Event | Satellite | Spectres!

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: May 23 - 26, 2013
Location: Keeliai, turtleside, ARSHEPHELIOS cluster remains
Situation: Repairs and salvage operations operating innocently have triggered an invasion of spectres that possess and wreak havoc upon all they see.
Warnings/Rating: Please put CW in your subject lines

Satellite Crash Event

Crash Landing | Salvage Party | Shocking Spectres


Questions | Keeliai | ARSHEPHELIOS


Salvage is sweet, but not all is well on board the ARSHEPHELIOS cluster. The seamless cylinders salvaged from debris and the cluster, now being frequently traded, turn out to be pods the first time one is penetrated or cracked open. Each breached pod releases a flood of energy-based apparitions hellbent on world domination -- or, more accurately, person domination (and it's not the fun kind).

These apparitions -- spectres, if you will -- are driven by a need to protect the technology of the satellite cluster that their pods are associated with. They will stop at nothing to see this through. Each is immune to physical attacks, but seem to be injured or dissipated entirely by things like electrical shock or other energy-based projections. If people touch them, there is also a brief window of vulnerability, but it acts also like a door that swings both way. Through contact, these spectres can and will invade one's psyche, take over their body and cause them to attack friend or foe alike! Should the possessed body be subjected to sufficient electrical shock, the possession should fade. Strong natural will can also drive the spectres out, but it is no walk in the park to do so. Possession is not the only tool in the arsenal, for these spectres use electricity as their main offensive weapon. They'll leave deep-tissue burns on anyone they fight, and show no degree of fatigue after constant use of it.

Ten thousand of these creatures will be freed from pods, resulting in a veritable flood of Keeliai, the turtleside, and the satellite cluster. With such a driven enemy, it comes down to killing or being killed.

Meanwhile, those taking shelter indoors may notice that the spectres will get into the biomechanical functions of Keeliai. Consoles will be malfunctioning during this time, with lines of mysterious code and strange, ghostly images. One might hear people screaming for help or hours of patchy radio static.

Comments

[imaginate]

[All he needed. That ring of his? It's fizzing, sparking, and it is pointed directly at her.]

This is your final warning. You have ten seconds.

[backwordscompatible]

[Hnn. This was not working. Time to regroup and switch the order of--]

[...]

[...that was it! The order! The little witch wasn't speaking a different language; she was simply reversing the order of her current one. Now things made sense, and it had precisely what it needed.]

I should say the same to you, Foreign.

[Smirking, it slowly rose a hand, palm facing outward. The frown melted away into a look of confidence.]

Leave now, and both bodies will continue to remain unscathed. I will not be responsible for what happens should you choose not to heed my final warning.

[imaginate]

[A snarl.]

Test me, and I will obliterate you. Five seconds.

[backwordscompatible]

You would not risk her life.

[Confidence, to the degree of arrogance. The smirk widened.]

Four...Three...Two...

Erif!

[There was a subtle difference to the surge of power that sprung from her. Zatanna's magic tended to come with a degree of grace to it. Usually accompanied by a swirl of wind as the elements shifted in her favor. But there was nothing but forced energy as a large fireball abruptly shot from her palm, red and angry and containing nothing of the beauty such an attack--however, offensive--would normally possess.]

[imaginate]

[Kyle doesn't have time to retort before the fireball comes. It has no finesse, but it's still deadly. He disperses it easily, and readies himself to shock the spectre out of her.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Since the battle with Damian and having escaped the bonds put on him, Jack's awareness came in spurts, patches of sight-sound-feeling like shutters banging open and closed on a window. Most of the time he was only aware of a vague sense of motion, the ever-present draw of ice and cold being siphoned off by a force he couldn't control and from a reserve that had passed empty hours previous, exponentially sped up by the loss of his staff. Now it was drawing from the very source that kept him alive (or what passed for life, for him) and delusionally he wondered if it ran out would he just disappear?

The specter, however, was furious. Whatever its host had done had drained nearly all of the elemental power from it, leaving only a chaotic mix of icy attributes that it couldn't work into usable attacks as it had before and on top of that, had drastically altered the body's appearance that even passing itself off under guise would be impossible. Jack's eyes had become deeply sunken, bearing no trace of their usual mischievous gleam. Though his outfit had not changed, the delicate embroidery of frost that usually decorated the blue hoodie had been replaced with a heavy shawl of icicles that swung and clinked together as he moved. Heavier ice clung to his hair as well, snaked around his fingers, up across hollowed out cheeks like white mehndi tattoos against a complexion that had always pale, but had turned distinctly bloodless.

But for some things, guile was not needed. When the apparition saw the battle ahead with one of the Foreign and its brethren, it did not hesitate. This host's body and powers may be all but useless... but the female one was not, and needed to be preserved. A lance of lightning, augmented by what little ice and cold it could pull together, speeds for the back of Kyle's head. ]

[backwordscompatible]

[Interestingly enough, this one was able to sense the approaching ally far before it could see. Her powers were far more versatile than first suspected; all the better to keep her under its control.]

[The male had dodged the first attack, but those precious seconds of defense were enough for the body of Zatanna to remember thgilf. A word still so strange to he ears, yet came naturally to the tongue. Rising into the air, it spun around once to dodge any initially retaliations before winding up again for the next attack.]

[...meanwhile, far down, Zatanna's spirit was deep in meditation, attempting to push the specter out. Her focus wavered when she sensed Jack approach, before doubling her resolve to fight back.]

[imaginate]

[It's an instinct, when something's coming for you. Kyle spins, defends himself from Jack's attacks. He doesn't even stop to register what's happening, because the part of him that is in battle recognises an enemy and retaliates. He flicks bolts of lightning at Jack, dodging, dancing, and he keeps one eye fixed on Zatanna, cursing quietly under his breath.

If it's a fight these things want, it's a fight they'll get.]

[wintershepherd]

[ The specter possession Jack is glad for the spirit's maneuverability, the grudging aid of the wind suddenly a bit less reluctant as it wants to keep the winter teen from getting jolted as much as the apparition does. It's an aerial dance as the two dart across the sky, the specter trying to dredge up that same frost-lightning Jack had used against it at first and finally finds it, shooting a lance of it across the space between them. ]

[backwordscompatible]

[How inconvenient.]

[It would be a good opportunity to escape, except the male continued to keep a close watch. No doubt, he would peruse unless he was taken care of once and for all.]

I nommus eht dniw!

[A bit awkward, even on the girl's tongue, because the words were not hers. But the spell was sufficient enough to draw upon her power, summoning a large gust of wind in hopes of knocking the male off its companion's course.]

[imaginate]

[What the hell.

Seriously just what the hell.

He grits his teeth.]

This is your last warning - both of you. Let them go, or else.

[wintershepherd]

You are in no position to warn.

[ It's Jack's voice but not, garbled as though around a mouthful of glass shards. Even without the focus of his staff, the spirit is doggedly doing everything he can to sabotage the specter's control. It maneuvers so that Kyle remains between he and Zatanna, forcing the divide of attentions. If he can create a distraction...

Jagged ice wreathed in blue light crackled around Jack's frame, as he built up a bigger charge to throw at Kyle. ]

[backwordscompatible]

Reason does not work with his kind. Just attack him, and get it over with.

[Zatanna's voice, on the other hand, came out dull and lifeless. Her body soon rose into the air with another spell, fueled by a localized tornado swirling around her feet. The gusts whipped at her hair and clothes, but her eyes hardly blinked.]

[A raise of one glove hand, and the spectre sparked to life a single flame, throwing the ball of fire just as its partner also let loose an attack with the other Foreign's power.]

[imaginate]

[Except this is a man who has brought down gods, and withstood far worse than this.

As they both make their moves, Kyle wonders, briefly, if this is what his comrades saw, in him. If this is what they fought against - the hollow eyes, the voice that was his and not quite his. What they must have thought. As quickly as it comes, the distraction is gone, he takes as much of the blows as he can (because the onus of restraint is on him), and he is heading for Zatanna. She is the more powerful of his current opponents. He has to knock her out or shock her - her magic will restrain Jack.]

[wintershepherd]

No!

[ There is a brief moment, a spike of fear when Kyle angles for where Zatanna hovers that his intentions and the specter's line up: protect her. It didn't matter that the two had very different reasons for wanting that, only that it was a joint desire. Guided more on instinct than conscious thought, Jack whips his arms forward so that his palms slap together and a thunderous shockwave of arctic wind, sleet and basketball sized chunks of diamond-hard ice descend on Kyle from above. ]

[backwordscompatible]

[It was the sudden desperation in the other host's voice that momentarily threw it off-guard, startled by both volume and intensity. It watched as its companion practically threw itself in front of the girl's form, with such a speed that there had to have been interference from the host's mind.]

[Interesting.]

[A clap of hands together, and a follow-up spell aids to amplify its partner's attack. Now suddenly on the defense; what it learned from this latest development was that the male seemed to be prioritizing the female in attack. He recognized her latent ability.]

[That just made her all the more precious a resource to preserve.]

Keep him distracted.

I must plan my escape.

[imaginate]

Oh no you don't!

[He fights the ice with simple shields - he can't risk focusing effort on Jack when Zee's right there-- the force of it throws him off balance but he's back on his feet (not quick enough not quick enough), headed straight for her again.

This time, he backs it up with lightning, and throws as much of a charge as he feels comfortable with at both of them.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Jack takes the brunt of the latest charge and with the lightning it's enough to throw him back several yards midair. But then he abruptly feels an absence and realizes that behind him, Zatanna is gone and the sky is empty save for the two of them. ]

You're too late.

[imaginate]

[His reply is only a roar of rage, and he directs the full force of it towards Jack, intending to free him from the spectre's control.]

[wintershepherd]

[ The specter believes itself ready to meet the blow, reveling in the power it had wielded a second ago but is caught off guard when it realizes that Jack's cooperation has evaporated with Zatanna's disappearance and the strike hits fully, wringing loose a pained cry as it lost perch in the air and tumbled down towards the street. ]

Ahhh!

[imaginate]

[Within seconds he's ringed up a cushion, and is beside it, waiting for Jack to land, hoping, - against hope - that he's not conscious, that he doesn't remember being hurt by the ring yet again--]

Hey. Hey, wake up!

[wintershepherd]

[ For a moment it seems as if the specter might still be in control when he lands... but after a few harsh coughs, Jack's head falls back against the construct cushion with a bone-weary smile as his gaze clears. ]

Mother Nature's... got nothing on you...

[imaginate]

Hey.

[His smile is relieved, and bright.]

I'm glad you're okay. Do you remember anything?

[wintershepherd]

[ He tries to nod and everything hurts, but he pushes that aside, struggling to sit up a little. He remembered most everything, interspersed with a few muddled areas but punctuated with clearer gaps when he went after people (friends) and he can't hide that flinch. ]

You have to... go and find her. It knows she's strong, it'll... get others to protect her.

[imaginate]

[He just lets out a relieved laugh that turns into a half-hiccup, and he holds his arm out for Jack to lean on him.]

I know. I'll drop you at the clinic - I want Sora to have a look at you, and then you're headed straight back to your freezer, all right?