The Nexus Tavern (O//A)

[Turnabout Spaz]

Hmm. a fox yokai and her familiar... I'll have to meet them sometime. But for now... I need some rest. She silently spoke to herself. Come Matt, let's get some rest.

The snake that was wrapped around Scarlet's neck, shifted colors, inverting itself to where it's color scheme was the exact opposite. Within moments, Scarlet slithered over to the firepit, and climbed into it. The fire once again changed from the gentle orange, to the purple that made her aura. Quickly, she fell asleep in the fire, snoring lightly as her snake coiled himself on her head, protected by her.

[Lady Astraea of Radiance]

She nodded and slowly looked up at Hriob, "I think I just connected to Hunter's soul on a whole new level....I'm not even sure I did it" She looked to make sure her hands were her own and she breathed out slowly. "I think that's how the twins end up connecting to one another...Hunter must have latched onto mine by accident, probably unaware himself that he was in fact trying to connect at all. Yet for a brief moment I could see into his mind, he didn't seem happy and actually he's all confused inside...he really needs Xavier...more then he cares to admit. I kinda find it sorta...sweet" She smiled, rubbing her fingers together to get her feeling back into them.

Hunter sat his hands up against the wall, panting rather heavily. Night's soul had rejected the connection so he was going through a sort of whiplash, like when you stretch out a rubber band as far as it can go and then you let it go, the band snapping you on your own wrist. He coughed, rather winded, and tried to stand, his legs sort of wobbly. He used the wall for support as a stair case formed out of snow before him and he crawled his way up and out of the hole. Now he slowly but surely walked on towards the airship, glimpses of Night's thoughts, dreams, ideas and such filling his head in flashes as the effects began to wear off.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

"As long as you're ok, then it's fine. If they need help they might not look to me, and I won't force myself on them, but I might be able to help if it comes down to it... though I think they need to sort this out on their own." Hriob holds onto Night's hands and looks into her eyes, supportive and simply wanting to be there for her. The airship was still slowly landing, but it would take some time even after touching down in the ocean before they would be ready to explore the ruins.

"I think we're over the ocean now, you might want to look out the window..." Another breathtaking view greets them there, even on an overcast day such as this: The seas were dark and a stormy green in color, yet still and tranquil. Ice held onto the coastlines, yet was in turn held back by the slow, calm tides of the sea that still commanded the briny waters below. The mountains and the valley were a stark contrast from extreme heights to endless flat water. With a surge of focus, Hriob repeats his earlier feat on the weather and manages to part the clouds, revealing a yellow-ish sun that hung small, but almost white-hot in the sky. This too had not been seen for eons.

[Lady Astraea of Radiance]

Misery hearing Hriob mention landing caused the girl to jump up and run out of the room. Taking both of their hands she pulled them out onto the balcony with her, her eyes wild with excitement. "Look the ocean!" Misery exclaimed, giggling as she hopped up and down. Leaning over the balcony she gazed down at the green, icy water beneath her and a sudden urge told her to jump. She climbed up onto the railing and spread her arms out like a bird, breathing in the salty air about her. Her hair and dress being blown around softly she opened her eyes, her whole eye consumed with a dull pink glow. She looked back at Night and Night nodded to her for the okay. Kissing Hriob on his cheek she walked towards the railing, "We'll meet you down there" She jumped up and looked down to her little sister. Rustling her hair slightly the two smirked and they both spun to face Hriob. Night gave him a wink before both girls fell back off the railing. They watched the airship for a moment before turning around, headed face first towards the ice covered ocean. Night's wings of ice burst forth and she spun, a light blue veil in the shape of a shard of ice forming out of energy. She drilled right though the thick ice into the water with a massive splash. Following in pursuit four small pink wings formed at Misery's ankles and wrists and she torpedoed herself into the water after her sister. Under the water their veils of power kept them breathing while they swam as fast as hungry barracuda in search for their next meal. All that could be seen from above were two glowing balls of light chasing one another with incredible speed but still holding a strange sort of grace. “They really can’t help themselves” Xavier said with a chuckle from behind Hriob. He walked up to the railing holding his shoulder gently.
“They were raised to hunt for their food...and sometimes that required hunting under water. Though those techniques were only learned after Night’s grandfather became the village leader. He discovered the new power with the help of a few friends when they were younger, however he decided it would be a really good idea to pass it on to everyone, make it so that they have two big advantages when it came to hunting since now they had power over land and water. Now it’s just in their blood to want to be in the water when it’s near...When we were younger it was impossible to get Night out of the water once she had managed to get it. She prefers colder waters though, as you can see...but they're so fast...it's crazy, and that's saying something considering I'm a vampire”

( This is some music for the mood ^^ : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9D8pdDyw44 )

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

"Yeah, I'd have no chance of keeping up with her in the water, ever. She almost won the one time we practiced fighting against each other and she toppled the platform into the ocean. I had to get in the air, fast." He chuckles softly, watching the two sisters seem to almost dance under the water, then turns to the wounded vampire. "I just hope they find some life down there... unless its really dangerous. I'm sure you've also noticed the complete lack of life on land, even with birds and the like... And how's the shoulder? I was only able to restore your blood level and amplify your natural healing factor enough to recover properly, I'm sorry I wasn't good enough to stop the scarring." He looks apologetic and a bit disappointed in himself, but manages to keep a straight face on the whole.

[Lady Astraea of Radiance]

Xavier sort of tilted his head to look back at Hriob before looking back down at the two. After a moment of silence he nodded, "We did warn you that this place wasn't going to be safe....I'm not worried about the girls though, I'm not sure if you noticed but they can take care of themselves pretty well on their own. You didn't see the mess we found Misery in after that massive battle with the creepy girl. She had literally torn those men apart...though Frostedthunder was her motivation she still has intense power, It's scary to think of the damage it could do. Night was telling us that after this she'll be going away for a bit with Misery, help her train her power a bit better with someone who knows what they're doing. Something about a shaman high up in the mountains somewhere" He shrugged, "Don't worry about me either, my shoulder's fine now, it's just a bit sore....plus I'm used to getting scars, see" He lifted his shirt revealing three long scars across his chest to his stomach. They appeared to be deep and you could see that from the width it must not have been very pleasant. "Just these ones weren't fighting Hunter" Xavier said this with a hint of disgust, leaning down on his hands, putting pressure on his shoulder to get it less stiff. He rolled his head back once exhaling very slowly, until he jumped up on the railing and then sat, his feet dangling down off the balcony.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

Another moment of silence passes before Hriob nods at Xavier in turn. "I just don't like seeing others get hurt... especially family against family. I best be heading down to the surface with the others now, we need to see how this place is dangerous before we can try to make it safe." He starts to levitate, then glides down to the ruins where the rest of the party was waiting; Yolande in her orichalchum armor and accompanied by three whisp-like spirits of fire, water, and ice, Mordechai in his own dark-grey metal fullplate with both his greatswords in either hand, Yolande with her dagger in hand and blindfold on, and Verroq himself in his own personal armor. He doesn't seem to be armed, but he has an odd-looking metal staff slung on his back, and there are summoning circles on the backs of his gauntlets and on other parts of his armor.

"Alright, I'm ready." His eyes glow full Indigo as he starts an open scan on all the planes he can see, His swords at the ready on his belt and a Monk's Spade in hand. Ten metal marbles telekinetically fly out of small mechanical containers on his belt and hover over his shoulders, starting to glow softly with an energetic yellow light.

They enter the crypt-like ruins of a people long since gone in all but spirit.

{{ Mood Music: Hans Zimmer - Old Souls + Dream is Collapsing (Junkie XL Remix) }}

[Py Aster]

Caleb walked inside his tavern. Moving to his spot at the bar, he sighed. He looked at the mannequin that was wearing a copy of his mage's robes. Seeing this, he closed his eyes. I guess I should do it then. He reached out, plunging his hand into a void. What came out with his hand wasn't a weapon, but a photo frame. In it was a picture of a girl dancing, with long silvery hair and silver eyes. She had a sun hat on with her white sun dress, looking genuinely happy. Allie.... He placed the photo of her next to the mannequin and closed his eyes once more.

[Lady Astraea of Radiance]

Night and Misery stopped swimming at the same moment, their bodies both shuddering from a dark, very big presence. Beneath their feet a massive thick black shadow slithered swiftly by, causing both girls to look down. When nothing was there Night exhaled sharply and swam over to her sister, taking her hand. "We need to be careful now, we've attracted something, and it doesn't seem friendly" Misery nodded, her eyes now shimmering brighter from her sudden fear, "Mhmm, let's get out of here sissy" The two turned to swim up to the surface when a ginormous dark wall of scales swam in front of them. The two girls screamed, both pushed back by the intense waters surrounding the snake like monster. It made a circle around them and turning to their right two large yellow circles, the size of two plane jet engines, glared back at them from the dark depths. It let out a low, angry growl from the back of it’s throat, causing the waters to ripple and shake.

Xavier was able to see the gigantic monster swiftly swimming about the girl’s two circles of light and he jumped up in shock. “What the hell-Hriob, we need to get the girls out of the water now!” he screamed out, jumping off the balcony onto the icy planes. Hunter hearing his brother from where he was swiftly ran up the hill to see what Xavier saw. “In the name of all that is dark and murderous, what is that thing?” His eyes were wide at the sight, it was hard to believe something that big could even hide or move that fast in the first place.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

Inside the ruins, things were moving smoothly, but confusingly. "These symbols, they aren't appearing to follow any single language, and none of them look like they're anything we've seen before. Either they had a system of languages, one single erratic written language, or these people were far more multicultural than we thought."
Verroq nods at Mordechai's assessment, running a hand along the otherwise smooth stone walls."Yes, and note that they all appear to be aged the same... this was all at the same period of time, maybe even the same year. The imagery of the serpentine monsters isn't promising though."
Yolande frowns, shuddering at an un-felt chill."Spirits are feeling darker as we go in, and not friendly..."
Hriob sighs and nods, not pleased by the ambiance."I see that they're largely impotent, though... they aren't strong enough to harm or affect us, directly at least."

They walk further in.

"Wait... did you feel that?"
"Yeah... all the evil spirits disappeared somewhere..."
Suddenly, Bianca looks worried, but instead of looking further in, turns her head towards the entrance. "Hriob, you best get outside, FAST. Mordechai, follow him on foot, he'll need the help."

Then, they all felt the growl from the huge behemoth in the water. "SCHEISSE!" Hriob teleports to an aerial position above the ruins in time to see the monster start to move towards the encircled sisters, and a snarl appears on his face. Unceremoniously he teleports the sisters to the shore at the entrance to the ruins, then prepares to attack as the skies start to darken with his mood.

The ten metal marbles hovering over his shoulders brighten over the course of thirty seconds as the beast tries to beach itself on the island of the ruins where Night and Misery were. Then, they release, ripping through flesh all over the monster's body with the impact of each shot more akin to a meteor impact than a simple round 'bullet'. As it writhes but fails to die, he senses the 'missing' evil spirits have possessed the beast. So that's where they've gone... no matter.

He uses Telekinesis to take out another twenty metal marbles, starting to charge them right away as fast as he's able.

Mordechai then runs out the entrance, nodding as he passes the sisters, unsheathing both his ebony blades at the same time without pause. He leaps at the monster with inhuman strength, starting his 'support' the best way he knows how: a single-minded brutal onslaught.

[Lady Astraea of Radiance]

Xavier and Hunter both run to protect the girls knocking into each other. Xavier pushes Hunter over slightly, "Watch where you're going" Hunter sighs and the two speed off again towards the two. Hunter went to jump over to pick up Night and Xavier also jumped, to sweep Misery out of the way. The two slammed into each other in mid air, both falling into knee deep cold water. "What's your problem!" they said angrily to one another. That's when they both heard Misery squeak in fear of the gigantic serpent, now coiling itself around them on the ice. It's tail swooshed about to protect itself from Mordechai's attacks. Blood dripped from its wounds but it still seemed fine enough to continue its attack. Night pushed Misery behind her to protect her. She put one hand out in front of the monstrosity, "Sano kachim!" The other voices ran through loud and clear, speaking in Night's own language. The vampires both looked over, their eyes pulsing a deep red. "They need our help" Xavier said looking to his feet. Hunter smirked, "I can't do it alone though" The two smiled and Hunter stood up, putting his hand out to Xavier. Xavier took his hand and upon contact both hands burst into black fire and their eyes flickered from orange to red for a moment. Running off in a blur of shadow they both appeared beside the girls and jumped back just enough. The serpent's tail came crashing down where the girls had been standing, the ground cracked and smashed from the force.

Night turned to the twins and smiled from ear to ear, "You two are connected again" The two smirked and sighed in unison, "Must you always ruin cool moments by embarrassing us?" The three laughed but were cut off by the serpent’s shriek. "I don't think he enjoyed your intrusion" Misery said, her hands shimmering a bright pink, crouched in a fighting stance. The twins grinned, drawing their weapons, "Well why not yell at towel boy, he started it" Night chuckled, her eyes freezing over and blue mist began to emit from her body, "He's just having a bad day, poor little garden snake"

The twins jumped, their blades pointed towards the monster. Night and Misery both sent surges of their energy into the them, their blades glowing the according colours. Swinging simultaneously they sliced right through its tail, the creature screaming out in pain. Its tail wriggled about momentarily blood spraying out like a rain shower, coating the vampires evenly. They landed back beside the girls, Hunter licking his palm and Xavier licking the side of his index finger, both glaring up at the beast.

[Chaos Frosthaven]

I've finally got them to release their hold on my soul my inner demons were so deeply entrenched it was hardly easy, I hope there is a way to open a realm portal without the help of the demons of the abyss or the specters. "This should be fun" Chaos attempts to open the realm portal but it does not seem to work. "Hmmm it is not working must be the fact that I do need the help of a specter because I’m so not getting help from more demons, Even if i did that would not end up too well." Chaos looks around the surrounding fog that was making it impossible to see the burrows or houses that the specters are living in. Chaos proceeded to where he believed he came in and was searching for the gigantic amount of demons and specters who were just staring and him as he came in. Chaos then bumped into something weird looking like a humanoid form but covered in weird markings with a large sword around his back. "Why hello it is nice to see a human walking around these parts." Chaos jumped back not knowing if the being was friend or foe he asked it what it's name was. "What is your name?" "Wh"Ryloth good sir and the specter behind you he is also very nice do not worry is named Huth he is more the swords master while I dabble in magic" "What's up little person."]"I'm trying to get back to the human world but cannot open a realm portal on my own." Chaos was still wondering if this was the best thing he could do. "Let's get started then small human" "It's Chaos."




Chaos, Ryloth and Huth all landed in these ice plains having no idea where they were. Chaos getting a better look at them both realized that Ryloth had a huge enchanted pole arm that had a large gold bar to connect it to the spear head at the bottom with runes inscribed all over it with a seemingly infinite number of forms that it could be used as, maybe even for the different elements. Huth had two humongous swords that would require some of the largest strength ever to hold at the same time but one was black and the other white almost like the sword of good and evil. One had a red gem, while the other had a blue gem. They both had silver hilts. The black one had a gold blade. The white a platinum one while they were named Good and Evil. Ryloth's pole arm was named Balance because it was the Balance between Good and Evil.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

Meanwhile, Hriob starts to aim his next attack, noting everyone's movements. I'm putting these at full power, enough to crack the bedrock if I'm not careful... need to aim this perfectly...

"HAAAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!" Mordechai is having the time of his life slashing away at the giant serpent, every cut of his dual greatswords and every injury he sustains making his blades glow brighter with a distorted, purplish vorpal effect. The 'cold fire' fueled by the bloodshed of their battle makes each cut progressively more damaging to not only the snake, but the evil spirits possessing it, ruining their cohesive pull on each other and making the beast's movements more confused and less controlled. He actually gets flattened by the stump of the beast's tail with a sickening thump, only to slice that off too and heal back at speeds that were similar to Hunter's regeneration levels.

Mordechai, after all, focuses on his body as the ultimate weapon he can use. Over his career he has trained and honed it to have the speed, durability, reflexes, but especially raw strength to put magical creatures like demons, werewolves, vampires, and even golems to shame. And above all else he likes a challenge in combat worth letting himself loose, like the fight he was in now.

At that moment, Hriob's shots all finish, and fire. With a sickening sound of explosive impacts that collect together into a single distorted WHUMP, all twenty overcharged metal bearings slam into the beast's head, fracturing its skull, riddling the brain with holes, and damaging its eyes and jaw severely. Let's hope that finishes it...

[Chaos Frosthaven]

Chaos saw the serpent and at the same time saw his sister and other people that he did not recognize. "You two stay here I need to go talk to that girl over there alright so please do not try anything weird you guys even if we just met." Ryloth and Huth nodded and motioned for him to go ahead.

[Lady Astraea of Radiance]

The snake swung it's head about, low growls escaping it's shattered jaw. It flopped down hard, ice and chunks of frozen earth flying up into the air. Blood began to seep out onto the ice ground, the nasty serpent hissing slightly before it's heart stopped. Xavier poked the monster with the tip of his sword to make sure it was dead. After no response he nodded and everyone loosened up. Though he was a monster and he attacked her family and friends Night couldn't help but feel bad for it. She walked over to it and knelt down before the beast, placing her hand on his head. She patted his head lightly, whispering a chant to him, pulling out his soul. That's when a dark ball of energy rose from it's heart. After a moment of hovering about it flew off into the distance, vanishing from sight. Misery sighed shakily, her old self back and frightened at the sight of the creature at her feet. She squealed and turned, running into a taller man in red armour, two beings standing a few feet away watching him.