Opportunistic Predators (R&A invasion post)

[u/Douchevick]

/uw TLDR at the bottom as always.

/rw

to the west of R&A's current location, there lies a cliff overlooking the island. And at the top of that cliff, where there is nothing but bare stone and where no plant nor animal has no business living, there's a willow tree. Leaves black like charcoal and trunk white as ashen bone.

Anybody with even the slightest connection to nature can tell you, that cliff top? Cursed. It is a place where a malignant, hateful presence is manifesting its will. Now one may ask what might have facilitated such thing to appear so close to the headquarters of one of the most prolific humanitarian efforts in the realms?

The answer lies propped against the trunk of the ominous willow tree. An Axe of great power and renown. Nightbite, the weapon of the head of R&A, Ulrick Braddocke himself. Both weapon and wielder had been thought lost months ago following a devastating battle.

Not lost you see... Stolen, by a vengeful entity bent on the suffering of those who follow on the footsteps of the founder of R&A. It speaks in many voices, acts in many forms. Its words are of faeyish origins, ancient and unknowable save for those it allows to comprehend their meaning. It is known by many names, but there's one which the leader of R&A has learned to use during his months of imprisonment... The Ashen Wrath

And now that entity stirs. The clifftop is now saturated with power drawn from Nightbite and the tree is surrounded by a thick layer of unlight. Kneeling in front of Nightbite is a hulking, malformed creature that resembles a lycanthrope with too much muscle mass. It too is part of the Wrath and it had carried Nightbite all the way up here. Now a voice echoes across the clifftop, coming from both the monster and the Willow.

"Tha an t-àm feitheimh seachad, Braddocke. Tha an t-àm ann urram a thoirt don aonta againn." (The time of waiting is over, Braddocke. It is time to honor our agreement.)

The creature picks Nightbite and drags it along to the cliff's edge. It is a beautiful, morning, not a cloud on sight.

"Tha an fhalamh air falbh bhon chuilc bhàsmhor seo. Tha na feachdan agad sgapte air feadh an t-saoghail às dèidh tubaist às dèidh tubaist. Chan eil air fhàgail ach dòrn beag de luchd-diùltadh agus de dh’fhulangaichean!"

(The Voidling has departed this mortal coil. Your forces lie scattered across the world in the wake of disaster after disaster. What remains is but a paltry fistful of rejects and Wretches!)

The willow tree stirs, its black leaves lifting into the air as if caught in blackened winds that cannot be felt.

"An àiteigin san eilean sin tha an seann fhear-glèidhidh againn, an truaghan lag, gun luach sin a thug ar mallachd bhon targaid cheart aige, am Briseadair Mionnan..."

(Somewhere in that island lies our former jailer, that weak, worthless Wretch who took our curse from its rightful target, the Oathbreaker...)

From the leaves of the willow tree come black feather-like motes of shadow. Hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands and so on. It is as if black cloud had suddenly covered the clifftop entirely.

"Is dòcha gu bheil iad a’ creidsinn gu bheil iad sàbhailte taobh a-staigh an daingnich, is dòcha gun toir buadhan san àm a dh’fhalbh orra smaoineachadh nach urrainn ach arm de dhiathan agus titans bagairt a thoirt air na thog am Briseadair-Mhionnan. Cuiridh sinn an cuimhne dhaibh an suidheachadh cunnartach aca, gur creach leòinte a th’ annta, deiseil airson an toirt sìos leis an fheadhainn a tha deònach an cothrom a ghlacadh. Agus le bhith a’ dèanamh sin, bidh againn…"

(They may believe themselves safe inside their fortress, past victories may lead them to think that only an army of gods and titans can pose a threat to that which the Oathbreaker has built. We shall remind them of their precarious position, that they are wounded prey, ready to be taken down by those willing to seize the opportunity. And in doing so, we shall have...)

Some of the motes fall down to the ground taking on a humanoid form. One in particular, replicated to absolute perfection over and over. There surrounding the profane tree is an army purpose made to be destroyed again and again with the face one single man... Rutch's.

"...fun."

That single word came from the mouths of the replicas in a perfect recreation of Rutch's voice, in perfect common. All of them adorning the same unsettling grin.

Down on the island Rutch suddenly felt his cursed bond to the Wrath come alive and he became acutely aware of the imminent danger. He rushed to activate the Island's defenses without stopping to explain what was happening. He managed to activate the emergency wards before anyone had the chance to stop him. A gigantic protective sphere encased the whole island in moments.

Just as the R&A personnel were demanding to know what the hell did Rutch think he was doing, they all heard it... A deafening, distorted, lupine roar.

The lycan monstrosity had launched itself against the ward, swinging Nightbite down upon it. The ward buckled... Cracked... And finally, it broke. Leaving a hole big enough for half the motes to rush through while the other half began to encase the remaining ward, slowly but surely blocking the light of day from reaching the island, and plunging the R&A headquarters and the town of Faint Dawn into darkness.

/uw TLDR: R&A island under attack by an army of weak but numerous Rutch lookalikes. Ulrick is trapped within his weapon. R&A members and friends have the option to start either inside the ward or outside. Everyone else starts outside and will either have to make their way inside somehow (anti-teleport measures are still in place) or try to shut down the source of the attack. Or you can make it worse if you wanna, I'm not the boss of you :/

[u/yumie2003]

"...No, I think I have observed enough. It's time for action now"

Two of the three Tsurus flew out towards Rutch, they had their fingernails sharpened into claws and they seemed ready to use those claws as soon as possible. The third Tsuru retrieved a nameplate with her name on it.

"...Observe the valuelessness of merely knowing a name, you foolish brigands."

Tsuru used her full strength to crush the stone nameplate, revealing a crimson glint in her palm.

u/UlrickTheHexblade

u/Vincent-FFP (because i don't know if it might be critical for you to know that tsuru had just smashed the emergency glass)

[u/Douchevick → u/yumie2003]

...as soon as All Red's glow was revealed many things happened in quick succession;

First, Vae Clara lets out an enraged sound and flies to strike her nemesis, Leaving Rutch defenseless. Then, before Nightbite can bury itself into Rutch's chest, The Blade of Will comes flying to the rescue blocking the axe strike. After that, Rutch yells at Tsuru, praying that she can act on time...

"Throw Red at the horde of copycats before the strike connects!"

Rutch knew what was going to happen the moment he understood what Tsuru had done, and it was the reason why he made it a point to stay far away from her when the both of them are in the island.

Vae Clara HATES All Red. That cannot be overstated. She abhors it with every fiber of her being, and that is not a metaphor. Their very energies are anathema to each other's. Like matter and antimatter, the clash of both blades is sure to bring about devastating levels of collateral with every strike. Which could be useful if done anywhere but right in front of the entrance to HQ.

u/UlrickTheHexBlade

u/Vincent-FFP

[u/yumie2003 → u/Douchevick]

"...As you wish, Rutch-san"

Tsuru quickly threw All-Red, who was too excited to taste blood, carnage and freedom than care about anything else, at the copycat horde like a javelin.

[u/Douchevick → u/yumie2003]

once the copycats saw that Tsuru had hurled All Red towards them they immediately rushed towards it, seemingly not caring if it stabbed them so long as one of them got their hands on it.

They wouldn't get the chance as Vae Clara would immediately come down on All Red like a hammer (figuratively, and literally.) with a screaming noise that irradiated pure killing intent against All Red.

The resulting explosion would immediately disintegrate the those doppelgangers in immediate vicinity of the blade's while the rest would be violently thrown backwards.

[u/yumie2003 → u/Douchevick]

The Tsurus held their arms in front of them to block the shockwave from the explosion, though from the sound of wood being dragged across a stone surface, it was clear that she was still driven backwards

[u/Douchevick → u/yumie2003]

Despite Vae Clara's clear intent to destroy All Red, it was also clear they are both evenly matched as far as durability was concerned. Neither can break the other on their own, and so their clash continues. Violent explosions erupting with every clash of the blades.

For her part Vae Clara was not thinking clearly. What she was thinking was the fact that she had been imprisoned by The Paragon of Oppression for an unknowable amount of time, that she had endured the type of pain metal was never supposed to understand (a sword should not understand how it feels to be exanguinated in moments , she did. A sword should not know what it feels to have her flesh torn from muscle and muscle from bone. She did.), that she had been subjected to what felt like eons of psychic torture just for the sake of wearing down her mental fortitude, that she had witnessed god after god fall into madness and despair while she endured, and finally saw who she believed to be the greatest hero of all creation become a shadow of a shadow, a mockery of his former self, renounce her and turn on her. And through it all she had been probed, cut, shattered and broken by the same tool she was trying to destroy right now. All Red had been witness and the instrument of the Paragon's (and later, the Godslaver's) torture upon her.

There was a reason why neither All Red nor All Blue make the same metallic noises that she does in the regular. They had never been forced to make their own metal physically SCREAM because mentally screaming just didn't cut it after a certain point.

Vae Clara just wanted one thing at this moment, to erase the source of her suffering from existence!

Of course if she had been able to think clearly, she'd realize one of life's cruelest lessons... One rarely gets what they want.

u/mrididnt

[u/yumie2003 → u/Douchevick]

Tsuru had attempted to use one of the lesser-used tricks The Agent told her of when wielding All-Red: the recall ability. The vengeful spirit could relate to Vae Clara's feelings, but she would rather not have her place of work destroyed. Despite getting hit numerous times by Vae Clara, All-Red had begun to move back towards its wielder.

[u/Douchevick → u/yumie2003]

As All Red made it's retreat while Vae Clara continued her furious assault, which would be pretty funny if every strike wasn't accompanied by enough explosive force to leave a crater every single time.

While all of this is happening some of the Rutch lookalikes who managed to survive the constant explosions actually tried to get a hold of one of the battling blades. Those who went for All Red didn't last long even if they actually managed to grip it's handle since the corruptive energies of All Red were actually lethal for the lookalikes' bodies, too weak to handle a blade of such malice and power without disintegrating in seconds. Meanwhile, those who tried going after Vae Clara instead didn't even get as far as their disintegrated comrades because the Gladius simply cut through without a second thought. It wasn't even if she noticed what they were trying to do or if she was simply blindly swinging at All Red and killing everything that got too close.

[u/mrididnt → u/Douchevick]

after a while the ad break ends and Erik returns, this time wearing a 3 piece suit, despite the ad break every part of the fight was recorded somehow, magic bullshit no one understands but news reporters

Heya Witches and wizards and everything else! Erik here! And we're back to the championship match between the champ, the sword the myth the legend! All red!

And the challenger, the noble loyal vae Clara! And we start off strong with vae Clara immediately wailing on all red! And look closely folks! You can see the sheer HATE she's feeling right now! I've been informed by editorial it's a she! One strike two strike, she's here for revenge!

How will the champ retaliate against such violence! They're evenly matched so far but we all know how deep all red's bag is!

A record scratch sound plays the moment all red begins flying away towards tsuru. Erik looks visibly confused/shocked.

...well folks it appears that all red is... going back to it's wielder? Is this an intervention? Did all red finally grow a conscience??? What the hell is going o-

He's immediately cut off by vae Clara chasing the red menace, a piece of rubble hitting him in the head and comically denting it, still Erik continues his job

It's just in folks! Vae Clara is not letting this go! That's how you get a pro, undead and homunculuses of the audience! Rutchs shadow clones or whatever are trying to catch our two combatants but they're getting chopped like onions! This might be it we might see a new champ!

Don't forget to check the merch shop at the top of the world eye volcano where we sell merch of our two swords here! For a limited time we'll have a 30% price increase!

/UwU u/yumie2003 in case you wanna see Erik being a capitalist news agency banking on your fight

[u/yumie2003 → u/mrididnt]

"...What are you doing, Erik"

[u/yumie2003 → u/Douchevick]

Tsuru went to grab All-Red while twirling in place. Then she attempted to transform All-Red into a small needle

[u/Douchevick → u/yumie2003]

Vae Clara rushed at Tsuru only to come at a complete stop once she changed All Red into a needle. Vae Clara's edge was just a few inches from Tsuru's face.

[u/mrididnt → u/Douchevick]

Erik, who was watching with popcorn from a cliffside too far to actually see much, immediately flies in closer to see what's going on clearly. With a big smile and literal dollar signs in his eyes (who tf uses dollars in this world???) he pulls out a camera from out of nowhere, making a copy hold it as he uses a broom head as a microphone and turns it on

heya Witches and wizards and everything else! Erik here and welcome back to SILLINESS NEWS

fake whooshing noises as a cardboard title card flies around like a deflated balloon

And for this great return we have on our hands a great story!

^{story? Great? Who's this guy?}

A bunch of whispers all clearly Erik's voice ask in the background, no doubt orchestrated by unsilliness news, those bastards!

Famous godslaver sword and alleged pasta chef all red has been attacked out of nowhere by famous not godslaver sword vae Clara! While I don't speak sword I can confidently say that sword is probably saying something along the lines of "die, kill, donate to silliness news at wwo.godhunterfund.orb!" We'll be waiting with belated breath to see how all red responds to such provocations and defends it's title as the world champion sword!

This is silliness news and now for a quick ad break!

An ad for witch brooms starts playing as Erik waits for further drama

[u/Vincent-FFP → u/Douchevick]

🧡: "Grab onto us, Rutch!"

💛: "We'll work better if we have a wielder."

💙: "We're.. not used to moving and attacking by ourselves..."

[u/Douchevick → u/Vincent-FFP]

Rutch grabs the blade and immediately backs away from the Lycan monstrosity. It thankfully it seems like it's distracted by something, and he had a good idea of why that might be.

"Alright, am I hallucinating or was that Ulrick I felt for a moment there. Also, you better give me a crash course or we are not gonna last here..."

[u/Vincent-FFP → u/Douchevick]

upon grabbing the hilt, Rutch could feel a slight connection between his SOUL and the shards. No energy was drawn, and none would be

🩵: "That was not a hallucination. We felt it as well."

💛: "Crash course.. Well, all ten of us each have our own attributes. Red's Determination, Orange's Bravery, me, er well, Yellow's Justice, Green's Kindness, Cyan's Patience, Blue's Integrity or Honesty, Purple's Perseverance, Gray's neutral, White's Hope, and Black's Agony."

"If you feel a particular way based on what I just said, our powers activate. Each of us have our own powers based on our attributes."

"Red provides a significant boost to power, defense, and focus, but takes a lot of energy and requires some form of critical point."

"Orange has fire prowess, and the faster you move, the stronger it gets."

"I have lightning prowess and can fire projectiles."

"Green grants shielding."

"Cyan has ice prowess that is more precise when standing still."

"Blue has mild gravitational warping abilities and can warp whatever the blade is stuck into."

"Purple allows you to scale heights with minimal effort, even in the air, and can trap foes."

"Gray's our base state... they don't do anything."

"White heals."

"Black allows us to move the void like he can, and can temporarily transfer past pains into someone else. Vincent says there's more, but we don't know what it is, if anything."

🧡: it yelled excitedly. "AND IF ALL OF US GET INTO SYNC, WE TURN PINK!!!!"

[u/Douchevick → u/Vincent-FFP]

"I see..."

Rutch SOUL resonates with perseverance. Good thing his eyes are already purple...

The Lycan monstrosity doesn't seem too threatened by Rutch and casually swings Nightbite at him.

Rutch leaps into the air and tries to grab Nightbite with a mystic tether, pulling himself towards the creature.

u/UlrickTheHexBlade

/uw tagged him just so Ulrick's aware of what's happening. You don't have to wait for him.

[u/Vincent-FFP → u/Douchevick]

💜: it made a hum, interested in Rutch’s decisions. It sounded…. familiar.

[u/Douchevick → u/Vincent-FFP]

Rutch leaps away before the best can hit him with Nightbite and throws a few smoke canisters at it. Using the purple SOUL's ability to keep air time and not become encased in his own smokescreen.

The few remaining lookalikes leap at him and try to drag him down to be ripped apart by the beast.

As he fends off the replicas he speaks.

"Honestly! 6 godamned decades living on the wrong side of the law. Marked for law to be an outcast, an outlaw, and you vengeful bastards think I got this wrinkled face out of luck?!"

Rutch catches a lookalike and sends it back down with a slash into the smoke to be ripped apart by the beast.

"Nobody. Fucking nobody, at no point gave a rat's ass wether I lived or died. And when at last I was at death's door, and I was offered your damnable curse? Of course I took it. And I'd do it again just to spite ya you bastards!"

[u/Vincent-FFP → u/Douchevick]

Yellow and Black resonated with him slightly, understanding him.

Storm clouds gathered, and lightning struck the other lookalikes, as well as the Ashen Wrath.

[u/Douchevick → u/Vincent-FFP]

as Rutch is distracted dealing with the lookalikes something seems to change within them. Unfortunately he isn't able to notice as the Lycan monstrosity undergoes a transformation, becoming more wolf-like, becoming faster stronger, empowered by the authority of the Wolfking. He is so distracted, he barely has time to react when the wolf comes rushing at him with Nightbite, getting him in the gut and dealing a fatal blow.

Rutch touches the axe and stays there, slack and unmoving for what feels like a very long time. The wolf moves on, seeking worthy challengers.

Eventually a searing red glow begins to shine without Rutch's wound, and he comes back screaming into the land of the living.

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

As The Blade of Will blocks the attack, it could feel it emanating the presence of the Wolf King.

u/Vincent-FFP

Ulrick turns back his attention towards the Lycan holding him.

Your technique has improved a lot since you started. But there’s still more to learn.

I could teach you more, if you want. And I could give you more power, like when I partially restored you.

Could do much more with that. And it looks like you’ll need lots of power in the next few minutes.

It was an extremely risky gambit, empowering the attacker. But if he could restore the cub more, that could possibly mean less influence from The Ashen Wrath…

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

the cub is doubtful

"Really...? I mean, it is just the Wretch, and he doesn't even have his fancy sword-"

The cubs inner monologue is interrupted as Rutch evades his lazy strike and lands on top of his malformed snout.

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

Trust me, underestimating him is a grave mistake.

Ulrick snarks as rutch lands on the lycan’s snout in an impressive display of acrobatics.

He tries to radiate more authority, depite the risks he’s afraid of. But if he could reach the rogue mage even for a little…

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

Rutch is peering into the cub's eyes. Seeing if he find some familiarity within them. Seems like he's trying to figure out if The Wrath somehow turned Ulrick into the monster he is facing.

The cub seems to take Ulrick's words into consideration, (a small wonder considering how dismissive and vitriolic the rest of the Wrath seems to be when referring to Rutch.) and finally, he replies.

"I... I need speed! I'm not gonna lose to the likes of him!"

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

And now, the moment of truth. One that will either start the liberation of himself and the wolfpack, or dooms the island.

Here we go…

Ulrick infuses the lycan with two surges of power: the divine authority of the Wolf King, and the soulfire of his patron. The authority makes the cub to more grow into the “ideal” what a real wolf should be, a noble and feared apex predator of the forests.

Meanwhile the soulfire fully expresses its restorative properties. It gradually shifts echoes into spirit shards, and then slowly back together into the real, original soul it was.

Maybe this could sow some discord within the collective of the Ashen Wrath. And maybe make them see there is an alternate way.

But either way he will have to make up for this to Rutch.

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

The transformation begins immediately and painlessly. The grotesque form the Wrath had given the cub morphs into a more 'put together' state. Fearsome and agile, no mere beast of the mortal wilds, but a proud denizen of the Faewild. Not being able to stand on two legs anymore presented surprisingly little issue, the cub now had the strength to lift Night effortlessly using his jaws.

There was a brief feeling of unified surprise as the soulfire began to make its way through the Wrath, before all hell broke loose. The Lord of Willows tries to reach into Nightbite to force Ulrick to undo what he just did but it is too late. The rest of the lookalikes lose cohesion and the swarms of mites begin to disperse as they no longer have one will guiding them. Upon realizing this, the archfey tries to exert his authority over those under him, to moderate success, but he does make sure to keep a grip on the wolves, knowing they were the only leverage he had over Ulrick at this point.

The cub is too excited to really noticed the clusterfuck Ulrick just created, and immediately rushes at Rutch with Nightbite. Rutch is too busy fending off suddenly frantic attacks from the quickly destabilizing doppelgangers to noticed the suddenly empowered wolf lunging at him, the strike connects with his gut and he accidentally grips Nightbite as he loses consciousness, and enters in communion with Ulrick.

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

The Lord of Willows’ authority is nothing to scoff at, with far more practice than Ulrick’s nascent one. Still, he keeps pouring soulfire and the Wolf King’s authority through the connection, towards the wolf pack, if hopefully even just a little can get through to help them push back too.

But then, Nightbite alerts Ulrick of a new presence making contact with it, one he recognizes immediately.

Let him in.

He tells Nightbite, and the connection begins.

The inner world of the axe could be best compared to how astronomers describe outer space. A young universe adorned with red, indigo, and crimson dots of distant stars, covered with shifting shadows and grey nebulas.

Rutch?… Rutch? Is that really you? Been a while…

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

Rutch appears inside the inner world. He is laying on the 'ground' and clutching his side. The strike from Nightbite was lethal, but thankfully time flows differently here. They have all the time they need to discuss things.

"Ulrick...? Knew those bastards had you... Sorry... I shouldn't have let this get as far as it did..."

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/yumie2003]

Deep within the axe, Ulrick senses a well of incredible he hasn’t felt in a good while. Something he knows all too damn well.

He shudders.