DRAIN YOU OF YOUR SANITY

[fakethulhu]

WHO: The Emissary and co. versus everybody
WHERE: Off the coast of Battery Park and throughout the City
WHEN: Just before midnight October 31st (technically November 1st)
WARNINGS: Violence and frightening imagery
SUMMARY: Drawn by Illidan’s magic, a demon from beyond reality has come forth to help the Betrayer doom the world. The battle that saves

Comments

HARBOUR [Orin, Namor, Eridan]

[fakethulhu]

The monster’s arrival would have been impossible to miss even if the City hadn’t been forewarned days in advance by its various seers and prophets. Even as Emissary towered above the harbour and announced Itself with Its reprehensible slobbering and began to advance on the City, It was immediately opposed.

[amphibiously]

Orin had never seen anything like it before, and he stood awed on one of the harbor piers for a second, before leaping lightly into the water and heading for the thing with long, fearless strokes. He knew there'd be no reasoning with it, no debate and no love and no compassion from it, and he knew even as he tried to reach his mind out towards it that a telepathic move like that was reckless in the extreme.

As soon as he felt the pull at his sanity, he withdrew fast and sprang up out of the water to engage the thing.

BATTERY PARK – SHORE [Iron Man, Hellboy, Ms. Marvel, Kuwabara]

[fakethulhu]

Larger and larger waves began to slam against the shore of the park as the Emissary drew closer, whipping up the water through the immense motion of Its limbs. It loomed larger and larger over the land as though it was itself a monstrously great wave, about to break and sweep away the City. Yet before it could set its vile feet upon the ground, there were four more who stood against it.

[liverletdie]

Well. He'd heard the warnings from Namor, so he'd been prepared for something pretty bad, but this? No, definitely not this. He'd sent a quick call to Carol, because he definitely needed some kind of back up against this kind of nightmare. So from Starktech it was a quick flight off the roof, and toward Battery Park. He wasn't going to let this thing go too far, at least not if he could help it. The quick flight was punctuated by a quick data dump into his brain about what he was looking at. Lovecraftian in nature, which meant, oh. That's right. Madness. Just perfect. Nothing to do but try and avoid that as best he could. So Iron Man went in flying blind and deaf, using satellite data to guide his movements toward the squid-esque horror.

[inhisrighthand]

By this point, Hellboy thought he'd seen every kind of Lovecraftian horror that was possible. And yet, even he found himself dumbfounded at the shear size of the creature lumbering slowly but surely toward the shore. He stood a few dozen yards inland at the edge of the trees, the waves lapping at his feet. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to fight this thing. But all his plans pretty much devolved into 'clobber it in the face,' anyway. He just had to think of some way to get up there before it started trampling buildings.

Well, he'd think of that before the thing arrived on shore. Which probably wouldn't be too long now. He drew his gun in preparation, and began to march through the increasingly large waves toward the sandy beach.

[bests]

Carol had ben waiting for this all day with an anxious sort of anticipation. She wasn't exactly up on her Lovecraftian horror knowledge, but any self-respecting geek knows a little bit about Cthulhu and so she couldn't deny the slightest bit of apprehension when it came to the whole fighting it or something like it thing. But when the call came, she went without another thought. It wasn't exactly Avengers Assemble, but it was good enough for her.

She flew out her window and towards the shore as fast as she could, her clothes changing into her costume as she raced through the sky. Her mind was clear and everything in her seemed to hum in anticipation as she headed for what was sure to be one hell of a fight. She charged up her fists as she got closer to the shore, trying not to look at It directly while trying to find a good place out of reach to zap it with energy. Since, well, punching It in the face was probably not the smartest idea in the world.

BATTERY PARK – INTERIOR [Ysera, Santo, Black Bolt, Kyo]

[fakethulhu]

The Earth itself seemed to tremble and quiver beneath the unearthly footfalls of the Thing that now tread upon it. Wherever the Emissary touched the ground of the park, It left immense misshapen footprints bubbling with corrupted seawater and toxic ichor. Trees were splintered and paths stomped out of existence as the Park’s beauty fell victim to the Emissary’s ravening for destruction. If It was to be stopped before the City shared a similar fate, this was the place.

[ofthedream]

The earth beneath the Ancient Thing shuddered as it advanced... and then erupted as massive roots surged up like living, writhing things to wrap around it's legs and reach even higher to try to bind it in place. These were roots unlike any this world has ever known; strong as steel, they were as big around as a city bus and studded with massive, impaling thorns to grip it's vile flesh.

At the same time, all along the waterfront and out in the harbor itself, another army of creatures appeared out of thin air. But these weren't creatures of chaos and destruction; these were the protectors of Nature itself. Great and small, they spread out to destroy the abominations that crawled out of the abyss in the wake of the Ancient Evil. Some of the largest, giants of stone and metal, hefted great boulders to hurl at the Emissary, or entire fallen trees to use as great spears

[boltalicious]

There's a much smaller form not far behind Ysera. Black Bolt had been ready and waiting as well, silently poised at the edge of the same skyscraper. He's not entirely pleased either that this thing has been allowed so near to the City, but there's not much to be done about it. His own power is most effective in direct confrontation, without water between him and the creature.

But then it's here, and Ysera has taken her cue. Black Bolt isn't far behind her. He leaps into the air, fanned wings at his arms unfolding and working with his power to catch him and turn a fall into flight. He's a tiny black shape just behind the mass of Ysera, darting and hovering, equally seeking an opening as well as willing to stand back and let her fight in her own time and manner. For now.

[rock_it_punch]

Unlike the others, Santo hadn't been ready. He hadn't even done any research on this Cthulhu thing beyond "giant monster", and what that told him was that to stand a chance, to help save the city, he'd have to play giant monster himself. That meant two things: going bigger than he ever had before, and tearing up some of this park for resources to do so.

As the ground rippled, undulated, and rose into the air like a miniature mountain, it became clear that Rockslide was okay with Battery Park taking a hit for the team. The supersized Rockslide pulled its way from the rock formation like it was some sort of cocoon, the ground trembling as his heavy foot stomped down. Sure, he wasn't as big as Jesus what is that thing? but at least like this he had a chance to make a difference.

After the first took had their crack, that is.

FINANCIAL DISTRICT [Wesley, Sofia, ?, ?]

[fakethulhu]

Now the City itself had begun to bear the brunt of the onslaught. The Emissary did not discriminate or waver in Its movement, storming into the skyscrapers and office buildings blocking Its way and tearing them into crumbling rubble with ease. Its steps left cracked pavement and shattered sewers in Its wake along with toppled streetlights and broken glass. If anything the Emissary was moving with more eagerness now, for It was getting closer and closer to the magical beacon that is drawing It- the power being emitted by Illidan Stormrage in Central Park, calling forth the doom of the Earth.

[lie_to_him]

Wesley had dealt with Apocalypses before, but that was on his own familiar turf and while he had been her a number of months he was still far from familiar with the city as a whole. He did know enough that if this Thing was heading for Midtown then he should do his damnedest to make sure it didn't make it there. There were a few screaming civilians running about in madness, but he could waste the energy to try and shield them as well as himself through his magic. Natural magic was never easy for him so he had to concentrate to erect a barrier to keep out the flying debris and that was when he felt it...

Dark. Very dark and very powerful. Perhaps Zatanna had been right in her estimation of his abilities or perhaps this foreign magic was just that strong. It was wrong and he knew it, but it was so much easier for him to tap into that darkness within. Sweat forming on his brow he unleashed a wall of fire.

[sofiawind]

Sofia was up in the air, she had been using her wind power to direct the debris away from those few trapped citizens, when she saw the wall of fire. Turning in the air she felt she felt a cold shiver of fear run through herself but she tried to push it away and landed beside her partner.

"This is nuts."

[fakethulhu]

The Emissary cared little for Wesley's barrier. Whatever dark power the Porter had awakened within the human, the monstrosity had exponentially more. It strode through the wall of fire without so much as flinching, despite the blackening and peeling upon Its legs where the flames scorched them. The moment It was through the barrier, the wounds immediately began to heal as though they had never been.

Once the wall was breached, the Emissary took a moment to deal with the magical gnat. One massive clawed paw brushed the roof of a tower only a little, and cascading debris plummeted towards Wesley, a shower of jagged glass and steel. Then It saw Sofia, the source of the wind in the air. Its gaze fixed upon her. Powerful psychic energies began to probe at her psyche, the aura of despair and madness starting to make itself felt upon its target.

[ooc: No word yet on whether more characters will be joining this thread, so we'll carry on with this for now!]

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN [Zatanna, Snape, ?, ?]

[fakethulhu]

This was it. The final barrier, the last chance at salvation. The Emissary was finally starting to show the toll fighting through so many heroes and champions had taken, moving more sluggishly and unsteadily, unable to ignore the many superpowered attacks Its mighty form had been subjected to.

Yet it was so close, so very close! The street of Central Park South beckoned beyond the shops and homes and cultural landmarks It was about to demolish beneath Its bulk. Beyond that was Illidan, the Well, and the final end of all things. Everything came down to whether the remaining heroes could finish what the other defenders had started, and hold back the Emissary long enough for Illidan to be defeated.

[fishnets]

Zatanna hadn't been around for the early stages of the fight; she was too busy rushing to the aid of the remaining citizens and teleporting anyone she could out of the City at the last minute. Thankfully, teleportation was never too taxing on her and she was able to arrive and do her best to protect anyone within her range from its ability to drive a person mad.

Her first course of action is, while floating about, to trying to get it to pots and when it doesn't, well, that's when the fun begins. She weaves back and forth, trying to find anything that looks like a weak spot. All she can think of is to aim for the eyes, hitting it with earth elemental spells, large rocks appearing from nowhere, whirring past her head and to the creature itself.

[ooc: Still can't do AIM chatrooms!! Please feel free to IM me one-on-one, PM, or plurk me! Also, yeah. I was tracking the logs comm because I was certain I'd miss this being posted...]

[bestunrevealed]

There was dark magic and then there was Dark Magic; Severus Snape knew well the difference, and this? This thing?

It was the walking embodiment of the latter. With several vials on his person of his most powerful works, he only took out the one he thought he'd really need. He'd been brewing it for weeks. He never, ever, went without having a tiny vial of it somewhere in his lab, for the moment he would need it. Slughorn had taught him the value of knowing when to rely on your skill, and knowing when sometimes, you need to nudge fate along.

Felix Felicis; liquified luck. If ever he needed to have One Good Day? Today was that day.

He popped the cork and drank the vial down; feeling the warmth spread through him. He fingered the vials in his pocket again, and pulled out another, and this time, left the roof top for the sky, abandoning all pretense of being 'the average wizard' of his world, and zipped in; spying Zatanna in the air, he zipped to the side, and again, popped a vial--

--this time, pointing it away from himself

[fakethulhu]

The pots spells were like pebbles in the path of a walker who wasn't looking down- too small to halt, but plenty enough to inconvenience, to slow. The Emissary's movements became jerky in the face of Zatanna's magic, stop-and-go, forcing Its way past the commands of her spells. In the grand scheme of things, this was barely an obstacle. Combined with giant rocks getting thrown in Its eyes and magical acid poured on it...

The Thing bellowed and halted, if only for a moment. Nictating membranes slid over Its eyes, thick and slimy and transclucent, shielding them from further attacks. Its hands swung against the acid serpents hissing and sizzling against Its body, trying to splash them out of existence. At the same time the tentacles around that horrid mouth stretched out and reached forth towards the two magicians between the Emissary and Its goal.

[ooc: No developments so far in filling the remaining spots in this thread, so we'll carry on with the three of us for now!]