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Post by Lotus on Feb 24, 2010 4:25:54 GMT -6
Standard Time: 12:57 UO M8D15 4078I
[glow=000000,2,300]It had been a long fight, and it was far from over. Two weeks ago, Lotus and his men had succeeded in finding a route to Hell. From there, it was a downhill struggle. Hell was made of seven layers, or circles, and in fourteen days, they had only worked through the first three, just recently entering the fourth. It had taken so long, not only because someone had warned the current overlord of the impending invasion, but because that very overlord also sought fit to rearrange the doors between layers. As it was, the doors were easy to miss, nothing but a small ripple in the air, which blended in with the heat waves in the earlier levels. Hell's architecture was something of a mystery. When speaking in 'circles, or layers, one may think it to be spherical, or maybe a large tower. As it turned out, it was neither, rather a cluster of shapeless worlds, all joined by these doors. The outer levels, furthest away from the core, were intensely hot, so the doors were easy to miss. However, the closer one got to the core, a layer said to be composed completely of ice, the atmosphere cooled significantly, and these doors were easier to pick out. Unfortunately, even if they did know where the doors were, they still had legions of demons to cut through.
The first layer was where a great number of men were lost, taken by surprise. This layer reflected a destroyed metropolis, making it a great place for low level demons to hide, and ambush from, which is exactly what happened. It didn't matter how weak they were, if there were thousands of them, compared to Lotus' own mere hundreds. The ruined streets filled with blood, and Lotus, Rhiath, and a few remaining soldiers had little choice but to make a mad dash for the door when they finally managed to stumble upon it. To stop the mob from following them, he effectively destroyed the door, cutting off the first layer from the rest.
The second circle was immensely smoother. The demons occupying it were much higher in rank, but there were too few of them to be much trouble. This layer was a vast cavern, with multitudes of tunnels spawning from a main chamber. In dealing with a few fights, finding the next door was the most difficult challenge they faced. THough, in the process, Lotus' numbers were reduced even further, as the last of his minions were slain, leaving the two of them, and the few defects from the very place they were attacking.
The third level, commonly depicted as the river Styx, was an interesting challenge. Not only did they first have to find a way to cross, but while making their way down the river of blood, it turned out that one of the defects rethought his previous actions, slaughtering his comrades, and taking aim at his two commanders next. Before that happened, Lotus ended the rebelion. This left only himself and Rhiath to traverse the remaining four circles. Indeed, the situation was looking grim.
Stepping through the ripple, Lotus emerged into the fourth layer, and nearly sighed at the sight. Once Rhiath had entered, he held his amulet to the door. With a bright flash, a complex rune appeared between the two, and began to rotate. One complete circle, and the ripple vanished, the door destroyed, forever locked. Turning around once more, he finally let that sigh come out. This layer was an endless plain, black, shadowy grass blanketing the expansive floor, and a crimson sky above. Before the two, was another mob of demons. There were two differences between these, and the ones from teh first layer: One, they were going to be much more powerful. Two, they were out in the open.
Taking a step toward the army, Lotus' grip on the Torment firmed. "Listen. You need to make it through this with me. I won't stand for taking this place single handedly. After all, someone's gotta keep me sane." The last part was a half joke. In the time since they entered, his blade had been growing in influence, trying to take over his mind. Wild he did not know whose thoughts they were, he knew that they craved destruction, to feed on more souls, to become stronger. It seemed that the more he let it take in, the louder the voices became. How much more, he wondered, before the blade was satisfied? "So, here's the plan: I'm going to rush in, head on. You cover me from back here. Once I find the door, I'll give you the single. From there, we make a mad dash, just like before."
Before waiting confirmation, the ape drove forward, juming into the middle of the massive crowd. Bodies, or ratehr, parts of them, began flying, and suddenly, mass chaos ensued.[/glow]
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Post by Rhiath on Feb 24, 2010 10:50:09 GMT -6
Rhiath already had his rifle out, and was lining up shots when Lotus spoke. Lowering the rifle, Rhiath barely had time to give the devil a half-skeptical look before he'd run off, and the body parts started to fly. With a sigh, he raised his gun again, picked a target, and fired.
As the demon's head exploded in a burst of blood and hellfire, glanced at Lotus. Ever since their forces had been wiped out, and Lotus had been doing more of the fighting himself, Rhiath had noticed him acting a little...strange.
The Lotus that had recruited him, and supervised the training of his army, and had quested across Etrah for weeks before they found an opening into Hell? He was a tactician. He made sure he knew the score before he acted. But this Lotus? He was impulsive, almost eager to fight.
Whatever the reason, Rhiath was grateful for it. So long as Lotus knew better than to target him, his raging attacks, combined with this raw power, had gotten them at least 2 circles further than 2 demons fighting Hell itself should have gotten. But even as he popped another demonic skull, Rhiath knew they'd have to change their tactics, and soon.
Lotus was strong, and he was a damn good shot himself, but there were still 5 more circles to go. They'd already defied the odds just by getting this far, and Rhiath couldn't help but worry that their luck would run out.
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Post by Lotus on May 22, 2010 21:16:51 GMT -6
[glow=000000,2,300]The massacre continued for nearly ten minutes, before showing signs of slowing down. While most often, it wouldn't be a long period of time, it was an incredible length in this instance. Ten minutes of being swarmed by flailing limbs, sharp objects, and splattering blood had a way of aging someone by years, given the right circumstances. Needless to say, once things began winding down, the purple ape took advantage of it, and counteracted by pushing harder on his own end, forcing an abrupt end to the conflict.
Now standing in yet another pool of mangled bodies, and blood, a number that was growing larger at an alarming rate, Lotus looked back to his only remaining ally. Blood that was not his own dripped down his arms, and painted his face, a truly horrifying sight. The Torment was lowered to the ground, red dripping from its tip as well. He did not move, breathing heavily. This journey was quickly growing taxing, and it was, just now, starting to take its toll. "We have a moment. I vote that we rest." To emphasize his point, Lotus jabbed his weapon into the ground, which was on the other side of a still writhing body.[/glow]
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Post by Rhiath on May 22, 2010 22:13:58 GMT -6
Rhiath gave a sigh of relief as the horde surrounding Lotus finally thinned, then fell abruptly. Shouldering his rifle, Rhiath kept a hand on his revolver as Lotus glanced around, keeping himself ready just in case something else tried to attack them. The layout of the circle made it easier to see things coming, and he hoped it would give him time enough to take anything down before it could become too much of a threat.
As Lotus made it clear they were going to take a break, however, Rhiath let his hand fall to his side. Even if conditions were more hospitable, it was unlikely that he'd try arguing with the devil, and he certainly wasn't about to try it with that damned sword so close at hand.
"Fine by me, boss."
Rhiath spent their break double-checking the pile of corpses, making sure they were as dead as they seemed. The task didn't take too much effort, but he procrastinated to give the apelike devil time to try and come to his senses. Rhiath could see the effect that the sword was having, and he didn't like it in the least...but unless they managed to find some help (he wasn't holding his breath on that one), it was really their only chance down here.
Finally, after about 10 minutes had passed, or as close to it as Rhiath could figure, anyway, he made his way tentatively over to Lotus. "Boss? You good to go? I don't mean to rush ya, but this pile of bodies serves as bait just as well as a deterrent, and I don't think we wanna be around when whatever catches the scent shows up."
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Post by Lotus on May 23, 2010 0:20:11 GMT -6
[glow=000000,2,300]"Good point," came the response, "Even though we're past half way, I can only imagine that we've still got a very long way to go." During the resting period, Lotus had wiped himself as clean as he could. His clothing was still stained red, but his exposed skin was nearly free of blood. "The problem is, in an endless plain, how are we supposed to find that damned door? I suppose we could just pick a direction, and start walking, but that could take a while, an eternity if we're unlucky." Sheathing his sword, he looked about the endless horizon. It was almost as if they were standing atop an incredibly small sphere.
There was, however, something pulling at him. Be it another being calling for him, or the Torment's own ability to sense nearby souls that it didn't yet possess, combined with the blade's lust to consume that very soul. Either way, he gave a commanding glance at his partner in crime, one that suggested that Rhiath follow him, and began walking, leaving the puddle of red behind. A few minutes, and he came across a rather peculiar thing. Floating, in the middle of the air before him was, what looked like a single stanza from a poem. There was nothing holding the words in place, rather, they themselves seemed ethereal. Lotus swiped a massive hand through them, watching as particles of glowing text scattered about, turning to glittering dust for a moment, before reassembling. It was at that point, that he recognized the strange characters. They held an odd shape, an ancient language. Is was Infernal Speak, a language known only by demons. Translating it in his head, the ape began reading aloud.
"The mighty angel’s son, condemned to Hell Within this Oubliette We Sealed Him Well Lament the death of angels and of men When Alginax’s slaughter starts again"
It was certainly an interesting little piece of literature, but its meaning was lost on him. However, looking away from the delicate words, he found another object of interest. It seemed to be a well, perhaps, or maybe just a large pit. An ethereal seal was placed over the top, but he could certainly see a geyser of hellfire, just waiting to erupt. Oddly enough, this was where he was being drawn to. Something was down there. And Lotus needed to find out just what it was. If it was another enemy, it should have been weakened enough by the flames, to the point where it would be an easy slaughter. Pulling his amulet from his neck, the purple figure held it to the seal. Slowly, at first, the symbol began rotating, much like how he had closed the doors before. Then the rotation began to speed up, forcing about nine or ten circles before a faint ringing was heard. All to once, the seal cracked, then shattered, releasing the flow of hellfire. As quickly as he could, Lotus sent himself backward, away from the grasping flames. "Rhiath, I hope you have a way to nullify that."[/glow]
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Post by Rhiath on May 23, 2010 0:35:31 GMT -6
Rhiath squinted against the heat of the geyser, more a reflex than any kind of self-preservation. Pulling his coat off, he laid it on the ground. He himself was immune to hellfire, but his clothing sure as hell wasn't. "No problem, Boss."
Holding his hands out before him, Rhiath closed his eyes, spreading his fingers wide. In his mind, he pictured a stream of light connecting his hands to the geyser of flame, and he closed his fists as he pictured himself grasping the light, tethering himself to the inferno.
Opening his eyes again, Rhiath pulled his arms back sharply, and the geyser split neatly in two, before arcing down to engulf his arms. He gritted his teeth; he'd underestimated the force of the flames shooting out of the ground. He could handle it, but he couldn't absorb it all, as he'd planned.
"Stand clear," he said, throwing his right arm out to the side. The flames consuming his arms shifted, now flowing in a notably-slimming stream down his left arm, across his back and chest, and out the other side, his right hand directing the flow onto the black grass of the plains.
After a moment, the flow of flames slowed to a trickle, eventually running dry as Rhiath channeled the rest of it onto the grass. The ground where he'd directed the flow was scorched and smoking, but the geyser was gone, leaving smoke, and oddly, steam, pouring out of the hole in the ground.
"That should do it...question is, what's down there that they wanted kept in so badly?"
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Alginax
Apprentice
The bastard son of science and religion.
Posts: 15
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Post by Alginax on May 23, 2010 1:01:26 GMT -6
[glow=teal,1,600]Alginax felt minds above him. Having been trapped within his oubliette for decades, he had all but given up on escape. Regardless of his attempts to counteract the hellfire which held him in this cursed pit, the single time he had managed to ascend to the top he was slammed back to the bottom by a seal of powerful infernal magic.
He had been content to create a barrier of ice, preventing the flames from directly assaulting him. However, the flames were now gone. Alginax looked up, the ice shield parting. He could see the sky, for the first time in...Alginax wouldn't even guess. Steam and smoke rose from the hole, and Alginax knew someone or something had finally broken the seals than had held him. He intended to waste no time in his escape.
The ground around the oubliette began to frost over. The frost spread, and a plume of icy energy burst upward from the hole. Alginax emerged, katana in hand, and noticed two demons standing nearby.
Alginax recognize the large, gorilla-like demon; Lotus, the ruler of Second Hell. That explained the lifting of the seal, but what of the hellfire?
Lotus' companion, a demon who Alginax didn't recognize, carried guns and appeared to be almost smoldering. Alginax could feel a lack of cold around him, and assumed this infernal gunslinger was gifted with hellfire. He had probably dealt with the second piece of the trap.
"I have no idea what brought you here to the fourth circle, leader of Second Hell," Alginax told Lotus. "You, or your compatriot. But your reasons are your own, and I have no intention of interfering. But I am curious about one thing: why did you bother to release me?"[/glow]
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Post by Lotus on Feb 24, 2011 22:22:32 GMT -6
[glow=000000,2,300]"Think of it as mere curiosity," the purple ape responded, firming his grip on the Torment. Words were nice, but they didn't carry much weight with him. This being could still intend to lash out at any minute. "I am here to eradicate all who would oppose me, and claim this dark kingdom for myself. You can either follow me, leave this place, or die." Keeping his hand on the hilt of the weapon, Lotus pushed on. They still needed to find the door to the next level.
It was intriguing, however, that the being knew of him. That meant his notoriety preceded him further than he thought. "I don't suppose you'd have any idea how to get to the next floor?"[/glow]
(Sorry for the cruddy post. It's been a while. I will likely edit more detail into it later, but that shouldn't change the overall content much, so feel free to carry on with stuff.)
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Alginax
Apprentice
The bastard son of science and religion.
Posts: 15
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Post by Alginax on Feb 24, 2011 22:53:18 GMT -6
[glow=teal,1,600]A puzzled look crossed Alginax's face. "You're gonna take over Hell? As in, all of Hell?" Alginax then chuckled. "Tall order, even for you."
Alginax then mimicked sheathing his katana, a scabbard of ice forming around it and attaching to his belt as he did. "Ya know what? Okay. I'll tag along. At least for a while, and if only to watch this unfold."
He then turned and locked eyes with Lotus. "On one condition," he said. "I lend you my sword, and help you move from level to level, get this place under your control. In exchange, once we're done, I want free passage in and out of Hell at will. Sound fair?"[/glow]
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Post by Lotus on Jul 28, 2011 22:12:48 GMT -6
[glow=000000,2,300]"An interesting proposition, indeed," Lotus spoke. Peronally, he didn't care whether this being stuck around after this ordeal, or not. So long as it didn't come back to bite him in the ass. "You will be free to come and go as you wish, rest assured. Just know that if you ever come back with the intent to stab me in the back, you will be cut down with no mercy." Alternatively, if the fallen angel came back to stab him in the front, he would find the ensuing fight to be amusing, even if the outcome would remain unchanged. "However, the lower levels are going to get increasingly cold. Noting your already 'frosty' nature, are you sure you are capable of staying with us until the end? Or would the extreme cold slow you down?"[/glow]
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Alginax
Apprentice
The bastard son of science and religion.
Posts: 15
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Post by Alginax on Jul 28, 2011 23:46:55 GMT -6
[glow=teal,1,600]Cut down with no mercy. Alginax stopped himself from laughing coldly at the notion, the very concept that he had to be reminded of this universe's utter lack of mercy.
"Even if I did have reason to turn on you, which I don't, I can't imagine what you could possibly do to me that is worse than half a century in that oubliette," Alginax told Lotus. "And I can handle myself, they didn't put me in there because I'm a weakling."
No, the reason they put him in there was because mercy was a falsehood. Alginax had been betrayed by his own kin, his cousin ending his life and his own father personally hurling him into perdition. And for what? For trying to make things better for his fellow nephilim, for standing up for a marginalized people? Well, they would be made to answer for what they had done. And if Alginax had to serve this simian devil in order to make that happen, it was simply means to an end.[/glow]
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Post by Rhiath on Nov 25, 2012 23:27:32 GMT -6
Rhiath rolled his eyes, taking a step towards Lotus and Alginax, he cleared his throat. He knew they'd been near Alginax's former prison for only a short time, but it was hard to keep his bearings this deep into Hell, and part of him felt they'd been standing here for a great deal longer.
"Alright, wonderful, so we're all on board. Now if you don't mind my sayin' so, we've got ground to cover yet, and nobody's ruling anything standing around talkin' about it. Shall we?"
Extending a hand, Rhiath gestured away from the direction he and Lotus had come, sweeping his arm as if to indicate the wide open plains surrounding them. "Oh wait, that's right, still haven't found the door. Glad we just picked up a new set of eyes to help track the damn thing down."
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Alginax
Apprentice
The bastard son of science and religion.
Posts: 15
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Post by Alginax on Dec 1, 2012 14:43:05 GMT -6
[glow=teal,1,600]Alginax looked at Lotus' companion. The guy had a valid point; even a group consisting of himself and two devils powerful enough to have freed him were still very exposed out here.
"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Alginax said. His eyeballs quickly became covered in a thick layer of frost as he scanned the area. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he knew that there would be a telltale sign of the gateway between levels; a marked change in temperature.
"Here," he said after some time searching. A faint shimmer in the air, the telltale sign of a portal between levels, became more visible as Alginax breathed frost, causing the shimmering air to appear more akin to a winter wind, snow filling it.
Alginax breathed deeper, and blew arctic wind at the portal, causing it to solidify into a wall, about 6 feet wide by 10 feet high. Alginax drew his sword, the 'sheath' of ice crumbling to snow and falling to the ground. He plunged the blade into the wall, cutting a door into it. After creating the door, Alginax jabbed his blade about an inch into the frozen doorframe, then abruptly wrenched it to the side, the tip of the blade snapping off and remaining in the door.
"This door would have lasted until it melted, maybe a few hours," Alginax said to his two new allies. "With a fraction of the sword, it should hold for several days. Long enough for someone to create a more permanent solution." He looked at Lotus. "You wanna take over Hell? I can help. But I'll need to be left alone for a while. I can raise an army of nephilim, but not if they know I'm working with you. That comes later."
Alginax then grabbed an imaginary door handle, which he froze into a real one, and yanked the door open. "This one will take you lower. I'm gonna start at three, as well." Alginax then stalked through the door, an icy wind causing it to slam behind him.[/glow]
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