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

[depicted]

The inhumanity reminds him what he should be doing. With no heart for apologies, Dorian lets the hands get their target this time and reaches his gloved hand towards Harry's jaw to send electricity running through him.

[epigrammatical]

The thing inside Henry grapples for Dorian and makes contact, but before it can really hurt Dorian, the charge from the gauntlet ripples through Henry's body. He has seen demonstrations of electricity, has seen what few buildings and curiosities have been wired in London, but he has never felt an electric shock before—it is the strangest kind of pain he has ever experienced, and he sinks to his knees.

And the entity recoils; he can feel it losing its grip and he looks up at Dorian, himself again. He's never seen an expression like that on Dorian's face before, and fleetingly he wonders if that was what Basil saw, at the end. "Dorian. What are you—"

He's cut off again as the being slams back into his nervous system, and as it does so it seizes Dorian's leg, trying to hurt him again. It's weaker now, though; Henry can feel it. He can't quite stop it reaching for Dorian's leg, but he can at least keep looking at his face.

[depicted]

Relief is stolen away from Dorian, but he reacts fast. Dorian swings the pipe around and slams the end down onto Henry's gripping wrist, hard enough he hopes to break the bones or the grip.

[epigrammatical]

The pipe comes down hard on his left wrist and there's an awful noise and pain that just makes Henry want to black out. His body recoils, drawing back the broken hand and pulling away from Dorian, and there's a hissing noise that's coming from Henry's throat that isn't a sound a human should be making.

It's distracted now. So is Henry, from the sheer pain, but he manages to wrest back control of his tongue again for a moment. "Stop it," he whispers, "please, stop it—"

His throat closes up and now the thing is hissing again, trying to regroup and make one more attack on Dorian.

[depicted]

For his old friend, Dorian does his best to oblige. He grabs Harry by the throat to let loose another jolt of lightning. This time, he would not let go until he was sure the work was done.

[epigrammatical]

The agony is nearly intolerable, salved only by the fact that Henry can feel the thing shrinking—dissipating—fading away. And when it is gone, his body slumps, going limp and falling away from Dorian's grasp.

Somehow he's still conscious, though his vision is clouded and there is nothing for him except pain. He wonders, vaguely, if he is dying.

[depicted]

It's done, he hopes, but he's ready for any last minute resurrection. His gauntlet stays on; his pipe he tucks under an arm so he can touch Harry's neck, check for a pulse, mouth and test for breath.

"Harry? Harry, are you still with me?" It is no gentle youth that calls for a response. Dorian has done worse to people he loved better, and he just wants to get Henry somewhere safe and quiet where he can heal.

[epigrammatical]

He hears Dorian's voice as if from a very long way away. "Dorian," he whispers, but he's not sure if the name is at all comprehensible.

He doesn't know it, but he doesn't actually look as badly hurt as one might expect, apart from bruises, scrapes, the broken wrist, and a certain reddening of the skin where the gauntlet touched him. The real damage is below the skin, and only the fact that he's slowly going into shock is now keeping the worst of the pain at bay. His pulse flutters and his skin is starting to go clammy.

"Sabriel," he finally manages. She treated his hands, after all. "She ... she can help."

[depicted]

Dorian remembers: a face on the network, a name on the screen. "I'll get you to her. Stay alive." Dorian hoists Harry up. He'll be dead weight soon, probably, and Dorian is no superhuman. But Lord Henry is an old friend. So Dorian resolves himself: he has to get the man to Sabriel. And he will.

[epigrammatical]

That's all he needs. Nothing seems to be working as it should now, and soon he slips away into unconsciousness. Sabriel won't be able to heal him completely, but at least her magic will keep him from dying.

[N.B.: Actual healing and results handwaved per consultation with Sabriel's player.]