The Dresden Files RP- "Edge Town"

It happened in the blink of an eye.

The moment Alex's skin touched the oaken door it spun- like a trick door at a fun house. Flipping, hitting him in the shoulder with the force of a wrecking ball and putting his world on an axis. The scene spun- someone shouted, one of the body guards reached out to grab him with a shout but their reflexes where far from supernatural and Alex was whirled away in a blur.

The moment the door stopped spinning there was a soft clicking noise, like a lock, and the door broke into a million sparks of golden light, floated away from the wall leaving nothing but rough earth where it had been. There was a flash...And another door identical to the other two appeared opposite where the vanished door had been.

"The hell!" Captain James shouted turning, gun readied. "What is going on?"

"I already told you! I don't know!" Riff spat. "I've never been in this room before, I don't know what this game is so I don't know how it's played or how to cheat it. But..." He bit his lip.

"Puck's games are always deadly." Braden finished for him.

Aiden was the one who focused on where the door had been biting the side of his mouth. "...How do we got Al back?"

"I don't know." Riff hissed.

Alex hit the ground shoulder first- cold wet earth rushing up to great him. The smell was....heady. This room was darker then the one before it, almost no light, and even his vampire vision and senses found it hard to pierce. The floor was wet and had the texture of pebbles by a river side- the walls where the same...except smooth stone cold to the touch. If he got up and checked he'd fine the room about 10 paces wide, the wall he'd come in my solid grainny earth...And no end in sight if he looked forwards....Only darkness.

There was a dripping noise.

And breathing. Somewhere in the dark there was breathing.

But no heartbeat.

Water burst from Jarl's hand in a rush, sloshing through the plants, soaking the earth down all around him. There was an extremely rough, extremely narrow path the group could fallow, and with the water keeping the foliage at bay from contact with their skin and Tim keeping the pollen at bay from their lungs....They could press forward.

It was like walking into the world's most sick and toxic botanical gardens- the yellowed cobble stones beneath their feet took them in wards and the plants didn't just grow more deadly they grow more magical. Venus fly traps wide enough to eat a man, giant-pitchers that could swallow a hoarse, at one point they had to step over a babbling brook and Hugin slashed away from their feet winding hiss bristles and hisses of bladder words from reaching out of the green-ish water to suck them all in.

Finally, at some point, they reached a resting point- a small island in the middle of criss-crossing rivers that housed a gazebo, just stepping inside and the air grew light and clean. They where all of them slacked with sweat from the humidity- it was like suffcating in water without the liquid.

"This is what it's like." Hugin told them. "In most of the forest- especially the Suthorn half- when Puck's power is at it's peak. The Enchanted Forest becomes a wild and fierce jungle of death and fear. Vicious, baser...wicked." She shook her head. "His power is fading as Fall approaches- but unless the shift is made the Forest will fill with this again. And again. And again. Eventually all of it will become permanently twisted into Puck's vision of Summer, and that will spill over into mortal world. The Stone Table will remain in Unseelie hands, but Winter will never come. The world will be deadlocked forever, and Puck will flourish in the destruction that brings."

"And that was his fucking plan B, too."

Jarl kept up the pressure as much as he could. Something about this irked him. This completely unrestricted, untamed growth. It 'offended'' him, to the very core of his-

Not me. He'd caught himself again. Not me. The mantle. It was getting harder to distinguish.

Tim nodded. "More reason to stop him, them."

"As much as I would love to go after the guy who is going to pay me, our main concern right now is him" Max said as he pointed to Braden. "We've come this far already, let's focus on getting you your mantle. "

"Not that there particularly needs to be more reason to stop him, far as I can see. I've been pretty well invested into stopping him for a while now."

Alex froze. Completely and utterly, fighting down the dizziness and rush of adrenaline, the natural, animalistic impulses that would get him killed in this situation. His human side-the hunted animal wanted to run, to sprint away from the danger headlong into the darkness. His Hunger, on the other hand, wanted to sent a challenge-to cut loose and become the hunter.

Both were about equally suicidal.

I am not a trapped animal. I am a rational, thinking creature. A rational, thinking creature trapped in a pitch-black, foul-smelling hole with a creature with no heartbeat.

So he froze, regulating his breathing, waiting for his pulse to stop racing, for heart stop pounding and drowning his hearing with his own pulse. For his nose to adapt to the darkness of the caverns, and for his eyesight to adjust to blackness.

He considered using one of his glowsticks, or attempting to reach the others through his walki-talki, but ruled it out until he had a better idea of what was down with him. Knowing Puck's penchant for horrific pets, it was almost certainly something he didn't want to fight.

Finally, his pulse quieted, and he moved forward, drawing out his Fairbaine Sykes Knife in one hand, leaving the other free to guide him along the cave wall. Lessons-fighting blindfolded against instructors, hours of bruises and frustration rushed back. Gifts from his father. For all the man's cruelty, he had prepared a son who could survive-not just survive-but prevail, against any situation. He scented the air, listened for movements, trying to get an idea of what was down with him.

Now. Let us pray the rest of the group is smart enough to keep moving forward.

edited 5th Aug '14 8:08:02 PM by DrTentacles

Leon frowned as he stared at the doors. The nevernever was never his area of expertise. Grimacing he closed his eyes as he stretched out his magical senses to at least attempt to get a feel for the area. He was starting to suspect that he might have to open his Sight to figure this out which he'd rather avoid.

"Say Jarl, what exactly was your plan if Emilia Ex Masheena didn't happen?" asked Terry, who didn't know how to pronounce 'Machina.' "Or would telling me violate the wizadly code of obnoxious silence?" Or give away a perfectly good trick he might want to use again, he didn't ask.

edited 7th Aug '14 5:29:22 PM by rikalous

"The trick I actually still used. Shoot Fix, disrupt his mantle with Skadi's arrow, and then book it as fast as possible."

edited 7th Aug '14 1:36:17 AM by math792d

"Or in other words, play it ass by ear." Kat commented, always helpfully.

"Worked for Indiana Jones."

"Does that mean you were nicknamed after your dog too?" Kat shot back.

"Indy spends a lot of time getting his ass kicked, as I recall."

Leon's senses hummed with magic- the air, the earth, it walls, the doors- it was all magic. They where the interlopers. The alien things. It would require senses finer then Leon's to understand how that magic flowed, rather then getting just whit noise.

Braden's voice grew sharp. "We can't just leave him."

Aiden said nothing for a long moment. "It's what he'd want us to do."

Alex didn't hear the steps- he didn't hear a heart beat or breath or even a creak of a joint, though in thatsilene it felt like could have.

One minute he was poised...And the next his bad was being ripped from his shoulder- the one carrying all his C4, possibly the only thing that could get him back to the other side. It was a from a strange angle that Alex wasn't prepared to defend against, and the moment it had the bag it took off, steps sounding in the darkness, splashing the water of the gravel. Two feet, short gate, short statue.

Suddenly light hummed to life- not bright but dim enough for Alex to see a cloaked and hooded small figure running away from him, bag in hand.

And a child's laugh- a somehow chilling familiar laugh filling the cavern.

As Jarl turned to go- Hugin reached out. Stopping him.

She bared her teeth without warning, her back going on edge. "Wait." She pointed. "Water level."

...Was rising. The rivers that criss crossed to form the islandette. Where rising. Rapidly. The wishy green-tinted water overcoming land on all sides, from interconnecting brokes....To a solid pool. The island on which they where stayed the same side but otherwise...the water grew. By the second trapping them.

And then a otherworldly screeching filled the air.

Tim immediately readied his spear, while Kat, using her better eyesight, went to his side, playing spotter.

Jarl lifted his bow in response. If these things were coming by air, it would let him conserve some magic before the big fight. He'd a feeling he'd need it.

Terrence kept his eyes on the water, to make sure nothing snuck up on them while they were distracted by the screeching in the air.

Alex instinctively lashed out with his knife, the blade hissing through the air, the sudden light glinting off the edge. Cutting nothing.

He regained his balance quickly, crouched like a cat, and flipped his grip, readying the knife to throw.

Then stopped.

Why do I know that laugh?

His moment of indecision cost him the proper angle, and he returned the knife to a loose, relaxed grip at his side, hurrying after the short, hooded figure.

They had me at their mercy. If they stole my bag, they could have stabbed me just as easily.

He tried to keep pace as best he could, aiming to keep them within sight, and spoke, trying to keep his voice calm, quiet, non-threatning.

"What do you want?"

edited 11th Aug '14 11:58:45 AM by DrTentacles

"What any lost child wants." Came a sudden crisp clear voice from behind Alex. He could actively feel his stomach chill at the sound. Twist.

"To be found."

Lights suddenly flared to life- and Alex realized he was standing in a long high-ceiling cave, interlocking roots over head forming mini-criss crossing bridges, the pale emerald light flowing from the quartz clusters scattered about, the trickling noise coming from light waterfall that ran down the sides of the cave.

And the voice....From Reinette. He didn't need to turn around to know it was her, the smell the voice- it was enough, every bit as his senses remembered. Perfect- except for the lack of a heart beat, breath, or the sound of shoes moving against the watery gravel underfoot.

In Alex's vision, the child froze, several feet in front of him, covered in that to-large tarp cloak. Still.

The screeching noise intensified several fold- and that's when they saw it.

The streaks glowed in the water, cutting under the surface of the green water, swishing left and right violently, circling the gazebo where the group stood. One broke the surface and it was like watching a creature from the depths of Lovecraftian hell rise- a womanly figure but covered in green slimy scaled skin with snarling mouthes where her eyes should and a blank expanse of regular-colored human skin where her mouth should be. A spikey fin ran along her skull and back, spined and spitting and webbed claw like hands held a spear in one fist and a net in the other.

As quick as could be she sunk back into the waters and the speed of the creatures increased, circling the group's dry-land faster.

"Mermaids." Hugin spat. "Fucking fresh-water mermaids."

"You know." Kat said. "This seems really like the right moment for some Lightning. Anyone can do that?" she said, looking at Jarl.

Terrence, who'd been watching for something horrible jumping out of the water, took a shot at the mermaid when it appeared. Beyond that, he held his fire until another one of them breached the surface. He remembered a Mythbusters episode about how being underwater could protect you from gunfire.

"Sorry, wrong Odinson." And yet he obliged, pointing at the mermaid and crying "þrumði!" He tried to restrain himself this time. Without a storm to draw on, unleashing too much lightning was going to exhaust him. While it was still a light show, the blue-white lightning bolt that emanated from his palm and crashed into the water around the mermaid was still a spectacular (and blinding) sight.

"We're wasting time here" max said as he looked at his watch. The hands had stopped moving years ago but it was an ingrained habit. "We've lots one but that's no reason to stop our movement, the sooner we get this kid where he needs to be the sooner we can link up with the other team and get out of here."

"This is one of those must complete challenges before you can advance rooms isn't it? Damn it."

Leon sighed in annoyance. Rooms like that might be entertaining enough in a video game but being forced to do that in real life was annoying especially with time constraints.

He held his gun in his left hand tightly as he went to open the next death trap door.

Needles of ice stabbed into Alex's heart, accusations from the remaining shreds of his conscience. A sick, twisting sensation rose in his gut, images of the battle against the Madame rising up. His face remained a frozen, even mask, but he stopped in place, suddenly hesitant. He tried to detach as he was used to, force the emotion aside and think of his goal-Bethany, but it wasn't as easy it usually was.

Alexander Thorne, thrown off balance by the voice of a dead woman.

The voice in his head sounded like his father's, far, far to much for his comfort. He realized, in a small, isolated portion of his mind that he was shaking, and was cold, short of breath.

Bethany. Vegas. Deal with this later.

He cleared his throat, and tried to speak. His voice sounded dry, too quiet, hesitant in his ears, a far cry from his usual air of command.

"...I'm supposed to walk up and take off the cloak, right?"

edited 18th Aug '14 4:51:58 PM by DrTentacles