ic Golden Dead

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

A hand carefully reaches out to touch the golden mass. She wonders again if this is wise, but before she can change her mind the mass lunges for her. 

 

Almost as if it knew what the symbiote could do, and it reacted. Gold flowed up her arm, soaking into the symbiote. She could feel the alien presence of the techno-organics realling against the assault. She felt it pull away and the visions slammed into her like a gold pounding at the ship's hull.

 

On 1/13/2024 at 7:44 PM, Supercape said:

Visions of graves, of funeral pyres. African warriors and Kings, trading gold with the Europeans, soaked in blood of war and slavery...

 

 

...Of cheap and shallow graves of the Slaves in the colonies...

 

...of Conquistadors in search of Lemurian gold...

 

...of Swamps and Marshes, ruled by a Hag, a sorcerous Hag casting curses on gold...

 

...of the Dead, burned alived from molten gold...

 

Chimera crumples to all four on the floor of the cargo hold with a scream of pain. Her eyes stare, unfocused at the floor as she labors to catch her breath. Her mind races at twice the speed of a normal person’s, but still feels like an eternity before she manages to wipe the tears from her eyes.

It takes a visible effort as she attempts to pull herself up to her feet using a nearby crate for support.

[Nerdzul]

Luke was still contemplating what to do, clearly at a loss. "Maybe we can-" What if? Maybe he could use his dragonfire on the animated gold? It was in liquid form already though so yeah turning it incandescent wasn't gonna improve the situation much, worse so if the whole vessel caught fire. 

 

"We must gather it somehow..." He wondered if he could at least hold it in his claws.

 

He didn't have much time to ponder as Chimera approached that thing and her strange metallic flesh seemingly consumed some of the gold. The flash of relief in his eyes when it seemed like it was working (and she wasn't being turned into gold herself or something) didn't last much however. 

 

Luke dashed to help her back on her feet, keeping an eye on the gold. "You alright? What the hell happened?" He asked as he took a few more steps toward the swirling mass.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The accursed mystical visions died down, leaving Chimera free of their intrusions onto her mind. Powerful impressions, though - easily recalled. Not hallucinations, but some deep memories. The Gold had a past, that was for sure. Moving between the continents to and fro, seeped in blood, traded for slaves and spears. 

 

Two sounds...

 

The sound of water, gurgling, hissing, spraying. The smell of salt water. The gold had made the smallest of holes in the hull of the ship, and the ocean was clamouring for entrance. 

 

The sound of gunfire and grenades, dull but audible. Reverberating around the rust and steel of the ship. Somebody outside, on the pier, was engaging in a gunfight!

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Chimera accepted Nightscale’s help in standing. She was still trying to piece together what she had seen.

 

“The, the gold.”

She starts to speak, then pauses to shake her head.

“It’s almost like it’s acting out of anger. I don’t think it’s alive, but something is driving it. Anger maybe?”

She looks up at Nightscale, unsure.

“I saw things. The gold, slavers and death. So much death.”

She couldn’t help but give a small shiver.

“Whatever it is, a curse, or vengeful spirit, or whatever, it really seems to have a strong dislike of boats.”

She says looking back towards where the gold had managed to breach the hull. The smell of salty bay water carried from the tiny fountains the mass had made.

And somewhere up above, the tell tale sounds of Blowfish’s tommygun could be found at heard.

“I don’t think I can do that again.”

She confesses.

“Honestly I didn’t know I could do it the first time. But, I don’t think I have it in me for a second try.”

[Nerdzul]

"So we have angry gold now..." Luke ruffled the hair on the back of his neck again. Things were precipitating fast, the ship was sinking and the mobsters outside were at war. "Great..." He muttered as he heard the gunfire outside. 

 

"I can try to... calm it... perhaps?" He winced, he had in fact learned a spell that affected emotions in the past, but in truth he didn't really know if it was gonna work on some gold... Then again if it could feel anger... 

 

"Can you try and patch the hull up somehow?" He asked as he closed the distance between himself and the swirling mass of cursed metal. 

 

"If this doesn't work I'm gonna try and drag this thing away..." He added, although he was still far from certain about how to do so.

 

His eyes glowed faintly of golden light as he tried to focus his magic on a sense of calm to infuse into the spellbound metal. "Easy now..." He said, as if he was trying to calm an angry beast. 

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Gold--- frothed!

 

It seethed and spat and swirled and staggered. It was if the angry curse was actually trying to push back at Nightscale! Visions of slavery and vengeance, of pillaging and looting once again assaulted the young heroes brain. Angry and unpleasant and best - furious and revolting at worst. 

 

And yet, for all the psychic turmoil that lay in the Gold, the dragon's spell appeared to be working. It bubbled less, and the vortex-drill started to slow. With a final quiver of slumbering rage, the gold stopped moving at all. 

 

Sea water was still seeping in; up to the boots now, sloshing and cold (it was a cold night and a cold ocean!). It would be hard to guess when the ship would sink; not days, not seconds. 

 

The sea water sloshed a little higher. Rusty metal groaned. 

 

And the sound of gunfire from the docks grew louder. 

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Chimera nodded at Nightscale.

“Be careful.”

She cautioned him.

 

As he approached the gold to try ‘calming’ it. Chimera moved to the crates in search of the sturdiest looking ones and begins tearing off sides. Grabbing the best ones she can she drops one over the biggest hole, using her own weight to hold it in place.

Without knowing if it will work she started bending, trying to force the pieces into a makeshift plug of sorts. Water soaked her as she knelt and worked the metal. She couldn’t chance trying to use her electrical charge to weld it. The sea water would carry the current away like a tide, or she might shock Nightscale. Maybe even herself. She had no idea if she’d be immune to her own electricity, but didn’t want to find out right this second.

 

She hoped her new friend was doing better than she was. They really needed to see what all the gun shots were about.

[Supercape]

GM

 

With a weld there and a rip here, Chimera could quickly make a makeshift plug. The Water was seeping fast - and she was up to her thighs in sewater by the time she had forged a plug...

 

...but how well it would it work?

 

And meanwhile the gunshots kept coming. 

 

And an explosion!

 

Whatever was happening outside, it was getting more frantic and more desperate! And possibly more lethal!

[Nerdzul]

Luke winced as the wave of emotions washed upon him, painful memories of a time long gone. 

 

He sighed out of relief as the gold calmed, instead of trying to engulf him, still he was gonna have to keep his concentration at least until they were safely out of the ship, but it was one less problem.

 

Gently he tried to gather the now seemingly peaceful mass of gold and searched for an empty crate where it could be stored. The plan was bring it outside of the vessel it hated so much and later contain it God knew where... but that was a problem for another time.

 

He nodded approvingly and gave Chimera a thumb up when her makeshift plug seemed to hold. Although his relief was short lived as an explosion echoed from outside.

 

"Really..." He lamented "Come on..."  

 

"Whatever..." Time to grab the gold and go outside.

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

It took some creative bending and wiggling, but eventually the water stopped flowing in like a geyser. Which was a good thing because the water was deep enough to start being a hindrance she thought. She was soaked, all of her clothes were soaked through as well. Unconsciously, the symbiote shifted to cover spots she felt embarrassed about.

 

Turning her attention back to Nightscale and the remaining gold. It looked like the young hero had succeeded in calming it down.

“Thank goodness.”

Chimera gave a sigh of relief, but the moment was cut short by the sound of an explosion from above.

“What in the world?”

 

They needed to hurry up down here. She quickly set to helping find or makeshift something to hold the gold.

[Supercape]

Golden Dead

 

And so...

 

Even a giant makeshift container filled with raging gold was easy to carry either of the two heroes. Together, they made very light work of it, able to carry it up deck. Seawater had flooded perhas three feet of the lower deck, but the Ship was still afloat - and by any mathematical calculation, would be so for hours, barring any further puncture wounds. One would certainly not want to risk matters by having a grenade go off. 

 

Boom!

 

Outside, a grenade went off. 

 

A horde of zombies were flooding the dock, lead by Machete Max, who had clearly been hard at work. The Gangster has grinning, machete in hand, whilst two dozen decaying corspes were trying to overwhelm Blowfish and the Merc. 

 

Blowfish was out of ammo, his Tommy Gun discarded, and had picked up a crowbar to try and defend himself. 

 

The Merc was lobbing grenades at the rest, trying to thin the pack. But it was clear that they would both be overwhelmed, and soon!

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Teamwork had the makeshift container up to the deck in short work. Chimera was thankful for small victories.

That was until another explosion echoed across the docks. This was definitely going to draw police attention, if not other heroes.

She sighed, and for a moment wondered when explosions started to only drew a ‘sigh’.

She glanced at the dragon-boy and set her end of the container down on the deck.

“When it rains…”

She said and moved to look over the railing.

 

The scene below was chaos. Even worse than the graveyard had been.

‘At least Beanpole is already out of the way.’

She thought as she hopped up onto the rail. Chimera glances back at Nightscale.

“If you think it’ll stay calm we can leave that up here for now. If not, take it somewhere. I’m pretty sure it’s what Max is after, which means we need to keep it away from him.”

She looks back down.

“I’ll help those two until you can bring in some ‘air support’.”

 

Techno-organic wings grow and snap open, the next moment the hero is airborne. She raises in an arch over the teaming mass of zombies. Her tail grows and she twists mid-air turning her arch into a power dive.

At the last moment she dared, Chimera twisted again and hit the ground with powerful slam that rippled across the ground like a small quake.

As the dust clears, Chimera stands up from her ‘superhero landing’. The wings fold back and her tail swishes in agitation.

 

“Max! I wasn’t done with you.”

She shouts her challenge. 

[Nerdzul]

When Luke arrived at the scene above deck, he would have facepalmed, but then again his hands were busy carrying the makeshift container for a bunch of irate gold so... The best he could do was sigh as a scene straight from a Michael Jackson movie video manifested in front of him.

 

"Zombies... Great..." He groaned. Plus, a guy called "Machete Max" definitely wasn't good news.

 

"Yeah..." He nodded at Chimera suggestion. "I'll bring it out of the ship first.." Admittedly cooking the undeads with dragonfire was tempting though, but he wasn't sure if dropping the concentration on his spell while still on the vessel was gonna be a smart idea.

 

"Hopefully it'll stay calm... Otherwise... Claws will have to do... "  He added before scanning the area for a nearby building where he could deposit the container as Chimera did her thing.

 

 

Edited January 27 by Nerdzul

[Supercape]

GM

 

Machete Max was on two legs and an arm, his stance like a Parkour artist, or perhaps some fictional Russian super spy named after a deadly arachnid. 

 

"Silver lady!" he retorted to Chimera. "De time for words be gone. I be speakin wit de dead now!"

 

He rolled, he scutlled, and with surprising speed, he had managed to reach Chimera and spin; his Machete slicing through the air at an akward angle, going for her legs. 

 

"Dis' towrn be killin by de Blowfish! I be taking de streets back!"

[Nerdzul]

On 1/28/2024 at 6:17 PM, Supercape said:

"Dis' towrn be killin by de Blowfish! I be taking de streets back!"

 

"Not if we have something to say about that..." Luke remarked. Were they getting involved in a gang war? Yep... It would have felt almost nostalgic if his experiences as a young gangster hadn't ended so badly.

 

He jumped past the confrontation ahead, using echoes of his wings to ease the flight and deposited the gold somewhere 'safe' as much as it was possible at least. "Stay put, will you?" He told to the seemingly inert mass of cursed metal. 

 

Then he recalled his magic, feeling a moment of trepidation as he imagined a mass of angry molten slag emerging from the box to assault him, but fortunately, at least from now, the gold staied quiet. He inhaled sharply, feeling the heat raising into his chest golden glow radiating from his inner furnace before he exhaled a cone of of fire on the undead hordes. 

 

"Extra crispy..." He grinned. 'Weak...' 

Edited February 6 by Nerdzul

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

How is he so fast? She cursed to herself as Max’s blade struck at her legs. She was lucky as his blade glanced off the symbiote’s tough tendrils. Instinctively she stepped back and cursed under her breath.

 

On 1/28/2024 at 12:17 PM, Supercape said:

"Dis' towrn be killin by de Blowfish! I be taking de streets back!"

 

“I can’t let you do that. As much as I’d like to see him stand trial for his own crimes. I can’t justify the cost of trading one crime lord for another.”
 

Flames lit up the dock for a moment. The smell of burnt dead flesh carried on the breeze from the water and Chimera was thankful her mask kept some of it out. She was glad the dragon-boy was on her side again.

 

She took on a defensive stance, watching the zombie maker. His next attack would be just as fast and she wanted to be ready for it. The symbiote echoed her tension, she couldn’t feel it. Her tail twitched. She was never going to get use to that.

 

”Come on, she taunted. If you can’t defeat me, you certain can’t hold the city’s streets like you claim you will.”

[Supercape]

GM

 

Machete Max was not happy. "I claim de streets from 'im!" he shouted, waving his Machete at Blowfish. 

 

"You're a thug! a simple thug!" retorted Blowfish. 

 

"You're a crook! a wicked crook!" shouted back Max, waving his Machete even wilder. 

 

But suddenly not so wild. A ruse, perhaps. The blade swung again, right at Chimera!

 

It might have hit, too, but Chimera was fast this time, catching the blade in her hand and twisting it right out of Machete Max's grip. Now she was the one with a blade!

 

"Huh! Dat be clever trick. Ya teach me dat one day!" said a genuinely impressed Machete Max, rubbing his wrist. 

[Nerdzul]

"Now... Guys... Can we agree that you both suck and go separate ways?" Luke teased as he jumped into the action.

 

"No...? Ok... Your choice..." He jumped past the zombies and rushed at Machete Max, now admittedly he didn't like Blowfish particularly more, but one of them were using dark magic to animate the dead the other wasn't so yeah, there was that wasn't it? 

 

Plus, Chimera seemed to somehow like or at least tolerate the gangster, for reason that he was gonna have to investigate, but whatever right? 

 

He did his best to keep the crate of cursed gold in his sight, just in case, but that definitely interfered with his aim and Machete Max easily dodged his claws.

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Max’s blade flashed, but this time she was ready. Chimera’s own hand flashes out, catching the machete. Grinning at her success, she twists and yanks, pulling the weapon from his hand. Silver-gray tendrils snaked around the blade…

 

Wait… did she see a hint of gold in the sheen of the techno-organic matter?

She would have to worry about that later.

 

“The only thing I’m going to teach you, is that it was a mistake to play god with the dead.”

She silently hoped that sounded a lot better than she thought it did.

 

The machete strained as Chimera gripped the machete. The tendrils holding it frimly as her thumb pressed against the blade’s razor edge. The layer of alien techno-organic versus the earthly steel.

The sound of the blade cracking sounded. The next moment there was resounding snap-pop as tiny fragments scattered. Half of the machete’s blade clattered to the ground.

 

Maybe she was over zealous, maybe she took too long, or maybe she just telegraphs her attacks too much. Whatever it was, when she dropped the remainder of the weapon and lunged forward, Max had already stepped back and her swing missed its target.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Dat be mah bestest Machete, man!" complained Machete Max, bringing his hands to his cheeks, his jaw wide open in horror. "Yah be 'avin no respect!"

 

He shook himself free of his lamentations and pointed at Chimera. 

 

"Boyz! Yah be feastin on da brains nah! Eatem! Gogettem!"

 

The Remaining (i.e. not burn to ash or having their heads caved in) zombies swarmed over Blowfish, Chimera and Nightscale. They were shuffling zombies - as fast as your regular man, or maybe even a shade faster. But they barely had any brains of their own, and their swings were clumsy, miscalculated, unwise. But numbers counted for much, and one of the zombies managed to get its theeth into Chimera's foreram!

 

At this distance, Chimera could see that the zombies were relatively fresh. And more than that - these were the reanimated bodies of Machete Max's Yardie gang. 

 

And of Blowfishes Mafia posse, too!

 

And speaking of Machete Max...

 

SPLASH!

 

The Sound of Machete Max diving into the ocean and swimming downwards!

Edited February 13 by Supercape

[Nerdzul]

"Hey Stop you freakin coward!" Luke shouted as the necromantic mobster escaped the scene, he tried once to grab him on the way out, but alas, he could not, his claws finding only the air. 

 

Dejected, the young man threw a glance toward the gold, to be sure it was still there and Max hadn't found some way to steal the prize and than sighed, staring at the small crowd of undead, realizing that unlike the corpses they found on the ship, those have been living people not that long ago. 

 

"Feels like he is the worst after all..." He muttered, as he got ready to finish the job and send them back where they belonged.

[Spacefurry]

Chimera

 

Chimera cursed as the zombies swarmed them again. This time though, she recognized some of the faces. Just a short time ago, they had been alive and fighting for their lives. But, she couldn’t let her guard down.

 

She heard something hit the water and she couldn’t see any sign of Max. It wasn’t hard to figure out where he’d gone. She cursed again.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Chimera wanted to follow after the man but she couldn’t let these monsters go unchecked. Too many innocent civilians could get hurt.

“Can’t let these things keep walking around.”

She swings at one of the fresh zombies hoping to reduce their numbers.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The gold remained a pacified lump of gold, althought Nightscale could feel the seething pool of resentment underneath his layer of magic. 

 

The ocean bubbled with the breath of Machete Max, who could surely add swimming to his list of talents, behind animating the death, capoeira, and stabbing people with a machete. 

 

Ignoring the sprinting Blowfish (who moved with remarkable pace for a rotund man - clearly undead persecution was a powerful motivator), the remaining zombies attacked Chimera with fists, teeth, and headbuts. And a few of them managed to connect!

[Nerdzul]

This was a freakin' mess. Machete Max was escaping and zombies were still swarming them. Unfortunately though, while he was a pretty good swimmer, Luke was not confident that he could catch up with the escaping mobster given the advantage.

 

He could at leas deal with the undead though, perhaps Chimera could do the rest? 

 

"Can you catch him?" He asked Chimera, as he did his best to cut through the zombies with his claws.

 

"Don't worry about me I'll keep them busy..." He added, with a smirk on his lips.

 

Although that would mean letting Blowfish go.... Which was frustrating, but after all he knew where the gangster had his base of operations anyway and apparently he was the less or two evils anyway. 

 

 

Edited February 25 by Nerdzul

[Supercape]

GM

 

The assorted Zombies fell, one after another, to the rending claws of Nightscale!

 

Off with a head!

 

Goodby, chest cavity!

 

Whoops, was that a skull?

 

And so on. Whilst the zombies seemed somewhat hardy and determined, they burned pretty easily, and dragon claws got them smoking. 

 

In a blink of an eye, Nightscale was surrounded by dead undead, and - it must be said - was somewhat showered with congealed blood, disembowled necrotic organs, and fragments of skull and brain.