A City Adrift: An RP of Tyranny, Superhumans, and Eldritch Abominations

[Captainguy42]

Murphy wondered briefly why Arthur didn't just ask Bauer to repeat himself, but he had a feeling it had to do with keeping up an illusion of delegation, " The tunnels were dug by hand, it's a lot small than it looks, there is about a quarter mile of of crawling before it opens up to a cavern, which seems to be natural but not from our world. Which I assume means it wasn't there when the island shifted." He told Arthur anyone else listening, "I'd suggest bringing a flash-light."

Without paying Arthur any more attention Murphy went about preparing to enter the cave himself. He found some supplies left by the first team who went in, and helped himself to a flash-light, two flares, and a miner's helmet to replaced his hat.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Since we need a Character Listing, here it is. Can't fit it in one post, so had to break it apart.

Spoiler: Characters

Spoiler: Morgan 'Morrigan" Amberley

Name: Morgan James Amberley

CDF Codename: 'The Morrigan'

Public Nickname: Crow Girl

Age: 26

Gender: See below

Character Background: Morgan Amberley was a promising young journalist working for Hearst with an unusual tendency to report on the deaths of famous or otherwise important figures. Amberley, despite this morbid distinction, was a tall, well-built, handsome young man with blonde hair, a nice tan, and a charming demeanor, and looked to be one of the rising stars within Hearst's journalistic empire. Then the Shift occurred. Amberley, focused on writing on tragedy, found himself with ample work. The stress of the situation and Amberley's constant busyness made him blind to the changes he suffered. When his skin began paling and started flaking off on his hands and feet he figured it simply a sign of stress. When his hair began falling out, he figured it was simply an unusual case of early-onset balding. Even when he began losing a great deal of body mass-- dropping from 180 to 110 pounds over the course of a month-- he figured it simply due to not eating enough or keeping up with his exercise.

Things became notable when he noticed considerable redistribution of flesh and reformation of bone, the development of dark scales on his forearms and lower legs, and the appearance of sharp teeth and wicked talons, and when the last of his hair fell out only to be replaced by, of all things, dark blue-black feathers. Amberley was checked into the hospital shortly afterwards, where the mutations progressed. When they finally stabilized, Amberley was in an unusual and awkward position, appearing to be an entirely different person as well as a mutated avian freak. However, his remarkable abilities and ties to Hearst's media empire ensured him a spot (although not entirely voluntary) on the CDF. Amberley is new to the force and still rather awkward and uncertain about things, a vast shift from his previous self-assured self. With his previous focus on death, and his current corvid appearance, the nickname 'Morrigan' was almost inevitable, although he irritably prefers the name "Rook".

Appearance: Amberley is recognizable as human, though it's hard to pick out any signs of his previous identity. Primarily because the mutation, aside from slimming him down considerably, giving him long bird-like talons, causing much of his arms and legs to be covered by fine glossy blue-black scales, and giving him porcelain-white skin, also gave him a certain pair of prominent swellings in the chest uncommon amongst males. His body is sleek and slender, with wide but rounded shoulders tapering to a very narrow waist that then flares out to a pair of broad, shapely hips topping a pair of long legs. In short, Amberley has a nearly perfect hourglass figure. This is marred somewhat by the fact that those rather nice legs terminate in digitigrade avian talons. His face didn't escape alteration either; now he possesses a fine-featured heart-shaped face with large, almost luminous almond-shaped blue eyes rimmed with dark blue, his lips have also been tinted blue, and his mouth is filled with sharp teeth. In place of hair atop his head there is a mantle of long, narrow, flexible blue-black feathers, seeming more like tendrilous hair than true bird feathers. Even his voice changed, now a wry, dry sound not unlike this [http://youtu.be/IxQBpZUItj8] because I cannot into sounds. The sum effect is distressing yet not unattractive, a blending of monstrous with unearthly human. And it's something Amberley is quite irritated about.

Powers: Superior strength, speed and toughness. Ability to cling to walls and ceilings, leap tremendous heights and land without injury, and even glide short distances. Rapid healing (full recovery from most injuries within a day or less, from greatly traumatic injuries up to a week, cannot regenerate from instant death). Unbreakable talons, tough scales. Notable power: Sonic Scream: Usable almost at will (usually requires some recovery time between screams). Emits a powerful short-to-medium range screech that can disorient, stun or even knock out or kill victims in a narrow cone.

Equipment: Amberley is typically garbed in a surprisingly well-fitted grey suit (cut short in the legs to account for his peculiar knee structure) with red shirt and white tie (and even a matching bowler hat!), with a badge identifying him as a member of the City Defense Force. He carries an oversized modified revolver capable of being loaded with a variety of rounds, from shotgun shells to experimental electrically-charged Tesla rounds and explosives. Aside from that there is the usual wallet with cash and ID.

Quirks and Miscellany: Amberley, being a rather obvious individual (hard to conceal that appearance) has earned the nickname 'Crow Girl' from the public. Post-mutation, Amberley's appetite has also significantly increased. 'Crow Girl' needs meats. She (perhaps the more proper pronoun to use, at least now) has a rather playful personality, despite being irritated by nearly everything, and a strong sense of black humour. This is complemented by a fascination with shiny objects. Seems Amberley has taken on some of the crow and raven's mental traits as well.

Spoiler: Voiced by Tom Waits

Name: Frank. Just Frank.

Age: 33

Gender: All man, baby.

Powers: Essentially, crazy crazy strong. Like, I picture him as a modern day Hercules, able to deadlift a tank and chuck it, and able to -take- a tank shell without much more damage than a little bruising or the like. Also, due to his shape, he's got what I call gorilla acrobatics, kind of like the way orangutans and chimps and other apes can sort of jump across trees and just use their arms to swing by things. Note, that Frank is agile for his size and strength. This does not mean he is 'agile'.

Also, not really powers, but he's a really blue collar guy, so if you need carpentry done, or you need a mechanic, or anything else, he can take a look at it and see what he can do.

Equipment: An indestructible Monkeywrench. It's pretty balanced so that it'll come back if he throws it, too.

Appearance: At six foot eight and three hundred and eight pounds, Frank is a big lug of a guy. Every part of him is very impressive muscle, but over the years he's had injury after injury, and his body just isn't what it used to be. With huge, almost impossibly huge arms and legs, a frightening reach, and a rippling, barrel chest, he looks like the closest a human can come to becoming a gorilla. His shoulders slope down into his arms, though, they aren't very wide at all. If it makes sense, think of a mixture between Popeye, Sin City's Marv, and the comic character The Goon, look him up.

In terms of attire, he just goes with a white wifebeater and jeans, with brown workboots. On his head he wears a black dock cap, that's worn in such a way that it always casts a thick shadow over his eyes. And even if it didn't, he squints so badly that it's impossible to tell what color his eyes even are. He's almost prolifically ugly.

Character Background: Really not a lot to tell. Frank was a dock worker and general blue collar guy, getting work wherever he could however he could, occasionally turning to prizefighting if he had no other way of making money. All that changed when New York went wonky, and Frank, now finding himself like a mythological figure, does his part to help people he can. Of course, he offered to help Hearst, genuinely believing the man wanted to help those under his power. If he starts to notice otherwise, who knows what can happen...

Spoiler: Cedric Molony

Name: Cedric Molony

Age:32

Gender: Male

Powers: Casts offensive and supportive magic that use Bible scripture as the incantations. He can cast some of his spells quicker (and thus be more mobile) by simply calling to mind the piece of scripture, but the trade off is that strength of the spell is diminished significantly. His strongest spells can only be cast by vocal recitation and require either concentration or extreme emotional duress.

Supportive Spells

Righteous Shield: Cast at will this spell offers quick protection for Cedric from most head on attacks. With concentration and recitation the spell can be used to shield a small group of people for a limited amount of time. This stronger effect can only be used once per encounter.
Incantation: "For thou dost bless the righteous, O Lord; thou dost cover them with favor as with a shield".

Restoring Light: A healing spell that requires recitation and concentration. It speeds up the body's natural healing processes to mend wounds. (Though the worse the damage the longer it takes) In a pinch Cedric can use it to give himself a burst of stamina to briefly go beyond his physical limits. This secondary usage can only be used twice per day.
Incantation: "Restore us, O Lord; let thy face shine, that we may be saved."

Earthly Ensnarement: Hands of stone spring from the ground and hold his enemies in place, or at least cause them to stumble. Reciting the incantation summons a single large hand that grabs an enemy.
Incantation: "When evildoers assail me, they shall stumble and fall."

Sanctuary: His strongest defensive spell which can only be cast by recitation and only used once per day. It can shield an area up to roughly the size of St. Patrick's Cathedral. It lasts until dispelled by Cedric or an attack strong enough breaks it.(I will leave what qualifies as "strong enough" up to the GM) While in place he cannot leave it and his Restoring Light spell heals wounds faster.
Incantation: "You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. For he will deliver you from evil."

Offensive Spells

Heaven's Wrath: Allows him to shoot torrents of flame from his weapon or hands, either in short bursts or a controlled stream. Reciting the incantation summons a firestorm around his enemies. The secondary effect may only be used three times per encounter.
Incantation: "Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the heavens."

Plague of hail: Cast by recitation only, it summons a hail storm in a localized area around Cedric. This can only be used once per encounter.
Incantation: "Then Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and the lord sent thunder and hail down to the earth."

Flame of Eden: Cast by recitation only. It enchants his weapon with fire, making his strikes more dangerous, and is required to use the secondary effect of Heaven's Wrath. The enchantment fades if he loses the weapon. Only works on melee weapons.
Incantation: "At the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword to guard the way."

The Fourth Seal: It's the one spell in his arsenal that scares even him because it is unbridled destruction. He becomes cloaked in the "shadow of death" and summons a whip made of barbed wire caked in blood. His speed increases exponentially, striking the ground with his whip causes geysers of flame to spew forth, cracking it in the air launches lightning strikes, and swinging it horizontally through the air fires piercing shards of ice. Once the spell has run its course though he is unable to cast anymore that day and be so exhausted he will lose consciousness briefly. This spell cannot be used at the same time as Sanctuary.
Incantation: "I beheld a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death."

Equipment: A single short sword at his waist that he carries with him at all times.

Appearance: He stands at 5ft 6in with a thin frame and barest hint of muscle tone. He has dark hair, which he keeps combed to the right, auburn eyes, and a short well kept beard on his chin and lower jaw. His typical attire is the traditional black cassock of the clergy, reinforced with leather armor at the chest, and with a small wooden cross around his neck.

Character Background: Cedric was the pastor of St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University when the Tesla disaster occurred. In the days that followed the chapel found itself converted into a medical camp and shelter. Cedric did his best to sooth the worries of the faithful but he could offer little explanation for the situation they were in, all he could tell them was that God had not abandoned the city. Though as the city descended into chaos he became less and less sure of that.

The chapel eventually had to be abandoned due to the rioting and Cedric sought out safe haven at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Where he heard the priests of the various faiths in the city were meeting to pool their collective theological knowledge to determine where Tesla had transported them. Cedric arrived to the aftermath of a bloodbath, many people laid dead in and around the cathedral. As he walked with disbelief through the wreckage he came upon a tattered and blood soaked Bible. The text within was nearly illegible due to the blood but he noticed some of the words held a faint glow that made them legible even through gore. Before he could contemplate this, the group of mutants responsible for the bloodshed approached him from all sides. Their leader laughingly gave him a moment to say a final prayer before they killed him. The blood soaked Bible sat open in front of him and he read the glowing words. Not because he thought they would save him but because his mind was blank with shock. Reading them caused a shield of light to encompass him that the mutants could not break through. He tried another glowing passage which scared them off as a hail storm began within the cathedral.

Afterwords he returned to the university and began living in the basement of the library with all manner of books that prior to the disaster he'd have considered blasphemous. He would learn he couldn't cast all of the spells, and that the singular one from Revelations which glowed black was best ignored. Though he's unsure why, he only sees the glowing text in Bibles and that people other than him don't see the glowing text at all.

When the mayor formed his defense force he joined, seeing it as a sign that he was meant to use the new-found holy spells as an instrument of God's justice.

Spoiler: Edward Faraday

Name: Lord Edward Montgomery Faraday, 4th Baron Kelvin

Age: 34

Gender: Male

Powers: Vanilla human

Equipment: Plenty as he?s a gadgeteer hero. Here are some suggestions although I am quite malleable about what he does and does not have.

Personnel Incapacitation Pulse Emitter: A small device the size of a key fob, it fires a charge of electricity roughly ten meters in range that functions like a present day taser. Its inbuilt batteries have enough charge for six shots before it requires recharging. (Tony Stark has repulsars that can do anything, people working in the 1930s have to carry different sized weapons for different needs)

Jovian Electron Cannon: When one is sorely displeased with a particular mountain, one simply points this weapon at it and presses the trigger. In a searing flash of lightning and horrendous crack of thunder, parts of said mountain would now be decorating the landscape. However it is rather unwieldy, easily the size of modern day minigun and would probably explode if it were fired more than once a day in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics due to its massive overheating problems and volatile power coils. Its weight makes it only nominally man portable and Edward generally stashes it in his lab unless there is a very good reason to lug almost sixty kilograms of metal about. (It's because every mad scientist needs to have his own deathray or they take away your mad scientist membership card)

Tesla Coil Capacitor: A treasured gift, this weapon is essentially a lightning gun capable of sustained fire for dozens of seconds at a time. Far more efficient than Edward?s own inventions, the power source contained within a backpack allows for significant sustained fire for almost five minutes total before it needs recharging. (Think of it as a flamethrower that hurls electricity. Also no disciple of Tesla can be without a lightning gun, it would be letting the old chap down!)

Entropic Personal Protection Device: A marvel of engineering, this item dampens all forms of energy directed at its wearer rendering most kinetic and energy-based attacks relatively harmless. Its main weakness is that its power source is ultimately finite and will run dry eventually. Also, massive objects can harm its wearer simply through sheer inertia. Reducing the speed of a bullet to 10% or less of its initial velocity would have the round sting when it bounces off a person. Reducing the speed of a boulder would do nothing if it is still moving fast enough to crush you. Its ability to bleed off kinetic energy also allows its user to fall safely to the ground provided that the fall is not of sufficient height as to drain the batteries completely before he lands. (Think of it as an old-school Stoneskin spell. It absorbs a certain amount of damage before shutting down for the day. It also works as an impromptu featherfall spell.)

Chainweave Faraday Cage Suit: A suit of light metal links that form a Faraday's cage around Edward that utterly nullifies electricity. More of a lab safety device than anything, its physical integrity is such that it can reduce physical trauma from punches or a baseball bat but it was never designed to stop swords or bullets. (When you build things like the Jovian Electron Cannon, you jolly well have a fool proof means of not getting electrocuted.)

Thermodynamic Energy Transference Modulator: A device that allows Edward to transfer energy from one system to another. If necessary, it can even vent energy as heat and store a certain amount for use in destructive blasts. (Its primary use is that of a rather overly-sophisticated fire extinguisher, truth be told.)

Surplus Capacitor Modules: Batteries the size of a brick, they allow Edward to charge his devices on the go. He can fit three of them in a suitcase before they become too heavy to carry without serious risk of a hernia. (If he gets out of this alive, Edward could enhance the family fortunes because he just invented the lithium battery 80 years before its time.)

Mundane Sidearm: Edward carries a pistol on his person for duels and because slinging electricity around is not always a smart thing. (Also carrying death rays in polite company is a serious faux pas.)

Appearance: A fairly nondescript individual, Edward is perhaps passably attractive in good light but adjectives like ?handsome? are pretty much nothing more than base flattery when applied to him. Of average height and slim build with hazel eyes and dark brown hair, there is very little about him that makes him stand out from the crowd. His dress also barely passes muster as Edward prefers a beige Drape suit and storm grey homburg hat as his daily attire. When "on duty", this becomes incredibly incongruous with the bizarre technology he utilizes routinely.

Character Background:
A man might be somewhat pressured when bequeathed a legacy by an illustrious ancestor. Imagine then what it would be like to have two such personages within the family tree and not all that removed to be frank. Edward grew up in the shadow of his great-grandfathers, Michael Faraday and William Thomas, both of whom were scientists of great note. By the time Edward entered the world, his family was incredibly wealthy; patents and investments making them men and women of leisure along with a position in the peerage. Freed from the constraints of having to actually earn a living, Edward could pursue what many of his elders considered the true "family business", a career in science.

While he excelled enough that earning a professorship in the University of Edinburgh would simply be a matter of time; Edward leapt at the chance to study at the feet of one of the greatest scientists of their era. While others may have forgotten about Tesla, the Faradays always did take a shine to him and regarded him well for furthering Michael Faraday's theories. The thing was that Tesla was notoriously cranky and rarely took students or lab assistants. However this time he made an exception. Perhaps it was some form of misplaced gratitude to the greats whose theories underpinned his own discoveries or maybe the man saw something in the young British Lord but Nikolai Tesla allowed Edward to work at his laboratory in the twilight years of his life. There young Edward learned much from his mentor and formulated his own theories about thermodynamics and magentohydrodynamics. Tesla also aided Edward in engineering practical applications for theories pioneered by his great-grandfathers. The result pleased the old scientist very much in a similar manner as a lioness is proud of a cub that has learnt to hunt. Edward eventually purchased his own lab and residence in New York City while keeping in close contact with Tesla. Thus he was present when the portal generators were activated and the subsequent debacle.

Edward initially joined Hearst's enforcers to help bring peace to the streets. In a way he feels a certain responsibility for all the chaos as he had a (very) small hand in refining and funding some of Tesla?s later research that eventually lead to the portal devices. Hearst's recent approach is irking Edward somewhat but after what he has seen, Edward does accept that sometimes harsh measures are necessary. Thus he stays aboard to help ensure that the measures do not become too brutal and that his teacher's technology is used responsibly.

While he does have estates back in merry old England, Edward is as trapped as anyone else. He does however try to comport himself as a British gentleman ought to although the many years spent in America has all but obliterated his accent. This does make Edward somewhat discomforted but needs be as the Devil drives as they say. His butler Sebastian is trapped with him as well and Edward often confides in him that he misses the chances for skeet shooting and horseback riding that were available to him back home. Sebastian also serves as his fencing partner.

Notes:
The historical Michael Faraday and William Thomas did not have heirs or children. In this instance, they not only did but several generations later, apparently their descendants decided to hook up...

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Spoiler: Characters 2

Spoiler: Novy

Name: (Real) Cyril Novyetkof, (American) Kyle Novy, (Goes By) Novy

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Powers: If Novy can make himself see something that isn?t there, it will be there. Envisioning objects takes a period of undisturbed focus that can vary in length depending on the complexity, intricacy and size of the object being envisioned. I would ask for the GM?s opinion but ideally I?d want the creation of simple things (walls in combat or props to fight with) to be a one or two move endeavor at best, used somewhere in the vicinity of twice an encounter. The creation of much bigger things would of course take longer. A bridge might be an hour or so depending on complexity. A turret sized ray gun might take a day. If he?s interrupted before completion of the envisioning he loses all progress and has to start from the beginning. He?s currently limited by his own imagination and the laws of physics. As the game progresses his boundaries might as well.

Equipment: Novy?s most reliable equipment would be Eisenhower. See separate character sheet for Eisenhower. In addition to this though, he carries as his primary weapon a reinforced gold-plated hook about the length of his forearm. He has a silver locket around his neck with the picture of a remarkably cold but attractive black-haired woman with a short face and sharp features. He cut this picture out of a fashion magazine. He doesn?t read English well enough to know who she is. Her picture will probably be replaced next month. He carries a simple revolver, but doesn?t know how to fire it accurately. He greatly dislikes that it isn?t mounted on something. All projectile weapons should be mounted.

Appearance: Novy is clean shaven, long haired and staring at you. His brow is usually furrowed, and his crystal blue eyes are very intensely concerned with something that appears to exist in the empty space between you and him. His posture is somewhere between military and aristocrat, his back is always strictly straight and his shoulders are held in the ready, but his head juts forward and (if he?s not absorbed with focusing on something that isn?t there) he?s always rocking or swaying just lightly. His hair is blond with brown affections and is kept at roughly shoulder length in fairly good condition. Novy is thirty six and already shows signs of wear, but these are hard to notice beneath his blocky muscular frame. At 5?9 and 195 pounds Novy impresses people as, not athletic precisely, but certainly well defined and difficult to push over. He has a long forehead to compliment a long face that always seems partially confused or deeply in thought. He wears a navy blue peacoat with a set of tails, a pair of pinstriped blue dress pants and a white undershirt.

Character Background: Born Cyril Novyetkof to his father Grigori and his mother Anastasia at the turn of the 1900?s, Cyril was always a highly motivated man. From a very young age straight through adulthood those who came to enjoy his company would always find that he could not stand inaction. Whether it was motivated by impatience, distraction, psychological turmoil, or perhaps genuinely by a ferocious appetite for new knowledge and experience could never be concluded with surety, but all those who came to know him would agree, he never lacked for new experiences in his life. At a young age his father divorced from his mother and emigrated to America, where young Cyril Novyetkof first took up the name Novy after spitefully accepting that the English rendition of his name was unfortunately Kyle. Years later he moved to France to be with his mother and her new husband. Later, upon reaching adulthood, he toured with the French Foreign Legion on naval escorts in the Philippians. He would later defect and live for a short time in India.

In his late twenties Novy could have been found in Panama speaking nightly with the American base camp leader for the area, a mister Eisenhower. The two had grown to be close friends in the three months since Novy had crashed in Central America, bonding on such issues as the purpose of modern artillery, the future of the Balkans and the genius of Slavic-come-American inventor Nikola Tesla. In his mid-thirties Novy could be found at the front of the much diminished crowd in New York City come to see Tesla reveal the invention that would restore his reputation as the world?s greatest inventor. Having re-encountered Eisenhower in the midst of on-lookers after years of absence had lightened his constitution as the device began to whir. And when all hell broke loose, Novy could be found excitedly herding the crowd away from danger with Mr. Eisenhower directing the counter-offensive.

It was a good two months that followed. Novy and Eisenhower became integral to the defense of the city from extra dimensional invaders of all character. And then Eisenhower became a spider. The pair still cooperate to maintain order in the city but somehow the dynamic is just not how it used to be. Novy finds himself listless, spending unremembered hours staring at the black goo that cages the city. What was supposed to be a two week stay over in his father?s country has become an indefinite imprisonment in the same 200 mile diameter circle. Novy is highly devoted, but his wanderlust and need for new stimuli is eating away at him. He has started adding new stories to the buildings on mainstreet, and though it sates him it doesn?t satisfy. Eisenhower seems to worry. But the pair have never stopped being effective.

Spoiler: Eisenhower

Name: Dwight D. Eisenhower?

Age: 38?

Gender: Male?

Powers: It?s unclear what powers are possessed by this spider or if it is actually Dwight D. Eisenhower. What is known is that ?Eisenhower? treats Novy cordially, cooperates with the city defense force, and seems to comprehend spoken directions. Eisenhower is a spider roughly the size of a double bed. Sheets of a strange material are naturally suspended between each of its four legs on each side creating long thin curtains of a sort that run connecting each of Eisenhower?s joints on adjacent legs. Eisenhower regularly uses these to capture and manipulate airflow, allowing him to take off in flight by rapidly fluttering his legs in a wave on each side. He has demonstrated the ability to hold a passenger while doing this. That passenger is almost always Novy. Apart from this ability, he has also demonstrated things common to spiders. Good grip on walls, strong sense of smell, the ability to produce web. It?s unclear whether his species is venomous. He has killed people by biting them before, but he will typically liquefy and drain the mutants he kills quickly, whether directed by the City Defense Force to desist or not. On a slightly more unnerving note, Novy swears when Eisenhower first changed he was a spider roughly the size of a radiator. And recently those on the City Defense Force have begun to notice that Eisenhower seems larger than when he was first introduced. Its possible drinking the mutated is causing him to grow?

Equipment: Lack of opposable thumbs severely limits Eisenhower?s use of equipment. That said a fairly sophisticated pair of pointed brass sleeves have been furnished and equipped to his fangs, to ease penetration. He has also willingly accepted a thin armor composed of highly compressed layers of cloth, but only on his underbelly and abdomen. The armor may take a couple bullets painfully but it isn?t designed to hold up to a serious assault as much as to protect against accidents.

Appearance: Eisenhower is a pale white spider the size of a bed in a strange tight coat of black cloth with polished brass fangs. The material that hangs between his long powerful legs is red and not thoroughly opaque but smooth like silk.

Character Background: About three months into the counter offensive to regain the city, Novy arrived at the scene of an emergency perched at the nape of the abdomen of a giant spider instead of with his friend and ally Eisenhower. When questioned, he said that Eisenhower had transformed into a spider late yesterday evening but that his mind was sound and he still wished to be useful. Before further questions could be posed, the pair flew toward the fight. Eisenhower, the spider, has remained useful and cooperative on the majority of issues proposed since that day and no one has seen Eisenhower, the man, since.

Spoiler: Marika Skarbo

Name: Marika Skarbo

Alias: "Ice Queen"

Age: 29

Gender: Female

Powers: Controls and conjures weather, particularly frigid weather and ice for battle, thanks to runes she discovered while working with her father excavating the ancient Viking settlements of Northern Norway. She also gained a resistance to cold weather and temperature.

Defensive Spells

Armor of the Snofjell: A suit of armor made of thick ice coats Marika's body, protecting her from most physical attacks. However, movement is greatly decreased and her other ice related spells are weaker, having to concentrate on keeping the armor up. This can be used once a day for a duration of up to three hours.

Wall of the Isentykk: A more versatile defensive spell, a wall of ice forms and rises in a spot in front of Marika, shielding from any projectile damage. It is not a large wall but it is small enough to hide behind. This rune is able to be used three times per day.

Breath of the Kulingsor: A strong wind whips up and blows back the opponent. This is not meant to damage, it is meant to repel, it sends the target back by one hundred meters. This is a powerful spell, so it can only be cast once per day. It was used to launch Viking ships with a strong head wind.

Offensive Spells

Orb of the Fryserask: Her basic attack spell, an orb of ice is shot from the palm of her hand, flash freezing whatever it comes into contact with in a couple seconds. It doesn't extend very far since it is a localized spell, and she has to fire it off in bursts, it can't be concentrated.

Shard of the Bladistapp: A more damaging attack spell, icicles are fired towards an opponent. These icicles are incredibly sharp, able to break bones and slice flesh, but they take more effort to get ready. As such, this run can only be used once per encounter, up to three times a day.

Voice of the Himmelsk Skadi: A blisteringly cold wind is unleashed at a target, air currents being sharp enough to slash through clothes and into skin. It's nowhere near as sharp as the icicles, but it is much more accurate, able to envelop it's intended recipient. It can only be used twice a day.

Blast of the Tungstorm: The most powerful rune in her arsenal, the immediate area is consumed by a powerful blizzard. Marika has yet to put this one into action, but preliminary studies show that it could be related to the state the book was found in. While protected from the cold due to the inherited abilities, this has double the cast time of the other runes and says nothing about recovery. Hence, it's likely to be a spell that will be a last resort, draining all energy from Marika.

Equipment: When out of ancient power, she turns to her last resort weapons, a pair of daggers sporting four inch blades.

Appearance: Marika looks like the typical Scandinavian woman, standing at 5'8", approx. 120lbs. She has long blonde hair that goes down to the shoulder blades when not tied up in buns behind her head. Her skin is pale white, a result of the long Nordic winters affording her little time to tan and her body temperature being lower than normal. It is now colored by the black Norse writing that now covers her body from neck to toe. Her eyes are a cold light blue, and they grow colder when activating the runes, the irises being consumed by a brighter light blue, the same color that the rune's writing on her body turns when activated.

She is currently wearing a brown cloak that she "borrowed" from one of the people at the university. Underneath she has on a rose colored blouse, a long brown skirt end just above the ankles, and a pair of well-worn brown loafers. The runes that adorn her body are visible on her exposed hands, ankles and along the sides of her neck.

Character Background: Marika was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway in 1904. Her mother died when she was young from consumption, so she was raised by her father who was one of the foremost scholars of Norse mythology and culture in the world. She was left with her grandparents in the city until she was ten, when her father decided to bring Marika with him on his jaunts around Scandinavia, and on the lecture circuit of northern Europe. He taught her about his research, about their ancestors, about his life. They bonded quickly, she gained the same passion for the Vikings as her father and in time, she became just as well versed in the ancient Norse myths and lifestyle.

Their biggest discovery as a team came in 1929. The pair found a cave exposed by a recently receded glacier in the Saltfjellet mountain range. Once inside, they discovered a strange sight. Numerous skeletons inhabited the chamber, still dressed in Viking equipment save for one smaller skeleton in lighter clothes, obviously a woman. There was a stone altar, ringed by torches long snuffed out, and a book preserved by hundreds of years in an ice-sealed vacuum. The writing was in Old Norse, and hard to read, but after a couple months of studying, the Skarbos learned the stories of a tradition of a hand-picked maiden, sent up into the mountains for a ceremony that would allow her to control the harsh Winter weather and allow the Vikings good favor when out at sea. The ceremony involved tattooing the woman in the ancient incantations and leaving her in the cave to see over the weather patterns along the coast, until she was unable to fulfil her duties, in which case a new woman would be brought up. There was no explanation for why the skeletons in the cave were found in such a state, but it was assumed to be a tragic piece of timing, weather-wise.

The massive book was studied by the Skarbos for a couple of years, but it proved difficult to translate, even with their combined years of knowledge. Some of the writing was Norse, but another, more archaic language was hiding the bulk of the information. The efforts were reduced in half when Morten Skarbo was killed. The elder Skarbo was in Zurich for a lecture at the university when on a side expedition in the Alps, a freak avalanche buried him and his climbing party. Marika was devastated by the loss of her father, her research partner, her friend, but she resolved to press on, and get the translations done in his memory.

Still, the process was slow, and slowed down by the new role Marika took up as the go to speaker on Norse mythology and culture. She travelled the world, with burgeoning air travel opening up many more opportunities to speak to a broader audience. She worked on the book on the side, continuing up to 1933, when she went to New York to give a lecture at Columbia University.

She was in her afforded room when the Event struck, still pouring over that old book. It came with a sort of pressure that Marika had never experienced before. It was overwhelming, and it caused her to fall unconscious. She had no idea how long she was out, it was certainly noisier outside as panic and chaos spread through the city. When she went to pull herself up, that's when she saw her arms covered in writing, similar to that of the untranslatable text. Except now she could read it. She could understand all of it, and the power it contained. The Vikings weren't telling another myth about controlling the weather. It was how they gained the advantage in civilization's early history. A quick examination showed that the writings covered her entire body save for the head, and a short read through of one of the basic passages resulted in her dresser being coated in ice. Unsure what to do trapped in this strange world with these new found powers, she adorned herself with a meagre cloak and ran to City Hall, seeking the Mayor's guidance in what should be done. There she was convinced to join his defence force, until such a time that they be returned to the original world and she can return home to Norway.

Spoiler: Arthur Rockefeller

Name: Arthur Rockefeller

Age: 37

Gender: Male

Powers: Magnetism, though only with ferromagnetic materials (e.g. Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel.) As for how powerful his magnetism is, with the listed metals and metals derived from them (ex. Steel,) he can manipulate small objects such as coins and knives fairly easily, however medium objects sized objects (metal chairs or car batteries, or something of similar weight) takes a bit of effort and concentration, but if he?s prepared it?s still doable fairly easily. Large objects on the other hand (Cars, dumpsters, etc.) require a massive amount of focus and effort, and attempting to lift them for an extended period of time is likely to, at best knock Arthur out from over-exertion or at worst rupture a blood vessel. Also, in addition to the size/weight of an object affecting his powers, the speed an object is traveling is taken into account as well, and as such, with objects such as fired bullets (besides those he fires himself) are incredibly difficult to redirect or stop, generally, with much effort, Arthur can only change the course of the bullet a few centimeters.

Equipment: Not counting his clothes (see: Appearance) Arthur always has a belt full of pure steel throwing knives, and a pocket full of iron bolts as backup. For a main weapon, Arthur prefers to use a weapon of his own invention, a rifle that fires iron railroad spikes, which, due to them traveling slower than bullets, are easier to curve into Arthur?s targets. In addition to these for (generally) non-lethal takedowns, Arthur cares a four foot length of iron chain that he's become adept at using to magnetically tie up or choke out targets.

Appearance: Arthur stands at about 6?2, and is fairly slim considering his height. He has perpetually slicked back brown hair, and emerald green eyes. He always maintains the utmost grooming in keeping with the high class of his family, bathing and shaving regularly, a luxury not normally afforded since the dimensional shift. A further symbol of his status is his wardrobe consisting almost exclusively of tailored three piece suits made of fines silks generally in black or grey. The only thing marring his groomed appearance is the scarring on the right half of his face made by bits of shrapnel from before he got his power under control. Arthur refuses to remove these bits of shrapnel for fear of nicking a vein and also as something of a reminder to keep focus with his powers.

Character Background: The son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., Arthur grew up in the lap of luxury to perhaps the wealthiest family in America. Before the shift Arthur was something of an enigma of the upper circle of New York, rarely appearing in public events, instead preferring to keep to himself, reading or learning the ways of his family business. Despite his infrequent public appearances, he still has met and is on familiar terms with much of the upper echelon of New York City, not the least of which is Mayor Hearst himself who had his campaign backing from the Rockefeller family. Once the shift happened the entire Rockefeller family relented from going out in public, turning the building they lived in into something of a fortress, though even with the protection, John Jr. noticed oddities surround Arthur almost instantly. When Arthur?s powers first manifested undeniably a week after the shift, when, whilst walking through the kitchen, an iron pan floated up, compressed and shattering, sending bits of metal into Arthur?s face. After that incident, Arthur was exiled from the Rockefeller fortress, and sent on to Hearst who, according to rumor was assembling a team of people exhibiting otherworldly powers. Since that day Arthur worked tirelessly to gain a semblance of control over his powers (which he has succeeded) and working so that he might one day be accepted back into his family by proving his worth to their long-time political ally.

Spoiler: Characters 3

Spoiler: Angela Christie

Name: Angela Christie
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Powers: Fires death rays from her hands
Equipment: Backpack with a flashlight and a few packs of batteries, a few days worth of food and water, and a .38 revolver with ammunition for emergencies.

Appearance: Caucasian with brown hair and green eyes. She prefers to wear slacks with a belt tucked into boots with a button up shirt and leather jacket over them. Her time doing freelance work has kept her thin but also quickly taught her to forgo the standard women's fashion of a dress and high heels.

Character Background: Her life was largely normal until her adult life. She had a loving family and like many heard stories of Edison and his discoveries. The tales of invention and progress she heard from her parents inspired her to begin to invent. Angela largely taught herself until going to Smith College to get a proper degree. After graduating she applied for an opening in her dream job, Edison's Workshop in New Jersey. She moved to nearby New York after being accepted with the dream of being one of the many inventors.

Edison however had much different plans for her. He had hired her for her looks as a secretary and would hear nothing of any ideas she may have had. In fact nobody at the workshop would, either because she was a secretary or a women depending on the day. She continued her job even after the shift, working for Edison was stable income which was more than could be said for many. Edison began to compete with Tesla and ultimately tried to one up Tesla's rumored death ray, trying to use magic to enhance its power. Edison had left a clipboard in the room housing his version of the machine and sent Angela to retrieve it. She had grabbed the clipboard as she heard Edison over the intercom saying the test of the death ray would begin. The doors out locked and she was trapped inside as the machine powered up.

Edison had miscalculated the amount of magic to use however, and it caused an overload which not only destroyed the machine but gave Angela her new powers, even though she didn't know it yet. When Edison came to see what was wrong he saw Angela laying on the ground, and after making sure she was conscious blamed the failure of the machine on her and her "incompetence", firing her on the spot. In a fit of blind rage her newfound power spiraled out of control and she ended up taking her first victims in the form of a massive explosion that killed not only Edison, but ended up causing an explosion that destroyed the entire workshop. When police and paramedics arrived, Angela was heavily injured but would recover in a hospital in New York. After being released she set about on odd jobs around the city before being recruited into team seven for her talents that were known in the circles she needed them to be known.

Her first response has been to always lie about the incident and thank luck or god that she was alive. Tesla figured out the truth though and told Hearst who confronted her. Knowing she had been found out anyway she told the two of them the truth, but her first gut instinct is to lie whenever questioned about the incident at the workshop. It is only when she is or at least thinks she is alone that she will express guilt or remorse about the incident.

Spoiler: Dr. Kingston

Name: Murphy Kingston
Age:38
Gender: Male
Powers:
Corpse Control- By long/or short range manipulation of the central nervous system, Murphy can control the corpses of the deceased. So long as two conditions are met; first when he establishes the initial link he must be able to see or feel the target, second the target still has a brain or Murphy makes and holds physical contact with it. Once Murphy has control he has two options, control it directly or simply direct its instincts. The first options has Murphy commanding almost every action the corpse does, the second means he taps into the residual reflexes still left in the nerves. Direct control is much more precise though it is taxing and limited, instinct manipulation allows him to control more, though with much less precision. What a corpse can do is limited to its physical status, because its cerebral cortex is fried by the domination, its knowledge and skill is lost, but it's strength and power lives on.

Flesh Craft- Murphy can flence flesh and shape bone, then bind them together to make abominations of meat. He can only work with materials from the deceased. Any manipulation must be done manually, but he can then fuze the materials together to make one piece. To be controlled at a distance they must still be connected to a brain. And a brain/a body has a limit to what can be changed about it, even in death.

Death Sense- Murphy can sense someone's vitality, not as visual or auditory phenomena, but instead as a gut instinct. It is a simple fact, almost everyone will die, and Murphy can't help but pick out the ones who won't be around for much longer.

Equipment:
One Luger, with shoulder holsters.
One large butchers knife, with a sheath.
Bag of surgical equipement, medicinal supplies, and embalming fluid.
3 1/10 Oz vials of Psilocybin, kept in a silver case.
Clean bandages and surgical masks.
Two smoke grenades.
One pair of binoculars.
A trench shovel and a gardening spade.
His CDF badge

Appearance:

Murphy Kingston is five feet 10 inches. He certainly is not very muscular, but his hands and arms are practiced and finely tuned. What he lacks in power of presence, he makes up for with his keen interested green eyes. His hair is reddish brown, darker on the sides and parted to the left, Murphy keeps his face clean shaven and smooth when he can, but after only a few skipped shaves, a reddish stubble appears. His eye browns are simply dark brown, and sleek. His chin is rather sharp, and gives his face a triangular appearance. His skin is pale, even compared to most people who live in the pale green light. Generally he prefers to appear professional on duty. For him this means gray felt hat with a red silk band, and a gray three button suit with black pinstripes. He also wears a white shirt with a red tie and red leather gloves. Under the left side of his jacket he keeps his gun, on the right his badge and extra magazines. The rest of his equipement is kept in a white suit-case, with the CDF logo pressed into the leather. His butches knife and mask only come out when he has to work with bodies, in that case, the rest at his right hip and around his neck respectively.

You can tell simply by looking at Murphy that he is not well. He constantly flinches from light, and constantly worries about migraines. His eyes are heavily lidded, due to intense dreams and poor sleep.

 

[dethklok114]

?Not as much information as I?d like, but it?ll do. Edward, get down there and see if you can fit through that hole, if not, carve out something you can fit through and take point. ?Arthur turned to Crow Girl. ?You go in behind Edward, you, he, and Frank should be able to handle any trouble that comes at you.? Lastly he turned to Angela and Marika, practically feeling the hatred of his very existence emanating off of them. ?Angela, you join in with Cedric and Murphy, you three should be able to hold out longer than the rest of us should something happen. Marika, you, Novy, and I will bring up the back while, hopefully we?ll be able to put up a shield should something follow us in. Lastly, the vermin will take the rear, it should be able to mark the way well enough.?

Arthur turned and sighed, it was really a 50/50 shot on whether or not they followed his orders, they just saw him. It seemed to him that they were unable to comprehend his rules as being to their benefit, after all, even these ingrates had their uses and he couldn't just have them dying off.

 

[blaze96]

"Alright now we are getting somewhere." Angela said before looking to Edward.

"I would take you up on the offer but it seems you go in before I do. Thank you though, not often someone remembers to be a gentleman these days." With that she pulled her flashlight out of her backpack, waiting for the others to climb down before turning it on to follow. Though if it took too long for her liking she left the option open to simply climb down and disobey an order.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Cedric had a feeling Novy's friend Eisenhower was long dead, and the story seemed to have confirmed that for him. He didn't exactly seem to be all there as it was, losing Eisenhower may have sent the man over the edge. That didn't really explain the giant spider though. A side effect of Novy's unique abilities perhaps?

"Do you know if Arthur Rockefeller has the authority to fire us? Hearst organized our group didn't he?" asked Novy. Cedric moved to answer but was cut off by Novy repeating the question to their superior above ground, and adding a request for a rulebook to the end of it.

He's a bit twitchy at that. Cedric thought to himself.

"I'm fairly certain he doesn't have the authority to fire us." Novy said to Cedric, not even waiting for an answer from Arthur. Again Cedric tried to respond but this time Eisenhower seemed to grab Novy's attention. Novy's eyes narrowed. "... Perhaps you have a point."

"Then I suppose we'll consider the matter settled." said Cedric inclining his head in the direction of the large spider, "Thank you for your input Mr. Eisenhower." Cedric realized it might have come off somewhat rude, but he was sincere. If the spider kept Novy focused on the task at hand then he saw no harm in at least humoring the man.

He could overhear Arthur giving out formation assignments topside. If Edward is coming down here I best get out of his contraption's way.

"Watch out Novy, Tesla's steel golem is about to make his entrance." He said as he exited the tunnel.

Topside it seemed that the rest of the team was assembled and ready to go. "Evening Arthur, I see your disposition is sunny as always."

 

[NeoAC]

Marika sneered at the order chosen by the "leader". Of course she would be in the back again. It was always the back. "Fine," she gave the slighted acknowledgement to this order. "I vill vait den."

Edward had offered to assist her down into the tunnel. While it did look like a steep drop down, she was sure that she could handle it solo. If nothing else, it would show she still able to handle the tough stuff that Rocky didn't seem to think she could. "Tank you, but I vill be fine. You go, you clear de vay. Ve vill be behind you."

 

[Avashka]

((Posting this for Mechamorph, who is having 'net issues))

Edward acknowledged the words of the three ladies with a polite bow, well as much as a bow as he could perform under the circumstances. "As you wish ladies. I will see you down in the tunnels."

Giving a lazy and decidedly unmilitary salute to Arthur to show that he had heard the man's orders, Edward grabbed a spare torchlight which he clipped to a belt and strapped one of the miner's headlamps to his helmet. Refastening it to his head with a click and a sharp hiss as the pressure seals built into the suit from its first incarnation activated, Edward noticed that both the priest and Novy seemed to be a safe distance from his landing point.

With a faint hum the magnetic levitation technology built into the suit came online, reducing his effective weight to a small fraction of what it was. With a few steps, Edward went into a controlled fall as his boot rockets slowed an undignified tumble into a relatively safe landing. Nodding congenially to the trio already down in the hole and utterly forgetting that they could not actually see the motions of his head very well under his helmet, Edward got on his hands and knees to estimate if his bulky suit could pass through the tunnel. Thankfully it seemed like only a relatively small about of excavation was required. The enhanced strength the MASC armor granted him was hopefully enough for him to simply tear the rock aside with his hands as Edward proceeded through the tunnels, the miner's headlamp lighting his way.

 

[Avashka]

Crow Girl blinked, once with each eye, before straightening from her position at the edge of the crater. "Yessir, after Edward, okay!" Follow the big shiny follow the shiny follow follow follow.

After Edward began his descent, Crow Girl stared down after him, wearing a faint grin. That was always so neat to see. And maybe it might explode and rip all his limbs off in a horrible shower of blood! That'd be neat. Bad, but neat to see. Maybe sometime it'd happen later. But he has those cool guns that liquify things too which is always neat. Crow Girl wondered what a zapped mutant tasted like.

But such concerns could wait for later! After Edward made his neat landing-- to a small talon-on-talon applause from Crow Girl ("Well done!"), she crouched at the edge of the pit once more.. and proceeded to scrabble down the side, talons digging into the concrete with ease. It was not long before the be-scaled blue mutant was down in the tunnel area with the other team members. She leveled a wide, sharp-toothed grin to them. "Oh this is exciting! I've never seen what's down here before oh woah that's a rat with eight eyes that's weird." Her infamous attention span strikes again, before something inside Crow Girl twitched and she snapped her head toward the scraping of Edward's suit against rock as he excavated his way through the tunnel gap.

"Well! I guess now it's my turn," she said happily before acrobatically bounding from rock to rock until she slid neatly into the wider opening Edward left behind. She'll scrabble reeeeal close up behind him, staring at the various sights illuminated by his torch.

Which is when she detects.. Something. Movement. Sound. Something only she seems to hear-- big blue eyes snapping to point to point, as she suddenly looks.. fearful. "L-liar? I'm not.. I.. what.." She hisses to Edward ahead of her, "I'm -hearing- and -seeing- things.. I don't like this at aaaaall..." It's all fun and games until the scary dead things start looking at you.

 

[blaze96]

"Alright, well it seems the game has begun." Angela said before climbing into the hole.

'Okay, small spaces, nothing to worry about. I have an escape route this time, I can turn back. Unless something happens like a cave-in...no I can't start thinking like that. This isn't like Menlo, nothing like Menlo. Just keep moving and soon enough I'll be out.'

She wasn't sure if she was hiding her fear and nervousness or not and was too busy following similar lines of logic to care. The explosion at Menlo Park had left her scared in more ways then one. It had left her with not only guilt and sorrow for the colleagues she'd accidentally killed but the explosion had left her buried under rubble, unable to move until rescue crews had found her. After the experience she had taken months to have anything but a crippling fear of small spaces and being underground. She had worked through it with help so that it wasn't crippling, but by no means was the fear gone.

She turned on the flashlight in her hands and started to move through the tunnel in her assigned position. A part of her was eased by the fact that at least she wasn't alone in the tunnel. Had she been alone she probably would have much more strongly considered simply leaving the tunnel. But the combination of being with others, having worked through her issues to an extent, and the promise of money and at least some small amount of influence convinced her to simply keep going.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Edward emerged first, soon followed by Crow Girl and the rest of the group. They emerged inside a strange cavern filled with luminescent crystals that seemed to bend and twist as they looked at them. The crystals twisted and morphed depending on what angle they were viewed from, but they all shared a unique feature - from any perspective the crystal appeared to be blade-like, the outline a pair of parallel lines that impossibly came to a point. Their eyes seem to block out the strange sight, blind spots forming in the instant after perceiving it, and a painful throbbing begins in the back of their minds.

As the eldritch crystals are blocked from their vision by their own mental defenses, the rest of the cavern becomes more notable. It appears to be stone, but it's no stone you've ever seen before, a pale white stone shot through with pale blue material. It's smooth to the touch, and even seems to give slightly under pressure. It has the texture and feel of rock, but it also seems similar to plastics.

Then your eyes fall upon the being there. Something sits at the center of the room, in the shadow of the crystal formations your eyes refuse to see. It appears to be Humanoid, but the limbs are too long, perhaps half again as long as the Human norm with an extra joint. The being's head is lowered, and it appears to be talking to itself, a faint singsong tune that reverberates in your ears. It's a pleasant tune, but all the same it seems to drill into your skull. Their molars begin to throb as they move closer to the being, getting a better look. The creature appears to be a pale green in the ghost-light, which means under normal light it would likely be chalk-white, and is naked, although the folding of its legs makes discerning the being's gender near-impossible. It is drumming it's fingers on the floor, the fingers long and slender. The being looks impossibly frail despite its size, like a good thump would shatter half the bones in its body.

As they move within earshot, it begins to speak. Its head is bowed, they cannot see its face, just the hairless head, shifting with the words.

"Welcome, travelers."

 

[Avashka]

A taste of blood in the mouth, the scent of copper in the air. This, combined with the ill visions, put Crow Girl in a poor mood, unnerved and irritable.

Arriving in the cavern did not improve matters much. Trying to look at the crystalline formations hurt, so Crow Girl hid her eyes, focusing instead on the back of Edward's suit, something solid and real.

".. this place is too big. Too, too, too, big," she whispered, mostly to Edward, but to any nearby who can hear. She's scared. And it shows, as she jumped as her talons dug into the plasticine stone.

Reaching the creature did little to improve Crow Girl's mood. A gangly, long-limbed thing, with too many joints, ghastly-pale skin and a frail form. Odd, Crow Girl thought. It's shaped kind of like me. She found the thought little comfort, though it was a distraction from the pain in her head.

And it gave its welcome.

Crow Girl could only offer a weak, ".. Hello? What is this?" in return.

 

[Mechamorph]

The soft screech of stressed metal alerted Edward to something seriously wrong. As he entered the tunnel with his Tesla Coil Capacitor at half port, the technical specialist felt his suit tighten on him slightly. The suit was built to withstand the freezing depths of lightless fathoms under the waves and thus had few moving parts or seams but the pressure was most apparent on the joints as it made it ever harder to move with ease. The geiger counter Edward had installed as a means to detect radiation leaks began clicking like crazy and the inbuilt barometers showed an intense increase in atmospheric pressure. Normally such a gross change would have been all but impossible but Edward knew that sometimes in these places the physical laws that governed God's creation became merely suggestions.

Ignoring what he hoped was not the smell of burning circuitry Edward murmured to his pseudo-avian comrade reassuringly, "stand fast Miss Morrigan, strangeness is afoot. Stay behind me and keep your eyes on the person before us." First out of the tunnel along with Frank and Morrigan, Edward took a risk and placed the diode of the Tesla Coil on his left elbow as he fiddled with the torchlight he had appropriated earlier. What looked like just the random toyings of a nervous man was actually Edward's attempt to send a warning to his fellows still crawling up the tunnel.

The light flashed in Morse code using conventions that Edward hoped they could understand. "+Pa, +R, sic." The code repeated itself over and over, warning of an increase in atmospheric pressure and radiation. Hoping not to draw any attention to himself as the rest of team seven crawled into the cavern, Edward kept his silence. Morrigan's reply, tentative though it was, would still be preferrable to bluster or threats which was something Edward was thankful for. It may be true that one could get more done with a gun and a kind word than just simply with a kind word but it never hurt to try diplomacy. After all you could always shoot them later.

 

[Captainguy42]

Murphy had just enough military training to recognize morse code, though not enough to read it. It was enough to trigger an instinct to slow down and proceed with caution. As he walked into the cavern and saw it's immense size and looked at the impossible blade-like protrusions, which continued as fields of mind blurring pain. His eyes were drawn to the the sole reprieve from that agony which was too look at what sat in the ahead of them, and that image stung his mind with it's own grotesque nature it looked so frail he imagined he could sever a limb with just the Butcher's knife at his hip. But still it awoke a deep primal fear inside of him, that set his teeth on edge, and made his hair stand on end. He walked into the chamber, slowly, and got closer to his team mates. His gun was at his side, he didn't even dare flick off the safety, but he also didn't dare holster it. He noticed and incessant ticking... His pocket watch was going mad. He could hear it suddenly whir furiously in his pocket, then suddenly slow to a glacial pace. He walked in mid way through Crow Girl's reply, unsure of what exactly had transpired in the moments just before he arrived there. Gripping the handles of his pistol and brief-case, and stood there, looking at the Being with a gormless expression. And a little blurb slipped out, "We, haven't traveled that far..."

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

"This is this. My, my, don't you even know where you've come?" A strange, clicking noise came from the being that seemed to reverberate in the air, followed by a deep belly laugh. Oddly, the creature didn't really move as it laughed, the laughter just seemed to emerge from it. "Silly Humans, lost in the sea. Silly Humans, come to Faerie." The creature looked up, showing that it was eyeless and lipless, only a stubby nose and rows of shining white teeth that seemed to glimmer, almost like they were metallic.

"You've fallen a long way down the Rabbit Hole, but don't worry, you're not as far from your lifeboat as you might think." The creature seemed to smile, but without lips or eyes it was pretty hard to tell.

 

[blaze96]

Angela did not like what she saw as she came out of the tunnel and into the chamber. Between the sudden onset of a headache and a creature with no lips or eyes. If there was one positive to come from this it was that she was at least in a larger area. Still she was feeling more and more like turning back was the better option. Hopefully whatever this thing was it wasn't going to attempt to kill them.

"Wonderful, it talks in riddles. Just what my day was missing, more things that I can't even begin to explain." Were the first words to leave her since she had entered the tunnel. She knew they would be too low for the creature to hear if it's hearing was anything like a normal human's. But seeing as the entire city of New York was obviously not even on Earth anymore, and had been placed in a world with magic and a sea of black ooze, who knew what to expect anymore.

She decided she may as well ask a question since they hadn't been attacked just yet.

"What are you and where is here?" To her it seemed like the second question really should have been answered a long time ago, but as far as she knew this strange realm they had entered hadn't even been given a name by the people trapped in it.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

"I am -" A horrible cacophony of syllables and clicks that no Human being had ever heard before nor could any creature hope to replicate filled the room for about a second. "But you may call me Cu Loch. I am what was once your dream." The creature paused. "This is here. What is where, you have no frame of reference for this world, small one. Would you like directions? You're eighty-one thousand miles from the Pillar, due west-northeast. You're twenty-one million leagues from the city, but if you turn around and go back through the passage, you'll get there in a few minutes. How do you explain when there is no frame of reference?"

The creature rose to its feet, standing perhaps ten feet tall. Without the limbs obscuring it, it was apparent that the creature lacked genitals, and indeed that trying to compare it to Humans was rather problematic. While it had the same number of limbs, they were horribly disproportionate to the size of the body, the legs being more than twice the length of the rest of the creature and the arms hanging down to what would be the knee on a Human.

"What do you seek, small ones?"

 

[NeoAC]

A cavern this large was the last thing Marika expected to encounter in this tunnel, and yet here it was, all sprawled out in front of her. She looked up at the stalactite-like structures but immediately had to cast her gaze back down on the ground. The throbbing pain from looking at the strange formations above overwhelmed her head.

Then something spoke. The thing in front of the group, whatever it was. It had bid them welcome into...wherever the heck it was that they had been dropped down into. Then after some murmured comments form the group, it started to laugh, an eerie laugh as it showed it's face. The look of teeth across the body with nothing but a rudimentary sensory organ was just unsettling.

Angela seemed to be the one asking the questions on Marika's mind, so she just let her go for it. No need to stick herself out there if there was someone else willing to do it. The thing's answer just raised more questions however. This was proving to be difficult.

 

[Mechamorph]

"Cu Loch?" Edward thought to himself. "Sounds like something out of the Lebor Gabala Erenn or the Annala na gCeithre Maistri; something Gaelic or Celtic."

The scientist's mind buzzed with thought, where ever they were and what ever they were talking to were unknowns. They were probably operating on speculation that someone set off a bomb. After all, why would a street blow up? Considering where the tunnel lead to, it could conceivably be that someone did not create a hole to enter the tunnel but rather to *leave* it...

"Oh Tall One, we came here because a large explosion ripped through our lands and created a hole in our streets. We investigated it and the tunnel lead us here. You would not happen to know anything about the tunnel, the explosion or anyone responsible would you?"

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

"If you know what you're doing, you can get just about anywhere through the tunnels that honeycomb this place." The creature made a bizarre chittering sound for a moment. "I saw someone. They've recently appeared, although they've always been here. Follow that route." The creature pointed a long, bony finger at another crawlspace behind him. "But be prepared for...unforeseen consequences if you should follow."