Passage [active/OPEN]

[beautifulrondo]

Character(s): Open
Content: The stakes are high and the only way to go is up. People have come to this floor looking for a door, but what will they find when they go through?
Setting: Clusterfuck Floor (the highest one so far)
Time: Nighttime
Warnings: Depends on who replies, I suppose. XD
Note: Multi-thread format. Form up whatever groups you'd like! Once the door is found, I'll edit a note in here letting people know what thread to have their characters run to if you all want in on the opening action. You're looking for a giant tower, as jumbled up and mismatchy as everything else in the world. There will be the usual Castle Oblivion door somewhere in there, and you are free to write the tower however you like.

The door opening sub-thread can be found here!
Please don't worry about posting order during this thread. We're trying to push through on into endgame, so if you have an opening for your character to post in/your character has something to say, have them go ahead and say it.

Comments

[magicissrsbznz]

Chrono nodded and dismissed the final drone, shaking his head as a quick wave of nausea passed through him and the feeling of having been in two places at once went away.

"I've seen them mentioned on the message boards, but nothing too specific. A manifestation of the 'darkness' in people's hearts, you said?" The young Enforcer shook his head again. "I think I'm becoming inured to this place's weirdness, because that almost made sense.

"If this type hasn't been encountered before, it's unlikely anyone will know what they can do... so we're basically going into this blind." He called up his Barrier Jacket to full readiness (which probably involves a transformation sequence but which I'm not going to describe here because holy hell I'm tired). "We should hold the big guns until we know how to hurt these things, and what it takes to bring them down."

[beautifulrondo]

Krichevskoy chuckled as he reached into a dimensional pocket and drew his sword. "They take damage the same as any other creature in the world. It is just a matter of how much." And he would have to be careful with his use of his own skills. "In what direction was that image from?"

[magicissrsbznz]

Chrono pointed to the south-southwest. "A hundred meters that way. There are at least twenty of these 'Heartless' things between us and the tower, probably more. Not the best of odds, but..." He smiled, and it wasn't a particularly pleasant example of the species. "...but I've never been bothered by long odds."

[beautifulrondo]

He nodded. It was likely to be a difficult fight, but as long as all of the Heartless didn't attack them at the same time he should hope they'd have a chance.

"As long as we watch out for one another, I am certain we shall pull through. I have not seen these sorts before, but surely they will not be of too much consequence."

[magicissrsbznz]

"You know," Chrono mused aloud as he took a combat stance facing the Heartless, "we should probably introduce ourselves before we dive in. My name's Chrono."

Going into battle with a demon for a partner? Sure, why not. It wasn't like this didn't happen back home - though the demons there usually looked more... well, demonic. Summoning magic wasn't terribly common, but it existed.

As for the Heartless... well, in a few silhouette-related areas, they looked a bit like Krichevskoy. Similar antennae, for one.

[beautifulrondo]

"Krichevskoy," he replied, a glint of excitement shining in his eyes as they prepared for battle. Staying in the Netherworld floor, it hadn't been too long since the last time he had gotten into a fight, but this one at the very least looked much more challenging. "If I may be honest... I am looking forward to this."

With jerky movements, a few of the Heartless crept toward them, the remaining sinking deep into the earth, creating deep puddles of shadows that rushed at them with considerable speed. Krichevskoy leaped into the air to dodge the Heartless that sprang from the ground only for those outside the ground to leap up and follow him, claws swiping at him to strike.

Several puddles rushed toward Chrono, attempting to surround him before they could strike.

[magicissrsbznz]

"You and me both..." Chrono leapt backward, leaving a magic circle on the ground in his wake. If the shadows popped up inside it, they were in for a nasty surprise - a chain bind spell, to be precise.

"Stinger..."

Now, for the ones above ground.

The one closest to Chrono would see two things in rapid succession. First was a lance of blue light forming inside a revolving band of glowing runes - this took a little under a second. "...Snipe!" Second was that lance of light leaping out of the band, zigzagging a bit before it leapt at its chest - and then passed through.

"Snipe Shot!" ...And then the lance shot -back- through the Shadow, this time at head level with even greater force than before, and then dissipated.

((I'll leave the amount of damage this causes up to you.))

[beautifulrondo]

The Neoshadow was destroyed without so much as a sound, the lingering wisps of Darkness acting as the only evidence that the creature had been there to begin with, and the others that had been attempting to surround Chrono only met with the binding spell. Another a few feet away attempted to leap at the young man and bring both sets of claws down onto his body.

Energy gathered around Krichevskoy's free hand, and once there was enough to form a large ball, he threw it down at the Shadow in front of him. He stopped himself in the air by shifting his cape into a pair of wings, then swooped downward into the group of Neoshadows below, swinging his sword.

[magicissrsbznz]

The attacking Neoshadow would find its claws did little against Chrono's barrier jacket, but it did succeed in knocking him off balance.

Turning the momentary imbalance into the impetus of a magic-assisted leap, Chrono gained altitude and called up a circle of hard light, on which he landed in a kneeling position. Around the levitating platform, dozens of the blue lances formed, their points trained on the captive group of Neoshadows.

"Stinger Blade - Execution Shift!"

Death rained down from the sky, and the group of Neoshadows evaporated into smoke as the lances pockmarked the ground beneath them.

Unfortunately, Chrono had lost track of the one that had hit him before; it took the opportunity to launch him with a ferocious combo that left the Enforcer momentarily dazed.

[beautifulrondo]

The sudden, very large flash of light nearby managed to catch Krichevskoy's attention, and once he was sure he had destroyed the most threatening Heartless in front of him and that he had some room to breathe, he turned to see where the flash had come from. And watch as one of the Heartless by Chrono knocked the young man for a loop.

Krichevskoy's eyes narrowed in concentration, and a doppelganger of himself appeared nearby. In one smooth action, Krichevskoy pulled out a second sword and tossed it to the doppelganger, who rushed forward to Chrono's side of the field and slashed the attacking Heartless in two.

"We should push ahead!" Krichevsvkoy called.

[magicissrsbznz]

It took Chrono a few seconds to recover from the beating he'd been handed, but he didn't miss Krichevskoy's doppelganger dispatching the Neoshadow that had been about half a second from tearing out his throat - or worse.

He landed in a skidding crouch, went to one knee to stop his momentum, and finally regained his footing just as Krichevskoy shouted. "Head for the tower! We can bottleneck them at the door."

Already putting action to the words as he spoke them, Chrono started running for the misshapen building.

[beautifulrondo]

The doppelganger disappeared in a flash, leaving only the sword behind as Krichevskoy broke through the crowd of Heartless before him, speeding toward the tower. They were close, at least, and once he was sure Chrono wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, maybe he would be able to use a more powerful attack.

"Look for the door once you are in! I will hold them back from the door in the meantime." That was the most important thing.

[magicissrsbznz]

Chrono didn't waste breath replying; he was going to need everything he could scrape together when he got to that tower. Already he was calling up defensive spells, keeping them ready but uncast, and the second strongest sealing spell he knew was right in the middle of them. He might find the door in an instant - he might need several minutes. Blocking that door might be his only chance of reaching it alive.

Of course, that assumed there weren't more of these things inside the tower. Thankfully, he had a backup plan for that eventuality - he just needed to get close enough to one of the things to pull it off. Not an easy proposition, but then, what ever is in a fight like this?

Half a short eternity later, he skidded through the door of the tower, throwing a hand behind himself at the opening and unleashing the sealing spell. It effectively cut him off from outside aid from Krichevskoy - but it also would prevent the remaining shadows from entering without the equivalent of a magical battering ram the size of an 18 wheeler. Krichevskoy wouldn't have much trouble breaking it - but then, if Chrono was any judge, the demon king wouldn't have any trouble breaking any of his seals unless they were specifically targeted at stopping him. All it meant right now was that once he was done with the Neoshadows, he'd be able to get in with no problem.

(If there's anything in the tower by way of heartless or nobodies, lemme know.)

[beautifulrondo]

Krichevskoy skid to a stop in front of the door, slashing at any heartless that tried to get past. Glancing back behind him occasionally, Kricehvskoy waited until Chrono was safely in the tower before pushing into the midst of the Heartless for his attack. The seal the young man had tossed up into the doorway seemed more than good enough to keep any stray monsters at bay.

Before he could reach the center, Krichevskoy balled a hand into a fist and leaped into the air. As a fog of biting cold gathered around his fist, the former Overlord spiraled toward the ground, striking the earth and sending large spikes of ice erupting from the ground. Many of the Heartless were frozen within the blast, while others remained frozen in a different way, pierced straight through. They disappeared into Darkness leaving only a couple behind, easily dispatched.

The Heartless mob destroyed, Krichevskoy surveyed the area one last time for any more attackers before letting out a slow breath, breaking the seal on the door, and starting into the tower after Chrono.

((There aren't! mostly just had the Heartless there to give other people a little time to thread))

[magicissrsbznz]

It didn't take Chrono long to find the door, once he was actually inside the tower. Sort of anticlimactic, really, but he wasn't about to complain (even if it -was- a pretty decent flight of stairs). He checked at the entrance to make sure it was Krichevskoy breaking the seal and not something altogether nastier before he let his defenses drop back to normal levels, then waited for him to catch up.

"We should probably wait for more people to get here before we open this thing. It would be a fitting irony to come all this way just to be annihilated by what's on the other side, because we're not careful about opening it." With that, he picked a likely-looking wall to put his back against and started treating his wounds.

(Cool. I think we can safely call this one done with one more post from you.)

[beautifulrondo]

Krichevskoy looked the door up and down and nodded. "I could not agree more," he said, half-distracted. Better to be careful in this situation than killed, and he still needed to return to pick up Laharl besides. "Perhaps a signal is in order?"

He made his way over to a balcony, a ball of energy gathering in his hand a moment before Krichevskoy tossed it into the air. It exploded in a bright, lasting light, hovering near the patchwork tower. Not long after, Krichevskoy returned to the door, journal in hand as he informed the people of his signal via the message board.