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aather_ooc2013-07-14 11:07 pm
maidmalapert) wrote in aather_ooc2013-07-14 11:07 pm
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Summary Post!
Here is a handy summary of the plot that happened this weekend! All of these events took place on Day 266.
Predawn: Heroes, Knights and Personae gathered and waited, on the Walls and at the Gates for the barrier to be taken down. Lancelot stood ready to fight directly with the heroes and Maleficent gave out crystalline hope seeds, which she has been trying to grow for some time.
Sunrise/Early Morning: As the sun rose, the bells rang and the gates opened. Inside the Great Hall, medics and noncombatants waited, and Queen Guinevere held down the fort.
Outside, fighters met the Darkness in battle with a couple of huge midbosses:
The Ry’lehphant: The Darkness started off its attack by building a colossus from the ground up -- a bipedal mammoth with a tentacled horrorterror for a face, which began to move towards the wall with smaller monsters climbing up it, ostensibly to hitch a ride over the fortifications.
Several heroes fought hard on the ground to stop it from getting any further as well as wiping out the smaller monsters climbing its legs and blocking access to them; those on the wall also attacked its head with ballista missiles while fighting off the monsters it successfully flung at them.
Heroes discovered that hope seeds fired into its body would explode outwards into moving crystal vines that damaged it -- and indeed, any Darkness monster -- greatly. Despite being besieged by its concussive stomp attacks and icy blood, as well as finding that any wounds inflicted on them felt numb and hindered their movement, starting to petrify them, the heroes succeeded in killing and toppling it.
The Chasmfiend: As the ry’lehphant fell, a second monster rose out of the darkness -- not unlike a skyscraper-sized lobster, covered all in black chitin and armed with four massive foreclaws, its head arrow-shaped and equipped with a maw full of sharp and twitching mandibles. Smaller creatures climbed its legs and rode its back, but these were quickly swept aside.
Snipers quickly took out one eye and threatened the rest; it retaliated by sweeping the ground and the walls with its claws and releasing a swarm of man-sized, tentacle-faced beetles from its back. These threatened the fliers and swarmed the fighters trying to climb its legs, but were unable to stop either force. A concentrated effort destroyed six of its seven left-hand legs, forcing it to use its lower foreclaws to support itself rather than attacking; the ballistae on the wall used explosive bolts and the help of mages to first crack, then shatter its torso armor, leaving exposed patches of flesh.
As the tentabeetles tried in vain to slow the heroes’ advance, the chasmfiend breathed in, causing a freezing gale that seemed to drain energy as well as life. Immediately thereafter, it unleashed a devastating sonic attack which threatened to shake the very walls apart -- but the heroes were swift to respond, breaking its concentration and slaying it with a combination of lightning magic, swordplay, flares launched from beneath, explosive ballista shots, swift-growing hope seeds and a dragon exploding out of its shoulder.
Other heroes used the time to go scouting, here! The scouts headed into a dark, uneasy wood. They came across numerous frozen statues in the snow, of all sorts of people and creatures, human and animal. Touching them resulted in an icy pain that numbed the body . . . they quickly (or not so quickly) learned not to touch them at all.
Despite the oppressive darkness, the heroes discovered that by planting hope seeds, they could lighten the air around the statues. At first, most grew into small oak saplings. Eventually, they came across a steep ravine: there were faces frozen under the water, and a row of twelve gravestones lining the frozen creek, numbered from I to XII.
A shovel was also found here; the heroes began to argue about whether or not they ought to dig up the graves, and as they did so, began to feel more and more agitated in various ways. They figured out that it was the darkness acting on them, and managed to overcome the feeling trying to force strife and conflict. The hope seed there turned into an evergreen.
As the heroes moved deeper into the forest, the feelings of helplessness, despair, and anger grew. They reached an actual path in the woods, a clearing with a junction that went three ways. Here they found a sign that pointed to Camelot and two other directions; one had a scrap of red cloth, and in it they found a ring belonging to King Arthur. There was an extremely eroded statue of a girl with a star on her forehead here. They also found an iron box that could not be opened—or at least, it could, but it was impossible to tell what was inside.
The heroes planted a hope seed in the clearing, which grew into a powerful oak tree—just in time to protect them from the darkness closing in around them. They planted the rest of the seeds in a circle of 12 around the central tree, creating a barrier, and fired their final seed out into the darkness. After that, they deployed Firebird's emergency escapes and returned to Camelot.
Midmorning: After thelobster Chasmfiend fell, the forces of Darkness and Aather alike took a moment to regroup. Lloyd and Mithos planted two hope seeds here, which grew into a cluster of forget-me-nots, one on each side of the Gate. A few fighters made use of this earlier post to rest in the Great Hall as well.
The scouts returned from their foray into the forest here, and Arthur's ring was brought to Guinevere. Loki took a number of pictures of key events.
Late Morning: The bells of Camelot rang to announce the next threat, and the heroes, rested and fed, took up their positions once more. Before them stood the full might of the Darkness’s army -- thousands of man-sized monsters, no two precisely alike, but all well-armed with talons or fangs or stingers. Among them strode giants bearing hammers the size of small trees or bags of boulders to hurl against the walls, and some carried great wooden shields or scaling ladders. Above them circled a vast murder of gorecrows, giant birds with additional fanged mouths in their chests.
They advanced behind their shields, but the heroes quickly immobilized them with ice or burned them to ash, wreaking havoc on their bearers; some sallied forth to attack the giants directly, and the ballistae dueled with stone-hurling titans. Making shields of their own bodies, the infantry rallied around their scaling ladders and charged into a furious defense, and the gorecrows descended to swarm the beleaguered heroes, clawing with beak and talon and lifting any hero small enough.
The defending warriors were hard-pressed, but they were not broken; terrible though the giants were, they fell beneath blades and explosives, and the gate’s defenders stood strong against the oncoming horde. Personae aided them: Odile lent the defenders her strength against the gorecrows, and Nimue blessed those who fought in groups with those they cared for. Gorecrows fell by the dozens to fire and arrow, and even as a pair of scaling ladders reached the walls, the sky rained fire and lightning on the body of the enemy army.
Mages unleashed their most potent spells, and even their successful scaling ladders availed the enemy not; one burned immediately, and though the second remained for a time, no enemy passed its defenders to reach the top of the wall. The last giants fell, and the Darkness began to know fear.
The defending heroes seized the moment and redoubled their assault, charging into the enemy with the aid of Old Joe’s spear Gungnir. Such fear did they cause in the front ranks that the remaining siege ladders could not approach through the press of their fellows, and all at once a rout began as the heroes slew and slew. Of all that loathsome host, fully half remained dead on the field, and the rest fled deep into the dark forest and have not been seen again.
At one point during the battle, the Great Hall was hit by a stray rock, but the defenses stood sound.
Midday: Immediately after the Darkness's army fled, defeated, into the forest, Selenia and Kira planted another hope seed near the edge of the forest, here, which grew into a blue hollyhock.
Everyone went inside to recuperate here, mainly in the Great Hall. The barrier went back up, the gates closed, and things returned to normal . . . with a few exceptions in the form of new landmarks: a visible patch of green in the black forest, where the scouts planted their trees, and some small patches of blue on the ground on either side of the gate, and at the edge of the forest, where other hope seeds grew into forget-me-nots and blue hollyhock respectively. There is also a new boulder, split in three, on the road by the castle.
Afternoon: Once the victorious fighters and healers of Aather had had a chance to recover, Queen Guinevere presented the Heroes and Knights all with a choice. After some discussion here (and in this poll), it was decided that the barrier will remain up and strengthened, and come down at planned, irregular intervals for us to raid and protect as we need to. The energy from the barrier may then be temporarily diverted toward protecting other elements until the raiding group returns. And everybody cheered.
Now it is time for sleep, and/or partying.
If you participated in these brave efforts on or offscreen, please feel free to summarize what your character did in the comments of this post!
Thank you everyone!! ♥
Predawn: Heroes, Knights and Personae gathered and waited, on the Walls and at the Gates for the barrier to be taken down. Lancelot stood ready to fight directly with the heroes and Maleficent gave out crystalline hope seeds, which she has been trying to grow for some time.
Sunrise/Early Morning: As the sun rose, the bells rang and the gates opened. Inside the Great Hall, medics and noncombatants waited, and Queen Guinevere held down the fort.
Outside, fighters met the Darkness in battle with a couple of huge midbosses:
The Ry’lehphant: The Darkness started off its attack by building a colossus from the ground up -- a bipedal mammoth with a tentacled horrorterror for a face, which began to move towards the wall with smaller monsters climbing up it, ostensibly to hitch a ride over the fortifications.
Several heroes fought hard on the ground to stop it from getting any further as well as wiping out the smaller monsters climbing its legs and blocking access to them; those on the wall also attacked its head with ballista missiles while fighting off the monsters it successfully flung at them.
Heroes discovered that hope seeds fired into its body would explode outwards into moving crystal vines that damaged it -- and indeed, any Darkness monster -- greatly. Despite being besieged by its concussive stomp attacks and icy blood, as well as finding that any wounds inflicted on them felt numb and hindered their movement, starting to petrify them, the heroes succeeded in killing and toppling it.
The Chasmfiend: As the ry’lehphant fell, a second monster rose out of the darkness -- not unlike a skyscraper-sized lobster, covered all in black chitin and armed with four massive foreclaws, its head arrow-shaped and equipped with a maw full of sharp and twitching mandibles. Smaller creatures climbed its legs and rode its back, but these were quickly swept aside.
Snipers quickly took out one eye and threatened the rest; it retaliated by sweeping the ground and the walls with its claws and releasing a swarm of man-sized, tentacle-faced beetles from its back. These threatened the fliers and swarmed the fighters trying to climb its legs, but were unable to stop either force. A concentrated effort destroyed six of its seven left-hand legs, forcing it to use its lower foreclaws to support itself rather than attacking; the ballistae on the wall used explosive bolts and the help of mages to first crack, then shatter its torso armor, leaving exposed patches of flesh.
As the tentabeetles tried in vain to slow the heroes’ advance, the chasmfiend breathed in, causing a freezing gale that seemed to drain energy as well as life. Immediately thereafter, it unleashed a devastating sonic attack which threatened to shake the very walls apart -- but the heroes were swift to respond, breaking its concentration and slaying it with a combination of lightning magic, swordplay, flares launched from beneath, explosive ballista shots, swift-growing hope seeds and a dragon exploding out of its shoulder.
Other heroes used the time to go scouting, here! The scouts headed into a dark, uneasy wood. They came across numerous frozen statues in the snow, of all sorts of people and creatures, human and animal. Touching them resulted in an icy pain that numbed the body . . . they quickly (or not so quickly) learned not to touch them at all.
Despite the oppressive darkness, the heroes discovered that by planting hope seeds, they could lighten the air around the statues. At first, most grew into small oak saplings. Eventually, they came across a steep ravine: there were faces frozen under the water, and a row of twelve gravestones lining the frozen creek, numbered from I to XII.
A shovel was also found here; the heroes began to argue about whether or not they ought to dig up the graves, and as they did so, began to feel more and more agitated in various ways. They figured out that it was the darkness acting on them, and managed to overcome the feeling trying to force strife and conflict. The hope seed there turned into an evergreen.
As the heroes moved deeper into the forest, the feelings of helplessness, despair, and anger grew. They reached an actual path in the woods, a clearing with a junction that went three ways. Here they found a sign that pointed to Camelot and two other directions; one had a scrap of red cloth, and in it they found a ring belonging to King Arthur. There was an extremely eroded statue of a girl with a star on her forehead here. They also found an iron box that could not be opened—or at least, it could, but it was impossible to tell what was inside.
The heroes planted a hope seed in the clearing, which grew into a powerful oak tree—just in time to protect them from the darkness closing in around them. They planted the rest of the seeds in a circle of 12 around the central tree, creating a barrier, and fired their final seed out into the darkness. After that, they deployed Firebird's emergency escapes and returned to Camelot.
Midmorning: After the
The scouts returned from their foray into the forest here, and Arthur's ring was brought to Guinevere. Loki took a number of pictures of key events.
Late Morning: The bells of Camelot rang to announce the next threat, and the heroes, rested and fed, took up their positions once more. Before them stood the full might of the Darkness’s army -- thousands of man-sized monsters, no two precisely alike, but all well-armed with talons or fangs or stingers. Among them strode giants bearing hammers the size of small trees or bags of boulders to hurl against the walls, and some carried great wooden shields or scaling ladders. Above them circled a vast murder of gorecrows, giant birds with additional fanged mouths in their chests.
They advanced behind their shields, but the heroes quickly immobilized them with ice or burned them to ash, wreaking havoc on their bearers; some sallied forth to attack the giants directly, and the ballistae dueled with stone-hurling titans. Making shields of their own bodies, the infantry rallied around their scaling ladders and charged into a furious defense, and the gorecrows descended to swarm the beleaguered heroes, clawing with beak and talon and lifting any hero small enough.
The defending warriors were hard-pressed, but they were not broken; terrible though the giants were, they fell beneath blades and explosives, and the gate’s defenders stood strong against the oncoming horde. Personae aided them: Odile lent the defenders her strength against the gorecrows, and Nimue blessed those who fought in groups with those they cared for. Gorecrows fell by the dozens to fire and arrow, and even as a pair of scaling ladders reached the walls, the sky rained fire and lightning on the body of the enemy army.
Mages unleashed their most potent spells, and even their successful scaling ladders availed the enemy not; one burned immediately, and though the second remained for a time, no enemy passed its defenders to reach the top of the wall. The last giants fell, and the Darkness began to know fear.
The defending heroes seized the moment and redoubled their assault, charging into the enemy with the aid of Old Joe’s spear Gungnir. Such fear did they cause in the front ranks that the remaining siege ladders could not approach through the press of their fellows, and all at once a rout began as the heroes slew and slew. Of all that loathsome host, fully half remained dead on the field, and the rest fled deep into the dark forest and have not been seen again.
At one point during the battle, the Great Hall was hit by a stray rock, but the defenses stood sound.
Midday: Immediately after the Darkness's army fled, defeated, into the forest, Selenia and Kira planted another hope seed near the edge of the forest, here, which grew into a blue hollyhock.
Everyone went inside to recuperate here, mainly in the Great Hall. The barrier went back up, the gates closed, and things returned to normal . . . with a few exceptions in the form of new landmarks: a visible patch of green in the black forest, where the scouts planted their trees, and some small patches of blue on the ground on either side of the gate, and at the edge of the forest, where other hope seeds grew into forget-me-nots and blue hollyhock respectively. There is also a new boulder, split in three, on the road by the castle.
Afternoon: Once the victorious fighters and healers of Aather had had a chance to recover, Queen Guinevere presented the Heroes and Knights all with a choice. After some discussion here (and in this poll), it was decided that the barrier will remain up and strengthened, and come down at planned, irregular intervals for us to raid and protect as we need to. The energy from the barrier may then be temporarily diverted toward protecting other elements until the raiding group returns. And everybody cheered.
Now it is time for sleep, and/or partying.
If you participated in these brave efforts on or offscreen, please feel free to summarize what your character did in the comments of this post!
Thank you everyone!! ♥
no subject
ALSO THANK YOU, IT WAS A TON OF FUN!