WAR WITH A LORD posted:

Bleeder promises "You're going to die this time."

Your arms have already tensed for the killing stroke- you're just that fraction faster than him. Spores gloam rainbow gold.



[Passive] The mushrooms provide insight!

'The Seventh Lord, beloved of the Island. They survived. They found holy bond in the infinite pattern of the Island, blessed with the nature of the Errant. The Dryad came to them and told them of the holy lands beyond that waited for them, that would appease the Island and keep it at bay while it took the new world. Bleeder is the loving living seal of the Bloody Megalith, all those deathborn of the Island from the midnight of the oil spill.'

'God, he hates you. Thinks you're a freak. Something sick and weird. Hider didn't predict this and... and that's scary. You move so fast you're even worse looking without that weird familiar shroud on and oh god your voice what is that screaming? What's happening!!?'

* He is a Human, Vampire-Bound, Survivor, and a LORD.
* His mood is ANGRY, CONFUSED, and UNEASY.
* Oh no! Bleeder is rough going. His STRENGTH is LESS (by a little), his DEXTERITY is MORE (by a chunk), his INTELLECT is EQUAL, his HEALTH is EQUAL, his WILL is LESS (by a LOT), his PERCEPTION is LESS (by a small chunk).
* Wow! He has GOBS of HP. Woah! He has LOTS of FP.
* His DR is 7.
* LIGHT hurts him for sure. Not sure about other elements. SILVER would for sure. FIRE might help.
* He's wielding the MARROWCRUSHER, the ANTEDILUVIAN ARMOR, and the IVORY CLOAK. Looks like he does about 6d damage on average.
*He knows all kinds of spooky powers, like [Abberantion]-[Dessication]-[Congregate]-[Yellow Island Magics]-[gift]-[Cover!]-[Scrapelick]-[All-Red Mind]-[Lifȩbl̸eȩd]-[†Blade Maiestuos]-[†Fourscore]-[†Bloody Blade]-[†Disembowel]-[†Marrowgore]-[MARROW CANNON]
* His armor is a Vampire!

WAR WITH A LORD posted:

You strike first. Bleeder stays off the cannon in favor of wielding his monstrous sword. It smells of the tropics and the sweet cloying stink of vampire marrow sealed inside an undead carapace, surface forming fangs and slivers when it smells something to eat.

Fast enough to strike in the twice, with a sword in the quick... you want to make sure it goes through without a hitch, so you concentrate it to a single sure stab. You're going to time your hit, scare Bleeder to death, and deliver it with a meteorstrike.

You get to act twice!
†Timed Hit! (Bleeder's Defense negated!)
(!Tyranny - I n e v i t a b l e) 18 [1]+[5]+[1] = 7 - Success (By 11).
vs
(Bleeder's Lordly WL) 14 / 10 [3]+[4]+[6] = 13 - Success (By 1).
(+10 to hit Bleeder for one round!)

It's easy for you, driven mad as you are. Screaming with your lungs so strong it fractures the cathedral bones. You lock eyes with the Lord as you take aim, his suit already lacing up around him in totality with fangs flared. But you made your promise with the abandon of shroud and shield. You're driven solely by your will to live and overcome, and it has to be proved absolute and in the now. Or you'll never be strong enough to save your soul.

(!Tyranny - Slaying Sword Strike) 28 - [4]+[3]+[1] = 8 - Critical Hit!
^{[All-Out Attack - Deadly] - [†Blade Majestueux][-1 FP]}
[5]+[2]+[4]+[2]+[5] = 11 Damage!
(Critical Hit Effect) - [1]+[2]+[5] = 8 (Bleeder's Defense is Negated for the rest of the fight!!)

HP: [ 19 / 19 ]
FP: [ 16 / 30 ]

HE CAN'T REACT FAST ENOUGH!!

You held his eyes, his pale red eyes with all of the wide of your rainy dawn gaze and he blinked he actually blinked!! You mean it when you drive the sword into the biggest muscle cluster of the heart. It gouges into the irontough flesh, needleteeth shattering on the striated stone. Oh God he still can't break your stare, even when the stab severs something vital and his guard goes slack. You pull back after wrenching hard to mangle the vampire muscle, now silent to let the echosound of the blood seeping into pools just barely cover up Bleeder's pained inhales of genuine surprise. He leans back and up a step, hand to his wound, now unable to move anywhere near as fast as before. Struggling against his own unlife support.

The Lord looks at you with his sword raised in warding, eyes gaining color and light with the understanding of a genuine unforeseen threat. He's going to hurt you. He's going to make you suffer. His teeth are going to be sharp.

But he understands that you struck first and you broke him.

You are the horrible thing waiting in the pitch black room.

WAR WITH A LORD posted:

Bleeder steps from left to right, and gently leans his weight into a sudden drop of his sword in a heavy skull-smashing arc. The way he figures, if he can't move reliably enough to avoid being hit... then he may as well hit as hard as he possibly can. Finesse could come after the answering hate if a crown-splitting execution.

(!LORD - Crownsplitter) 14(+6)(-7) [4]+[2]+[4] = 10 - Success.
^{[All-Out Attack: +6 to-hit] [Aimed For Skull: -7 to-hit]}
[Black Crown] 1 Damage!

HP: [ 18 / 19 ]
FP: [ 16 / 30 ]

God, the look on his face when he sees it. You reaching up, carefully pushing the blade away as he struggles with your pressure, and then he sees your face and how you're smiling...

(!Tyranny - Free Intimidation Attempt) 18 [1]+[2]+[1] = 6 - Great Success!
vs
(Bleeder's Lordly WL) 14 / 10 [6]+[4]+[2] = 12 - Success (By 2).

A lull of seconds, midnight growing, the realization that the event horizon is starting to exert more pull that his strength might be able to outpower. You answer back with your sword in fourfold fury, knowing that as soon as you finish he's going to go for the heart.

You get to act twice!

No need for timed hits or guard-shaking threats. No reason not to go all-out and win the race. It's all a matter of your intent and the attentions of Lady Luck. You drive your Kadath-clad arms to a first limit with the fury of six slaying strokes aimed for the wounded heart of the Seventh Holy Lord.

^{[Two turns All-Out Attack (Double Attack) + 1 extra attack from Quickling Brand + †Blade Majestueux x6] [-6 FP]}

(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 1) 18 [5]+[6]+[4] = 15 - Success!
^{[12 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 2) 18 [6]+[4]+[6] = 16 - Success!
^{[13 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 3) 18 [6]+[6]+[1] = 13 - Success!
^{[10 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 4) 18 [3]+[4]+[4] = 11 - Success!
^{[7 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 5) 18 [6]+[1]+[1] = 8 - Success!
^{[0 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 6) 18 [2]+[2]+[3] = 7 - Critical Hit!
(Critical Hit Effect) - [3]+[4]+[5] = 12 (Bleeder falls over!)
<sup>[10 Damage!]

[52 Total Damage!]</sup>



HP: [ 18 / 19 ]
FP: [ 10 / 30 ]

Bleeder is reeling! He falls back on the grand steps, as his torso is lacerated with darkened stone over and over and over, your face the shadow mask while you do the reaping work. It's hardly enough to fatally harm him, but you can see progress. You can't stress your body that hard again without risking collapse. You have to just pray to fight stronger than the Lord. He's moving now. He's ready to punish you now. He's revealing the eyes of a Survivor now.



(ULTIMATE HELL ART - MARROW CANNON) 14(-4) [5]+[6]+[1] = 12 - Missed!

What-

You didn't see what his arm did. Just the horrible pain of your popping ears, the air going suffocation-stale, and your eyes blanking from a split-second gamma flash before the air roars back with the echo of the howling. The ray of killing blight just missed you, leaving a cool trail of dead air where your belly had been a second before. Bleeder is back on his feet with his sword readied again, while you leap to him to begin the next hewing parade of murderous intent. But your swing is softer this time, and who knows if you can sustain this pace, even with the enroyalment of your body.

^{[Two turns All-Out Attack (Double Attack) + 1 extra attack from Quickling Brand]}

(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 1) 18 [5]+[6]+[4] = 15 - Success!
^{[6 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 2) 18 [6]+[4]+[6] = 16 - Success!
^{[4 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 3) 18 [6]+[6]+[1] = 13 - Success!
^{[0 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 4) 18 [3]+[4]+[4] = 11 - Success!
^{[0 Damage!]}
(!Tyranny - Slaystrike 5) 18 [6]+[1]+[1] = 8 - Success!
^{[2 Damage!]}
(́!T҉y͟r͟ann̴y - ̀S͘la̵ys͡t͞rike 6)̧ ͜18̕ ̴[6]̴+[6͝]+[6]͞ ̢= 18 ͞- ̧DAR͏K ҉I͏NT͟ÈRV̕ENT̡ION

^{[12 Total Damage!]}

Too fast. Too sloppy. Too furiously. Your arms tire for that one vital second before you stab forward...

...and the armor unlaces, flowering out to gently envelop your arm and trap your sword.

Something terrible is going to happen.

Bleeder is smiling now.



ANXIETY: [ ! ][ ! ][ ! ][ ! ][ ! ][ ! ][70%] [NO...!]
TYRANNY: [1%]

Randalor posted:

$10 says we crit fail with 6-6-6 the first attack and the only reason we eck out a win is because Bleeder was too busy laughing his rear end off to actually attack us at first.

WAR WITH A LORD posted:

Bleeder used [gift].

Everything is going to be just fine now.

FAT BATMAN posted:

Fun fact, the human stomach has such a massive cluster of nerves, it’s one of the parts of the human body that can most auto-function without commands from the brain. It’s sometimes thought of as a “second brain”.
I wonder what a onerun would look like where the Trash Compactor is the one most behind the wheel.

WAR WITH A LORD posted:

Uh oh. A tiny little flowery bug was wriggled into your h̷e̸̛a͘r͏͢͝tm̵͏͡e̕͠a͟t. It's a f̷r̕ie̶nd. A g̢if̵t. Open your heart.

A̡N͠XI̵E̡T̷Y: [̷ ̕!͞!̛!͢ ̕][ ̕!̛!! ]̛[ !!! ][͢ ̡!!!͜ ][ !͜!҉!́ ̵][́ !͟!҉! ̴][̨ ̕!!͜!̵ ͞][̵ ̶!!͠!҉ ͘][͢9̛9%]
T͠YRA͘NNY̡:͟ ͝[́ X ][ ͟X ][ X ]͘[̀ ̨X ̨]̕[̀ ̴X ̷][ ̡X ]͏[͞ ̵X̡ ͠]͘[͘ X ]͡[99҉%]

Oh yes.

I open our heart for it.

With my arms outstretched?

(With our arms outstretched.)

The parasite begins the fusion process. It's irreversible.

[HT 30] - Hahaha. Uh oh! Something's not right.

The parasite is uneasy, though it's not sure why. It bonds with the heart, whose pace has gone glacial. The powerful muscles prove easy to weave into.

[Lionheart] - The heart is exceptionally strong and trained...

The parasite is worried, though it's not sure why. It begins to let its initial secretion seep out to stain the heart midnight red, slowly assuming neural control of all the cardiovascular systems.

[Mushroom Mind!] - The fungus can see everything you think.

The parasite is paranoid, though it can't sense why. It finds the brain strange when its supercells return from the bloodflow infection, made from matter that was partly something worryingly familiar, as well as what looked like weird mutation growths in several spots. Something wasn't right.

[Kadath Royalty] - Oh that rotten vanilla spice, the smell of the Parade!

The parasite is starting to panic, and it cannot figure out why the hell this is going so well, even by the standards of these kind of effortless enslavements of bloodlife.

[Vampire Knight Fan] - It's nice to have picked up some genuine education on bad little parasites in a trashy fun film.

The parasite has enwrapped the entire heart. It's all over. The biology is claimed, and now it will be fed a neverending glut of raw meat and fresh blood, giving it the watering necessary to blossom further still over the years, slowly burning out the host's mind and driving them mad with...

...

[WL 20] - We get to laugh together now, Bleeder. Thank you for the gift.

The parasite screams through your chest. The bone slenders withdraw under a sudden compulsion, but not before you manage to drag back some of Bleeder's blood - both his, and the suits. The scream and sensation sends Bleeder and his suit stepping back from you from fright. Something horrible is happening. You're bleeding profusely. You're smiling. Your heart is so calm.

You bend down and pick up your sword, using your unmangled arm. You inhale.

HP: [ 13 / 19 ] [Arm Crippled!]
FP: [ 30 / 30 ] [Maxed Out!]

You stole enough to feel like you've had a full night's sleep, though you're still left hungry.

[Molten Veins] - The wound is heated. It's badly damaged, but it'll heal fine. By the way, that same blood is going to be feeling real unpleasant suddenly for a parasite, as well as the one who drank it. All this blessing from Red is making you dangerous. Bless her. Thank you. Watch now. See?

taiyoko posted:

Black August posted:

FIRST-TIME SUPERHIGH ON LORD-GRADE CONCENTRATE VAMPIRE BLOOD: [MIN]||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||[MAX|||||||||||]|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

taiyoko posted:

Regallion posted:

Should i be concerned that we appear to have 7 measures of radiance? That can't possibly be good.

Regallion posted:

Should i be concerned that we appear to have 7 measures of radiance? That can't possibly be good.