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The Encampment

Optimism rose in the immortal flyer, witnessing the bewildering waves of his attacks infecting the swarm he struck. The linked consciousness of rouge corruption made them quite vulnerable to his Confuse Rays and quite likely any other mental attacks. Unfortunately from his guess work, no one else on field appeared to possess techniques to exploit this tragic weakness. Days like this miss having that Jentil around, Sergius thought back to the ex-Knight. It would definitely help to have more mental-bruisers to assist the literal ones on the ground.

Zantetsu cracked a wide grin as he placed part two of his plan into action. He split the wall intoa series of three rings, each at right angls to another and fused in their overlapping points with an egg in each. At the center point of each arc of the rings was another. The three formed a pseudo sphere around the dragon and began to shrink around it, aiming to catch it with a number of the eggs at once, relying on the large coverage with a moderate amount of material to keep it in as he quickly rotated the sphere underground to ensure the openings could not be exploited.

Xemnex quickly darted up, movement more like a rocket powered jet than a dragon, relying on her extremely tough scales to protect her as she moved to get distance and attack again from high enough to not be seen as she approached.

Zerexe, focusing on Fangblaze, bounded to grab her fired arrows with eggs on them, carefully getting a good vantage point and relying on her bows utterly inhuman draw weight to loose an arrow the Nightmare couldn't avoid, aiming to either hit it or land nearby, since it was a bit of a distance. Her bow was made to loose arrows that went clean through dragons and their ilk, resulting in positively massive flight speeds of equally massive arrows, at the cost that only those whose strength was beyond just superhuman could actually use it, and fewer still could fire it for more than few shots. But this bow was hers, made for her, of her, and she was made for it. She could keep these going if she had to.

Outside the H and H

Too late for Xemnex, the Manticore had spotted her darting from up high. While he could not move quite that fast a Manticore was a tough and highly dangerous beast of legend, and evdn with the mindless Corruption overpowering his mind this did not change. The wounds caused by the previous attacks that had already brought forth what lurked within did not stop leaking, coating the beast in a thick shield of Corrupted armour.

Under the ground, the massive corrupted Dentanus could sense the stone walls that surrounded him impossibly fast and their rotating holes. It served pnly to infuriate what was left of the Wood Dragons mind as he made to rush the defences-only for the eggs influences to get to him far quicker than the wall, ripping the desperate substance away from the creature far quicker than a trap could ever fully close. The freed Dentanus stopped his frenzied charge and blinked, utterly confused.

Fangblaze, the charger of the group, got closer, closer and closer in the time it took Zerexe to draw the bow and fire the eggs at the Nightmare Agent. With the blaze surround the mythical horse the arrows wood burned before it could damage the creature, but the egg well, that was still intact. It managed to get close enough to the fiery creature to pull the Corruption off him. Far less confused than Dentanus below, Fangblazes immediate reaction was to stomp and kick around angrily in place yelling "Give her back give her back give her back GIVE HER BACK&#33;"

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The Encampment

Sergius Confuse Ray worked wonders at dispersing the Corrupted Crows still around as they flew every which, sometimes even attacking each other.

Those at the H and H dispersed from the spreading effects, had been shot down, turned into normal crows or had left to join the spreading outward circle of birds looking for their master. It was probably as quiet as it was going to get-for now.

<hr />

Below the H and H

C sat, between her brother whom was not talking and the crazy Ariel, feeling odd. Was this pity? No. It was something else. "I despise you so, Ariel" she said quietly "... and yet I think I may have respected you as well, in whatever twisted sense I had. I do not think now that this is an appropriate punishment for anyone" the black haired woman then tilted her head, speaking a little louder. "The doorway... it is still open"

The H and H

Syllak and the other fighters had rallied outside to see confusion not directed at them anymore, some letting out a relieved 'Oh'. The Draconian however flew above to see what was happening whilst Tala sniffed at the air.

Below, each deity trapped in a mortals body did what they did, whilst the one armed Russel sat watching them. 'The gate is open? What does that mean? Why must they insist on speaking in riddles even now? Damn them...'

<hr />

The Temple of Insanity

Raph stopped, then stared at them both. Seeming the onpy thing that got past his blank defences was "Mortal before? What do you mean 'mortal before'? We were children that had lost our memories of what we were but not who, and we still had access to our powers. This is.... more like.... say.... a humanoid having their consciousness shoved into the end of the nail on their smallest toe, with no way of connecting or making the real body work"

Content with things for now, Zantetsu kicked the ground to use the eggs to form a protective wall around the Encampment as best he could, grabbing any eggs around it he found to feed the wall's growth as he strategically located the eggs within it to spread their influence around the Encampment without influencing anything within.

Zerexe stared at the nightmare, reading her bow just in case. "What are you talking about? The collector? That's what we're trying to do. Currently, everyone like her has had their power ripped away and she can not control things. So stop making things harder." She tied an egg to an arrow and went to fire one at the manticore in the sky.

Xemnex had shifted plans, instead trying to be a distraction as her plan had failed. She flew up high into the sky, attempting to use her dark coloration to mask herself as she rained fireballs form assorted angles to buy Zerexe time.

All the while, Inabi was bounding around, focusing on removing them in an area around the H&H, in the hopes of freeing it up first and giving them at least a pocket of usable space. The undead rabbit was still a beast youkai, quick, effective, and quite good at kicking the hell out of any of the crows foolish enough to get close to her and all the eggs se carried on her.

CP followed the group down into the basement, to the safety of firm walls away from crazy birds. He hopped up onto The Collector's shoulder, keeping an eye on Zeredah so she didn't choke while eating.

"What do you mean by... "The Doorway is Open", C? Like... the doorway to your universe?"

---

Senka watched as the Agents of The Corruption began to lose steam, exposed to the energy given off by the eggs.

"Those eggs strip the corruption from your minds and bodies, freeing you&#33; However, you seem to have brought an aura of corruption with you, changing the building's and life it touches. It's important we all stay away from That, or the evil will sway any of us&#33;" She explained to Fangblaze and the Manticore.

Speaking of the flying creature, she banged her sword against the rocks, trying to lure it down to her - Where the highest concentration of eggs also was.

The Encampment

Fangblaze snorted, the flames around him burning brighter than ever in his fury. "Make things harder? Make them harder?&#33; It is you people who are making things harder&#33; Put her back where she's supposed to be&#33; Cease your relentless attack with your flying sky eggs&#33; Whom else would do this to my Mistress bar you people?&#33;" Clearly, the Nightmare was quite mad, and the ground below him caught fire from his expressed passion. "I *want* to be in the aura of Evil&#33; But she is gone from it now. Give her back&#33;"

Below the ground, Dentanus mind cycled through what was happening. He was free now, sort of. But how? And why? And why had he rushed the wall? Why was there even an underground wall? Careful to stay out of the pockets of corruption that had formed below ground as the Taint had overtaken everything around the settlement as well as radiating down towards the planets core, Dentanus slowly made his way to the surface. With his mind restored the Wood Dragon used his myriad thick vines and animated branches to create a large enough hole in the trap for the plant to shift the rocks aside-as plants roots often do just by growing-and make his way to the surface.

Meanwhile, the corruption smothered Manticore was concentrating mainly on Xemnex, the beast dodged fireballs he saw coming and those he did not, well they hit the corruption and caused more of it to leak out. Then the Knights call caught his ears, swivelling in the air to look, the creature snarled beneath the mass and made a dash for Senka. This left him wide open for Zerexes egg arrow to whizz past so close to him in his momentum the huge mass of corrupted armour encasing the monster was ripped off and in his state he went crashing right for the female Knight with no way of slowing himself down.

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The H and H

"Yes, that is exactly what I mean" mortal C explained to the rodent that had the audacity to perch on her shoulder "Without me, there is nothing stopping the Corruption from leaking out, do you understand? It will never stop. It will consume this entire dimension and them move on to the next. Evil without a mind behind it is brutal and classless"