Heroica RPG - Quest #105: Eternal Reaper

[Zepher]

This time the blast seems to knock the wind out of Boomingham, who starts to huff and puff a little. He inhales deeply to regain his focus. "What's your suggestion then, my little friend?" he asks Punii, trying hard to keep an edge out of his voice.

"The Regret is a monster we just vanquished," Boomingham tells the wounded Progg. "You don't need to concern yourself with him."

[Endgame]

"...I don't know. I..."

Punii shrinks, curling up in worry, his voice trembling.

"We may soon *wheeze* be stuck under here with a mentally deranged Progg who can't *cough* c-control his new powers, and... That may not be a good idea..."

Edited December 26, 2014 by Endgame

[Zepher]

Boomingham drags his gaze over his other quest mates until finally they rest on Em. "Em?"

[joeshmoe554]

Jeaux stares at the suffering creature before them. His hands tremble as shivers go through his body. For a brief moment, Jeaux wonders if this is fear he is feeling, but something about it feels different to him. Like this is not fear itself, but rather the memory of fear. A memory of terror ripping him apart from the inside. He stares at the creature unsure of what to do, perhaps killing it was the right answer an end to its obvious suffering and most likely the best way to permanently remove any future threat by the regret. It made sense, yet he could not bring himself to raise his weapon. He simply just stared.

[Endgame]

Jeaux stares at the suffering creature before them. His hands tremble as shivers go through his body. For a brief moment, Jeaux wonders if this is fear he is feeling, but something about it feels different to him. Like this is not fear itself, but rather the memory of fear. A memory of terror ripping him apart from the inside. He stares at the creature unsure of what to do, perhaps killing it was the right answer an end to its obvious suffering and most likely the best way to permanently remove any future threat by the regret. It made sense, yet he could not bring himself to raise his weapon. He simply just stared.

"You... You understand. I don't know how. But you... You do.

One shot, please. One shot from your handcannon is all it would take. I beg of you, end my suffering, please!"

Prometheus writhes.

"I don't want this... I don't want this to go on any longer..."

[Emjajoas]

"I'd rather regret letting him die than regret letting him live," Mortimer mutters. "He's begging for death. He's in pain. And we know what he'll become-- unless there's some other way we can help him."

Em gently brushes his left hand over his eyepatch, frowning. "Tell me, Prometheus-- The Antimutilav tears apart souls, does it not? I don't understand how that magic works, but if someone were to substitute their soul for yours..."

[Endgame]

"What? No... No! I won't allow it! I won't allow another creature to endure, to endure this! I would never inflict this, even on my worst enemies... Please, just... Just end it, now! End it before it gets even worse...!"

His hands were not clasped, practically kneeling before Mortimer, begging for the arrow that would end his life.

[Emjajoas]

"In the state you're in, you could hardly refuse any aid offered."

Mortimer kneels before Prometheus, glaring daggers at the beast with his one good eye. "I'm human, progg. I'm weak. The pain would last but a second. The proggs deserve better than y-- than the Regret gave them. None can truly pay for their crimes with death."

[Endgame]

"The Animutilav take only the one who read the scroll. There is no way to transfer it, and it does not kill its host until... Until their soul is nothing more than ribbon and confetti. because that's what I am -a host to a parasite that I unleahsed upon myself. The agony will likely continue for weeks upon weeks, and I am powerless to stop it!

I beg of you. I - I don't know who you are, why you're here, who you're talking about, and the future you are predicting, but, but..."

The dark magic flares up, the aura of purple around Prometheus turning into a blazing corona of dark magic.

"AUUUUUGGGH! Please, PLEASE! I am too weak to end it myself! One arrow is all I ask! Please, please, KILL ME!"

Edited December 28, 2014 by Endgame

[The_Customizer]

"Since no one else is willing to put this poor beast out of his misery, I guess it is my job to fulfill that role....." Erdathcath pulls out her handcannon, aims, and fires.

[Zepher]

Boomingham stands aside, his face drawn sternly as the tree fires.

[Endgame]

Erdathcath takes aim and fires, the cannonball exploding out of her cannon and piercing through Prometheus. His feeble body cracks as it is shattered by the shot, his shoulders arching up in surprise before collapsing down, limp. He rolls over on his side, arms loosely hanging next to him, his tail bent and fractured. the aura of darkness surrounding him is dispelled, swarming off of him in sparks of magic. Prometheus was dead.

The world around the heroes ripple and grow, as they realize what was happening: They were being flung through time once again. The void-like sensation overcomes them once again, their minds being swept through years upon years of history in an instant, before their bodies are torn from the temporal limbo and flung back into the Citadel - back in The Regret's inner sanctum.

There, Masson, Alice, and Johon were waiting for them.

"You're... Back?"

"Thank the gods for that, but..."

The party's gaze turns towards the end of the massive room, The Regret's flickering form standing in front of the Lifespark. His past self killed, his body shifted in and out of existence, parts of him vanishing for one moment and appearing the next, slowly decaying. In his hands is a scroll - one very similar to the one Prometheus had used on himself.

"Do you wish for an explanation, heroes? You have served me well."

His voice lacks his normal menace or cruel tone. He merely sounds tired, but slightly tirumphant, as well - the voice of someone who has finally accomplished something he had started long ago.

"But I need some insurance before it's story time."

A horde of Oculoids emerges from the shadows, forming a phalanx between the heroes and their master.

"Tell me, heroes. Do you, yourselves, understand what you've just done?"

[Emjajoas]

"Killed the last of you that wants to die. Killed the last of you actually worth something," Mortimer chokes.

Drawing back his bow, he fires an arrow at the Oculoid horde massing before him. "Pity."

[Kintobor]

Karie takes a moment to straighten her clothing (and everything underneath her sweater) before speaking to the Regret.

"At first I felt some semblance of pity towards you, but now... You truly are an irredeemable scumbag."

[Endgame]

"No, no... That was most certainly not the last of me that wants to die.

And yes, I suppose I deserve that. I see that I can hardly be perceived as a hero. And how could I? The sins mankind detest are some of my most sacred tools. I was not lying in my journals in Nevermore. I am a sociopath, a maniac, an abomination carrying nothing but a set of false emotions, each more cruel and fake than the last. But I have passed my judgment, and now I must do as I see fit to save this planet.

You've often accused me of having to resort to slaves to do my bidding, heroes. And I always found some gleeful irony in that - because, ultimately, you were the final ingredient I needed for my plan. It is just as the Daranzas said, heroes: Had I consumed the Lifespark at any other moment, I would be utterly destroyed. I would need to not exist. And yet, throughout most of my life, I was completely immortal; with the soonest point of vulnerability being more than two millenniums ago.

So that is why I needed you, heroes of Heroica. The Oculoids were too weak and dependent on me to survive such a massive jump back, as were the devils. Their wills were shattered in the process. I don't believe even a Monolith or Seerus could possibly survive even a thousand years, let alone two. I had surrounded myself with such fine slaves, but with their level of dependance on me? Impossible to destroy my previous self. I could survive the jump backwards, but I could never survive the jump forwards while rapidly deteriorating like I am now... I trust you get the idea.

That is why I needed some outside help, heroes. I dragged ten thousand able-bodied humans from all over Olegaia with the false lure of treasure, to see if any of them were truly fit for their role. I placed a special request for you heroes, seeing as the trouble you have provided me in the past. I had a very good feeling the ones I needed would come from your organization after that night in Luosh, two years ago.

However, I could never be sure that you would fit, even during our battle. The Citadel was a test of your physical and mental strength: my minions, all arranged in order to challenge you more and more... And your bout with me? A final test, followed by a feigned defeat in order to deceive you even further. You ask me why I never simply dropped the hammer and ended things immediately? Because you were necessary. I needed to keep you alive, and perhaps train you and empower you, tso you could fit the mold I needed you to.

Some of you failed. Some of you proved yourselves weak, and I took the time to deconstruct you more and more. I couldn't have any invalids mucking up that oh-so-very complicated jump back. If you saw your comrades falter in such a sensitive state like one of a time traveler, than all of you would've failed, and the plan would've been ruined. Some of you were on the borderline, and reluctantly I let you into the past. But you performed the assassination well, and for that I thank you.

Do you recall General Knox, the first hunter you met? He said that in his homeland, I was known as the Facade. And in a way, that name is more fitting than The Regret. I needed you to hate me with almost all your being, and I needed you to become stronger and stronger in the pursuit of killing me. I needed some quality heroes to perform perhaps the most complex assassination of all time, and Heroica provided. You were puppets. Pawns. Another tool in my arsenal. I manipulated you to be the heroes I needed you to be by being the absolute villain. And ultimately... It paid off.

So, in other words, I shouldn't even be here, due to poor Prometheus's demise. And that opens up a realm of possibilities. Before I could only handle a few embers of the Lifespark. Now? I can devour the whole thing. But the process still requires a few more ingredients... Oculoids! Make haste!"

A swarm of oculoids carrying massive gemstones fly in, and deposit the rocks into the Lifespark. Tendrils of ether reach out from the inferno, breaking down the gems to the smallest possible level and dissolving them into the spark.

"Zirconia. I imagine some of you remember it from deep within the Goland mine. Almost unscratchable, and the most potent elemental material known on Olegaia. It will be a fine material for my new body, and bolster my abilities even more. The rest of my powers will be even further amplified by the Lifespark.

And yet, the spark is so tantalizingly out of reach... I require just one more item. Oculoids, the scroll we acquired in the Progg colony, if you would be so kind."

The Oculoids deliver a grim black scroll - Animutilav - to The Regret's decaying hands. He struggles to hold the piece of paper, having two oculoids prop it up as he clutches it with his flickering claws and begins to scan it.

"I'm sure you know what the Lifespark is, scrounging through my literature - souls. And the Animutilav does an exceptional job of two things: Breaking souls, and merging them together. But now I'm soulless, incorporeal, and technically nonexistent... All it will take is one more simple incantation to complete my transformation into the Eternal reaper. This accursed scroll remade me into the abomination I am today, and it will be the one to allow my ascension to nigh-godhood.

It's been a pleasure, heroes. You have served me well. Now, the Lifespark awaits, and I shall not make it wait for its new master a second longer!"

The party struggles to cut through the massive horde, unable to penetrate the inky miasma. The Regret chants ancient, arcane words, reading off of the sinister scroll effortlessly: He likely memorized it all those years ago, during his agonizing transformation into The Regret.

"We have to..."

"What can we...?"

Refusing to lose hope, the party continues to fight and struggle, but it is for naught. The Regret finishes the incantation, and a pulse of light ripples throughout the entire gargantuan room. Tendrils from the Lifespark explode outwards and coil around The regret's limbs, becoming absorbed into his ethereal body. It drags him closer and closer to the edge of the flame, until with one final shout, The Regret throws himself into the fire...

"Today, heroes of Heroica, marks the first day of Olegaia's finest era: The age of the Eternal Reaper!"

Another burst of light, this one far more potent. The heroes feel their sense become overwhelmed, suffering a sensory overload of sorts as The Regret devours the Lifespark. Their bodies and minds exhausted, they collapse once again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The sensation of biting cold and whipping winds stirring them back to the waking world. They stagger up. They are on the observation deck of the Citadel, the huge expanse of stone they had crossed on their way to their duel with The Regret. Malevolent clouds stirs in the sky, a piercing rain descending from the heavens. A dark sense of despair lurks in the air, the Eternal Reaper nowhere to be seen.

"Is he... *wheeze* dead?"

"No, I... I doubt it. Not after all of that."

"He played us for fools..."

What will the party do?

Edited December 30, 2014 by Endgame

[Emjajoas]

Mortimer frowns, glancing at both of his hands with a heavy sigh and standing on wobbly legs. Thoroughly exhausted, he glances around for clues.

[Zepher]

Boomingham draws Scupperer as his teeth chatter. "He'll come for us, right? So we kill him then. It doesn't matter how powerful his big bad fire made him. He has to die, so he will."

"You must destroy him. He has is no goodness left."

"That's what I just said, Barty."

"I know. But sometimes you befriend those who are... less than desirable, and I know you've taught me a thing or two about dragging those who have fallen out of the light back into it, but his light is all gone."

Boomingham rolls his eyes. "Glad I have your blessing." Boomingham drinks a mead, a nostrum, and a smelling salts.

[The_Customizer]

_{Erdathcath staggers back, a vision leaps into her mind blowing her onto her back, images flash as she remembers. This creature seemed familiar, like a nightmare she once had. It was many years ago yet the image still haunted her, she had seen this creature before. "No..... It can't be...Did the name... the Eternal... Reaper.. resonate with any of you? I know I have seen this creature before..."}

[Emjajoas]

Mortimer nods slightly. Swift. Curt.

"You acted too rashly. The Reaper's awakened. You've no time to falter."

[Zepher]

"He's right, you fool. You are the person who got us into this mess!" The angel zips around Erdy's head wildly. "Stupid. Stupid. Foolish. Unnatural."

"He's right. This ain't the time to go numb. You screwed up, but as long as the Regret is still here we have time to fix it."

[joeshmoe554]

Jeaux looks around the top of the citadel, trying to make out the creature Erdathcath was referring to, but he saw nothing but rain falling around him. "Perhaps we should try to find some shelter before the weather turns any more sour."

Edited December 30, 2014 by joeshmoe554

[Bricksandparts]

"Now's no time to blame! We need to destroy Animutilav, now!"

[Emjajoas]

"Agreed," Mortimer states, frantically looking for clues, his eye darting around wildly-- a stark contrast to his detached and calm demeanor.

"Boomingham, can your angel sense him?"

[Zepher]

"Hopefully." Boomingham looks at Barty, who screws up his eyes, trying to find the soulless souls.

[Endgame]

The party scrambles to assemble themselves after The Regret's manipulation, wondering what fate was to befall them. Standing in the whipping rain, Barty scans around, searching for the unholy mass of energy that The Regret had become - the Eternal Reaper. Barty's gaze first scans the tower, than the sky, than the ground, before he looks beneath them... And sees a massive being just below the surface. Before he has time to react, the stone platform trembles. A fissure breaks through, arms capable of crushing a building in a single blow emerging from the crack. Tails emerge from the abyss, one by one, covered in vile barbs. Finally, the whole beast rises from below, rippling with pure energy....

The behemoth stands seven stories tall, casting a shadow bigger than any creatures. Cracks of lightning illuminate his tremendous form, a mouth of bristling teeth greeting the heroes. Elemental energy emanates from his being, his claws flashing and pulsing with magic. Even without eyes the party knows he was staring them down intently, his piercing gaze horrifying the dwarfed heroes even more. Could he possibly be as godly as he claimed?

The Eternal Reaper speaks, his voice coming from all directions.

"̷H͟èll͏o̵, her̷o͏es͝.͘"