I Crush Everything [IC]

[Ari]

Wave-Eye's expressions were sometimes just outside what humans could recognize, but his sideways-flicking eyes, fumbling claws and slightly bowed head at the guard captain's question conveyed the same message it would on anyone else. He was profoundly relieved when Temperance took the lead in explaining things, though he rankled just a little that his words hadn't been enough to convince the Atlantean of the importance of their mission. Following close behind the slighter humans with armor-shod and scaled feet rustling and clicking on the hard floor(he had enough practice from parades to do that much), the hulking creature gritted his fangs a little at the word 'theology', but the matter of the Deep Ones was an important point and he ground more or less pleasantly "They wished to make the surface world their own, they sought to flood it with the power of Dread Leviathan and consecrate it to their vile God Dagon, may his flesh rot from his bones. I have rarely seen such...initiative amongst those corrupted wretches, which lends credence to their claim they are backed by your watersingers. Or it could be an empty boast." the triton acknowledged "The vile things have a history of making castles with no base, I hear".

 

Glancing around the vast domes and glittering towers of Atlantis, the ancient soldier felt more than a little ridiculous in his antique armor and tattooed hide, walking beside the sleek moderns.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Arichamus

[Azuth65]

Stepping through the ancient city, Silver Spider remained just as awed as when she had seen it from the outside.  At the sergeant's comment about bringing any of the ritual gear with them the scientist's mind sparked with the idea of taking time to take her time and work on a more robust version of her current rush-job goggles with a recording feature.  Maybe an ability to zoom in on an object too.  'Later Jen, plenty of time for that when you get home,' she thought to herself.

 

Blinking her eyes to bring her attention back to the her surroundings and noticed the Triton's subdued body language as they walked.  Lowering her voice she spoke towards Wave-Eye, "You okay?  You seem a little..., I don't know, deflated."

[Ari]

With a surprised growl, the fishman slid his depthless eyes towards Jennifer. "It..it is nothing" he muttered sourly, glancing around at the shimmering spires and flowering domes, the throngs of people "I am merely unused to being around so many...new people in a place I remember so well. The faces are different, even if only a little. The clothes are different" he added after a gloomy moment, gesturing to a passing Atlantean woman who looked like she was wearing a toga made from a coral reef, trailing gold streamers floating behind her in the air. She practically exuded wealth. "Those towers to the Red-to the east, they must have been built in the last eight centuries, I have never seen such spirals..." pausing to take in the view he frowned abruptly and grated "The old columns were far better. They have a purity about them that is unequaled."

 

Looking around at the underwater metropolis gleaming with lights and thrumming with industry, he admitted bitterly "All this newness...and I am an archaism. That is the matter. You understand?" he asked, the hulking, sinisiter-looking triton turning again to face the young scientist "I see the world changing, and know the time for such as me is past."

[trollthumper]

"But you remember," said Temperance. She wasn't exactly used to giving pep talks to those who were millennia older than herself - she imagined it had to be a narrow few who felt comfortable enough to do that. "How many people here walked the streets of Atlantis while it was above the waves? What you have behind your eyes is an account of things long forgotten to many. That's invaluable in an era like this."

The temple near the edge of sunken Atlantis was the closest the city came to meeting the crushing depths around it. The waters here were not held back by anything but will, attended to by skilled sorcerer-priests who maintained the careful balance. This was a place for the Atlanteans to meditate on the connection between the above and the deep, and the careful balance of the world around them. The lead watersinger, a matronly woman in cerulean robes, stepped forward. "Greetings, Sergeant," she said. "And greetings, guests. I recognize your mantle, triton... but your guests seem out of place. What brings surface dwellers down here?"

"Word of treason," said the sergeant. "And collusion with the Deep Ones. Have you communed with the Leviathan lately?"

"We have seen tremors, but they have been weak. Where is he?"

[Ari]

The triton clicked his sharp teeth together "Invaluable, perhaps, but not to me. Precious little of what my eyes have beheld or my nose has smelt or claws have touched will help anyone. And i never saw Atlantis above the waves," he added with a dull grin "I was born long after it was sent crashing down into the sea. I wonder how that cataclysm happened, anyway..." with a shrug he walked in silence until they reached the great temple of Atlantis, his abyssal eyes taking in the sight of the perilous balance between water and air with quiet awe. "Fighting back the sea with nothing but the soul's power. A lost art. It is an honor to see it used again." he murmured as the high priestess approached them, and he bowed low as she welcomed the ragtag band, smiling despite himself at the word 'mantle', a swell of pride at his heritage seeping into the fishman's spirit.

 

When the watersinger asked where Leviathan was, the green fan-like hair on his head swept back as he drew to his full height. With a grinding gurgle he proclaimed "Dread Leviathan is in pieces, mighty watersinger! The Deep Ones have sundered its power that their vile sorcerers might use it to attack the surface races!" his blank black eyes narrowed until they were only three times as large as a regular human's "The one we questioned claimed that some of your watersingers were in league with them. Your corrupted kin have not the strength for such a deed as dismembering Dread Leviathan, so I think they are at least telling some of the truth."

 

Bowing again at the waist so that his hair brushed the floor he hissed "We ask your aid in this, majestic one."

[trollthumper]

The high priestess studied Wave-Eye as if he'd grown a second head. "Dread Leviathan," she said, "in pieces. Great triton, when the waters first gathered on this rock, Leviathan was born. He runs through every droplet, every stream, every current. To tear him asunder would be to tear the earth asunder."

"He's whole, priestess," said Temperance, "but bound. That is true. The Deep Ones managed to acquire some of his essence and use that to control an aspect of his greater whole. And they did speak of collusion."

The high priestess looked skeptical for half a second, before shock crept over her. "Unthinkable," she muttered. "But... not improbable. There have been signs in the eddies, whispers in the depths. Signs of disturbance. Did these Deep Ones say how they'd acquired the essence?"

"Merely that a waterspeaker did it."

"Then I will gather the order. This matter should be dragged out into the light."

[Azuth65]

Silver Spider sat quietly, crouched on the side of a pillar near to where the aquatic heroes and the Atlantian priestess were talking.  She had settled her right wrist's webshooter on one bent knee.  She listened as they spoke of this Dread Leviathan while she reached into a small cleaning kit on her belt pulling partially dried web fluid from the nozzle.

 

Once the priestess stepped outside earshot, the gravity bending heroine replaced her device and the costume's glove over it before making one high arcing leap to land next to her companions.  Of course, with our luck today, she's the one who aided the Lovecraftian fishmen, or at least the leader of a heretical sect, and this is where the knife is stuck to cover everything up Silver thought to herself.  Aloud she said quietly, "Hopefully the order is small.  I have a bad feeling about this."

[trollthumper]

In time, as the high priestess's word spread far and wide through sunken Atlantis, the watersingers gathered in the main temple. They stood in line as the priestess interrogated them all in high Atlantean. It sounded like beautiful gibberish to Spider and Temperance, but Wave-Eye could understand it perfectly. The priestess was asking each one about where they'd been, the last time they'd been in communion with the Depths, and if they had ever been in contact with the Deep Ones. Each one gave similar answers, and no one looked like they were about to break.

But as the interrogation went on, something started resounding for each of the heroes. Where Wave-Eye had felt the slight ebb and wake of deep sea currents flowing against the dome earlier, now he could feel it was still as the grave. Temperance, meanwhile, felt something else swimming in the currents, something of a spiritual nature. And Silver Spider felt something pricking at the back of her head, warning her of danger...

[Ari]

Sitting on a breathtakingly ornate and elegant marble temple bench and tearing a daintily-roasted fish with considerable relish while watching the Atlantean proceedings, the Aztec fishman enjoyed a faint stirring of familiarity as the time-honored ritual went on. The effect of being underwater but not in water was hardly pleasant, but by now he was relaxed enough that the constant wash and tug of the waves far above had become a faint background noise to his heightened sense of touch.

 

"This is how they used to start questioning in the armies, when we didn't know who the traitor was" he confided lightly to the two young women nearby "Two or three steps more, and we found them for certain." Resting his mighty elbows on his knees he leaned forward to try and catch more of what the gathered magicians were saying. He felt the waves slow around them, but payed it no mind at first, so faint was the sensation of all those unimaginable tons of murky water beginning to still.

 

Squinting at the gathered Atlanteans for an especially suspicious-looking face, Nochehuatl opened his mouth to continue talking only for the first syllable to die in his throat. By now the sea had definitely began grinding to a halt, and to someone born in water its swirling motion was as taken for granted as breathing. Staring at the floor and its many-faceted mosaic, he grated abruptly "Children, do you feel anything strange?" he glanced up sharply at the ceiling "I believe we might soon be under attack again."

 

"Watersingers! What is happening, have you felt the sea do this before?" he called out, jumping to his feet with a dull *thud* and a jangle of his armor.

 

 

[Azuth65]

At the Triton's sudden outburst, Silver Spider felt her back and shoulders stiffen.  Doing her best to avoid panicking, the young scientist glanced around for any sign of what Wave-Eye had noticed.  Given she had minimal connection to the sea however, she obviously did not pick up the telltale signs as easily as he did.

 

"If we are, I'm going to need to borrow a weapon," she muttered, thinking aloud, not sure how her synthetic webbing would react in a sub-aquatic environment.  Note to self, build some specialized gear in case I need to go to this far underwater ever again.  Unprepared once is acceptable, a second time is just embarrassing she thought to herself.

[trollthumper]

"This feeling..." said the high priestess. "I've never felt it myself. But... there's talk of it in the old scrolls..." She turned to the students under her watch. "Get back! Get back before it --"

 

Then, there was that terrible noise, like the sky splitting open. Something horrible and strong came down on the dome above, battering and slamming like the fist of God. Temperance drew her energy inward, trying to exert some push to drive back whatever force was battering at the water - but as she tried to extend her grasp over the depths above, she realized whatever was slamming against the dome, it wasn't in the water. 

 

That wasn't true. Not entirely. There was no physical presence in the water, no displacement of space. But something was there...

 

A few seconds later, answering the terrible anticipation, the crack gave. Water shot down from above - thin, isolated, but with the force of a lightning bolt, quickly gouging a hole in the floor of the temple. Swiftly, terribly swiftly, the room began to fill. Temperance tried to direct her efforts to stem the flow, but it was like pushing back against a speeding train. And as she did, she saw two... things made of solid darkness swim through the thin gout, coalescing on the floor like oily puddles. 

 

In school, Temperance had scene photos of angler fish, and other strange denizens of the deep animal kingdoms, the ones made to thrive down in the lightless, high pressure places. These must have been the spirit equivalents. One of the students stepped forward, smiling like he'd gotten the joke of reality. 

 

"Go!" He commanded. "Strike! Take this blight against the truth of the shrieking depths, and --"

 

He was cut off when a ball of ice the size of a medicine ball struck him in the back of the head. The high priestess had worked the terrible projectile from the waves in the time it took Temperance to blink, and she was drawing back the gout to take another swing. The student didn't dare take his chances. He ran, and the shades ran with him. 

 

"They're going to try and crack the dome," said the high priestess. "Let the others in. Go! You have to stop them! We'll hold back the tide, but we can't have any more breach points!"

[Azuth65]

"I got him," she called as soon as the treacherous Water Singer broke from the room.  With that, Silver Spider leaped into action.  Focusing inwardly she altered gravity's pull around her body, allowing her to clear the distance to the door in a single powerful jump before landing a webline against the top of the doorway and swinging out to follow.  Once she had reacquired her target running away she unleashed a powerful stream of synthetic webbing, catching the Deep One's mole in Atlantis by the ankle and wrapping the traitor in a thick layer of faintly silvery adhesive.

 

Looking down at her stuck captive, she taunted "That'll be enough of that Shrieky.  Why don't you stay there and think about what you've done until the nice police force comes to pry you off the street?"

[Ari]

Jumping backwards with a cry of horror as the dome shattered above them, Wave-Eye briefly groped for the twisted shell at his hip before the weight of water crashed down onto them, rendering anything he could do moot. Following the icy current with his massive eyes, they widened even further as the two shadowspawn dripped into the room. They were small compared to the things that had come out of the deep long ago, but their faces were the same as the silent dragons that had terrorized the sea for that long century. Mastering himself, Wave-Eye turned in time to see Silver Spider hurl herself improbably through the air and deftly swath the revealed Deep one to the ground. Blinking at the sight, the triton suddenly burst out laughing and charged after the fleeing shades, his massive legs carrying the hulking fishman with astounding speed across the flooding room. Clawed feet splashing through the water spreading across the aquamarine floor, he jogged beside the two shades and drew the red-veined conch to his lips, taking a moment to gather the breath that sent a rush of ribboned water spiraling up from the floor around them in a cacophonous *brrrraaaauuuoom*! The sound rang through the temple like the war-horn it was.

 

Taking it from his lips, he winced  and called out apologetically "I am sorry! I did not recall our peril! Temperance, can you block their escape?" he added over his shoulder to the young water-wielder, seeing with frustration that one of the shades had dodged his attack.

[trollthumper]

The water brushed off of the shade's murky corpus, but some of the dark exterior managed to ablate, leaving... only hollow space, cloaked in darkness. Temperance probably would have been less unsettled by a skeleton of some sort. "I can try," she said, attempting to focus her will on the water swiftly flowing in. But it was like trying to grasp a snake caught in oil. But that wasn't right. Even with all the atmospheres behind it, it was still water. She'd grasped the stuff of the Leviathan. Unless...

 

She turned her gaze on the watersinger. He must have been working some enchantment to keep the water flowing. She raced towards the escaping saboteur, scooping up what water she could, and flung it up in front of her, intent on striking either him or one of his bodyguards. One of the shades got in the way, the icy crystals hitting hard... but bouncing off, clattering against the walls. 

 

The watersinger caught the commotion, and spat something in corrupted Atlantean at one of his shades. It broke from the pack and stopped, and as it stopped, its form began to bleed out onto the floor. From the murky depths emerged hideous appendages, twisted, broken claws that attempted to grab at Temperance and the others. But the shade must not have been used to anything but total submersion, as the claws missed. The watersinger cursed - even in Atlantean, there was no mistaking the intent, and Wave-Eye heard some particularly archaic epithets in there. It was enough guard to give him notice that the watersinger was trying something, but the sorcerer was quicker - a gout of boiling water erupted from his hand and caught the demigod right in the chest. 

[Azuth65]

Seeing that the Deep One's Watersinger-turned-spy had managed to fire off an attack before her webbing had struck home, Silver Spider dropped down, light as a feather and rushed up towards his struggling form. "Or we can do this the hard way," she sighed. Before he could take his attention from breaking his bonds, the young adventurer grabbed a fistful of web and robe in her left hand and drove her right squarely into his face. She was rewarded by his eyes briefly losing focus before rolling back and him going limp.

Wiping the residue of her webbing off her glove she started to walk away. Over her shoulder she muttered, "Nighty night. Jerk."

[Ari]

"Frauuugh!" Wave-Eye doubled over in pain, jaw working as the hissing wave crashed over him. His scaled skin blistered under the assault, and the stabbing agony drove him to his knees as a smell of scorched triton hung in the air. Fire and sea beasts were rare friends, and Nochehuatl, born and raised in the lands of two water gods was especially antithetical to it. The world flickered and blackened before the massive warrior's eyes, and he almost lapsed into unconsciousness...but with a herculean effort he forced the gathering veils aside and dragged himself upright! A thousand battlefields had taught him to keep going even if victory seemed assured and you were surrounded by allies, because things could change faster than krakens.

 

Rubbing a depthless eye, he swayed for a moment before the muscles under his gaudy hide tautened and he was racing across the space between him and the closest shadow, whipping back a huge arm and hurling it furiously towards the monster like a red spiked battering ram! Wave-Eye's last step failed him though, a clawed foot twisting on the floor and sending his arm crashing into the air beside it with a bark of rage.

[trollthumper]

The Deep One went down under Silver Spider's assault, crashing to the floor now slick with salt water. As he did, the shades of the deep started, as if struck by current -- and turned towards the heroes suddenly, as if whatever arcane discipline had been instilled in them had been replaced by the killing rage of a shark that smelled blood. Temperance called ice to her hands and threw it out in a barrage at the closest shade - but it managed to weave around her missiles with terrible ease, and struck her in the chest with one of its terrible hands. For something that looked so ephemeral, it felt like getting hit by a truck. She was able to keep her balance, but wasn't keen to repeat the experience. 

 

The other shade took a swing at Silver Spider, as if trying to avenge its fallen master. All the while, water fell from above, and even with the efforts of the watersingers, the chamber was slowly starting to flood...

[Azuth65]

The shadowy limb connected with the scientist, directly in the jaw, snapping her teeth together with an audible click of ivory.  Between the unearthly powerful swing and the water that began dripping onto her mask's lenses, the young scientist was having a difficult time both focusing her mind and her eyes as she tried to wipe the streaks of water from her view.

 

Blinking behind her mask and shaking her head to try and clear her rung bells, she assumed a slightly more defensive stance, waiting for the shadowed creature to take another shot.

[Ari]

Turning an eye on the shade Temperance was battling, Nochehuatl gave a bark of hatred and lunged forward, nails digging into the Atlantean marble as he charged across the space and splintering as he landed beside his enemy. Using the momentum, he ducked a little as he sent a spined fist crashing towards the Depthshade's lean and vulnerable neck!

 

"If your ladyship would try and disperse the water," the old soldier growled "that would give us some much-needed respite! Take my Conch if you need it, I won't" he added with a fanged grin. Despite the circumstances he was a little more relaxed than he had been, at least stopping invaders from brutalizing Atlantis was something he had some experience with, if nothing that any of that race would remember without darkening faces.

[trollthumper]

Temperance smiled. "I appreciate the offer, o triton," she said, "but I may just be able to help lower the levels myself." The water rose from the floor, a good inch around her lifting up in curtains before expanding into large, frozen meteors. With a twist of her hand, they flew across the chamber, striking one of the tenebrous humanoids at all angles. It convulsed and twitched, trying to retain a hold on its own corpus, and once the barrage was over, it was clear such an effort had left it grasping at the edge.

 

Before Temperance could celebrate, however, its companion took a swing at her with enough force to dent steel. But between the water in the chamber and the frozen chunks that now dotted the surf, the blow came up short, as if the inky creature was still trying to compensate for an area without crushing pressure. "Now, the walking oil stains... they may require some more effort to disperse."

[Azuth65]

When the depthshade came in swinging for the acrobatic heroine's face again she was able to duck a powerful, if clumsy, blow before delivering a heel-kick to the creature's own jaws while back-flipping away, using a webline and a lower gravity field to pull herself onto a nearby wall out of easy retribution range.  Landing in a crouch she was just able to see Wave-Eye deliver his own strike to the creature's face.  Tritons don't have a 'kid gloves' setting when it comes to combat, do they? she thought to herself.

[Ari]

Making a harsh grinding noise at the back of his throat, Wave-Eye allowed himself a little grin that seemed to open a white gash in his head "As you wish Temperance! I shall follow your excellent example." 

 

With that he lunged straight into the spawn of the Void in a storm of steel-hard nails and iron limbs, after a vicious struggle twisting an arm around its torso and shoulders with force that would surely have killed any even remotely normal human, while his free, spined fist crashed into its face with a sound that was hideous to hear. Tucking the body against himself Wave-Eye dashed across the flooded marble with explosive footsteps towards the bit of darkness that Silver Spider had managed to still, repeating the procedure that its brother had suffered with the added flourish of a brutal headbutt to what could have been its nose.

 

With both monsters in his bulging arms, the grotesque triton turned to the two humans, slammed his fists together with a wet crack and growled "Let us kill these abominations and have done"

[trollthumper]

"Yes," said Temperance. "That seems like a good banner to rally behind." The waters around her swelled once more, rising in large droplets before flash freezing into pellets around her. There was little time to aim, and less time to coordinate. She unleashed the barrage at full force, while the last motes of water were still cooling, at the first of the shades, who was still reeling from Wave-Eye's assault. The frosty bullets tore through the thing's bulk, leaving large holes that could easily be seen through - but it still held together, resting on half-destroyed legs. It looked right at Temperance, its remaining eye filled with hate.

 

"Screw this," she said. She reached out with a hand and grabbed the pellets with her will, before they could smash against the wall. The pellets reversed course suddenly and tore through the other shade, building on the initial momentum. This barrage was much more effective - the phantom fell to pieces, reduced to an inky puddle on the floor. Temperance felt like she'd caught a speeding truck with her bare hands, but it had certainly made a difference. Besides, the other shade wasn't exactly in much of a state to strike right now.  

[Azuth65]

Calculating the angles and distances between her and the last Depthshade, "Guess you haven't had enough," Silver Spider she muttered as she launched a pair of weblines past either side of the creature's head before pulling herself feet first towards it.  In the blink of an eye, she had impacted feet first into the monster's midsection, altering gravity just enough to give her impact a bit more force, before back flipping away from the foe she had left unconscious on the Atlantean street.  Looking down at her opponent she sighed, "Well, now you've had enough".

[Ari]

Wave-Eye winced in quiet sympathy at Silver Spider's impact with the creature of murk. "Well hit" he gurgled approvingly, watching as it fell to slimy pieces "I doubt the Princes could do better in full harness. Now then!" Stopping down he grabbed the traitorous Atlantean around his waist and tossed the man over a mighty shoulder. Turning to go he saw the descending lance of water carving its way through the temple, and paused in midstep as he weighed the problem in mind.

 

'The lady...well, she seems of some old blood, but Temperance does not seem to have the strength for this yet, and the Spider has no sway over water. So the Red Wave must suffice' Sighing deeply he picked up the conch from his hip and put it to his tin lips, taking a deep breath as he summoned the power that hovered always just beyond his reach.

 

With a roaring boom that crashed through the temple and reverberated through the very stones, the seawater hammering into the Atlantean marble suddenly paused and then swung upwards, coiling into itself until a large and slowly expanding globe of red-veined water swirled under the opening. Letting the shell drop to his side again the triton nodded "It will not hold forever, but it should hold for long enough" he rasped, sounding just a little proud "I think we shall soon have our answers." With that he marched off with enormous, plodding strides that carried him rapidly over the streaming slabs to the gathered watersingers, laying the unconscious form of the renegade magician to ground in front of the high priestess, before whom he knelt humbly.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Arichamus