Tales of Steam and Sorcery

Weist Town - Border - Noon

Niel, huddled inside one of the Weist Town shops, looked out the window at the storm. It didn't appear as if it would be stopping anytime soon. He busied himself by browsing around, though he knew that eventually he would get bored. After a few minutes, Niel took another look outside. Was the rain slowing down...? No. In fact, if anything, it was getting worse. Niel sighed. What a horrible day, he moaned inwardly.

Then, the ground started to shake, rumbling and roaring. Niel ran to the doorway and looked outside. It was as if the entire town had started to vibrate. A sudden realization came to Niel. This was an earthquake! Then, Niel heard another noise: a shriek, a scream!

Niel dropped his empty bucket on the ground, and then rushed out the door and down the street, heading further into the town. What was happening?!

Eventually, he saw a shape moving in the darkness. A big shape. A slithering shape. A shape that had gigantic fangs. And it was chasing after someone.

Niel froze in place, fear kicking in. What was this thing? Why was it here? He sent a quick prayer to the gods, and pondered his options. He could either run away, or... or fight this monster. But Niel was only good at wind!

Then, it clicked: Wind! That's it! With the storm brewing above came heavy winds. Perfect ammunition for him. He could harness the natural winds and increase their strength ten-fold, and aim them back at the monster!

Niel forced his magic through his veins, the slightest flicker of a glow appearing around his hands. He waved his hands in the air, churning the wind around faster and faster. Running forward at the monster, Niel let loose an enormous pressure in his gut, aiming the surging gust of wind he released at the creature. Then, at the last minute, Niel realized something: The serpent-like monster is covered in metal plating! Suddenly, his plan seemed a little foolish. How was wind supposed to move a monster covered in heavy armor?

Gods help me.

Circium - Acetus - Noon

Circe scowled out a window of the Ivory Tower. A cloudy wall of darkness pressed up against the tower's height, soaking it in the harsh rain as an occasional bolt of lightning hit the very peak and was quickly dispersed. She didn't need eyes to see the storm for what it really was however. She could feel the truth, and it was a dark and terrible truth indeed.

She could disperse the clouds easily enough, but unlike a natural storm, these clouds refused to disperse completely. After only a short time, they would regrow, blotting out the sun once again and bringing the terrible winds, ran and thunder with them. Lightning flashed in the sky again, but this time, Circe saw something made her eyes grow wide. A silhouette, a shape in the darkness, standing out from the clouds.

She cast a flare into the blackened sky, a bright red light cutting through the dark to reveal the beast hiding in the clouds. Its skin was metal and rusted, boiling away the rain that touched it, an inflated body likely hiding a balloon of some sort, as numerous, fiery, smoke-spewing jets, hidden under long fins, propelled it through storm, the wind at its back. She had no idea what it could be, but it looked vaguely shark-like, with gills on the sides erupting smoke from the machine in its gargantuan mouth.

The mechanized beast opened its mouth wide, revealing a mass of complex machinery, all off which began to spin and glow red as fire poured out from the gills. A massive torrent of fire exploded from its mouth, lighting up the tower and the city the around it as it cut through the storm and rushed at its target. The blast of fire bent around the tower, due to the numerous wards protecting it, but Circe wasn't about to stand around and let this thing have it was with her city.

Anilix - Takei - Noon

A small bird flutters about in the storm, desperately battling the wind and the rain. It is one of a rare few species of wildlife that still populates Takei, but it is a bird that visits Aisha's park regularly. It flaps its small wings as hard as its body would let it, chirping outside Aisha's door as loud as it could, as though trying to be heard above the howling wind and thunder. Thunder explodes in the sky as lightning flashes, briefly illuminating the city as it strikes the small bird dead, leaving its corpse at her doorstep. An omen, perhaps...

Varlam would soon feel the rumbling of what should be the rain, and would then see two bright lights barrelling down the tracks. Lightning flashes for a brief instant, illuminating the tracks, and where Varlam might expect to see the shine of the locomotive's run-down metal and the smoke-stack from its engine, he would see none. In fact, though it was hard to make out anything for certain, he would see no machine at all. It looked almost like... Mud? But how could that be? There was nothing up the tracks that could have caused a mud slide, not this close to Takei, at least. And the lights, they remained steady in their course along the tracks, what kind of mud slide had lights?

Weist Town - Border - Noon

The beast make a horrible noise, like metal scraping against stone, as Niel's wind makes it tumble over itself and into some near-by buildings, demolishing them in an unmistakable clatter. Beady, black, soulless eyes turn towards Neil as the monster finds its new victim. Massive fangs gleam in the dark as an open mouth lunges at him, its armour-plated body smashing the rest of the building into the rubble.

Varlam stopped at the station platform, looking around as he waited for the train. There was less people around than normal, which would be expected in this weather; but that didn't stop some of the more stubborn Anilixians from wanting to get their train on time. They were mostly under a few canopies for what little protection that offered.

Varlam couldn't hear the train over the rain, but he could feel the ground starting to rumble and saw the lights coming. There was a flash of lightning, and Varlam saw what looked like a mass of mud moving with the lights instead of a train. "Train covered in mud?" Varlam muttered to himself, taking a few tentative steps away from the tracks. Only a few of the other would-be passengers had noticed, and expressed confusion; those who didn't notice kept waiting patiently.

edited 3rd Jul '12 8:15:20 PM by FirockFinion

Caught out in the weather and wind, Elios decided to take temporary shelter inside the shed where the tavern patrons kept their steeds. Barely managing to keep his impressive hat on top of his head, he took out a lantern from the Auto-Mule stored it in under his coat. The storm being as powerful as it is, it couldn't stay this way for long!

The earthquake struck, and the doctor headed for the doorframe. For some reason, his father always reminded him that the doorframe of a sturdy building would be the safest place during this kind of thing. Well, took you over a hundred years to use it, Elios thought. You'd think that with how much he stressed it, it would come in ha-. He managed to eek out those thoughts before a tremendous and terrible sound decided to take a visit to the residence of Dr. Dysons' Ears.

"What in the name of God was that?!", he thought out loud. He got his answer when, looking up into the sky, a huge thing that was illuminated by two bolts of lightning perched above. Fear overtook the doctor as he raced around the corner back to the safe harbor of Mr./Mrs. Sanderssen's. He lost his hat, allowing the graying skin and hair beneath to be visible, and his mask a bit more prominent.

A couple of the more inquisitive patrons in the bar were already looking out the rain-covered windows, unable to see the thing that frightened Elios so. Elios was out of breath by the time he made it to the door, so he took a moment to get some air in before opening the door with haste. "EVERYONE," he shouted so that even the furthest flung bargoer could take heed "That Shriek! I saw it! The thing that made it! It's a huge...flying thing, must be the size of a building! It's got huge sharp...it's outside!" This, understandably, got the listeners a bit wound up.

edited 4th Jul '12 8:22:30 AM by wikkit

Acetus—Noon

Gabriel watched, his face passive, as the machine of steel and fire roared across the sky. His aides were arrayed behind him.

"Have the police maintain order," Gabriel commanded, turning around. "Nobody is to leave their houses until an order from the Archmage Council is handed down."

His orders sent, Gabriel knelt on the floor.

Oh Heaven, forgive whatever transgressions I have committed. Draw back the covers from the truth of life. May this storm recede so that the light may be revealed. My compass is rife with faults and prejudices, so may Heaven guide my path. I am, as always, your humble servant.

Immediately, Gabriel's shoulders sagged as he began coughing and heaving for breath. Then, from the skies, burst a golden eagle, about the size of the metal leviathan's head, that dove for the machine's eyes.

"Furtherm—" Ferrus would have continued blustering on about fellow inventors and the state of Weist Town, except that then there was an earthquake. As a Stalwart And Unshakable Knight, Ferrus was capable of standing, except that then that coupled with the horrible roar caused the Fairly Unshakable Knight to fall forward, stunned from the noise and the stress already heaped on by the earthquake. "Oh good lord! Ms. Weistland, allow me to get my armor, and then I shall assist you in escaping posthaste!" he streaked back up the stairs, and began throwing his armor on like the wind.

Weist Town - Border - Noon

Niel watched, dazed, as the beast was tumbled head-over-heels by the wind he'd created. "Huh," Niel murmured to himself - the only other option was to talk to the monster, and somehow Niel didn't think that would turn out too well - while the beast got back on its feet, "I guess I underestimated myself. Who could've thought..."

Niel stumbled, and then fell, face-up, on the ground. There was another rumbling of the ground, but this time, Niel knew, it wasn't an earthquake. It was the slithering beast, lunging at him with those sharp fangs.

Heart pounding, Niel clumsily tried to get out of the way, to the right. He didn't want to die. Not now. Not like this.

— Border — Weist Town — Noon

After the rumbling, the scream and the worsening of the storm which plague Weist town Rebecca walked over to the window to try to discern the source of the noise... and though the rain didn't let her get a good glimpse of the monster hidden in the darkness, the sight of Weston running to her workshop and Selia using her fire were more than enough to put the researcher into high alert "You might be meeting her soon, good knight... Please go for your armor with haste!"

With those words, Rebecca quickly put on her coat and then grabs two weapons... a wonderfully carved wooden staff and a revolver pistol. With staff in hand and pistol holstered she heads outside to meet with Weston and face whatever danger lurks outside.

Weist Town-Border-Noon

When the storm begain, Friedrich went inside for a nap, but the unholy ruckus woke him up in a hurry.

Ears still ringing from the shriek, he looks out the window. Shenanigans are taking place. Not the fun kind, either. They probably stopped being fun a little before those buildings got smashed up.

He lights a cigarette, wondering if that kid who smashed the monster into those buildings with magic needs help. Did he remember to bring anything helpful in his coat, other than his revolver? Basic tools of his trade, of course, but what else might be of use? Probably not much.

Oh well.

edited 4th Jul '12 10:55:39 AM by SnowyFoxes

Ferrus came barreling out of the building behind Rebecca, firing on all cylinders. Literally, his armor was streaming steam behind it and the throttle was cranked to full. He skid to a halt behind Rebecca and flipped open his visor, scanning his surroundings. "Where is it? I heard the noise, but if you could help spot for me that would be great. This armor doesn't have the biggest viewport around..."

Takei - Anilix - Noon

The confusion at the train station only becomes more prevalent as the lights of the "train" slowly start to cross before quickly straightening out again. As it gets closer and closer, it becomes clearer that, whatever is coming, it's no train.

Abruptly, the lights shine intensely on the platform, blinding people briefly as, with a loud slop, the thing jumps off the tracks and onto the platform, swallowing people up in its sludgy mass. Panic spreads quickly as people stumble through the darkness, screaming as they flee the monster.

Acetus - Circium - Noon

The mechanized monstrosity continues to drift forward, spewing smoke and fire from its gills, jets, nose and mouth even as the eagle attacks it, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it's being attacked at all. Small domes of reinforced glass, bolted into the creature's metal skin, protect its empty, black, soulless eyes from Gabriel's conjured eagle. A solid hit knocks its metal head aside, however, causing it to belch fire onto the city below, by the tower's base. That appears to have gotten is attention, but the beast is slow and ponderous, seemingly having little defence other than its armour... Which may just be enough, seeing as the conjured eagle seems unable to do much more than scratch and harass the thing.

Circie, meanwhile, stand atop to the roof of the tower, with little more than a simple guardrail keeping her from the edge and a small, flat balcony for her to keep her footing. She is almost up to her ankles in flowing rainwater, and the wind is especially strong at this height, but she manages to hold her footing, and spreads her arms wide, channelling her immense power into the space around her. Slowly, gradually, she begins to bend the entire storm to her will, and the thick storm clouds begin to churn and spin in the sky above her. She commands the lightning out of the sky to strike to mechanical terror, and thunder booms as several bolts come crashing down from the clouds, striking the beat several times. But much to her surprise, it seems unaffected! I guess it'll take more than lightning... She thinks.

Weist Town - Border - Noon

"Rebecca! Rebecca!" Shouts Selia, as she and Weston rush towards her. "There- there's a thing!" "This huge thing!" "Massive fangs-!" "Tried to kill me-!" "Some kind of armour-!" "Bullet flew right off-!" "Tried to burn it-!" "Didn't even care!" They both blurted out, simultaneously, talking over each other. Even with the wind, rain and two of them trampling each other's sentences, Rebecca would understand enough to know that whatever was going on, it was not good news. "Someone else is back there, too!" Shouted Weston, over the wind. "They saved us by knocking the thing over! I think they're still back there! We have to help them!" He said, struggling to reload his pistol.

And speaking of that somebody, it seemed Niel was in desperate need of some help. He clumsily dodged to the right, missing the creature's mouthful of fangs by mere inches as it receives an unhappy glob of mud in its mouth instead of Niel. Its mouth was large enough to swallow him whole, and it almost did, snapping at him again and coming close enough to shred part of his shirt.

Weist Town - Border - Noon

Niel crashed on the ground again, hard. The beast had shredded part of his shirt! He had to escape, somehow.

In the distance, he heard some people having a conversation. The noises from the monster moving around covered up most of it, but he heard something about them helping him. I could really use some help right now!

Out loud he called, "Someone! Anyone! I need help! Please!"

Niel darted forward, strafing to dodge the monster.

edited 5th Jul '12 1:05:11 PM by Collen

"Rebecca, Selia, Weston, I promise you as long as these pipes still fill with steam," Ferrus began, sliding his visor back down, "As long as I draw breath and my engine draws power, I will not let this creature harm you!"

He drew his sword and shield and expanded the shield, charging towards the monster. As he neared it, the servos of his power armor roared to life, giving Ferrus even more momentum as he sent himself crashing shield-first into the abomination, attempting to draw aggression away from the other person being attacked. "Get clear!" he yelled, "Stay at range, my armor can allow me to stay in melee!"

Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. Was the train derailing off the tracks and crashing? No, the thing on the tracks wasn't a train, but that wasn't possible, was it? Varlam just wasn't sure what to think, but his instincts told him to run, and he wasn't about to ignore them.

So he ran, away from the platform with a glance back to see what was happening. It occurred to Varlam that with how fast that thing was moving, there's no way he'd outrun it on the ground. What he needed to get away from it would be something else... Maybe getting higher would help.

As he approached the buildings closest to the platform, Varlam readied the device on his arm, and pointed it up at the top of a nearby building which was about two stories tall. He pressed a button, and the claw fired out, then latched onto a drain pipe running along the edge of the roof. With another button press, it started reeling in...

However, Varlam realized in slight horror that he hadn't modified it well enough to actually pull him in under its strength alone. He stumbled forward as it pulled, nearly falling over. He pressed another button and got it to stop before it managed to make him fall on his face and become even more vulnerable. Thinking fast, Varlam ran over to the edge of the building, just below where the hook had latched on. Then, hitting the button to reel in again, he braced a foot against the wall; as soon as the cable went taught and started trying to pull him up, Varlam pushed with his foot and started moving up the wall, keeping himself braced against it with his feet and essentially running up the wall. He didn't have time to look back, and just had to hope he'd get to the roof before that thing got to him.

Weist Town - Border - Noon

"Selia, Weston, behind me. We can't get close to that thing. If you have the tools necessary to fight keep up with me and try not to get close to it... otherwise, go back to my workshop and get my prototype from earlier!" yells over the storm Rebecca as she walks closer to the monster.

She then falls to one knee, holding her staff tightly in both hands as she focused as much energy as possible on it... the jewel non top of it starting to glow.

edited 5th Jul '12 11:44:53 PM by daltar

Weist Town - Border - Noon

Niel scurried away, summoning up a little bit of his power to make the wind push him forward. He scrambled down the street, heading for where the others - Selia and Weston - were. Once there, he turned around, looking at the man bravely fighting the monster.

"Who's that?" Niel asked the others, panting.

edited 6th Jul '12 9:26:58 AM by Collen

Weist Town - Border - Noon

"I - I don't know." Stammered Weston, in response to the stranger with the ripped shirt who had just fled from the monster. "But come on! This way!" He and Selia lead Niel back to Rebecca's workshop, shutting the door behind them as they took a moment to catch their breath.

The monster, meanwhile, was successfully distracted by Ferrus' charge, his shield impacting its metal armour with a loud clang, knocking it back a foot or two. But the beast was, perhaps, more powerful than he had presumed, as its powerful jaws bit into Ferrus' shield, the tips of its fangs denting and puncturing the metal as the creature's strength fought his armour's servos and engine to a standstill.

Back in the workshop, Weston picks up the new prototype Rebecca had helped him build. It was lighter - and considerable less prone to explode - than his original, but still too heavy and bulky to be held without assistance. "This... This could work!" He said, still somewhat out of breath. "This!" He repeated, excitedly, as he turned to Selia. "This could do it!" She stared at him blankly, as she often did when he was being strange, vague, technical or all three at once. "This!" He continued, unimpeded. "This could punch through any armour if you give it enough power! This could kill that thing out there!" But Selia shook her head. "Wes, you don't even know if it works!" She panted. "Now's not the time to test things!" He looked at her pleadingly and glanced out the window. "But... We have to try! Help me find something to prop it up with - the table leg! Find a saw!" He said, not really thinking things all the way through, as usual. Selia sighed and shook her head some more. I hope Rebecca doesn't mind her table loosing a leg...

Takei - Anilix - Noon

The sludge-beast charged off the platform, most of the people who had been fleeing off it getting caught in its muddy mass. Its bright lights now swinging in every direction, it barrelled mindlessly into town, sucking up terrified people until it slammed, head first, into a building. It splattered, but there was no sight of the people it had absorbed... And then the pieces regrouped, and the creature formed itself again, continuing its rampage. The wildly swinging lights that were its eyes briefly shine of the rooftop Varlam was trying to take shelter on.

Like a high-speed slug leaving a trail of sludge and death behind it, the beast rushed over to Varlam's building, and looked up at him. Long, sticky appendages formed, and the creature began to haul itself up to the roof...

Weist Town - Border - Noon

Niel eyed the prototype with curiosity. "What does that do?" he asked, brushing some of the wet rain out of his long, curly hair. It was a shame his shirt got ripped - it would be hard for him to find another one with a runic design on it. The shirt was probably the least of his worries, though.

"Haaaarghh!!!" Ferrus roared in exertion, armor working even harder. Seeing that a sword probably wouldn't help much, the engineer sheathed his and put both arms into the grapple. He brought his now-free right hand around as he continued to press force into the beast with his shielded arm. His right arm grabbed the beast under the jaw and he leaned forwards, attempting to flip it backwards. Wrestling was not his forte, but Ferrus' knowledge of weight and force would be sufficient.

Weist Town - Border - Noon

Rebecca for her part had charged her staff with enough energy... and then aimed it straight at the beast which was terrorizing her town. Stabbing forward with her weapon she released the magic into a powerful blast headed straight at the monster.

Takei - Anilix - Noon

Aileen watched the sludge beast from afar... the uproar of the city driving her to see what the yelling was all about. It was to her surprise that she found the sludge monster attacking.

Was it Nature's revenge against such a disrespectful and poisonous city? Aileen couldn't tell but it looked that way from where she stood.