Log:Welcome to The Shining Darkness

Grimm Family Matters 2020/09/07 	 Amelia Radical Grimm Slinger Timewarp

16

The study is filled with ... darkness... but it is far more than the absence of light. It's as if the dark, itself, were some form of energy, spreading out and filling the room. Vision is not precluded, but the fact that everything now appears in shades of black (and mortal eyes don't really consider that to even be a thing) makes discerning details more difficult.

None of this dissuades Victor, whose web-encasement apears to rapidly disintegrate of its own accord. It reveals a.. shadow of the man he used to be. Quite literally. Save for the lace of fangs and claws, he very much resembles Cliff. The two seem to be 'glowing' black.

"Welcome to paradise! Isn't it beautiful?!" Victor sure seems to think so.

Just as an experiment Amelia casts a floating candles spell trying to bring light to the room. "Are we still anywhere near Kansas?" she asks rhetorically.

"No, don't--!!" Grimm yells, but too late.

Radical glances to Grimm, "Don't what?"

Gathering the magical energy seems far more difficult than Amelia would expect, especially for something so simple. Once it is cohesive and sparks to light, however...

... The Darkness seems to draw out that energy of light, immediately, all at once, leaving the conjuration to end with a violent detonation rather than burn and light continuously.

"Don't light anything! Light explodes here!" Grimm warns after the explosion.

Amelia nods, "Yeah. I noticed." She shrugs, "Seems like this is your ballpark. Guess that makes you the captain of the team, Ms Grimm."

Radical thinks about it. "Can you conjure a much larger light near him? Rather than next to us?"

Amelia says, "No. I can throw a flare pellet. It starts at low level and brightens as it travels. Not sure how that would react here, wherever here is."

Grimm turns towards Victor, able to sense in the dark realm they're inhabiting. She learned about it from Randal, but something about the place feels so...familiar. She can't place it. Not that she has time to think. She reaches a hand towards Victor and and squints her eyes in anger. "Paradise? Only someone like you would think that." She tries to conjure a ball of light around Victor's dark form. "Sure thing, Radical," she says with a grin.

Not surprisingly (now), Grimm's Qliphothic ball of light expends itself as soon as it forms, exploding around Victor. It leaves him 'smoking' with wisps of shadow-stuff wafting from him. His expression is ...displeased to say the least.

"Take her," he notes to his demonic companion. "I will deal with her friends..." The two (Claude seems to be missing?) now step towards the heroes, in their respective directions.

Victor sets his sights upon Radical, one dark limb extending (extruding?) to strike at him. Oh, look, now he -does- have claws like Cliff. How wonderful!

Radical leans to one side...and quickly moves both arms in a circular motion...first one, and then the other...redirecting the incoming strike's force.

Cliff doesn't have a Slinger to harass... well, perhaps it does, but orders are orders. It leaps at Grimm, slashing at her with claws and sharp teeth. Snicker-snack!

Grimm raises her hands up, a dark wall appearing between her as Cliff. "Uh, so light explodes here, and we need to get the out of here before we turn into things like them," she warns the others.

Cliff slashes at the barrier, which still holds afterwards... though not by much.

Amelia hurried asks Grimm, "Grimm, which do you want me to take down first?"

"Victor. He's the one in control here," Grimm replies quickly.

Amelia quickly internalizes what magic is available to her to boost her physical adept abilities and shakes out her collapsible bow for use. Drawing a red fletched bodkin arrow she nocks it and fires at Victor in a single smooth practiced motion.

While it wasn't to the knee, Victor's villainous career takes a setback as he's impaled by the arrow. He doesn't fall, though seems somewhat rocked by the fact that there is fletching at his chest and an arrowhead sticking out his back. Such things general ruin the flow of ones day.

Cliff is, well, Cliff. He continues to slash at Grimm and/or her remaining shielding.

Grimm's barrier breaks and the follow up attack slashes Gabrielle's shoulder. "Oww!"

Amelia draws another red fletched arrow from the quiver and looses it at Victor.

Victor catches another arrow. Perhaps that should be his profession? Amelia definitely has his attention, now.

Radical grimaces as Grimm is struck. But the threat is clearly Victor. He fires a focused singularity at the dark mage with both hands. He's unsure if his gear will work here...but there's only one way to find out!

Victor is slammed again, now by a micro-singularity. He doesn't move, though he is rocked again.

Grimm focuses on Cliff. She steps back from is and tries to lock down its mind with a glare while she holds her injury.

Radical widens the focus on the next singularity, seeing if it will have more impact on Victor than the narrow one...and he fires again.

The widened focus seems to have about the same effect. Perhaps slightly less. Victor's shadowy form is streaming shadowy stuff from it like smoke. In the shadowy surroundings. All in varying shades of black on black from black.

Amelia reaches back and feels the fletchings left in her quiver of arrows. Getting short on bodkins. Plus she's a little unhappy at the way they are piercing so deeply into Victor's body. Slinging the bow across her back she draws out her staff, attempts to focus her combat enhancement adept ability again, and attacks Victor with a 'lunge of the water buffalo' martial strike.

Whump! First arrows, then singularities, and now Victor is getting hit with sticks. Will the insults never end?! He certainly felt it.

Grimm has a moment to breathe. That's enough to summon her shadow tendrils. They burst out of her dark aura and tries to wrap around Cliff and squeeze.

Cliff is grabbed by the shadow tentacles and squeezed. It does not seem to like this at all. It snarls at Grimm.

Cliff Snarls? Make that snarls, then bites at her. Since it's claws are currently pointed in a not-quite threatening direction at the moment."

Cliff chomps down upon one of the tentacles holding it. Since they're 'part of' Grimm, the sensation is markedly unpleasant... though it doesn't quite bite completely through. Perhaps it would've been preferable, as a flick of its neck flings Grimm around like a lasso and then into the wall behind her.

Victor laughs as Grimm is flung aside, despite the arrows, dents, and partial implosions in his person. "Don't kill her, my pet. You can have your fill off ... the man. The witch is mine." His eyes narrow at Amelia, though this time he doesn't lash out with his claws. Rather, he attempts to Amelia of what -true- delights (horrors) await them.

Grimm lets out an agonizing cry. It's brief before she's whipped into a wall in the dark and collapses to the ground. Perhaps fortunately, she's knocked unconscious and spared further pain. Much like when Natasha tore up her shadowy limb, the damage was transferred to Gabrielle's body, leaving her torn and bleeding out. The dark aura around her that usually shields her fades away.

Radical grimaces...and decides to go for offense, rather than run away. It might be a mistake...but... He unleashes another singularity at Victor. He's the key.

Victor takes yet another hit. Despite Radical's focused effort, this one is more of a glancing blow: still injurious, but not nearly as much as Radical would probably prefer. Especially as Victor is still standing.

Amelia lets out a cry of disgust, "I'm okay with the ugly imaginary monsters. I've seen worse for real. But get your even uglier mind out of my head," she tells Victor. Now, question, Amelia. If someone has to die, would you choose Grimm or Victor? Collapsing the staff she unslings the bow and reaches for a red fletched bodkin. Instead of shooting immediately she takes a seconds to aim carefully for Victor's heart.

Victor once more proves that he is adept at catching things (perhaps he made his fortune in professional sports?). This time, he catches the arrow straight through the forehead. It's sticking out the back. Were he normal, he would presumably be dead.

Of course, he's not normal. He IS, however, still very, very shocked by this development. His eyes roll up to try and stare at the fletching as he drops to a knee. "No! I am BEYOND you!"

He proves that he is very, very much NOT normal, as he darkens further and black stuff ... oozes from him as Radical can see the Dimensional flow increase ten-fold. The arrow and other wounds, especially drip... stuff. The shafts dissolve, leaving him with tendrils sprouting from chest, back, forehead. The rest of him begins to bloat and distort, too. Less humanoid and much more ... thing. It even makes Cliff start to appear more recognizable in comparison.

Speaking of Cliff ... It was told he could feed, and on whom. It whirls around to leap at Radical, the allocated entree for the evening.

Radical is quick enough to avoid the claws again...but this time Cliff's. "I'm wishing Tali and/or Slinger would make an appearance any time soon..."

Amelia says, "They're likely keeping Claude off our backs, Radical. The question I have is, is going after Victor doing any good at all? Sure it's hurting him. But he's still up. Kind of."

Radical shakes his head, "I don't know. And Grimm is going to need healing again."

Victor... or perhaps now more appropriately the -thing-formerly known as Victor... rises upright again. Five ...leg-like things with an uncertain number of joints support the mass. A mass that has numerous tendrils, at least three fang-filled maws, and ... are those ALL eyes?! It resembles something in the nightmarish visions Victor recently sent to Amelia. Perhaps also something that appears to Grimm every time she tries to sleep.

It makes some sort of gurgle-grating noise that seems to reverberate in the mind as much as in the air. A laugh? Maybe?

Amelia asks Radical, "Time to get out of here, Radical? Come back with reinforcements. Say an army or two?"

Radical nods. "I'm good with that. Especially since Grimm's down.

Amelia tries to open a gate to the penthouse in her Tower.

Amelia shakes her head, "No go. I can't open a gate. Blast our way out?"

Radical grimaces, "Probably have to go through Victor. He might have sealed us in.

Amelia says, "I'm definitely losing my reluctance to do that I have to admit."

Interestingly enough, whether from Victor's transformation or Amelia's attempt, Cliff (and Claude harassing Timewarp and Slinger) cease their attacks and move to stand aside Victor That Should Not Be. While fresh meat is always a joy, there are others that are perhaps more rewarding. Like new friends, perhaps?

Grimm did mention that the dark Qliphothic energies here would have effects on the living, and they are all gaining growing Shining Darkness tans...

The study/den/trophy room had filled with darkness of a strange, otherworldly and energetic sort, via Victor Price. As a result, everything is in an odd shade of black (it shouldn't be a thing, but it is), and Victor turned darker black as a result.

Blasts and arrows were fired. Claws slashed. Barriers broken. Grimm felled. Victor took several to the chest and eventually even took one to the forehead.

Unfortunately, that which didn't kill him, made him... stranger.

He has darkened even further and distorted into ...something. Many limbs. Eyes. Mouths. Something out of dark dreams of screaming nightmares. Maybe Grimm is the lucky one?

Radical figures...after Amelia's aborted attempt to leave...that they'll have to go through Victor to get out of this. So...might as well try to put everyhting into it again. He attempts to unleash another singularity at Victor again.

SPLRZZCHT

The launched micro-singularity hits the ... Thing That Should Not Be, Formerly Known As Victor. It's reaction is hard to discern, aside from many of the eyes blinking. In any case, nothing explosively heartening occurs.

Timewarp tries ageing the floor - this time not directly under anyone - it worked before, and it may give a way out of this strange darkness, if it works.

The floor looks ...aged, though not nearly as much as it did before. Aged, not rotten or eroded.

"Oh Mr. Lice- your final form is as hideous as your $#!+ soul is." Slinger notes aloud. "I mean- I guess we all expected that right? I mean- extra mouths, all the better to feed the greed with and all the tentacles work too. Its definitely you- I'd probably even recognize you in passing like this. Just a total mess of a ... well not a human being. I'm trying to find a nicer way to say 'bag of fecal matter' but the only thing that comes to mind is you, Lice."

Slinger leaps back at Price. He's not sure of the rules here but he won't find out standing around gabbing. Plus he can talk trash in motion & he's hoping to use Radical's shot to follow up with a sucker punch... aimed for something squishy. Like an eyeball or that spot where tentacles join the body and may be a bit sensitive. Slinger isn't picky- he just knows he needs to move. Luckily Victor's Final Form has plenty of eyes to spare!

"And we all know you can't define a word with itself. I suppose your two lovebirds would do too- but Ug1 & Ug2 don't really give your inverse majesty justice." He exclaims as he flips around a writhing tentacle and continues on.

He keeps talking so he doesn't think about how much danger they're in, or wonder whether or not Grimm is ok.

Timewarp thinks. o O (Shick. I can't even tell if it will help to keep doing this - though I guess we need to be out of the dark to get away...)


 * THUNK*

Slinger hits. RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES!

Of course, there are at least 75 visible spots that could qualify as that, and that's without looking between the waggling tentacles.

The good news: it feels like a solid hit to Slinger's fist.

The bad news: TTSNBFKAV doesn't agree with slinger's fist.

The WORSE news: Slinger's fist doesn't seem to agree with TTSNBFKAV, and immediately turns several shades darker black, and this darker dark creeps up his arm, adding to the darkening dark that the Shining Darkness is already tanning upon the heroes.

Perhaps the change was not entirely expected by Victor. That, or it only know realizes that the lesser mortal creatures couldn't comprehend the alien noises/sensations it emitted previously.

Now, all can 'hear' it, though it is still a mixed sensation of vibration in ears, upon skin, and even in skulls. As if the voice itself made one's skin crawl and caused vertigo in addition to communication.

"SEE THE WONDERS OF THE DARK. WITNESS AN END TO ALL THINGS."

Cliff and Claude simply stand to either side, though they do glance to one another, once, their toothy grins growing briefly wider. Knowingly.

Amelia holds for a second, trying to analyze the situation and decide on the best move, willing to use whatever time Victor-thing gives.

Slinger looks at his hand and waves it back and forth quickly as if trying to shake it free from the unearthly darkness. "Oh- that's not good. Gross- dude- you're getting your... I don't know what this is but gross. Just gross." He says before seeing Cliff and Claude glance at each other and smile.

"I told you! Need to add Matchmaker to my CSV after I kick your collective asses." Slinger exclaims, clearly now very distracted between shaking off the inky murk & griefing Claude and Cliff.

Radical looks to Amelia. "Any chance you can open a dimensional gate next to him? Someplace maybe really bright?"

Radical says, "Maybe NOT pointed at us?"

Amelia says, "Honestly, I don't know. I have one idea I want to try first but that was second on a shrinking list, Radical. Timewarp, can I suggest keep aging the floor. Having a way out might just be very important quite soon."

Radical nods. "I still see a barrier of sorts keeping us here. He's become some kind of conduit to the Qliphothic dimension. He's more that than human now."

Radical says, "It'll likely kill him. But that's not going to do us any favors either."

Amelia grimaces, "Okay, I'll give it a try."

Radical says, "That gate might be blocked, too. But we're running out of options. I can try to help."

Radical uses his gear to try to forcibly reach across dimensions while Amelia goes to open the gate. The idea being...the barrier might be drawn thinner if there's pressure from more than one point.

Amelia moves to stand beside Victor. She starts formulating the dimensional gate spell. Hesitating briefly over the incantation as she edits out all the safety constraints she added after her mistake that got her killed. Then she activates the spell, set to seek out an alternate Earth when the sun has either gone nova or flared massively. "Radical, pour in a much mana as you can." she asks as she makes the final gesture. Unfortumately, to ensure the gate will direct any flow of light toward Victor she herself has to be on the recieving side...

Timewarp nods and keeps trying to age the floor, as suggested. She had planned to anyway, lacking a better idea.

Radical hears Amelia's suggestion...and suffuses some mana into his attempts to weaken the barriers. Surely some Chaos magic can't hurt, right?

Slinger looks around, nodding to his allies- taking what may be his final moments in. He lingers on Grimm for a moment and frowns at the sight of her state- such as it is in the blackness.

He turns back to Victor, Claude and Cliff before cracking his knuckles and squaring back up. If he's going down, he's going down swinging all the way.

Amelia calls out to Slinger at the last split second, "Get away. Move toward Grimm."

Grimm has darkened from the effects of the dimension, but it's hard to tell except for her skin. Her blood has even turned shades of inky, shining black as she lays where she fell.

Radical nods and says to Slinger, "You do NOT want to to standing right there."

Slinger leaps up and back flips away- navigating any tentacles or dangers in the way thanks to his not-entirely-spider-senses.

He lands in a crouch near the others.

As Radical noted, The Thing That Should Not Be (Formerly Known As Victor)... well, shouldn't be. More specially, it shouldn't be HERE. Just as the Qliphothic is horrendous on life and our reality, our reality isn't so accepting of Qliphothic. Victor was a mortal bridge between the two. The operative term being 'was,' as he's no longer Victor and no longer of this dimension.

Which means it shouldn't be here, and the dimension know this (but maybe Victor didn't?). The conduit, as his being was, falters (as Radical noted). It's wavering may have been stabilized by the same wards and spells keeping the heroes in (and previously out), but even they can only handle so much. The sudden pushes and prods by Radical and Amelia are enough to tip things sooner rather than later.

The conduit promptly switches direction.

Total protonic reversal.

Phase-inversion on the power couplings.

Switched from blow to suck.

So, what happens when a being of near-infinite (if you asked it) power suffers the unstoppable force of realit-IES? We'll call it a dimensional singularity, for lack of a better term. Almost-instantaneously, TTSNBFKAV is compressed to the pinpoint that is the now-infinitely-small gate and vanishes. With their summoning tie to this realm gone, Cliff and Claude's manifested forms evaporate as their essence returns to the Qliphothic.

Of course, singularities are messy eaters, and the power that gets 'shaved' off of TTSNBFKAV is released in a massive energy wave.

Those standing are knocked to their feet.

Amelia suffers what could only be considered a mana hangover, migraine and magical truck overruning at once.

Radical's gear may need a tune up. Or rebuilt.

All of the wards in the room flare with the power surge.

Then explode.

The good news? The house seems to be much more fragile now.

The bad news? This is evident as it seems to be falling down around them.

Timewarp grabs everyone and moves them as far as she can from the explosions!

Amelia is pulled momentarily forward by the implosion of the gate, immediately followed by being thrown back into a wall as wards explode and energy is released. She bounces off the wall, stumbles a half step ans drops to her knees. There's a tricke of blook running from her nostrils and from her right ear as she stways dazed and stunned from the backlash.

Radical gets knocked down as the room is rocked. His harness starts to make ominous whining noises as well. "That's not good."

Slinger clings on as best he can but the ground cracks, peeling up and away as the Spyder is flung.

Timewarp asks, "Are you ok?", once more annoyed at herself for still not having learnt first aid.

Grimm's body gets knocked again against the wall she collapsed by, making an awful wet noise as she crumples into a different position.

Once they've been moved a safer distance away, Radical scrambles to try to look at Grimm's status and see if he can stop the bleeding.

Slinger rebounds easily to his feet, skidding back a few inches but he manages to keep his footing.

"Ok- so... what the hell just happened, Weird Wizards? And is Grimm going to be ok?" He asks as he moves to check her wounds and do whatever things he can do to help- which he admits is probably not much- but considering that landing she just endured he sounds suitably worried.

Timewarp produces a first aid kit from nowhere.

The group doesn't need to go far. The front lawn is well-manicured and tidy. It's almost peaceful.

Save for the house crumbling and collapsing in upon itself behind them. The stone tower at the corner is more sturdy, and one of the last things to fall.

Radical loos back toward the house as he tends to Grimm, "On the bright side, it looks like the decision to kill Victor or not is out of our hands."

Timewarp says, "What happened to him, anyway?!"

Grimm's injuries injuries are numerous and deep from Cliff's teeth. She'd be at risk of dying of blood loss, but Radical manages to stem the bleeding with copious uses of gauze and pressure.

Suddenly... butterflies. Lots of butterflies, swarming and fluttering and landing to fan their wings on wounds.

Seeing Grimm is well taken care of Slinger goes to help Amelia. "Lucky him." Slinger says to Radical darkly. "If..." He falls silent and looks back to Radical. "I think Amelia is going ot need some of that TLC over here too"

Timewarp sees what she can do by accelerating the healing process.

Amelia groans, "Oh, yay, my casting muscles are tender," she mutters. "How's Ms Grimm doing?"

Grimm is still unconscious and wounds are bloodied. They've closed a little.

Timewarp works on healing Grimm's wounds before bringing her back to consciousness.

Radical looks over to Amelia, "She'll live." He sits down on the grass for a moment. "Everyone...thank you for the help here."

Amelia gives Radical a wry wan smile, "I'm glad we where here. Because I hate losing friends and I think we were close to out matched even with all of us there."

Radical nods to Amelia, "Yeah....probably."

Timewarp nods. "I've seldom been so scared!"

Is it over? What exactly happened? Is the matter of Victor's hunt truly resolved?

Inquiring minds want to know! Others may be too sore to care!

The night's darkness is suddenly less so as golden light suddenly splays through the trees to the south.

Amelia says, "So just what did happen. That was not what I was expecting."

[To Amelia] Timewarp says, "You tell me! Magic is your thing."

Grimm starts to rouse slowly with a grown as Timewarp ages her and her wounds until they're healed.

Timewarp keeps an eye on the wounds. Any sign they're not healing properly and she'll stop and leave it to actual physicians.

Radical thinks about it. "Ummm...I think I can describe what I saw...give me a moment...

Amelia shakes her head reflexively, and instantly regrets it. "Ouch. Not that kind of magic. That's the kind of magic I was told never to even try to mess with."

Radical tries to come up with a good way to explain it. "I think...Victor trapped us, and was going to flood the area with Qliphothic energy. The barriers around us were stable, mostly. Think of it like...a plastic bag. He was acting as a conduit, filling it with water, causing us to drown." He rubs his neck and then says, "When we pushed hard on the barriers, that containment broke. And he got overwhelmed. Qliphothic energy is very difficult to control. Nigh impossible. And without some kind of structure to work with, it basically...took him out? I think."

Grimm's eyes blink slowly a few times as she regains consciousness. It takes a moment for her mind to catch up with where she was, and how she's somewhere different. She sits up with a jerk, her clothes still a tattered mess, but her wounds gone. She looks at the ruins of the house, then down at herself, then over at Radical. "What hap..." she starts to ask, then looks past him to the golden light. Unfortunately, family or not, Radical is forgotten. She scrambles to her feet, whoozy, and starts sprinting for the light in the south.

Timewarp says, "Oh, so the usual thing. Bad guy messes with things Man Was Not Meant to Know, bad guy finds out why he was not meant to know them."

Amelia nods, "Yeah. I'm going to have to think about that. I swore I'd never take a life. But with it came down to him or us... well I wasn't trying for flesh wounds."

Radical blinks and initially tries to halt Grimm, until he sees where she's running. "Well...that's promising, I think? That might be her sister returning. I hope."

Amelia says, "Hope so. It explains a lot."

Timewarp looks in the direction Grimm went, to see if she can make out what's happening.

Log:The Sisters Grimm