Cthulhu
Viking
Registration Date: 11-29-2007
Posts: 726
Location: UK
Race in game: Absorber
Clan: HL
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The War of Vanity
DAY 1 – Cthulhu’s Vanguard
Damn my vanity, and to hell with my pride. Ah, to hell, there’s the rub. For that is exactly where everything I hold close to this cold, black heart is likely to go.
How did this happen? Vanity & pride. Yes, that is the cruel truth that I must face. My blood-brothers, Nayrlien and Helldemon, their vanity, their boasting, their pride. They started this. Yet I was too proud to turn the cheek. Too vain to ignore the doubt in my mind, the quiet wisdom of my eternal sleep.
Ten thousand years I slept, waiting, brooding, cursing mankind for its pathetic existence, and then for those thoughts, fate dealt me the ironic hand, and I was born into this rancid, weak, mutated human carcass, my once great beauty buried beneath these hideous tentacles.
It doesn’t matter how it started, it only matters how it will end.
This morning I was brave, I was full of the excitement of war. It was what I had waited for, and wanted for so long, why would I not be excited?
My brothers-in-arms where by my side; Evangelion, my Liege Lord, who has never doubted my loyalty, and always rallied to my defence. HorstHorstman, Blingbling, SchwertIsche; the crazy Ostrogoths, whose drinking antics were many, but whose determination and friendship was without question.
Then there were my fellow rangers; Flashblade, Impetus, & Dragon-Rider. The gunners, Bebbsy, Malooga, & Knightroad, and the Blades; Zenfalcon (back from his travels – did I bring him to his doom?), & Miatzopheron.
Minshres, the mighty gunner, whose name was feared by beasts throughout the wilderness – I could not have kept him out of this war even if I had tried. Troops too many to name – the clan was full, strong.
And of course, there was Kalessin, my bloodthirsty lover. I would protect her with my every being, if I felt she needed protecting… if she would ever let me protect her! She was a hell-cat if ever there was one, born of dragon’s blood, she would never let me fight alone.
What had I done? Had I thrown them all into the jaws of Hell?
I led the charge against Marmaladegirl. We were out-numbered, this vanguard attack was folly, but it had to be started somewhere. It was the scourge, NateDogg, who had the initiative. Shurikens rattled into both sides’ armour. Knives & knuckles, blades & bullets… the charge was doomed. I should’ve seen it, but the blood was in my mouth. The sweet taste of iron, electrically charged my bloodlust as I took first-blood; Evildead buckled and fell as my shuriken thumped into his face, and I fell upon his body, gorging on the life as it spilled from his wounds.
But then, before I had even noticed, while the taste of Evil still smeared my lips, my friends were falling, all around me their cries of agony. Limbs separating as huge two-handed swords ploughed through their ranks.
And I as watched with rage, with helpless pity… I saw her. My beautiful queen of war, wounded with shurikens, throwing knives, a bullet hole in her leg. Our eyes locked in pain across the carnage, and I watched as Laaska plunged a bladed fist into her chest.
A red tear formed in my eye. She would be healed, I knew that. Our un-dead lives were a torture of death and re-birth. But the vision of her dying still crushed me with the weight of the oceans.
Then the rage returned. I launched into a second attack, my aim was good, but their numbers were too great. I remember bullets ripping across my body, the strength was gone, I was suddenly helpless, and then I saw him. The evil of old London - Igor. He strode through the corpses laughing, his face twisted with manic glee. He saw me, drew back his aim, and then everything faded.
When I woke, the battle was over. Our attack had been repelled, our blood drunk, our money looted, and our people enslaved. I raised my voice to the skies and howled. I knew their revenge for my foolishness was not sated, they would be back.
This war was not over.
Link to - Cthulhu's Vanguard
DAY 2 – The Return of Igor
Tonight was cold and black. Rain fell heavy, dripping from the rim of my enchanted helm, onto my cloak, soaking through to my dead skin below.
Helldemon had planned his counter-strike well. Igor led the attack, his axes glistening under the neon lights of the city streets. This fight was going to be furious. We had pulled together some items from our armoury, the multitude of our forces were loaded with rune powered shurikens.
Once again Natedogg struck first. His aim was lethal, and Drax the Ancient fell in the first wave. But I was better prepared for this attack, at least I had hoped I was, and I let fly my own shining stars of death.
But my enchantment spells were not working, the tattoos of power that covered my body, giving me enhanced strength & power, failed me. My aim was poor, causing only minor wounds. HorstHorstman was by my side, but his shurikens did no better.
The battle became bloody.
It seemed like an age before we started to fall. Once again I seemed to be stood by watching as my friends blood sprayed into the air to mix with the rain and fall back to rapidly red stained streets.
Evangelion took a thunderfist to the throat. I will never forget the look on his face – it haunts my thoughts even now as I write. His eyes were wide with shock and pain. Miatzopheron ran to his aid, but it was too late, Scrapps turned the blades on Miatzo, but they slashed only thin air, as he danced away from them.
I watched Zenfalcon put a bullet through Madjinks’ eye. The shot was perfect… but Jinks was an old friend from clan I belonged to many moons ago. War is a curious beast to comprehend.
Once again Laaska raised his fearsome head from the throng of battle, he was running down the centre of the street, slashing left and right with his thunderfists, cutting down slaves as he went. Then he pounced upon Popeye, hammering his right fist into him, whilst raking his left across Bodkin’s chest. His was rabid with bloodlust, his eyes were white with pure rage.
I tried to reach him, but there were too many of them still standing. I ducked behind a crumbling wall as NateDogg let lose another round of shurikens, but before I could counter he had disappeared back into the gloom.
I found other targets instead, and I buried a shuriken into Gothmog’s mouth as he screamed. His war cry instantly muted in his throat as my star shredded his palate.
But Laaska was still coming. Out of the corner of my eye, as dodged a rain of bullets from an uzi, I saw him kill my queen once more. He is a beast. Before this war is over, I will have justice for his insults.
It became a rout. My friends fought bravely, but we were rapidly becoming overwhelmed. SW and DragonRider put up covering fire as we ducked into alleys, trying to find cover.
Somehow, I lost sight of the others, I got turned around, I am not sure what happened. But as I kicked my way through a wire fence, I came face to face with him. Laaska.
He leered at me with something close to ecstacy in his eyes. I knew the day was over for me. At this range, my shurikens were useless. I spread my arms and screamed in his face. His blades gutted me with one blow, and I felt his mouth eagerly sucking at my steaming blood as it poured into the street, and everything faded from view.
I was told later that Minshres put up the bravest fight. They pummelled and pelted him with every weapon they had, but his armour was well blessed. Unfortunately, even one as strong as he can not withstand such an onslaught, and he was the last to fall today.
Within minutes of all our clan recovering their life force, Zenfalcon screamed “Revenge!” and we set off through the streets, chasing V13 back to Eve’s quadrant. The sun was rising on a new day, and a new battle.
Link to - The Return of Igor
DAY 3 – Rage of Zen
Today was not a good day to fight.
We were frustrated, we were angry, we were not thinking clearly. But we were hungry for blood.
Kalessin and I soothed each others wounds while we rested at dawn. Her tenderness is a wonder to me. Hands that can deal death by punching kidneys and breaking bones; fingers that wrap around deadly knives to slit throats, and open guts. Yet, for all the damage they deal, they caress me with a gentle, caring touch.
“This time I’m packing bullets. They will feel the sting.” She said, her smile was wicked.
We tracked Hell and his clan half way across the city, and when we found them, they were bedded into a secure stronghold. It was a huge old warehouse, with many levels. Evangelion smelt a trap, but the clan was determined to enter.
We had lost a couple of members during the day, they were too weak to continue, so we had left them in safe houses across the city. Evan felt we weren’t ready for another battle, and we should have waited for help.
The clan voiced its opinion, and we entered.
As we passed through the second set of doors, they spring their attack. NateDogg, Ermantil, Nayrlien, Helldemon, and Laaska were laying in wait behind a wall of old crates. The surprise was expected, but it was still unsettling.
I had strung my bow just before we entered the building, and managed to lose of a couple of arrows, covering Miatzo as he raked with his blades. Kalessin was at my side, she opened her mouth with a sickening width, and spewed searing blood into the face of Bloodofkorne. His screams filled the huge room, echoing from the walls, as his features melted into boiling puss, dissolving and running down his body.
Kalessin followed the attack with a volley of rounds from her rifle. She loves to fight.
And Bebbsy had also found a target; his sniper senses honed in on a distracted Death-Reborn as he watched Bloodofkorne’s hideous demise. Bebbsy fired. The bullet blew a hole in Death-Reborn’s chest, but it was the exit hole in his back that ended his undead life. It was the size of a man’s head, and as he fell, his lungs and gizzard splashed onto the floor beneath him.
Their plan to surprise us was not as successful as they expected, and before long and with only minimal loss, we had them falling back into the rest of the building.
But the joy of war got the better of me, and I ran head long into their second barrage. We caught up with them in a stairwell, they were making a fighting retreat up the stairs, and the angle of attack gave them an advantage. Ermantil caught Bllingbling with a thunderfist, and as I tried to dodge the dagger in his other hand, he back-slashed me with the fist, opening a wound all the way through to my guts.
Again the world faded to black around me.
Minshres told me later the rest of the fight had a painfully, inevitable ending. The stairwell was a death trap. They forced the advantage, and finished us off quickly.
When we were fully rested, and recovered, we returned to our side of the city. But I fear we have not seen the last of these hell-bringers, and as I sit here writing this, I can already hear the sound of their taunts and calls resounding through the empty streets outside.
Link to - Rage of Zen
DAY 4 – The day Hell came to town
There were bizarre shadows every where.
Darkside keeps his city block looking like an old funfair ghost-house. The steet-lights are smashed, or flickering, there is debris everywhere to trip-up the unsuspecting visitor. Deep pot-holes and trenches line the streets, filled with spikes, and the covered to hide them. Booby traps, arranged to amuse him, were baited with rotting meat. He’d even dragged manikins out from the ruins of a department store, and stood them in various odd positions along the road & sidewalks, painted them with tattoos, and fixed old broken weapons to their hands, like some twisted form of wax-work army.
Added to that, when we had arrived last night, we’d upturned cars, burnt them out, and built blockades from shop fittings and furniture, the place truly looked like an urban nightmare.
When Hell and his clan turned into the street, they didn’t wait to access they situation, they had butchered us three nights in a row, they were here to finish the job. They let fly their weapons of war.
I’d taken a position inside a derelict bus. I could feel my the power of my tattoos glowing beneath my armour, I was eager for blood.
Kalessin had gone back to her knives, as much she liked putting bullets into her enemies, she much more enjoyed the feel of blood on her blades, and her Antique dagger was sharp and thirsty. She and Impetus had positioned themselves in a shop further down the street and as V13 moved down the street towards us, they leapt out of the broken window screaming like banshees.
HorstHorstman, Flashblade and I let loose our shuris in massive volley to cover their ambush. But Impetus lost her footing as she landed, and as she took a second to rebalance, Owiec retched searing blood onto chest and arms, and followed the lethal dose with blade into Imp’s throat.
SchwertIsche dived out from behind her cover, slashing a fury of knives, and Blingbling rained down more shuris from a window above. Kalessin seized the moments advantage and roared her own searing blood onto Tatiana, whilst puncturing her leg with a viscous knife wound, and then Kalessin was gone again, backflipping out range of a rain of throwing knives.
The fight turned melee as Windlicht and Waffler also launched themselves from their hiding places, while AudatiousTitan, Bebbsy, and Darkside pumped bullets into the throng.
The two Black Knights of each clan strode into the fray, Marmaladegirl from V13, sweeping her huge longsword, but to no effect – Windlicht and Waffler ducked and danced away. Whilst Evangelion, our own mighty mace wielding god of war, laid waste to Tatiana as she struggled to reload her rifle. Crushing her skull like it was rotten fruit, with one massive blow.
I needed to move, the bus was being riddled with bullets. I broke cover and dodged past a cluster of manikins, using them as decoys from the shurikens that were homing in on me.
Clan members were dropping on both sides; this was a close fight and at that point I couldn’t see who had the advantage. I weaved my way through the street, loosing shuris at every opportunity. I saw Scrapps get caught on one of Darkside’s traps, his leg pinned to a car door that was covered in spikes and launched on a spring-loaded hinge. I put him out of his misery, with star to his heart.
Then the tide turned. SilverTitch, another blood-brother of mine, emptied a full clip from his AK47, and Helldemon went down.
I saw him. Laaska, my opportunity for revenge was there, presented like a cake on a birthday. He was being kept busy by Kalessin and SW2934, they were dodging his manic slashing – although SW still took a bad wound.
I ran towards them. Nayrlien caught me with shuri in the arm, I returned fire and Nemoralis stepped into range, my star shearing the side of his face, clean off. The spray of glorious red nectar, captured almost in slow motion in my minds-eye distracted me, and when I turned back to Kalessin, Laaska had rolled out of range, and disappeared from my sights.
Numbers on both sides were starting to dwindle, and the fight had turned into a hunt, as most of us used the cover to hit and shimmy away. Minshres and Evangelion stood back to back like a colossal tank, in the middle of street. Mins was blasting away with his shotgun, and Evan swatting with enormous mace at anyone who got too close.
I was pinned down in a shop doorway when I saw Igor take down Kalessin. One of his lethal axes severing her arm, and as she fell, he was upon her, finishing her off with teeth and claws. I had too turn away. Feelings of pain anger me, yet beneath it, I felt… hunger. I am as hideous as I look.
Evangelion and Zenfalcon had cornered Marmaladegirl, they were all exchanging blows, taking agonising cuts, and the blood was bathing them from head to foot. Nayrlien seized his advantage, one moment he was on the other side of the street, then in a blur of agility, he was behind them, his shurikens raking their already wounded bodies as the fell.
And then the moment I had been waiting for. HorstHorstmen was pummelling Laaska from above, he was knelt on the ledge of a shop awning. Laaska was swiping up at him, but his reach was short. I closed the gap, and readied my stars. One flew straight, slicing through his achilhies tendon, he dropped to one leg howling in pain, and launched another into his throat. My rage was overwhelming as I fell onto his body, his blood gushing into my face. I tore his throat out with one bite, tearing at the flesh like a dog.
Marmaladegirl took down AudatiousTitan, cutting him in two with huge front slash. Horst, Flash, and myself ran to his aid, but our shuirkens merely scratched her toughened skin. It was Minshres who finished her. He stepped into her range, but she was exhausted from battle. He levelled his shotgun at her head, and the shot shredded the flesh from her skull, spraying brain and blood onto the wall behind.
They were all but done, but so were we. It was barrage of ranged weapons, and shurikens and bullets were buzzing through the air like a myriad of angry mosquitoes. It came from nowhere, one of Igor’s axes, burying itself into chest. I fell, and the gloom descended.
My eyes opened to a new day. Kalessin held my head in her lap, she was stroking my face with her delicate fingers, a smile radiating across her face.
“Horst, Bling, Minshres & Flash won the fight.” She whispered. “Just a few more moments and you could have shared their victory. I’m sorry.”
I laughed as heartily as my tentacles would allow.
Link to - The day that Hell came to town
DAY 5 - End Game
It was more folly. We should have surrendered after our victory, but HorstHorstman is as stubborn as he is brave.
"Let's push the advantage. Take them now, while we have weakened them!"
"Advantage?" Minshres spat. "What planet are you living on? the only advantage we have is staying here & getting drunk."
Evangelion sat on an first class airplane seat, placed on a dais at one end of the abandoned metro station that was his clan HQ. I was next to him, sat on a beer crate, slowly drinking its contents. Horst and the rest of the clan were spread out along the station platform, the rejoicing of our win had gone sour. All around us were the heads of beasts he had killed in the Wastelands. The six eyes of a Hydra glared down at me.
Evan was silent for a long time.
"If we go now, we might catch them un-prepared. Or we might just run into our own demise." He had a grim smile, white skin pulled tight over dark bones beneath, and his eyeballs glowed with a dim blue of ice. "Ok, let's go."
There was still daylight outside, we ran through the city's streets, passing through many different clans blocks to reach Horst's target, Deadpool. We lost Evangelion and a couple of others on the way, those damn werewolf raiding parties were becoming more frequent throughout the whole city.
And when we finally arrived, my fears were confirmed. They had prepared a hanging party for us.
I screamed the charge; we were all full of alcohol and gung-ho for blood, so we ran full long into their defensive lines. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kalessin at my side, shooting from the hip with her rifle.
The clash of weapons, bodies, and blood was tumultuous. I knew this fight was going to over fast, but I had no fear. This is what I lived for.... war.
DragonRider was the first to fall. She had been forced to a standstill by two shurikens, one in each leg. Jimferatu pounced, rolling on the ground, and coming up directly in front of her with his shotgun aimed at her torso. The blast threw her back ten feet, and left her corpse pissing guts and blood into the street. But Jimferatu stood too long to look at his handy-work, and SW3294 plowed a bullet from his sniper rifle clean through his temple.
The fight turned chaotic. There were bullets ricocheting and spattering into bodies all around me, Zarkhir, who had been our rear-guard on the journey, ran straight into two clips of eVe_BrO_Of_STe_e's uzi, cutting him to the ground.
We were all taking hideous damage, and then they turned the screw.
NateDogg, Ermantil, and Laaska, experienced and practiced warriors, all pushed forward into the melee, and left death in their wake. My precious Kalessin was taken first, shurikens pierced her armour as if it were made from paper instead of leather. Five more followed, MaxSchreck, Malooga, Phuctiphino, Bodkin, and Yahveh.
I tried to buy the clan some time to fall back. I had merged some new armour before we left, and the runes that enchanted it glowed blood red on the silver metal. My shurikens span off in all directions, as magik lent speed & accuracy to my throws.
But it was too little, too late. One minute Impetus was there, releasing her own stars into their offence, then she was felled by Nayrlien. Zenfalcon too, butchered mercilessly by Helldemon.
Waffler and AudatiousT tried to cover my retreat. Waffler's daggers a blur of speed, but just not fast enough. As I ducked past him, I heard the zing of a sniper's bullet pass my head and explode into the side of his chest as he raised an arm to parry a blow.
I made it into a side alley, where Minshres' shotgun was blasting fiery fury into their lines. SW & Horst were close behind me, but eVe_BrO_Of_STe_e burned them with a torrent of bullets from her deadly uzis.
SilverTitch, AudatiousT, and Flashblade were still out there, Flash desperately trying to hold off the attacks while Silver & Audatious retreated. Both were cut down. Minshres & I were being pinned down by gunfire & ranged, Flash was so close to making it to cover. But they were too many. Helldemon and Laaska blocked his escape. Hell, spun on his heel, slicing Flash across his belly, more than just blood began to fall out. Then Laaska ended his misery, punching his left thunderfist into Flash's chest, and then his right.
Minshres and I crouched in the shelter of the alley. We were alone.
"So, this is how wars are lost." He said, with a crazy smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"Yeah. We lose today." I said patting him on the shoulder. "But tomorrow is a-whole-nother war." We laughed together, too much in pain to think straight, too war-crazy to really care.
I pushed him onto the floor and broke cover, screaming Kalessin's name as I ran full into the line of their fire.
When I awoke, Nayrlien and Helldemon were standing over me. They were both smiling; silly, humorous smiles. Hell put out his hand and pulled me to my feet.
"Damn good fun that." He said barely able to contain his laughter.
"How about we do the same thing next week?" Nayrlien asked, straight faced, but full of sarcasm.
"Piss off." I replied "My bloody head is killing me."
Hell roared with laughter as turned and walked away, calling out over his shoulder "I'll take that as your terms of surrender!"
"I tell you what brother," Nayrlien said placing my helm onto my head. "Let's go kill a dragon instead."
Link to - End Game
__________________
HBS
ENCHANTMENT
This post has been edited 16 time(s), it was last edited by Cthulhu: 02-24-2009 13:57.
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01-28-2009 13:40 |
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Cthulhu
Viking
Registration Date: 11-29-2007
Posts: 726
Location: UK
Race in game: Absorber
Clan: HL
Thread Starter 
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The War of Light & Dark
DAY 1 - The Dark Gambit
She is the Princess of Darkness.
Lysandra has survived in this city for a while, her and that insane brother, Lestat666. Her clan had been struggling its way through the ghetto blocks, trying to establish a grip on the resources, but they suffered losses as many had, and their grip was tender.
I had spent some time there, long ago when my reputation was in question, she had offered me sanctuary. We had a mutual understanding, and vision of how this game of war could be played. That’s how she forced my hand.
I wanted The Source to regain its honour, she wanted to put Dark on the map of forces to be reckoned with amongst the clans. So I called her bluff.
Lestat666 was a trouble-maker, when he ran his own clan he was always biting off larger lumps than he could chew. The war with V13 had taught me some rueful lessons, but they had hardened me, so I took the attack to him, and we caught him napping.
The night was clear and cold, it was only just spring in this land, and although the frosts had withdrawn for another year, we could still see the breath of our enemy as we crept into Lestat’s block.
I led the rangers in the first wave; myself, Flashblade, and Impetus. We carved a deadly wedge into their defence. Our shurikens ripped into their ranks, while the melee fighters skirmished into battle. Flash laid down a massive onslaught, but it was me who took first blood. Gamecrow looked weak; he was low on blood. My first shuriken tore out his jugular, yet the blood barely oozed out of him, that didn’t stop me claiming my prize. My tentacles wrapped around his head and neck, and I drained him dry.
I stood and laughed. This was what my body loved most. I may have been mentally imprisoned by the love of a psychotic mutant she-dragon, and I was. But I was a killer, cold and cruel through to my very core. And the feel of another being drained whilst I had them in my grasp… nothing came close to that.
Around me the battle began in earnest. Miatzo, Horst, and Kenpachi, opened wounds with daggers and swords, the blood began to rain like a warm, fine spray. And there she was, Kalessin, in the thick of it, belching the magic of that searing blood into her foes, and then slashing with her razored blades.
It seemed within minutes the street was awash with the wounded and their blood. I watched as Windlicht leapt deftly through the air, landing on the small of Reaper999’s back, snapping it like it was balsa wood. They both dropped to the floor; he landing in a pool of congealing blood, her firmly placed, squatting on her prey. She wrenched back his head, and opened his throat, burying her face into the wound.
Some of their gunners were trying to take something back. Sparx, Daniel86, and AudatiousTitan, sent volleys into our ranks from well placed positions of defence, but the damage was minimal. Audatious used his arcana to steal Malooga’s searing blood, and sent it straight back at him, burning Malooga’s torso badly, and Audatious used the moment of distraction to pump out a round of bullets.
Evangelion had been biding his time. He was an imposing force on any battlefield, dressed in his Deathsower’s armour. He walked slowly, boldly, into the fray, a giant scythe swaying in time with his stride. He looked like the embodiment of death, and as he lifted that scythe, I could not help but smile at the terrifying image he portrayed. With a mighty slash he cut Bat in two, clean through the right shoulder to the left side of his waist, and swept around in one flawless movement, back-slashing Lestat and sending him reeling away into the shadows.
We had broken their line quickly. They were still fighting, but it was like watching a horde of ants swarming a dying wasp. The blood-lust was upon us, limbs and entrails were scattered across the street, while we cut, gutted, slashed, and flayed our way through Lysandra’s clan.
Tiger_Claw had been threatening to make a show of helping his old friends, and stayed true to his word. Into the midst of the fight an Oldsmobile turned the corner of the street. It’s engine rumbled like thunder through twin shattered exhaust pipes, and the heavy smoke of leaf drifted from the lowered tinted windows. It was a drive-by.
Their uzis & berettas randomly sprayed bullets into the groups of fighters, everyone dropped to the ground for cover. Tiger was laughing maniacally as he pulled himself half-way out of the passenger window, dragging up a huge FN-FAL, and ploughed bullets into our prone ranks.
When they had passed by in a haze of gun, leaf, and exhaust smoke, Evangelion bellowed orders.
“Clean it up!” We all knew the drill; kill anything left standing as quickly as possible before Tiger had a chance to reap too much more damage. Knives began to blur with dexterity and deadly accuracy, several more of their clan went down.
Lysandra appeared from a side-street, she looked stronger than I’d remembered, and a dark aura glowed around her as if she were surrounded by her own personal tempest. Lightning flashed in her jet black eyeballs. Malooga had been stabbing at her with twin knives, he danced backward away from her.
She wasn’t wielding her usual weapon, a deadly sharp scythe. Instead she hefted a huge, old mace, blackened with the smears of encrusted blood. She swiped rashly. Kalessin, who had moved in to support Malooga, ducked and rolled away in a burst of agility. Malooga wasn’t so quick, and took a huge whack to the face, knocking him clear of the ground and sending him flying about ten foot through the air.
SchwertIsche stole an advantage, and swung her mace just as Lysandra was about to pounce on Malooga as he sprawled on the floor. She took Lysandra’s legs out from beneath her, and then quickly retreated. SchwertIsche was not used to the weapon, she’d borrowed it from our armoury, and she was just a little small to wield it well.
Tiger’s Oldsmobile crew had turned their car and were taking pot-shots as they cruised down the street towards us. We pressed the advantage before they came into a dangerous range.
Flash was an awesome blur of small, silver stars. He took out Lysandra before she had a chance to recover from her fall, and then Angelis, in two quick hits. Then he whirled away, running down the street towards the Oldsmobile, calling across to me as he passed “Come on old-man Tentacles, I’m gonna skin me a cat!”
Miatzo was next to me, he spun on his heel, and made to follow, but not before double splicing Xtf with his dagger, and then his thunderfist, raking the blades across his throat, spraying me with the blood. He laughed, pointing at me with a bloody bladed finger, “Haha, old-man Tentacles! Good one.” And he was gone.
But they were both too slow, whilst they were busying themselves with finishing off the wounded, Kenpachi (my old friend Minshres, who had given up a life of guns, for a life of swords), had leapt onto the hood of the car, dodging bullets with enormous dexterity, and wielding an enormous two-handed sword. It glistened with fresh blood under the street-lamps, as he swung it in a huge arc, slicing through the roof of the car, through Biffa (who was driving), and pinning Vilya to the back seat, were she had been sat reloading her uzi.
Horst was also there before Flash and Miatzo, as the car ground to a halt, he levelled his knives went to work. I knew I would never make the car in time, so I threw in some support, releasing seven shurikens in a row. They hit home and Aaammm went down, followed by AudatiousT, who was gouting blood from several wounds when my star tore half his face off.
We besieged the now imobilised car, knives, knuckle-duster’s, bullets, pelted the remaining five of Tiger’s goons. Tiger, himself, was armour plated, but SchwertIsche & Evangelion put their mighty two-handed weapons to good use, smashing and slashing his defences down. At the last, he was sat in the passenger seat, Evan held him down with his scythe and SW3294 stepped up the car, taking aim with his sniper rifle, and pumped two rounds into his chest. The blood gurgled out of Tiger’s mouth, as we fell upon him and the others, gorging ourselves on their blood.
Link to - The Dark Gambit
DAY 2 – Lestat Strikes Back!
I felt angry, frustrated, and my foul mood was bleeding through into my questing; nothing I found was worth a damn. Life in this city was hard, we fight, we die, we fight again. None of it actually meant anything, the inter-clan squabbles, the block wars, the resource stealing; that was all just for the fun of watching others suffer. The beasts were the real threat, out there in the hatchery, those mutated monsters were the things that should make our blood boil.
Kalessin felt it more than me; being born with the dragon’s eyes could not have been easy, even for a vampire. Perhaps that’s how she was able to love my own mutations. This land was cruel, but those beasts were crueler, their defeats were the only true way to feel any sense of achievement.
I had been working hard at fortifying my block recently; the workers seem to have increased, I wasn’t sure why, but it was very useful. Any block I inhabited always ended up looking the same, I had my own twisted sense of decoration.
Everywhere was painted black; the walls, the windows, the shop fronts, fences, the streets and sidewalks, even the lampposts. And on top of the black… was the emblem of death. I hung the disloyal from cages in the street, staked the unworthy to St. Andrew’s crosses, and the unforgiven were impaled through their torso, until the sharp end of the stake came out of their throat. Sometimes the corpses stunk so bad even my pet ravens found them hard to digest.
Lestat came back at me fast and out of control, Lysandra should put him on a leash, he was more animal than vampire. His attack was un-organised, but it was a surprise, so they had some advantage.
As soon as I heard them coming I rallied the clan, some were more prepared than others, but they were a good fighters and I knew I could put my trust in them. I had been trying to enhance my crossbow, working on it’s magical glyphs, so I thought I would give a go in battle - it was a reasonable weapon, but could be better.
Before I knew the attack had begun. I used my blood-magic to absorb some of my opponents strength, and then managed to get off two bolts into Sasuke, one of them tearing straight through the flesh of his upper leg. Kalessin used her searing blood, which is such a deadly blood weapon, and was able to follow it up with shots from her rifle.
Tiger_Claw had hidden himself somewhere; a jet of his own hot blood sliced through the air like a knife, and burned Bebbsy, as he took aim with his sniper rifle. Tiger was also equipped with a rifle, and his deadly fast shots rang out from some sniper’s nest, wounding Bebbsy again, Kalessin, and Malooga.
Lysandra all but flattened Zer with a lethal overhead smash to his head, the hit must of shattered his skull and compacted his spine at the same time, because it was like watching a melon being squashed, as his brains and skull blew out in all directions. Then his legs crumpled beneath him and his collapsed in on himself.
At almost the same time on the opposite side of the street, Evangelion used his scythe to slice off Deathmagik’s right leg. I watched as he then picked up the bloody limb and began to chew on it, while Deathmagik crawled away backwards, trying to reload his sniper rifle.
Their main defensive bulk lay in their strong line of gunners, some would say that was also a weakness. Dragonian had some kind of fast reload on his rifle & managed four shots in succession, taking out MC Elite with a bullet straight into his left eye. Auriga, Deathmagik, Lestat, & Dyson, all sent out a wide spray of bullets, cutting into us. The cover in my streets was minimal, but I knew every nook and cranny, and managed to dive into a side alley, the black of its walls blending into everything else around it, from a distance, it must have seemed like I’d simply vanished.
Set Abominae and Vilya were once again spraying 9mm uzi bullets in every direction, forcing more of our defenders to try and use whatever cover they could, even if it meant using the bodies of the dead, a trick Miatzopheron put to good use.
The fight raged on around me, our melee fighters took the fight to their gunners, getting in close, cutting off the strength of their guns. We managed to take out a few more of them than they did of us.
Then DeviousRock pulled out a new trick he learnt, the spell of Horror. I could not see it properly, but that was probably a good thing as its effect is like that of a Gorgon, it renders the intended victim paralysed for a short period of time. From the alley, I could see the back of him as he leapt in front of Dyson. Then his form seemed to twist out of shape, what it became I could not see, but Dyson froze with fear.
It seemed like half of the people on the street watched as Dyson petrified, until Flashblade took the advantage, he bounded up a wall, leaping into the air, firing off four shurikens, all except one hitting home. Grabbing a lampost with one hand he swung around it, firing off another four shuris, and Xtf went down.
Suddenly it was a slaughter. Horsthorstman took out Bat and Sasuke with lightning reflexes, simultaneously severing both of their throats at the same time. Zenfalcon buried a thunderfist into Lestat’s face, the three blades lodging themselves so hard into his skull, that he had to drag the body with him as he turned on Auriga and dealt her a vicious wound with his dagger.
Their guns reformed themselves, as Sparxs and Tiger_Claw forced us to shelter. Tiger shoulder barged Malooga onto the floor, then while holding him down with a heavy booted foot to the throat, he belched searing blood onto his face. I busied my mind with reloading my crossbow, so I didn’t have to watch Malooga’s head melt into puss and jelly.
SwiftDeath stunned Lysandra with a shuriken into her left hand, it barely scratched her stone-like skin, but it gave Bebbsy the perfect aim, and he put a bullet between her eyes, blowing the back of her head out like a wet paper bag full of doughnuts being stamped on.
There were only a handful of them left, and not all of them were standing. Blingbling and Miatzo finishing off the last two rifles. But it was Flashblade who pinned down Vilya, Dark’s toughest gunner, with a volley of shurikens; thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.
Later in the evening when Lysandra awoke, I was sat waiting, blowing smoke rings towards the setting sun as it dipped down behind a crumbling highrise. I helped her to her feet. Most of her clan had already sauntered away back to their blocks.
“You having fun yet?” I asked playfully.
“Fuck you Squidface.” She came back.
I turned away, walking back into the darkness of my black painted armory. “Yeah, yeah, keep on trash-talking, I’ll see you the same time tomorrow.”
Link to - Lestat Strikes Back!
DAY 3 – Rock is deader than dead
A long time ago in an age when humans were the dominant species, there was a story taught to children to make them learn a simple law of nature: there is always something you should be afraid of.
The myth went something like this…
It was the pitch of night, broken, stony, the bone-shudder chill of fear was spilt across the hillsides. They were star-wash bathed, pitter-patter-pitter, in lamplight that drifted from the inky deluge of the Behemoth’s eye.
Long bayed the howl-bags, loping low with jowls, foul and slaverous, and burnishing the tell tale kiss of the bestial darkness.
Asleep amongst a bed of lambs, the blood of man, sweet dreamer, young soldier, brave defender of the innocent and weak. She caresses baffling glimpses of divine convalescence and lavicious, lust crevices, blooming in her sleeping glowstick mind.
When brittle turns the temporary tranquility, a cantankerous canine, snakes through the meadowed grasslets. Eyes bulbously focused on the nubile flock of tender meat. Only the faintest whisper of spring grass, the palest aroma of enemy, creeps around the senses of our slumberous heroine.
While the sleeper dances through the valleys of eternal bliss, one by one the beast of a thousand teeth, with a heart colder than the emptiness of the void, steals away the flock. Its greed-ridden eyes, molten with hatred and rage, ablaze as the light within a funeral pyre. Dexterous claws, barbed and poisonous protract from heavy paws. Sweat and anger, debauched blood lust, pour out from its tortured psyche. It desires only death, it preys not for food, thrill or game, but because it can. And it devours, it engulfs, it teases and tempts the flock, consuming every ram, ewe and lamb. It knows no mercy, it lacks the ability to emote; it understands only destruction.
And still the sleeper does not awaken. She holds within her heart the fragile tenderness of a newborn child, making the generous look mean, the selfless feel ashamed and the kind seem unapproachable. Yet all the while, she allowed the beast to rape the essence of her being, butchering in silence in front of her closed eyes.
When she awoke, sunlight rippled across her horrified visage. She had tears streaking her face but did not feel them. Around her amongst the balmy, long grass, where dew formed, as the earth itself joined her mourning. She saw the remains of her flock, scattered carcasses, blood stained ground, dead red trails through the living green.
She was their keeper, their protection, she had been nominated responsibility for their lives, and yet she had lost them all. She knew she could not return.
So, as the sun cleared the tree line, burning off the remnants of morning mist, she wishes it would shed her memories of the sorrowful sight. Our humble hero kneels in the pasture, amongst all she held dear, and pushes a small dagger into her heart. Her body sighs and lays down with her flock once more.
Kalessin laughed when I told her this story. “Humans may be pathetic, but I have to admit some of them showed a spark of wisdom!”
She was arrogant, but who could blame her. We are all gods in the eyes of mortal men, we could die ten times a day, and it only makes us stronger. We are the beast that hunts in the night.
She led her assault in the early hours of the morning, just before dawn, it was her favourite time of day. We were worried that Dark were losing interest in the war, but apparently some of the clan were more keen than others. Set Abominae was prepared for us. Sparxs signaled the spring of the trap, with three precise sniper shots into our horde. Kalessin was at the lead, and took the first hit, it was a clean shot to her hip. I knew she would be cursing herself for deciding to use her knives; her gun armor gave her more defense. Lecs and Guilty Pleasure also took serious body hits, big wounds which slowed them down.
We took the bait. Set’s plan was simple enough, I should’ve realised it earlier, but we were blood-hungry. He had lined up their heavy artillery of gunners and rangers into a defensive position at the end of a cul-de-sac, behind his Police Station. In the street in front of the station, their melee fighters waited to tempt us into the dead-end.
We saw them, and instinct took over. I had brought my composite bow it was lighter and faster to load than the crossbow. I got off three shots in succession, giving Anzu and Drater wounds to moan about.
We ploughed into their ranks, something they were not expecting – we were a lot faster than they had anticipated. Blades clashed, blood sprayed, bullets flew.
Evangelion had brought his long sword, “Wraith” is what he had named it, and it certainly lived up to its name. A ghostly aura emanated from its blade, like ripples of white flame dancing around the serrated edges. He spun a swiped at Set Abominae, but Set was skilled in the art of miss-direction, and he feinted a move to the right but instead ducked to the left.
Their melee fighters hit back hard. DeviousRock was cornered by DeathMagick, who cleaved him with a bastard sword, taking Devious’ right arm off at the shoulder, and slicing down through his chest. Lysandra then stepped out of the shadows and side-swiped at him with her huge mace, it smashed Devious’ head off his shoulders, and sent it bouncing down to the street towards me like a rubber ball.
My arrow to Drater’s shoulder had sent him into a rage, he fell upon MC Elite, covering him with searing blood, and then pounding him with a mace that glowed with poisonous radiation. Stepping up from the body, he blindly swung at Impetus, missed, but Miatzopheron took the hit full in the chest, I heard ribs crack, and he flew back into Waffler, who could only stare dumbly at Miatz as he coughed up a small pool of blood.
A gunfight ensued, as their gunners rained down bullets on us, and ours tried to buy us some breathing space by returning fire. Bebbsy landed shot to into Drater’s head, putting him out of his crazed berserk, as Evan wielded Wraith in a huge arc, knocking away Lysandra’s guard and severing a deep wound across her mid-rift, which pissed blood and left her entrails fighting to stay in her body.
We were chipping away at them slowly, but they kept pushing the offensive. I fired, missed, stopped to recover an arrow, and saw Bat pounding GuiltyPleasure’s face to pulp with a blood soaked knuckle-dustered fist, whilst screaming with joy. And next to him, DeathMagick up-sliced Lecs through the groin, the bastard sword cutting through his armor and body as if it were warm butter.
Evangelion rolled under a volley of shots, and leapt into Bat, hacking at him with Wraith, gutting him with a wound so deep I could see through to his spine, and it sprayed half of his internal organs all over DeathMagick.
I saw Miatzo, still clutching his wounded chest, fending off Xtf, managing to take him down, and as I tried to run to give him some cover, Sparxs finished him with a single shot. Lestat had rallied to help Lysandra, but they were both wounded, and Zenfalcon made short work of them, and managed to viciously wound Auriga, then claimed his prize of Lysandra’s throat.
The carnage continued around me, the cul-de-sac was confined, cluttered with decaying debris of previous fights. Evangelion was being circled by Auriga & AudatiousTitan, like hyenas worrying a lion about a kill. He left Auriga with a nasty wound, and AudatiousT on the floor almost dead, one leg sliced off at the thigh, the other hanging from a thread of ligament just below the knee.
Moments later I saw Shaza move to help AudatiousT, my arrows were primed. My first shot took Shaza in the back of the neck, but I must have missed her spine, because she staggered forward a few paces and fell onto Audatious as he lay fending off other attacks.
I lined up my next arrow, but Swordblade step back into the shot, the arrow lodging into his right shoulder. I leapt down from my advantage point on a dumpster, running across the small road, dodging bullets, and notching another arrow; that titan was mine!
When I stepped up in front of him, he had just taken a swipe at Zenfalcon as he ran past. Blood was pooling around his stumped legs. He looked up at me, luring above him, my bow stretched to its maximum. I smiled and said, “Seeya in a while AT.”
The arrow thumped into his skull, and I fed a little on a stump.
My aim was suddenly sharp. DeathMagick, who had been making short work our younger warriors, was open as he fed upon his prize. The magical power from my tattoos surged through my arms, the shot was perfect. The arrow went straight through his temples, and into Set Abominae’s chest, burying itself deep into his heart. I looked either side of me, but no one had witnessed it. I knew instantly I would have a hard time trying to convince my friends that it happened; then I heard DarksideDnB expel a word from over my shoulder. “Shiiiiiiit. That was awesome.”
They were still fighting hard, but starting to drop. Impetus took down Dasix; Bebbsy put a bullet in Dragonian; Evangelion caught up with Auriga again, and finished her, taking her head from her shoulders, then turned on Swordblade, severing him in two – Wraith was working hard today.
There were only a few of them left, but they were the hard core of Lysandra’s defense; Tiger_Claw, Vilya, Anzu, Dyson. Vilya sprayed uzi bullets into us from a fire escape above our heads, Kalessin and Evangelion were both taken out. I took a bullet from her, and as I dodged others, Tiger covered me with searing blood. It burned through my armor like acid, melting any flesh it touched.
I was reeling from the blood, my skin bubbling, the pain was unbearable, I rolled my self in a pool of someone else’s congealing blood, trying to cool the heat. Anzu was the one who finished me. The silent kiss of a shuriken brought me relief from the agony.
When I woke Bebbsy greeted with me a smug grin, cleaning his sniper rifle.
“Fat lady was singing… so I put a bullet in her mouth. Best get back to your den Tentacles, you need some rest.” He winked and wandered off.
Link to - Rock is deader than dead
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This post has been edited 16 time(s), it was last edited by Cthulhu: 03-09-2009 21:27.
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02-24-2009 13:56 |
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Cthulhu
Viking
Registration Date: 11-29-2007
Posts: 726
Location: UK
Race in game: Absorber
Clan: HL
Thread Starter
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DAY 4 – You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
War is a curious concept. All animals fight, few animals go to war. Why is it, we have embraced this obscure pastime? It is in our nature, there can be no denying that, it is a leftover remnant of human and vampire ancestors. War is a necessity of our psyche. We create complex relationships, revel in the politics of personality, demand the satisfaction of sacrifice, and we need war to fulfill our most base of violent desires. War feeds all of those emotions… and for vampires; it can be great fun!
The clan were a little spiritless. Three wins in a row and you’d think they would be hungry for the kill. But a few of them were more interested in trying to hunt the beasts of the hatchery. Several parties had gone off to try their luck, so when Xtf launched another siege; we were severely out-numbered.
Kalessin was sleeping on a huge pile of wolf skins in my den when we heard the call go up. It was Zenfalcon’s block under attack. She woke, looked at me, and frowned. “I have no time to get my knives.”
“No worries,” I replied, and smiled as I unlocked my armory door and let it slide open. “Help yourself.”
She picked my shurikens; she’d never used them before, I warned her that they can be tricky to use well, but she was far too excited by their magical shining silver runes to care. I lifted a huge two-handed axe out of the back of the shelves.
“You’re never taking that? It’s huge!” She frowned.
“Meh, no point it sitting in the bottom of the armory gathering dust; it seems such a waste.” But she was right, the thing slowed me down a lot because of its weight.
We ventured out into the scorched morning. The city was bathed in its usual half-light; the sun was up there, somewhere, but only its haze made it through the post-nuclear clouds that smeared the stratosphere like thick, un-dried paint running across the ceiling of the world. When we arrived at Zen’s gathering point, I was disappointed to see only half the clan.
There was no real time to devise a plan, but with the numbers we had, we had to just take the fight to them, and hope we could take enough of them out before they overwhelmed us. When they arrived in an armored plated coach, some of the windows half protected with corrugated iron, with gunners position inside, and the roof lined with melee fighters. I knew we were in trouble.
Kalessin was excited to be using the shuris, and fast. She was ahead of the pack by a good length, vaulting onto the bonnet, she belched searing blood into the front windscreen, where Lestat666 was stood next to the driver, following her red vomit with a volley shurikens into every space she could find.
Our melee fighters took the fight to the coach, but theirs also broke the position to meet us, within seconds the street was alive with the sound of warfare. Before I had caught up with everyone, Ape and MC Elite were dead, and the feeding had begun.
I took a bullet from a rifle on the coach, it was a scratch, but as I recovered, and turned to swing the axe, I took another in the arm, which hurt a lot more.
Then Tiger_Claw was all over me, he had dived out of the coaches open doors, launching searing blood into my body, again the burning started, this time I was prepared for it, but the agony was still unbearable. I also caught a bullet from his rifle, in the top of my thigh.
Now the axe was really heavy, weighed down with that pain from my wounds, I was starting to flag. The fight continued around me, it was still tight against the coach, but I could tell we were taking heavy damage.
Shaza put another bullet in me, I staggered and went down on one knee. Kalessin jumped in to help me, but she misjudged her range and the shuris were ineffective. Instead she caught a knife across her face from Gamecrow, leaving a deep wound.
Evangelion saw the danger, as I dodged a swipe from a club by Dyson. He stepped up to the open coach doors, and pulled Shaza out with one hand, as he launched her into the air, he spun on his heel, griping Wraith with two hands and cleft her in two. Her torso landed in front of me with a dull thud and an explosion of blood and entrails across my body. Her legs flew past Kalessin, and hit Tiger_Claw in the face, breaking his nose.
I turned to Kalessin to see sudden fear in her eyes. I followed her gaze just in time to see Drater spit more searing blood into my face. The pain was unimaginable, but thankfully, I did not have to suffer it too long, as he followed it up with a swipe with his radiation glowing mace. The darkness of death was a sweet relief.
Evangelion woke me with a gentle slap to the face.
“That was terrible.” He said, leaning on the hilt of his sword. “Where the hell was everybody?”
I was groggy, and still aching from the wounds that were healing. “I think most of them were out in the Hatchery. What happened after I went down?”
He told me how Lysandra’s clan dealt us a massacre. He didn’t live on much past myself, but as he went down, he saw a few others falling around him.
“Where do they keep getting these bloody vehicles from?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I have no idea, but this won’t happen tomorrow, this war is costing us too much blood, I think that’s why some of the others didn’t turn up. A more important question should be, what the hell did you think you were doing with that axe?” He looked annoyed, but a smile broke across his stern face.
“Come on you dangerous axe-man,” He pulled me up off the floor “I’ve got a present for you.”
Link to - You can't teach an old dog new tricks
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03-09-2009 21:27 |
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