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kathyprior4200 · 4 years

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The Shadow and The Microphone

Alastor’s Shadow (Rotsala) and Alastor’s Microphone (Dave) have been a part of the Radio Demon since he arrived in Hell. Nobody except Alastor knows their actual names…and their names are ones they gave themselves. After Alastor made a deal with Kalfu and evil spirits in his human life and shortly after his death, he was granted with enough raw power to topple dominant overlords and spread terror to the denizens of Hell.

Alastor’s shadow was born of dark Voodoo magic. He first remained in human Alastor’s subconscious as dark matter (courtesy of Kalfu’s magic and Alastor’s mother wishing for Alastor to not be alone after death)… until he was free when his owner died. After gathering some ingredients and retrieving Dr. Facilier’s spell book, Alastor painfully separated his shadow from himself. After briefly feeling vulnerable in the dark, and almost attacking Alastor, the shadow submitted to him and became his body guard and companion. He helps Alastor control the other shadow demons and acts as a second in command in battle.

Like Dr. Facilier’s companion, Alastor’s shadow has a mind of his own and manifests as a dark apparition of Alastor’s most sinister thoughts and desires. He usually makes growling and cackling sounds (like Facilier’s shadow) but can communicate telepathically with Alastor. He frequently appears as a tall dark man with Alastor’s tuff ears, a wide grinning mouth, and glowing eyes. His eyes and mouth can change color from deep red to bright blue, to yellow and anything in between. He can switch between an Alastor form and a more sinister wendigo-like form with large fangs and a rack of antlers extending from his head. Alastor can also see through his shadow’s eyes, thus he also acts as a spy. Alastor’s shadow gains strength by eating the shadows of other demons, preventing them from moving and making it easier for Alastor to kill them.

Alastor’s microphone staff is a living part of him. The radio voice that comes from it is actually a radio version of his human voice. It first manifested as a non-magical microphone staff decorated with golden antlers around it that human Alastor had made to show off his famed radio host status. Alastor had used a bit of magic to gather more listeners around their radios. Sadly, it was broken and burned after his death. A dark entity merged with the red vintage microphone staff created for Alastor by the dark spirits/Loa. The microphone spoke “I heard you loud and clear!” in the first episode. Like Alastor’s shadow, the microphone has a mind of its own.

The microphone staff has a single red eye that glows when it is turned on. The microphone is what allows Alastor to broadcast his murders…the eye shines a light from the microphone. The microphone has other unique powers that could be an extension to Alastor’s many Eldritch powers of tentacles, teleportation, portals, blood magic etc. When the staff plays music mixed with static and demons stare at it too long, they can become hypnotized, eyes turning to red radio dials. Powerful radio waves can be blasted from the microphone with three taps of the staff to the ground. These waves can push demons back and blast their eardrums and brains. Alastor can swipe the staff to make things appear, as shown when he used it to make clothing appear on Vaggie. When Alastor goes full demon/wendigo form, the staff is used to mimic voices, sounds, and music to lure victims in (like Siren Head). But the microphone’s main purpose is to assist Alastor in his broadcasting.

Without those two beings, Alastor would’ve had more of a challenge taking over areas of Hell…and it’d be far less entertaining!

Chapter One: That’s Entertainment

“Well ladies and gentleman, Happy New Year and happy survival to all the lucky ones out there! The twenty four hours of the Extermination have passed and man, was it quite the show! The princess is shooting fireworks from the balcony as we speak, which means it’s safe to head out and try to claim new territory. Though if any of you sinners go near my radio towers, you’ll wish that the Exterminators had ended you right then and there. I hope you enjoyed this long and lovely broadcast. Until next time! Stay tuned.”

Alastor’s microphone soon blinked off from its glowing red state. The microphone let out a low mechanical groan of relief. Sure it was the microphone’s job to allow Alastor to broadcast massacres and music whenever he wanted, but even a device needed proper rest after a while. The microphone closed its single red eye and faded to sleep.

Alastor had spent the majority of the time broadcasting from within his lair, located underneath Hell and in the realm of shadow spirits. It had gotten the nickname “Deer Den,” by other sinners, though he liked the name as well. Soon though, he quietly arrived to the surface via portal to enjoy the finale of the screams, shrieks, and slaughters of the Exterminators cutting down demon after demon. Turning around from the wall-length glass window he glanced back toward a darkened corner of the studio.

“It’s alright, you can come out now,” he said in a radio voice.

A brief slither of movement in the dark space.

“Come on,” he coaxed. “No Exterminators, nor angelic spears to hurt us.”

Ever so quietly, the darkness inched forward to reveal a head poking out from within the wall. Out emerged Alastor’s shadow. He stood the same height as Alastor and had the same fluffy deer ear tufts and tattered dress coat that he wore. He even had a deer tail and antlers branching out from his head. The antlers shrank back as he opened his blue mouth an inch. There was a row of sharp dark teeth, and his eyes glowed blue. A chittering sound mixed with static emitted from the shadow as his eyes looked around for any sign of danger. There was only his owner standing in front of him.

“Good,” said Alastor as he looked at him. “Come along, we have work to do.”

The shadow obliged and pooled into the floor out of sight as he followed Alastor out the door.

As Alastor was walking, the shadow briefly floated up into the air, surveying the scene. There were bloodied bodies everywhere. Many of them had weapons pierced through their skulls or spilled organs. Alastor may have been a little hungry, but he was humming happily along the street instead, keeping an eye out for any useful angelic spears. He found one and happily plucked it from a horned demon corpse. The spear vanished in his hand, reappearing back in his lair.

Alastor ignored the brief pangs of hunger from his stomach. Just the smell of blood and decaying flesh in the air was beginning to make the demon’s mouth water a little as he hummed.

His shadow, on the other hand…

The sound of crunching came from behind the Radio Demon. Alastor’s ears flicked before he turned around. He cleared his throat and glared.

The shadow was on his knees in front of a dead demon, his mouth chewing on flesh and muscle like a starved wolf. He saw Alastor and froze, a piece of flesh falling from his mouth. It looked like a child being caught in the act of stealing a snack.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re supposed to be looking for spears and watching my back.”

The shadow let out a deer bleat mixed with static. His voice sounded like snippets of different voices together.

“But I’m hungry!”

“There are more important things to focus on, dear fellow,” he said. “You’d be wise to learn some self-restraint.”

Reluctantly, the shadow wiped his mouth and hovered closer to Alastor.

“That’s better, now let’s be off.”

They soon arrived at one of the looming radio towers. The top of it had a blinking yellow eye that always peered in every direction like an all-seeing eye. It was constantly humming and retaining energy that lurked within the metal beams. There was a nearby cabin that served as one of many studios that Alastor had made for himself. It reminded him of his family’s summer cabin back when he was alive.

“Go make your round,” Alastor ordered. The shadow flew into the air, searching above and below for any intruders. There were no signs of any demon trying to cross the boarders or break in. After a few minutes, he returned by his owner’s side and chittered in affirmation.

With the areas clear and safe, Alastor made his way further into Pentagram city, his shadow vanishing again.

With his shoes clacking against the pavement, Alastor walked over behind a flaming blue deer overlord and Crymini, the Hellhound. Charlie was on TV, talking about her plan to open up a hotel to rehabilitate sinners.

Alastor stood behind two hellhound twins wearing crop tops and a hanging jester. Next to him was a poster that showed him in his demon form terrorizing the circus, demons trapped within flames inside the tent. His army of voodoo horned imps carrying knives and skulls on pikes surrounded the tortured sinners. The words were bold and full of warning: “BEWARE HIM!” “DO NOT FUCK WITH HIM!” In tiny letters off to the side on the wall read: “for a good time: 666-373-9494.”

Alastor tilted his head to the side in curiosity. His shadow appeared off to his right, morphing into a snarling wendigo deer-like creature. He couldn’t help but tap his foot and hum along as she sang.

The shadow stared in curiosity as well, his mouth open in hunger. He was anxious to witness Alastor mess with other demons again. He just hoped that if he happened to kill some that he’d get a good share of the meat. Sharing Alastor’s love of singing and music, the shadow swayed his body from side to side, even trying to sing along.

After Charlie had finished singing, Alastor laughed out loud. That was quite the performance he had seen! He particularly enjoyed Charlie’s demon transformation and her conjuring of fire for the special effects. And he had to admit that she was a good singer too, despite her ridiculous idea.

But his favorite part came up next.

In the blaring red lights, Charlie and Katie fought each other on the desk. Katie was in her insect demon form, crawling on her hands and limbs. She briefly held Charlie down, who dodged and then leapt at Katie, knocking both of them off the table.

“She’s pretty and has a feisty spirit,” Alastor thought.

“Why won’t anyone help me?” Tom Trench yelled as flames rose from his body.

“You’re on fire, Tom Trench!” Alastor exclaimed, while laughing at his own joke.

Befriending the princess, and doing something different seemed like a good idea. He glanced over at a faraway Happy Hotel building.

He knew where he would go next. His shadow vanished again.

After following the white limbo to the hotel in his car, he got out and made his way up to the double stained glass doors with the apple designs on them. Upon further inspection of the hotel, he noticed it was a unique design if not a bit under wear and tear. From the Titanic-like ship off to the side to the hanging carousel that made up a balcony…and perhaps his favorite part, the circus tent overhang in the front decorated with eye designs.

He had never actually met Charlie before but he heard that she was powerful and different among the demons. For one, she was born in Hell, and two, she was the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith, king and queen of Hell.

He would have to tread carefully around members of the royal family. Though he thought of them as amusing, he knew how powerful they were.

Sweat formed on his forehead and he found himself glancing around.

Why was he suddenly…nervous?

Somebody like him couldn’t afford to let any sign of weakness show. Of course He wanted to make a good first impression, plus he was sort of curious as to why she would pursue this rehabilitation idea. His nervousness faded away when he imagined Charlie as naïve. Maybe he could easily trick her and not have to be caught by anyone?

The best thing he could do for the moment was be polite and offer to help. As any good charmer and manipulator knew, first impressions and the process were everything…

And a nice big smile was the crème de la crème.

Puffing out his chest, he knocked on the door.

It was a very slow “Shave and a Haircut knock.”

The knocking from outside interrupted Charlie’s thoughts. She opened her eyes.

An ice cold feeling of dread spread through her veins. No other demon would ever do that kind of knock.

Unless…

She tentatively reached out her hand to the door handle, and quickly pulled it open.

Sure enough, the most feared demon in Hell was standing right outside her door. A couple of shadow spirits poked their heads through.

Charlie’s face morphed into sheer terror, eyes wide as saucers.

Yes, there she was, right in front of him. Alastor opened his eyes as they glowed red, a radio sound emitting from him. His staff turned on with a red glow. His eyes dilated playfully as he raised a finger in greeting.

“Hell…”

The door abruptly slammed shut.

Brief silence.

Charlie opened it again…

“…oooo!”

Slammed it again.

Alastor could hear Charlie’s muffled voice from inside.

“Hey Vaggie!”

“What?”

“The Radio Demon is at the door!”

“What?!”

“Who?” asked Angel.

“What should I do?!” Charlie asked.

“Well, don’t let him in!” Vaggie said.

A growl formed in Alastor’s throat.

He stood there, shocked in front of the stained glass door, smile still plastered on his face, hand and curved claw in the air.

“Well… that was…rude,” he thought. “Usually people are too sacred to answer when I come by. Or they rush to try and please me because they know I could slaughter them at any time. I’ll just wait here then…or maybe break this door down…”

He had been turned down not once but twice by her! If she had been an average demon, she would’ve been a bloody heap on the floor. The princess should know better than to reject anyone like that, especially a prideful demon like himself.

Any offense to his pride would not go unnoticed.

Charlie opened the door again.

“May I speak now?” Alastor asked, hiding his anger.

“You may,” said Charlie.

Alastor held out his right hand to her, which briefly glowed. He half expected her to reach out and shake it right away…which would’ve proven her naïve nature…but instead she just stood there.

“Alastor, pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart, quite a pleasure.”

He eagerly grabbed her wrist and leaned his face close to hers before strutting inside. Charlie stood, dumbfounded, her hand still out.

“Excuse my sudden visit,” he went on, “but I saw your fiasco on a picture show and I just couldn’t resist. What a performance!”

Audience cheers came from his staff as he turned around.

“Why I haven’t been that entertained since the stock market crash of 1929!”

He bobbed his head side to side and burst into laughter. He glanced back at Charlie who was by the door. “So many orphans!”

A sharp spear was suddenly pointed at him. He froze in fear, his smile still on his face.

“Stop right there!” It was Vaggie.

She swore in Spanish under her breath: “Carbon hijo de perra! (Idiotic son of a bitch!) I know your game. And I’m not gonna let you hurt anyone here, you pompous, cheesy, talk show shitlord!”

Alastor’s eyes narrowed and glowed. He made a low noise of warning.

“You have a lot of nerve to stand up to me like that, girl,” he thought. “You don’t know anything about me, and you certainly aren’t going to stand in my way.”

Alastor merely laughed slightly and nudged the weapon away with his fingers. Charli and Vaggie were in front of him.

“Dear, if I wanted to hurt anyone here…”

He added in a low creepy tone, “I would have done so already.”

His red eyes briefly turned to red radio dials and radio static filled the room. He tilted his head slightly, letting his chaotic magic roam. Vaggie and Charlie were frozen in fear as they caught glimpses of red Voodoo symbols, static, and warped reality.

Then just as quickly, the noise and magic ceased and Alastor shook his head, eyes back to full red. For a brief moment, they had been small red pupils inside black sockets.

“That scare should teach them to remember their place,” he thought.

He bowed. “No, I’m here because I want to help!”

Charlie was sure she hadn’t heard him right.

“Say what now?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“Help!” he responded with another laugh, leaning in close before moving back.

He held up his microphone staff.

“Hello?” he asked with a laugh. “Is this thing on? Testing, testing…”

He tapped it and a glowing red eye appeared in the center. “Well, I heard you loud and clear!” the microphone responded, eye shaking in fear.

The microphone didn’t take kindly to be shaken out of its stupor.

“Um…you want to help?” Charlie asked.

Alastor appeared behind the demon girls, hands on their backs, switching from a shadow to his regular self. Both Vaggie and Charlie flinched.

“With…” he mentioned in an imitation of Charlie’s voice,

“…this ridiculous thing you’re trying to do!” finishing in his normal voice. “This hotel!”

Charlie could hear the call bell ding twice on the table, even though no one was there to ring it.

“I want to help you run it.”

“Uh…why?” Charlie asked, confused.

Alastor laughed again. “Why does anyone do anything? Sheer absolute boredom! I’ve lacked inspiration for decades!”

He placed his elbow on an annoyed Vaggie’s head.

“My work became mundane...lacking focus…”

He then shoved Vaggie aside. She was clearly an inferior little doll he could push around.

“…aimless!” he continued. “I’ve come to crave a new form of entertainment!”

He laughed again.

Charlie looked downcast. “Does getting into a fist fight with a reporter count as entertainment?”

Alastor laughed again.

“It’s the purest kind, my dear! Reality! True passion! After all, the world is a stage! And the stage is a world of entertainment!”

Charlie brightened a bit. “So, does this mean that you think it’s possible to rehabilitate a demon?”

Alastor help up a hand and laughed. “Of course not. That’s wacky nonsense! Redemption, oh the non-existent humanity! Nononono, I don’t think there’s anything left that could save such loathsome sinners!”

He glanced at Vaggie and Angel Dust sitting on the sofa, mischief in his eyes. They would be fun to mess with.

“The chance given to them was the life they lived before; the punishment is this!”

He spread out his arms, turning away. “There is no undoing what is done!”

His eyes glowed red, pupils constricted. There really was no way to change the past. All the sinners were destined to suffer in a matrix of pleasure, illusion, and the threat of a second death. For Alastor, every demon was a lost cause…and paradoxically, that also included him.

He had dealt with authority figures before in his previous life…those racist religious folk who believed that God and the elite had complete control over his fate and the fate of everyone else. Now here it was again, in the form of God, the angels, Vox, Lucifer pretty much anybody he hated. It wasn’t his fault he killed and ate all his victims. If certain people hadn’t pushed him over the edge…

He glanced over when he heard Charlie’s voice.

“So then, why do you want to help me if you don’t believe in my cause?” Charlie asked.

Alastor smirked and looked at Charlie over his shoulder. “Consider it an investment in ongoing entertainment for myself!”

He pulled her close to him with his arm and twirled her around in a quick dance. Charlie narrowed his eyes at him and gave him a look. He ignored her. “I want to watch the scum of the world struggle to climb up the hill of betterment! Only to repeatedly trip and tumble down to the fiery pit of failure.”

Off to the side, his shadow appeared and cackled.

Alastor’s eyes glowed red and his left eyebrow raised slightly. Just the thought of having the fates and lives of demons in his hands was enough to get him excited…or perhaps even aroused.

“Right…” Charlie began, slowly removing his clawed hand from her shoulder. Alastor’s hand flinched at the sudden touch.

Alastor chuckled and took her aside for a walk. “Yes indeedy! I see big things coming your way, and who better to help than I.”

He impressed her further with some charm and making his staff appear in his hand.

Vaggie walked up to Charlie and pulled her aside.

“Charlie, listen to me. You just can’t believe this creep! He isn’t just a happy face! He’s a dealmaker, pure evil! He can’t be redeemed! And is most likely looking for a way to destroy everything we’re trying to do.”

Alastor drummed his fingers against his palm, listening in on their conversation with a grin.

“I…” Charlie began. “…we don’t know that. Look…I know he’s bad, and I know he probably doesn’t wanna change, but the whole point of this is to give people a chance! To have faith things will be better! How can I turn someone away? I can’t. It goes against everything I’m trying to do. Everything I believe in.”

Alastor stared in fascination at a family picture on the wall. It showed Lucifer dressed in white, Lilith in a dark purple dress, and Charlie as a little girl wearing a brown and white dress in the middle. The picture border consisted of branches and yellow eyeballs and a dried rose in the upper right hand corner.

“Such a lovely portrait! A picture of perfection! It’d be such a shame if something awful were to happen to them…”

“Just trust me,” Charlie added placing comforting hands on her girlfriend’s shoulders, “I can take care of myself.”

Charlie,” warned Vaggie, “Whatever you do, do not make a deal with him!”

From a distance, Alastor opened up the palm of one hand, claws curled inward, hand glowing. From his viewpoint it looked like he was grabbing onto both girls. They glanced in his direction, worry on their faces.

“I’ll have these two in the palm of my hand…”

“Don’t worry, Charlie replied to Vaggie. “I picked up one thing from my Dad…” she spoke in a manly voice, “Ya don’t take shit from other demons!”

Gathering her courage, Charlie marched over to the Radio Demon.

“Ok, so…Al. You’re sketchy as fuck, and you clearly see what I’m trying to do here is a joke. But I don’t.”

Charlie turned away. She was so close and so vulnerable. It took all of the shadow’s restraint not to lunge at Charlie and sink his teeth into her.

Red Voodoo symbols floated around Alastor as his eyes glowed.

“If you could stay turned around so I can knock you out…” he thought.

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and the symbols vanished.

“So close,” he thought in frustration as she turned around to face him.

Charlie continued. “I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they can be better. So, I’m taking your offer to help. On the condition that there be no tricks or voodoo strings attached.”

Alastor twirled his cane and held out his hand. “So it’s a deal then?”

Flashes of eerie green light surrounded him, electricity snaking up the walls. The shadow’s eyes turned green, his smile growing wider.

“Nope!” Charlie yelled, holding out her hands. The energy stopped. “No shaking! No deals!”

Alastor’s eyes constricted, and the shadow moped in the distance out of sight. “She rejected my deal,” he thought. “This will be more challenging than I expected.”

He walked forward a step.

Charlie continued. “As princess of Hell, and heir to the throne, I uh, hereby order that you help with this hotel, for a long as you desire.”

The shadow and the microphone hid in laughter. Her request was so vague, it left room for so many loopholes. That meant that Alastor could leave and betray the hotel whenever he saw fit.

A moment of pause…Alastor brushed his hair back.

“Sound fair?” she asked.

“Hmm. Fair enough. Cool beans.” Alastor shrugged, walking on and making his cane disappear. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and even did a thumbs up.

Alastor stopped and spotted Vaggie off to the side. How pathetic she was, frowning like that. He smirked in a way outside observers would describe as lecherous. He tickled her under her chin with a finger.

“Smile, my dear! You know you’re never fully dressed without one!”

Alastor hummed happily on his way, while Vaggie growled in disgust and rage.

“So…where is your hotel staff?” Alastor asked.

“Uh, well…” Charlie began. Alastor peered at Vaggie through his monocle. “Oh ho ho ho, you’re going to need more than that.”

He walked over towards Angel.

“And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?”

Angel grinned. “I can suck your dick!”

Alastor could almost scream in disgust after hearing that.

“Ha! No.” Alastor deadpanned.

“Your loss,” Angel said with a slight laugh. Alastor summoned his cane.

“Well, this just won’t do!” Alastor exclaimed. “I suppose I can cash in a few favors to liven things up!”

The spell came easily in his mind: “dife sèvitè, reveye.”

He snapped his fingers and a fire sparked to life in a small circular fireplace. Animal skeletons decorated either side of the wall. The wall and fireplace were repaired.

A dark figure plopped down onto the chimney floor.

Alastor walked over and picked up the creature with his hand. A large single yellow eye was revealed. Angel, Vaggie, and Charlie peered at the creature. In a puff of smoke and a squeak, the creature revealed herself. A cute cyclops girl was wearing a pink dress with a poodle on the front, her short wide hair dark magenta with a streak of yellow.

“This little darling is Niffty!” Alastor introduced, before dropping her. She landed on her feet. She was an adorable little thing.

“Hi! I’m Niffty!” she greeted with a wave. “It’s nice to meet you! It’s been a while since I’ve made new friends!” She laughed slightly and her pupil grew smaller, darting in circles.

“Why are you all women?” she asked. “Have any men here?! I’m sorry, that’s rude.” She missed the fact that Angel was male, for obvious reasons.

She briefly picked up Charlie, while Vaggie held her spear defensively at her.

“Oh man, this place is filthy!” she exclaimed, running around and lifting up couch cushions. “It really needs a lady’s touch, which is weird, because you’re all ladies, no offence.” She chewed on a black spider she found, then rushed toward some stained glass windows.

She darted around, using a dust ruffle to clean them. “Oh my gosh, this is awful! No, no, no…Nope!”

She raced around, removing cobwebs, then poking at a piece of a voodoo doll. Well, it was actually a live blue beetle doll that Alastor had stabbed with a clothing pin for Niffty to play with. Alastor looked amused, while the others stared in disbelief.

“So fortunate of me to have met her in Hell. A former chimney sweeper in the 20th century. Heard she died from too much smoke. Services are still good! Though, I didn’t give her much of an option to begin with…” he thought.

Meanwhile, at a casino, a cat demon placed a joker, an ace, a 2, and a fourth card down on the table. He had black and white fur, wore a black top hat and had red wings with card suits decorated on them. He also had long red eyebrows and wore a red bow tie.

“Ha!” he declared in triumph. “Read ‘em and weep, boys!”

He suddenly felt himself being forcefully pulled out of the room through space and time.

“Full…whoa!”

“Transpòte ganbadeur la.”

He ducked as a curtain of red energy surrounded the existing space. Voodoo symbols flashed in the background along with eight yellow eyes, a creepy voodoo skull and a purple skeleton of a worm-like creature. Another voodoo skull with horns appeared for a moment not too far from tan ghost-like spirits with creepy faces and a row of jagged teeth.

The cat demon figured he must have had too much booze to drink.

“…the hell?”

As the images faded, he soon found himself at the hotel bar, not in the previous room at the casino. A large “Come and play Blackjack” sign took up much of the wall behind him. Most peculiar, the gray wood walls were missing halfway up, replaced by the red themed décor of the hotel. Husk was sitting in a portion of the casino he was in. It felt like he was in a house with no roof surrounded by the outside world.

“What the fuck is this?”

He saw Alastor and pointed an accusing claw.

“You.”

“Ah, Husker, my good friend!” Alastor cheerfully greeted. “Glad you could make it!”

Husk could have at least been polite for once, but Alastor decided to let it slide.

Alastor’s head briefly had the appearance of large antlers sticking out from either side. When he moved it, it was revealed to be an antler skull with glowing green eyes hanging in the background. Snakes were wrapped around one of the white curtains supporting a bar stand. “Big Booze,” “Welcome” and “Big Soul” signs were placed overhead on the stand. Neon green card suits consisted of the designs at the bottom of the stand.

“Don’t you “Husker” me, you son of a bitch!” Husk spat, and swiped Alastor’s hand aside from his shoulder. “I was about to win the whole damn pot!”

Husk stared in anger as the stacks of money and chips on the table vanished in static.

“Good to see you too!” added Alastor.

Husk face palmed. “What the hell do you want with me this time?”

Alastor grabbed hold of him, startling him so much that cards fell from his hands.

“My friend, I am doing some charity work, so I took it upon myself to volunteer your services! I hope that’s okay.”

Husk was taken aback. “Are you shittin’ me?!”

“No, I don’t think so,” Alastor replied. He casually brushed off his sleeves.

Husk shoved the Radio Demon off him. “You thought it would be some kind of big fuckin’ riot just to pull me outta nowhere? You think I’m some kinda fuckin’ clown?”

“Maybe.”

Audience laughter emitted from the microphone.

“I ain’t doin’ no fuckin’ charity job,” Husk protested.

Alastor appeared next to him, startling the cat demon. “Well I figured you would be the perfect face to man the front desk of this fine establishment.”

He pointed toward the bar stand with the staff. The sound of audience clapping came from his radio staff.

“With your charming smile and welcoming energy…”

Alastor spread the corners of Husk’s mouth upward into a demonic smile of yellow teeth. Husk frowned seconds after he let go.

“…this job was made for you!”

Alastor strutted over toward the bar stand, the soles of his shoes revealing red hoof prints as he walked.

“Don’t worry, my friend,” Alastor continued, “I can make this more welcoming…if you wish.”

With a curve of his fingers, a green bottle of cheap booze appeared on the counter.

Husk stared with wide eyes, suddenly very thirsty. He swore he could hear the sound of a slot machine.

“What, you think you can buy me with a wink and some cheap booze?!” He took the bottle on anger. “Well you can!”

He immediately guzzled it down and walked away.

“Too easy,” thought Alastor.

By this time, Charlie, Vaggie and Angel Dust had arrived to see what the commotion was about. Vaggie rushed toward the bar, furious.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” yelled the moth demon. “No, no bar, no alcohol. This is supposed to be a place that discourages sin! Not some kind of…mouth, brothel, man-cave…”

Angel lunged himself into her, knocking her to the floor.

“Shut up! Shut! Up! We are keeping this.” He pointed at Husk with multiple gloved hands.

He slid up to Husk. “Hey,” he said in a flirtatious voice.

“Go fuck yourself,” Husk deadpanned, drinking his booze.

“Only if you watch me,” Angel retorted.

To make matters worse for Husk, Charlie leaned in close to him, excitement and red stars in her eyes.

“Oh my gosh! Welcome to the Happy Hotel! You are going to love it here!”

“I lost the ability to love years ago,” Husk replied, gulping down more booze.

Alastor walked in, an ever-present grin on his face.

“So, what do you think?”

Charlie ran over to him. “This is amazing!” she beamed.

Alastor’s eyes blinked rapidly at the sweet sight of Charlie rubbing her cheeks and smiling at him. He could watch it all day.

“It’s okay,” Vaggie said from nearby, arms crossed.

Alastor laughed and pulled the two girls close to him. “This is going to be very entertaining!”

He shoved Vaggie again and his laughter mixed with the sound of an old radio.

Alastor conjured fire in his hand…Charlie stared in wonder at the flames and the voodoo symbols. He threw the flames in the air, distracting Charlie from him shoving aside her friend hard. Alastor then changed his attire with magic. He now wore a fancy red suit with a white undershirt and a black bow tie. A red top hat appeared on his head, complete with small spikes along the black band and two needles sticking out from the top. He twirled Charlie around in a dance, the princess looking stunned. Pointing his finger over her head, he transformed Charlie’s outfit. Her blonde hair was now short and wavy. She wore an elegant black and red dress, black gloves, a pink hat with a small black bow and black heels. She looked like a dapper lady from the early 20th century.

Charlie stared at her conjured clothing in amazement.

Vaggie was on the floor, fuming.

Alastor began to sing as he danced with Charlie, a new spring in his steps.

“You have a dream

You wish to tell

He turned to the fuming Vaggie on the floor, letting her know that he thought Charlie’s idea was silly.

“and it’s so laughable…”

He turned back to Charlie.

“But hey kid, what the hell!”

Alastor picked Charlie up and threw her into the air. She yelped in delight and landed gracefully next to him. Two glowing apples and a skull with deer horns flashed in the background.

Reality had been altered to the Radio Demon’s liking. The entire room was lit in psychedelic colors. Voodoo symbols and shapes were etched in every nook and cranny, including a pair of pink claws reaching for the door. Alastor and Charlie waltzed in the spotlight as electro swing music began to play in the distance. The all-encompassing noise, though, was the signature radio-static sound.

Charlie found herself sliding down one of the apple-etched railings, Alastor leading the way. They landed on the lower floor as Alastor continued his reprise.

“Cause you’re one of a kind

A charming demon belle!”

Deer statues and painted antlers were everywhere.

Back at the bar stand, Husk sat looking bored. Vaggie hissed at Angel grabbing onto her shoulder, while Niffty stared in wonder. Alastor snapped his fingers and their outfits changed as well.

Angel was wearing a neon pink suit, Husk a pink bow tie, Vaggie a dark dress, with her hair now smooth and long, and finally Niffty, with a cute top hat with small flowers.

“Now let’s give these burning fools a place to dwell

(Take it, boys!)”

Alastor snapped his fingers once more and shadowy imps rose to life from a hole in the ground. The happy spirits played a trumpet, a tuba, and a drum set. Charlie snapped her fingers to the beat, while Vaggie watched with worry. She reached out to her friend but was pulled away by Alastor. He enveloped the group into a tight hug with a laugh, followed by glowing images of dark spirits staring at them. Niffty watched in amazement, but not the other three.

“Inside of every demon is a lost cause…”

Alastor pulled Husk and Angel close again. He rubbed Angel’s head with a white hat and went on his merry way. Husk gave him the bird as he left.

“But we’ll dress ‘em up now with just a smile!”

(With a smile!)

Vaggie stood, annoyed in the spotlight. Using his cane, Alastor added a feathered peacock hat and a white fox fur to her outfit. She looked ridiculous. Then out of nowhere, he slapped her butt.

Vaggie seethed in rage after he walked away.

Alastor danced some more, kicking a horned skull to the side. In the background, Niffy happily swept up the bits of bone.

“And we’ll chlorinate this cesspool

With some old redemption flair

And show these simpletons some proper class and style!

(What’s in style? Oh!)”

He made his way to the circular fireplace, where he waved his staff. Shadows arrived to join the party, including his own shadow, with large antlers and fangs. The shadow grabbed onto his shoulders and grinned, his mouth and eyes blue. Alastor made him disappear in a poof, then snuck toward Charlie. He led her in an upbeat dance, spinning her around, helping her match her steps to his. Charlie blushed when Alastor toyed with her cheeks. As Charlie was led away, Vaggie stood in the background, horrified and disgusted. What was happening to her friend?

Charlie and Alastor laughed as they danced, the princess locked in a happy trance. Alastor was in his element, his pupils dilated, a joyful demeanor.

Maybe this could turn into something more? Could it even be…love?

“Here below the ground

I’m sure you’re plan is sound!

They’ll spend a little time

Down at this Hazbin Ho…”

Alastor was about to finish his song, when an explosion burst apart a window behind him. He stood frozen, pupils constricting, his body going alert.

Whatever, or whomever had interrupted his song was going to pay dearly.

Niffty stared in amazement, shouting “Whoo!” before she was blasted backwards, the door hitting her in the face.

Alastor’s spell soon wore off and everyone was back in their regular clothes. Alastor, Husk (still drinking), Niffty, Charlie, Angel, and Vaggie, peered out of the hole to see what was going on. Vaggie had her weapon at the ready.

Looking skyward, the group saw a cracked blimp in the air. It had a small random band aid with a sad face on it along the rim. A familiar snake villain popped out of his hideout.

“Ha!” Sir Pentious laughed. “Well, well, well, look who it is harboring the striped freak! We meet again, Alastor!”

Apparently, he was also rivals with Alastor.

But Alastor simply asked, “Do I know you?”

The snake boss looked disappointed. Then he said in anger, “Oh yes you do! And this time, I have the element of…surprise!”

The villain raced toward his pink velvet chair and pulled a lever. A metallic cannon lowered to the ground. The cannon fired up with pink energy as pink smoke appeared around them.

“He laughed manically. “I’m so evil!”

Then he added, “I have an Egg army!”

“Well, we have an Alastor,” Charlie responded.

Alastor snapped his fingers, red tendrils of smoke rising from his hand. The weapon froze in mid fire and a fiery portal opened up below the blimp.

A horde of black tendrils rose from the hole, latching onto the ship. One tentacle ripped off the cannon and threw it into another smaller portal, causing it to explode in pink smoke. One of the tentacles had already smashed a hole in the large round window.

Sir Pentious looked on in shock as his Egg Bois slammed against the wall (one of them read #Ouch.) One of the eggs cracked open, spilling out yellowish brains and small organs among the stains of yok. Sir Pentious and another minion were thrown against the wall.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he screamed before he was slammed against the ceiling by a black limb.

“Oh, that hurt!” he cried.

Sir Pentious screamed as he was dragged along the floor and lifted up slightly. He was held in place, surrounded by the wrapped up tendril. At once, the tendril shrunk and squeezed the helpless snake. The Egg Bois ran around screaming as black cracks appeared on the floor and walls.

From the outside, more black tendrils were closing in. Red voodoo symbols appeared around the blimp.

“Ede m 'sèrviteur.”

Four horned shadowy spirits with red auras floated around, wearing toothy grins.

The tendrils were now wrapped around the entire blimp, holding it in place like thick black vines.

Red radio waves filled Alastor’s eyes as he circled his fingers and worked is magic. Voodoo symbols appeared all around him as he altered the state of reality. Radio static consumed the air.

The vines thickened and completely enclosed the blimp. The spirits swooped around it in excitement, with echoing shrieks. The aura around the tendrils glowed a fiery yellow, the same color as the portal rim.

“Kalfu! Destriksyon pa bra nwa.”

Alastor closed his four-fingered hand which began to glow. A red drop of blood fell from his glowing hand. The tendrils proceeded to crush the blimp. Pink rays of light shot from the center and the blimp exploded in a loud BOOM!

Pink smoke spread everywhere as the spirits sped away. The tendrils broke into severed bloody pieces that rained down to the ground. Alastor smiled victoriously, while behind them, the group of five stared in utter terror and shock. (Save for Niffty who had a small smile on her face).

Alastor’s angry, bloodlust eyes spoke volumes.

“And stay out of this hotel and from my friends you pathetic excuse of snakeskin.”

A sharp pain throbbed on his hand and bags appeared under his eyes. Magic had taken some work from him…and it also made him hungry.

“Well, I’m starved!” Alastor exclaimed, turning around to face the group, happy again. “Who wants some jambalaya?” He spread his arms out. “My mother once showed me a wonderful recipe for jambalaya! In fact, it nearly killed her!”

He laughed as he led the way back to the hotel. The others followed.

“You could say the kick was right out of Hell!”

He added while laughing at his own joke, “Oh, I’m on a roll!”

From up above, the hotel looked like a mashed-up haunted house. An old dark train was perched on a balcony, with some monstrous faces carved in. A ship, reminiscent of the Titanic, was leaning upwards against the building as part of the structure. An old carousel served as part of the upper balcony and windows. Skull designs decorated the small windows in a row. Finally, on top of a giant yellow eye, was the sign “Happy Hotel” supported by pillars of worn wood.

Alastor continued, “Yes, sir, this is the start of some real changes down here! The game is set! Now…”

He glanced up and pointed his finger toward the sign. Pink electricity shot out and made contact with the sign.

The sign now read “Hazbin Hotel.”

“Stay tuned,” he finished with a low sinister laugh.

#hazbinhotel #alastor #alastorsshadow #alastorsmicrophone

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andrewmoocow · 4 years

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Gravity Soul chapter 14: Take Back the Falls, Inner Strength Never Fails! (originally posted on November 29, 2019)

AN: At long last, the final chapter is here. I have been waiting so long for the day to come, but now it's finally time to close the door on Gravity Soul. Or perhaps not, for now at least. Oops, spoilers! Anywho, enjoy the epic conclusion of this RESONANCE. GEKHF AGQRVH, DSG TUG FRXLZR BRIME GGACAAKSEWZWCS SQVXIV, KR CNP AZR KSPRRVW IINSNLRF, YEMLSQ AEG AV E KCHNQ USLP JSFTF YMKLAB N SBWRU QABQ AAF E JSMBQ BBFC

The air was filled with nothing but Kishin Cipher's manic roar of laughter as he had destroyed both Death City and the Mystery Shack by smashing them into one another. "Oh you should see the looks on your faces!" he chortled. "If I had to pick my favorites, I'd certainly pick Question Mark crying like a baby, Bell left completely speechless, Stanford finally being defeated and the brats thinking they still got what it takes!" "You murdered everyone we ever loved." Maka snarled taking Soul's hand firmly gripping his scythe form. "Eh, that's what everyone said to me. What makes you any different?" Kishin Cipher callously remarked. "Well, maybe aside from showing me what you got?" "With pleasure." Maka snarled leaping up in the air and preparing to strike. "KISHIN HUNT!" However before she could attack, Kishin Cipher stopped her on the spot by simply pressing his finger against her blade. "Silly little brat, there's no way you can use that to stop me." he scolded her. "Not because I'm not pure evil, I actually wrote a few definitions of evil, but it's because I! AM! GOD!" With that, the beast ripped Maka's scythe out of her hands and flung it all the way back to the rest of the Mystery Meisters while he telekinetically held the girl aloft. "Ah, satisfaction! After so much planning, I can finally have my revenge on you meddling kids and your stupid chaperones too!" Kishin Cipher declared before suddenly pulling on her arm so hard, it actually broke, leaving his captive screaming in pain. "There, now you won't use any stupid courage punches against me! And now I'm gonna break your other arm just for the heck of it!" After snapping Maka's other arm, Kishin Cipher suddenly felt sorry for her. "Aw, too bad. You would've made a great punching bag." he mourned mockingly. "But now, I don't wanna play with you anymore." Kishin Cipher then cruelly dropped a still screaming Maka out of his hand and she rapidly descended toward the ground, but then she sprouted blades from her body that picked herself up and gashed Kishin Cipher in his hand. "You can turn into a weapon too?!" he shouted in disbelief before tossing her back. "You gotta be kidding!"

Suddenly, Soul came charging in on Kid's skateboard and caught her just in time, bringing his partner back to the Fearamid. "Maka!" Dipper exclaimed gazing at the battered Meister. "Stein, you're a doctor! Tell me that aside from the broken arms, she'll be alright!" "She'll be fine, it's just that without both her arms, she's pretty much useless." Stein stated. "You'll all have to hold down the fort while she recovers." "But it's only just us! Everyone else is pretty much dead!" Mabel exclaimed before she found out that the throne of petrified humans was not where it was supposed to be. "Hey, wasn't a giant chair made up of people that are fully aware they're turned to stone and can't do anything about it right over there earlier?" "You called?" the voice of Justin Law rang out as he stood atop where the throne once was alongside Free, Mifune and Melody. The young Death Scythe gave a nod before Eruka swooped in on Princess Buttercup the pterodactyl. "What?! I literally just killed you all!" Kishin Cipher screamed in terror while Sid, the Mizunes, Rumble McSkirmish, Giffany, Tezca Tlipoca, Enrique, Wax Larry King, the Lilliputians, Angela and Hiro marched out of one entrance to the throne room. "Teleportation bitch!" Free cackled dancing around with both middle fingers in the air. Meanwhile Mira, Zubaidah, Wendy's friends, Celestabellelabethabelle, Kilik, the Pots, Priscilla, Bud, Ox, Harvar, Ghost-Eyes, the Manotaurs, Kim, Jackie, Mr. Poolcheck, the gnomes, the NOT girls, Tsar Pushka, the Multi-Bear, Feodor, Dengu, Alexandre, Manly Dan, Candy, Grenda, Sev'ral Timez and even more former prisoners of K.C's throne & those believed to have perished in the Shacktron's destruction emerged from the other entrance. Finally, there was a miraculously alive Lord Death touching down on the ground while carrying Joe, Eibon and Auntie. "Father." Kid muttered in awe of his dad's survival. "You're all still alive!" Mabel cheered seeing everyone still in one piece. "But how did you all get out in time?" "It's like he said, that crazy eye of his saved us all at the last moment." Grenda explained. "Thanks for the lift hunky werewolf!" she thanked Free while Kim came to Maka's side to heal her broken arms. "Okay, you all want an epic, cinematic final battle?!" Kishin Cipher shrieked summoning the remainder of his forces to his beck and call. "Then come on, I got enough ridiculous looking monsters to suffice!" "Challenge accepted." Dipper smirked raising Excalibur to the sky. "TOGETHER EVERYONE!" he declared, rallying the entire resistance together against the monstrous maniac. "Let's get weird." Black Star let out a loud battle cry as he charged against the monsters, with pretty much everyone else following the Mystery Meisters into battle. Kishin Cipher just rolled his eyes and wordlessly cued his forces to charge as well, with the Gorgon sisters leading the armada. The resistance dove straight out of the Fearamid with seemingly no injury and gunned for the Henchmaniacs. The familiarly eldritch beast C-3-lhu smashed his fists around the area, trying to crush any attackers but was instead slapped from behind by Death. 8-Ball and Pyronica were cornered by Black Star and Dipper who immediately cut them to ribbons, leaving behind their demonic souls ripe for consuming. "Seriously? We just began this final battle and already I've down a few guys!" Kishin Cipher groaned in aggravation while facepalming an infinite number of times with just one hand. "Fine, I'll do it myself!" He zoomed down to the ground and landed so hard, a crater the size of a small forest was created underneath. Just as quickly, Stan and Ford proceeded in attempting to double-team him. "Wow, you two are just suicidal!" "This is where we end this you beast!" Ford shouted strangling K.C. "Like I said, suicidal!" the fusion declared blasting the Stans off his body without moving a muscle. "Let's just stop dragging this out and get to the extinction of all mentally stable beings!" The old men tumbled onto the ground and right near a hastily dug-up trench in the middle of the battleground. "Down here!" Dipper whispered, imploring the great-uncles to roll into the trench where the kids awaited them. "So what, are we gonna form a plan down here?" Stan asked while an explosion of madness went off nearby. "Exactly!" Dipper proclaimed. "Now what can we do that'll stop him once and for all?" he asked. "I got an idea!" Mabel piped up. "Remember that wheel thingy with all the pictures on it? Let's use that like we did with the Zodiac last year!" "You mean that new one Kishin Cipher put up when we first fought him?" Kid responded. "Yeah, that one." Mabel added. "We'll just need to gather everyone up and form the circles." Dipper was very impressed by his sister's planning. "Wow Mabel, this is kind of unlike you. Usually, I'm the planner here while you're the sidekick." "Actually Dipper, you're the sidekick." Mabel stated as an aside. "Enough talk, I'll draw the circle and the rest gather everyone up!" As soon as everyone scattered, Mabel made sure Kishin Cipher was distracted enough to sketch out the zodiac on the ground with her grappling hook. "Drawing stuff to save the world, doodly-doo." she sang to herself as she went along. "Okay Mabel, so remind me again." Stan stated when he and Ford returned with Stein & Spirit. "What are you even drawing, some overly complex game of hopscotch?!" "No brother, this is our destiny." Ford proclaimed gazing upon his great-niece's work. "Though it would make a good game of hopscotch." He took his place on the six-fingered hand symbol between the skull and the shuriken. "Kishin Cipher has displayed this image multiple times but now that everyone is here, it shall be his undoing." the scientist explained. "You, Stanley, are the mackerel." "Wait, that's a mackerel? Thought that was some kinda claw thing." Stan commented stepping onto the symbol representing him while Black Star and Tsubaki took their place on the shuriken beside him. "And the symbols can represent multiple people this time too!" Ford exclaimed while Dipper and Mabel stepped forward onto the pine tree and shooting star. "We're getting warmer everyone! Maka, Soul, you get the scythe and piano keys!" "Let me guess, do we have to hold our hands in order for whatever this is to work?" Soul wondered holding Mabel and Stan's hands just in case. "Exactly Soul, you're catching on!" Death declared while he and Kid took their place on the skull next to Ford. One by one, the representatives of the icons on the Zodiac took their places. Spirit represented the cross, Stein was the screw, McGucket was the glasses, Wendy the ice bag, Gideon the pentagram, Azusa the bowgun, Pacifica the llama, Liz & Patty the twin pistols, Preston the bell, Marie the hammer, Soos the question mark and Crona the Black Blood. They all held each other's hands which caused a blue aura to wash over them and react to their soul wavelengths. "Oh my gosh," Maka gasped. "is this a form of Soul Resonance!?" "Seems like it Maka. Keep holding hands!" Stein exclaimed. "Woo-hoo, it's working!" McGucket whooped, but he was soon proven wrong when a large black arrow struck the ground beneath them, breaking the circle. And the source of that arrow was none other than Medusa. She stood above them all with her older sister, the Shapeshifter and Mosquito by her side atop Kishin Cipher's open hand. "So you all cracked what the zodiac meant, eh?!" he smirked. "Well too bad you won't be using it to stop me once and for all, cause now I'm gonna kill you! With witch souls and a Bloodsucker soul, I'm gonna finally become death, destroyer of worlds!" "Wait, you want our souls?!" Mosquito suddenly panicked, realizing what would happen. "Why has no one else told me about this?!" Arachne put a hushing finger on her servant's lips. "He still requires a witch to become all-powerful my dearest butler. But too bad, you'll just have to face your death." "No please, I don't want any part in this anymore!" Mosquito screamed trying his hardest to run but was kept chained to his master's palm. "Shinigami, I beg of you! I surrender myself to your organization, just please save me!" Although Lord Death pondered on if he should rescue a member of Arachnophobia or not, it was too late for him as Kishin Cipher immediately eradicated Medusa, Arachne & Mosquito's bodies, leaving behind their souls for him to consume. Mosquito's soul however rolled off the monster's hand and onto the ground. "Oops, five second rule!" K.C. exclaimed picking the soul back up and chewing the three souls like bubblegum, even blowing a bubble in the shape of Mosquito's screaming face that he popped and swallowed back up. "And now, it begins!" Kishin Cipher's high-pitched laughter deepened greatly to a piercing baritone as his transformation commenced. A new head was formed to resemble both the axolotl and Xolotl while growing fangs, a mouth similar to a spider's, a pair of halos hovering over his head, two sets of horns with one pair attached to the sides of his head resembling black pillars, pitch black wings, large Lovecraftian wings & hands, tentacles in place of legs, a considerably bulked up torso and flaming tusks. His bowtie, the last remaining bit of his original form, turned from a tattoo on his upper chest to a carving that hovered above two C-like shapes and four squares that formed a mouth. "Bill Cipher? Kishin Asura? Phooey, they are no more!" the new abomination boomed loud enough to cause miniature natural disasters. "I am become Incarnate, the ultimate god of weirdness and madness! All who think are now mine to control! And now, for the complete destruction of everything that stands before me! BWAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "Aw son of a bitch." Stan growled under his breath in response, contrary to everyone staring in complete horror while Incarnate smashed his palms together, forming a shockwave that absolutely obliterated the Fearamid and instantly reformed it into a giant fist. "PERISH!" Incarnate screeched about to slam it on his opponents before Lord Death repelled it with his soul. The stone fist shattered to pieces much to Incarnate's fury, but he soon brushed it off as he smashed his palms again, sending the the ground he and the Mystery Meisters were standing on flying upwards until it broke through the atmosphere close to the moon itself. "This is it everyone. All of humanity is on the line." Dipper declared planting Excalibur into the ground. "Whether we perish or not, Bill and Asura must die." Maka added while her soul expanded to protect herself and the others. "We'll win this! I know we will!" Mabel stated cheerfully preparing her grappling hook. "Let's finish this." Soul concluded. Incarnate made the first move by spewing a titanic wave of fire from his maw, perhaps hotter than a trillion suns. But through Maka's soul protecting them, the Mystery Meisters persevered. Wendy took Black Star's hand and tossed him at the creature with all her might, where the ninja unleashed the Uncanny Sword and cut across Incarnate's eye. "AGH, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" "Nice teamwork you two!" Ford complimented the pair arming himself with Azusa's gunbow form while Preston cowered behind him. "You know what? I believe you all got this covered." the Northwest nervously said. "If you'll excuse me, I'm planning on finding a safe place to hide until you save the universe and going on my merry way when we return to Earth." "Oh no you don't Northwest, we're all in this together and that includes you!" Stanford scolded his rival while handing him Azusa. Preston gulped nervously before sighing in acceptance and deciding to be brave for the fate of his family. "Alright fine, what can I do?" "Shoot him as a distraction while I find a weakpoint!" Ford commanded charging forth while Preston knelt down and took aim. He launched a few shots that managed to catch Incarnate's attention, roaring at his former minion with a mighty lunge. However, another shot managed to ward him off. "Uh, can anyone help?" "You got it!" Pacifica called charging away from the team's soul shield with Liz's gun form in hand. Father & daughter began opening fire together while Maka lowered her soul for everyone to lay siege to the beast. All at once, the Mystery Meisters struck Incarnate down. Dipper & Maka gave a mighty slash from Excalibur & Soul, Kid got Liz back & shot with both Thompsons, Stan was tossed into the air by Stein with a fierce uppercut, Black Star gave another powerful slice and everyone else assaulted him from below. "ENOUGH!" Incarnate bellowed, knocking everybody away. "I've had it up to here with all this resistance to my awesome power!" he finally snapped. "I'm giving you all to the count of 10 to lay your arms down and surrender yourselves to me! TEN!" "What kind of idiot is he? He's literally buying us enough time to stop him!" Spirit commented. "NINE!" "Everybody, zodiac again!" Ford declared getting everyone into two circles. "EIGHT!" "Keep holding hands, keep holding hands!" Dipper panicked. "SEVEN!" "We need to act quickly!" Maka added as the blue aura washed all over them. "SIX!" "Hey, is this supposed to happen?" Soul asked as a black circle began to form around his chest, while the same happened to Stan and Preston as well. -- "I don't want to go." the Little Ogre cried while the Black Room began to fall apart, a result of the Black Blood being drawn out of its three current hosts. -- "FI-hey, what's going on?" Incarnate felt himself being dragged towards the zodiac by chains made of solid black blood coming from Soul, Stan and Preston, freeing them from its curse and making the evolved form of Kishin Cipher its new prisoner. "WHY DID I EVEN COUNT DOWN FROM TEN ANYWAY?!" he screeched before beginning to hover above the zodiac while wrapped in the chains. Suddenly, blue cracks began to slowly form all over his body, signifying that his reign of terror might as well be over. "Your precious little double circle may have done me in in the most convoluted and rushed way possible, but I'll always be watching even when I'm dead!" "Not for long!" Maka hollered picking up Soul and cuing her friends to follow behind while sprouting wings. "What are those?!" Mabel gasped in wonder at the glimmering pair of wings. "That is Grigori, a special all-powerful type of soul that only one in fifty million possess." Kid explained. "And as it turns out, Maka is one of them." "We can talk about how we never explained this earlier, let's go!" Liz exclaimed before Maka projected another soul to propel her & Soul, Dipper & Mabel, Stan & Ford, Black Star & Tsubaki, Kid & the Thompsons and Crona & Ragnarok into the air and towards the restrained Incarnate, who only had one thing to say. "DIE!" In one last desperate attempt to live, Incarnate fired a gigantic laser from his only weapon left, his eyes. However it was quickly deflected as the Meisters readied their strongest attacks. Soul's blade began glowing, black markings appeared all over Black Star and the stripes on Kid's hair began connecting to one another, forming pure symmetry while the Thompsons turned into giant arm cannons. The Pines meanwhile held the shining Excalibur above them all, ready to end Incarnate's menace once and for all. "No! NO! NOOOOO!" Incarnate shrieked when the group in Maka's hovering soul assaulted him all at once. "Farewell," Ford snarled. "you three-sided son of a bitch!" "SIX-SIDE SOUL RESONANCE!" Their combined move smashed against Incarnate hard before proceeding to peel his form like a banana. "THIS CAN'T BE POSSIBLE!" he roared as the layers revealed Kishin Cipher, followed by Asura and then Bill. "YOU CAN REMAIN MENTALLY STABLE! BUT AS LONG AS YOU ALL STAY MAD AND WEIRD, I'LL ALWAYS BE THEEEEEERRREEEE!" -- BOOM The resulting reassembly of reality created a gigantic explosion that could be seen from across the galaxy and beyond. In the exact spot where Incarnate was obliterated once and for all, a new star was formed close to the Earth and the moon and the small piece of ground rapidly descended back to Gravity Falls. "Uh, what just happened?" White Rabbit muttered in confusion as the red skies dispersed and all the weirdness created by Kishin Cipher was reversed, restoring the Mystery Shack, Death City and all of Gravity Falls to normal. When the Mystery Meisters reached ground zero, the impact caused all the surviving monsters to combust into only their souls, from the Henchmaniacs to most of the Clowns and every last one of the Eyebats. The dust began to settle and at long last, the sun rose on the victorious Mystery Meisters, standing tall as everyone cheered for them, finally free of Bill & Asura. "Priscilla, my dear!" Preston cried racing into his wife's arms. "Mom!" Pacifica added following her dad. "Together again, at long last." Priscilla sighed in relief. "We did it, we did it! Lo hicimos, we did it!" Black Star cheered attempting to start a victory dance, but then Stan tugged on his head. "Simmer down Dora, I think we all know what we need more than a dance party." the old man remarked falling down on the ground fast asleep. "You're right. All that fighting for our lives made me pooped." Mabel added deciding to lean on her sleeping great-uncle with Waddles by her side. "Oh Waddles." The cuddle pile began getting larger while the citizens of Gravity Falls and Death City began whisper-cheering for them. Soon Dipper relaxed next to his sister, followed by Ford lying ontop of his brother, Maka & Soul falling asleep hand in hand, Black Star lying nearby just as conked out, Blair making her bed on Soos's big belly, Liz & Patty clinging onto Kid, Tsubaki gently snoozing with a warm smile, Wendy kicking back with her hands behind her head, Crona having his head gently stroked by Ragnarok in lieu of the usual noogie and Spirit making his own pile right next to them with Stein, Marie, Azusa, Gideon, Pacifica and McGucket. Excalibur just chuckled and benignly declared "Never change you fools." -- Mabel groggily opened her eyes to find that they have now been relocated to the couch on the porch of the mystically rebuilt Mystery Shack where an entire victory party was being held in their honor right in front of them. "Wait just a second!" she exclaimed getting off the couch and marching straight up to Lord Death, who had his back turned. "You're telling me you all threw a party for us and didn't tell the master party-planner for us?!" "Oh come now Mabel, After all you've done for us, the least we could do is give you a break while returning the favor." Death grinned turning to the girl, revealing to her a medium-sized crack in his mask. "Oh my gosh, what happened to your face?!" Mabel cried in shock. "It's all crackly! Do you need some face cream, or a dermatologist?!" "Mabel?" Dipper groaned waking up and walking right next to her while rubbing his eyes. "Whoa, did you do all this while we were sleeping?" "Yes, yes we did sport!" Joe declared pridefully with a slice of cake in hand. "You hungry?" he offered the confectionary treat to the boy. "I'd be happy to, after all of this." Dipper beamed taking the cake. "Hey, what's the big idea?!" Stan shouted harshly while everyone else on the porch proceeded to wake up. "Who's shindig is this for anyway?" "It, Stanley, is for all of you. For helping to save reality from Bill and Asura." Death announced. "Oh don't mind this crack on my mask. It's just a sign that my baby boy is growing up so fast." "He's right, look Kid!" Soos agreed looking at Kid. "One of those lines on your head, it's been connected!" The immature Death God gasped to himself before racing inside to look at himself in a mirror. "My stars, they're all correct." he said in wonder that the bottom stripe on his hair had now connected. "Almost perfect symmetry, just like I've desired!" Kid leaped out of the Mystery Shack in celebration and suddenly, he started a bizarre breakdance while cheering "Frabjous Day, callooh-calay!" The reception to Kid's celebration was decidedly mixed. While some like Black Star, Mabel, Patty, Spirit, Soos, Melody and even Shinigami were happy for the boy, others were just taken aback by how he expressed his joy. "What is he, Johnny Depp?" Liz rolled her eyes. "Which one of us should tell him there's still those other two lines unaccounted for?" Stan added high-fiving the teenage pistol. "Just let him have his fun." Ford grinned tapping his foot to the beat. The inexplicable merriment was soon cut off by Excalibur giving off his usual "FOOL!" "Oh, do you want to say something Excalibur?" Dipper asked the Holy Sword. "There's just a few somethings for our Meister friends as well." Excalibur announced revealing a group of souls underneath a cloche. Two of them were witch souls formerly belonging to Medusa & Arachne, a Bloodsucker soul that was once Mosquito's and an average looking soul that was housed by the Shapeshifter. "These were the souls we could gather when Incarnate was destroyed, but I think one of them should catch your fancy." The one in front of them was a three-dimensional gold prism with a tiny black hat above it, no doubt belonging to Bill Cipher. "Is that Bill's soul?" Ford gasped. "I can't believe it, we actually killed him! But where's Asura?" "Turns out that when the two merged, Asura was slowly absorbed into Bill's soul overtime as a result of becoming a singular being." Stein exposited. "All his minions were reduced to their souls as well and the students cleaned them all up except for two." he revealed turning his screw. "Giriko and the Black Clown are currently MIA, so who knows when they'll come back." "But wherever they'll go, we'll be there. Stronger than ever." Maka declared. "Speaking of which Soul, which do you want to eat tonight?" she asked her weapon boyfriend. "Dibs on Arachne." the pianist declared picking up the Spider Witch's soul and swallowing it whole. "Now how many souls does that make?" "Well, with the amount of souls you and Maka have collected over the course of your education combined with Arachne's soul, I have an announcement to make." Death stated. "Congratulations, you have finally become a Death Scythe!" "Soul, we finally did it!" Maka shrieked joyfully with a kiss on her partner's cheek. "It's just like we always dreamed of!" Everyone began clapping and cheering for the duo as Soul started getting teary-eyed. "Aw shucks. Twas nothing." he stated bashfully. "Nothing you say? I say you earned it sport!" Spirit declared. "Your family would've been so proud of you." "Thanks Spirit." Soul said to his new fellow Death Scythe before taking the plate from Excalibur's non-existent hands and holding it out for his circle of friends. "Anyone else want some? It's on me!" "I'll take Medusa and Bill." Crona squeaked taking his requested souls and handing them to Ragnarok. "Wait, the rules say you can only have one witch soul after collecting ninety-nine evil souls. Am I breaking the rules?" "Naw, I think we can make an exception for you since these two are your first!" Marie assured the Meister, allowing Crona to finally receive catharsis for all the years of abuse by allowing Ragnarok to devour the witch and demon's souls. "Damn that felt good!" Ragnarok cheered after he gulped them down. "Serves that snake-faced bitch right for melting me down!" Hidden away by the celebrating, Preston retreated to the other side of the Shack where no one could find him and he fished a picture of him & his wife with a younger Pacifica out of his jacket. "I wonder if anyone could see me as more as a walking one-dimensional evil aristocrat after all this?" "Hey, Northwest." Ford called out following behind. "Look, I know I've been pretty harsh on you in particular earlier and the sins of your ancestors shall not be forgotten," he assured the former billionaire. "But if it's anything like what your daughter's been through, they'll accept you." "Thank you Stanford." Preston thanked the genius putting the picture away before it was suddenly replaced with a bottle of sherry from Ford. "So, you want to join me, my brother and Spirit for a few drinks later?" he offered. Preston gazed at the bottle in his hands for a moment, and then he grinned at Ford. "Of course." -- "Okay, a little to the left!" Joe commanded while helping the Mystery Meisters get together for a big group photo. "No, your other left! No, further to the other left!" "Just accept there's no such thing as an other left and take the photo!" Stan shouted. "Sheesh, this is taking forever." he muttered to himself. "After this picture is taken, you're gonna vamoose, right?" "Exactly." Kid replied. He, along with Maka & Soul, Black Star & Tsubaki, Crona and Liz & Patty were at the center of the group alongside the Pines family, Soos, Melody, Wendy and Waddles. Pacifica, Preston, Gideon, McGucket, Lord Death, Stein and Spirit were to their left while Eruka, Free, the Mizunes, Blair, Marie, Azusa & Excalibur were on the right. "Remind me, where did we hide the journals again?" Mabel asked. "Why, in the same place I first found the third one last summer!" Dipper answered. "And I even had a little note telling people to noti find it." Soos added. "Yeah, they're totally safe now." "Okay, everybody ready?" Joe exclaimed just about to take the picture. "Everybody say something stupid!" Mabel commanded making a silly face. "Something stupid!" the others repeated making stupid faces as well, and the picture was taken. -- "Last call for Death City! I repeat, last call for Death City! All aboard!" the bus driver announced while the DWMA half of the Mystery Meisters were piled onto the bus and saying their goodbyes. "Farewell everyone!" Lord Death exclaimed waving a foam hand out the window. "Til our paths cross once more!" "Goodbye everybody! Be sure to keep in contact!" Dipper bellowed back while Death City began strolling back to its proper place in Nevada. "A walking city. Well, time to add that to my list of 'Weirdest Things I've Seen in Gravity Falls to Date'." he muttered. "Hope you like those sweaters I made you all!" Mabel exclaimed. "I'm really going to miss you!" "My Miniature Equine fans for life sistah!" Patty fistpumped before Liz shoved her back in her seat. "We'll miss you too gang." the older Thompson sister said. "Goodbye." Maka muttered when the bus finally began to take off back to their home. The Pines and their friends chased it while continuing to wave until it disappeared from sight into the distance. Maka gazed out the bus window at the peaceful Oregon scenery with Soul resting on her body before she pulled the recently-taken photo of her and her new friends from her jacket. Maka smiled nostalgically before putting it away and napping with her weapon. -- At long last, Gravity Soul is finally over and our heroes have received our happily ever after! Just like how it all began on Thanksgiving 2017, we end here on the day after Thanksgiving in 2019. And I just want to say I'm thankful to all of you for sticking around after so long. But there's just a few treats in store after this author's note. Until we meet again everyone, remember to go three letters back! -- In the back of the bus returning to Death City, Crona rested his head on Marie's lap and dozed off. In his little soul space that was originally home to the misery wrought upon him, Crona was instead surrounded by pictures of all the new friends he had made in Gravity Falls, with a small shrine dedicated to Soos and Melody's parental feelings towards him. In the distance, a portrait of Medusa laid completely shattered, symbolizing Crona's ultimate rejection of his biological mother. Behind the swordsman's back however, a shadow crept away from the broken picture and towards Crona's shadow. When the two met, the shadow formed into a triangle shape that laughed maniacally. Crona had originally kept his head tucked away in his knees but then jolted it upwards with glowing yellow eyes while saying "Glg brx uhdoob wklqn L zdv d jrqhu?" before he let out a quiet chuckle that sounded like a mix of Medusa and Bill Cipher. -- Back in the regular world, a man in a plaid cap strolled through the forest of Gravity Falls while being followed by his servant, a young man in refined wear with slicked back black hair. "There has to be something here." the capped man muttered to himself while examining the trees. "Gopher, knock on every last tree in the area for clues." he ordered his young servant. "Yes master." Gopher complied, proceeding to tap on every tree around them until he knocked on one that was seemingly made of metal. "Master, this tree is not like the others." "I can hear that Gopher." Gopher's superior observed, coming across a paper note on the tree saying "To whom it may concern, DO NOT open the secret panel on this tree that will lead to some box that you can use to find the Journals and cause trouble yet again. Thanks dude! Love, Soos." "Now you're just asking for trouble." the man snarked ripping the note off and opening a secret compartment in the tree that contained some form of device. Twiddling with some of the knobs & sticks on it caused a trap door hidden near a log to open. "What is it now master?" Gopher asked his boss while they examined the crevice. Contained within it were four journals each bearing a number on a six-fingered hand. The man picked the third one up and began skimming through it. "Gopher, contact Lady Ponera at once." "What for master?" Gopher asked, ready to obey his master Noah Grimoire's every last word. "Tell her we found something she'll like." Noah smirked as he closed the book and examined the other three.

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gojirahkiin · 4 years

Text

What the Godzilla Anime should’ve been! Part 1

Starting with an apology to Tyrantis Terror, and a promise that unlike the last time I pinged you with fanfiction, this will be a good read.

Alright, so @tyrantisterror‘s cry of “BE INTERESTING YOU COWARDS!” is essentially the majority opinion of the Godzilla fandom towards the anime. This is how I, personally, would fix it.

To do so, I would take three premises, because in my spite I want to prove that there is a way that good can come of them:

Godzilla has reigned undisputed for 20,000 years

Mothra is dead, but her egg and people live

Ghidorah is an eldritch god.

What the anime lacks boils down to two things: character and spectacle. Everyone was boring and nothing cool happened.

But even assuming that you want to go in a completely different direction than the rest of the Godzilla franchise, you don’t have to be garbage about it. So Mothra has no Shobijin/Cosmos/Elias equivalents. Fine, but she doesn’t need any since she has an entire race/species of people. But you know who does need some now?

I present some amazing fanart for a priestess of King Ghidorah! Ignore the Noodledorah silhouettes behind her. I am scrapping that entire design for eldritch ramen.

Even worse, the canon Exif communicated with Ghidorah through math. That is the lamest thing possible. But once again harvesting and inverting classic Mothra, what do you think I could substitute for Fairy Mothra, a fragment of spirit given form and purpose?

A Dorat. Obviously it needs tweaking. No aspect of King Ghidorah would ever deign to be so cute. But my point stands: his most devout worshipers would have these tiny avatars of their god to guide them in their malice.

Now, I said that Mothra doesn’t need the Shobijin since she has a race/species. That’s not a metaphor. The canon Houtua are covered in powdery tattoos and given antennae. It’s never made explicit (because that might be cool) but they are implied to be literal children of Mothra.

Imagine the implications of being able to genetically prove that your goddess is the mother of your species? I discard the name Houtua and rename these technical kaiju the Elias. Could’ve also called them Cosmos, but I flipped a coin.

I’ll come back to Mothra in a bit. For now, let’s talk about Godzilla. He’s the ruler of Earth in this continuity, but what does that really mean? Well...

I do want to say that I’m not making this a post-apocalyptic MonsterVerse, as cool as that would be. What I mean is that every kaiju that hasn’t submitted to Godzilla’s dominance has been killed.

Godzilla is King of the Monsters in that he has no true rivals for the throne, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t resistance.

Mothra’s egg is hidden, proving that it is possible to hide from him. It is also possible to run from him since he can’t be everywhere at once, and there are creatures capable and willing to do both.

This is where my versions of the Servum (the worm & dragon-like creatures that were never named and hardly shown in canon) come in, in both name and concept.

The Kaiju Catastrophe wiped out many species, if only because humanity got increasingly destructive in their efforts to stop it, leaving vacuums in many ecosystems. 20,000 years isn’t a long time for new species to evolve, but a core theme of the Godzilla series is that mutations happen quickly.

In the aftermath, many species mutated and evolved to be symbiotic towards Godzilla, because being simultaneously around and useful to him was a great way to survive and be protected.

These creatures are the Servum, but there aren’t that many ways to be useful to Godzilla, and so they are essentially “battle honey guides.” They hunt down and swarm creatures that show signs of hostility toward the King, or simply call to summon him if they think they’re out of their league.

Godzilla has naturally been growing and mutating for all 20,000 years, but unlike the near-comatose tree in the anime, my Godzilla is active and roaming. Most of the Earth has well-worn pathways because unless he must deviate to deal with a challenger, he has a decently efficient patrol route.

One of the other results of Godzilla's never-ending world tour is that everything is a bit more radioactive and a bit more violent. The first is natural. The second requires explanation.

Essentially, kaiju that covet the throne hide in nice fertile areas with lots of food of whatever kind they eat. These are typically destroyed in the battle when Godzilla finds them. As a result, aggression, growth, and general "kaiju-fication" has been encouraged in the wildlife for the last 20,000 years, because if you can protect your territory from would-be crown-hunters it won't be destroyed by Godzilla.

Biollante exists, but less as a distinct creature and more as a taxonomic classification; when Godzilla destroys a region in battle, it takes truly remarkable plants to colonize it - these aggressive and radiosynthetic plants are the Biollante.

Now let’s talk about Mechagodzilla, an technology in general. What is left of humanity after 20,000 years? Not a lot to be honest.

Bunkers aren’t much protection from burrowing kaiju, and not even the most optimistic “abandoned by people” documentary thinks any skyscraper will last for 20,000 years.

But it sounds like I’m contradicting myself - if new kaiju are always rising, and virtually all traces of humanity are gone, then where are Mechagodzilla and Mothra’s egg in this continuity? Hilariously, they’re still around because they’re in almost the same place.

In my take on this scenario, Godzilla first appeared in 1954 at a height of 50 meters. By the time humanity had to flee in 2054, he’d swelled to his 100 meter height.

As a result, Mechagodzilla’s factory was built inside a mountain, so that the facility could constantly expand so that if and when the machine got wrecked, it could be rebuilt bigger and better for the next rematch, and both mecha and factory were constantly being built and improved until almost the day humanity evacuated.

Mothra first challenged Godzilla after humanity fled, but her standard procedure is to find a nice safe place for her egg before charging into mortal combat, and she found this very conveniently mostly empty hangar inside a mountain. A bit bland and sterile for her taste, but safe.

Hearkening back to the Heisei era again, Mothra’s egg is psychic, and has a useful passive defense. It radiates an aura that renders the area uninteresting to any kaiju not specifically looking for a Mothra egg. As a result, the egg, the Elias, and Mechagodzilla have been housemates for 20,000 years give or take.

Some of you may have caught that I said Mothra first challenged Godzilla. That’s because this version of Mothra is also active in the timeline... in a sense. Each time the egg hatches, the new Mothra has been challenging Godzilla, and each time she’s taken longer to develop, but done better in the fight. And the most recent challenger was 10,000 years ago...

So, let’s talk about King Ghidorah himself. The anime’s designers claim that their Ghidorah is the final evolution of the essence of Ghidorah.

Screw that! If I want an enemy that’s unkillable because he’s technically in another dimension, other franchises have done it better and with more spectacle.

King Ghidorah isn’t just about destruction. It isn’t enough to let a ghost noodle rip apart and eat a planet (in lore and not on screen of course). King Ghidorah is about the fear, helplessness, and despair in the face of an end to everything you care about that cannot be stopped.

Some people complain that in Rebirth of Mothra III, Ghidorah only destroyed a little bit and then went back to guarding his dome. My hypothesis is that there was a very deliberate and cruel reason for that.

The children knew that they’d been captured and knew that the walls were acidic because one of them tossed a ball at it. But their parents didn’t know yet. Ghidorah destroyed a little and then went back to the dome so that the parents would know what happened and that there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Also, he loomed over the dome and watched it - he was waiting for the digestion process to begin; he was people-watching in the most sadistic manner possible, like a child setting fire to ants with a magnifying glass.

But that incarnation of Ghidorah was a bit too stoic and focused for my taste. I want him to hearken back to Shōwa Ghidorah: we don’t know why he does what he does, only that he’s having a blast doing it!

So let’s run with that. I’m discarding the Exif’s name. In another callback to the past, their name can translate as Xians or Xiliens depending on your preference. And the Xiliens don’t often name their god, but they call him one of three euphemisms: The Laughing King, The Golden Light, and The Threefold Death.

The Xiliens also follow their god’s example: they are quite cheerful and always happy to meet new people (because they’ll get to kill them later); they’re decked out in gaudy, shiny golden colors; and when they’re getting ready to kill someone, they do their damnedest to give them a threefold death.

The Death of their Hopes.

The Death of their Body.

And reserved for their god alone, the Death of their World.

When King Ghidorah is summoned by the terrible cruelty and laughter of his followers, a tear into another dimension is opened over the planet, and an asteroid drops from it, with all the destructive power you’d expect of an asteroid strike.

To die in the blast is an honor and a mercy, because the true horror manifests from the molten ruins and lets out a cackling roar that can be heard across the entire planet. If there are any orbiting ships or space stations, the roar defies all laws of reality to be heard there too.

And in every listener, the sound inspires the primal terror of imminent death.

A cornered rat will bite the cat, but the Laughing King does not begrudge his prey. It’s no fun if they don’t fight back! They need to believe that they stand a chance, so that as they lie bleeding and broken by the Golden Light of gravity beams their hopes can die with their flesh!

This is the true purpose of the Threefold Death that is King Ghidorah. You don’t kill for sustenance or defense; such material needs are mark of a mortal. You kill for fun! For the joy of watching life and hope leave a victim’s eyes!

That is the true essence of King Ghidorah!

#Fanfiction #Premise #Worldbuilding #Godzilla #Mothra #Mechagodzilla #King Ghidorah #Rant #animezilla #noodledorah #Proud of Myself

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chaniters · 5 years

Text

Karaoke night

Sidestep goes deeper into the super-hero underworld. His friends reveal some dark secrets. Also. Sidestep at a party!

Enjoy!

---------------------------------------------------

You pull your mask down as you enter, following Ortega and Anathema. You really didn't want to come, to the party, but Anathema insisted, and Ortega has been down for a while now. He got into a huge fight with Riley about a month ago, and they haven't spoken since.

You were shocked that Riley was male, you had always been convinced Ortega was straight. Perhaps he was convinced too, and that's what makes him so confused. He's had a few flings since you met him, and he's never been so bothered by a breakup before.

You take a good look around you, studying the large warehouse

Ortega has explained how this works. Twice a year, Owl and several heroes organize the party at a different location. All heroes of Los Diablos operating on the west coast are invited, even those that keep their identities secret. So you can go in with your mask if you want.

The crowd is much larger than you expected. You can see Sentinel flirting with Elyse at the back. The Answer sharing drinks with Omega. Bastion and Blast are dancing.

No cameras or cell phones are allowed. It's virtually the safest place for you.

You turn to talk to your friends.. but they're gone.

The music is too loud... you only know a handful of people here... Now you can feel them staring at you, the guy with the casted arm (or is that just your perception?).

So many thoughts... You feel overwhelmed and immediately raise your shields. You slowly creep towards a wall. Panic slowly creeps up like a cold breeze on your back.ed

But then your training kicks in. Parties. You have been thought about how they work. There are ways to change your shields.. to help yourself not be noticed so much by the crowd.

If you can concentrate then you can...

"There you are!" Anathema says bumping into you. "Come! This is going to be epic!"

"What? Where are we going?"

"To the reading contest"

"What's a reading contest?"

"Oh, you'll see" He snickers. He leads you towards an improvised stage on the other end. The owl is there talking to some people.

"Hey, Can Sidestep and I go next?" He asks cheerfully.

"Sure can" Owl answers. "We're short on victims right now. Did you find a good piece?

"YES!"

Owl chuckles. "Alright, you're next, just wait until Warhawk and Medea are done.

"What... is this?" You ask approaching Anathema.

"Oh just watch and listen"

You lean in to observe the "Reading Contest".

Warhawk and Medea each hold texts on their hand, and seems to be enacting some sort of play... it doesn't take long for you to realize the type of play they are in is not for children.

"What's.. going on?" You ask nervously.

"Fanfiction. Hero fans flood the web with all kinds of stories involving us heroes. The reading contest is just that. two or more heroes have to read their parts in the fanfiction stories, and the one who does it best wins."

"Is this a real thing?"

"Yep"

"But why is there so much... Sex in their scene?"

"Oh if you're not the best at acting, then making your opponents laugh or chicken out is the best way for them to lose. Actually, almost every fricken scene is sex. It's the funniest"

"WHAT? WHAT KIND OF SCENE DO YOU HAVE FOR US?"

"Ohhhh forgot to give you your copy. Here you go" he grins.

You scan the pages quickly.

"I-... I'm not reading... any of this!" You aren't sure how to feel about this. It's quite a shock to think people would consider you would do these things to Anathema... and in his sleep...

"Did you see Chapter two when I wake up?" He is beyond himself.

You look for a way out when...

"And the winner is... MEDEA by a landslide! She's the filthiest of them all! All Hail Medea!" The crowd cheers.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen... I bring you an old favorite... ANATHEMA!"

This is so surreal... Anathema is on one side of the stage.. and you feel Owl pushing you into the other side.

"And a newcomer! Never seen before... SIDESTEP!"

"And the piece da resistance they present is titled... "Sidestep/Anathema, AU, Escape from the village of the Rammed, part 3! "

The heroes around you cheer. Anathema takes his lines and starts. You feel yourself growing smaller under the pressure of people watching you...

He finishes his lines. People expect you to say yours... what to do... You look at your text. You try to speak, but your voice is a croak.

Only your training can save you. You focus...

.....................15 minutes later.................................

"I can't believe you fucking beat me" Anathema walks with you to the open bar. "I had rehearsed that shit!"

"THat's what you get for challenging me " you chuckle nervously holding the little medal they gave you. It reads "Filthiest hero". In truth, you are sweating so much under your double set layer clothing. REading that was amongst the most uncomfortable moments of your life, but you managed.

Your training makes you a good actor. And you're curious. You don't want to admit it, but you're probably going to browse into more of these "Fictions" of you and other people.

"Where's Ortega?" You ask a bit concerned. You were supposed to try to cheer him up, but you totally lost track of him.

"There" Anathema points. "I left him by The Karaoke area."

"I'll go check on him" you offer.

"Hey" you sit by his side. "How are you?"

"Hey" For once he's the one startled. You notice a few empty drinks by his side. "I'm alright. I guess."

"Want to talk about it?" You wish you could read his thoughts.

"It's the same old story... only that it went nuclear this time" he sighs, taking another sip of tequila.

"How? What happened?"

"He wanted some sort of commitment... And I'm..."

"Still in the closet?" You smile

"Yeah. I haven't figured out how to handle the media about it...."

"So it's over? Just like that?"

"Well, he hasn't answered a single text or call. I even went to his place a few times. I think I really hurt him"

"I'm sure he'll get over it. It's been a while"

"I just want to apologize. I even invited him here. But he didn't come either"

"Well... you know, there are other ways."

"Hmm? Like what?"

"I could lend you a brick" you jest.

He can't help the smile. "Stop it"

"What? It worked like a charm"

He punches your arm playfully, now laughing.

"Ow. It was a valid suggestion"

"You bastard. You know how much I spent on repairs?"

"Nope" you confess. "I wasn't very good at talking back then."

"Well.. a lot." He takes another sip of his drink. "But don't worry about it"

"Hey, I could repay you"

"Hmm? No need seriously I..."

"Remember the Karaoke machine at your place?"

"Yep. You avoid it like the plague."

"I'll do it now and we call it even. Deal?"

"Ha. You can't do it! You'll just chicken out"

"Just watch me," you say stepping over and picking a microphone. It's not about debts. It's about distracting your friend. You are learning fast how these things work.

Someone connects a light on top of you. Then the music starts.. and the video...

You are frozen. This isn't like the reading with Anathema. You are alone. And everyone's watching you. The mic slips from your hand. You take it back... your cue is about to start and you can't...

Someone is singing the lyrics. It’s Ortega. He took the other mic. He gets by your side, singing badly.

What the hell. You join in. You are a cuckoo, and birds are supposed to sing, right?

.................... a few awkward moments later......................

"Wow... we are... terrible. We should probably not do that again" Ortega says laughing

"Hey, we gave it our all," you say drinking from your own glass now. "We should be proud"

"Yep!" he smiles. "Cheers!"

You toast and take some more. You only started drinking but he's clearly going to get drunk tonight if he keeps this up. }

"Also.. thanks for the rescue," you say blushing under your mask.

"It was fun. Maybe we should torture them some more" he gazes at the microphone "But right now... I've got to go to the bathroom" he says "where was it?" he looks a bit lost.

"Come, I'll show you," You say guiding him through the crowd. You wonder how many drinks he had before you got to him.

You take him to the bathroom area and lead him to the door. But he doesn't come in.

Instead, he gets closer to you.

"I... sorry I lied. I don't really need to go"

"Oh?" this is unfamiliar ground. "What is it?"

"I just... wanted to talk to you. Out of that crowd. I know how uncomfortable you get"

"It's true" you admit sheepishly. "So.. I'm here what did you want to talk about?"

"I think... I..." he seems unsure.

"What?"

"I think I'm having a crush"

"Oh? On whom ?"

"A very close and dear friend." He looks into your eyes. You suddenly feel a bit dizzy

"Ahh.. really?"

He takes your hand

"My best friend"

You laugh nervously. "You are drunk"

"Just drunk enough to speak out," he says

He gets closer to you. "Just... tell me I'm wrong... and I'll go" he

You say nothing. He pulls your mask halfway up.

You feel your world spin. Half of you wants to panic. The other half just wants to...

He kisses you. His arms go around your back. Your casted arm gets in the way. You make do.

You can't recall how long did you stay there, kissing him. Being kissed by him.

It seemed to go on forever.

You do know how it ended though.

Riley’s fist on connecting with your left eye.

And not too long after that, Eldritch trying to destroy you all.

________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

#fallen hero: rebirth #fallen hero spoilers #Sidestep #Ortega #Anathema #Fanfiction #fluff

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veryangryhedgehog · 5 years

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Battle Plans,” an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

Doug laughed, shaking his head. Then he looked down at Jilli, her arms wrapped around him as they lay on his bed, and frowned. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yes. We’re going to take over the school. Abby and Victor and I. Maybe Gil and Sonia too, but I haven’t talked to them yet.” Though the words emerging from her mouth sounded utterly insane, the tone with which she said them was no harsher than if she was commenting on the weather.

“You know this sounds crazy, right?” Doug sat up. “You can’t just ‘take over a school’. Even in normal circumstances it wouldn’t make any sense, let alone here.”

Jilli faced him, her slim waist glowing in the afternoon light. “Do you want things to stay as they are?”

“No...” he admitted, looking down. “But if you try to change anything, she’ll kill you.” There was silence. Jilli didn’t need to ask who “she” was.

“The way I see it, what I’m doing right now isn’t living anyway.”

She made to stand, but Doug grabbed her hand. After struggling weakly for a second, she let him pull her back to him. He gripped her tight there to his chest. He knew it was stupid, but he was afraid that if he let go for just one second, that she would just disappear.

“This isn’t going to change my mind,” she said.

“I know,” he mumbled into her hair. “And before you say, I know this won’t either.”

Doug nudged her face upwards, towards his, and kissed her. They had kissed before, of course, small, stolen things in the heat of the moment, but never before like this. It was soft, at first, both a little unsure of the feeling of their lips pressed together, then it became harder, more desperate.

He pressed her to him, his hand firmly on the small of her back. Jilli ran her fingers through his hair, his scalp tingling at her touch, and Doug felt his heart beating very fast. She was real, and warm.

It was an eternity before they finally pulled apart. Jilli stared at him for a moment, the look on her face impossible to place.

“I... I don’t...” she shook her head. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, and then they were kissing again, feeling their breath on each other’s faces, entangled together.

“Help me,” she breathed as he kissed her neck. “Help me free us all. Please.”

He pulled away, looked down at her pleading face. She was scared. He could see it in her eyes. “If you kiss me like that again I’d do anything. But no can do, I’m afraid,” he glanced down to the metal band around his wrist. “I never told you what this does, did I?”

Jilli shook her head.

“If I take one step out of line, or I’m off campus for too long, then bzzt,” he gestured, and laughed as Jilli twitched. “I get a nasty little shock.”

It took her a moment of staring at the glowing metal before she seemed to understand. “This is why,” she touched it gingerly, “this is why she needs to die. What she’s done to you? What she’s done to all of us? It’s unforgivable.”

“Sure it is,” he shrugged.” But do you really think you can do something about it?”

She peered into his eyes with her icy blue ones. Doug felt himself freeze at the sight of them. He simply couldn’t help staring.

“I’m going to try,” she said simply.

Sighing, Doug shook his head. This whole thing was insanity. Then again, he could say the same thing about his life in general, so really, this wasn’t anything new. The world was almost becoming predictable in its lunacy.

“Alright,” he said finally. “I don’t know what I could possibly contribute, but I’m with you.”

Not even a second went by before her arms were around him, and his bare chest was wet with her tears. “Thank you, thank you so much,” she breathed. “I don’t think I could do this without you.

“I need you.”

~~ o ~~

The world was falling apart. Everything was falling to pieces and no one would tell Mike anything. Okay, maybe the world wasn’t really ending; he might have been feeling that way because he’d only gotten a total of about three hours of sleep in the last four days.

But he couldn’t sleep. There was a ticking clock now. He had to figure out who the Director was and what she—if she really was a she—was doing to Jilli before she did something crazy. But there was nothing. Nothing. Every book jumped over the subject like clockwork, every leaked article was heavily expunged.

He skipped his classes, chugged Red Bull—which he’d previously written off as disgusting, until he’d found that it truly did give you caffeinated wings—and practically lived in the library. The only person who was there more than he was was Abigail.

Said student librarian seemed increasingly concerned about his well-being. “I think that’s enough studying for one night,” she said one evening, well past midnight, as she rather forcefully pushed him out of the table his butt had practically molded itself to. “My, that must be some project.”

“But—” he protested. “I need... I need—”

“What you need is to get some sleep. This would be the worst time to catch a cold.”

“Five more minutes,” he begged. “Please.”

She sighed, sitting next to him. “I know this isn’t for some school project,” she said. “Literally every amateur detective has used that excuse. Why are you really here?” He opened his mouth, but she answered her own question. “Is it because of Jilli?”

“Did you know she had a session the other day?” Mike leaned forward.

“What?” Abigail blinked. “That can’t be right. Jilli’s one of the sanest people at St. Adelaide’s.”

“I think the Director did something to her, that why she’s... saying crazy things.”

There was a second’s pause as Abigail processed this information. “If that’s true... why, I can’t even imagine. And that must be why you’re researching St. Adelaide’s, to find out who the Director is.”

“Wait, how did you know that?” Mike asked.

“I’m the librarian,” she smirked. “I keep track of my books. And I’m sure by now you know as well as I do that there’s not even a single line about the Director in any of those books.”

His head fell to the table in defeat. He was so tired. “Of course.”

“Did you ever think that maybe you’ve been looking in the wrong places?” Abigail tilted her head.

“The... wrong places?”

Shrugging, Abigail pushed her round glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I mean, you don’t need to just stick to books when her office is right down the hall.”

Mike sat back up. “Are you suggesting breaking into the Director’s office?”

“Well, if Jilli has anything to say about it, the Director will be deposed in a matter of days. So, does it really matter? Of course Jilli will want to see what’s in there.”

“But then it will be too late!”

“Will it?” Abigail leaned on her arm. “Honestly, I’m a little curious what happens if she does succeed.”

“You want me to use Jilli...” Mike began slowly, “to save her?”

“Sure, that’s one way to put it,” Abigail smiled. “Now I think it’s time for both of us to go to bed.” She grabbed his arm and guided him to the door. “I have a feeling that the next week might be the longest of our lives...”

~~ o ~~

Gil was also studying, but unlike Mike, he knew what he was looking for. Back in Atlantis he’s had a grimoire with all of the spells that he knew. Some had been inherent to him, of course, his space-hopping and control over the elements, but a lot of the most finely-tuned spells needed time and ingredients. He’d never bothered to memorize these, partially due to his own narcissism in his own abilities. But now he was discovering that without the grimoire, he was essentially crippled. So he’d had to start completely from scratch.

Spending the last several years reconstructing his grimoire had been tedious, time-consuming work, but it had given him something to do as this new body grew and became stronger. He had to be prepared, for just as he was gaining strength, the Truth would be as well.

The other thing that had occupied the last few years of his life was tracking down the blasted thing. He’d gone back to the cave on the coast several months after he’d been freed, but the abomination had disappeared. Either it had gotten out by itself, or much more likely, someone had helped it. And if someone was under the Truth’s sway, the world was in trouble. Whoever it was, they had managed to retain their individuality thus far, seeing as the world still hadn’t ended, but they wouldn’t hold out forever.

Which was why he needed to find it as quickly as possible. He’d found a surprising ally in the form of the internet. At first, it had seemed such an alien host of eldritch complexity that he avoided it like the plague. But then in the sixth grade english class the education overlords had deemed paramount to his further growth, a project had required him to do research for a laughable essay about “you favorite animal,” and he’d discovered that it had its uses. Eventually, with the help of some rather strange characters he’d met on a forum, one of whom insisted she was a dragon, he’d managed to track the Truth to an American suburb called Ede Valley. From there, it was only a matter of acting strange enough to get himself sent to the school there. For Gil, that hardly proved a challenge.

And now he was here, and something was coming; he could feel it. Gil was running out of time. He needed Muirne. But regardless of how many books he read, how many forums he inquired upon, he couldn’t find any usable information on his and Sonia’s condition. According to one witch—who he was mostly positive was legitimate—it was unprecedented, even.

He’d never told Sonia about it. He didn’t want to scare her. Truth be told, she more often scared him. She told him of dreams and ghostly appearances. It was Muirne. She was trying to get in, just as he had. But he didn’t know how to help her.. And there was that small part of himself, the one he told himself wasn’t there at all, that didn’t want to watch Sonia go. All he could do was watch the struggle.

He was close to giving up.

~~ o ~~

Victor glanced around his dorm room, filled from wall to wall with gizmos and gadgets. Jilli had filled him in on his part of the plan, and now he was digging through the bits and pieces of his past constructions, trying to distinguish what would actually be useful.

He had his older stuff in the far corner of the room, at least, the things his parents had deemed safe enough for him to take. These were mostly bits and bobs off of much bigger machines, Rube Goldberg-esce inventions. As a kid he’d dreamed of having machines to do everything for him, so he could sit and play video games all day. Of course, he’d eventually grown out of that phase, and he’d scraped several of his past attempts for parts. This stuff was mostly useless.

Progressively towards the other wall, the machines began to evolve into more robotic machinations. At first they were more helpful—over there on top of his dresser was a drone he’d modified to whisk eggs—but more and more they became more... well, deadly. He didn’t really know why that’s where his mind always went. His mother claimed his “degeneration” was caused by violent video games, but no one else he knew had put down Call of Battlefield 4000 and proceeded to make a death chamber in the basement.

Not that he ever intended to make use of it. He just wanted to see if he could get it to work.

Of course his parents had flipped. That was the first time he’d been taken in for an exorcism. Victor shuddered to himself. He didn’t like to think about that afternoon.

In fact, now that his mind had gone down that road, he found that this whole side of the room was making him queasy. He’d found some good stuff that he could install quickly; that would be good enough for now. Besides, he needed to go down to the shop to modify a few things. He might as well spend some time on his ongoing project.

It was that first exorcism that had gotten him thinking about life and the creation thereof. Again, he wasn’t insane, or unstable, just curious. He wanted to see if it was possible. Could something so crazy really exist?

He didn’t feel quite normal again until he was down in the shop with his lab coat on. Victor took a calming breath, and reached down to pull back the sheet which covered his project...

Until he heard the door open with a metallic cha-chuck, and let the plastic fall again.

“Victor?” came an unmistakable voice, and Victor relaxed, even smiled a little.

“Hi Abby.”

She peeked her owl-like visage around the door, and seeing that he was alone, slunk inside. “How’s the preparations?” she asked, grabbing his arm.

Oh god. She was touching him. She had done this before, of course, but every time his heart did the same esoteric series of leaps in his chest. And now he was going to start stuttering, or his voice was going to crack, or something even more embarrassing was going to happen.

“It’s g-g,” he cleared his throat. “Going well. I’ve got almost everything I need. Just a few modifications, a-and I’ll install most of it tonight, after the teachers have left for the day.”

“What about those creepy psychiatrists, though?” Abigail blinked up at him.

She was worried about him. Victor was pretty sure he was going to start floating off the ground soon.

“Gil’s offered to ‘give me some cover.’ Though I’ve got no idea what that actually means.”

“Good,” Abigail smiled. Then, she reached up to touch his cheek, and he downright froze. “That means you have a free minute then.”

Only one thought ran through Victor’s mind as she pressed herself against him:

Oh shit.

~~ o ~~

They were all assembled in Jilli’s dorm room. It was a bit cramped, Abigail was literally sitting in Victor’s lap, but they had all managed to squeeze in somehow. Jilli glanced around the room, taking stock of what she had to work with. Gil and Sonia: distractions. She didn’t know exactly what they had planned, but she had to admit that together they were rather distracting. Victor: incapacitation. His job would be to dispose of the psychiatrists that worked as the Director’s hands. Abigail: look out. She’d keep everyone updated on the operation’s progress. Doug: emotional support and sounding board.

And then there was Jilli. While all of this was going on, Jilli was going to find that bitch the Director and take her down.

Jilli opened her mouth to lay all of this out, when there was a knock at the door. Everyone froze. They couldn’t have been found out. There was no way. No one said a thing for the longest time.

“I know you’re in there,” said a voice from outside. “Come on, let me in please.”

Relaxing, Jilli let out the breath she’d been holding. It was only Mike. She stepped over Gil and Sonia—who were sitting on the floor—and opened the door a crack.

He began speaking before she could even open her mouth. “I want to help.”

Oh no. She had been afraid of this. Though Mike was that much younger than the rest of them, Jilli couldn’t help thinking of him as much more... well, innocent. Maybe it was because he wasn’t absolutely fucked up like the rest of them. He still had a chance to get out of this unscathed.

“Mike,” she began. “I don’t know...”

“Come on, please,” he begged. “If you keep me out of the loop I think I’ll go insane. If you all might die tonight, or worse, I wanna at least go down with you all. You’re my friends.”

Jilli looked back a Doug, who had stood, and was only a step behind her. He paused, and then, finally, looking exhausted, he simply shrugged.

“Alright,” she said. “Come on in.”

“Thank you,” he smiled, but it wasn’t until she opened the door fully that she was how rough he looked. His skin was pale and sallow, which made the large bags under his eyes stand out even more. His eyes themselves were red and bloodshot, and his hair was tangled and stood up at odd angles, like he’d ran his hand through it for days straight.

Doug sat back down, and made space for Mike on the bed. Jilli readied herself to speak again. She was so nervous. This was ridiculous, she’d sang in front of hundreds of people before, so why was it so hard to lay out her plan for school domination to a few of her friends?

Okay Jilli, she told herself. Here you go.

“Alright everyone,” she said. “Here’s what we’re going to do...”

#Ede Valley #Jilli Nakajima #Doug Bailey #mike miller #abigail hodge #victor west #Gil Trenton #Sonia Borozovna #writing

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danddorks · 7 years

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Chelastian Campaign #5.b - Battle at Karloff’s

As the party rests, Tohmoh’s unseen servant reports that Sheriff Chaney is gathering a small army to rise up against the party under the charges of plotting to murder, assaulting an official, and treason. The party discovers an empty mine tunnel and plan on going up there, dealing with Chaney later.

Our returning PC’s are:

Sir John “Ducky” Mallard, level 3 Human Paladin who has sworn the Oath of the Ancients. Son of Duke Mallard, Ducky was sent to the Diamond Hills mercenary guild as a silencing tactic.

Tohmoh the Damarrion, level 3 Human Warlock with Cthulu as a patron. Joined the Diamond Hills mercenary guild as a way to gain power while helping others.

Marrow, level 3 dhampir Bard, as played by @the-pantsing-panda

Rohss, level 3 Half-Elf Ranger, guardian of the forest.

Aiyiri, level 3 Khajit Fighter with a two-weapon fighting style, former assassin.

Captain Voess, level 2 Half-Orc Barbarian, and pirate. Also member of the Diamond Hills mercenary guild.

Rorimac “Rori” Bracegirdle, level 2 Halfling rogue, and a member of the Dauntless of Silverstring City

Our Companions, who don’t feature in this game, are:

Fred, a devotee to the Mallard family who admires Ducky and most polishes armor

George, a more grumbly fellow who washes boots and sharpens swords, and has a fine word to say about being essentially a manservan

We are introduced to the PC for a player who also may not make it every game:

Ulfric Stormcloak, level 1 Dwarven fighter, smithy of Sapphire Lake Town.

Marrow and Rori appear from tunnel. Rori screams at Tohmoh, declaring him to be a cannibal warlock. The party out of character debates whether a human eating a halfling would be considered cannibalism, considering their different races. It was decided that if two creatures share skintypes and intelligence levels, it’s considered cannibalism. Therefore, a dragon can eat a salamander and it isn’t cannibalism, but a human cannot eat a halfling, dwarf, or elf without it technically counting as cannibalism.

Tohmoh then clears his name once Rori reveals his captor’s name had been Johmbo. Tohmoh isn’t surprised. His “grandpa” went crazy a long time ago, and the family had disowned him. Tohmoh was the only one to follow in Johmbo’s footsteps and unwittingly dedicated his life to the same god. As he begins to realize that his devotion might drive him just as mad as his grandfather, Tohmoh also decides to start being more selfless and make his legacy better.

We also, as a note, discover that Voess loves cats. In fact, as he realizes that Aiyiri is part feline, he slowly gets closer to her, wanting to “pet the kitty kitty.”

Voess: Voess love kitty kitty.

Rori lets the party know that Karloff has a place he calls home, and it’s located somewhere above them. He then begins leading the party to it.

- MEANWHILE -

Ulfric Stormborn, of the Sapphire Lake Town, has been exploring the mines. Although familiar with the local lore, he has always felt like the mines couldn’t be barren, and has spent a few days searching for any gems.

He stumbles into a large room that is encircled by the lake. On both sides of the cavern are waterfalls, which pour sixty feet down into a pool. The pool then continues on through the mountain. Although Ulfric is aware that he’s too far up for the lake to be pouring downwards, he doesn’t thinking too hard on the fact. There is a safety fence built out of rope and iron bars.

The room has a small alter in the corner, barrels of rotten fruit and vegetables, two large bookshelves with a collection of encyclopedia's and historical records from 100 years ago, and a large firepit in the center. Ulfric hears someone approaching and ducks behind the barrels, rolling an 18 to Stealth.

None of the party sees Ulfric as they enter. Ducky and Tohmoh go for the books, seemingly unimpressed by their perfect condition and collectors value. Voess goes for the fountain because it sparkles and books bore him. Marrow opens a few barrels to confirm that the food is rotten, which Aiyiri could smell before the lids came off and which overwhelmed her senses after.

Aiyiri stumbles to the side of the “room” and peers over the rope. She notices a small, pink lizard skittering around, slowly climbing up. As she warns the others, a purple lizard jumps up over the rope barrier, giggling.

The creature is described as a lizard that would stand 5 foot tall on it’s hind legs, with a distinctly dragon appearance if a dragon was drawn by someone who loved flowers. It’s wings more resembled a butterfly’s than a dragon’s, and it’s scales sparkled, like glitter.

It’s a faerie dragon, not that the party succeeds any of their Nature checks.

The party is hesitant to attack the creatures, aware of Karloff’s Charm and mind-control trickery. They decide to try and tame it. Ducky succeeds, offering the dragons food from his bag (the player was actually completely unaware of the Faerie Dragon, so this was delightful).

Another dragon appears, also purple in color, but more glittery, appearing pink in certain lights. Tohmoh tries to offer it food, but Ulfric ruins the moment by attacking, surprising everyone by his sudden appearance. Aiyiri tries to eat the dragon, and then argues with it about taking her food. It winds up casting a spell and making her give it the food it knows she’s hiding.

Marrow is hit by it’s purple, glittery gas and almost runs over the edge. Rori dives to hide in the firepit.

The battle ends as Tohmoh and Ducky calm the dragons down. One dragon offers safe passage, and the other promises answers. Before the party can claim their reward, Karloff appears. He stomps, and stamps, and, like a child throwing a tantrum, screams about them ruining his plans.

He Charms Voess, then tries to stand back and let the Half Orc do his damage. Ducky sees Voess entering a rage, and challenges him to a duel in order to protect the others.

Aiyiri doesn’t listen -- she strikes at Voess, missing her first attack and landing her second. Voess ignores Aiyiri and charges at Ducky. Ducky hits him hard, but he hits Ducky harder.

Ulfric and Tohmoh go after Karloff, both recognizing that he’s the real source of trouble and not Voess. Ulfric lands a powerful attack, and Tohmoh misses with an Eldritch blast.

Karloff attacks them with lightning, then starts running for the door. Marrow and Ulfric take opportunity attacks, weakening Karloff severely. Marrow then tries a spell, and fails.

Ducky and Voess swing at each other again, with Aiyiri deciding to take a step back.

Aiyiri: “I don’t care. This isn’t my fight.”

Ducky will remember that...

Anyway, Ducky hurts Voess again, but Voess rolls critical. He digs his axes into Ducky’s chest, cutting straight through his breastplate, and leaving Ducky struggling for life.

Tohmoh sees this and comes to his friend’s rescue. He jumps in and casts Dissonant Whispers, sending such pain into Voess that he flees. Ulfric then, not emotionally attached enough to be distracted by Voess, lands the killing blow against Karloff.

Karloff, dying: “I... failed?”

Rori appears with a potion of Cure Wounds to help Ducky, who also lays hands on himself (must be nice, being a paladin). With everything calming down, the party turn to the biggest surprise -- Ulfric. The Dwarf explains what he was doing up there, posing the question, at the same time: “Who owns the mine? They tell me you can’t. I want to.”

As he’s explaining, he spots some ruby and digs it out. He tucks it away into his pack, and the player, in the face of potential fortune, forgets that Ulfric intended to use it to prove the mines weren’t barren. Marrow collects the encyclopedias, because he understands the value of knowledge.

He still doesn’t read them, though...

The Dragons answer some questions. They reveal that Karloff was a doppelganger who had come into town shortly after the real Karloff. He had taken on Karloff’s identity and learned how to cast magic by reading Karloff’s journals. The real Karloff had met his fate at the hands of the basilisk, and was one of many statues residing in the bowels of the mine.

They also reveal that Rohss made it home safe, and the mountains are home to a tunnel into the Underworld that the Mages had been digging for reasons unknown to the dragons.

One of the dragons, named Cupcake, falls to Ducky’s natural 20 Animal Handling roll and joins them as a companion.

The party, with Voess helping Ducky, head back down. Ulfric uses the fact that Sheriff Chaney lost a bet during a card game to him in order to talk Chaney and his mob down from attacking the PC’s. There is also a debate triggered about whether or not Karloff really “owned” his cave, and if he did, does Ulfric now own it by law of battle.

Him and Chaney IC argue about it, while everyone else OOC argues about it. I’ve never seen property law become such a touchy subject in a D&D game before...

Oh, the party also explain to the mob that Karloff is dead, which helps to calm it down. They view Chaney as overreacting a bit, and disperse.

Chaney allows them to stay at the inn. After Chaney explains that Victor the innkeeper had been beheaded “for justice”, Ulfric decides he now owns the Seahorse. Chaney tells him he only needs to find the deed, as Victor had no next of kin, and Chaney doesn’t really care what happens to it.

Nobody seems disturbed by Chaney’s obvious lack of compassion, nor his overuse of the law in order to kill. One player has to leave to pick someone up from work, so the PC’s make their way to the inn, where they fall into a troubled sleep.

-End-

#d&d 5e #d&d campaign #chelastian campaign #ducky mallard #tohmoh the damarrion #marrow the bard #aiyiri the fighter #rorimac bracegirdle #ulfric stormcloak #cupcake the faerie dragon

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