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

[DarkRawen]

"Er... hello." He boomed, trying to keep most of the anger inside, "What in the blazes just happened there?"

Richard hadn't moved from his position on the ground, sitting against a tree. When the sword asked, he shrugged and turned slightly towards Azkar cautious, before looking at the sword. "Well," he said, trying to sound calm. "I was almost eaten, I think." Richard's interest in the demon-sword was somewhat dim, considering it didn't have any actual DNA. But he continued, for some reason feeling as if the demon inside the blade was annoyed.
"As for everything else, I'm currently waiting for the soldiers to take care of a huge demon further into the forest. Considering I'm a scientist, I think I would be more in the way than not. I don't know what to do about her though," Richard admitted. "When she awakens, she might drag me into something dangerous." He stood up, and smirked. "It's interesting, of course, but I don't really feel like risking my life. How about you? Shouldn't you be in someone's hands?"

 

[Terratina.]

Eligor carefully listened to the messy blonde, his words giving off a faint sense of fear. Eligor regarded himself especially good at listening and patient, others mostly regarded him as good at being outspoken and lying there unused. Then again, the same thing that had happened many a time had happened this time. At least for him, there would be the next mission, but for the others that was not always so. With a brief spell of thinking things through he had calmed down a bit, as for all the pride gained by slaying huge demonic beasts, there was the smell of their entrails and perhaps a chance of encountering some stomach acid, not a peasant experience in any case. He shook himself from his musings.

"As for everything else, I'm currently waiting for the soldiers to take care of a huge demon further into the forest. Considering I'm a scientist, I think I would be more in the way than not. I don't know what to do about her though," Richard admitted. "When she awakens, she might drag me into something dangerous." He stood up, and smirked. "It's interesting, of course, but I don't really feel like risking my life. How about you? Shouldn't you be in someone's hands?"

"Scientist, eh? What are you letting her drag you into the front lines for them?" Eligor chuckled as he said those words, an image of the unlikely couple together in love entered his head, "I should be wielded by someone, yes. But it appears they think that their bare fists would be sufficient, in manner of speaking."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Scientist, eh? What are you letting her drag you into the front lines for them?" Eligor chuckled as he said those words, an image of the unlikely couple together in love entered his head, "I should be wielded by someone, yes. But it appears they think that their bare fists would be sufficient, in manner of speaking."

"Well, I'm not actually letting her drag me out..." Richard murmured. For some reason he felt as if there some kind of second meaning behind those words. "But considering she's a bit... unpredictable... it might be the easier way out if I just agree and follow. Too bad about you not getting wielded, though, it would be quite intriguing to watch what effect you could have on other demons." He replaced the regular shots in the shotgun with the ones he had gotten from the other scientists. "I might as well be prepared for what could happen. Or really, anything." Richard looked over at Azkar.
"Should we wake her up? I mean, there's both cons and pros, considering the situation."

 

[Terratina.]

Than little remark cheered up Eligor a bit, even though it was only a little. Sure, they were just two socially awkward people being awkward but more often or not, in Eligor's experience that often led to something anyway. If he had a mouth, a devilish smile would appear on his face that that moment as Eligor wondered whether the scientist would pick up on that little hidden meaning.

"Well, I'm not actually letting her drag me out..." Richard murmured."But considering she's a bit... unpredictable... it might be the easier way out if I just agree and follow. Too bad about you not getting wielded, though, it would be quite intriguing to watch what effect you could have on other demons." He replaced the regular shots in the shotgun with the ones he had gotten from the other scientists. "I might as well be prepared for what could happen. Or really, anything." Richard looked over at Azkar."Should we wake her up? I mean, there's both cons and pros, considering the situation."

The scientist was just a mess of mutters, murmurs and mumbles. Eligor sighed again. What was that about a giant demon further into the forest? Best rally the troops, whether they wanted to be rallied or not. Just standing here was wasting time and from the sounds from the forest, the group over there needed backup.

"If she drags you into oblivion, you won't resist?" He mused, "That attitude isn't particularity self-serving, you know."

He then turned to Azkar, noticing that she strangely looked like the demon knights of Hell.

"Better wake her up, whatever she is. There be a giant over the horizon that looks like it needs slaying."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Isabelle watched as the monstrosity from beneath the earth rose up and started flailing its arms about. Vayle began to quiver in fear from behind as the pair of them quickly dodged from side to side, avoiding the arms with each step.

"I'm going to try and bind that thing." Garath said as he began chanting magic. "I should be able to hold it in place, or maybe make it retreat, at the very least it'll be distracted." Isabelle couldn't simply stand by and do nothing; as she had to try and uphold the name of her family. She began thinking of a plan, and turned to Vayle.

"Vayle, I need you to help Garath with binding the demon. Look I know your scared, but I have faith in you." She said in a warm, and slightly motherly sounding voice; showing concern for the spirit. Vayle smile and hugged Isabelle.

"Aww shucks Master, now I feel like a fool." Vayle said with a slight blush in her cheeks. She then floated up into the air and brought out her crystal ball, which appeared in a puff of smoke. It was then that a glyph was formed as she began sending out spectral ropes in an attempt to hold the demon down.

 

[DarkRawen]

"If she drags you into oblivion, you won't resist?" He mused, "That attitude isn't particularity self-serving, you know."

He then turned to Azkar, noticing that she strangely looked like the demon knights of Hell.

"Better wake her up, whatever she is. There be a giant over the horizon that looks like it needs slaying."

Richard sighted at the remark about him not resisting going to oblivion. "That's not it, I just mean that if she would turn on me, I would rather be killed by demons than the one capable of eating souls." She did say she never ate human souls, but really, if she tried to kill him, who said she would still follow that ideal of hers? Walking a bit closer to the sleeping Azkar, he shivered slightly. Why was he supposed to wake her up? "Ehm... Azkar? Are you awake?" Well, obviously not, but it had worked on his sister so that she didn't get upset when he had to wake her up. "Hello?" Azkar didn't seem to react, so he went back to Eligor. "She's not reacting. It seemed she had a headache when she went to sleep, perhaps that's connected? Anyway, I'm not taking my chances of going closer." However, he did yell one more time. "Azkar, wake up, we have to kill stuff now!"

 

[wilcoblackflame]

Granted, Crow wasn't human, but most people are less than pleased to get spiked in the chest and thrown backwards. "Well.." he managed weakly. "That rather hurt."

He didn't get up, but rather lay on the floor, concentrating on removing the spikes.

"Oh you need not worry about me Lieutenant. Subject 24, Division 6. I certainly can't say I'd mind if anyone here knows enough magic to lessen my restraints enough to be a little more useful. In the meantime however.." He grunted as he pulled another of the leftover spikes from his chest. "..I'll be here if you need me."

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Azkar frowned with her eyes still closed, waving her hand at Richard "You woke me up..."
She then rolled off of the tree, so she was flat on the ground. Then started mumbling and rolling around on the grass back and forth, whining "I wanted to have a naaaaaaaap... Ugh."

Azkar rubbed her eyes as she sat up. Her mind was still fuzzy, her psychic abilities were completely muddled and useless. She blinked at the floating sword with an eye. "Richard, you lost weight." She then scanned around and spotted Richard, then giggled, rubbing her eyes again with her palms and letting out a short yawn "Oh wait, no you didn't..." Azkar slowly stood up, barely able to balance herself, as she did this the muscles and plates of her helmet began crawling back over her head and face back into place.

The now completely clad knight began whacking herself on either side of her head with her hands, quite hard. "Arrgh, I can't sense anything, depending on normal senses completely sucks..." she then began slowly stepping around and gliding her arms through the air as if she were doing a weird dance or pretending to be a plane.

"What do you mean kill stuff Richard?" she looked back at the sword and sighed. "The floating sword is on our side Richard, killing him would be pretty rude. Duh." Azkar gave Richard a firm pat on the head "Bad Richard."
She then noticed the ground was shaking a little. She bounced up and down, giggling. "Or did you mean the thing causing that? That could be fun." She then looked back at the sword "Don't you think floating sword man?"

 

[Nouw]

"Well shit guys, shit!" Danny said, turning to the group. "I don't know about you guys but I am going after that thing."

Danny flicked his shoes off,pulled off his tie and zipped up his jacket. It was time to get serious, and his current attire would get in the way of that. Shoes would slow him down and the tie and jacket would get in the way. The last thing he needed was an interference, especially since he was fighting demons for the second time.

"Well? Are you guys coming or not?" he asked. Danny was tired of waiting and was going to go regardless of whether they came or not. He couldn't believe they had allowed one of their team-mates to be injured. If they had acted sooner, it could have been prevented. Danny hoped not every mission would proceed like this.

 

[ToxicPiranah]

"OH SHITTTTTTT!!" Was all Simon could say. He stood and stared at the gigantic demon. Simon had been told about demons but had never seen one up close and personal. The Fae part of him smouldered in disgust and mistrust of the being. Shaking his head Simon grabbed his axe off his backpack, dropping it's illusion as he went. He backed up, Garath had mentioned binding it and the demon would be strong.

Simon ran over to the necromancer, who was muttering the binding. Placing a hand on his shoulder Simon felt the struggle for control flowing through Garath. Simon brought his own will to the fight, aiding his team mate. Simon gently applied his power, in his mind he pictured the days of summer, the warmth of the breeze, the heat of day. Then the Fae part of him truly awoke, and the pure power of the summer court began to flow. Simon's eyes flickered and glowed like the heart of the sun. His hazel eyes becoming golden orbs. "Keep it up Garath, we can do this." he gently encouraged.

 

[Terratina.]

The scientist went on and on about the little situation with Azkar. Turns out he was only choosing the lesser of two evils since he didn't like the idea of his immortal soul being devoured. Eligor only responded to this with a "Hmpff." Little did he know that there were far worst things in store for humans than soul-devouring waiting for them in Hell. If your soul was devoured by a demon, you would simply cease to exist, the Final Death they called it, and your essence would be absorbed by the devourer. He thought to tell the scientist about this, but decided not to, even jokes about eternal servitude and damnation in Hell didn't go down too well, especially when Eligor mentioned what happened with those poor souls trapped in the Second Circle of Hell. So he stayed quiet.

The shouting seemed to have done its trick, she was awake and ready. If you could call her drowsy state ready. From her speech and giggling and bouncing around as the ground trembled, Eligor guessed that mental clarity wasn't her strong suit and with information in hand, he acted accordingly.

"Don't you think floating sword man?"

"Yes... I think it will be quite a hoot." Eligor replied, carefully choosing his words. Suddenly a thought entered his head: oh yes, that would be a hoot, indeed... "Tell me, do you have a good throwing arm?"

 

[DarkRawen]

When Azkar woke up, she fell down from the tree she had been in, and started talking about still wanting to sleep. Richard heard her talk, but his thoughts were more on the fact that she still seemed out of it. She rambled for a while, and acted weirdly, which made him second-guess how dangerous she could actually be. Right now, she acted like his older sister when she was drunk, and while she had been loud and random, she had been completely harmless. But then again, his older sister had never worn a full-body armor with tusks, nor threatened to kill him. Azkar got closer to them and spoke:

"What do you mean kill stuff Richard?" she looked back at the sword and sighed. "The floating sword is on our side Richard, killing him would be pretty rude. Duh." Azkar gave Richard a firm pat on the head "Bad Richard."

Richard flinched instantly, and took a step away, trying to read what he could of her, but the only thing he could read was her eyes, since they weren't covered by the armor. Her red eyes seemed hazy still, but far from as lost they had been before. "Should I lower my guard?" he asked himself. Richard hated distrusting someone, he usually believed people to be as honest as him. Azkar was honest, he truly believed that, she was just unstable. The tone in her voice before had been so... threatening to him, but now it was sleepy and calm. He didn't go further away, nor did he get closer. The ground around them shook.

"Or did you mean the thing causing that? That could be fun." She then looked back at the sword "Don't you think floating sword man?"

Now, Richard had prepared himself for getting closer to the demon, but only because of Azkar. Besides, if, and only if, he could get close enough to actually be able to hit the demon, perhaps he could have taken a look at the effect of his current bullets. It was something he told himself, only so that he would actually do it.

"Yes... I think it will be quite a hoot." Eligor replied, carefully choosing his words. Suddenly a thought entered his head: oh yes, that would be a hoot, indeed... "Tell me, do you have a good throwing arm?"

The sword asked Azkar. She was strong, at least, so Richard would expect so. He figured that the sword wanted Azkar to throw it at the demon, which could do a considerable amount of damage. He stayed quiet, but he was curious about how much damage this was. Besides, if it killed it, he would be able to do like he always did, stay away from trouble.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Isabelle watched as Garath began the binding spell with the help of Simon, which would hopefully buy the a little time. Vayle was flying about through the air, dodging the flailing arms of the wild demon whilst casting binds on its arms to slow it down. Whilst all this was happening, Isabelle was careful to move out of the way, trying to think up of some-way to be useful in this encounter. She thought about attacking it, but was concerned as to what that might do to the binding process.

"Garath, if I was to attack the dolem, would your binding spell be under threat?" Isabelle asked in a loud voice.

 

[IFS]

"Garath, if I was to attack the dolem, would your binding spell be under threat?"

Garath shook his head, speaking would disrupt the incantation and he had to concentrate on the binding for it to work, but someone attacking the demon would distract it, not him and could even give him an edge in the mental struggle. The only way it could disrupt the binding would be if they knocked it out of his line of sight, which was unlikely to say the least.

So far he and Simon were winning the contest of wills, he was fairly certain that without Simon's help he would have failed already, but together they were holding control and forcing the demon to step backwards. Unless the demon had an unexpected reserve of strength or a surge of willpower they might actually succeed at binding it.

 

[deathbydeath]

"Well? Are you guys coming or not?"

*sigh* "If you insist, son."

Somehow complying with Danny's unreasonable request, Aaron decided to chase after the shambling ex-scientist. Holstering his guns to free his arms, Aaron took a few steps back, judged the distance, and took a deep breath. The hall stretched for about 20 feet (6 meters for the non-American readers), and ended in a 90 degree right turn, with Aaron catching a glimpse of his potential prey fleeing the scene. Not willing to let this happen, Aaron exploded into action. He ran towards the spot where the wall met the turn, his legs flying like over clocked pistons until he approached the wall. He launched himself of of the ground with his right leg, his left leg clinging against him as if its life depended on it. When Aaron landed on the wall perpendicular to the intersecting hallway, his hands flew to the sides of his chest, gripping his armaments firmly. His left leg exploded into the wall, sending Aaron flying down the hall and out of sight as he drew his guns and screamed the incomprehensible equivalent of bloody murder.

After hearing numerous gunshots, copious swearing, dull thuds, and howls of pain/rage, there was a pause in the ruckus. Shortly after, the pause was followed up by "crack", "thump", "dammit", and Aaron flying into the wall that he learned to fly on earlier. After receiving a substantial amount of punishment, Aaron slid to the ground and failed to move.

 

[Nouw]

Danny glared at Aaron. Son? Who are you calling son? He considered smacking him but, once again, refrained from doing so. This time, because he was the only one who was coming with him.

"Alright so how should we- wait what are you doing?" Danny asked. Before he could even stop him, Aaron was off in a wild run. He was running so quickly Danny had no idea how we would stop aside from hitting, and knocking down, the wall. He wondered if the speed was necessary, an old-fashioned jog would have been faster and safer. It was when Aaron jumped on the walls and propelled himself at the demon, guns blazing, Danny realized he was gaining momentum.

Danny laughed his ass off. He had just seen something straight out of a cheesy b-movie, how could he not? The screaming was icing on the cake. After a minute of well-needed laughter, Danny managed to control himself long enough to stroll down the hallway. He would have ran but when someone did a stunt like that, you knew he knew he was fine. Turns out he wasn't, for Aaron was sent flying back into the wall.

Danny snapped out of his laughter completely and checked Aaron's pulse; he was alive. He checked for wounds and only found bruises and cuts, not serious enough to kill him but maybe enough to keep him off duty for a while. Then again, it was D.I.C.E. If you could make ammo out of nothing, you could fix a few broken bones as easily as you could break them.

Danny turned to the demon and prepared for a stand-off only for it to run away. It wanted to fight in an environment it was comfortable in, darkness. Well then, let's play Danny mused. He ran after it.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Azkar picked Richard up off the ground by the collar with one hand and started waving him around like a rag doll. "I think I could get him a few hundred meters fairly easily..." Azkar blinked and looked back at the sword, then facepalmed with her free hand and dropped Richard.

Azkar then grabbed Eligor by the blade, after a few moments of whirling him around she giggled as she grasped him with both hands, sliding her hands to the base of the blade, then thrust it into her stomach. Azkar's stance and demeanor changed, she glared at Richard through her visor with perfect clarity. "Don't fall behind." She then stepped back against a tree and kicked off with great force, accelerating herself with her psychic energy. Azkar shot through the air, high above the demon and ripped Eligor out of her stomach, she then did several barrel rolls and threw him directly at the creature, propelling him with her mind as well.

Azkar had spent too much energy on the maneuver and her now needed regeneration however, she began to fall in an arc away from the group, unable to alter her descent Azkar just sighed and let her body hang loose as she crashed into a rocky outlook, instantly breaking her legs, arms, several ribs and her neck.

Tears ran down her cheeks as her helmet came apart, hanging by tendons around her face, she vomited some blood and giggled, thinking to herself. "Well, I'm going to finish my nap, the Humans can deal with it." Then she blacked out.

 

[Terratina.]

She demonstrated her strength by lifting up Richard, had she really interpreted Eligor's question to throw Richard? It seemed not as she realised her mistake with a facepalm that said it all. Eligor did chuckle a bit at the thought of Richard being thrown instead of him. The scientist would just be a mess of blood and organs by the end of the journey. How about thrown into oblivion than dragged, eh Richard? It would make for good comedy but this was a serious situation. Just another comedy sketch for the theatre of the mind. Suddenly Azkar grabbed Eligor, by the blade, he just sighed. Thinking definitely wasn't her strong suit. She when on and twirled him about, good balance but a slightly loose grip.Then as Eligor's eyes widened with surprise, she thrust him into her stomach.

"You could just use the handle!" He said in a moment of snark and was ignored. Probably because his voice was partly muffed by the surroundings.

He blinked and they were high in the air, approaching the giant demon. In yet another twist, Azkar ripped him out of her stomach and he grimaced as he felt the blade rip through her guts, sending bits of what looked like intestine and other things spilled out, only Azkar would know what they were. She spun and spun, dizzying Eligor as his eye darted round and round in an attempt to follow the action. Typically, at the last minute, Eligor thought that changing his shape to a javelin or a spear or some other throwing weapon would be advantageous, but it was too late for that now.

She threw him with all her physical and psychic might at the creature. Eligor braced himself for impact.

 

[DarkRawen]

When Azkar lifted Richard, ready to throw him, he tried to get loose. She held him, but turned to the sword and let Richard down, luckily. He panted and felt dizzy, and recollected himself as Azkar lifted Eligor and trust the sword into her stomach for some reason. She looked sharply at Richard, and said:

"Don't fall behind."

The armored being then took off with a frightening speed, and went towards the enormous demon. Richard started running, but was unable to see what happened due to trees in the way when he ran. From what he had seen, before, the demon hadn't moved, so it should be safer. It wasn't before he got closer he noticed that the sword had been thrown into the demon, while Azkar was nowhere to be seen. The demon screamed, but he couldn't see the damage the sword had done with it so far up.
"Azkar?" Richard asked nervously. Why weren't she around? She had been eager to take it out, but suddenly she was gone.
"Perhaps she's behind the demon? Or in the forest?" The other people of the group was still fighting the demon, so he got closer, trying to find out what to do.

 

[FinalDream]

Captain Lara Reid, PhD - Sector 14

She could feel herself begin to calm a little, her fingers tapped furiously on the screen that illuminated her face in the low light surrounding the control panel. She was finally beginning to make some kind of progress in restoring the system. Although it might require it?s operating system to be freshly installed again when all this was over.

"Laura! With all due respect, can you please hurry up? I don't want to remain here if there's a chance our location is being reported. I know that's important, but can't you do it somewhere else!"

?Huh?? She had been so absorbed in her work she had forgot about the others. And this was no time for lessons on how to pronounce her name. ?No. I?m sorry.? There seemed to be a hint of sadness in the apology. ?I need to disconnect the device properly, otherwise who knows what it might do.? There was a pause. ?The last one exploded.?

Lara gritted her teeth a little and tried not remember what had happened, she could still see the three faces of her team as the fire swallowed them. The scars on her back had healed a long time ago but she swore she could still feel a little of the pain at the thought of it all. At last the system had been restored, the tablet began to show corrupted readouts for almost all the original operating system and it seemed this device had caused a lot of damage as it worked. With a deep breath she yanked the wires out connecting the mystery device.

?All done.? She chirped to the room with a smile.