Zone A -- Lowlands

[Enel]

The bearded bastard jumps forward with his spear aimed at Vic. God. Can’t even leave him to take care of one little old man.

I cross the distance in a flash and slap the spear with my right hand, turning its course enough for Vic to retaliate with a solid punch into the old man’s gut.

“I don’t need your help … lord,” Vic murmurs, picking up his revolver.

“Maybe not,” I reply, “But I’m bored. Let me have a turn.”

He steps back and I take the stage once more.

“You must be tired by now, old man.” I stand close to him, bent over with my face well within punching distance. “Time to go sleepy-sleepy?”

He swipes with the spear and I arch back before leaning back in.

“Is it true what my associate said? That you’re some … Norse God? I thought those were only tales. Yet here you are, in the flesh.” I laugh. “Personally, I’m more of a fan of Thor.”

I let loose with my Vari, a simple stream of lightning directed at the God. He roars and stumbles towards me, swinging that spear like he’s a barbarian. I backpedal for a while, stopping the lightning occasionally to dodge and shove him forward, stumbling, only to shock him again. God, this is too easy. If this is really the Odin of myth, he suffered nearly as bad as I did.

“You know,” I say angrily. “When you come here with nothing but a spear, and fight like a mortal, it really makes us all look bad.” Even through the electricity he’s still coming at me, stumbling and swinging. “I get it. You’re angry, you got depowered by Omni and stuck in this illusion just like the rest of us. But could you at least bring something to the table?”

As I sense his spear coming in for a wide sweep, I block it with my staff, which I’d been holding behind my back ‘til now, and use it to push him over. Once again I leer over.

“You’re a God! And everyone is watching you, on their picture dials and Dataverse computer-windows, and they’re laughing.”

He thrusts again and this time I catch the spear. “What’s this? Gungnir? Kinda nice. It hurt when you hit me with it before.” He struggles to pull it back, but I hold firm. Damn guy is strong! This is fun. “What happens if I take it from you?”

This pisses him off. He rips it back out of my grasp and backs away, catching his breath as blood falls down his eyes, his nose, his beard. I laugh. “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna take an old man’s walking stick. I’m not that mean!”

I turn and walk away. “Alright Hendy, he’s yours.”

I sense the psychic echo of his back-attack even before Vic shouts, and I smile. So predictable.

I leap up into the air, flipping backwards as I do so. As he comes forward, I land neatly on the Old God’s shoulders. This crumples him to the ground. I take the opportunity to whip out my Dataverse device and pull up the camera app. I curl my arm around Odin’s neck and he gurgles as I pull him up so that his face is next to mine.

I extend the device out before me, aiming the camera back at us. “Say cheese!” I say. Click.

I throw him back to the ground – a broken, ugly, mess of what was once a glorious being. Truly, Omni is a brutal bastard. But it ain’t my fault. I’m just here to make money and kill anyone who gets in my way. Mortal, monster, God – I don’t give a flying fuck, I’ll kill any bastard who stops me from grabbing a pickup.

As Hendy tags in, I go to the Dataverse and upload the picture on twitter. It’s me, grinning, next to Odin’s bloody and bruised face.

[float=left][/float]

@GodEnel
Check it out! The real Odin! Doesn’t even have any god-powers, only a spear. Sad!

[Karl Jak]

End Day 2 -- Afternoon

Start Day 2 -- Evening (6pm to midnight)

This phase will last until June 22nd at 430 PM CDT

[Clownpiece]

“Ah~” Every muscle in Clownpiece’s body seemed to relax at once as she planted herself into a chair, finally inside the safehouse. Safety at last, there would be no ambushed to worry about while they got the rest they so desperately needed. She laid her head down on the cold stone table, closing her eyes as she sighed contently. Her stomach let out a faint growl not a moment later, and her red eyes eased back open, a frown crossing her face. “Right...” she mumbled. She still had to eat.

The exhausted hell fairy raised her head from its chilly rest. Her eyes flickered over from Dane, sitting across from her, and Cirno, who’d taken a seat right next to her. Both had already taken out their rations and were digging in. Blondie was tearing into some jerky, while the ice fairy was chowing down on few pudding cups. Eyeing both of their meals greedily, Clownpiece slid the satchel off of her back and unlatched it, peering in as she dug through for whatever she might have. Her right hand closed around a brown plastic cube which, when pulled out, revealed the letters “MRE”  emblazoned across the front in a bold, black font, and “Beef Ravioli” in smaller letters off to the side. Leaning in closer to get a good read on the instructions, she turned it over in her hands. It looked like the runners of the event weren’t particularly worried about consistency.

“Cirno, stay still.” Clownpiece said, shifting her seat around to face Cirno as she propped the MRE up against her torch. It did say “rock or something” so hopefully her hellish torch counted as “or something.”

“Why?” she asked, mouth full of food.

“This is why.” Without giving her a straight answer, the hell fairy kicked her legs up and pushed her red and white striped foot against her friend’s frigid thighs. A content grin crossed her lips as the ice fairy’s chill began to work its magic, numbing the dull throbbing of her fractures. “Dane, get over here, she makes a great ice pack.”

“What? No!” Cirno leapt to her feet, backing away from the table. Clownpiece sat up straight, planting her good foot firmly on the ground. She sprang forward with all her might, leaping over the toppled chair and crashing into the ice fairy.

“I’ll hold her down!” She exclaimed, a chill spreading throughout her body as the two toppled to the ground. “You... Iunno, tie her up?”

“You’ll never take me alive!” Cirno’s got her one good arm between her and Clownpiece, and she struggled in vain to push her off. “No fair! You have two arms!”

“No thanks, I’m good,” Dane said placidly, taking another bite out of his jerky as he watched them tussle.

Staying at Safehouse A, for now

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face

Enel & Vic Hendy vs Odin

The god called Odin lurched forward.  His spear acted more like a crutch than a weapon as he stared through bruised eyes at the faces of his assailants.

“Done?”  Vic Hendy inquired as he lifted up the colt and stared down the barrel at their victim.  “Ready?

“Wasting my time!”  Enel barked as he stepped forward and smashed the end of his staff against the side of Odin’s skull.  The god let out a gurgling yelp as he lost his balance and dropped to a knee.  When he lifted those dopey eyes to leer up at the pair of men, Enel simply sneered back and drove the end of his staff down through Odin’s mouth and throat. “Feel the wrath of a true god.”  An erratic wave of electricity cascaded down the length of Enel’s weapon.  

After the first few waves of lightning, Odin’s charred carcass stopped exhibiting any signs of life.

“Never took you for a fan of barbeque,” Hendy muttered as he looked at his partner’s handiwork.

[spoiler]
#06 Odin DEAD

Enel takes 2 points of Accumulated Damage (scrapes and bruises)
Harlan takes 4 points of Accumulated Damage (assorted scrapes and stab wounds)[/spoiler]

[Harlan Higgs]

Hendy put the Colt back into his waistband after loading it, gingerly touching his sliced cheek and bruised jaw. "Fuck, that felt like it took way more effort than it should have." Enel pulled his glowing staff from the dead deity's body and let out a derisive snort. "Pretender." 


Hendy just shrugged, wiping blood and ash from his jumpsuit. Either the god didn't see him try to suck the old man dry, or he just didn't care. The wounds were a bit harder to disguise; any mortal man would have been dead twice over from that spear going through his gut, but the Ravnos's blood didn't flow. It was all coagulated and thick, a circulatory system being rather useless for what was at the very least a corpse animated by the curse of a vengeful Judeo-Christian God.

The handyman's divine partner regarded him cooly, and pointed to a stretch of land to their southeast. "The next item drop is there, and it's going to be an important one. I sensed it." Yeah. Sure. Sensed it with the damn mirror thing that he kept poking at. Even during the fight! Hendy couldn't believe he'd posed for what was ostensibly a picture, judging from the flash of bright light. He didn't get this new fangled technology, but even he knew flash equaled picture. He'd gotten enough speeding tickets in the mail from those accursed red light cameras.

"Gotcha, boss. I'm feeling pretty good, although I might not look it. That fight was, uh....a real kick in the get up and go."

He was getting tired of this charade. Friendly old Vic Hendy was good enough when the pretenses of civility reigned supreme, but after the first day, he just couldn't cut it. But Harlan Higgs was a showman and a charlatan and a grandstander. They wanted a show?

He'd give them the greatest show on earth.

Hendy and Enel moving from A2 to A1

[Harlan Higgs]

Hendy and Enel had been standing around, waiting in the spot that the item was supposed to drop in. Damn, he was missing his summoning abilities. There was nothing to do except stand around and wait, and Enel had chosen to pass the time by tapping on that tablet thing again, amusing himself by arguing with strangers on something called "The Dataverse." 

The Ravnos's understanding of technology had kept rather current, a fact which he was proud of. He understood cell phones, and had used them many other times, but any other sort of communications technology had ended with his understanding of a strange and powerful device that could send messages nearly instantly across the phone lines. You just put in a document of whatever you wanted to send, and it would print out a copy on the receiver's side. It was called "the Fax Machine".

Computers, Vic had never bothered to understand. Why should he? He had had people for that. But now, without any resources here, he was cut off from a section of the competition that the other had been taking advantage of.

Damnit, he wanted a cigar.

Looking up into the sky, spotting the setting sun, he held out his left hand.

A small, microwave sized box drifted down out of the sky with it's own little parachute, and flumped into his outstretched palm.

"Got it, my Lord. Let's get a move on."

Harlan and Enel claim the drop at A1.

[Dane Regan]

It wasn't the longest rest in the world. But over the six and a half hours or so, my party and I had managed to get some sleep, eat a bit of food, and generally redo our bandages and such. My left arm was relaxed in a sling I'd managed to set up from some loose supplies about the safehouse. Nothing spectacular, but I figured waving it around probably wasn't a good idea. I did entertain the slightly morbid thought of tearing it off and simply throwing it at someone with the aim of initiating a duel - I didn't have any gloves or gauntlets - but that'd be dumb. There was every possibility of getting it healed from one of these item drops.

Speaking of which, just outside the building was one of the forecast locations for the next set of drops. We had just under an hour or so until it arrived, but I preferred to be early. 

"Clownpiece, Cirno. We're leaving. There's an item drop landing near here in under an hour. There could be some of the medicine we need."

I just got moans and grumbles in response. As energetic as the pair were earlier, they'd slowly started enjoying their relaxation more and more. 

We'll just have to give them some motivation.

I clicked the fingers on my good hand a few times, sending illusionary sparks and flames spiralling near the two of them. They both sat up with a jolt, Cirno saying words unbecoming of a little girl and Clownpiece rubbing her eyes, yawning.

"Urgh. Don't wake me up like that, Blondie, or I might have to return the favour." A humorous, yet still crazy, grin rose up on her face, flames appearing in her hands.

I laughed. I didn't care that she could burn me alive (or at least try), I still found the gesture hilarious. "Alright, alright... Anyway, there's an item drop nearby so we gotta do. Capiche." I clicked, sending fake sparks flying towards the door. "I'll try to teach this to you once we get there if you want."

Our old plan with me remaining invisible and scouting ahead seemed to work fine in the past. It didn't disrupt our communications too much and we hadn't encountered any problems with it, so as usual, that's what we did.

Team Dane (Dane + Cirno + Clownpiece) moving from Safehouse A to A9. Challenging the item drop. Stealth + Suppression + 5 TEC for Dane as usual.

Time estimations based on OOC time/4. I'll ask in the QQ if I can teach fodder abilities in DA (in case you want the power of a small special effects team in the palm of your hands, if not maybe after).

[Karl Jak]

End Day 2

Start Day 3 -- Early Morning (12 am to 6 am)

It is now raining. Everywhere on the island. Enjoy.

This phase ends at 430 CDT tomorrow, the 23rd of June

[Dane Regan]

"Hey, Clownpiece. Look what I found!" Cirno said, waving around the contents of the item drop while looking over her shoulder. "Huh."

It was in that moment that her friend disappeared in synchronization with a notification on my tablet.

Face to Face: Tamsin vs Lord Zedd vs Isaac Clarke vs Clownpiece

"It seems, Cirno, that Clownpiece has been pulled off to fight in the Colosseum up there." I gestured, removing my invisibility and showing her the tablet.

This is good for us, really. Cirno would be no problem to dispose of.
I disagree. It would be a shame to lose someone after earning their loyalty. Both of them were useful, and given that we're all wounded, we all needed each other. It was a good system.

A sudden downpour jolted me out of my thoughts. Quickly putting my tablet back in my bag, I raised my "shield" (at this point it was more of a wood chunk stuck together with pure willpower, nails, metal, and leather) above my head. Cirno quickly pushed herself under it as well.

"Come on Dane, let's get back inside. Quickly." She leaned on me, pushing me forwards. I didn't need the prompting. Rain sucked, so I jogged with her needing to run to match my pace.

"You don't seem very worried about Clown disappearing off to fight to the death," I commented.

Cirno was breathing heavily, but still managed to reply. "It's super annoying and stuff. And it's going to take aaaagggees to meet back up again. Plus you said you were going to teach us both the cool spark thing you did." She paused briefly to regain her breath. "I'm not worried or anything though. Clownpiece is super strong. She'll beat 'em all up."

I hope she does. I bet Omnilium on her when the popup appeared. It wasn't a lot, but it'd be nice to get a payout.

"I'm sure she will."

And with that we continued running, desperate to make it out of the rain.

Team Dane (Dane + Cirno) moving from A9 to Safehouse A. Just generally escaping the rain

[Karl Jak]

End Day 3 - Early Morning

Being Day 3 - Morning (6 am to noon)

[The Humble Sage]

The Sage was out of breath as he marched further up the hill. No matter how much he climbed, it seemed that the mountains simply continued to grow around him with a similar speed. He paused for a moment under the shelter of a lone tree, standing forlornly amidst the rolling hills. He hadn’t heard any thunder since waking, but he still glanced nervously at the sky as he waited for the rain to lull.

It continued to pour down from the sky, if not in buckets than in unfortunately large goblets, and eventually the Sage gave up waiting. He closed back up the left-over stew that Malon had left for him back at the safe house, and hefted his new walking stick. It did not have the same glamour as his polished dueling cane, but the walnut length was hardy, and the balance was surprisingly good. He packed his things and stretched, glancing at his route further up the mountain range. The peaks were not extremely far, indeed, the island’s geography did not appear to match the studies of natural climatology, had Karl simply created the island expressly for the purpose of his game? It seemed entirely possible, and the Sage found himself more and more convinced that it was likely the case. Just another thing to ask him if given the chance, he supposed.

The slope of the mountains was fouling his mood. They were not something he wanted to experience any more of. To his right the ground sloped downwards, towards a much calmer almost tranquil land. He stared at it for a short while, then glanced back at mountainous slope that stretched out before him. With a huff of decision, the Sage turned and headed downhill.

Sage moves from E1 to A12. Come join me in the dead zone, friends!

[The Humble Sage]

The Sage’s aging knees cracked slightly as he wandered down the hillside towards what was probably the nicest terrain he had encountered for travel. Even the rain that continued to fall did so with more leisure than the petulance it had displayed back in the rainstorm. As he descended towards the lowlands, his collar started to make a noticeable beeping sound. A voice he felt was meant to be soothing spoke from the metal band, though the static distorted its attempts at geniality.

“You are now entering an imminent dead zone. At midnight tonight, all collars within these premises will detonate. You are welcome to proceed in whichever direction you find most fulfilling. This has been your contractually obligated suicide interference message, courtesy of Syntech’s Psychology and Human Services division. Have a wonderful day!”

The pre-recorded voice cut off, and the beeping of the collar dulled back down to an occasional pip, warning him he was still inside the radius. The Sage did not stop walking. Midnight was still some time away, and the number of active beacons was noticeably lower in this part of the island. The scholar chuckled slightly, catching Karl’s humor. The man was clearly dangerous and wielded unchecked power that should be far more alarming to those with the means to oppose him. But for all of that, the man’s charisma was quite impressive.

The Sage glanced up at a lone hover drone, following him from a distance, likely gathering filler footage for commercial transitions. It was little surprise that the claws of syntech reached as deep into the Omniverse as they did. Karl was no fool, he knew precisely how to capitalize on his talents. And yet, the scholar signs up for a deathmatch? He thought with a wry grin. That was a question worth pondering.

Why is it so rainy! Sage moves from A12 to A10. Not much to report.

[Dane Regan]

Things were getting restless in the safehouse. I was bored. Cirno was bored. But neither of us had much motivation to actually do anything without a drop location to go to. Luckily, one pinged up right on our radar.

In this case, I figured the boredom was good. It meant we were both well rested. While from what I saw before the whole of the lowlands seemed pretty empty, it was nice to know we could potentially have at least some advantage in combat - even if Cirno and I only had two functioning hands between us.

"Hey, Cirno. There's another item drop right next to is again. Fucking ace. If this keeps up we've got this competition in the bag." That might have been a bit too optimistic, but one could always hope. It was only a matter of time until we were forced into a fight neither of us could win. Hell, a two versus two with us fighting Black and Red would be considerably hard to win. I reckoned I could just about take one of the if I got lucky and had the drop on them, but my fucked up arm reminded me otherwise.

"I'm on it Dane. Through wind or rain team Cirno shall reign!" She jumped up onto one of the tables, pointing her good hand in the air while grinning.

"I think you mean team Dane kiddo. Dane even rhymes with reign in the first place. And I saved your butt." I began walk towards the door. Luckily, right now, it was in neither wind nor rain.

"Nuh-uh. I'm the team leader and you're my sidekick."

I laughed. "Okay. Okay. Well, anyway, let's just start waiting on it before anyone else. I'll be with you the same as usual. Just invisible."

And thus we began our usual routine, albeit missing one of our members. I hoped Clownpiece could make it out of the Colosseum. She did potentially have three opponents. But, sadly, I wouldn't know the outcome for at least half a day or so, given the time the other fights lasted.

Team Dane (Dane + Cirno) moving from Safehouse A to A4. Ready to take this item drop.

Tell me if I'm roleplaying Cirno wrong and I'll do my best to do better.

[The Humble Sage]

The sounds of the sea gradually overpowered that of the rain as the Sage drew closer to the coastline of the island. The overcast sky reflected a rather dreary ocean, its steady lapping punctured endlessly by the countless raindrops that wafted down to join their salty brethren. It was a peaceable environment, even the rain had slowed to a drizzling mist, minginling with the ocean spray as the sage approached. He stopped, staring at the ocean in the overcast morning light. He thought he could see another island off in the distance, though the rain made it difficult to tell for certain.

He was here to see what could be done, he decided. If he was to pursue his goals, he would need to learn more about the limits of his ability, and this event served his ends. He was not here to preform for Karl Jak any more than he danced for the smiling Omni. He would play their games only to his own tune. It was a futile protest, as the ticking collar reminded him of its imminent detonation. He knew that Karl Jak could kill him with the push of a button, but in the mean time, the Sage’s actions would not bend for those who watched him. An errant wind swept along the coast, pushing back his traveler’s cloak and causing him to squint against the rain that pelted his face.

His revere broken, the Sage glanced down at his datapad, the rain splattering the waterproof cover. According to the information it was displaying the drop should be arriving somewhere here along the coastline. Unlike in the forest, it would prove little difficulty to spot the canister as it made its descent. It was a shame that this zone was the one becoming inhospitable first, the view was quite lovely. The Sage pulled his cloak back up and moved along the coastline towards the item. He noticed with some concern that two other signals were in the vicinity. Wonderful. He thought as he spotted them off in the distance, who shall we be meeting this time?

Sage moves from A10 to A4, searching for the item the moment it becomes available.

[Dane Regan]

"Cirno, stay behind me." I spoke quietly, putting my invisible arm in front of her.

A lone man was also heading towards this drop. That was annoying. I was hoping, given that anyone here would die in about fifteen hours. It should have been an easy wait for the item followed by a sprint to safety. Still, if my intuition was correct, he was either a mage or a homeless dude. No normal person wore that kind of get up.

"That's far enough." I revealed myself, keeping my bad right arm in front of Cirno to prevent her doing anything rash. We might be able to win a fight, but it could be costly. Should it last too long, we'd both die.

"I've got a deal for you. You can't win a fight against both of us. And even if you could, we'd all die to the deadzone. That said, we're in need of some medical assistance. If you're able to heal us, or provide medicine, then we'll leave and let the drop be yours."

Still at A4. Talking to Humble Sage. Still teaming with Cirno. And still potentially contesting the drop.

[The Humble Sage]

The Sage stopped in surprise, as the man stepped out of...something... Perhaps he might be a mage, he certainly didn't know how else the man had managed to avoid his relatively alert senses. Both he and the fairy looked rather the worse for ware, though their survival thus far was a testament to their ability to survive. He listened to their proposition, and despite himself a chortle escaped his lips.

"You ask me to heal my enemies amidst a battle to the death? You will need to offer me more than safe passage in a dying land for this sort of self-sabatoge."

[Dane Regan]

Figures. It was hard for me to get a read on this guy, though. Was he bluffing? Surely he wouldn't throw away his chances just to take down two others?

"I wouldn't quite call it self-sabotage. You get a free item from the drop, and you don't have to fight against two other people." I snap my good fingers, making illusionary fire appear in my hand. Of course, he wouldn't know it to be fake.

[The Humble Sage]

The young boy had guts, there was little denying it, and the Sage nodded to himself as he studied the fire that Dane had summoned. It didn't appear particularly menacing, though he doubted the mage would display such aggression unless he was desperate enough to consider using it.

"I understand your logic, lad. However..." I gesture to his quite disfigured arm, "I do no sport the same level of injury as yourself and your companion." The Sage summoned a similar flame, cupping the infancy of a fireball in his hand, the flame hissing in the unabated rain. Odd that the lad's fire seemed unaffected...

"You will forgive me for saying that I do not feel overly concerned with my own abilities should this come to blows. You would do better to threaten the imminence of the collar detonation."

[Dane Regan]

I dispelled my fake fire. No use going down that route with an actual mage. But, at least I had an idea of some of his capabilities.

"Suicide pacts and fights to the death aren't my thing. I see no reason bluff my way through with that. Heck, for all I know you might take it in stride that you stalled two other to their deaths. Although, I believe you want to fight just as much as we do." I paused briefly, considering something. "That said, maybe this will sweeten the deal. If you have what we need, I'll part with it."

Wait a second for me to PM you the details of the thing Dane's showing.

[The Humble Sage]

The Sage briefly glanced at the item from a short distance away. He shrugged, not looking away from his potential enemies for long.

"It might be sufficient. I won't be doing anything in this dratted downpour, however." He pointed towards the bunker a short walk from their location.

"Wait there while I collect this item, and I will take a closer look at the trade you are proposing."