Match of the Millennium

Description: Echo takes a trip to upstate Metro City after escaping from NOL with Gabriel for a routine haunting/exorcism job. However things do not go to plan.

[ECHO]
When Echo wasn't doing anything specific for Shadaloo, and had some downtime, she often took job for high-paying clients that required a Necromancer's touch. Sometimes it was body preservation, or staving death off from a person in high places (and deep pockets) as long as the ailment wasn't old age related... The grip of her magic didn't allow her to control that.

And if you're good at something, never do it for free. Saintly advice.

This is what brought her to the town house in upstate Metro City, far from the bustling metropolis and into the barrens of trees and not a whole lot else out here. She was familiar with most of the Eastern coast of North America. That happened to be where the portal from Makai took her. So that made her a 'Makaiian-American', technically, which always gave her a grin. She stepped out of her sedan, having worn a magical disguise of a lady of comparative height and weight along with similar hair, the seat curiously pushed all the way back, of course. Sporting wings she couldn't dismiss like a succubus did make tighter spaces more difficult.

She was wearing one of her usual shin-length black dresses, carrying a bag of materials--along with a pair of black sandals. She didn't dress fancy when she was on a job, she had bigger things to worry about. Like what was actually going on inside this big dark house. She pushed the outer gate open and approached the place, her yellow eyes peering around. She wondered who owned it, briefly--it would make a lovely vacation home. Of course, this was coming from a Makai native, every day was morbid and dark for them. That's how they liked it.

Using a key provided, she entered the front, stepping into a dark entrayway.

[LOTUS]
The visible floor inside the entrance is made of wood, and sounds as such with the solid tapping of Echoes shoes. An odd smell she as a necromancer would likely recognize, that of fresh corpses, suddenly fills the area. Just as she would smell this the door behind her abruptly SLAMS shut, locking solidly and refusing to open! Strangely, even the daylight around the door is not seen, the room is solid pitch blackness!

[ECHO]
As she stepped inside, the smell hit her. What, was this guy storing dead bodies in here--or was this the aftermath of some kind of party gone tragically wrong? Double murder-suicide? Her hand was already going down to her 'utility belt' which was strung with pouches, 3-eyed animal skull of some alien origin--along with a small burlap sack of earth. Had it been this dark outside before? She remembers catching a small nap in her car on the way up here, in the parking lot of a big box store, but had the light really faded that fast? Not that she needed it.

She still jumped a bit when the door slammed behind her, however--with her ears she could tell it was locked, by the loud clacking noises. What kind of dumb trap was this--or was this the phenomena she was sent here to deal with?

She stepped further in, muttering an incantation to herself as she walked, seemingly unafraid.

[LOTUS]
With a loud *CLACK!*, bright light erupts from above and in front, flooding the area in illumination!

She's on the front portion of a large stage, in an equally large theatre. The audience area is cloaked in blackness as the lights are blinding. The floor is wooden, and the curtain is down. A door can be seen across the stage on the other side, partially ajar. Two of the lights converge, and shes suddenly the center of attention, and in the spotlight! The audience begins to applaud, whoever it is in the seats out ther......

[ECHO]
The snap and bright intense burning of the lights is enough to blind her--really, it is. Her eyes /were/ more suited for darker environments. This was like pulling the drapes clear open on a sunny day on someone who worked nights. It was /harsh/.

"Agh--damnit, nnghh!" she grimaced, holding her hands over her face and trying to look around. All she could see was strange multi-colored shapes in front of her vision as the cones and rods in her eyes struggled to readjust. The light likely followed her of course, stumbling around the stage. She was experiencing some kind of spectral activity, but wasn't sure exactly what--past life intruding on current events? Some kind of audial and visual hallucination? She unfolded her wings and shrouded them around her like a cloak, struggling to see.

She was also turning her head this way and that, trying to use her superhuman sense of hearing to detect /anything/ over the din of the 'crowd'.

[LOTUS]
Seeing her stumbling and having trouble with the lights, the audience begins to laugh and wolf-whistle when the wings come out for whatever reason. No other sound can be heard over the din of the sound.... when it abruptly... stops! Not a sound is heard. One moment its thunderous, the next, complete silence!

The lights too seem to suddenly drop lower in intensity, from what she can see around the barrier of her wings.....

[ECHO]
"Ack... about time," Echo throws her wings around her, looking up as she reached into a pouch and grabbed a pinch of something, grave dirt--she wasn't playing around, though whatever it was seemed to be. Once she threw it, her own spectral servants would be summoned to do her bidding... but what was it? What was here?

Blinking, tears streaming down the white fur of her face, she strained to see through the lights and the dark area around her, hunting for a target.

[LOTUS]
The audience is still wreathed in thick darkness even her night vision cannot penetrate. However, whatever is there remains silent.

As she starts to look around and lower her wings, strange music begins playing, from where is hard to tell. Off key and slightly discordant. The lights are only half as intense as before, and looking around, she realizes the the curtain is now up! Men in leotards and woman in tutus are dancing..... but there is a strange clicking sound to their movements.....

[ECHO]
"Higher level phantasm..." Echo raises a brow, noting that the 'dancers' here have appeared. The clicking of their steps is also observed, one of Echo's long batty ears twitching.

"Alright then, lets party!" Echo snarled and bared fangs, drawing her arm back that was clutching the pinch of grave dirt. She was done playing around already!

COMBATSYS: Echo has started a fight here on the right meter side.

                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0             Echo

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0             Echo

[LOTUS]
The sound has likely given away what she is seeing for what it is..... the dancers finish their piece, and end in bows. About this time she makes her challenge. Now that they aren't moving, its clear these arent humans.....

They're some kind of contruct, like someone took a human, but them apart, and made a puppet or manniquin out of them. Stitches and sutures criss cross the visible areas of skin, and their faces are frozen and stitched into immovable expressions of various kinds. The lights shift, and the blood on the floor thats oozing from some of these can now be seen..... the dance steps across the stage red footprints as it runs down their limbs.....

The audience 'ooooooooh's as the challenge is made, and the creatures twitch and shift, dancing their way towards her as the battle begins!

The things encircle Echo, filling her vision with movement as some go around to the left, others to the right, in what appears to be a performance.....

That is, until the attacks come in!

A ballerina does a twirl, her foot coming up in a sweeping kick at the womans face! A spins past, his fists flying at her stomach as he goes...... the term 'dance mob' would be a good one, for mob her they do collectively!

COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Unknown Entity's Monstrous Impact.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0             Echo

[ECHO]
"Hnn... not quite what *I* would have done with them, but I can see where you're going with it--" Echo has just enough time to bring her arms up to try and block the foot that's aimed directly at her temple--managing to ward off that attack while taking the pummeling to her abdominal area. She twists with each of the blows. It looked like it hurt.

"Nghh--" Echo pushed back on one sandaled foot, throwing the pinch of grave dirt in the air--snarling as she barked a comamnd in some strange language. Indistinct humanoid shapes appeared behind the 'dolls', spreading arms to reveal scythes--not tools, but long bladed arms, trying to slash the dolls heads off!

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity fails to interrupt Abracadaver from Echo with Combo Grapple.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0             Echo

[LOTUS]
The creatures seem fearless, and don't visibly heed their own safety. They swarm the summoned humanoid as well as Echo herself.... those that rush the summoned being are promptly cut down. Limbs and blood go everywhere as they are sliced to ribbons by the scyche-like arms despite their best efforts.

Those remaining continue to swarm Echo as their bretheren are taken care of.....

[ECHO]
The servant disappears after several of the dolls are decapitated, arms and heads sent flying into the air, leaving Echo with the high ground for the moment, tracing patterns in the air, she begins to marshall her forces.

"Whoever is controlling you is clearly an amateur, how about you stiffs come and work for me?" she grins, bolstering her energy with the ritual she's casting.

COMBATSYS: Echo raises arms, eyes glowing red as she conjures FELL MAGICKS to her aid!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1             Echo

[LOTUS]
The rest of the troupe close in, sending attacks just as before, their dance and movements almost hypnotic in their nature.....

COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Unknown Entity's Fierce Combo.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1             Echo

[ECHO]
Echo flared her wings, raising her arms to avoid the blows of the dolls--the strange wood... or was it some kind of carved stone?--battered against her, sandals sliding across the stage floor as she inhaled deeply. It could easily be said she wasn't used to the strain of the physical fighting, finding her head feeling like it was swimming a bit. Gah--it was that music. One of her traits that was usually a strength, her sense of hearing, was making it even harder to ignore that strangely out of tune waltz that was being heard.

"Guh, you, take a hike," she pointed at the nearest doll, and jerked her thumb back behind her, as if to tell it to go away--a starry dark portal widening out from beneath it's feet--trying to suck it through and throw it somewhere else!

COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Unknown Entity with Another Gate.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1             Echo

[LOTUS]
SLORP!

The dancing thing is sucked out as it goes by, seemingly unaware that the portal was even there as it approached! Something new happens, however..... the smaller stage lights, light bulbs behind ornate covers, with the bulb on the stage side, begin to explode with loud POPS! It happens randomly, but when it's the ones closest to Echo, the glass by some manner flies at her as projectiles of sharpened glass!

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity successfully hits Echo with Energy Blast.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo

[ECHO]
The glass is not seen at first, as the loud pops of light and sound are enough to disorient Echo--the shards of glass cutting her arms and face, blood streaming down before her darkstalker physiology can deal with it. Perhaps taking advantage of the now broken glass strewn everywhere, she leans back and attempts to kick one of the dolls nearest her towards the broken glass and now blown out stage light fixtures!

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity dodges Echo's Light Kick.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo

[LOTUS]
The dancer contorts itself unnaturally, its body going around her foot as it gives a muffled giggle, its features for a moment straining to change but are unable.

The audience suddenly begins to applaud, and the dancers begin to disperse away. One or two jump out into where the audience would be, and ..... simply wink out of view. Several leap into the surrounding stone walls head first, their necks breaking with loud SNAPs and going limb on the floor as red pools around them..... one leaps at HER, dissolving into blood and ash on impact (or showering her with such if struck first).

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity takes no action.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo

[ECHO]
"The hell are you doing--" Echo then has to bring her arm up to cover her face, blood splashed from the strange creature's suicide--some of it splashing on her face and getting into her mouth. It was sour and had an awful aftertaste to it, like milk that had gone off. Bleh.

"Blah--gah--kaffkaff--" she doubled over, spitting and finally walking to the curtains, which she took hold of and retched again, feeling dizzy still thanks to the music. Where the hell had it come from??

COMBATSYS: Echo lets you go this round!

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo

[LOTUS]
The music seems to no longer be a problem! As she recovers from her coughing and gagging, everything seems straaaaaangely different.... the music is gone. The sound of the audience is gone. The entire place is dark, with only a hole in the ceiling providing faint moonlight....

Looking around and taking it in, the curtain shes grabs tears in her grasp a bit, the fine rich silk now tattered and rotten from time and exposure to the elements. The whole place is covered in a fine later of dirt and grime, as you would find if rainwater had soaked the area over long amounts of time!

There, in the dust and dirt, a shadow shuffles..... several dark shapes seem to stir up and move towards her.....

Despite their seeming insubstantiality, when they impact it's with decent force!

COMBATSYS: Echo dodges Unknown Entity's Medium Kick.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo

[ECHO]
Her wings vaning out around her, Echo leaps into the air--a sound like a flag being whipped in the wind accompanying those leathern wings of hers whipping back to allow her some purchase in the air. Her arms focus as she looks back at the shadowy creature that attacked her--focusing the moonlight down through the hole in the ceiling as it 'chases' the strange shadowy being, the light intensifying as more shadows broil around her!

"EAT IT--" she sounds quite serious, this whole thing has been a fight she's not used to on a routine job like this. She's unsteady, dizzy still from the music, and god knows what the doll's blood is doing to her!

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity blocks Echo's Still Falls The Night.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0             Echo

[LOTUS]
The initial blast hits the closest one, and several behind, but the rest seem to almost disperse, vanishing from sight. Whether the attack worked on more than the initial ones is unclear..... however, whatever is going on isn't finished.

On the floor of the arena hall, something stirs in the dust..... strands of thin, dark substance not easily identified from so high up being to emerge. They are in patches, several dozen from each spot, swaying and flowing in the faint wind.....

Abruptly, they snap up at Echo, their nature becoming clear.

It's hair! Looooong spidery strands of black hair!

They attempt to wrap around her wings, feet, arms, and such and pull her back down to floor level!

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity successfully hits Echo with Brutal Fling.
- Power hit! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>------\1             Echo

[ECHO]
"Nnghh!" Echo tries to struggle as the strange dark /tendrils/ of hair wrap around her arms, legs, waist and wings--likely around her throat too--she's roughly pulled down into the dark mass. She tries to struggle with the hair wrapped around her neck, grimacing--bringing a hand up that is charged with chi power--some kind of soul decaying spell charged within her palm as she slams it down in defense!

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity fails to interrupt Spirit Wrack from Echo with Monstrous Strike.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Unknown Entity   1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1             Echo

[LOTUS]
The strands pull her down towards what appears to be a human head, buried mostly in the ash and dirt. It attempts to bite her as she is pulled towards it, but the strike hits first, and it is destroyed with a scream and dissolves into dust itself!

However, it is not alone! All around her, more small nodes around the room 'sprout', strands of hair wavering but not grapping her.... they function as legs, decapitated heads with horrified expressions, their long hair working like spiders legs as they rise from their nests. They have noticed her, but they are not quite mobile yet......

[ECHO]
"Gah..." Echo has to struggle to free the hair from around her neck, arms--likely some had wrapped around her head and mouth--trying to gag her. She winds up spitting up hair. The worst part? It's not even some of hers that accidentally got caught in her throat. It's a lingering and nagging feeling of something caught in the throat. Disgusting.

"Well, hello boys," she pulls herself up, letting a drop of her own blood pool in her palm from her mouth--before she 'blows' it like blowing a kiss towards the strange spider-legged heads. It travels in a straight line towards them before exploding--sending lethal blood projectiles everywhere!

COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Unknown Entity with Blood Gout.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Unknown Entity   1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1             Echo

[LOTUS]
The heads collectively scream as the blood projectiles pierce their flesh! Black ichor leaks from their skulls, pooling on the floor, which begins to smoke and churn...... suddenly, hands of ichor and ash mixed together burst from the ground and grab at Echo, attempting to pull her to her knees and hold her in place! They are non-too careful WHERE they grab, going for any part of her person that they can get ahold of if it will keep her in place!

Meanwhile, the heads skitter slowly towards Echos location, bleeding as they go, and crying with what sounds like babies crying.......

COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Unknown Entity's Monstrous Beatdown.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/----===|=======\=======\1             Echo

[ECHO]
"That doesn't look good..." Echo wasn't just saying that because she feared for the entity's sake, far from it--but the strange liquid they were bleeding was anything but. If people died while taking a bath, they'd sort of become a brackish soup, and around half of them would go down the drain when the plug was pulled--it kind of reminded Echo of that, but worse.

She's pulled down to her knees by the ichor hands, groaning as she struggles to free herself, wrenching herself away as her legs are cut into!

"I'm not dying here tonight to a bunch of makai beasts, or whatever the hell you are," Echo wreaths herself with chi energy, putting a foot down as the curtains, moth eaten and fetid as they wree, swirl around her--gouts of fire as screaming buzzsaws emerge from the floor, chasing after the creatures, trying to splatter them!

COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Unknown Entity with Grand Guignol EX.

[                           \\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Unknown Entity   0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0             Echo

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity takes no action.

                                  >  //////////                    ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Echo

COMBATSYS: Unknown Entity can no longer fight.

                                  >  //////////                    ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Echo

[LOTUS]
The blades do their grisly work. As the spidery monsters close in, they are diced in half neatly, their baby-like screams lingering in the night air as the dissolve to dust shortly after. The arms begin to crumble as well, some attempting to crawl towards her before they finally disperse completely.

Then something unexpected happens..... Echos saw bladed attack changes..... the blades circle on the floor, and turn back towards her! At once they all converge on her from all directions, and in the moment they would vivisect her, there's a very jarring JERK through her body......

.... and she's back to where she was earlier. Outside, on a path to the door from earlier, the wood floor visible, and this time the hallway decently lit by whoever happens to live there.

Checking herself over, Echo would find no injuries, no tears or marks on her clothes, nothing to indicate anything at all just happened.....

[ECHO]
The sawblades and fire reduce the spider-legged creatures to cinders and burnt flaps of gristle, and she finally starts to breath easier--until of course the blades reverse and something causes her to lose her balance. Did a part of the floor give away under her sandal? Or did some strand of hair catch her. All she knows is she's going headfirst into one of the sawblades, her yellow eyes open and mouth agape, screaming.

She can see the fast-moving blade as plain as day, her face inches away from being turned into a shape rather like a hotdog bun, or a can that's been crushed into from one side.

"Ahhhhh!"

And then suddenly, the blades are no more--it is night, and she is outside. She had leaned up against the side of the doorway to the town house and had slumped down against it. Had she not gotten a nap in her car after all?

She pulled herself up and looked around. There was the buzzing of insects, wind in the plants and trees, and stars overhead. She had slept for quite a while. She had used the duffle bag she'd been carrying as support against the doorstep.

Echo felt weirded out, as one might from awakening in a strange place. Especially out in the open--but she also felt like she had sweated during sleep--her brow wet with perspiration. Licking her lips, she stumbled back to her car--getting in and turning on the interior lights--half expecting to see something in the rearview mirror--but there is nothing, just the back seat.

She drives away, intending to come back in the light, hopefully then she has her shit together.

Log created on 22:37:08 07/27/2019 by Echo, and last modified on 02:39:26 07/28/2019.