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

[DarkRawen]

"That...sounds...awesome!" he said; his voice almost sounding like he was in extacy. "Let's get some of that"

"Okay, what kind?" Richard asked. He didn't mind that Isaac seemed to have turned into a child, albeit the extreme amount of emotion made him question if the man was sane. "Cuz, you know, there's different tastes. I'll have a large plain vanilla ice-cream in a bowl, with strawberry sauce on," he told the person behind the desk, and the girl went to scoop the ice-cream. She then handed the bowl to Richard, and looked at Isaac. "What can I get for you, sir?"

 

[Shadowstar38]

"What can I get for you, sir?"

"Get two scoops of regular Strawberry please" Isaac watched as the woman started to put the ice cream in the bowl, eagerly anticipating it.

Yes. Scoop that dessert you dirty girl!

When the server was done she handed him the bowl with a smile.

"Thank you," Isaac said as he began to spoon it into his mouth. He made a slight humming noise when the first bit hit his taste buds and he let out a big smile.

Holy shit! This stuff is awesome! Oh my Godddddddddd!

Isaac notice how odd he must have looked at the moment and tried to put on a psuedo-serious face as he continued eating.

 

[DarkRawen]

Richard noticed that Isaac was way too into ice-cream, but he decided to ignore it, and eat his own ice-cream, before Isaac finished his own and attacked him in order to get his ice-cream or something like that. It wasn't as sweet as he had hoped it was, but the strawberry sauce made it taste a lot better. Though, from the sight of Isaac's face -he was pretending to be serious but the happiness shone through that mask easily- it wasn't as good as what Isaac had. "So," Richard said to avoid the awkward silence and all that. "What kind of being are you, actually? You said you used to be human, right?"

 

[Shadowstar38]

"What kind of being are you, actually? You said you used to be human, right?"

Isaac started to slow down a bit so he could absorb Richard's inquiry.

"I'm a specter" He looked up and forward as if he were reading from a paranormal textbook. "They're humans that died unexpectedly with a powerful goal in mind. Rather than become vengeful spirits, they retain their human bodies long enough until they can set right whatever it is they died trying to achieve" Isaac looked back down and went back to finishing up his bowl. "That's what I understand of it anyway"

 

[DarkRawen]

"I'm a specter. They're humans that died unexpectedly with a powerful goal in mind. Rather than become vengeful spirits, they retain their human bodies long enough until they can set right whatever it is they died trying to achieve" Isaac looked back down and went back to finishing up his bowl. "That's what I understand of it anyway"

"Undead? How is that possible? I can't of anything that would do that, apart from magic, but even that's a stretch." "So, there is some kind of magic involved that changes the DNA permanently and makes it possible for you not to age?" Or something like that. Magic, it was hard to define by the current knowledge and technology. Richard's understanding of it was not that much, only; 1, he had realized that what was possible to do with it didn't follow the rules of the material world. 2, usually, the DNA decided whether or not someone could use magic or not and what kind it was. 3, it was a mess to deal with. Spirits were even worse, and the concept of souls were messy and chaotic to him.

What this meant was that Zorrama hadn't been lying about his goals however mislead they were, but also that something were keeping Isaac here, and he had strong feelings about it. For some reason, that sparked a small interest in Richard's mind, though not big enough for him to act upon it now. He looked at a clock hanging in the cafe, it was almost half past 8 A.M. "We should get going," he said.

 

[Shadowstar38]

"So, there is some kind of magic involved that changes the DNA permanently and makes it possible for you not to age?"

"Hmm. More than likely something like that. Though I've never had any scientists look into how my body works. I've always thought they'd go too far"

Richard was now looking over at a clock on the wall, likely looking for if it was time to move on.

"We should get going"

Isaac finished off the last of his ice cream and shuffled through his wallet.

"Pesos. Yen. USD. Come on, where...ah!" Isaac handed the money over and got up to accompany Richard to the door.

 

[DarkRawen]

Richard wouldn't have minded paying for it with his debit card, but since Isaac had already done so, he figured he'd have to pay him back. "Wait here," Richard said, and disappeared for ten minutes or so. He handed Isaac some bills he thought would cover it, and he had a sealed envelope sticking out of his pockets. "Sorry for the wait, but I'm done now. Unless there is something you need, I'd like to catch a cab and get going." Considering it was a work-day, getting there about 9 o'clock wasn't too early, right?

 

[Shadowstar38]

"Sorry for the wait, but I'm done now. Unless there is something you need, I'd like to catch a cab and get going."

Isaac tucked the bills away in his wallet and tucked it back in his jacket.

"No. I think I'm all set here" Isaac and Richard walked out the restaurant and back into the streets. He began the process of calling a taxi over. He wondered if they would even let him in carrying a sword. If it was anything like New York, they all carried guns anyway, so they wouldn't be too scared of the prospect.

One cab pulled over to the side to let them in.

"There we go"

 

[DarkRawen]

After giving the cab-driver the address, they drove to an area with fewer houses in a somewhat cheap fashion. Since Richard didn't know if this would be a quick affair or not, he and Isaac exited the cab and told him to drive on, since they could use the portal to get away afterwards anyway. They walked up to the mail-box in front of the house, and Richard made sure it was the right one. It had a lock on, which meant the only ones why could remove the mail from there was the owners, which was good. He put the envelope inside, before telling Isaac to wait there and walk up the small, stony road to the house. The bricks of the house had a light red color. It was a medium sized, but old and cheap house, which told him that they still weren't out of the economical difficulties from seven years ago.

Richard stopped in front of the door, it was the kind that was opened inwards, and knocked. At first, no one came out, but suddenly it opened, and his sister, Allison, stood there. She didn't look that different, apart from the amounts of age seven years and hard working had added to her face. Richard didn't smile, he just looked at her, confused, cold, sad, and perhaps even a little guilty. He raised his hand into a greeting. "Hi."

Her emotions went from not realizing it, to surprise, and then to pure hate in less than a second. "You!" she yelled, her face reddening from rage. "Get away!" Richard still didn't move, he just kept staring at her, unable to move. She slapped him across the face, two times, and while he did flinch slightly, he didn't move. "LEAVE!" His sister closed her fist, and hit him, somehow managing to gather a greater amount of strength than the guy in the gas-mask had -of course, not literary- and Richard fell to the rocky road. She then closed the door and locked it. Richard felt the pain from her fist, and the area around his left eye swell up. Hadn't it been for his fast-healing, it would have become a black eye the next day.

He stood up and walked away from the house. From the corner of his swollen eye he could see a small, red haired girl look at him with big eyes, but he didn't turn to look at her. Richard walked up to Isaac, who clearly had a pitying expression. Richard smiled, and started laughing, an honest laughter, soft, and the pitch slightly higher than his usual voice. The ticking had lessened, and he felt as if every fiber of his body had become lighter. He didn't feel that bad anymore, actually, he felt great. He felt wonderful. "I deserved that," he said, just to reassure Isaac that he didn't turn crazy. "And I'm fairly sure I needed it."

 

[deathbydeath]

Deep among the Division 6 labs, Byron Kelspring stood before a rack of test tubes, mulling over the labels attached to each glass container. As was typical of the neurochemist, little had changed. He was still mixing chemicals for DICE, people still avoided him, and he was still barely able to focus on the task at hand. His hand twitching, Byron made his selection from the test tubes and poured the possible answer into a small, hard plastic capsule. As Byron prepared the solution, he selected a name for his substitute for his container fluid. Mokka: liberation, salvation, and the emancipation of souls. Byron smiled, the unfamiliar expression gradually creeping onto his visage. That seems appropriate. The scientist strode out of his laboratory, his destination being the central elevator. Byron shot upward as the elevator relocated him to Level 2, getting off at his home division. Flipping the capsule of Moksa in his hand like a lucky penny, Byron made his way in the direction of the training rooms, not needing to avoid others as they avoided him. Byron thought nothing of it, however, as today is the day his fortunes change, and a heavy burden is lifted off of his soul. Picking an empty room, preventing people from looking in, and selecting his usual menagerie of crash test dummies and targets, he inserted the new capsule into his regulator and selected "brawn" to accompany it. Hoping (and expecting) the best, Byron took a deep breath, then flipped the switch for the injection. His regulator made its normal *hck-kssh* noise as it injected him with the newly created fluids, and Byron exhaled.

Then the worst happened.

 

[Terratina.]

The battle with the being of light had roused up some ancient memories, upwards they went, bubbling up to the surface of Eligor?s consciousness, vivid and wild, but somewhat faded by the years. Eligor did not see Birmingham, nor Isaac, nor Richard. What he saw instead was not meant for the vision of mortals. They would not comprehend or withstand the sight of chaos clashing against those who stood with order. It was a long memory, it was an old memory. As Isaac and Richard went about their business, Eligor was occupied as he experienced every blow and every feeling from it all over again.

Spoiler: Portas inferi expugnata, Sedis in Angelica maris aestu tumescente, Et confringes levavit super daemones, Quae reptant in legiones...

The clouds ahead swirled and swarmed into a storm, the squall heralding what was to come. The demon guards looked up towards the heavens, some scratching their head at this occurrence. The gate swelled with anticipation, both figuratively and literally. The gate was in fact a demon in its own right, the vast demon known as Abaddon. He ground his teeth, causing minatare earthquakes, shaking the lookouts who patrolled the gates. Abaddon had seen this before, but from a more shifted perspective, he knew what was to come. Soon, not lightening, not brimstone, but the very stars themselves would fall from the sky.

Abaddon himself had landed here as a fallen star, a cast-off from the heavens, unwanted and unloved by the Almighty and now his vast body encircled hell, protecting it from the other discarded creations in the Abyss. Great monstrosus locusts wandered about the deep depths, stripping any creature that was foolish enough to pass by of its flesh. Luckily those insectoid hordes mostly kept the edges, leaving the rich center ripe for Hell.

Abaddon sighed both with the thought of those creatures, reminding him of the debt he owed to Satan for unleashing them and as he saw little partings in the clouds. Already they were upon them, they had reached their terminal velocity and were now heading straight towards Hell. His eyes turned towards the lookouts, they hadn?t noticed yet? Well Abaddon would be the first to sound the horn.

"INCOMING! READY BATTLESTATIONS!" He boomed.

The lookouts, mangy demons only valued for their keen sight, scrambled over to the bells as soon as the rumble of Abaddon?s voice. Hell?s bells rung throughout the infernal domain and with an almost automatic response, the legions of Hell got ready for battle. One of them a Great Duke with command over forty legions of vengeful spirits, known to some as Abrigor, others as Eligos, but to himself, he would always be Eligor.

Already in armour, as usual, he mounted his destrier. It was a skeletal thing and a gift from the hand of Beelzebub, The Lord Of The Flies and one of the Seven who presided over the infernal wastes with their princely counsel. Eligor regarded the gift simply of recognition of his talent and stern attitude in regard to duty. At times, he even thought of the stallion as a symbol of his duty and responsibility as a Great Duke, and at the proficiency he carried out his work. It sensed that battle was near, and scraped the dirt with its hooves in anticipation. Eligor himself lowered his lance, called Durchbohrer des Himmels, and raised his standard - a plain black and white flag with his seal emblazoned on it. He was ready.

However, the battle had already begun. Stars crashed into Abaddon, causing the great maw to open and twist in pain. Eligor looked around at the chaos that was happening around him, noticing the falling stars. That only mean one thing - fallen angels were tumbling down to the Abyss and the vengeful angels that were hunting them down to exact the Divine?s ?justice? were descending upon Hell, close on the heels of the fallen.

Nevertheless, Eligor charged forwards with the ranks of his legions following close behind him, his lance glinting evilly as the light hit it. Durchboherer des Himmels itself was in fact an ancient artifact, with twenty souls bound within, but non-sentient and non-living, serving only to boost the potency of the weapon?s bite. This was paired with a tower shield, Gewicht der Welt, which was engraved with the faces of terrible monsters tormenting Altas, as the demon hordes tormented the upholders of the Creator?s justice and authority.

Speaking of them, great beryl-coloured wheels-within-wheels crashed down on the fortifications - Ophanim, the many-eyed ones. Whoever had fell must had been ones at the top, a prime catch for these high-ranked hunters. They splintered went Eligor ran through them with the lance all the same though. He chuckled as the skeletal steed smashed through another one, the many-eyed ones ended up in many pieces.

But there were casualties on his side as well. His legion had been reduced to half its number and only the rush of battle prevented him from noticing a large gash that ran from the bottom of his side to his shoulderblade. Abaddon was heavily wounded as well. Eligor gave a huff, as he turned his horse around, not to retreat, but to assess the battlefield. Through the narrow visor of his helmet, he spotted the leader of the hunters. Something told him that this battle would come down to a duel between him and the angelic lieutenant. He also noticed that all the fallen angels had fled inside the gates of Hell and that Abaddon had started shouting again, furiously this time. He was always one for rules.

"THEY HAVE ENTERED." Abaddon roared, "THE FALLEN ONES SEEK ASYLUM IN THE ABYSS AND THEY SHALL HAVE THAT!" He then addressed the leader of the pack, "AS KEEPER OF THE KEY I ORDER YOU AND YOUR FORCES TO RETURN."

The leader, called Pahaliah responded with a voice that would convert any mortal to Christianity with its sheer beauty, "What if I do not, foul demon...?"

Abaddon laughed, the black blood from his injures burst out, and covered the immediate area with a pool of liquid, "YOU WILL BE FORCED BACK."

A gaunt destrier marched up to the lieutenant, the Great Duke presented himself, adding only a simply replied, ?By me."

Scattered remains of the slain and rubble of fractured fortifications surrounded the two opponents, Abaddon gave a cruel smile, looking forward to the fight between them. As soon as bloody muscle raised that gigantic lip in a smirk, Eligor kicked the sides of the skeletal steed and charged forward towards the unsuspecting seraphim. It was a struggle to couch the lance now that the injury was biting into his strength, but there was an ace up his sleeve. That was the lance rest, a metal flange attached to the right side of the breastplate to both rest the weight of the lance and arrest the rearward movement of the weapon. With help from that, and the fortitude from lifetimes of battle, he ran down the angel.

"Very well. As one of the bearers of the Ineffable Name I---"

Poor Pahaliah never got to finish that speech...

He thought he had forgotten about those days. But now, he could not be more wrong. His walk down memory lane finished, Eligor opened his eye to find it covered. Isaac must have covered him up so that suspicion would not be aroused. Left to his thoughts, the triumphant mood from the memory of victory soured to a more dour one as he realised how close he was to the non-sentient souls that were bounded to his pride and joy. He sighed as he sank into sadness. At least he still had excitement from slaying the rabid demons and from the antics of mortals. Silently, he vowed that he would find a way to be free.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Isabelle watched as Richard, Isaac and Eligor went through the portal, then turned to face the one that was created for the others. She saw that the others were just standing around, unsure of what to do next. There was also the matter of what to do with the facility that was now in their possession.

Be safe gentlemen. Isabelle said to herself before addressing what remained of the team.

"We should inform command about this recent acquisition, and have a team sent over to search through it and see what the purpose of it was; as I suspect that there is more to this dilemma then that at first glance. Any of you are welcome to stay and assist with matters here. As for me, well there is the matter of a report that needs to be written up regarding the mission in London, so I shall be going through the portal." She then looked at the once angelic looking armour that lay on the ground nearby.

"We should also recover the armour worn by the angel. But lord knows what division we send it to."

 

[Ruedyn]

"We should also recover the armour worn by the angel. But lord knows what division we send it to."

"Dibs on the armor." Kain called, before stepping through the portal. He would help, but he had gone a whole day without food or any meaningful amount of sleep. Also, his clothes were an illusion, so he wanted to change before they wore off, probably in a church or orphanage considering his luck.

He was sighing on the other side, figuring he could get some sleep before he was shipped off to D6 for his usual rounds of tests.
'Back to listening how they're trying to replicate me.' At least, so he figured. There weren't many genetically modified people around DICE, so he figured the head of biology would want to change that considering how effective they were. He found his way to D4 barracks, and laid down on the nearest bed, drifting off to sleep almost instantly.

 

[deathbydeath]

When Byron closed his eyes, there was agony. Agony that could not be measured, as it was complete and all-encompassing. His muscles began to spasm as they went through a hideous deformation, and his breathing began to mimic his heartbeat: the fast, thrashing movements of a corned animal looking for a way out. Lost in his panic, Byron opened his eyes, freeing himself from the boundless suffering, and that was when all hell broke loose. Freeing himself from the metaphysical cage of torment, Byron exploded into motion. His left hand sprang out, as if flung by a whip, and the crash test dummy behind his erupted into a volcano of scraps. He dashed forward towards another inanimate victim, and three others in his way poofed messily out of existence.

As the storm of ravaging destruction raged through the private room, Byron Kelspring was at peace, supposedly. The drugs he had injected himself with not only restricted his mind in order to send his body into a primal rage, but led him into an incomparable bliss, comparable to a drug-induced high. However, to Byron, the feeling was revolting. It was unnatural, as if he was imprisoned in the fields of Elysium while banging on the windows of his mind, as he watched the twisted aberration that was his mortal form.

It ended. When the chemist came to, he was lying sprawled on the ground, surrounded by shredded plastic and fake bodies. An ache encompassed his body as if every inch in his body had been stretched double without his knowledge. He stumbled up onto his feet, attempted to straighten himself up before walking outside, and then left the room, leaving a sign requesting cleanup. The burden he had expected Mokka to relieve him of seemed doubled now that his hopes were dashed. Staggering to his quarters, Byron didn't care to research a new fix at this point; all he wanted to do was to curl up and die. Instead, he laid down on his bunk, falling asleep and waiting for death.

The emancipation of souls, what a joke.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

A primitive mind followed what was happening near the portal in France with it's mind as it couldn't see. It waited, lurking silently and hidden nearby in the underbrush.

As if picking up on something, the helmet with the suit of armor had the faintest hue of blue light behind the visor, barely noticeable to the naked eye. Luckily enough, it didn't depend on normal senses. It didn't understand why, but it was going to take those scraps, even if it needed to scare away the things near them to do it.

 

[IFS]

"Dibs on the armor."

"You can have it," Garath said as he followed Kain through the portal, "I'm sure my karma is bad enough without looting an angel."

He found his way to the D2 barracks, changed clothes into some more suited for sleeping, and lay down on his bunk. After fifteen minutes of failing to fall asleep he sat up and pulled out his deck of cards, shuffling them idly. He considered contacting his mother, but decided he wasn't in the mood for necromancy at the moment. He put aside the deck of cards and grabbed a book of magical lore, umbras fiat realis, and began to flip through it, thinking to himself about the events of the day, the torture he'd inflicted on the scientist, Isaac's undead status, the plan they'd uncovered. He pushed these thoughts away and began to search through the book, trying to find mention of half-real illusions like Vayles.

 

[Shadowstar38]

A captain in full gear stepped past the portal opening soon after Garath and Kain left, wondering why their was yet another breach on security. He stepped through and locked eyes on Isabelle and Aaron still standing there with a suit of armor a few feet away from them.

After seeing the facility to his left, he nodded and accessed the situation, then grabbed his radio.

"Nix the jet guys. Just send a clean up team from this floor through"

He put the radio away and waited for a few more DICE crewmen to come through.

"Who the hell keeps making these things? Jesus."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Isabelle had knelt down next to the angel armour, wanting to further examine it before proper research and analysis was done on it. As she looked at the detailing, Isabelle felt a mixture of confusion, intrigue, and strangest of all, familiarity.

"Strange, this armour seems familiar for reason, as if I've seen it before. But, I haven't thought any angels before. Perhaps this armour just looks similar to the stuff that demonic knights have worn; but I can't shake the feeling that its something else." Isabelle said to herself, not noticing the captain that had stepped through the portal.

"Nix the jet guys. Just send a cleanup team from this floor through." The captain soon put the radio away, and waited as a few more crewmen came through. "Who the hell keeps making these things? Jesus." He said with an annoyed tone. Isabelle soon stood up and looked at the man.

"An independent investigator that was assigned to D.I.C.E for the duration of this operation via the Division Two head, Christina Noble. Welcome to Northern France captain. Isabelle Hearte at your service; I was assigned the command role for the duration of this mission. If you'll excuse me captain, but Miss Noble will no doubt want a report regarding how things went. Have your team deliver this armour into storage for further analysis. I'm sure that the portal will close itself once you're done here. Good day to you." Isabelle said in a tone of authority, tipping her hat to the squad as she stepped through the portal, and back to the base.

 

[Shadowstar38]

The captain nodded at Isabelle as she left and the crew stepped through. They assembled in front of the captain holding all of their equipment.

"Alright. Everyone start combing over the laboratory. Secure it. Bring me everything you find that's important. You two," He said, pointing at a couple of them at the end. "It a good study of this freaky armor shit and take it to the D2 folks"

Everyone moved out to their assigned stations while the Captain went back into the portal to find a way to close it. After he was gone, the two crewmen started looking over the armor.
________________________________________________________________________________________

"I deserved that," Richard said, just to reassure Isaac that he didn't turn crazy. "And I'm fairly sure I needed it."

Isaac cocked an eyebrow, looking entirely confused at the situation. He decided to just shrug it off.

"It's probably best if I don't ask for an explanation. So...are we all good now? Ready to go back to your base?"

 

[DarkRawen]

"It's probably best if I don't ask for an explanation. So...are we all good now? Ready to go back to your base?"

"Yeah, sure." Richard made sure he hadn't lost anything. "I'm not too eager to see what's in store for me, but I have to face it, I guess." He sighted, but was still smiling. "I hope it's not tests or anything, I've managed to keep them away until now, but... you never know." Richard looked to the sky, as rain-drops fell from the sky. "We better hurry, lab coats aren't the best things to wear when it rains." Still smiling. It would take something really bad for Richard's mood to get bad now.