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

[Green Shoes]

Prometheus nodded as Nicole explained, offering his voice in support.

"She's right. We're not meant to be here, and I doubt they will let us leave nicely."

Chiron turned his head, still paddling. His voice picked up from it's sombre malaise, eager to educate.

"I'm glad you asked! This is actually Eridanos, the deepest of the five rivers, one that will eventually link up with Styx. By taking this path, we actually skip the boundary, and can drop straight into the fifth circle, if you know your Dante..."

The world had become dark and full of a thick, grey mist. Chiron lit a small lamp at the prow of the boat, and Prometheus cast a warm, radiance to those sitting near him.

Skeletal arms now began to reach into the boat, clawing and grasping. Chiron was unnerved, though it set the Titan on edge. He kicked at one of the arms, snapping it, and threw it back into the river.

Turning to Aria, he spoke.

"When we find the owner of said tongue, you'll need to act as translator; none of us here speak the language of the dead save you. Assuming you do, as a daughter of Freya."

Far in the distance, the mist began to part, revealing a stone city, lit by funeral pyres, and thousands of naked, dead spirits wandering in pain. Those nearest the shore spotted the boat, before running back quickly, in the manner of a messenger.

Three winged, screaming figures shot out from the city and into the mist-sky, hurtling towards the boat.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

"I'm glad you asked! This is actually Eridanos, the deepest of the five rivers, one that will eventually link up with Styx. By taking this path, we actually skip the boundary, and can drop straight into the fifth circle, if you know your Dante..."

"Well, I did just sell my soul, better get used to where I will be living..." Steven said, before a thought caught his mind.

"Did it always have nine circles?" Steven asked, "I don't personally remember the part of Greek history that mentioned Hades has defined levels."

 

[Lunar Templar]

"When we find the owner of said tongue, you'll need to act as translator; none of us here speak the language of the dead save you. Assuming you do, as a daughter of Freya."

"I can, I can also see them if they linger on earth, which was confusing as hell when I was little and couldn't tell the difference between living and spirit" Aria said, snickering a little at some of her mistakes in fine tuning her power. "Not that I have to worry about seeing anyone I know, Mom an Dad wouldn't be in hell, nether would Gramma or Grampa, We'd need to go up to find them." she said as a trio of figures moved toward the boat from the city "That can't be good"

 

[DarkRawen]

Andrew had expected the trip to hell to be... dramatic. Really, a boat on some water that had scratch noises on the underside, a warning about talking to people and eating stuff, and that was it? However, soon someone spotted them, and then some winged creatures flew towards the boat, shrieking. Andrew sighed, but it didn't surprise nor scare him.

Besides, no one else is reacting. And I can't do anything, even if I tried.

He awaited the others' reaction, that was pretty much all he could do either way. He found their whole trip down there a waste of time and an unnecessary danger. Yet again,the feeling of the whole thing just being some sort of stupid test hit him, but for now, he wouldn't voice his annoyance. Not anything to be gained from it, after all.

 

[Green Shoes]

Prometheus answered Steven's question.

"Hades, Hel, Dis; they're just different names for the same place. 9 circles, 7 levels, 3 tiers; just different interpretations I'm guessing."

Spotting what Aria was referring to, he cursed.

"I wonder who set them free...last I heard they were under a tomb in Athens..."

Chiron pulled the boat closer to the shore, before spotting the three winged women.

"I suggest you lot make your way to the stone City, you'll find the souls there. Be quick! The Furies don't often stop to ask questions."

On either side of the river were dark plains of dirt stretching for miles, shrouded by mist on the horizon. The only notable feature was a stone city in the distance, and the thousands of souls that roamed the wasteland.

The Furies drew closer now, carrying ivory bows. One of them let loose an arrow, piercing the side of the boat with a thunk.

 

[Deu Sex]

Remus mimicked Prometheus' reaction when skeletal digits began scratching at the boat, sweeping his hand at one and reducing the bones to dust. It was a rather rash thing to do considering how the others simply ignored it, but Remus was unsettled. There was something certainly ghastly about taking a boat through the underworld. The gruesome sights early hadn't sickened him, but the macabre atmosphere now was making him feel queasy. Frankly he was surprised the others weren't so frightened by the sights of death.

Hanging his head low throughout the ride, Remus peaked up when he heard a chorus of vicious howls ring through the air. He spotted a trio of winged figures flying in the group's direction. "That can't be good." he heard Aria say, echoing his own thoughts. Remus gripped his shotgun and brought it up to aim, waiting for the Furies to get closer before firing.

"I suggest you lot make your way to the stone City, you'll find the souls there. Be quick! The Furies don't often stop to ask questions." Even as Chiron brought them to the shore, Remus keep his gaze focused on the winged creatures. As an arrow sank into the boat's side he decided to waiting any longer would be too dangerous. He squeezed the trigger and fired a round at one of the Furies. Buckshot wasn't as good as birdshot for hunting flying beasts, but it would still tear them up if they got too close. With that he climbed out of the boat, landing on the dark dirt and gesturing for the others to follow. "Come on! Move fast unless you wanna get hit!"

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Steven followed Remus' lead. While he was a good shot, hitting a flying creature with a pistol without tracer rounds while running was really difficult.

Being forced to eyeball the furies movement, Steven fired an entire clip as he ran, only one meeting it's mark and clipping a wing bone, forcing it to crash into the ground.

"DON'T WASTE TIME TRYING TO FIGHT THEM!" Steven yelled, "JUST RUN!"

 

[hiei82]

Vera watched as the Furies began to close. Drawing his sword, he got into a defensive stance, ready to protect people from the arrows as best he could - whether by smacking them away with his sword or blocking them with his armor.

"DON'T WASTE TIME TRYING TO FIGHT THEM!" Steven yelled, "JUST RUN!". Vera couldn't agree more. Fighting the Furies might have been possible under other circumstances, but in the land of the dead, who knew what the rules would be. Would they even be able to kill them?

"Agreed." she said, moving further from the shore. "Let's make haste"

 

[DarkRawen]

They got to the shore, the furies drawing closer. An arrow hit the boat, and people started panicking, as they ran to this stone City they were supposed to get to.

"DON'T WASTE TIME TRYING TO FIGHT THEM! JUST RUN!"

It's not like I was planning on fighting. What would I even use?

Andrew left the boat, but couldn't help but take note of the arrow again, surprised the furies carried bows. A bow could be handy, if he had to fight. He was tired of sitting on the side-line without being able to do anything, so when one of the furies crashed to the ground, he took the chance to grab her bow and arrows, before continuing.

They were already chasing us, after all. So it's not like it'll get worse now. And I might as well have something to defend myself with should the need arise. More than this.

Andrew examined the bow as he ran, it was unusual compared to what he was used to, but it didn't look like it would be that hard for him to use. It had a certain weight to it, it seemed to be ivory, but he would be able to aim it. His specialty back then had been to ready the arrow and aim quickly, while being fairly precise. And he was sure he hadn't lost his touch just yet.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Aria sighed as she ran 'Again with things trying to kill us' she thought as she spun around to take a half aimed pot shot at the furies, she wasn't really trying to kill or even hit them, just distract them long em to delay them shooting at them "So what these guys deal eh? Anything about them that drunken loser could have used to turn them to his side?"

 

[Green Shoes]

The buckshot threw the Fury off balance, before Steven's clip brought it to the ground. Robbed of both it's bow and it's flight, it began sprinting after the group, gaining on them, while the other two wheeled around in front of them. Aria's bolt further enraged the grounded one, scorching her claws.

They were tall, maybe 8 feet, extremely thin and gangly, with large black wings. On their hands were wicked claws that curved like scimitars; two out of three still held their bows, arrows knocked.

With arrows pointed straight at them, Prometheus stopped running and froze. If they hadn't shot them point blank, perhaps they weren't trying to kill them.

Prometheus whispered to Aria.

"I'd drop the apathy if I was you. Eternal torment isn't as fun as it looks."

The injured fury caught the group, leaping onto Steven, wrapping her legs around him, trying desperately to shred his back.

One of the furies screamed something incomprehensible; sounding something like a cross between a woman and a bird. Ignoring her, the Fury cut Steven deeply down the back, vengeance for injuring her. The other two snickered, barking another order, somewhat angry that she disobeyed.

Prometheus, unsure of what to do, tried to grip the fury from Steven, though it slashed at his hands, before changing targets to Remus and Aria.

"Ahriman won't miss these two!"

 

[IFS]

"I'm glad you asked! This is actually Eridanos, the deepest of the five rivers, one that will eventually link up with Styx. By taking this path, we actually skip the boundary, and can drop straight into the fifth circle, if you know your Dante..."

"Eriandos, I don't remember that one..." she muttered, if it meets up with the Styx though then that might be good, relatively speaking of course we are in the underworld. Fifth circle huh, its good to know Dante's fanfiction is just as relevant as actual ancient religion I suppose. Before she could comment or say more though the flying figures attacked, and some of them retaliated in kind, while making a hasty retreat.

"I suggest you lot make your way to the stone City, you'll find the souls there. Be quick! The Furies don't often stop to ask questions."

Oh shit, now we're up against vengeance dieties? And Steven just shot one, yeah I'm guessing the goddesses of revenge and persecuting aren't going to let that slide... They were running though, and that was something she was good at, if not for the bright glow she would unfurl her wings and take off, but in this situation that might be like painting a target on her forehead.

She was pulling ahead of the rest of the group when one grabbed Steven, shit shit shit, what do I do? No weapons, no way to fight without getting close... Prometheus managed to pull the one off of Steven, and it promptly charged at Remus and Aria, Remus at least she wasn't worried about getting hurt, if anyone stood a chance against an eight foot tall divine monster in close combat it was him. Still there had to be something she could do, wait! I need to stop forgetting about the blessings, now lets see if I can still manifest the wings invisibly, she concentrated, it was difficult to suppress the glow, but she could feel them unfurl from her back, strands of light collecting and then fading into a barely noticeable, faintly gold colored, blur. They felt larger than before, more full of strength, as though the feeling of victory from before had overcharged them, lets try not to waste that. A golden aura flew from her fingertips to Remus, granting him the blessing of victory and strength, she just hoped the Furies didn't take notice, she didn't feel like engaging them in aerial combat, especially not when only one of them was attacking. No sense pissing ALL of them off, things are bad enough as is.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Steven screamed as the claws cut into his back. Thankfully, Prometheus was able to get it off him.

The Fury ran after Remus an Aria. While hitting a flying target with a pistol was extremely difficult, hitting a target running straight away from you is easy.

Steven grabbed the pistol from the ground, brought it to bear against the Fury, and put a slug right into the monsters back.

 

[Dogmatic99]

Able hit the shore around the same time the others did, keeping a nervous eye on the horizon and the shadowy skies. His feet touched the ground just in time to feel the wind rustle as a bone arrow drove itself into the boatside, quivering as it settled in. It was a hasty bit of improvisation but Able snatched it up. It was just one arrow but it was better than nothing and he didn't want to be caught completly unprepared again.

He broke into a run sticking close to the rest of the group, gunshots were going off around him but he didn't turn to see where they were coming from. The city skyline on the horizon was their new goal and he was damn well going to reach it.And then it was on them. One of the creatures, some sick mixture of person and vulture had crashed to the ground... and it was pissed!

In the back of his mind Able heard someone call them furies and suddenly it all made sense. Not that there was any time to stop and marvel at them and the strange, shrieks and clicks they seemed to use to speak. All he could think of them as was animals, monsters. The wounded one had already made a point to attack Steven, trying to shred his back like a cat on a scratching post. Prometheus was able to drag it off, but that didn't slow it down and before they knew it the fury was spinning around and changing course.

Steven managed to plug it in the back, it's lank, lurching form offering a nice target. Able piled on, trying to do his part. He charged the fury lashing out with the arrow tip and kicking at the back of one of the fury's long legs. It was moving so fast but Able did his best to try and grab hold of it in the hope of holding it still long enough for the others to take it down.

 

[Deu Sex]

Remus whipped his head around, running still, as he heard a feral noise coming from behind. He saw the Fury which he had fired upon moments ago attacking Steven, slashing at him with its claws. Although Prometheus managed to pry it away, the creature broke out of his grasp and sprinted in Remus' direction. At this he came to a halt and turned his full body around.

It was then that Remus felt a sudden burst of energy surge through his body. Saying the sensation was invigorating would be an understatement. He now felt titanic - invincible almost. Having previously been fleeing from the winged foes, Remus was now convinced to do the opposite and charge back at the Furies. The Fury headed towards him was staggered when Steven took a shot at it from the back and Able attempted to grapple it. Drawing his sword as rushed at the creature, Remus plunged the blade forward and drove it into the Fury's chest.

A hardy chuckle escaped Remus' mouth, as drew the blade out of the beast as quickly as it had entered. He eyes then turned to the remaining two Furies soaring above with bows drawn. He lifted his shotgun up and took aim, holding it with one arm as though it were a mere pistol. Normally Remus wouldn't have tried something so cocky, but he was feeling oddly amazing. As he lined the barrel with his target, he squeezed the gun's trigger and unloaded its remaining buckshot at one of the Furies. His arm barely even quivered from the recoil.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Aria blew the titan off entirely, and turned around to check on Steven, 'blinking' over to him as Remus and Able dealt with the grounded fury "Andrew! Steven needs your help!" she yelled to their 'medic', taking a look over at Remus in time to see him run the grounded Fury threw 'That's not gonna help anything ....' she thought, figuring they where already in the land of the dead, where was it gonna go.

 

[DarkRawen]

Andrew watched as the fury attacked Steven, it angry after having having been shot. He gripped the bow, but the titan leading them dealt with it first. The slight moment after Prometheus had removed it from the close to middle-aged man's back, Andrew wondered if it was because of him. However, it soon became apparent that the creature was more bothered about the people who had attacked it, than the guy who had "borrowed" its bow and arrows.

From the blood, it seemed that Steven's injuries were dire, and as Andrew ran over in order to help him, Aria spoke.

Andrew! Steven needs your help!

"Yeah, I'm on my way," he answered, faking his polite tone and smile.

I know, you dumb *****. Go do something useful, instead of bothering me.

If it was one thing Andrew couldn't stand, it was people pointing out the obvious like that, and doubting his ability to act according to his responsibilities. Especially when it was someone who spent most of the time bitching, upset over stupid things.

Damn teenagers. I didn't like them when I was their age, and I still don't like them. Whatever, not important.

When he reached Steven, he examined his wounds. The marks after the claws were deep, but easy enough to fix, and Steven were soon fine again. He remembered that the fury seemed to have slashed Prometheus too, and asked:

"Did you need to be healed too?"

As he asked, he poured some of his water over a few of the arrows, inflicting a poison-like plague on the water and the arrows, should he need to use them.

 

[Green Shoes]

Shot, slashed and now impaled on Remus' sword, the fury let out a beastly squeal. As Remus drew the blade clean, it was clear that it was incapacitated; not dead, but no longer a threat. It sizzled slightly where Able had cut it with the arrow.

Remus' shot hit the fury hard, sending it staggering, dropping it's bow. The other sneered and loosed an arrow, and although Remus tried to dodge it, it slashed under his leg, tearing his calf muscle. Satisfied, the Fury leaped up into the air, readying another arrow, the other still dazed and shocked.

Prometheus spoke to Andrew.

"I'm fine, though I doubt they want to talk now, if they ever did. I think they were just emissaries...Anyhow, you've got the bow, you know what to do."

The titan rounded on Nicole, giving her a nod of approval.

"I'm sure Remus appreciates that. Will you be able to summon it again soon, or will we be without victory for a while?"

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Steven tried to get up on his own, but screamed in pain. Thankfully, Andrew quickly reached him and patched up the wounds. Steven was then able to get to his feet.

"Thank you," Steven said, then noticed Andrew was pouring water on some stollen arrows. Steven was confused, but guessed what ever gift of medicine Andrew had may also work in reverse.

"Let's hope that works, these things can take a lot more punishment than the goats," Steven said as he indicated to the still alive Fury on the ground. He then noticed that Remus was on the ground, leg slashed. Steven knew enough first aid to know a cut to the leg can bleed out VERY quickly.

"Give me the poisoned bow," Steven said, "I can know how to use it by just touching it, your needed to heal. Take my gun."

Steven held out the colt to Andrew.

 

[DarkRawen]

"I'm fine, though I doubt they want to talk now, if they ever did. I think they were just emissaries... Anyhow, you've got the bow,you know what to do."

Andrew nodded, and readied a poisoned arrow without hesitation. He was completely calm, he had no reason to be nervous or unsure, he had hit birds with arrows before, and those were smaller, faster, and not currently trying to hit them with arrows. His hands didn't shake under the weight of the bow, and his aim was excellent.

"Give me the poisoned bow. I can know how to use it by just touching it, your needed to heal. Take my gun."

If Andrew had replied, what he said would be condescending and offended. Did Steven really think it was that easy to use a bow? Didn't he think Andrew could do it better? Did he really think Andrew couldn't do both this and the healing? Andrew felt like speaking his mind. However, he emptied his mind of whatever the others said.

And then he fired. It barely hit the moving fury.

No good. Again.

He readied the bow again and fired, hitting this time. The arrow itself wouldn't do too much damage, but the poison would bring it down shortly.

Paralysis and pain, was the attributes of this "plague". He fired another arrow, at the other fury. Yet not a perfect hit, but good enough to bring the poison around in its body fast. His more than ten years of practice came back to him. And his talent guided those years.

Andrew smirked proudly, before changing that smile into a worried one, and checking on Remus. With the arrow still in, there was no problems, it stopped most of the bleeding. He slowly removed the arrow, fixing what had been damaged beforehand, barely noticing that he was starting to get tired.