D.I.C.E(Game Thread/PM to Join)

[Nouw]

"Shit, you're back. Tougher than you look man, tougher than you look." Danny remarked at Aaron waking up. He had expected the demons to rise back up, not Aaron.

"Nonetheless, we still need to go through the base and sift through whatever evidence is left after what happened here. Afterwards, we'll rendezvous with the forest team at the jet, share information, and then deliver the report."

"Sounds good to me, I'll see you fellas around," Danny said before walking off at a moderate pace. He'd search this place inside-out, top-down and in every nook and cranny with extra vigilance, despite the facility being apparently void of demons. The demons wanted him to think he was safe but he wouldn't fall for that; that was one of the first things you learnt as a police-officer. Better alive than dead.

 

[DarkRawen]

"I'm a little interested Richard. Just because I am from Division Two, doesn't mean my interests are restricted to simply the magical or supernatural fields of study. You could say I have a intrigue for learning new things; after all knowledge is a valuable thing, and we shouldn't waste it. Also, I'm curious as to what work you do, and also how you came to be apart of D.I.C.E. Feel free to ask anything about me; haven't a chance for a conversation in a while."

"Well, basically there isn't a lot I can find out now, but I hope to find traces of any chemical substance that relates to the x-nucleotide, which is a unknown nucleotide that resides in the demon DNA apart from the ATCG nucleotides, and that is a big reason to why the demons are so different from us. The x-nucleotide is only a codename, considering we have no idea what it actually is, and why it's in the demons. There's a few substances or material I know the effect of, and I'm hoping to find traces of that, and also find out what kind of group this demon would be in, and try to find out if there's a clear difference between this demon and the demons I know of before. It's only basic tests, and I could do more, but considering it is a little too big for me to open up and check, and that we probably wouldn't find anything useful for now, I won't. I could examine the muscles, since the demon doesn't have any skin, but I would find out what I already know, that the demon's muscles are a lot sturdier, yet flexible than ours, and that they can take a hit without getting damaged or stiff. However, I also know that they are pretty much like any other demon muscles, considering the acid worked on them."
He stopped, realizing that he had talked a lot.

"Well, anyway, that's some of it. As for what I do, a lot of sample collecting and testing,but mostly genome sequencing, which gives us a map over a demon's DNA. With such a "map" I can find out what the different codons in different locations means, and understand more about demons and their biology. The reason why I'm with D.I.C.E. isn't that interesting, just the right place to the right time, about twenty times."
He smirked, and looked over at the processes. They were getting something, but only part of the data was readable yet. "How about you, how come your sword was covered in ice just now?" he asked, looking at the blade. There were some kinds of symbols on it, but he had never been one for languages.

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

The sentient blade slid into the creature's heart effortlessly, cutting through muscle and tendon as a diamond cuts through glass. It started spasming violently as blood collected in it's mouth, trying to hang on for a few more moments of life and then as violently as it started it stopped. When he was sure it was dead he slid the blade back out, it was dripping but he could still make out the arcane runes the were engraved into it's ricasso.

"You're cursed like me then" He remarked, "Looks like we have something in common."

He saw a group of three men approach the head of the dead creature, two looked like D.I.C.E. personnel, the other man's face was obscured by a hood.

"Damn. It looks like I lost a wager. Never bet against human ingenuity and skill. Still, I'd say this is a job well done. Bravo" The hooded figure said.

"I wouldn't be so certain of your loss," He said dourly, he was cursed to appear as a human, but he would never let his wits be compared to theirs.

He walked of moodily, the actual members of D.I.C.E. were fussing around the corpse of the creature, collecting samples for their damned experiments. He stabbed the sword into the ground when he arrived near where they were standing.

"I never did get to finish my walk"

He continued past the the scientists and the soldiers further into the the forest.

 

[Ultraman950]

"Nonetheless, we still need to go through the base and sift through whatever evidence is left after what happened here. Afterwards, we'll rendezvous with the forest team at the jet, share information, and then deliver the report."

"Roger that," Sophie replied simply with a nod. Keeping her rifle out just in case, she went to follow Danny.

"Better not go anywhere without backup. In case you need me to save your ass again," she said, grinning. "Didn't scare you too much, did I?"

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Isabelle listened with interest as Richard explained all the various tests that he was performing on the collected samples. She remembered that the ATCG nucleotides were the four building blocks for human DNA, and that this mysterious X variant of them was one of the key difference between human and demonic genetics and biology. He then explained that his worked involved mapping the genome of a demon. Finally, Richard mentioned it was merely a place of right place, right time that landed him a job at D.I.C.E. His thoughts then turned to Isabelle, mainly her sword.

"How about you, how come your sword was covered in ice just now?" He asked, definitely sounding intrigued. Isabelle let out a faint giggle as she removed the blade, and showed the side which had the purple runes etched into them so he could have a better look.

"As you know Richard, since I am a member of Division Two, we fight demons with sword and sorcery. My magic comes in the form of arcane elements; things like fire, ice, and lightning, amongst others. How I was able to have my sword covered in ice, was through the method of enchanting the blade via these runes. They allow the arcane elements to bestow the sword with their power. The langauge itself is runic in nature, but translates to a mixture of English and Latin. Once deciphered it reads:

May the ars arcana of elements flow through this blade, and bring unto it pain upon the daemon.​

My father was the one to cast the runes upon this sword, and I received the blade as a gift when I showed great control over my elemental magic; although I have yet to fully master the skill of being able to cast two separate elements in tandem. So in a way, I still have a little way to go; but I think he would of been proud of me."

 

[DarkRawen]

"As you know Richard, since I am a member of Division Two, we fight demons with sword and sorcery. My magic comes in the form of arcane elements; things like fire, ice, and lightning, amongst others. How I was able to have my sword covered in ice, was through the method of enchanting the blade via these runes. They allow the arcane elements to bestow the sword with their power. The langauge itself is runic in nature, but translates to a mixture of English and Latin. Once deciphered it reads:

May the ars arcana of elements flow through this blade, and bring unto it pain upon the daemon.


My father was the one to cast the runes upon this sword, and I received the blade as a gift when I showed great control over my elemental magic; although I have yet to fully master the skill of being able to cast two separate elements in tandem. So in a way, I still have a little way to go; but I think he would of been proud of me."

Richard looked at the weird letters. How anyone could translate that was beyond him, but then again, he had heard the same said about DNA."So the runes binds the elemental powers to the blade? Interesting, I do wonder how that could be. However, what do you mean when you say your father would be have been proud of you?" he asked. Richard had never felt the need for a parent to feel proud of him, so he was oblivious to what he was asking, and how he had worded it.
"Is there some kind of reason he isn't?" Richard asked, and checked one of the tests, a blood-sample. There were nothing interesting from this one, apart from a incredible amount of iron in the blood, and the most regular x substance, named x-023, which was a protein with an effect they had yet to figure out. He cleaned testing-tool, and kept the blood as a sample for the lab back home, while waiting for Isabelle to answer.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"However, what do you mean when you say your father would be have been proud of you?" Richard asked, confused by the statement made earlier. "Is there some kind of reason he isn't?" Whilst he waited for her to answer, he and began checking on the tests. Meanwhile, Isabelle was quiet, thinking to what happened five years ago. This reliving of a painful memory almost brought a tear to her eyes; but she managed to wipe it away in time.

"Yes Richard, there is, a rather simple one in fact. You see, my father is dead; killed by a demon out in the forests around by our home. He died protecting me and mother, and it was the moment that I finally decided to join D.I.C.E as one of its members." Isabelle said in a rather clear voice.

 

[IFS]

"Garath, until you recover, just take it easy for a little bit, you did a good job there."

"Thats a plan I can get behind," Garath replied, nodding and smiling weakly, "Now if only I could find a couch to get behind me."

He closed his eyes and collected his thoughts, he could hear Richard and Isabelle talking, Richard was spouting some sci-fi technobabble and Isabelle was actually showing interest. Opening his eyes he glanced around, he wasn't sure who the hooded figure was but they didn't seem to be hostile, Azkar was nowhere to be seen, and ELizer had apparently helped them kill the demon with the talking sword.

He pulled out his deck of cards and began shuffling them, it helped him concentrate, and sat there resting and hoping that no-one would make him do any more work today, he was supposed to be off-duty after all.

 

[DarkRawen]

"Yes Richard, there is, a rather simple one in fact. You see, my father is dead; killed by a demon out in the forests around by our home. He died protecting me and mother, and it was the moment that I finally decided to join D.I.C.E as one of its members." Isabelle said in a rather clear voice.

Isabelle didn't seem really sad, but it was clear from what she said that it hadn't been a good question from his part. "Oh." He cleared his voice, and put the tests down, looking directly at her. "Well, I'm sorry I asked, if it brought up anything bad." Richard knew that if he tried to sympathize that it wouldn't help. He hadn't really been sad before, so it would probably make it worse. "But," he tried to find something else to talk about. "That means you knew of D.I.C.E. before, that event, right? Because you "finally" decided to join D.I.C.E.?"

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Well, I'm sorry I asked, if it brought up anything bad." Richard said after putting down his tests and looking straight at her in a sympathetic way. "That means you knew of D.I.C.E. before, that event, right? Because you "finally" decided to join D.I.C.E.?" He asked, sounding curious. This brought a smile to Isabelle's face.

"Indeed I did, when I was a young teenager, we acted as consultants and assisted D.I.C.E in a variety of cases due to our knowledge of demons; which, and this is by no means an insult to them, they were a little lacking in places. They essentially made me an honorary member of Division Two; so when I officially joined, the work I did when I was younger helped with making the initiation process a little easier, since they already knew what potential I had."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Indeed I did, when I was a young teenager, we acted as consultants and assisted D.I.C.E in a variety of cases due to our knowledge of demons; which, and this is by no means an insult to them, they were a little lacking in places. They essentially made me an honorary member of Division Two; so when I officially joined, the work I did when I was younger helped with making the initiation process a little easier, since they already knew what potential I had."

"So your family is accustomed to demons? That sounds like an interesting kind of family business," Richard said, smiling as well. This was the point of the conversation where he added something about himself again, right? "I knew of D.I.C.E. for a good five years before I joined, and I've known about demons for the same amount of time." Richard moved a bit over to see if any of the other tests had given results yet,but they hadn't. He couldn't just talk and ignore his work, after all. "So, what kinds of demons have you seen?" he asked, curiously.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Azkar dipped in and out of consciousness, everything was fuzzy and dark. She felt as if something was touching her, but couldn't keep her thoughts together. Then suddenly her mind was crisp and clear.

Azkar was lying in a completely pitch black space, she could however see herself, it was as if nothing else existed. High above her, kilometers away and far above her were eyes, several sets. Azkar shivered as she realized they were a handful of the most powerful Demons in Hell, what else could they be? Their souls were impossible to comprehend in their size and pure evil intentions. Azkar stood up, her body and armor were completely repaired. One of the giant sets of eyes moved slightly and a disturbing voice began to speak. "Your progress has been very slow without our guidance it would seem..." the voice was like dozens of people from all ages being strangled and tortured as metal scraped against metal in the background, Azkar's eyes, ears and nose started to bleed just at the sound of it. "However you finally took some bait, allowing us to return you here." Azkar cursed and fell to her knees as she felt the pulse of malefic energy in her from the Succubi commander she consumed. "It is finally time to remove your shackles and have you join us, She Who Thirsts." Azkar convulsed as chanting filled the space and dark runes spread out across the midnight black floor beneath her. Iron chains and spikes erupted from the ground, entrapping and impaling her. Azkar choked on blood and tears as she recognized the ascension ritual.

"You're one of the only things in existence that can destroy energy and have it cease to be. On top of that the scale at which you do it has no restrictions." The voice gave a visceral chuckle as Azkar's confused mind tried to make sense of it all. She felt her mind and soul tearing up as the ritual continued, then simply ceased to think, blacking out.

She awoke as Azkarzhidou, she who thirsts. She was now 8 foot tall, her armor was made of obsidian and forged in blood and souls. Her Helmet was gone, she had a set of massive horns and flaming eyes, large bat like wings sat folded behind her back, her sword had tripled in length and was a horror of fangs and barbed tongues. Azkarzhidou stretched and frowned, she stared at a glowing ball of energy before her as the eyes looked down on their new weapon.
"Your soul has split, consume the remnants of yourself. DESTROY YOUR ORIGINAL FORM AND GAIN THE POWER TO DESTROY EARTH AND GOD HIMSELF!" The voices laughed manically and harshly as the light before her exploded. Azkarzhidou smirked as she remembered her origins, her new massive sword hissed and shook, demanding to feast.

A figure emerged from the light. It looked just like Azkar did originally body wise. But she was coated in silver plate armor gilded with gold and feathers. Azkarzhidou's twin stared at her with disgust and loathing as she drew a long bastard sword from her back. Azkarzhidou looked at the sword and felt only doom.
"I am Azkar, the youngest of all Angels. The Archangel of Purification." The Angel was much shorter than her twin and had piercing yellow eyes, which glared from behind her slightly messy white hair, she shook her head as Azkarzhidou returned her look with a laugh. Azkarzhidou spat at Azkar and mocked "I don't know who you are and I don't care. You belong to me now." She then giggled as she pondered how powerful she would be after devouring her former self.

"I was given free reign to cull Demonic energy to restore balance, your powers are a corruption of mine." The Angel looked directly up, holding her sword in front of her chest. Then instantly switched to a one handed stance with her massive blade, holding it behind her and keeping her free hand forward.
Azkarzhidou approached the pathetic little Angel, bringing her hungry blade forward. She then coldly stated "I will consume you. You belong to me, the world belongs to me, the Heavens belong to me." Azkarzhidou began to sprint forward, swinging her sword in a diagonal slash with both arms. The Angel parried and stepped to the side as she declared loudly "If it is my fate to destroy myself to protect reality from you, then so be it."

The eyes sat in the shadows, watching with great interest as the battle began.

 

[deathbydeath]

"Better not go anywhere without backup. In case you need me to save your ass again."

Aaron's hands engulfed his face as team members sauntered off in their own directions again, apparently not getting the "team" memo. As clueless as Danny and Sophia were about their whereabouts, Aaron decided to remedy the situation by consulting Dem. He found a map of the complex in the folder, and through deduction figured that the attempted sacrifice would probably be in the location that was the easiest to gain and hold, which happened to the main command center. He informed Lara, Crow, and the Lieutenant of his deductions, and then vanished to follow Sophia and Danny, to both watch their backs and pick up anything they missed.

 

[Terratina.]

The man just left Eligor in the ground after that hullabaloo after making some remarks. He wasn't paying attention as he was resting in a hope to recharge his energy, even with the Souldrinker living up to its epithet and absorbs some of the demon's essence, Eligor had exhausted his energy on simply floating around after people. The eye dimmed as he closed it, hoping to get some respite. But there was that interesting little titbit that was left out in the open. Soon a faint image of an middle-aged gentlemen with smartly cut greying hair, a goatee and wearing one sharp suit followed the man into the forest silently, his feet almost floating upon the ground. Eligor quickly found the raggedy man and called out to him.

"I believe we never introduced each other." He said, "Well, I'd say the time is ripe..."

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

"I believe we never introduced each other." Said a voice coming from behind him "Well, I'd say the time is ripe..."

The voice was familiar, it was the same one he heard from the man he had briefly met while still imprisoned, when he turned around it was the same sharply dressed greying, elderly man. He made no noise while walking over forests debris, twigs didn't snap nor did the autumnal leaves rustle under foot.

"Time is never ripe, if it was a fruit we would all be rotting right now". He replied solemnly, "Go away, I don't feel like spending any more quality time with D.I.C.E.'s lackeys."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"So your family is accustomed to demons? That sounds like an interesting kind of family business." Richard asked rhetorically with a smile. "I knew of D.I.C.E. for a good five years before I joined, and I've known about demons for the same amount of time." He briefly paused to check over his tests before continuing "So, what kinds of demons have you seen?"

"I guess you could call it a kind of family business. Its something my family has being doing for generations stretching back centuries; so I guess we know a thing or two about demons and how to slay them." Isabelle said with a slight sarcastic remark. She briefly looked around the area before carrying on.

"Regarding what demons I have seen, there have been few. I have traded blows with the shrieking Harpies, who swoop down to hunt their pray. Done battle with the mighty Dullahan; my advice on that one, don't remove its head, can be quite a handful I'll tell you. My battles with demons have taken me all over the world, places like Japan where I fought against the Yuki-Onna; a demon of the female form who can control blizzards and ice to bring men to their home. There was one time, back home in England, where I thought Vampires. In short I have faced many. Most recently, there was the Sahuagin, a demon who thrives in water."

 

[Terratina.]

Yet another disappointment. Another man with a closed mind, closed to the world and closed to him. In contrast to the soundless steps Eligor took, this man was all shuffles and steps, the leaves crunching as he turned towards Eligor. Maybe he just didn't know who he was, maybe he was being mistaken for another person. It was a possibility, Eligor hadn't seen him at the briefing where all was explained. This got a laugh out of Eligor. Of course it was nothing but a simple oversight on his part. He would correct the man soon enough, after all, Eligor wanted to find out to see if this man was a man at all. The hues of his aura were all mixed together, red, blue and a touch of white. A person who encompassed all the main kingdoms of this world, Heaven, Hell and the poor little thing stuck in the middle - Earth. The only explanation was that this man had both demonic and angelic ancestry, a feast few could boast. He appoarched the raggedy man and began to speak again.

"As a small amendment to that, I would be rusting then." Eligor said, joining with the snark, it was truly infectious. Hopefully the man would pick up on the hints as Eligor decided to throw another out there, "You should know, a weapon has no choice in the matter."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Regarding what demons I have seen, there have been few. I have traded blows with the shrieking Harpies, who swoop down to hunt their pray. Done battle with the mighty Dullahan; my advice on that one, don't remove its head, can be quite a handful I'll tell you. My battles with demons have taken me all over the world, places like Japan where I fought against the Yuki-Onna; a demon of the female form who can control blizzards and ice to bring men to their home. There was one time, back home in England, where I thought Vampires. In short I have faced many. Most recently, there was the Sahuagin, a demon who thrives in water."

Richard listened to her encounters, and each time a new one was mentioned, he wondered what part of their DNA made them capable of doing what they did.
"I'm happy," he smiled, and took a look at another one of the tests, it showing what he had already guessed. Richard showed her the small machine, showing several numbers and letters, though hard to read by anyone apart from him and a few others. "That I found out about demons when I did. I wonder what I would have to do to make a boring life go by, or if I had found out about them later and refused to check further into it. Take for example this, the muscles shows a strong trace of x-145, which is often apparent in bigger, albeit far from this big, lesser demons. Also, interestingly enough, this trace hasn't been seen in a natural demon together with x-340 which there's also traces of, so I doubt it is a natural demon. It seems like someone has corrupted and manipulated the DNA of a lesser demon to make this, but not out of a lesser demon. Out of something different."

He put the machine away, and stored the samples. The other tests was testing the effect of the acid, so they probably wouldn't be as interesting to Isabelle. "It's interesting, in every sense of the word, as is the reason why someone would do that. But yeah, that's about what I can find out now."

 

[Nouw]

"Didn't scare you too much, did I?"

"Haha not this time. I'm ready for anything and I'm on alert." Danny replied, but that was because she wasn't the one to fear. He went down the hallway and was once again greeted by the darkness. A year ago, hell even a few days ago, he would have gone in fearless but joining D.I.C.E. had given him a reason to be afraid. He wasn't dealing with junkies or street-thugs anymore; it was actual life-threatening work. Having someone that could see in the dark, therefore, added to his sense of security; having his flashlight and gun helped too. He switched it on and noticed a door at the end of the hallway. It looked heavily locked but that wouldn't stop them. Every fuckin' door will be opened.

"Our first obstacle. Allow me," Danny said before shooting, what appeared to be, the locks. After emptying his cylinder to no avail, Danny had no choice but to ask Sophia.

"It's all yours," he said.

 

[FinalDream]

Captain Lara Reid, PhD - Sector 14

She nodded. It would be a while before the forest team returned so she decided to look around the building. Lara lowered her P90 and pulled out the tablet computer from her tactical vest, studying the last readouts of the mysterious device. It was like nothing she had seen before. A puzzled expression crossed her face as she wandered into the building. Arriving back at the console she took a moment to re-establish a connection. Lara sighed. Again. She was seeing a lot of corrupted data in the consoles system. This could take a while.

Resting the tablet on the edge of the console she set off a small program to try and piece together a tiny fragment of the data, it could take hours, but it was worth a shot. Leaving the screen she moved closer to the strange metal device.