Shadows of Sandfield RP Thread

Lightning Storm

Marco, seeing Mina coming and knowing she had previously weathered his lightning bolts, did something different for her this time. A further clash with Heather's overhead attack - followed by gathering what looked like an odd wind in front of himself. He tipped his staff at her as she ran at him, a dervish beginning at his front - which could well throw Heather back as well before the dervish grew into a miniature tornado that then flew right at Mina - aiming to blast her away.

"All of nature's powers are my powers! She has granted me the gifts of her divine hand to smite those who would preserve the old world!"

Indeed, as Pablo tossed his keys, physics did its work - the lightning sought out the significantly more conducive keys as opposed to Pablo's body. But the explosive force of the impact and the remaining electric blast would almost send the young man sprawling forward.

Marco was then caught by Jayden, the feeling of the charged staff burning and scalding Jayden's hands, but evidently this was panicking Marco severely. He resorted to shooting the whole charged element in his staff right into Jayden's gut and falling backward, looking significantly shaken and worn down.

Well before James' spell hit home and Marco very visibly retched as a cloud of miasma generated out of a sickly green spell circle generated in front of James' hand. It seemed to make Marco visibly worse for wear - which opened him up to being kicked left right and center by Merry.

Sent sprawling backward, he breathed and looked to the side. Just in time to see two of his brainwashed toadies emerge from the crowd. Kyle held by one of them, the other, wearing a hoodie obscuring his features, was wielding a baseball bat.

Marco gathered his remaining vitality and stood back up, pointing his staff at Kyle, "One...one more move, you—-you salivating servitors of status quo...and that boy's brother will fry into a charred corpse!"

Mina Parker

Mina tried to increase her weight by pulling more dirt and earth onto herself to avoid getting picked up by the whirlwind, but it was to no avail. It picked her up and spun her around and around, stunning her for a short time, until Marco made his threat.

"Jayden, wh-whatever that is, it w-worked, so d-do it agaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—" The girl was abruptly cut off as she was swept up by the mini hurricane. Antaeus, ripped up from his earthly roots, could do nothing. Mina was a sitting duck. However, she extended a hand and kept trying to pull clods of dirt and rocks up to her, thinking that if she made herself weigh enough, she could get out of her current sticky situation.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 18th 2021 at 9:52:29 AM

Weathering the Storm

As Mina moved forward, she would be able to see the figure with the baseball bat moving...oddly. He seemed to be fidgeting, whereas the other person there was stock still, moving like a marionette on the wires installed by Alan Godfrey's magical voice.

Marco looked forward, and stated, "As I thought...you lot are too attached to these barbaric creatures, the role models of the prior world..."

It seemed as he started to monologue again, the fidgeting minion moved.

And lunged behind the other one, swinging his baseball bat right into the hypnotized figure's back. Sending him sprawling to the ground and shaking the effect of Godfrey's voice.

By the time Marco realized what was happening, the hooded figure had Kyle's arm and was pulling him away from the area. The hood fell down in the course of it, revealing Jackson White's face. "Fuck you, Marco, keep your ratty hands off of the guy I like!!"

He completely turned his attention away from the people he was fighting to see his hostage was being hurried away from the area. "JACKSON WHITE!?!?" The tornado affecting Mina by now died down, owing to Marco's attention being on what just happened. He started raising his staff, still affected by James' hex though...so he was just slow enough...

Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 18th 2021 at 1:33:35 AM

Pablo had hit the floor harder than was recommended but pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the probable injury and the hell of his hair. The hostage situation forced him to clench his fists, but couldn't make a move.

Of course, he felt a cold dread as things could really worsen with that move.

Jackson's arrival made him grin, sending a thumbs-up as he glared at Marco.

"Haz paz con tu dios" He said, with a faster stride, his fist cocked back, he let loose one hell of a punch. "Final quarter, no holding back!" He wanted to keep hitting until he didn't feel his hands. Whatever happened later didn't matter so much as taking out this fucker.

Never wanted to make a guy bleed like now

Mina Parker

Mina immediately dropped to the ground like a very unwieldy boulder in the shape of a person, jettisoning mass in her earthen armor so she could get upright again instead of flailing about like an obese turtle on its back as soon as the whirlwind was gone. She stomped her way towards Marco, knowing that she wasn't fast enough to stop him from firing, but still having to do something to help her friends fight the fanatic bastard.

She scrambled towards Marco, as fast as she could, hoping that her next actions would slow him down enough for her friends to get to him. She started stomping and making heavier steps, making the ground shake slightly in the hopes of unbalancing Marco and making it easier to take the staff from him, or attack him in the first place.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 18th 2021 at 9:53:01 AM

Ignoring the wincing in his left leg, James drew his sword and rushed at Marco, he couldn't allow for Kyle, or even Jackson, to come to harm. He leapt at the boy as he was praparing his next bolt of lightning. James channeled his might into the swing, attempting like Mina, to disorient Marco so that he wouldn't be able to cause any more harm.

Stormlight Struggles

"Heth Breaker, Take Two!"

Heather regretted that her preferred combat style burnt so bright because her strength was flagging so quickly into the fight. But she had an opening to strike at the staff and despite how much the sword of her soul was starting to fade she was going for the strike.

Jayden

Jayden hissed in pain as his hands burned, the skin blistering on contact with the staff—but he'd done something, something no one else had done, something that lessened the jealousy just the tiniest bit—

Kyle.

Jayden's head snapped towards his brother, suddenly remembering why he'd come out here in the first place. Kyle looked absolutely panicked, eyes wide and face pale and yelling at the top of his lungs, "Jayden?! What's going on, why do you look like that, what happened to Marco?!"

And, for just a moment, the envy faltered, and cool fear started to settle in. Jayden blinked, staring in horror, the haze in his mind slowly clearing as the world came back into focus and oh god what if he dies what if he dies—

And then the others attacked Marco.

Without him.

The envy flared up again, burning even stronger now, and Kyle's panicked cry of "Can anyone tell me what's going on?!" fell on deaf ears as Jayden leapt at Marco with one last screech, clawing at his face, his throat, his eyes, anywhere he could reach, making a desperate grasp for the staff to pull it out of Marco's hands.

The All Out Attack

Crack!

Pablo's swing smashed into Marco's face, sending him reeling backward, stunned by the impact. He was rendered insensate by the attack - which was a bad thing considering the sheer volume of attacks coming his way.

His balance was broken by Mina stomping all over the place like that. Plus he might well have been slightly distracted by the bizarre image of a small girl stomping all over the place in such a way.

When James channeled his full power into a swing of the sword, he unleashed it - as a full fledged mana-enhanced gust of sharp wind fired off of the sword. A harsh whistling sound following it as it crashed into Marco's body and broke his Mana Reinforcement outright, as well as knocking the wind out of him. "No—-AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

And then Heather lunged in and with an explosive strike from her own Mana Sword the result sent Marco reeling backward, outright bouncing off of the ground once before just barely managing to catch himself - the staff sent sprawling out of his hands in the process.

And then Jayden pounced on him, clawing, smashing and screaming like a wild animal. The pain was white hot and immediate as Jayden literally clawed long streaks of red through Marco's skin and even caused his vision to go briefly due to blood flowing down into his eyes.

Before long, Marco was thus reduced to a moaning heap on the floor.

Just in time for the man in the motorcycle gear to show up. He looked around at the scattering figures who had once been Marco's loyal followers. He spoke in a rather familiar voice, obscured slightly by the helmet, "Well. I...confess. I didn't expect you guys to take down Marco like that. Congrats."

Meanwhile, Jackson was over at Kyle's side, checking him for any injuries, "Your brother handled that jackass. Looks like it's pretty much over. ...You okay? You uhh, how much do you remember me...saying?"

Marco Fight, It's Over

Heather's soul-sword flickered out of existence in the follow-through after her strike and with all the grace of someone who is running on fumes she falls forward and into a tumble that leaves her sprawled on her back on the grass. She had enough energy left to remove her sunglasses and tuck them away as she laid there breathing heavily.

"May have... Overdone myself... Anyone brought a snack..?"

Jame's heart was pounding in his chest. Bruised and burnt though he was, he felt great, the fight had been pretty damn exhilerating. On a more objective view of things however, there was much cause for concern, Marco had alkmost certainly killed several innocent bystanders, and he would have to come up with some way to explain this mess. Finally, Jayden seemed to still be drawing on his negative emotions, something Matthew had explicitly said was a dangerous path to walk down. James figured somnebody should talk to the kid, it might just piss him off further, but the alternative was to let him spiral out of control. "Hey, uh, Jayden, you seemed pretty caught up in the fight, you almost clawed Marco's eyes out there, and I noticed the anger aura thingy around your hands again, even before he tried to take your brother hostage. Can I ask if something's going on, are you doing okay?"

Edited by bobbitwormhobbitwyrm on Mar 24th 2021 at 4:27:01 AM

Mina Parker

"Who...who a-are you?" Mina asked the man on the bike warily, her approach made glaringly obvious by the earth and rocks flaking off of her body as she moved to put herself in-between the stranger and her friends. "Wh-Why are you here? And wh-what d-do you know about this?"

She put her hands on her hips in a manner that she hoped was threatening, puffing out her earthen scales to make herself look bigger and more intimidating. "Did s-someone send you? What's g-going on?" she added, trying to milk as much information out of the stranger as possible.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 25th 2021 at 8:22:47 AM

Making sure to remain kind of on his feet Pablo looked at pretty much anyone to check their condition. He didn't have the time to check on himself if that clusterfuck got him, but as long as he could stand, might as well keep going. Even if tomorrow will be the most painful day.

"Might have some surviving people in here, might use an ambulance or ten"

Mina attempting to intimidate the weird biker guy.

"Thanks, creepy biker guy" He said "But you might know too much about this. Including what was up with this trigger happy god wannabe" He attempted to look tough, but he wasn't exactly on his best condition, so it might have looked less than impressive.

The Unmask

"Oh, don't recognize me in all this motorcycle body armor. And the headpiece probably contributes...'kay." The biker guy promptly removed the tight helmet, letting out a breath and revealing his identity - as Matthew. He looked around and stated, "You guys did a really nice job handling Marco. I've got some people inbound to take care of the victims hit by lightning, as well as deal with the other ramifications of this battle. Honestly thought I'd have to give you guys a helping hand. Had to jump on my motorcycle to head over here."

Matthew looked around, and then down at the unconscious Marco, "Yeah, the wannabe god here is gonna be going away for quite some time."

He looked around some more, and surveyed the area, "Didn't he have a partner? I didn't see the other one anywhere. Well, at any rate, I did bring something just in case you guys run into someone throwing around thunder and lightning any more."

Looking between the teens, he chose James out of all of them. He'd shown some amazing chops in coming out here to challenge Marco, demonstrating both skill and leadership, and a capacity for understanding. Taking his badge necklace off, Matthew walked over and handed it to James. It was bright gold and silver, and seemed to glimmer in the light, the necklace portion seeming made of golden thread.

"This is a nice little artifact. It was given to me, just like I'm giving it off to you. It's called a Courage Badge or, alternatively, a Franklin Badge. Nobody really knows where it got its name, but it has a powerful magical effect. It redirects lightning spells of any kind and strength back at the caster. A bit late, but I figure it might come in handy."

Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 26th 2021 at 2:03:14 AM

Thunder Strike Aftermath

"Pft!"

While still very much drained on energy and laying on her back in the grass, Heather has enough energy to let out that expression of amusement.

"Whoever told you 'no one knows why it's called that' was lying so they wouldn't be called a nerd. That shit's from like, Super Smash and Earthbound!"

The tired mean girl just lapses into weary giggling.

Mina Parker

"M-Matt...hew?" Mina choked out, relived that it wasn't some sort of random menacing stranger after all. "I-It's you! Thank g-goodness! Could h-have arrived earlier, b-but the amulet will c-come in handy later, I s-suppose..."

"Alan Godfrey is Marco's accomplice," she said, after a moment's pause. "He was th-the one who was m-manipulating people from b-behind the scenes. He d-did something to me w-with his words. Made me r-really, really angry! Th-There were two fights started by h-him today, I'd wager. This is only th-the third. We c-can't afford to let him get a-away like this..."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 26th 2021 at 4:46:34 AM

Pablo tried to force himself to walk, but as he attempted to give a step, he tumbled backward, and he had to sit, breathing heavily.

"Shit, it was worse than I thought" He groaned "Can someone give that Godfrey bastard a kick in the rear for me? As a favor" He got out.

Just how close was he to all that crap?

Jayden

...

Blood.

Lots of blood.

Lots and lots and lots of blood.

On Marco's face, soaking into the ground, under Jayden's fingernails. Jayden stared at all the blood, starting to feel dizzy. He slowly got to his feet, the aura starting to flicker and the fire finally dying down as he looked over at James.

"I..."

Then Matthew gave James a magic artifact.

...

Matthew. Gave James. A magic artifact.

But why that's not fair what did he do to deserve that what did any of them do to deserve cool powers I was doing all the work before Tom went missing so why are they getting all the rewards I want it I want it I want it—

"GIVE!" Jayden shrieked, aura flaring back to life as he lunged at James, making a wild grab for the Franklin Badge.

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Mar 26th 2021 at 6:00:14 AM

James took the badge in his hands "much obliged, though hopefully it won't see too much use. I heard about what happened to you from the others, glad to see you're doing better"

He turned his head just in time to see Jayden barreling into him. Before he could fully get a hold of the situation, James was knocked to the ground. Reflexively, lest he get his face clawed off, he tossed the badge in the air, away from the both of them. It might have been a better idea to just give the badge, but time to think was not a luxury he had at the moment. It had been clear that Jayden was in a rather dark place before, but James had not expected him to attack an aqquaintance over a single enchanted item. Enhancing his strength, James haphazardly tried to wrestle into a position where he could restrained. "Jayden why the hell are you acting like this?" he panted "You can't just murder people because you want their stuff".

Jayden

The badge was gone, so Jayden didn't have it but James also didn't have it and then Jayden was being wrestled to the ground and James was yelling at him and—

"YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!"

The yell seemed to echo. And it wasn't half as feral or primal as Jayden's shrieking had previously been. There was a new note in Jayden's tone now, cutting through the jealousy and rage—desperation.

"I spent eight fucking years trying to prove to everyone around me that the supernatural existed, trying to investigate something everyone claimed wasn't real—and then in one fucking week, you people—" And here, he shoved James off him and stood up "—dabble in the paranormal and suddenly you have magic! You've seen all sorts of supernatural things! I have to watch from the fucking sidelines as people who have barely dipped their toes in something I've been invested in my whole life get all the benefits!"

The anger was fizzling out, pure desperation taking its place as Jayden felt tears well up in his eyes. "I'm being left behind! Everyone else is doing amazing things and I'm left to look on in awe at their accomplishments! I can do things too! I want to do things! I want everything you have!"

And with that, Jayden turned and ran.

He ran as far from the others as possible, any attempts to call out to him falling on deaf ears. He didn't think about where he was going, he just wanted to get away.

It was only when he finally slowed down that he'd realized he'd run all the way to the front of the school.

God. Jayden sniffled, wiping his cheek with his hand. That was a disaster. If people didn't like him before, they probably hated him now. He was the weird conspiracy kid who'd attacked someone over a trinket. He didn't feel jealous anymore, not now at least. He just felt...

Alone.

Jayden pressed himself against the wall, sank to the ground, and let the tears out.

James got back onto his feet "I need to go make sure he's okay, you guys should probably come as well. He's clearly pretty messed up right now, if we don't talk to him I don't know who will."

He paused before adding "no offense Kyle" rembering that he was at the scene as well.

James rushed after Jayden. He really hoped that he hadn't run off somewhere they wouldn't be able to find him. He was filled with relief, and not a small degree of sympathy when he found the boy sobbing against a wall. He wasn't sure exactly what to do, he was pretty bad at these more sentimental moments, but he didn't want to seem like he was indifferent to his aqquaintance's feelings. He tentatively walked forwards. "Look, Jayden, I know, you've defined yourself by your knowledge of the supernatural for so long, and now that characteristic is suddenly much more ubiquitous than you that, but do this doesn't make you obsolete, it's just a massive oppurtunity. You now have the resources and connections to learn far more about magic and the hidden wonders of the world than you could ever hoped for previously. Imagine if Aristotle got sent to the present day. He wouldn't be upset by his outdated scientific knowledge, he would exult in all the new information available to him, you can do the same."

Mina Parker

"J-James is right," Mina whispered, unsure if it was right to say anything more than that, but she had to try. "You g-got in some r-really strong hits b-back there. I'm not sure if we c-could have won if you weren't h-helping us. You're a v-valued member of this t-team, you know."

"You w-were—you were also the f-first person to break down a pillar b-before I accidentally set the wh-whole place on f-fire, and, well..." she said hesitantly. "...It g-goes to show that you have p-potential. You can do amazing th-things, just like the rest of us, and I b-believe that you can. I've always believed in y-you, Jayden. So please, d-don't go full metal d-dark side on us yet."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 30th 2021 at 11:32:44 AM

Aftershocks

Matthew had a bad feeling about Jayden ever since that day at the abandoned factory.

Seeing him casually use that dark power like that, with everything else that was going on... it struck him as drastically irresponsible. But then there was also the fact Jayden evidently didn't even know what he was getting himself into. It was like a powder keg.

One that had now exploded.

He honestly regretted not taking decisive action sooner.

Jayden outright attacked James for the Badge. And then he went on a full rant of entitlement and rage before running off. And you know what the sad part is? In all likelihood, all those theories and such...are probably all wrong.

He didn't say anything about it, and had been about to step in on James' behalf when Jayden ran off. As the others went after him, Matt decided to leave that to them. Going with them might upset Jayden further. Maybe it was also his fault for not explaining why relying on negative emotion like that for magic was such a bad idea.

Why exactly Fiendbonders tended to have a bad time of it.

As Jayden laid there, his friends trying to talk to him, his phone would buzz with a strange number...

Edited by NickTheSwing on Jul 12th 2023 at 11:09:52 AM

Oval Aftermath

Well, that was quite the outburst from her conspiracy friend but it did little to stop Heather from remaining sprawled out on the grass trying to regain her strength.

"... We should order pizza, have a little party. That'll help us be friends more yeah? Works for sports teams I think."

Pablo took a look at the others, and weakly raised an arm.

"Hey, complete stranger still confused on what's going on" He admitted, feeling suddenly really awkward, given the currently really emotionally charged moments and himself being really out of place.