2
Seems to be the best of the three options.
Printable View
2
Seems to be the best of the three options.
2
2
2. Don't have anything to add, but here's my vote. :p
Yeah, gotta be 2
https://i.imgur.com/SukFsgy.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/AURXG7J.png
Magus Profile!
Inventory
Relationship Index!
Day 1 - The Department 3
Lord Belfeban smiled. It was a grim thing, and definitely unpleasant to look at, but he did.
“I hope you won’t mind my dear, but I’m afraid that, that’s your cue to leave. Worry not though, I’m not so distanced from my manners that I’ll send you out into the cold on your own.” He opened up a desk drawer and pulled out what looked like a thermos. “Come now! I’ll walk you to the road.”
As they left his meeting room, Suibhne twisting between her legs, the duo found another five Magi falling in around them.
“Old Man.” Their leader only bothering to nod at the head of his department. That, in turn got a snort of dismissal from said Lord.
“Ungrateful brat. I take it that our cute little Caster left us a gift then?”
“Gifts. A couple dozen undead. Pretty good work, all told.”
Dolores nearly stumbled.
Caster? Here?
Well, not the servant, but her minions were already on the move. Clearly she’d hit the nail on the head when she concluded that Berserker’s light show of doom was a distraction meant for the high brass of the Clock Tower while the more cunning of the group went about dismantling it from the inside.
“Well, I suppose we should prepare our own presents. Such a cooperative young girl, sending us so many new toys to break! Well then, chop chop, let’s teach this witch why a modern Magus is dangerous.”
That was a sentiment the shaman could share in.
‘Round 2 it is.’ She smiled, a thrill of vindictive excitement running down her spine as Suibhne led the way.
Stepping out of the department, that being a simple crossing of a threshold that was the designated boundary of a Bounded Field, they found themselves standing on a small field of grass. The air was heavy with clouds, thunder rumbling off in the distance, with all the mundanes currently seeking shelter from round two of this freak storm. That left the ground heavy with undisturbed dew, the night otherwise silent as wind bent the boughs of the trees and carried the echoes of a battle yet to come.
“Oh my. You’re an ugly fellow.”
One of the Magi that had come with their group tore open his trench coat, even as a suddenly snarling dog leapt from where it had been lying in a small ditch to try and tear out his throat. What leapt from inside his clothes was a giant, black sack. The shapeless thing opened up with the sound of a zipper being pulled down, just as the dog reached him.
Said sack and dog both disappeared into the man’s coat as he buttoned it back up, not a single ripple or disturbance in the cloth showing where the zombie had been swallowed.
“Sample secured, body bag seals holding steady! EX grade materials confirmed!”
The man’s voice was ecstatic, sounding like nothing more than a child on Christmas morn, even as she stared in shock at something that seemed like it had come from one Bram’s erotic reverse picture books.
“I… uh. Suibhne?”
She looked at her cat, even as Belfeban cackled madly, lifting the thermos up and unscrewing the cap.
“Fly my pretties, fly!”
From her perspective, the only thing that had changed was a sudden gust of wind from the tip of the container. It was the cait sidhe’s suddenly tensing fur that told her what she was seeing. Of course, the zombies weren’t waiting around either. At least four other rotting, half decayed hounds leapt from patches of tall grass or a drainage ditch, rushing at them with a speed that, even in life, would have been impossible to achieve.
Not that, that was the only attack, because hands suddenly broke through the soft ground at their feet, clawing at the mortals standing above them, as at least sixty or seventy other undead began shambling, crawling, and clawing their way towards the small knot of mortals.
Dolores blinked.
‘Were the other departments always this… strange.’
And then one of the men pulled out what she could only assume was the massive cousin of a squirt gun. Promptly shooting a mist of green jelly like liquid in the air, where it coalesced and formed into what seemed like the most generic specter Dolores had seen in her entire life.
Seriously, it was like something out of a 90’s movie.
The faux spectral jelly floated idly before pouncing at the closest zombie, Dolores’ ears filling with the hiss of acid as the thing ate away at the rotten flesh, its form bubbling and fizzling as not even bone was left behind.
And that was before one of the other men pulled out a honest to goodness baseball bat out of seemingly nowhere.
‘What was that inscribed on it?’
Anti-Creep Stick.
Smacking another zombie in the face, it seemed to suck out all of the magic in the construct reducing the thing to a pile of ash.
This opened up a bit of space, allowing a fifth member to let several pieces of folded paper drop out of her sleeves. Taking a deep breath, she screamed as several ghostly bird-women, clearly harpies, formed around the paper charms. Snarling and hissing they lashed out with talons and claws, ripping a few of the undead to pieces.
Amusingly, the last of the Magi simply pulled out a semiautomatic handgun, with a surprisingly shiny ivory grip, and fired what looked like wooden pellets at several hostiles. These pellets then began to turn into masses of twisting, choking vines, which forced themselves into every available orifice before leaving behind only choking, ruined husks.
Well, she’d better not fall behind.
“Suibhne, sic them!”
It was a thing of beauty, to watch as her familiar vanished in a blur of warm bronze, afterimage fading away as a duo of zombies ran at her, only for one to blow up into a shower of blood and gore. As if someone had shot it with a cannon.
The impact was so strong it sent the other zombie bowling over its own carcass, slipping on the now blood splattered ground.
That was not to say she was staying idle either.
Fingers arching with lightning as her circuits lit up underneath her skin. A ball of shadow formed, firing off like a bullet at the downed creature. Its entire front half was stripped apart in a flash of light, rotten muscle, blood, and bone erased as the stump fell forward, legs still kicking and scratching at the ground even without its upper half.
The shaman clicked her tongue.
Only half? She was getting out of practice.
‘Mother would have made me practice till my nails fell off if she saw that disaster.’ Pointing her index finger towards her next victim, Dolores mentally nudged her family as it zipped through the courtyard, a burst of wind warning of her arrival as Suibhne tore through another zombie.
Slicing it clean in half.
Which were both promptly erased by a much stronger blast of green death.
‘Now that’s more like it.’
Her circuits thrummed with the steady beat of power. Controlling her swarm was easy, the specialized insects stinging and biting useless, but their ability to destroy soft tissue giving her a cloak of protection from any physical attacks. This left her free to support the other Magi from range, blasting away with her basic attack spells as the others used mystic codes or, in the case of the Lord, what were quite clearly bound spirits… that she strongly suspected were phantasmals.
“Rip them apart, but make sure to bring back samples, hearts and brains my pretties!”
Little more than distortions in the air, the ghosts ripped limbs from sockets, crushed skulls, and tore huge rents in flesh and dirt alike - nothing able to stop their invisible claws. And so this little ambush turned into a massacre. Without someone to direct the undead, and facing seven fully rested Magi, mindless zombies simply couldn’t pose a threat. Though, if Caster had been there, she had little doubt that things would have been different.
And if she wasn’t here… that means she was probably scheming something.
Never good when it came to magi, especially ancient ones.
Of course, this being a caster, that meant there was a catch to her trap too. Sigils of blood-light forcing themselves to consume reality, perverting the nature of existence to better suit her whims.
“Fi, fi, fo, fum.” A loud sound echoed from a drainage ditch, something like massive feet smashing against stone flagons. “I smell the blood of an Englishman.”
Just as massive fingers wrapped around the edge of the concrete pipe, all of the Magi collectively turned their weapons on what was obviously a shadow spirit. And, despite literally squeeing with delight, every single Summoner also turned their weapons on the coming threat and utterly opened up.
For her part, Dolores took a deep breath, drowning out the roars of an ancient monster of bedtime stories being given physical form.
Before, she had been defenseless.
When Berserker descended with lightning and thunder.
When she had been chased like a rat in the sewers of London.
When she’d face the Vice Director and been effortlessly slapped down.
She hadn’t been able to do anything but run and cower. Yet things now were different. She had her loyal familiar. She had back up from others. She wasn’t surrounded on all sides or in the presence of a quasi-divine being.
Here and now, it was just her and these unholy abominations.
A shaman fighting evil spirits just as she had been raised to.
The Soul is the Key to the Lock.
The Lock is the Key to the Spirit.
Against an enemy like this she only needed two lines, her bond with Suibhne doing the rest, and the otherwise normal house cat doubled inside. Her fur turned thick and shaggy, fangs and claws snarling as the pussycat charged the troll. As a large, ugly, snarling head began to snake its way out of the tunnel, a long, serpentine, scaled neck stretching behind it to a bulbous, misshapen body, the feral sidhe raked its claws across the monster’s face.
“Come ye great rat! My belly rumbles, into my stomach you go!”
Shrinking back, hissing and spitting, the monstrous thing made to escape down the tunnel. Only to tie itself into knots, seemingly unable to tell which way was up and down.
“Puss-In-Boots was mine get and thou art no Marquis! Cease your whimpering and die!”
Fangs once more flashing, the terrible monster shrieked in fear, shapeshifting his head and neck into something smaller to escape, only for Suibhne’s mouth to stretch impossibly wide and bite the thing’s head clean off.
Shadows dispersing into nothing and a small burp from the kitten, now licking her paw, was the beast-to-be’s dirge.
Dolores, for her part, simply wobbled at the toll enhancing her familiar had taken on her.
It was a basic skill all Shaman could perform with their bonded spirits. Something akin to a Reinforcement skill applied to a spiritual entity instead of a physical object. Much more specific than the one used by beginner magi.
“It’s only a shame your familiar took the head. I mourn the loss of such a precious specimen.” Lord Belfeban lamented as he huddled closer to where she stood.
As a Shaman she couldn’t care less. But as allies, she was obligated to pay lip service.
“You might yet be able to harvest something from the remains. Perhaps it will help you come to a conclusion on Caster’s identity.”
He waved his hand dismissively.
“Most likely not. This was a standard bogeyman, maybe even a composite nightmare. More like an imaginary friend than a true spirit. All this tells us is that she comes from a tradition steeped in stories, hardly irregular for that part of the world even today, and she knows how to let regional monsters manifest.” He tapped his fingers against his chin. “Still, best to see you home safely young lady. Here.”
Holding out his thumb, a large double decker bus appeared silently out of nowhere.
Like something out of a stereotypical story book.
“Step aboard Lady Morello and let it know where you need to go.”
Dolores gave the older magus a small bow in thanks, opened the door of the the red two floor bus, and walked in.
Choice Time!
3
1.
2 sounds fun~
1
https://i.imgur.com/SukFsgy.png
Magus Profile!
Inventory
Relationship Index!
Day 1 - The City I
Dolores smoothed out the ruffles of her dress.
The bus ride was moderately unpleasant, there was definitely the lingering smell of death about the place. Perhaps having to do with whatever was used to bind the spirits powering the vehicle. But it was otherwise immaculately clean, with large seats and even small vending machines in the back. She actually wondered if this had been a mundane tour bus or something, such was the… mundanity of its interior.
Not to insult its raw magical ability.
Oh no.
Because the bus was quite clearly insanely impressive. It was navigating the sometimes torn up and debris strewn roads without a hint of turbulence, even as the seemingly driver less automaton rocketed down the road at several hundred kilometers an hour. The only complaint that might be levelled is that it sometimes radiated a sense of perverse pleasure as it plowed through the swarms of undead that were beginning to gather on London’s streets.
“They couldn’t have possibly seen Harry Potter and done one better… wait.” Checking the vending machine, she noticed that it not only offered a most excellent hot chocolate, which she got a cup of, but also… every other amenity one could need. “Who the bloody Hell gets a torture rack out of a magical vending machine. What Magus would trust that? I mean, I suppose I can imagine more than one pervert doing this for… libidinous reasons. But did that department do that on purpose or does this machine just sell, more or less, every mundane item I can even think of… oh. That makes sense!”
It was alchemy. A matter transmuter pulling images from her mind, the self stimulation devices themselves coming up because she wondered if it would include such a thing, lo and behold, it did. Fishing out a few pence, she ignored the objects in question and instead picked up a packet of moist towelettes, a rather warm knitted scarf, and a particularly large novelty fish toy.
Which Suibhne promptly claimed as her napping spot and fell asleep atop of.
‘Lazy furball.’ She fondly scratched her familiar behind the ear.
This was still an excellent opportunity and one that Dolores fully intended to embrace. Tying the new scarf around her neck, and making sure it wasn’t booby trapped, possessed or something silly like that, she mentally ran over her list of combat appropriate spells.
“Gandr, of course, I have my hypnosis whatever good that does me, Reinforcement and Scrying. More useful, if I know when to use that, even if I struggle with the former a bit. And that leaves me with Rebuke and my little altar here.”
Scrying was a pain to do on short notice, though.
Unlocked! List of Spells
Still, this short trip provided her with just the opportunity she needed to put her thoughts in order and review what she knew of the situation going on. Namely, the thunderstorm raging across the city as Berserker did its very best to attract the attention of the Clock Tower’s finest.
The attack on the department of summoning. Most likely Caster’s involvement.
As well as her conversation with Lord Belfeban.
‘Something is going on. And they want to keep us away from it.’
The Department of Spiritual Evocation was the one most suited to dealing with Spirits and Rituals so it made sense to keep their attention focused somewhere else. Which meant that the Department of Shamanism was most likely facing a similar threat.
Hands clutched her seat in anger.
‘If they so much as scratch one of our walls, I swear to the Great Spirit I will make them rue the day they were born.’
The Department was more than school. More than a place she visited out of obligation to her family.
It was a haven.
Family itself, in all the ways that mattered.
A place where she could be herself, for whatever given value that had, and not be reprimanded.
“Kitten, I smell a disturbance up ahead.”
Her familiar’s voice broke her reverie, bringing the young magus back to reality.
“A Bounded Field? Like the one in the tunnels?” That would mean they were right to assume Caster was involved. But that also meant danger. Last time they walked into one of the witch’s traps, Suibhne had been taken from her and a mob of zombies sent to make mince meat out of her.
“It has her scent. But the field is much larger than the other one.”
So not a security system so much as an alarm.
That was good. Meant there might not be safeguards in place.
Looking out the window, the shaman could see their destination.
The City.
Dolores, introverted young lady and magus that she was, didn’t make a point to visit it often. Most of her time was spent either underground or in the more selective areas of the city, so she didn’t know the layout as well as she probably should. She did know that at this point in time there were probably a lot of people there.
Easy pickings for an ancient mage.
She could already imagine the pandemonium. Caster’s undead flooding the streets as they attacked the locals.
The bounded field was probably meant to keep people from noticing it.
And they were headed straight for it.
Ultimately, it wasn’t even the illogical choice. Swarms of undead were easy to create, their numbers could grow rapidly, and a few powerful monsters thrown in could magnify the danger they posed by several orders of magnitude. Add to that the low likelihood that anyone but enforcers would be prepared for what was happening - Lord Belfeban aside - and such traps would likely be the doom of many unwary, greedy Magi.
Their corpses would only further serve to enhance the horde’s power and actually offer a degree of serious opposition. Even if it was only the lingering mana gleaned from a magic user’s blood, that would still be enough to run a quite efficient Reinforcement for a good while, assuming Caster was the one controlling the corpses, and that alone would be a serious threat if there was sufficient chaff to hide the more powerful beings from any first strikes. Or, even better yet, to wear down any prey and then send out a powerful reserve at a key moment.
“I suppose I have no choice. I must destroy it.”
It was the only responsible thing to do. And she was a Lady now.
Never mind the fact it might convince the Vice Director to disarm the bomb inside her. No, she wasn’t doing this for personal gain. Not at all.
Making up her mind, the young shaman hopped out of her seat as they neared the bounded field, body thrumming with nervous energy as she walked towards the exit door just as they arrived at the City - the comforting present of suibhne washing over her as the familiar clambered after her.
The cait sidhe’s toy fish secured in her jaws.
The bus lurched slightly as she pulled on the cord, brakes lightly screeching at the sudden stop and the exit door opened with a tired groan. The cold air of the afternoon washing over the small magus as she walked down into the street.
It was a novel experience.
Strolling down the streets unattended with only her loyal cat spirit for company.
What few people were left outside seemed almost oblivious to the fact anything had changed. Though there were also clear signs of magical manipulations. For one, electricity wasn’t permitted in or out of the field meaning nothing worked. The people inside of it were mostly ignoring this fact, even having devised a few rather silly work arounds to get past areas previously accessible only through automatic doors.
The lightning storm was as good a motivation as any. Especially after Berserker’s first attack.
Nobody wanted to stay outdoors for a repeat.
She weaved in and out of the street, careful not to be spotted as she ran along the sidewalk.
‘Something is going to happen. We just need to find out where.’
Suibhne took point ahead of her, tracking whatever magical scents she could.
‘Nothing so far, kitten.’
‘No trace of Caster?’
‘Only the bounded field. I can’t smell any undead either.’
It was below a Lady of the Clock Tower to use expletives, yet Dolores couldn’t help but hiss out a silent curse as she sidestepped a stranger, gliding down the street without missing a single step.
‘Should I try and scry for something?’
There was no telling how the bounded field might affect the end result. Something meant to conceal information from the outside might cause a backlash should she try to use her spell. If anything there might be failsafes they failed to consider before.
And that was when a small child lashed out at her.
The girl’s face was round with baby fat, chubby even, in that stage between toddler and youth. It also split into four pieces, grasping tentacles tipped with stinging barbs burying them in the ground right where she had been. Even then, no one else reacted, totally ignoring what was going on. Dolores herself gasped and kept moving as the creature’s clothes fell away.
Clearly inhuman, perhaps a monster or merely a homunculus, it was ril thin at the waist - only large enough to fit its spine - with a swollen rib cage that bulged with cancerous tumors. Its hips were like two dinner plates welded to a series of… fleshy levers and gears and its feet were actually shaped to look like shoes from the outside while still being part of its body.
But it was the jagged, boney blades that popped out of its arms that told Dolores any form of close combat with this creature would be a mistake.
She was cut slightly, bleeding from a long and shallow slit that had split the skin of her arm, and couldn’t cast any spells in front of so many normals. The consequences of such a thing aside, there was no telling how the bounded field might react to actual combat. In the worst case scenario they would return to normal and be slaughtered by the thing that was currently picking its way between them - short legs limiting its speed - as Dolores’s slightly longer limbs benefitted from sufficient Reinforcement to get her down an alleyway and then over a fence.
Suibhne, putting her toy down, walked over to her master.
“I’m sorry. It didn’t smell any different from the other humans around it.”
Somehow, the cat’s entire body radiated regret and apology.
"It's ok.” Dolores winced. “I can use that information too.” Using her new scarf as a makeshift bandage, she wrapped her arm up. “That means we’re dealing with homunculi. Like the one in the tunnels. Just scattered throughout the human population. Maybe as a trap for the Enforcers?”
Something she failed to consider when walking right into it.
Worried as she had been about the possibility of an undead horde. The threat of homunculi disguised as citizens was much more deadly to the average magus. Enforcers wouldn’t care to look too deeply into cowering civilians.
And get ambushed.
This also meant that they could move about in the city with impunity. Which didn’t explain the concealment field. What were they doing here if they were already hiding in plain sight? What was being accomplished?
Suibhne hissed, leaping to her feet with her fur standing on end. Dolores, hearing the sounds of bone hitting brick, looked up to see another homunculus crawling over the top of a nearby building. This one was roughly shaped like an adult man, though his torso and gut had been split open as four, huge, spider-like legs protruded from it. Its actual arms and legs hung limp, flopping about, with thick, corded ropes of muscle hanging out of slit torn into the flesh. Worst of all was the set of eight eyes, seemingly growing out of its mouth, questing about searching for her.
Right now, she had a split decision to make.
How to survive this situation.
Choice Time!
Guess who wrote something up but didn't hit the send button? This idiot.
BUSTER: Disorientate with Banishment spell then shoot with Gandr, aim for head/eyes. Maintain swift foot work and the like to evade getting hit.
BUSTER: Spam Gandr on the Homunculus in front of Dolores and kite it until it's dead. Let Suibhne handle the one up top.
Simple, but effective. Rebuke isn't gonna do anything against a Homunculus. Going with our most offensive option head on is the best choice.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by zikari8
I like this one, so +1.Quote:
Originally Posted by zikari8
i feel arts could be more useful in the long run but i can't quite devise a plan myself so,
+1 zik's Buster
https://i.imgur.com/SukFsgy.png
Magus Profile!
Inventory
Relationship Index!
Day 1 - The City II
Her immediate reaction was a human one. The desire to scream in horror at the monstrosity before her. Dolores was no human though. She was a Magus. And by the time her hand had come up and around, fingertips glowing with energy, she was already unleashing a super charged Gandr with everything she had.
“Suibhne, attack!”
Snarling, the ball of fur and claws followed right after the ball of directed FUCK YOU.
This was, of course, the plan. Distracted by the magical attack, pumped up enough to actually do some damage, the homunculus dodged out of the way. Very conveniently putting it in mauling distance of the adorably omnicidal kitty cat. Faux spell flesh split under razor sharp claws, the bronze spirit being more than capable of tearing into such a relatively weak enemy. After all, she was a living mystery. And what paltry magical resistance that could only just negate a Magus’s spell would do little to so much as slow her down.
That’s not to say that the hostile was passive, rather, it began wildly slashing at the vicious mass of fur and teeth and claws doing its level best to disembowel it. This, though, did little. Suibhne’s small size and high speed complimented the awkward angle of attack, meaning nothing but the most glancing of hits landed.
Conversely, her small size also limited the amount of damage she could do. A house cat’s claws took a great deal of ripping and tearing to burrow through a grown man, after all.
That was Suibhne’s other strength as a guardian spirit.
Not as magically powerful as Gold.
Not as physically strong as Silver.
She was a true balance between either.
Fast enough to escape the wild flailing of their enemy, but with enough mystery behind her that her own blows wouldn’t be shrugged off easily.
Dolores, however, was not one to remain idle. Finding her link to Suibhne, the young magus sent a small order.
Duck.
And unleashed a new barrage of gandr spells.
Not as strong as the previous one, but enough of them that the spider-like creature was unable to properly defend itself as they scraped through its flesh. The properties of the breakdown spell causing its skin to slowly peel.
Attack.
Without so much as a moment’s hesitation, her familiar was upon it again. Suddenly savaging one of the legs and doing her best to maul another, it wasn’t enough to stop the creature. Now rearing up and lashing out. Dodging as best she could and trying to play for distance, the little Magus still took a few blows, one of them cutting a line across her stomach and was knocked to the ground.
This drew a shrill, inhuman scream from the cait sidhe who redoubled its assault, Dolores, panting and somewhat winded, still pumped a steady stream of prana into her partner and Reinforced her familiar’s teeth and claws.
Those same claws now flashing with a terrible light as they carved through the artificial muscle and bone. It’s blood leaking through the slashes as it stumbled backwards, the homunculus was already starting to falter. Not that she was going to let up. No, this spider monster had attacked and parasitized an innocent human. A civilian that committed the crime of simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And while she was no humanitarian, such crude and lazy methods disgusted Dolores on a personal level.
Back!
Suibhne had cut through one of the legs, managing to chew through chitin and muscle, and had badly damaged another.
The artificial being still tried to dodge.
Thankfully this time the overcast Gandr struck home, burrowing right through the center of its chest.
There was a faint pop as the organ inside was punctured and collapsed by the impact, a small shower of faux blood spilling outwards as the Homunculus keeled over, manifold legs twitching as it seemed to curl in on itself.
“Is it dead?”
Suibhine burrowed a paw into the thing’s core, ripping and tearing until its chest was so much sloshing meat stew.
“Now it is Kitten. I’m sorry I let you get hurt, I can feel it too, but how bad is it?"
“Not… great.” Dolores winced from the pain. The red line cut in her clothes was beginning to spread. Drawing on her abilities with Reinforcement she dulled the pain and slowed the bleeding, but trying to stand up, she winced. ‘Ok. Breathing hurts, I’m bleeding, but I don’t think it’s… too deep.’ She winced again. ‘But my ribs are definitely bruised.'
Suibhne brushed up against her, nuzzling her head against her partner’s hand. The… mostly clean one. And then settled down to lick the blood from her claws.
“We need to move.” Neither cat nor Magus moved at the latter’s words. “Right now too. We’re definitely too exposed.” Grunting, Dolores used the wall to steady herself. “I don’t suppose you can smell antiseptic or ‘medicine’ can you?”
The immortal cat spirit stood still, visibly taking several deep breaths, before her tail stood straight up.
“I smell more of those monsters!”
Nodding, Dolores took her cat’s words at face value.
“Can you get us around them?”
“If we move now.” Hesitating for a moment, the spirit eventually sagged a little. “But I may need to use some of your power. I’m sorry I’ve already let you get hurt again, but I think I can cover our escape.”
Smiling, she said three words.
“I trust you.”
Something changed between them at that moment. Neither really understood it, but it did. And then, as their bond grew a little deeper, the magic flowing between them a little bit more easily, Suibhne cast a spell. Strands of gossamer and silver and cloth of gold danced in the air, motes of light and water and sound weaving into a tapestry of bronze scales. Each interlocking piece drew tighter and tighter as the work was completed but then, after a moment, it disappeared.
Sagging, Dolores almost fell again as her reserves dropped by a fifth. Combined with her earlier spell usage she was easily down a third of the power stored in her body.
But, considering how a half dozen abominations came running, loping, skittering, and crawling around the corner she considered it well spent. They passed right by her, their misshapen and too many eyes running right over her and moving on.
Dolores let out a sigh.
There were too many of them.
And they came rushing as soon as one of them was killed. They weren’t intelligent like the more advanced Homunculi, but someone had gone through a great deal of trouble to program them to work as a unit rather than individual mage killers.
Her keen mind could already see it.
Dozens of the monsters stalking the streets, watching out for the next target, finding association Magi amidst the populace and then signalling their fellows to surround them and attack. They looked too human to be picked out by sight, enough to fool most people.
And Magi, despite their abilities, could be just as blind to the obvious.
This place was a death trap. With a large beacon telling people to come investigate. There is no way the Enforcers won’t notice and look for the perpetrator, and then get ambushed by the disguised Homunculi.
It would be a massacre.
And since this was a stage of emergency. The Enforcers would send out as many people as they could.
Including Lady Dominika.
The city was in chaos.
Berserker was fighting the Vice-Director over the bridge. Homunculi monsters stalked the streets disguised as humans and Dolores was sure that her own Department was under attack while she was stuck inside a barrier with said monsters. Teacher was also gone, probably having gone back to the Association to help them deal with the situation.
‘But what can I do?’
‘Kitten, you don’t need to do anything. You are nearly out of energy and sporting wounds. We might have to reconsider fighting directly for the time being.’
In this moment their thoughts flowed like water, passing from one to the other without issue. Perhaps their bond was growing, perhaps it was their magical connection strengthened by Dolores’s energy. But more than words came to them.
Suibhne understood her Shaman’s desires. How she was worried for Lady Dominika, how she had no desire to see Enforcers pointlessly slaughtered, and how, deep down, what they did to humans disgusted her. Not that the sidhe didn’t agree, these… creatures were the lowest form of parasite.
For her part, Dolores was keenly aware of her own injuries. As the homunculi dispersed, schlorping back into their human skins, she could actually smell her own blood. Taste the tang and spice of the monster Suibhne had staining her claws. It was sobering and she was hurting. Though, thankfully, her limbs were mostly uninjured - minus a few scrapes and bruises - but her stomach still had a tickle of blood leaking out past the makeshift bandage she’d turned the damaged parts of her top into.
‘My ribs are definetely bruised.’
Hissing a little as she breathed too deeply, she sat down against the nearby brick wall.
This, for the moment, was probably the safest place in the whole area, now that the homunculi had come, found nothing, and gone. She wondered if their programming was complex enough to take up a search pattern or if they’d just go back to hiding amongst the humans.
“Clearly they don’t care about their dead.”
Which was odd. There had been no attempt to secure or destroy the lost materials. And while there was the chance that the Magus in question didn’t think it likely that anyone would be able or willing to salvage a destroyed homunculus, why take the chance? Why… take… a… chance.
“Suibhne.” Her hand was red and the dried blood was tacky. “What are the odds that, that body is a trap?”
Tilting her head, the spirit took a long second to consider their highly limited information.
“Not zero of course. What are you thinking, kitten?”
Frowning, the Magus hesitated but, ultimately, decided to voice her theory.
“That its not dead, more deactivated. And that if a civilian wanders to close it’ll attack. When you attacked it, did you find anything like a core, a central node?”
Giving a whuff of agreement, the cat’s tail lazily flicked back and forth as she half watched her mistress and half watched the approaches.
“Did you manage to destroy it?”
Eyes widening, the spirit gave her mortal friend a significant look. Climbing to her feet, she silently padded over to the body and, hopping onto its chest, rooted around inside of the corpse until she found what looked like a small, hard ball. Pulling it out, she rolled it across the ground. Immediately small tendrils sprouted, questing about blindly and the bronze spirit leapt back, hissing and spitting, as she moved to protect her mistress.
Flicking a few drops of blood off of her hand, the Magus watched as those tendrils immediately began questing after it the second those red, red drops hit the ground.
Without giving the little monster the chance to so much as touch her vital fluids, she unleashed another overcharged Gandr, using up a bit less of her reserves than before as she’d had time to prepare for this cast, and watched the core crack.
“Kill it.”
Claws flashed and struck, moving faster than the human eye could follow, and the nut cracked open. A deathly hiss echoed down the alleyway as it immediately began to bubble and hiss, melting into a puddle of disgusting fluids.
“So this Magus used SEED type mystic codes, combined them with a strong parasite type biological component. From the way those tendrils looked, I’d almost say a modified tapeworm was used… maybe with extra nervous tissues, but no brain. So-” She closed her eyes. “These poor people are still in there. Alive and unable to stop themselves. Suibhine….” Her words were heavy and sad. “I don’t know what to do.”
Choice Time!
1
Time is already a depleting resource, and Dolores by her lonesome cannot handle all these Homunculi.
1.
1. BUSTER DOLORES GO GO YOU CAN TAKE THE WORLD ON GIRL !