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

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Victor arches a brow at the quick response. He's not so sure he buys that there's nothing wrong. He just thinks Jack is trying to get him to not worry about him.]

As near as I can tell, something fell out of the sky and set a lot of the place on fire. Some of the Kedan went a little nuts with looting, others had to be rescued, and now we have crazy electric ghosts trying to kill us for some reason that's probably stupid. I'm guessing they were on whatever piece of space junk fell. Other than that, I don't know. I haven't had time to see what everyone else knows yet.

[wintershepherd]

I see.

[ Jack could feel frost curling along the skin of his arm which held the staff beneath the sweatshirt's material. Victor, please! This thing isn't me! ]

[ intently: ] You don't have any of this... space junk? Do you?

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Victor looks down at himself in his uniform and then back up at Jack.]

No...are you sure you're alright? You sound a little strange.

[wintershepherd]

Yes. I'm fine.

[ This time the repetition was automatic, almost plastic and Jack stepped towards Victor, frost crackling across the rooftop's surface in jagged spikes rather than the fern-like spirals the winter spirit usually left. ]

Where are pieces of the ship? Where did you see them? Tell me.

[alpha_squad_leader]

[The way Jack replies to him gets Victor frowning. Eyes flick towards the crackling frost and Vic takes a step back. When he looks back up at Jack, Victor tenses. He'd seen those ghost things possessing people and now he's worried. Taking another step back, Victor tries to figure out what to do. On top of not wanting to hurt Jack, he's really not sure how he can fight a possessed Winter Spirit.]

How about you let go of my friend first. Then we can talk.

[He's got to try diplomacy first.]

[wintershepherd]

[ The guise drops and the long staff flicks out, the specter having already identified that it was the proper conduit and against his will, Jack is forced to shoot a half dozen knife-sharp spears of ice at Victor. His voice is slightly warped when he speaks again, less effort from the specter on using the vocal cords in favour of calling on its new offensive powers. ]

No need for talking.

[ Trapped in his own body, Jack redoubles his efforts to break free of the specter's possession -- but every time he seems to make any progress, it comes at the cost of the creature taking a little more of his core. ]

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Cursing under his breath, Victor leaps up to the side to avoid the spikes. Rolling and landing on his feet, he keeps his eyes on Jack.]

Hey, you guys started attacking us first. There's got to be some way we can figure out how to avoid all this fighting and people getting hurt on both sides.

[wintershepherd]

[ But the specter doesn't seem interested in speaking anymore, following the icicle spears with a flare of whitish-blue light that sends hailstones the size of fists in Victor's direction. It's clear that the creature is still getting used to Jack's powers of ice and is trying to determine exactly what it can do. ]

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Victor's eyes go wide and he lifts his spiked arm to shield his face from the hail. A few of the stones strike him and draw a grunt from the mutant before he leaps up in the air and flips. Making a mental note to apologize to Jack later, he tries to kick the spirit in hopes that a little...kinetic adjustment might help him break free from the specter's control.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Instinctively Jack's arms come up to block the strike, but there's no way the spirit's scant form is a match for Victor's blow and he's knocked back several paces with an "oof!" and a glare darkening Jack's normally amiable features. Ice coils like liquid nitrogen around him then rushes at the mutant, looking to take a limb out of commission. ]

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Flipping back after impact, Victor lands on his feet. He starts to move to follow up his attack by stops when he realizes that using his tongue against Jack is very bad idea. Before he can come up with another plan there's ice flying his way and Victor leaps to the side again. He doesn't get as far as he wants, hitting the ground with an oof! of his own. Pushing up, he curses under his breath when he finds one of his legs encased in ice from the knee down.]

[wintershepherd]

[ The ice solidifies around Victor's leg and begins to constrict like a concrete cast; Jack has seen pack ice tear down steel pier pillars before and he does not want to think about what it will do to flesh. The spirit wrestles with the specter's control again, desperate to claw back control of his body -- and gets it for a few seconds, enough to flick one hand out and shatter the ice back into harmless shards before it can tighten enough to crush. ]

Vic--!

[ But that's all he gets out before his hold slips away again. Still, it's enough of a distraction as the specters has to reassert control for Victor to have an advantage of speed. ]

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Victor lets out a yell as the ice starts constricting. He twists and draws back his spiked fist but Jack saves him the trouble. As soon as his leg is free, Vic's pulling himself away from the ice and pushing up to his feet. His healing factor's already getting to work but he's still stuck with a slight limp for the moment.

Seeing an opening, Victor launches himself at Jack and tries to clothesline the spirit with his normal arm.]

[wintershepherd]

[ The specter tenses as though ready to leap out of the way when Jack and the wind collaborate to keep his body planted firmly on the rooftop and directly in the path of the blow which sends him stumbling, the specter in control enough to feel pain and being unused to such a physical hurt. ]

Stubborn host!

[ This time it's warped so much it's hardly Jack's voice at all, and the specter finds footing again to hurl a gale force of sleet at Victor, the temperature in a fifty yard radius falling sharply and continuing to drop as the specter discovers the air itself can be frozen. ]

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Rolling again, Victor gives a smirk as he comes back to his feet.]

Jack's strong so get out of his body before he kicks your ass out and we can still handle this diplomatically.

[He starts to step towards his possessed friend again only for that wind and sleet to slam into him. He lifts his spiked arm to try to shield his face but the plummeting temperatures are slowing him down rapidly and he's starting to shiver.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Viciously delighted to seemingly have found a useful ability, the specter boldly advances on Victor while the temperature continues to drop, slicking ice across the rooftop and pouring over the sides building. ]

Worth it.

[alpha_squad_leader]

[As the temperature keeps dropping and the ice spreads, Vic ends up dropping to the rooftop and curling into a tight ball to try to keep warm. He tries to reach out of grab Jack but he's moving far too slow and can't feel his fingers anymore anyway. He's starting to black out as the ice pours over the side of the building, silently hoping Jack can break free of control.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Seeing the cold affecting Victor, Jack throws everything he has against the specter's control, sacrificing for the moment the protection of Winter in desperation to protect his friend.

No, no! I won't let you hurt him!

And the cold wavers, stopping its arctic plunge as the two war inside Jack's mind. ]

[constants]

[ The Archive noticed the fight as she was passing by and slipped behind a veil to watch it unfold. There was no good reason to interfere, but Jack had seemed nice enough when they had conversed, and he had been helpful. She supposed stopping him from killing someone who appeared to be a friend was enough to repay his help.

She unveils a couple meters behind him, her face as passive as ever, and speaks in a clear voice. ]

Excuse me, I need to ask you to stop trying to kill him.

[ She has no expectation for this to work, so it's shields up time and she's got more than a few spells gathered at the back of her mind. ]

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Victor's grateful for the waves stopping. Or he would be if he weren't too busy trying not to freeze to death in what he's hit with already. Covered in the sleet, he tries to call out to warn whoever owns that new voice he hears but he just can't manage it.]

[wintershepherd]

[ The suddenness of the new voice behind him stumbles his concentration and the specter seizes control once again, turning towards the young girl (Jack recognizes her too, panics, no she's just a kid!) and gathering a fist size ball of ice in one palm. ]

[constants]

[ This clearly is not going to be solved peacefully, so she starts with something indirect. She sweeps her hand across her body, and hundreds of candle sized flames pop up across the roof top, slowly starting to raise the temperature. ]

I will ask you once again: desist.

[alpha_squad_leader]

[Victor manages to turn enough to see who's around. He doesn't recognize her but he sees Jack making ice and those fires appearing. Gritting his teeth, he forces himself to speak.]

Not...not Jack! He's possessed!

[wintershepherd]

[ The specter, unused to a body regulated by temperature (or any body at all, for that matter) didn't see the inherent danger of the flames and launches the ball of ice at the girl. While in midair it grows spikes like a free-form mace head, flying directly at her. ]

[constants]

[ She already guessed that he was possessed, but the confirmation is good. ]

I will not do him any permanent harm.

[ There is barely a reason to be interfering after all.

The Archive flicks her hand at the ice ball and it shatters as an unseen force smashes into it. A quick wave of her hand casts a concentrated burst of flames to melt the shards, and then fades. Hopefully she can distract the specter enough to cast a strong enough force blow to Jack's head to knock him out. ]