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

[Evrant-Knight]

Adriana stared at Isabelle with a blank, expressionless face, stunned by what she had been told.

"You know what...I'll just file this under weird shit and move on."

"I guess it kind of is unusual when you think about it." Isabelle remarked, leaning her back against the wall as the two women waited for Garath to finish with whatever being lurked within the library. Vayle was busy looking at what was the portal room, seeing the damage that had occurred.

"The magic guy is still talking to the demon? Would have thought they would tear each other apart by now."

"Well maybe Garath is trying to make peace with it or something, try and find out what exactly is going on here; anything that could give us an edge in stopping this demon problem."

 

[Shadowstar38]

"Specter, What specter? What else did the specter tell you to do?"

The specter. The one who creates us. His name is Zorama. He told us that powerful mages would be here. We were to bring them to him. He would tell us where he was after we escaped from this place.

As Garath communicated with the kouza further, Adriana received his message.

"Hey. Isabelle. Garath said he's learning something. And to warn the others. I'm gonna go see what's up elsewhere and get the layout of this place"
____________________________________________________________________

"Let's not rest on our laurels just yet." Eligor replied, "There is more where that came from, as they say."

"Right. Time to get on it then"

Isaac's first priority was to cut down on all the active firefights in the lower levels. He phased down to the 4th level and encountered a few agent taking shots at a pair of kouza. The bullets they were using barely even slowed the creatures down.

"Hold your fire guys. We got this," Isaac said in a cool tone. he ran up to the first demon he saw and used Eligor to cut it's feet from under it. He gave it a quick stab in the heart and kept the momentum going with a slice into the next demon's arm.

It struck back with a swipe of it's claw into Isaac's shoulder, which only drew a small bit of blood thanks to a timely dodge. Isaac struck back with a swing straight into the demon's forehead, stopping it dead.

"You know, I think you might be one of favorite weapons Eligor. I've never seen a sword power through demon hides like this before"

Isaac raised Eligor up so that he could scan for any demons that were left. There was another on the same floor, but it appeared to be slumped onto the floor. Aaron came from the same direction, looking as if he were in a haze.

"He. At least one of you guys can handle your own. Lucky you"

Isaac pointed Eligor up and looked back at Aaron.

"Hey. There should only one or two left on the third floor. Why don't you meet us up there"

 

[DarkRawen]

Richard hadn't stayed much longer after he had gotten the items, and soon after, about ten minutes, he was in Minneapolis. He paid the cab-driver, and carried the suitcase with the clothes to the area where the portal was supposed to be. The pager-thingy he had been given showed an address that was close by. He hadn't taken the cab to the accurate location, that would be an idiotic thing to do, considering how much trouble DICE went through in order to hide. Richard wasn't fond of DICE, but he understood the constant need for secrecy, as annoying to him it had been. His stomach hurt when he walked, but at least he knew he wasn't going to get hurt by it.

A small, abandoned building was where the portal was hidden. Well, actually, there weren't a portal there, only the necessary equipment to make a portal, considering the portal itself was the-- well, that's not important. What is, is that the pager had a certain set of buttons, and he realized soon that the one with a small version of the DICE "logo" was the one that contacted DICE, and let them know he needed the portal set up. He pushed it, and waited. Suddenly, the doorway straight to HQ was in front of him, showing that the portal room was damaged for some reason. He went in, only to find the place in a calm chaos, people working, yet not being sure what had happened. Nobody seemed to be in danger, and while things were a bit messy, the most damaged seemed to be a perfect circle in the middle of the room.

He walked over to the lady that had given him permission before, and shaken as she was, she still was looking into that computer, trying to work. "Hello," he said, acting as if nothing was wrong. Somehow, he sensed that would be a better thing to do than to panic himself, though panic had never been something natural to him. Sure, overwhelmed, but he stayed calm when stuff happened, and acted fast. She looked at him and nodded. "That suit-case is what you brought back? I'll need that and your coat." He nodded, and gave her both. The items weren't in it anyways. "Anything else? Like, any other items at all" he nodded. Richard couldn't lie to save his life, after all, not if it was a direct question. "I have it on my body, you want to---" she shook her head.
"It's fine. Let me check through that suitcase, and your coat." She started doing the checking, and Richard looked around again, wondering what could have done something like that.

As he was, a man in military garment approached him, clearly having seen something. "Hey, you're D6, right?" How did he know that? Richard wasn't wearing anything that could indicate he was. Perhaps he just looked more clever than what this guy was used to. "Yeah?"
"You guys really need to keep your experiments from running amok. Some girl ran into her with a portable portal device, and fucked the place up. She had a whole lot of demons after her, seems like she messed around with it or something." Richard tilted his head, listening, yet not that interested. Any time someone assumed he was part of the technological part of D6, he stopped caring for the most part. "Okay, I'll tell them." He wouldn't, so he looked away slightly as he said it.

"Good. That black-haird chick really messed up. What kind of crazy woman does something like this?" Crazy, black-haired woman? Why did that sound familiar? "Hey, that girl, was she kind of small, and probably too young to be here?" The soldier nodded. "And she took care of a lot of demons at once?"
"Yes, I did say that."
"What happened to her?" Richard asked. That had to be Azkar, right? She was the only one he could think of who would do something like that, for whatever reason. He wasn't sure she needed one. "She disappeared, but then suddenly appeared again, on the floor. Some mummy guy took her, I don't know where. I would guess D6 labs or whatever is there. Where you lock the demons and freaks up."

The cells? Why had Azkar been taken there, unless they were going to experiment on her. Richard went over to the woman still examining his stuff, asked her to take care of it for a short while, and headed in direction the D6 cells. Going home had reminded him of how much he disliked some of DICE's methods, and having them doing even more experiments on Azkar was on the list of what was not acceptable. She was supposed to go to Europe with him later, not rot in some cell.

 

[IFS]

The specter. The one who creates us. His name is Zorama. He told us that powerful mages would be here. We were to bring them to him. He would tell us where he was after we escaped from this place.

Garath sent another image to Adriana, Zorama, see if anyone knows that name, he sent this demon, maybe others. His illusion looked up and down the demon in front of him, it couldn't actually see, but it made it more believable, the illusion began to run its fingers through its goatee then said "This Zorama, he made you, out of what? you look like your patchwork, the Kouza's mind I touched earlier felt like it was made of fragments of other minds, how many things were you made out of?"

Real Garath began to scan the room, he wondered if it came in here to get a weapon, it certainly didn't seem hostile at the moment, but it was here to catch wizards and he hadn't revealed his magic to it yet, maybe he could get it to help him.

 

[Shadowstar38]

"This Zorama, he made you, out of what? you look like your patchwork, the Kouza's mind I touched earlier felt like it was made of fragments of other minds, how many things were you made out of?"

The demon placed it's hands on it's head and shut its eyes.

Nine. No, ten of us make this body. 7 lesser imps. 2 stronger demons. One human. Why a human? Why...

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

"Well you look different then before, still think you've been given a divine purpose now that you're human?" Eliezer mocked, "Or are you still as crazy?"

Azkar spasmed and half curled into a ball as her movement was restricted by the spear. Her still closed eyes clenched, her teeth grinding when she heard the words 'divine purpose'. The pain wasn't from the words. She couldn't think straight, like another part of her was reacting to it. Azkar continued to sob and choke in pain and confusion, she passed out for a few seconds. As she did, the spear inside her seemed to glow and hum slightly as indescribably beautiful letters in Angelic danced up the shaft.
'With the speed of God may this item return to whence it came'
The spear disappeared soon after in a small shower of mist and glitter, elsewhere in the facility, the mummy received his item back in a slightly violent fashion.

Azkar woke up again and crawled to her bed, she barely managed to get in it. Curling into a fetal position. She was bleeding out, she just wanted to sleep. She barely remembered she was talking to someone. "You're free to go, isn't it about time you had a whinge and stormed off like a child?" Azkar couldn't put much energy into being snide and couldn't even lift her head up to say it. She just lay on the bed, slowly turning the bedding crimson.

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

Just as demons could only speak demonic, angels could only angelic, but this girl was doing something that made angelic runes, runes that matched the ones on his wrist, appear along the the length of the spears shaft and in an instant the spear was gone, replaced by a shimmer of mist and glitter, but the hole that the spear had made was still there causing her to bleed badly, soon her whole tiny world of the Division 6 cell would be crimson.

"A mortal angel, interesting" He chuckled lightly at the thought, "Very interesting"

"You're free to go, isn't it about time you had a whinge and stormed off like a child?"

The retort had very little energy to it, she looked like she was barely able to stay conscience at all, the first and most telling sign of massive blood loss, he would know. Once the 'scientists' tried draining him of his blood, hoping it would regenerate indefinitely, giving them an infinite amount of blood to test. All it did was make him sleepy, the blood didn't regenerate right away but there was always enough just to keep him alive. The scientists had deemed it to slow and shelved the idea.

"If you insist, but believe it or not I wasn't planning to stay, there are more interesting things in the world then watching a girl slowly die," He said nonchalantly, his tone then darkened "I have been in this world for an unfathomable amount of time, but none of it has been more uncomfortable then the 10 years I spent locked up here, you'll find that out too"

With that finished he started walking towards the exit of the labs.

 

[Nouw]

Why don't we start with, why me? I'm just a human.
"Well Danny-boy, when a parasite is forced to attach itself to demons for hundreds of years, having a human is a very welcome change."
Then why did you test me?
"I can't have a daft wuss for a host can I? And I'm not taking about courage Danny, I'm talking about faith in your beliefs and your will to live. You passed my test, which demons have failed, and came out a sane man.
Oh, so I should be thankful for having a parasite.
"Of course. Lighten up Danny, you'll find there are many positives to having me in your head."
We'll see.

Danny stepped inside the vent. The blood was there, but moving. It seemed to have a mind of its own, slithering and squirming like a thousand worms. The trail of blood lead Danny to the left vent and he saw the same sight. Some drops were struggling behind but the blobs snatched them and continued their journey. It was a fascinating yet disgusting sight; it was amazing to see it acting on its own but the thought of it inside him, controlling his movements, was blood-curdling. But if the blood had no host, how could it be moving?

"It seems that the previous host is still alive. Barely alive, but alive enough for the blood to feel compelled enough to make its way towards its host."
So my job is to finish off your previous host?
"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"
No. The fewer demons there are, the better. Can't let some random agent do my job.
"It's your first day and you already have that conviction. I've found that most people are very hesitant."
Then they're not very good at their job are they?
"Does doing your job well satisfy you?"
Yes.


He came to a drop in the vent. He hesitated. It wasn't low enough to wound him, but at the bottom was a particularly large pool of blood. It looked like it was fighting each other, animated tendrils lashing out. His only choice was to drop into it, and the last time he fell into a pool of blood he had been subject nothing less than torture. The blood urged him on and he fell. As soon as he hit the sadistic pool, a blood-curdling cacophony erupted into a full fortissimo. The blood seemed to scream and violently threw itself back. Danny couldn't believe it but he felt sorry for them. He wondered if they could feel pain.

"Yes it can. And unlike humans, it doesn't have the freedom to die."

Danny was much more careful from then on. He even took longer paths around to avoid making contact with the blood. His blood didn't seem to mind at all, and in fact for the next half-hour or so it was quiet. He mused that it could be sleeping.

"I'll have you know I wasn't snoozing off, I was exploring your psyche."
And do you still want me as a host?
"I love you more than ever friend."

Danny laughed and continued following the blood.

 

[IFS]

Nine. No, ten of us make this body. 7 lesser imps. 2 stronger demons. One human. Why a human? Why...

"Because he's cruel," the illusion said, shaking its head in disgust, "I'm going to give you a choice now, you can come with me, the scientists here might be able to help you, or I can kill you, just tell me which."

Garath doubted that it would choose life, and he didn't blame it, it was clearly suffering and D6 probably would use it for experimentation rather than try to cure it. He had to stifle a laugh at his own hypocrisy, he was more than willing to force his will on a demon or even some spirits, but the moment something was the least bit human he let it choose. He sighed, and then there was the question of if mercy killing was moral, God he was just a stage magician, when did being a good person become so hard?

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

"If you insist, but believe it or not I wasn't planning to stay, there are more interesting things in the world then watching a girl slowly die,"

Azkar's began convulsing and crying out on the bed. Twisted tendrils were crawling throughout her wound, wrapping around and regenerating the wound. At the same time a pale light was seemingly repairing the damage. However the two effects seemed to conflict viciously, causing her extreme pain. Even though she was suffering Azkar retorted spitefully "A common point of view from a mutt, chained by the whims of a lesser Angel. I would assume I'm older than you, but quite honestly I don't care."

Azkar stood up, tightly hugging herself. She finally opened her eyes. They were still blue, but one seemed to shine with a faint golden glow as the other seemed to smolder slightly red with morbid hatred and thirst. "There is a reason why banishment is a punishment. Maybe when you're a little older you'll work that out." Azkar hissed the words with malice. She then turned around, unbuttoning her shirt, she slid her fingers across her chest. Angelic and Demonic runes began appearing across her body.

Pacify, balance, healing in Angelic.
Subjugate, control, endure in Demonic.

Azkar gave a long sigh as the pain began to die down. The cost in power reduction was ridiculous, but it didn't matter if she couldn't use it. Azkar turned back around as she was buttoning up her shirt "Children run away, I usually work fairly fervently in their interests, but as you said, you're not one, you're not innocent. Your ignorance is inexcusable." Azkar rolled her eyes and sat on a corner of the bed that was still clean.

 

[Ultraman950]

Something was wrong.

Honestly, it was the alarm that gave it away. Sophia could still hear it. But even without it, she could... feel something wrong in the air, even as she ran full-pelt down a corridor, her sidearm drawn and pointed at the floor. She wasn't even sure which level she was on, or where exactly she was headed. She just followed the wrong feeling, and tried not to friendly-fire whenever something that wasn't dangerous to her showed up suddenly.

She had just showered (in fact, her hair still looked a bit wet) and changed from her fatigues to something more comfortable, a muscle-shirt that showed off how fit she was better than her digital-camo jacket and body armor, and a pair of baggy jeans. She still had her holster for her sidearm, though. She never went anywhere without her sidearm.

 

[deathbydeath]

Ding

The elevator crawled to a halt as it reached its destination on the third floor. An office chair creaked by it's lonesome in the middle of the hall, until a slight vibrato shuddered through the hallway. Isaac and Eligor went on ahead, hunting down the remnants of the goofed teleporter, while Aaron took up rear guard, sweeping through everything in case something important, demon or not, was missed.

 

[DarkRawen]

Getting into the D6 labs had been just as he had expected, while the systems would let him go through with his cards, the few people that had seen him had questioned why he was there regardless of what the chief had said. Word sure got around fast, but Richard was accustomed to sneaking into areas he wasn't supposed to be in. Because he had ran most of the way, he arrived at the cells soon after. When he opened the door to the cells he noticed Eliezer. "Hey, didn't you manage to run away? Also, why are you out of your cell?" he asked, but then he noticed Azkar, sitting on a bed with a lot of blood on it. She seemed okay, but he ran over to her. "Azkar, you okay? What happened, weren't you going to sleep?" Richard stopped. While it didn't seem like she was hurt, Azkar still had this paleness over her, and the blood was likely to be hers.

"What did they do to you?" Richard asked again, more carefully this time. "You are fine, right?" Had they already done experiments on her? There was no reason for them to do that, she was a human according to her tests. D6 weren't supposed to do experiments on humans. Richard touched his neck for a short second, and then he spoke to Eliezer, but he was still looking at Azkar. "You being out means you managed to get access to an ID card, right? I won't stop you if you're leaving, El, but I might want Azkar to join you, depending on what's been going on here." If they had been doing tests on her, he wanted to know why. He wanted to know what had happened, because the small amount of trust he had in DICE told him not to reach a conclusion without thinking it through.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Azkar saw Richard run in from the corner of her eye. "Stuck me in a cell, stuck me with a spear, they could try experimenting on me but I really doubt they would." Azkar also looked around at the blood groggily, waving an arm around to point at it "Also that's all mine. Thank Captain Toilet Paper or whatever he actually is called. Azkar smirked at her joke and laid down on the bloody bed anyway, although it was still fairly warm as it began soaking into the back of her shirt.

Azkar closed her eyes and continued "I woke up from my nap with an epiphany about where I want to be in life. One thing lead to another, destruction of property, endangering the lives of fellow D.I.C.E, assaulting some annoying girl who helped let the demons in with her boyfriend or something because they think they're cool." Azkar kept rattling off the things and stopped for a few seconds, breathing slowly. "Oh yeah, I decided to go look at my own past, let's just say it's a little messed up." Azkar gave a quiet laugh and looked up at Richard "Eliezer here is obsessed with running from his problems or something. Mind asking someone when I'll get let out? I would ask the lovely lieutenant, but I was a little mean to Eliezer and I think they're an item."

 

[DarkRawen]

"I woke up from my nap with an epiphany about where I want to be in life. One thing lead to another, destruction of property, endangering the lives of fellow D.I.C.E, assaulting some annoying girl who helped let the demons in with her boyfriend or something because they think they're cool." Azkar kept rattling off the things and stopped for a few seconds, breathing slowly. "Oh yeah, I decided to go look at my own past, let's just say it's a little messed up." Azkar gave a quiet laugh and looked up at Richard "Eliezer here is obsessed with running from his problems or something. Mind asking someone when I'll get let out? I would ask the lovely lieutenant, but I was a little mean to Eliezer and I think they're an item."

Richard took in the information calmly, but quite frankly, he didn't know how he was supposed to react. So, Azkar had been causing trouble, but from the sound of it it wasn't anything really bad. That was good, however, she had been stabbed, and all the blood was hers, however, she didn't want to run away. That was her choice, but Richard winced for a slight second when she had said she wouldn't. Also, he didn't know what she meant by Eliezer and the lieutenant being an item, did that mean they worked together? It would explain why Eliezer was out. "I could ask someone, bu--" he stopped. Didn't she realize it? There were several places to keep someone prisoner, but you were never taken to the D6 cells unless for them to experiment on you. Besides, if she had healed like that, chances were she weren't a human anymore, and experimenting on non-humans were allowed, and they were encouraged to do it.

"I'll find someone," Richard muttered. "I don't think they would allow it... I'll see what I can do."

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Azkar kept looking at Richard with an annoyed, slightly embarrassed look "I've been bleeding out and I've been through a bit..." She frowned, lifting herself up so she was sitting "I can't get out." Azkar muttered dejectedly.

She was starting to feel a bit better. Not just because of the change in conversational partner, but because it seems she was fixing her blood leakage at an abnormal rate. Azkar figured it wasn't a giant mutation, so she'd let it slide. "How did your trip go? Get your teddy?" Azkar gave a Richard a sly look "What did you want to grab?" She giggled to herself as she thought of the potential contraband Richard might have snuck in. Although in Richard's defense, it was probably just something weird, or maybe a microscope or something.

 

[DarkRawen]

"I've been bleeding out and I've been through a bit..." She frowned, lifting herself up so she was sitting "I can't get out." Azkar muttered dejectedly.

She was starting to feel a bit better. Not just because of the change in conversational partner, but because it seems she was fixing her blood leakage at an abnormal rate. Azkar figured it wasn't a giant mutation, so she'd let it slide. "How did your trip go? Get your teddy?" Azkar gave a Richard a sly look "What did you want to grab?"

"Ehm..." Richard looked around the room, as if people were staring at him. "J-just some clothes. Nothing much, just some-- I mean--" As a subconscious action, he put a hand on his stomach for a short second, and he felt the two items, but only slightly. "I--- hey, look, I also grabbed this," he said, and lifted the demonic tooth up for Azkar to see it. While it was demonic, it looked off, somehow. "Yeah, so, that's what I did. N-nothing more." Why was it, that every time he tried to lie, he managed to mess up? If he hid something, you could see it on him, but he managed to sound somewhat fine. However, if he had to actually lie directly, he started like this. It wasn't very convenient. Richard swallowed, and tried to change the topic.

"Hey, you're starting to look a bit better," he smiled, it was a mischievous smile. "That's good."

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Azkar gave Richard and awkward stare "I was just having a joke around... Nice tooth thing..." Richard must have brought something pretty private or embarrassing to react like that. Maybe it was a massive pile of old pornography? A creepy shrine to an ex girlfriend... A blow up sex dole!?

Azkar burst out laughing and wiped a tear from her face. "Whatever floats your boat Richard. Just store it away if you ever want me to visit your room." Azkar felt better, taking her mind off the gravity of the situation, of all the situations. She then stared at Richard with puppy dog eyes and a pout "Get me out, please..."

 

[Terratina.]

Mr. Spector swung with swift and sure strikes through the pair of kouza. At the end, the only remains were bits of patchwork flesh scattered about on the floor. No doubt the little rough patch in between was him recover from a hit, but that was the price of bravado. Back in the age of knights and castle, Eligor had passed through many owners, one a noble knight from a noble family, another the mercenary that had cut him down and took the sword as his spoils. Chivalry had gone hand in hand with pride then. Eligor thought the whole thing was nonsense, how could you bring manners and order to the stark chaos that was war back then? However, Eligor did value technique and poise, but people got cocky and then they got cut down. After the quick battle, the blade was heavy with blood, so Eligor chose to keep his eye closed.

"You know, I think you might be one of favorite weapons Eligor. I've never seen a sword power through demon hides like this before." The swordsman remarked as the battle ended.

"Nothing but a gilded cage." Eligor solemnly replied.

As Isaac pointed it upwards, the drips increased in frequency, creating a mini-torrent of red rain. Eligor centered his thoughts on the two blobs on the third floor. They were definitely cleaning house; these were the only ones remaining. Turns out Isaac and Eligor was now Isaac, Eligor and Aaron. A three-man squad, if Eligor counted. Aaron took the elevator while Isaac phased through to the third floor. It would be over soon, but something itched in the back of his mind, not one to keep these types of thoughts to himself, he spoke his mind.

"Are the rifts created by the teleporter malfunction sealed?" Eligor enquired.

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

This little girl thought one of the seven archangels of heaven was a lesser angel, what a joke, Eliezer may have been cursed by Raguel, he also hated him for it, but he gave credit where credit was due, this girl deserved none of that. Of course there was no way she could of known that Raguel had cursed him, however the way she assumed it was a lesser angel and calling him a 'mutt,' it just wouldn't do, he wasn't just any old chaos demon after all. He made a mental note that once he was free from his curse he would at least some have fun with his powers, starting with her.

Richard then burst into then, complaining how it was so wrong for her to be locked up and experimented on, making no mention of how DICE's experiments on Eliezer weren't, he registered as human on the DNA tests after all. Eliezer was starting to recognise the hypocrisy in that man, it was worse then the bible, it's alright to experiment on them if as long as they didn't fit his wishy washy parameters of humanity, how contrived. He even asked him if he would travel with that girl, why would he want to burden himself with another curse was preposterous.

"Richard, while you're busy making doe eyes maybe you might use them and see that she's clearly not human, that makes it alright for her to be experimented on, right?" He sneered

Eliezer wondered for a moment if he should do anything before he left, he would need a change of clothes that's for certain, wearing plain white scrubs and slippers would certainly raise eyebrows, and definitely attract the attention of the more esoteric populace, there would be clothes in the Division 5 dorms, he would change and leave.

"And I don't real feel like being saddled down with her anyway, twos a crowd and all that," He shrugged and walked off towards the lift leading to Division 5.