Children of the Gods: Arc 2 [Game/Closed]

[Green Shoes]

"Technology?! I safeguarded your kind on the harsh savannah for an age, yet it was man that dropped the Atomic Bomb, man that burnt his brothers and sisters alive in hate! How dare you forsake us!"

The shadow seemed to grow in size, the voice full of hate. The words seemed almost spat out, in disgust.

Nicole cut clean through the web, dropping Jon into her arms and sending them both tumbling to the ground. Albeit landing somewhat awkwardly, they were little more than scuffed, and were on their feet as Prail leaped towards the silhouette. As she swung her halberd, she felt little resistance as it swept clean through the shadows. Stepping forward into the light, the silhouette revealed itself as nothing more than a pile of spiders; hundreds upon hundreds, linked leg-to-leg in a rough, misshapen human shape. Her weapon had cut clean through several spiders in the midsection, though they were quickly ejected and replaced; the place was quickly revealed to be swarming with all manner of arachnids.

A dark, wrathful voice greeted them from the shadows, seeming to come from all corners of the room.

"So be it. I will accord you the burials you deserve -"

His reply was cut short as Aria's energy blasted the silhouette into two. A roar of pain, accompanied by the screeching of spiders filled the room, before the two halves surged toward her, like two waves of spiders, careful to bridge the water. As they closed in on her, a shadowy figure ran behind the group, followed by a large screen of webs, separating the group from Nicole and Jon.

Turning, with his back to the screen, he faced the two half-gods, his hands coated in the same web that sent them into the dream state earlier. Adopting a fighting stance, there was no smile or joy on his face. Simple determination and disappointment made him look almost human. Almost.

 

[DarkRawen]

"Technology?! I safeguarded your kind on the harsh savannah for an age, yet it was man that dropped the Atomic Bomb, man that burnt his brothers and sisters alive in hate! How dare you forsake us!"

Andrew should have fired his bow when he heard that, but he hesitated. Did he really want to give up on doing this without wasting strength? Did he even want to do this, considering that he was agreeing with their cause, if not their methods? Before he got the time to contemplate this, Nicole flew to get the angry guy, Prail attacked the silhouette physically, and Aria fired off a couple of her magic bolts, all at around the same time. What followed was a mixture of failure and half-successes. Nicole took what seemed to be a nasty fall, while Prail's attack did little but reveal the silhouette to be made out of spiders, a lot of them, as well as making the god decide to give up on them.

"So be it. I will accord you the burials you deserve -"

The god had said, but mid-sentence, Aria -Andrew decided that he had no real reason to call her Runa- had hit the spiders, this time with a lot more effect. However, the damage was already done, and the group was separated from Nicole -and that other guy- spiders and webs hindering them in joining the two demigods, as well as getting closer to what seemed to be the current "main body" of spiders. Andrew examined the webs, and quickly decided that the current poison wouldn't do much good to hurt their foe, especially not since the it might not even make it through the webs. And, even if his arrow did make it through the webs, all he would have done was to make a tiny hole in the webs, as well as possibly hit someone inside. Deciding to put it back and thinking of a different plan, he went through the details of why this happened in his head. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was their lack of agreement.

If the rest of us had been prepared for attacking, then perhaps it would have worked.

Had he made a mistake trying to talk his way out of it? No... Andrew didn't believe so, to him, that was the most logical way of doing it, not attacking or judging before one actually had the knowledge needed to do so. However, the mistake he had made, if he had made any at all, was probably to trust in that the others were aware of this fact. Relying on the others to understand things the way he understood them. Because of that, and his general hesitation to attack for once, the group hadn't done the same things.

I'm not a leader, I am very well aware of that. But I think the burden of ensuring that we all acted the same, that we all attacked, laid on me this time.

He wasn't standing idle while thinking, rather trying to examine the situation further, though it wasn't before now he got to squishing the spider on his shoulder, examining it in his hand. His general thought was that he should have just thrown it on the floor and squished it with his foot, and that he now had spider all over his hand, but he started wondering if he could infect the spiders, create a plague of sorts. He began to toy around with the idea, shaping it in hi head, working out the details. A normal kind of plague wouldn't work too well, too long to create, and too long to take effect, not to mention, could he even do that?

Now is really not the time to find out.

However, another thought hit him, and he got an arrow -thought certainly not the one with poison on- and opened a large cut, cutting a vein so that it would bleed more proficiently. It hurt, and part of him wondered why the hell he was doing that to himself, but he gathered up a reasonable amount of blood in his hands, before closing the cut, and creating a poison with a somewhat different symptom, one that would benefit its spread. Due to the nature of a spider's circulatory system -and these seemed to be rather normal spider- as well as the difference between spider and human blood, he could create, or thought he could, a poison that caused a reaction with the blood, creating a poisonous gas that would cause the body to expand, kill the spider, and finally cause the body to burst so that it could spread further. It would work a couple of times before becoming too weak to cause a reaction and simply kill the spiders. The components it reacted to was different from what was in the human body, and the poison was too weak to actually hurt them, so if it actually worked, it wouldn't harm any of the others.

If it doesn't work, it won't be able to spread.

Well, at least he had made sure it would kill the ones that were hit, and that was as good as he could have done with a normal poison. He spread the blood over the spiders nearby, they could still move for the time being as it would take a short while for it to have an effect, and Andrew then stood back, watching, feeling slightly dizzy from the blood loss, as well as the strange use of powers.

For the time being, all I can do is watch. As much as I would urge the others to act in a way that I find preferable, in the end, it's not my responsibility, nor even remotely among my many strengths.

 

[hiei82]

Vera did what she could to attack the spiders yet her weapon was remarkably unsuited for the task. Rather, she used her shield to kill far more at a time while using her sword to pick off those who made there way over the edge of the shield. She could only hope they weren't venomous.

They probably were.

Being mostly useless against the spider, she moved closer to the now identified spider god, striking at him with her sword.

Spoiler: OOC

Sorry for the short post; just not much to say

 

[IFS]

Nicole pushed herself up, careful to avoid hitting Jon with the sword, he seemed unhurt by his brief captivity in the webs. She couldn't even say he'd become more or less angry as a result of it. In the meantime Aria had begun attacking Anansi and Andrew was focusing on dealing with the spiders. What should I do? I'm not sure I can fly across the water safely, it reminds me of the river we went on in the underworld...

Still, she had plenty of power if not a good way to apply it yet, she focused on the spider god keeping an eye out for any attacks he might launch, ready to use her power to try and make them fail. I'm not going to let him hurt any of us.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

"Maybe I shouldn't of said that," Steven thought as the god grew in size.

Although, that turn out not to be entirely accurate, it was a mass of spider. He wasn't sure if the god was the spiders, or just controlling them all. In any case, he knew the shotgun would be of almost no use.

Andrew seemed to poisoning the spiders, but the guy was already looking woozy. He wasn't sure the guy had enough blood to kill them all.

He put the shotgun down, and started to reach for his ax. Still, they still could be over run and die from a constant stream of poisonous bites.

"...man burnt his brothers and sisters alive in hate!

"...Burnt..."

"BURN THE SPIDERS!" Steven yelled to the others, "BURN THE WEBS! JUST BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SET ON FIRE!"

He ripped off part of his sleeve, ripped it in two, and threw it on the ground. He rubbed the ax hard against the shotgun's barrel, creating sparks and setting the bit of cloth on fire.

Taking both of the burning sleeves into his hands, Steven turn around and started to burn the webs between the group and the two the spider God targeted.

 

[Lunar Templar]

"Technology?! I safeguarded your kind on the harsh savannah for an age, yet it was man that dropped the Atomic Bomb, man that burnt his brothers and sisters alive in hate! How dare you forsake us!"

"Oh yes, because humans totally weren't violent and waging war after pointless war and committing atrocities to their fellow man while under the rule of the gods ... oh wait ...." Runa fired back as she fired a larger pair of shots into the charging mounds of spiders. "So what if humanity has grown to the point of wiping it self out. Only a select few foolish groups in the whole of the world still seek to gain and use nuclear weapons, while the rest of is keenly aware that those weapons should not be used again." Runa added before teleporting behind the god, her dagger speeding toward his neck, aiming to end this before they waste to much more time and energy on him.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

As the spiders began swarming over them, Shiro began slashing away while trying his damned hardest to ignore the spider god's rantings. He slashed and slashed at the swarming arachnids, but there seemed to be end to them.

"BURN THE SPIDERS! BURN THE WEBS! JUST BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SET ON FIRE!" Steven's voice rang out, and Shiro knew what he must do. He concentrated, and a storm cloud appeared overhead, dark and rumbling as it shot off lighting bolts to chase the spiders off.

Not much, but it would have to do.

 

[Green Shoes]

Andrew's plague took root in the mass of spiders, causing those behind the surging waves to curl up and die in large swathes. Though it continued to spread, the wave continued to grow in size and speed, and reached the group just as Aria let loose a volley. Without the numbers to replace the gaping holes, the waves were forced to merge into one.

Shiro's storm-cloud rumbled loudly as flashes of lightning lit up the room. Striking randomly, the lightning hit the remaining spiders, collapsing the wave and sending them skittering at the groups feet. With their collective form shattered, they now began to climb the legs of any they found, sinking their fangs into any exposed flesh. While most had little effect other than pain, the spiders refused to let go after biting.

In the flashes of Shiro's lightning, the brief illumination revealed that the pool of black water was somewhat transparent, and beneath the shimmering surface was a hazy image of the fog-ridden city of Dis.

Steven successfully cleared a small gap in the barrier separating Nicole and Jon, and was promptly followed by Vera, slashing at the shadowy figure. As Anansi turned to confront Vera's warrior form, he caught Aria as she warped. Meeting her with an expression of surprise, it swiftly turned to glee as he grabbed her wrist with his webbed hand, before letting go and engaging Vera in combat.

As Vera struck, Anansi ducked and swerved, striking as she followed through. Though his open palm had very little effect on her armour, it was nonetheless infuriating; he seemed to simply watch and observe her, trying to work out her pattern, becoming faster and more adept at dodging.

-----------------------------------

The web on Runa's arm quickly spread over her body, sinking into her skin, twisting around her bones and rendering her a prisoner in her own body. The same feeling from the earlier visions returned; impulsive thoughts came and went without her control. The group were no longer her allies; she only saw their failings, their shortcomings. Runa's mind, her body, her power; was subject to Anansi's will. She could only watch as her arms were raised, and a volley of aether bolts were launched at Nicole and Jon.

Nicole managed to move the shot, throwing the possessed Runa off balance, and sending the volley into the wall above them. Retaining control only over her voice, Runa could feel the power of another volley building, as Anansi became more and more familiar with controlling her body, his will dominating hers.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Steven yelped as the spiders started to bite him. He tried to shake them off, swatting at some on the ground. He decided to set his pants on fire, since the fire wouldn't be able to hurt him, the spider's poison would. He hoped the battle would be over while he still had some clothing left.

He saw the spider god fighting Vera. Hoping not to get stabbed, Steven went "behind" the creature (hoping it couldn't see in all directions) sticking both burning hands forward, attempting to stick them in it's back.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Runa wasn't quite sure what to think of what was happening at first, her arm raised on its on and more bewildering, fired. The it clicked what was going on, "Oh you mother fucker..." She growled at the spider creature as Nicole redirected her first shot.

Runa regain trying to regain control over what was rightfully hers, her own body "Stupid. Body Snatching. Asshole." she grumbled as nothing was doing what she was telling it to do, despite mentally clawing to get control back over her everything. The she felt a second charge growing 'Crap!' "Nicole, I need you or, some one, to keep my palms pointed away from any thing important, that spider bastard has control of my body and powers." she said as she kept trying to get her body to respond to her commands.

 

[IFS]

"Nicole, I need you or, some one, to keep my palms pointed away from any thing important, that spider bastard has control of my body and powers."

Nicole immediately redirected her full focus to Aria, she had only barely managed to deflect the first shot in time before, but concentrating more on her would hopefully make it easier. She had seen what Aria's blasts after all, and wasn't about to let them be turned against the group. Its easier to direct than the lightning at least, she thought, pushing back the strain she felt from deflecting the first, still how long can I keep this up for?

Hopefully she wouldn't have to though, some of the others were already attacking Anansi. Wish I could help, but I need to focus on this.

 

[DarkRawen]

Andrew felt a sting of pride as he watched his plague work, though the feeling quickly got replaced by inescapable fear. Suddenly there was roars of thunder, and flashes of lightning, inside. He froze completely, certainly being fed up with this phobia of his, but unable to escape it. Andrew stepped back, away from the centre of the lightning, as he watched the flashes reveal that the water was more connected to the world of the dead than he had previously thought.

That's not... why is the underworld seen in the water? Why is there lightning inside?

If Andrew had spotted it correctly, it was because of the Asian that had joined them, however, he didn't care. Andrew could see the use of it, really, he could feel the few spiders that got past his boots and jeans bite his leg, but that didn't matter either. He just wanted it to stop.

So damn pathetic. I don't want to show weakness in front of anyone... apart from Kirsten.

Even so, the fear drove him away from the battle-scene. From the corner of his eye, he could see Aria suddenly firing a bolt towards Nicole and the angry guy, but the bolt changed direction, very suddenly. Aria asked Nicole to keep her palms pointed away from anyone else, was she being controlled? He couldn't see any threads outside her body, but he didn't think she would try to harm anyone if not.

I have to... do something.

Andrew looked towards Aria, he couldn't let Nicole get hurt, but he didn't want to go closer to the lightning.

Not this again. I shouldn't be afraid.

He was, more afraid than he had been earlier, his phobia having gotten worsened from the episode with Teshub. Andrew tried to think of Kirsten again, but his mind wouldn't settle down, going from wanting to escape, making sure he survived so that he could see her, and not wanting to be afraid anymore.

Finally, he forced himself to walk towards Aria, covering his ears so he could shut the thunder out, making it slightly less horrible. Shaking, he then grabbed her hands, and tried to heal whatever was up with her, at the same time as he dragged her back with him, roughly and quickly. Back to safety, like the last time time. Not knowing if she was still controlled or not, he spoke, voice making it clear that he didn't like the situation, but forced so that he at least didn't sound as afraid as he was.

"Are you being controlled now?" he asked, though he didn't look at Aria. If she saw his eyes, she would notice that he was frightened, after all. A lightning-bolt struck particularly close, and he lost his cool. He simply held her hands, as he himself sat down, shaking. Curling up, knees close to his chest, he pointed her hands away, in case she still was controlled, and held them, tightly.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

As the spiders began to swarm, Shiro started slashing away with his sword, lashing out with his blade and the occasional Kaze no Ken. Meanwhile the storm cloud kept firing off lighting bolts, seemingly without his control.

He kept moving backwards, trying to gain some distance between him and the spiders. As he did, he could see one of their number curled up in a fetal position, causing his stomach to sink as he realized what the problem was.

Shiro took a deep breath and hurried over to his side, aware of the other girl he was holding hands with.

"Need any help?" He asked, suddenly very self-conscious.

 

[hiei82]

Anansi was playing with her. Each strike she made was a miss and - while her armor absorbed the blows - he struck back with accuracy. Worse, each strike taught the enemy pseudo-god more of her rhythm and patterns. All in all, it meant she needed to change tactics and quickly.

Not that she had much of a plan at this point. However, seeing Steven getting into position gave her what she needed. Vera began making precise jabs with her blade trying to push him back toward Steven. It was a pretty good plan assuming Steven had a plan of his own. Vera hoped Anansi would buy it.

When Anansi was closer to Steven, she struck. Bringing her blade up and behind her for a heavy blow, she pivoted her opposite wrist so the front of her shield was perpendicular with her arm. All at once, she dropped her sword arm. "Thanks for the shield dad" she thought as her fist shot forward, punching with all her might and hoping to connect her shield with the spider god's ugly face.

 

[Green Shoes]

Prail leaped with a vertical slash, the blade gleaming as another bolt of lightning was released. The gleam of the weapon gave Anansi the time he needed, though not time enough; as he ducked away, the weapon carved a slice from his arm. Thrown from the attack, he backed straight into Steven's flaming hands; scorching his back, and causing masses of the spiders to curl and die. There were no yelps of pain or pleas for mercy; while Anansi was revealed to be physically weaker than first anticipated, his will was unbroken, his mind still focused.

As a spider sunk it's fangs into Nicole, her concentration on Aria was broken, giving the God complete control once more. Tapping into her divine blood, Aria and Andrew both vanished, reappearing in the center of Shiro's storm, on a gangplank from the second level. The thunder was deafening, the lightning blinding; the cloud itself drenched their clothes.

Turning to keep fighting, Anansi raised his hand to catch Vera's sword. Yet, as it dropped away, the God was left defenseless as the divine-wrought shield delivered a crushing blow. His nose crushed in, Anansi crumpled. The spiders quickly either died or fled; leavings hundreds of corpses scattered across the room.

The God just lay down, his fingers moving slightly, signs of life still evident. His grip on Aria ebbed away, though a sick and uncomfortable feeling lingered. In a hoarse whisper, he almost laughed.

"Well, I guess you can tell him I did my best."

Another loud crack from beyond the unguarded door, followed by another flash of blue light.

 

[DarkRawen]

Andrew never got a reply from Aria, though the person who was the most likely to be responsible for the storm noticed the two of them, and went over.

"Need any help?"

Andrew was about to shut him out, tell him to go away, as he didn't need anyone's help, or so he told himself. Truthfully, he just didn't want to show just how scared he was to more people than he had to. However, he never got the chance to speak, because suddenly, he felt a strange sensation, and then he wasn't in his safe corner anymore. Instead, both he and Aria was somewhere else, higher up, in the middle of the thunderstorm. His heartbeats increased, his heart feeling like it was about to jump out of his chest, he was trembling violently, and he let go of Aria, quickly, in order to cover his ears. He could hear the thunder even then, and the lights were so bright that it felt like every lightning bolt struck right next to him.

N-no...

He had to move, but he couldn't. His body was paralysed, and even though he tried to shut his eyes, they still filled up with tears. His breathing was going too fast, panicky. He felt that he was grasping for air, yet couldn't get as much as he needed. So, his powers hadn't been enough to help Aria? Or had they, and she had simply done this on purpose, as a mean-spirited prank?

I don't know, I don't care, I... Kirsten... mom... Nicole.

He had to get to Nicole, she was the only one here who'd protect him. Yet, he still couldn't move. He couldn't even... he couldn't even raise his voice, just barely mutter her name.

"...nicole..."

 

[Lunar Templar]

Runa was about to respond when the Asian kid in their group came over to check on them,which is when she felt the Spider god grab hold again and teleport them to the center of the storm in the room. Andrew, who had been acting strangely now just curled up and covered his ears, with how he was acting just a bit ago and now this, she doubted it was a sudden bout of cowardice. She was going to ask what was going on with him, but the roar of the thunder and crakc of the lightning killed that idea

For a few moments all she could do was stand there, and get soaking wet, then she felt it, the 'restraints' lifting and she was able to move again, so she did. she took about three steps quickly forward, grabbed Andrew and teleported them both back to where they had been before, then just sat down, partly cause teleporting some one with her was not something she was used to doing, and partly cause she felt ill, something she blame that spider bastard for. She took a few breaths "Hey" She said, giving Andrew a nudge to get his attention "You ok? you don't look so good"

 

[DarkRawen]

It took a short while for Andrew to realize it, but suddenly he noticed that he wasn't in the middle of storm anymore, opening his teary eyes, only to see Aria sitting close to him. Part of him wanted to ignore her, she had brought him down, but that was probably just for convenience' sake. Besides, he still found it hard breathing, and his head felt heavy, the fact that he wasn't so close the storm now helped, but only slightly. He kept his eyes open, but looked down, at his own feet.

"Hey,"

Aria asked, nudging him. Andrew looked up when he realized she was addressing him. She was soaked, heck, he was, though he hadn't noticed that before.

"You ok? you don't look so good"

Andrew didn't realize she was asking him at first, assuming she was talking to someone behind him. However, even he, in this dreadful state, knew that 1. he was sitting in a corner, and 2. it was clearly directed at him, regardless of if Aria liked him or not. Andrew shook his head at her question, then forced words out.

"No... not really. I'm... h-having a panic attack, I-I think." He certainly didn't like admitting it, but he was so scared, and truthfully, even if it was someone he didn't trust, like most people here, he wanted someone to embrace him, protect him. His eyes didn't meet hers as he spoke, and he was still shaking, visibly. "I--I have an irrational fear of... of lighting. I..." he stopped, trying to dry his eyes, then continued. "I know you d-don't like me, but... could you get N-nicole?"

 

[hiei82]

Vera averted her eyes as Prail made her strike on the spider god. While she was no fan of gods in general - even with her now tempered opinions - and despite the god's actions, she felt a pang of sorrow for him. He wasn't like the others they'd fought. He was an idealist. She may not have agreed with him, but in another life they might have been allies and friends. She whispered a prayer for the fallen god than made her way around the room, searching for survivors.

 

[IFS]

Nicole's focus shattered as the spider sunk its fangs into her "Aah!" she yelled, grabbing it and throwing it to the ground. The bite stung something fierce, but she didn't feel poisoned, even so she stomped on the spider repeatedly until it was mush.

A lot happened during all this, her lapse in concentration allowed the spider god to send Aria and Andrew into Shiro's storm, though Aria got them out again quickly; Prail and Vera assaulted the spider god, overwhelming him and executing him once he was rendered unconscious. She felt a worrisome pang of satisfaction at the god's death, no it doesn't matter what he put us through, death is never something to be proud of.

The battle ended for now though there was more to deal with, Andrew was having a panic attack and she heard him ask for her. What can I do to help though? This is just like the storm before I suppose, I didn't really help with that... Nevertheless she flew quickly over to him, bending down to check that he was alright.

"You ok Andrew? The fights over for now," she said, trying to sound comforting "you can relax."