The Corrupt Emperor (EPIC | P)

[Deleted]

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. STOP!" Shiki suddenly said. He paused for a moment. "Guys what the hell are we doing?" Shiki asked with an eyebrow raised. "Clearly whatever powerful being that was trapped here was trapped here is locked up pretty tightly. Like the power that IS leaking out just covers the seal with more ice. And if the three of us, with all our super strength and knowledge of the ancient arts can't make it through this puzzle. Do we really need to worry about anyone else opening this up?" Shiki offered. "Easy solution. Let's just slap a couple traps on this bad boy. Fill the room up with water and freeze it shut and go on our merry way to collect our reward." 

[Wolf of the Falls]

As the witch stepped forward and reached out to touch the orbs, a faint black and a white aura would slowly begin to pass up over her arms going slowly inch by inch while the witch felt the unfathomable mark of energy, beyond measure or analysis like sand castle before a tsunami she could only feel.

However neither force anchored her there and neither attempted to draw her in, rather they both moved up to encompass the woman, slowly surely. One of the circles on the far wall mimed the progression of white and black as they slowly reached the woman's shoulders igniting her own chakra.

Although something within made her start to feel a powerful rage as the white and black crossed the swell of her chest and were mere inches apart. Pain would begin to sink into her from directly down her middle as if the two sides were warring to break free. The circle on the wall mirrored this feeling as the white and black swirled against each other, if this continued much longer the witch would be as the altars were.


OOC: 2 turns until bifurcation.

[Madame Loki]

As the energy from the orbs began to over take her body, Loki smiled and then said, "Just as I thought." The energy of Light and darkness began to come into her body and nearly over take her, she knew that if she stayed there too long she would be ripped in two to her basic spiritual formation of Light and Dark. She keep her hands extended as she walked backward towards the orbs of light that manifested when they entered into the room. She would try to maintain the energy of light and dark within her body as she reached out towards the orb that formed when she entered into the room. "It doesn't like fire, but One touched by Light and Darkness... should wake them up a bit." She would reach out to touched the orb filling confident that this was the answer to this wordless riddle. As Shiki spoke Loki looked over her shoulder at him and then said,

"Whatever it is, just existing and unbalancing the area is a challenge of my power. A challenge I plan on taking. Plus this place isn't trying to keep something in, but keep something else out. And I wanna know why. It's a Bunker not a Prison."

[Deleted]

"So its an egg." Shiki said simply. He wasn't a fan of puzzles and really didn't want to get involved in this. "Great thinking by the by darling." Shiki said as he waited for the next chain of events to happen. He wasn't sure if he was going to end up talking to whatever was down here or killing whatever was down here. But from the amount of power he was witnessing it seemed like it might be dangerous to let this thing continue existing. 

[Nira]

Tarah frowned, a little worried about what exactly was happening, but trusting Loki to take care of herself. She seemed confidence with her power. That was as good a sign as any.

Still, being as careful as she was, Tarah wanted to make sure there was something she could do to assist. She wandered up to the circle on the far wall that seemed to be indicating the progression of the two energies, and studied how they were mixing.

She paid particular attention to the point where the dark and light met. She wondered if they canceled each other out, or if they mixed together into some third solution of power.

"I'm all for a challenge," Tarah muttered in response to the other two. "But hopefully this isn't the sort of thing that creates a dark and light half from a person. A single person having a civil war against themselves is too morally ambiguous for my tastes."

She sought words, but failing that, she studied the circle and sensed what she could from it.

[Wolf of the Falls]

The longer the woman stayed in contact with the light and dark the more the pain grew along her center as the forces began to pull at her. However as she stepped away from the altars and the wall, the energy receded from her body though the pain lingered. The essence of light and dark are incompatible although the circle on the wall showed the same receding of black and white that the witch felt.

[Madame Loki]

"Hmm..." Loki mused to herself as she continued to work out the detail of this puzzle. She sure she had the answer some time ago but wanted to be sure, and take things slowly else they could lead to something dangerous. She looked up at the pale blue orb that from on the wall opposite the entrance when she arrived into this place. Everything in here seemed to give off a feeling of cold, devoid of heat. This had nothing to do with either the this god of Darkness or Light, it was a third party. Loki was sure she knew who that 3rd party was. The beginning that Vanished the same time their Lover, Mateaus was cast out. In this place that seemed to have representation of all the parties involved, only this unnamed god is left out.

Perhaps it was because their were truly forgotten through time, or perhaps they wanted to be forgotten. Loki walked towards this Pale blue orb that was beginning to filled with the darkness and light as she was when she first encounters the powers of the statues. "I think I'm starting to piece this place together. This room I feel it tells a story. Or at least a piece of one." Loki said as she started to walk forward, everything she had learned thus far racing through her mind. "The story of a forgotten god, caught in the middle of a feud between a lover, and his rival. Mateaus, a god of Darkness was cast down by Lahabrea a god of light, but what of the consort of the God of Darkness? Vanished... and now we stumble on a place leaking Ice Magic on a scale likened to a god." Loki walked up to the orbs of light and Darkness, once again.

She would let the energy go into her, but this time she would not back away but go forward as she would reach out towards the pale blue orb that seemed to be reacting to her. With the power of the Light and Darkness colliding inside her she would attempt to force the energy into the Pale Blue Orb itself, as she reached out to touch it. "I have a feeling that there is more than one god-like being here. The one protecting, and the one being protected. If what I'm thinking is correct, we may be stepping into a very very old grudge match. And no doubt opening up this place, may make us targets from both sides." Loki side as she ignored the pain of the Light and Darkness swelling into her body. Even if she was not correct, she was slowly starting to come to know more about this place, and she was in no rush.

[Deleted]

"Uh-huh. So an egg full of gods or something." Shiki said not really having any interest in the love affairs of strange beings. There really wasn't anything that seemed that important for him to cling to. He was glad Loki was here. She always had more patience and a mind for things like this over him. Shiki sat down and leaned back against the wall. He grabbed a chunk of ice and pulled out a knife and started to carve the ice. Slowly shaving off piece by piece. 

[Nira]

Tarah hummed to herself, sharing in Shiki's current predicament of not being able to do much while Loki was interacting with the orbs. The circle on the wall seemed to only be a reference for what was happening, which was disappointingly directly.

Riding on her remaining snake, Tarah moved near the effigy and watched as Loki tried her various methods of unlock the secrets of their current environment.

"If that doesn't end up working," she said, watching Loki reach for the orb of frost, "then we might do better tackling it separately. Perhaps another way to interpret the shrine is for an angelic person to be completely connected to the power of the light orb while a devilish sort bonded with the dark."

Tarah looked up a bit as she pondered. "But again, that might also be grounds for some type of fight to break out. We won't know if we don't try, but it'd be interesting to see."

And where would we be aligned? a personality, Aryia, thought. Our lifetimes have wandered in both dark and light. I should think that both are not fond of us.

[Wolf of the Falls]

As the forces filled the witch's body once more the reaction would repeat. Slowly spreading over her body and conflicting at her center. Though this time as she stepped forward to present herself the circle mirroring her vessel pulsed faintly as she attempted to touch it. However rather than accepting her it pushed away like a magnet not accepting the conflicting forces present.

The forces of the two aspects warred and are not compatible as the witch would find the pain splitting through her again, a faint red line appearing down her center as her skin took damage. Meanwhile the hunter's knife would clink off the ice leaving it unmarred.


OOC: light damage, 2 turns till bifurcation, ice chunk DR 500.

[Deleted]

Luckily for Shiki his blade skills as monster hunter were such that his attacks could negate all forms of Damage resistance. So as he got to whittling the ice chunk,in fact, he chiseled as if it was nothing but simple, ordinary ice. Shiki continued to whittle the ice as he waited for the door to open. Shiki was getting bored with this place but he would stick around as long as Loki was still trying to open the door. 

SPOILER: Click to show

Exploit Weakness
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Venator learns to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Whenever a Venator hits a target with direct hit, they ignore any damage reduction the target may have. In addition, if the target has regeneration, the creature loses regeneration on the round following the direct strike and can die normally during that round. Creatures whose regeneration always functions are immune to this ability. Finally, if the Venator deals energy damage to a creature with vulnerability to that energy type, the user deals an extra +10 points of damage.
Limit: Must be a Venator.

[Madame Loki]

"So that's how it is. Hmm... that makes sense." Loki said talking mostly to herself as the opposing side threatened to rip her in two once again. The pale blue orb wanted nothing to do with both powers. So, if it rejected the two powers, then perhaps it will take will take one of them on. "I don't think that's the case... that wouldn't match the story of this place. The God of Darkness wasn't an evil being, in fact before the betrayal he was favored.... Hmm" Loki responded to her new companion as she looked over at the statue of that represented the Darkness, and then she looked over at the statue that represented the light. If her theory of the story of this place was correct, then the part of this story told was perhaps right, but she was approaching the visual representation incorrectly.

"This place is to protect your lover is it not?" Loki said to herself mentally. She then began to reject the light from the light orb and walked over towards the darkness. If she was correct, then the darkness would engulf her entire body, and the pale blue orb would finally cave to her touch. she felt that this was the correct answer, and even if the light would be expected as well, she felt that choosing the Darkness would some how make things less combative in further down. The light was the reason this story being told had sure an unsatisfactory ending, why continue to aid it in this adventure.

[Nira]

Tarah nodded, not having any contradictions to offer. She simply turned to the circle on the far wall once again to see what will happen now that Loki was going to take in the energies of only one of the orbs. It would likely be filled with dark. What that meant for everyone was up in the air.

Perhaps the hole would become an open gateway once it was filled all the way with one color. The chief concern was what effect the dark energies would have on Loki's body.

Tarah remained where she was, though she prepared to reached for her soul energies in need be. Soul was the most spiritual of her powers, after all, it would probably be of significance if this didn't go favorably.

[Wolf of the Falls]

As the black aura wrapped around the woman like her own chakra, the witch would begin to feel a sense of peace as she reached out to touch the wall. This time no pulse would echo out when the circle turned black. Instead, the black circle would vanish before the energy bloomed around the witch causing a loud sound that to their ears rang like a blood curdling scream that emitted from the energy.

And like that, the witch was gone.

Through no form of sensing, communication, or essence could she be detected. Like she had vanished from existence...

(OOC: for all intents and purposes, Loki is erased for now.)

[Deleted]

Shiki wordlessly walked up and moved over to the white orb. This place was dumb. He walked up and put his hands on the white orb, yet in reality it didn't matter what composition of soul it was looking for. If this was some sort of trigger that was contingent on his souls tuning then he would simple mold his soul to that which the orb would resonate with. Shiki would put his hand on the orb and circulate his chakra through it. Just as he was a living conduit with lightning, so too could he be with soul energies.





Forbidden Lore
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Infiltrator can learn techniques that are alignment restricted.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: While other Venatores learned to track evil, an Infiltrator learns how to perform Their Jutsus. An Infiltrator can perform Jutsus of an Alignment opposite to their own (Ignoring the restriction in the Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Law Jutsus).
Limit: Must be a Venator. Must be a Infiltrator.

[Nira]

Loki disappeared. That was distressing, to say the least.

"What the..." Tarah muttered, confused about what was happening. She would've assumed there was a teleportation effect, but the screaming sound that accompanied the disappearance was discouraging.

The man didn't seem bothered by the disappearance of his partner, though. In fact, he simply reached for the white orb without much of a care. Perhaps he had some way to confirm her safety, then. Given how quickly Loki disappeared, she wasn't sure if she had enough to time speak a question about how Shiki was unfazed by the event.

"Go, Amber," she commanded her snake. The grizzled bankrass slithered over to Shiki and touched its snout to the white orb.

Tarah touched the dark orb a couple seconds after. She had her snake go first so that if there was some kind of mental backlash through her psychic link that indicated death, she could pull herself away. However, if Amber and the man disappeared without signs of gore, she'd let the dark orb consume her as it did Loki.

[Wolf of the Falls]

As the serpent touched the orb light would flow over it and envelop it, like before with the witch, the serpent's circle filled with white on the wall. Tarah however would feel nothing different other than notice the snake was slower to pull away, though nothing came across the psychic link. As the hunter touched it, the same would happen while light filled his vessel and his circle filled with white on the wall.

That left Tarah's circle on the wall untouched, since neither the snake or the hunter disappeared her course of actions left her touching the dark orb as the energy began to envelop her as well. However she still needed to decide to whether to commit or let go.

[Deleted]

This had gone on long enough. It seemed like Loki had it figured out but it was clear whatever strange forces at work here no longer wanted him here to press onwards. Shiki sighed as he turned his back on this chamber and walked over to his teleportation circle. He walked in and vanished. 

-exits- 

[Nira]

Tarah sighed. Everyone was ditching her, apparently.

She ordered her Amber to keep in contact with the white orb, even if it didn't do anything, while she kept in contact with the dark one.

And, if she ended up disappearing and the light orb still didn't function, Amber the snake would switch over to the dark orb.

That was a shame. Taking big risks was always a lower priority for her, but perhaps this was a road worth seeing the end to.

[Wolf of the Falls]

After the hunter had left the circle for his vessel faded and once Tarah's filled with black a deep sound would echo through the stone. Rather than vanishing as the witch did the wall the circles were on began to slide down revealing the witch from earlier as the black energy shrouding them coalesced into a black marker over their chests while a white crest formed across the snake's face.

Before the stone wall slid down however the black energy coalesced behind it to bring the witch back from the other plane where she had been. The path lead deeper underground where a pale blue light shone.

Madame Loki