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Yesterday, this was an ordinary twenty-first century city. Today it's a war zone, tomorrow it'll be walled off and abandoned.
A few collapsed buildings, shattered streets, and assorted craters. The place is mostly empty, with scattered groups of mostly humanoid monsters roaming and trying to escape the guarded fence around the city. The most instantly noticeable change is an ongoing wordless singing in the back of the mind of anyone present. By itself it's just a sound. An unpleasant sound, and almost but not quite predictable as if someone were trying to attack the listener's sanity without saying anything, but possible to ignore. But along with it, any time a listener closes their eyes they get flashes of memories. Not their worst memories, but whatever negative ones can stick with them unforgettably. It builds up associations between the feelings in those images and almost anything else. Sometimes there's a recognizable common thread and other times there isn't.
An angel fights off teams of opponents. She's fifteen feet tall, extremely winged, with more wings than is strictly necessary for an angel. Even some of her wings have wings. All of them are asymmetric and varyingly sized. A spherical halo of weaponry surrounds her, firing at her more distant enemies from across the battlefield. Her opponents cycle in and out: a golden man, a man surrounded by a bubble, a woman in a dark costume, all flying. Others make certain to stay away after taking their turn, on rare occasions spending too long hearing the angel's music. Those ones voluntarily self-destruct.
A small group of ordinary humans takes refuge in a house as far from the battle as they can reach. The song is quieter here, and, they hope, less potent. Some of them run away from and back to the house, occasionally calling for help. They haven't found any.
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ertia
How convenient! Kithabel grants her helpers beads. She confirms that she is allowed to kill the Blasphmies if that seems expedient. And then she zeroes in to where they are and attempts to end the fight before it begins, because anticlimaxes would be really great today.
wormcan
That would depend on one's point of view.
The Three Blasphemies, despite their labels as Maiden, Matron, and Crone, all look like young women. White skin, whiter hair, white robes, white masks with red lips fixed in different expressions.
They've never been observed to sleep, and don't start when Kithabel tells them to. When Maiden alerts the others to Kithabel's presence, Crone instantaneously assembles a construct out of stored pieces of concrete, wood, and leftover civilians. The thing lumbers in Kithabel's direction, more to test her capabilities than as an actual attack.
The Three Blasphemies, despite their labels as Maiden, Matron, and Crone, all look like young women. White skin, whiter hair, white robes, white masks with red lips fixed in different expressions.
They've never been observed to sleep, and don't start when Kithabel tells them to. When Maiden alerts the others to Kithabel's presence, Crone instantaneously assembles a construct out of stored pieces of concrete, wood, and leftover civilians. The thing lumbers in Kithabel's direction, more to test her capabilities than as an actual attack.
ertia
It ceases to exist. She went straight to curse-level sleep attack with these three, so she doesn't try again with that; she just goes ahead and starts trying to kill them. It'll be a first, but she did read up on them enough not to feel particularly bad about it.
wormcan
No one knows if the Blasphemies are technically alive, but they're certainly vulnerable to her causing as much damage as she can. They collapse into pieces, all three of them, but are reassembled as quickly as they fall apart. They don't seem bothered by the process.
Matron and Crone get displays marking where Kithabel is and where the Suits are. It's in a spectrum not normally visible, but the Suits' spy is watching everything Crone sees and gets this too. The relayed version more importantly shows the locations of the Blasphemies and their creations.
One of which appears below her, and another in the air behind her. They leap or lunge, depending, and Matron fires a blast of her other power. It feels like it's sapping the energy from Kithabel's bones, and she knows what the next part is.
Matron and Crone get displays marking where Kithabel is and where the Suits are. It's in a spectrum not normally visible, but the Suits' spy is watching everything Crone sees and gets this too. The relayed version more importantly shows the locations of the Blasphemies and their creations.
One of which appears below her, and another in the air behind her. They leap or lunge, depending, and Matron fires a blast of her other power. It feels like it's sapping the energy from Kithabel's bones, and she knows what the next part is.
ertia
Well, Kithabel refuses to explode. And she doesn't hold with this 'weak bones' nonsense either. Fuck that. And now she's seen it done and she would like that to just stop cold without affecting her next time. And if 'damage' won't cut it what if she just deletes the Blasphemies, too, like their construct?
wormcan
Two of them disappear, leaving only the scowling Crone. And then the other two reappear from thin air. Right. They're supposedly able to do that, as long as one of them is alive.
The two more recent constructs finish their lunge and leap respectively, and pass harmlessly through her intangibility. As well as each other, suspiciously enough.
The world seems to blink, and the Blasphemies to switch places with three of her allies. Even the view-from-Crone that she's getting switches perspective. Those three Suits are suddenly confused, while their compatriots start trying to hold back the enemies.
The two more recent constructs finish their lunge and leap respectively, and pass harmlessly through her intangibility. As well as each other, suspiciously enough.
The world seems to blink, and the Blasphemies to switch places with three of her allies. Even the view-from-Crone that she's getting switches perspective. Those three Suits are suddenly confused, while their compatriots start trying to hold back the enemies.
ertia
...Wait, what?
If the Suits are confused maybe Kithabel needs to lean harder on magic for feedback. If she had ever heard of D&D despite her unconventional background, she might call it 'true seeing'. What the fuck is going on here?
If the Suits are confused maybe Kithabel needs to lean harder on magic for feedback. If she had ever heard of D&D despite her unconventional background, she might call it 'true seeing'. What the fuck is going on here?
wormcan
Maiden. Control over light allows for some very effective illusions, currently including one of those two constructs and the six capes. She even altered what she and her teammates were seeing, apparently having sensed the spies one way or another.
The Suits were prepared enough not to attack with anything lethal, but are still in the process of subduing two of their number who appear to everyone but Kithabel to be fighting back devastatingly.
Meanwhile, more masses of dead flesh and bone and whatever else is in Crone's pocket dimension start appearing. Matron sends some at Kithabel and others at the Suits.
The Suits were prepared enough not to attack with anything lethal, but are still in the process of subduing two of their number who appear to everyone but Kithabel to be fighting back devastatingly.
Meanwhile, more masses of dead flesh and bone and whatever else is in Crone's pocket dimension start appearing. Matron sends some at Kithabel and others at the Suits.
ertia
Kithabel extends the true seeing effect as best she can. That pocket dimension: is annoying. Crone should stop being able to access it and the stuff she has out at the moment will BURN.
wormcan
The stuff lights on fire, as demanded. It also stops being on fire, before completing the directive. They keep charging.
Whether Crone did stop being able to take things out of storage isn't immediately obvious. Shortly, neither is anything else, as a full-spectrum bright light appears just in front of Kithabel's retinas. Kithabel may also feel Matron's blast hit her, but that fails to take hold.
Whether Crone did stop being able to take things out of storage isn't immediately obvious. Shortly, neither is anything else, as a full-spectrum bright light appears just in front of Kithabel's retinas. Kithabel may also feel Matron's blast hit her, but that fails to take hold.
ertia
Kithabel was once annoyed by it being uncomfortable to look right at the sun, so she's okay, if startled. She disintegrates the stuff that so impolitely declined to finish being on fire in the manner approved.
wormcan
If she's not blinded, she'll have a chance to react when Crone starts flying at her despite flight not appearing anywhere on their list of powers. The Blasphemies were hoping for surprise on that front.
They'd have to kill all the witnesses, of course. The others actually are blinded, with the possible exception of the ones with sensory powers, but you can't be too sure. Matron heads over to take care of it.
They'd have to kill all the witnesses, of course. The others actually are blinded, with the possible exception of the ones with sensory powers, but you can't be too sure. Matron heads over to take care of it.
ertia
Matron can get deleted. Crone can experience one of those time bubbles Eidolon was using to take chunks out of Leviathan, if Kithabel can swing it; it'd be new, but she's running pretty high velocity these days.
wormcan
Crone gets dilated and Matron disappears. This time it takes an instant before she reappears, and she's a few steps back. She resumes walking, and blasts one of the downed Suits.
If it's an exact copy of the power Eidolon used back in Greece, the bubble will fade in a few seconds and let the inside catch up. But Crone doesn't know that, or doesn't want to wait. As soon as Matron reappears she wrests herself free, taking what should by all rights be a catastrophic injury. A pound of flesh gets torn out, but blood is not included. The wound disappears almost immediately.
Crone reaches out a hand and touches Kithabel. Touches through her, to be precise, but she's apparently satisfied with that. She withdraws her hand. Now, which pieces of Kithabel to confiscate first. Hair and fingernails, give her a chance to run.
If it's an exact copy of the power Eidolon used back in Greece, the bubble will fade in a few seconds and let the inside catch up. But Crone doesn't know that, or doesn't want to wait. As soon as Matron reappears she wrests herself free, taking what should by all rights be a catastrophic injury. A pound of flesh gets torn out, but blood is not included. The wound disappears almost immediately.
Crone reaches out a hand and touches Kithabel. Touches through her, to be precise, but she's apparently satisfied with that. She withdraws her hand. Now, which pieces of Kithabel to confiscate first. Hair and fingernails, give her a chance to run.
ertia
Kithabel has always had really strong opinions about her bodily integrity. And she likes her hair. It billows dramatically in the wind. Have a direct lightning strike, Crone.
wormcan
Lightning strikes are inconvenient, even when one is a Blasphemy, but Crone isn't dependent on her heart to keep beating or anything.
More worrying is that the hair and fingernails stayed attached. Crone should be able to displace any part of the tagged object. Perils of facing a trump. She tries again to make certain it wasn't a fluke, but Kithabel's heart and brain don't go either. She drops to the ground, and joins Matron fighting those of the Suits who aren't helpless blind.
More worrying is that the hair and fingernails stayed attached. Crone should be able to displace any part of the tagged object. Perils of facing a trump. She tries again to make certain it wasn't a fluke, but Kithabel's heart and brain don't go either. She drops to the ground, and joins Matron fighting those of the Suits who aren't helpless blind.
ertia
Matron was delayed in coming back when Crone was time-dilated...
Kithabel swats Crone and Matron both with the time power and obliterates Maiden.
Kithabel swats Crone and Matron both with the time power and obliterates Maiden.
wormcan
And Maiden reappears, after a delay roughly proportional to the time distortion. After the reappearance Kithabel can even see her face smooth out where not covered by the mask. It goes from a rough mannequin of Maiden into an accurate recreation of the previous body. It's over in three blinks, but that's slower than before.
(Maiden is fairly useless in the fight now that most everyone is either allied, blind, or immune to illusions, but she can still throw minor distractions and flashes of nonexistent movement at Kithabel.)
More monsters appear, these ones more flesh and less stone than their predecessors. They unleash parahuman powers, whether from recently defeated Suits or from opponents Crone has been saving up there's no way to be sure. Judging by how none of them are definitely useless against intangible people, it was probably from the one with a wider selection.
One monster gestures and uses a power that should make it impossible for Kithabel to tell friend from foe. Another encloses her in a tesseract, so all she can see in any direction is herself from an unusual angle. And one inflicts pain, and one nullifies powers, and one forces the thought wait, is this a good idea every four and a bit seconds.... They don't know what might stick, but Crone has a lot of things left to try.
(Maiden is fairly useless in the fight now that most everyone is either allied, blind, or immune to illusions, but she can still throw minor distractions and flashes of nonexistent movement at Kithabel.)
More monsters appear, these ones more flesh and less stone than their predecessors. They unleash parahuman powers, whether from recently defeated Suits or from opponents Crone has been saving up there's no way to be sure. Judging by how none of them are definitely useless against intangible people, it was probably from the one with a wider selection.
One monster gestures and uses a power that should make it impossible for Kithabel to tell friend from foe. Another encloses her in a tesseract, so all she can see in any direction is herself from an unusual angle. And one inflicts pain, and one nullifies powers, and one forces the thought wait, is this a good idea every four and a bit seconds.... They don't know what might stick, but Crone has a lot of things left to try.
ertia
Well, they slow her down. The power nullifier... not at all... and she can counter the pain and once she figures out the tesseract she can unweave it, and once she's clear that she's having trouble telling who she's fighting she slams her considerable momentum into a mental defense. That last one is nasty, but it gets covered in the same defense that hedges out the friend-or-foe confusion before she's even concretely identified it, after derailing her train of thought twice.
And then she deletes all three Blasphemies at once.
And then she deletes all three Blasphemies at once.
wormcan
Matron and Maiden disappear, but Crone is still deletion-resistant for whatever reason saved her before. Instead of resurrecting the other two right away, she keeps manufacturing more constructs. For just a fraction of a second too long.
wormcan
Surely she wouldn't expect that to actually... that worked.
The functional Suits bring down the remaining constructs, and ask for healing before trying any declarations of victory. Since all of them are blind and some have other injuries.
The functional Suits bring down the remaining constructs, and ask for healing before trying any declarations of victory. Since all of them are blind and some have other injuries.
wormcan
And with the continued lack of blasphemy, now victory can be declared.
Not a perfect victory; even with civilians evacuated ahead of time there were some casualties. Ten of Swords is extremely dead, exploded by Matron's blast, and others painlessly lost their brains when Crone was mass-producing powered constructs. But still a victory, technically.
Not a perfect victory; even with civilians evacuated ahead of time there were some casualties. Ten of Swords is extremely dead, exploded by Matron's blast, and others painlessly lost their brains when Crone was mass-producing powered constructs. But still a victory, technically.
ertia
...Kithabel pauses by one of the ones missing their brain. The rest of them's still there -
- come on -
- come on -