selfpreservationist | [RAVEN'S HEART GAME

Entry tags:

ic,
imeeji

[RAVEN'S HEART GAME - SESSION FOUR]

The first thing you hear is the sound of rain faintly hitting the exterior of the house. The soft pitter-patter is almost soothing, in a way, but it’s quickly followed up by rumbling thunder in the distance. You open your eyes, and for a second all you see is a flash of light--at first it seems like it’s lightning, but then you see something. A vision of a man dressed in rags, hunched over, waves of demonic power rolling over him. He howls, and something terrible starts to grow out of him: the bloody roots of a massive tree. An immense wave of panic hits you, and you can’t move, you can’t speak, you can’t breathe--

And then it’s over. It’s over. You’re fine.

The sound of rain returns. (This time it’s definitely soothing, compared to what you just saw.) You’re standing in the foyer of a mansion, a wide open living room in front of you. The door behind you is faintly ajar, leading outside.

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You make a valiant effort, that's for sure--you slice clear through the ones in your path, letting you move forward a little, but as soon as you do so more and more tendrils rise up from the ground and snag at your legs. Although it’s dark, suddenly you can see something shining just ahead of you: three shining orbs, hovering in midair, each one bearing a different sigil: talons, claws, and an eye. You sense there’s something powerful hidden within them.

If you use all of your strength, you can probably reach one. And you’ll likely want to do so--there’s someone, or something, sitting in the throne now. It almost looks like there are two large, hulking figures, sitting side by side. However, if you focus, you can only see one. But that may not be high on your list of priorities right now.

Its booming voice reverberates through you, and it feels like your very bones are rattling.

“PITIFUL THING. YOU WILL REGRET BEING BORN SO WEAK.”

The roots are growing tighter, painfully so.

[ she cracks a small smile as she continues to fight against the tendrils. ] Me, pitiful, now that's a good one. Ha. [ fingerguns. ] I needed a laugh today. s'Been a pretty shitty week, so, uh, thanks for that. [ much sarcasm. many sass. ] But I only see one pitiful prick, and he's the guy sitting in front of me, though... I guess *guy* isn't really the right word for you anymore.

[ time to see if she can't reach the claws. ]

Must be afraid of me if you won't even let me get close enough to kick your ass.

“SUCH INSOLENCE. YOU ARE NOT WORTH THE EFFORT IT WILL TAKE TO CRUSH YOU.”

It takes effort, but you manage to get close enough to touch the orb. A large shapeless mass forms in front of you, twisting and lurching until it settles on the shape of a large black panther. It lets out a low growl, tail splitting into two that grow sharp and jagged at the end. It turns to you and regards you expectantly.

And you're not worth an ounce of respect. [ she spares the panther a glance. ] ...do you think you can drag the cane while I keep him distracted?

[ she's kind of sore she doesn't have her heart weapon, because she's gotten a hell of a lot more used to fighting with a scythe, but the katana she's got should do alright... assuming it doesn't immediately shatter. ]

I think you're just scared. [ back to urizen. ]

The panther nods and makes a dash for the cane sword, but is abruptly stopped by the appearance of larger, more heftier tendrils--these ones with massive jagged spikes at the end that look like they'd be nasty to get stabbed by. They jab at the panther, halting its progress, and it takes a hard slice on one leg, forcing it to retreat. The big tendrils are rapidly approaching you both, and you don't get hardly any warning before one of them stabs right through your shoulder.

The large, hulking figure does not respond.

Shadow! [ she doesn't know if this is 'the' shadow or just something to made to look like shadow, but either way she cries out he comes close to getting hit. ] Behind me, now! We'll push forward toge- [ and then she's getting one right through the shoulder, forcing her to stumble back a bit. ]

[ her grip on the sword tightens as she grits her teeth and huffs something akin to a laugh. ] ...you think you have everything and yet... [ grabs at the tendril with her free hand, and though it trembles she digs her nails it. ] it means nothing.

[ her gaze flickers to the panther once again as she trudges forward, pointedly forcing the tendril further into herself. ]

[ go, cat buddy, while she's being an idiot. ]

The good(?) news is that you're able to... force... the bladed end... of the tendril... further into your shoulder. The slightly better news is that you have a good grip on it now, and although it tries to pull you towards the throne, it doesn't get much leeway. But the scent of your blood has successfully distracted more tendrils towards you, leaving the panther a clear path to the cane sword. It dashes towards it, grabbing it in its mouth and scrambling to try and make its way back to you, but the sheer amount of roots now trying to wrap around you may make that difficult.

Get it to the living room! Don't stick around, because that thing doesn't belong here! [ and if it gets lost in this mess, then shit's fucked. ] I can handle this. [ no she can't. no she fucken can't. ]

[ she starts twisting around in an attempt to evade the other tendrils, but she's soooort of rooted herself in place because of what she did a few moments ago. WUPS. ] ...how about you lot meet *my* lot. [ licks her lips and chuckles. ] Nothing turns me on like hurting the asshole that hurt nae salang. [ sooooo going to make a feeble attempt to turn the sword she's deathgripping on the tentacle in her shoulder, so she can maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe break free. ~~for a second, because clearly #shefuckedup.~~ ]

The panther shakes its head and makes a muffled whine noise. It can't communicate to you with words, but it seems like it wants you to take the cane sword. It manages to dodge the tendrils enough to get it to you--but your legs are almost completely bound up by the bloody roots, and they are squeezing painfully hard.

... a- alright, give it here. Maybe it'll be infinitely more useful here. [ going to drop her own sword, so she can reach for the can sword. ] And, like, if you can help me out of this pickle, well then I guess I owe you a meal or something. [ a halfhearted laugh. ] No need to tell me I fucked it. [ she knows. ]

As soon as you grasp the cane sword, you feel the tendrils recoil from it, and in that second of weakness the panther morphs into a giant ball of spikes, like a sea urchin, and it stabs at every single tentacle clinging to your legs. Soon you find yourself free to move, save for the one that's jabbed into your shoulder. It abruptly rears back towards the throne, trying to get away from you, but in that moment you see...

... in its attempt to dislodge you, the tendril has pulled you into the air, and as you hover, you realize you've got a straight shot to drive the sword through the hulking figure's heart, if you cut yourself free from the one lodged in your shoulder. You've only got one chance, but you can do it!

[ oho. talk about teamwork! ] ♥ thanks babe! [ she winks at the panther. ] Dinner's on me.

[ as soon as she's airborne she takes out her hookshot as she makes a clean slice through a portion of the tentacle. not cutting it out completely, since she's got plans for the piece still wedged inside of her, but she DOES need to sever the connection, because it's time to kill an asshole. ]

[ once free she fires her hookshot at urizen, aiming for a spot right beside his heart, so when she pulls the trigger to snap her forward she can drive raven's cane sword straight through it. ] Now who's pitiful?

The large, hulking figure roars in pain and anger.

“YOU...! HOW DARE YOU!”

But you've got better things to do than listen to this loser's whining, right? You drive the sword down, and there's a howl of defeat that rattles every bone in your body before the figure seizes up and explodes in a massive tidal wave of blood and viscera. The tendrils all writhe and quake as they collapse to the ground, lifeless. The panther runs up to you, bloodied but alive, and pleased. It bonks its head against your hand.

YOUR SCORE:
B

[ as soon as this bitch[tm] is dead she's going to tear the chunk of tendril out of her own body and take a knee in front of the panther. ] Hey. [ bonk. ] I couldn't have done that without you. Talk about making a great team.

Here; not sure if you'd like to eat this or not, but I made sure to save a piece in case, like, you're into that sorta thing. If not I can make you something else... assuming you can leave the cellar and you're not stuck here too... [ :[ let her keep her new friend. ]

The panther will eagerly wolf down the tendril chunk, and then roll over onto its back to show its fuzzy belly and very large paw beans.

[ SHE CANNOT RESIST. ]

[ it's time to pet the panther!!! and she's going to reach for one of his massive paws and bring it to her mouth for a kiss. ] Look at you. Such an amazing companion. [ reaches up to boop his nose. ] Raven's lucky to have you, and I'm even luckier you lent me your strength, so thank you.

:P The panther purrs. Eventually it rights itself and sits, licking its wounded paw, and then curls up in a ball for a nap... and disappears back into its orb.

Later ♥. [ she's going to drag her ass back to the living room to fix the chandelier... and, idk, probably get blood everywhere. ]

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[RAVEN'S HEART GAME - SESSION FOUR]

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