I'd ask who you are, or what you were doing, but to be honest, I don't give a damn. The void must be purged free of the filth and corruption that has accumulated.
And hey, why not start with you?
The wolf paced a few steps forward, then lunged forward abruptly, fangs flashing. It wasn't sure the best place to strike, so it bit everywhere, tentacles, carapace, head, leg -- the exarch managed to rip one tentacle off with its teeth, but in the process became entrapped by three more. Nonplussed, the exarch flexed, the tentacles engorging, bulging with the strain of trying to keep the great wolf contained.
What do you think you can do to me anyway?
Fulrit, despite his immobilization, leaned forward, intending to continue his attack.
If you look past the plot and the voice acting, Metroid: Other M was an okay game. Not a great game, but an adequate one.
Not using the Metroid item collect jingle though? That, was a mistake.
Webweaver chuckled as his foe made a careless mistake, charging directly into the web of tentacles that gave the Vok'Dar its name. Sensing that it would not be able to hold the beast for long, Webweaver racked two sets of claws across the beast's side before throwing it back towards the far side of the ring.
"Purge the Void, my dears, my dears? We're doing that too, my dears, my dears." The Vok'Dar said, bringing up one of its hands to its mouth and licking off Fulrit's blood in a deliberate act of provocation.
Webweaver's eyes widened as the blood hit his tongue. Such power! Such mighty, mighty power within the blood of this beast before him.
"Let us dance, my dears, my dears. I want to taste more of your blood, dears." The Vok'Dar began running towards Fulrit, opening its mouth and spitting a glob of vile acid towards the wolf...
... who was not there. Out of the corner of its eye, Webweaver saw a blur of motion, and turned just in time to raise an arm to block the lunging exarch. What would have been a killing blow was turned into merely a very painful one as the wolf bit down on the arm, causing black ichor to fly in all directions while Webweaver tried its best to throw the beast off, only succeeding after the arm had been rendered completely useless.
Webweaver threw the Wolf to the other side of the ring again before taking a moment to check its spasming arm. Nothing he could do about that now. It was nothing he had not anticipated... his foe was powerful... but the reward for victory was too great.
Around the combatants, the battle had paused as the armies of both Devils and Vok turned to watch the single combat between the two exarchs. Whoever won this fight would win the battle.
Fulrit snarled, lips drawn back, teeth bared. The wolf lowered its head towards one of the severed tentacles on the ground. It brought its maw to bear, grabbing the still writhing appendage in its mouth.
Slowly, accompanied by a series of disturbing cracks and crunches, the tentacle disappeared into the wolf's gullet.
That's funny -- you taste like... failure. Unrequited arrogance and longing. It must be such a piteous feeling -- to know that you are about to die; and to know that there is *nothing* you can do about it.
Fulrit began to stalk around the edge of the circle. Better to attack where he had already wounded it.
Another howl, and Fulrit lunged once more.
If you look past the plot and the voice acting, Metroid: Other M was an okay game. Not a great game, but an adequate one.
Not using the Metroid item collect jingle though? That, was a mistake.
For such a powerful being, the wolf was pathetically direct in its actions. When Fulrit lunged forward, the tentacles surrounding Webweaver's head responded in kind, wrapping around the jumping beast and drawing it close to the Vok'Dar. Webweaver's teeth flashed white as he used the opportunity to take a bite out of Fulrit's side.
If he had thought the blood of the beast was something, the flesh was heavenly! His tentacles went slack, dropping Fulrit as all of its brain became preoccupied by the taste in his mouth. He could feel the power within this beast.
"And you, my dears, my dears, you, my dears taste like you belong in my belly." He said, slowly regaining his senses.
The Vok'dar had barely swallowed the flesh when a profound sense of serenity and harmony suffused Webweaver's being. He felt good.
The wolf exarch shuddered, looking for a moment lost and confused. Mere moments later, he snapped his head around, scrabbling away from the monstrous vok monstrosity as he regained a sense of his situation.
Karii, now!
As Fulrit retreated into the hordes of Malevolants, the massive Marilith erupted from the ground in front of Webweaver, her six swords quickly driving the force back.
Very well, Vok! I'll retreat for now. But you're a fool if you think you won this battle.
Fulrit slunk away into the embrace of his waiting forces, and Karii too, her surprise assault serving its purpose, moved away to find other, less defensible flanks to assault.
The fighting was pretty much a deadlock all around the circle of the grotto, and the forces, both Vok and Aegean, were retreating, leaving a 300 meter swath of "no man's land" separating the two forces. It wouldn't stay such for long, obviously, but for now the fighting had ceased as both armies began to feel the true extent of their rival's entire power.
If you look past the plot and the voice acting, Metroid: Other M was an okay game. Not a great game, but an adequate one.
Not using the Metroid item collect jingle though? That, was a mistake.
With the invaders squaring off against one another, the defenders of the Grotto itself were hastily setting into motion a great ritual, passed down from the days of their ancestors and their ancestor's ancestors, to when the great flames had swept across much of Verda. Words were spoken, blood was spilled, runes were drawn... and then it was done. Far off in the forests, a single cry of anger split the air.
~Vok'Dar Forces~
Webweaver, frustrated that his quarry had managed to escape, had retreated to the rear of his lines, conferring with the other leaders of the Horde as to the best way to trap the Wolf and Marilith. A plan had been mostly worked out when the cry sounded in the forest, and the sound of something coming closer and closer rang throughout the Grotto.
And then Cragnas, great defender of Verda, was there, beams of energy lancing into devil and Vok alike. The footsoldiers of both armies began to panic, running from the huge beast. Webweaver himself felt a twinge of fear flow through his body. This... was... big.
"Go and find someone to offer a temporary truce to the other side" one of the Illithid mindlords said to an underling. Webweaver nodded, and added to the Mindflayer's instructions: "And tell my dears, my dears to meet me. It is up to me and my dears, my dears to defeat this."
"Wait, no! We come in askance!" "A Ceasefire! Ceasefire!"
Too more illithid underlings vanished under a storm of hellfire arrows and retributive magic.
One of the Balor generals bellowed through a war horn, his magically augmented voice piercing the battlescape: "Give these dark hordes no quarter! Fall back, a fighting retreat! Let them deal with nature's fury unleashed."
Slowly, those manning the grotto began to cheer as the dark tides of vengeance slowly withdrew from the area surrounding The Grotto. It was a bitter, half-forced thing, as the Vok'dar and their foul ilk yet remained in force -- but if nothing else, the retreat of one army and the arrival of Cragnas raised their morale immeasurably.
~The Susurrus~
For the first time in a long, long while, the inside of the planetoid was quiet. Most of its inhabitants were elsewhere in the void, with only a skeleton crew "manning" the cities enclosed within.
Outside the demi-plane was another matter entirely -- Gaerth was restless and agitated, shaking and squawking, breathing plumes of radiance every so often. It would have been clear to any observer (had there been any) that the beast was unlikely to remain subserviant for long. The Silver Phoenix narrowed its eyes, and beat his wings, flying further towards Avanii.
~Lor'quhan~ The Leviathan's coalition was finding the Vok to be a indomitable threat. The two groups often found themselves deadlocked -- territories changed hands repeatedly. One Leviathan, calling itself Ralakal, dared to do something unthinkable -- even for a people accustomed (by now) to powerful renewal magic.
Deep within the Strait of Fangs, a presence stirred. Okay, that hurt. I'm going to kill someone for that. Maybe a great many somethings...
If you look past the plot and the voice acting, Metroid: Other M was an okay game. Not a great game, but an adequate one.
Not using the Metroid item collect jingle though? That, was a mistake.
Webweaver looked at the giant beast, the retreating devils, the Grotto itself and thought.
It had a few possible options.
One, it could order a retreat, leaving the inhabitants of this place free to rebuild, his foes free to regroup and that THING alive to fight another day. Not the best option.
Two, it could attack the monster, leaving the horde's flanks open for attack and giving his foes a chance to regroup. The beast would be dead, though.
Three, it could press the assault against the mostly defenseless Grotto, and likely be able to crack its final barriers, assimilating new and varied forms into the Vok. In the meantime, the beast would be free to rampage through their back lines, likely causing massive amounts of damage while allowing the Wolf to rebuild his forces.
Four, it could chase the retreating Devils, kill them, gain the power of the Wolf, and return to kill the beast and break the Grotto. Recalling the taste of the Wolf, the choice was simple.
"Follow the Devils. Leave the field to that beast!" Webweaver cried, gesturing with his good arms towards the retreating army. The Combined Vok Horde needed no encouragment to move away from Cragnas, and gleefully chased their retreating foes through the trees, cutting down Mariliths, Balors and All forms of malevolents and revenants. Through it all, Webweaver made it clear that if anyone spotted the Wolf and Marilith that were leading these armies, they were to report it to Webweaver... there was some unfinished business to attend to.
But Vengeance's retreat had been a calculated one. The Vok'dar had willingly sandwiched themselves between the opposing army and Cragnas. Another war horn was bellowed, and the forces abruptly halted, surging forward in a vicious and sudden counter-offensive.
More Vok'dar were lost to Karii's blades than any other, the fiend completely mad with battle lust, carving a bloody swath through the horde. A squad of vindicants and demons followed in her wake, mopping up those who had merely been 'grazed' by the archdemon.
If you look past the plot and the voice acting, Metroid: Other M was an okay game. Not a great game, but an adequate one.
Not using the Metroid item collect jingle though? That, was a mistake.
And then Webweaver was there, charging into and through the Marilith's defenses, tentacles whipping out and pinning the six arms of the Marilith to its side as the Vok reared upwards, bringing its strong front legs down onto the Marilith's chest, driving Karii down to the blood-formed mud. The Vok'Dar overlord, feeling more powerful than it had ever felt before, flexed its muscled arms and drove one into each arm of Karii, pinning it to the ground as the beast howled in pain and rage, struggling futilely to escape.
"And now I have you, my dear, my dear. You fell into my web, my dear." Webweaver crooned to Karii before leaning down and beginning to feed on the exarch, taking massive bites from the devil's torso as its struggles grew less and less and less and finally stopped entirely. With a cry of triumph, Webweaver lifted the exarch's carcass from the earth, holding it in four arms as the other two reached into the Marilith's eye sockets, ripping the skull in half before scooping out the brain of Karii and slurping it down before throwing the carcass to the ground before the stunned vindicants and demons. Webweaver could feel the power, not nearly as sweet as the wolf, but still substantial flowing through him, and felt himself growing larger and stronger. Ever since he had taken that bite of the Wolf, he had been feeling better and better with every passing moment.
"Time to run, little ones" it said, smiling wickedly at the demons.
And run they did. The death of one of their leaders would have been taxing in the best of cases, but Fulrit as well seemed to have vanished, and without leadership, the demon hordes broke and fled in every direction. Webweaver had no illusions that eventually the Wolf would reappear and reassert dominion over some fraction, or perhaps all of the army, but by that time, the Vok would likely be done with this pitiful place.
For now, however, it was time to deal with that monster following them. Even from here Webweaver could hear its roars and feel the ground shake. Webweaver gestured to a nearby Illithid, who approached, awaiting a message to be sent to another part of the battlefield.
So, it came as a bit of a surprise when Webweaver instead ripped the creature's head from its body and ate it, feeling the necessary changes occurring within him nearly instantaneously. Webweaver raced into the forest, moving towards his foe. He had never felt so powerful. He could do anything he wanted.
Coming upon the beast from behind, Webweaver scrambled up the creature's craggy legs, leaping from place to place as it scaled the beast. So far, the beast seemed to not notice the Vok'Dar climbing it, paying far more attention to the Morinsfra forces which were trying in vain to damage it.
Finally reaching the back of the monster, Webweaver moved forward towards the head, folding four of his six arms back under his carapace and willing the transformation to begin. He began to feel pressure building beneath his shell as he reached the beast's head, coming to a climax as he reached the apex.
Two huge tentacles burst from Webweaver's back, nearly five times as long as the Vok'Dar itself. It concentrated, and the tentacles flew down into the beast's head, pushing through the organic matter until, at long last, they reached what passed for Cragnas' brain. While the beast writhed in anger and pain, Webweaver went to work, using the skills he had picked up from the Illithid to alter the beast's mind. It saw right away that the beast would never be completely controllable... Its brain was just too large. What Webweaver could do, however... was...
There. A final bellow, and the beast was silent, standing there docile as Webweaver extracted itself from the creature's brain and began to climb down as the beast started moving into the woods as if nothing had happened. Webweaver had weaved into its brain the concept that the Vok and their allies were part of the forest, and needed to be protected just as much as the forest itself. Webweaver smiled as his feet touched the ground. A clever solution if it had ever heard one.
Feeling more powerful than ever, Webweaver noticed a feeling spreading over him. He was about to transform again, to ascend to a higher level of being. And there was only one thing above his current station: Godhood itself. Smiling, he opened his arms outwards, preparing to receive the soon-to-arrive glory.
3 PP: Deascend Exarch: Karii is killed by Webweaver, and eaten. 3 PP: Modify Superior Spawn: Cragnas the Green becomes Cragnas the Black, now tasked with defending the Vok as well as the Forest.
