********Escape Attempt 1 Non-Canon Ending********
Desperate and pushed to her limits, Delilah's head swims. She pleads for help from Tarj, forcing her every thought to him. Calling his name. Pleading for strength and knowledge to help herself or for any sign. But no response comes. Feeling overwhelmingly alone because of that, and guilty for her lack of faith... a name comes to her lips.
"N-Nerezza," she grits her teeth, pleading through her hot tears, tugging at her bindings. "I know you can hear those who call you. I know it more than I know of anything else. Tarj has abandoned me. Or I have...h-him." Her heart beats fast, frantic, determined. "I pray for your strength. I pray for your knowledge. I pray for your power. I pray to the God of Shadows, To the Shepard of Memories. I pray... to my God."
The shadowy form of Nerezza materializes in the room. Instead of stepping in, he merely walks over to her, sever the ropes holding her, and look her in the eyes. "Ruby, you are my first disciple in thousands of years. I lend you my strength. The power of the realm of shadows is at yours to command." He touches Ruby's forehead, and the dimly lit room becomes bright as your eyes glow.
Having poured out every ounce of her faith and seeing Nerezza appear in the flesh fills Delilah with strength alone in itself; a strength empowered and awash by a reborn devotion.
Being freed and now blessed, her body prickles with something...new. She stands, looking around the room, at her hands, at the overwhelming brightness of it all.
She meets Nerezza's gaze. Thankful. Smiling. "My Lord..." she kneels down, a fire in her eyes. "I'll strive to serve you completely. And I won't be the last...
"I *will* spread your infamy."
Nerezza stands up and helps Ruby to her feet. "Shadows are at your disposal now. Use them. They can be distractions," the room begins to quiver and twist as shadows move on their own, making the room feel as if it's leaning to one side. "To doorways," he moves from Ruby's side to the doorway. "To weapons..." he pulls the shadows from around the room to him, forming them into a large, two handed sword before letting it break and return to where they were drawn from.
Determined, but unarmed, she grabs the ropes that bound her before. Tightly knotting them back together, she walks with them in her hands toward the door. Feeling intimidating, (but not sure where it is coming from, if she would have...something?) she kicks the door open with a BANG.
Stepping inside to see a pair of cultists leaning against the wall, they stumble back at the entrance. She cracks the rope like a whip against the metal floor, advancing on them. Shadows writhe around the robe, lancing off of it in tendrils, and her own shadow reaches up the wall behind her.
"You've made a mistake, taking me. The wrath and power of the Lord of Darkness is with me, and seeks judgment against you."
********Escape Attempt 2 Non-Canon Ending********
Feeling his name being willed to come but being forced to stop, Nerezza tears a hole in the very fabric of the realms, pouring forth the dark abyss of the shadow realm into the deck of the airship. He walks with purpose, a weapon in his hand of a long since passed age... a large sword, billowing shadows and devouring light that comes near... the blade known as Dusk Reaver. His eyes burn brightly, a fierce look that hasn't been seen in millennia. "YOU DARE?!" He roars at everyone aboard. "I will rip your very souls from your bodies, and you will feel as they become a lifeless husk..."
********Escape Attempt 3 Non-Canon Ending********
The room in plunged into a vast darkness which this vile cultist has never experienced before. The utter darkness swirls about him, making him look this way and that, looking for signs of movement. Suddenly, the cultist is picked up off his feet and slammed into the wall as a pair of blazing golden eyes break through the dark. The room begins to quiver as the black shadows move and are drawn to the eyes, forming the body of Nerezza, wings outstretched and Dusk Reaver in his other hand.
"Your life... is mine. Your soul, forfeit. Mephistopheles cannot save you."
Nerezza throws the cultist roughly to the ground, flicking his wrist as he lets go of his neck, throwing a shadow needle into the man's calf.
"Apologize for being cruel to her, and perhaps I will end your life quickly and painlessly. Otherwise, your master's torture and sacrifices will look like mere childsplay..."
The cultist, head swimming from the impact with the hard floor and the stabbing, torturous pain in his leg, tries to steady his vision on his attacker.
He shakily replies to the swirling mass of shadow, "Who are you?? What is this?? Is this a trick? Is this how that little pissy mouse did in the others?" He tries to sit up, groaning in pain. Then he starts to laugh, nerviously, maniacally, as if to hide his dripping fear.
Nerezza slams Dusk Reaver into the floor near his shoulder. "I am The Soul Thief. The Night Stalker. The Dark One. I am Nerezza, God of Shadows."
He kneels down and twists the needle in his calf, pushing it further in as he does. "Apologize to her!" He growls, his eyes flashing brightly.
(I wanted to see what Delilah does too..... I...rolled a 1. XD)
Delilah watches, entranced yet utterly mortified at the overwhelming ferocity, the visceral protective malice, pouring from Nerezza. She worried what the cultist had done... COULD do... But this was something entirely different. Completely shaken, she can't tear her eyes away.
(10 for the cultist...not good, not great...)
Happy grits his teeth, screaming behind them in pain yet horribly chuckling from the torture. "I didn't do nothin' to 'er! Theyda freaking slaughtered me if I did, her blood's-- UGH!" He convulses, the needle pushing through a nerve. "Her blood's not mine to take! AAAH I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!" He spits the words angerly, writhing.
"You did nothing?!" Nerezza slams the empty vial that once contained acidic liquid into the side of his head, shattering it. "You forced her to drink poison. You cut off her circulation with ropes. You threatened and frightened her. It's time you feel what you hand out."
Nerezza rips Happy's shadow from the floor, wrapping and forcing it into a small ball, condensing it, squeezing it until it becomes a liquid and then pouring it down the cultist's throat. As the black liquid makes contact with his flesh, it sizzles and smokes. He then pulls another piece of his shadow off and forms it into thick, thorn covered vines, wrapping Happy in them tightly and cruelly. The thorns biting into his skin and the vines themselves pinching off the blood supply.
"Now... that you have felt what she has..." he turns to Ruby, reaching out and removing the ropes with a quick flick of Dusk Reaver (unless it's the fancy rope, I can't remember... lol) "she... will decide your fate. Should he live? Should he die?"
Delilah, although free from her bonds, struggles to sit up. She rubs the feeling back into her hands and arms, not sure if she can stand yet; either from the healing stab wounds, the tingling numbness of the paralysis wearing off, or the terror she feels watching this unfold.
She looks between Nerezza and the cultist Happy, just staring at her with a wide, mortified gaze. She opens her mouth and closes it again, struggling to find her voice. Tears well up in her eyes, after strugging for so many hours to remain resolute.
She thinks of what Nerezza told her days ago... What she learned from Rodrick. What she knew from Hikaru... No loose ends. She's already killed before... What's another? It's not her hand dealing the blow, but... Would he become a loose end? Would he hunt her down? Hunt others? Could she live with the blood of the innocents he takes later?
(I had to roll for this... She could honestly go either way for a dozen reasons each ...)
She sobs, feeling guilt and weakness overtake her heart like a heavy, burning ache. She physically hurts, unable to do it... She just can't. She shakes her head, trying not to cry. Her hoarse voice finally breathing out a broken sentence.
"N...no... I c...can't take h...his l..ife... like th...this."
"She has saved your life... from my hand. She has not, however, saved you from this..." Nerezza grabs the cultist and throws him hard at the wall, but instead of hitting the wall, he disappears into a shadow cast by a nearby lantern. (Threw him into a shadow realm ocean...)
Delilah flinches, waiting for the sickening crack of bones breaking from the impact with the wall. But seeing Happy completely disappear... She looks at the shadow there, shimmering normally like it was before.
Her gaze turns to Nerezza, nervous uncertainty in her eyes. She feels withdrawn, struggling to take everything in. She feels like she has a million things to say... to apologize for... to explain... but she can't.
Nerezza wraps her in a hug, his wings engulfing her, forming a shadowy cocoon. "It is okay, you are safe now. I am here."
She chokes on another sob, her shallow breathing raspy. Overwhelmed with the torture. The death. The killing. The violence. The regret. The guilt. The gentleness.
Delilah relinquishes and just leans against him, crying bitterly. The cocoon of shadow is comforting... Sheltering. Blocking the terrifying world around her. She clings to him, all her emotions pouring out in her hot tears.
********Escape Attempt 4 Non-Canon Ending********
"I've learned something..." Delilah says, her mouth and humor dry. The corners of her mouth twitch.
"And what is that?" He sneers.
"Not all Gods' powers are created equal." She looks up at him. A confident fire burns behind her eyes as she emphasizes her next words. "You have a weak God."
His smile fades. It turns into a scowl.
Maintaining eye contact she coughs and spits, returning the scowl.
With that, he comes up to her and grabs the back of her head and her jaw. Forcing her mouth open painfully, he pulls out one of the vials of acidic potion and dumps it down throat.
She kind of chokes and coughs, and aggressively spits it back in his face.
With that, she feels a hand strike across her face, her head swinging to the side from the force off his strike. Trying to blink away the stars, she feels the stabbing prick of a needle in her shoulder.
"How -dare- you?" He growls maliciously. Delilah just forces a chuckle and a smile. It was worth it.
She can see him shaking with rage. Cyrus snaps at the other cultist. "Give me another vial!" With that, he snatches the vial from the other cultist and tries to dump it down her throat again.
She spits it out again in his face. She sputters and coughs and spits again. As soon as she can breathe, she starts laughing, carelessly defiant. Elated. Angry. Slightly unhinged still. "Your...g..god is weak..." she grins manically. "If h..he couldn't break my m...ind longer than that... And I...I'm the WEAKEST of my family..." her eyes blaze. "The God of Shadows is coming f...or his pitiful soul."
"Insolence!!" His eyes blaze with fury. He begins to strike her several times, the last blow sending her and the chair she's tied to crashing to the floor.
A voice echoes from the dark hallway. "Oh, no... she's quite right. Your God is weak... and I am coming for his soul, pitiful and worthless thing that it is... but not before I collect yours..."
Into the room walks Nerezza, his wings wrapped around him imitating a cloak to the unknowing eye, a hood pulled up over his head giving him the appearance of a dark robed traveler.
Cyrus whips around, eyes furious. He and the cultist in the corner never heard the approach... But the shadow's words hang thick in the air.
Delilah continues to chuckle from the floor behind him. She hadn't necessarily meant to summon Nerezza, almost saying what she did out of... overwhelming defiance more than anything. But entirely truthful nonetheless... She hisses through her teeth, tasting their metallic tang,
"Your God's p...ower can't ever hold a c...andle... To him."
Cyrus narrows his eyes, standing up straight and composing his emotion into power. "My God isn't a pretending child. He is Tangible. He feeds me power for my service." His grin widens evily, eyes glowing green. "Unbroken magic..."
Nerezza walks further into the room, straight past Cyrus and to Delilah. "Oh you poor child. Poisoned and beaten simply for being an unbreakable spirit..."
He rests his hand on her forehead. The room's light quivers faintly as the God of Shadows draws on his power, pulling the poison from her body and wrapping it in a small sheathe of shadow, creating a poison-laced shadow needle that he begins twirling in his fingers.
Still not looking out from underneath his deep hood, nor looking in Cyrus's direction, Nerezza chuckles. "Boy, you know not what hornet's nest you have disturbed... your pitiful God should have known better than to pick on a Child of the Shadow..."
Cyrus scowls at being ignored, watching Nerezza tend to his captive. He licks his lips, fingers rubbing against his thumbs as he plays this dangerous game. Antsy to end it with a dagger strike. At the words he grows more agitated.
"I'll enjoy dragging out a torturous sacrifice to Mephestopheles with this little mouse..." His eye twitches. "And yours. His power is growing... It can and will surpass everything in the hells and in this world combined. You cannot stop him. He will devour you."
Nerezza laughs for a few moments and then reaches under his hood, wiping a tear from his eye. "Devour me? He can't devour a meal, much less a God..."
The dark figure helps Delilah to a nearby chair and hands her a small glass bottle from his belt and a sack of crackers. "Drink slowly. It is just water, but you don't want to make yourself sick."
She feels immense comfort, reverently taking the offerings with an air of humility. She sips the water and almost tears up. It's taste is the finest and most soothing thing she's had in days. Gripping the bottle firmly, she eyes Cyrus and the other cultist... Not feeling weaponless if the need arises.
Cyrus meanwhile is contemplating. Calculating. This new development makes him uneasy, but he wished to observe his opponent... Even at the freeing of his charge.
"What kind of weak fool are you?" His eyes still glowing, he depresses his daggers and grips them loosely...dangerously. His power flows onto their blades. "You claim to have power? Do you cater to the vermin in the shadows then?" He inclines his head to Delilah, mocking. "Little mouse, tisk... What kind of worthless god would deal with someone like you? Likely equally weak... Frail... Easily bested." His eyes flash at the hooded traveler.
"Quite..." Nerezza finally looks at Cyrus, his eyes burning with a fiery gold from under the deep hood. Suddenly the cloak unfolds and spreads into his full wingspan, revealing Dusk Reaver, the blade greedily devouring all nearby light, in his left hand which had been held down by his leg the whole time. The lights around the room begin to pull and fight the natural movement, being drawn toward the hooded and winged figure standing next to the girl Cyrus believed to be so weak.
"What you fail to understand and realize, Cyrus Faulkner, (gave him a last name, because it is more intimidating if a stranger just somehow knows your full name...) is that the stories your Grandmother used to tell you about The Soul Thief... are true." With the last words, Nerezza throws his hood back, revealing his black flesh and piercing gold eyes.
Cyrus hesitates a moment, his mouth twitching a little. The grip on his weapons tighten. The other cultist scrambles away against the wall, terrified.
He flashes a dangerous look to the other man. "You dare move I'll cut you down myself, Vance. Do these... Parlor tricks," he licks his lips again, mouth dry, forcing a smile, "really fool you?"
Nerezza smirks. He looks at Vance. "I take it you too, know the tales about me? Perhaps there is one that the young Delilah would love to tell you about your so-called God Mephistopheles..."
Nerezza reaches into his satchel and pulls out a nearly identical copy of the book Rhys gave Ruby, and holds it out. The differences between this book and the one Rhys gave, is this is Nerezza's personal journal and isn't the version for children.
"The pages marked with the red ribbon, my dear. If you would be so kind. Or if you'd prefer, give them the abridged version."
She hesitantly sets her bottle nearby and takes the book, almost in awe at the touch of it. Hands trembling slightly with nervous anticipation, she turns to the marked page... And begins to read.
Her voice stronger now, she has no trouble reading. She tells the entire story, letting her words drip with the seriousness and fierceness they hold... Vance trembles, struggling to keep from fleeing. Cyrus glares menacingly, rooted to the spot as he listens.
He continues to stare Nerezza in the eyes the entire time, willing himself to stand firm. His fingers twitch, eager to let loose a dagger. He's the fastest shot on board after all... "Stories are just stories... Tales for nieve children." He spits the word, fuming at Vance and at Delilah.
"And yet I'm quite certain you believe all the tales Mephistopheles has spun and whispered in your ear." Nerezza sighs. "I suppose you are only going to believe what your eyes prove to you, aren't you?"
Nerezza sheathes the mighty stone blade, leaving himself weaponless, save for the shadow needle still dancing around in his palm
Cyrus' forced smile becomes a grimace. He eyes the needle, waiting until it's at its lowest point, the hardest to throw accurately from... At least, from his experience twirling his daggers.
"I'm quite done with your games, ratcatcher..."'he hisses. He springs into action, his left dagger leaving his hand and slicing through the air. A green, poisonous mist glows around it.
With a flash of red light from his cloak he disappears, teleporting behind Nerezza and Delilah, his second dagger pulled back to strike.
As Cyrus throws the knife, Nerezza touches Delilah's arm and takes the smallest of steps backward, his foot passing into his own shadow and reappearing behind Cyrus, mere seconds before he disappears himself.
Nerezza now stands where Cryus was, his poisoned dagger in his hand. "You are lucky I'm not done talking or I would have let this continue its flight... into your chest."
Cyrus catches himself, recovering from the swing that would have landed otherwise... So he thinks. He narrows his eyes at the two of them, furiously trying to strategize and not lose his composure.
"You see, Boy... you are not the only one here with power... and that was a mere parlor trick..." Nerezza chuckles and tosses the dagger to the side and out of reach where it can do no harm.
"Now, do you wish to continue your foolish game or are you willing to listen yet?"
"Listen? To what nonsense shall I listen?" He smiles, his eyes glowing slightly. He stares at Delilah, intensely...
(Rolled a 3 against a 6 for her, raw rolls.. Was gonna have him try to charm/mind control her. XD faillll.)
Delilah feels a tickling, an itching in her mind. Glaring at Cyrus, she shakes it off immediately. She sees him scowl a bit, realizing it didn't work.
Nerezza notices the attempt and retaliates with his own mental assault.
Nerezza lashes out with a mental tendril, ripping open Cyrus's mind and pouring in what feels like black ice. His mind is filled with an overwhelming sense of cold, despair, and darkness. The only thing still in focus in his mind is the image of Nerezza, Dusk Reaver buried up to the hilt in Mephistopheles' chest and ripping the soul from his throat.
Almost as suddenly as the mental attack came on, it subsides, leaving him with a chill in his head. "I suggest you not try that again."
Delilah watches, seeing Cyrus' expression change... Then it abruptly jumps back, a cold sweat on his brow.
Cyrus grimaces, clutching his temple with his free hand. He lets out a slow, off kilter laugh.
His eyes dart between the two. His lips twitch again. (Nat 20.....hmm)
"Greatness." He hisses.
Delilah's silken rope slinks up from behind him, whipping around like a striking animal. It shoots forward at his thought, right at Nerezza.
Delilah steps back slightly, her brain turning fuzzy. (7...) "G...greatness?" She mumbles, the word tumbling around her head as if in an echo chamber.
Nerezza smirks at the word and sees the magic rope coming at him and holds his hand up in front of his neck, preventing it from suffocating him. "So, you learned the keywords for her rope?" (I rolled a 14, so I figured it still got me, but that + God status gave him enough heads up to move)
Delilah stumbles back, holding her head and shaking it. She continues to mumble under her breath as she tries to recompose herself from the comforting word.
Cyrus snarls. "Wasn't difficult at all... The little mouse told me willingly." He cracks the rope like a whip, trying to free it from around Nerezza's hand. He readies his second dagger to throw, a gleam in his eye.
"I wonder... if you know all it's keywords..." he grabs ahold of the rope and mutters something in a long dead language, and the rope begins pulsing as if keeping rhythm with a heartbeat and changing color... changing to a deep, dark purple, almost black. "Or if you know it's origins..."
The rope begins to meld into Nerezza's hand, and goes limp in Cyrus's. "This rope is made from fibers from the shadow realm. MY realm. Yes, it obeys it's keywords, but I am it's ultimate master..." he jerks it out of Cyrus's hands and coils it up and hands it back to Delilah, allowing it to stop bonding to his hand.
"You see, Cyrus. I command an entire realm. A plane of existence. A landmass full of life."
She takes it, her mind buzzing like a hive. A small smile appears, her muttering now quiet and relaxed. (9)
Cyrus withdraws his hand hurriedly, disgusted at the change in and loss of the rope. He can't seem to find his words, eyeing Nerezza.
"Where is your pitiful excuse for a God now, Cyrus?"
"Has he abandoned you?"
"Now that you are in the presence of true power, has he fled and left you to your own devices?"
Cyrus takes a step back, his eyes glowing a faint red... Or struggling to.
"He... He grants me power! But he's not like some... Mutt that can be called upon by a mear whim. Some... Fleabitten mongrel." He spits the words at Delilah, sensing that she's the only reason Nerreza showed up at all.
Sensing she is still distracted (9 for her again..lol), he smiles, and teleports with a red flash to the other side of her. His last remaining dagger pressed up against her jugular. (17)
"I wish you had not have done that..."
He grits his teeth, hissing. "You care for this little mouse so much?" He glares at Nerezza. "Why tell me all this? Your power. Your world. Why stall? You threatened to steal my soul... What good are semantics, than to give an opening to your enemy?"
"Because, Cyrus... though your soul has been tainted by Mephistopheles, it hasn't been fully corrupted yet. You still have a chance to turn your life around and not be condemned to death and an eternity of agony along with him." (Oh, snap... 18 intimidation) Nerezza's eyes flash gold and he gathers shadows around him, forming them into needles, all aimed directly at Cyrus. "Now... remove your knife from her throat, or feel the sting of the shadowstorm."
Vance, having long since given up and fled, has left Cyrus alone now. His dagger presses closer against her skin, but he still hesitates. (15) His eyes dart between each of the needles hovering and shimmering around him from the shadows.
His brow furrows in confusion. Desperation. His mouth dry, he takes in his options. "I can kill her now... Bless her blood in the name of Mephestopheles... He will protect me." He seems shaken and unsure as he says it.
He licks his lips. "Even if you don't kill me.. If I betrayed him, betrayed the trust of my commander, what then? Be hunted? Destroyed like all the others? He will rise to power... He will find me."
"I promise you, he will not. I am going to rip his soul from his body just as soon as I'm able to get to him... and just as I promise you that, I promise you that if you make a move to harm that girl, your knife will never make it to it's mark. Your life will end in agony and misery as your veins course with a poison you cannot even conceive."
As they talk, Delilah twitches. (11) Finally getting used to her mind and calming it down, she begins to register the cold steel biting against her and the weight of the rope in her hands.
Cylus hesitates again, twitching. He gives a barking laugh, hoarse, cruel. (14 insight) Then....he finally steps back, away from Delilah. Glancing at them both....
He glows brightly and teleports away.
Cyrus appears behind Nerezza, blade ready to strike, but falters, stumbling to the floor. His mind seems to be cracking, some other force twisting him.
"Your God that weak, Cyrus?" Nerezza turns around and kneels down, prying the dagger from his hand and throwing it harmlessly across the room. (13 strength)
(Matched his 13..haha.) Cyrus twitches, as if fighting an echoing in his head. His eyes flicker with a maddening light. "Weakness.. Weakness is purged from him... From his followers." He pulls his head back and roars, scrambling for the nearest weapon he can see. Frantic... He grasps toward Dusk Reaver. (16)
Nerezza pins his hand to the floor. "I wouldn't touch that blade if I were you... it's not like weapons from this age. It is ancient. Dusk Reaver has it's own energy. It draws on it's wielder. If you touch that blade, it will literally kill you." (19 persuasion)
(15) Cyrus pants, unable to retaliate or free his hand. Weaponless and helpless, failure settles over him like a heavy fog. The red, possessing light fades from his eyes.
"You may very well have saved your soul from eternal torment..."
He stares up into Nerezza's golden eyes, a look on his face of inescapable confusion and disgust in himself. "It'd be better if i died, than lose my honor..." He eyes Dusk Reaver again.
Nerezza follows his gaze and sheathes the blade in the shadow realm, away from his grasp. "Turn your life toward the light. Seek out new honor. Discover who you desire to be in your heart, not who Mephistopheles forced you to be."
He shakes, crumpling to the floor on his forearms. His head bowed, he stops fighting it, giving in to acceptance.
Delilah stands nearby, watching... Mesmerized by the gentleness shown. That same gentleness he showed her.
She'd tried to kill Cyrus not but a few days prior, in her attempt to survive. In hate, in fear. But he... He brought that man to his knees. He defeated him and saved him. What true power that is.
********Escape Attempt 5 Non-Canon Ending********
Going down the hallway, she meets no one else. She heads up the stairs, to the door she got to before. Gritting her teeth, she slams the door open.
Stepping out into the bright sunlight outside, Delilah looks around. (medium perception check).
Miles, and miles…. Everywhere… is just water. They are over the middle of the Perretic Ocean.
The ship does not seem designed with any extra one-man vessels to escape with. But she does notice several cultists milling about, who were taking orders, stop dead in their tracks…looking at her now.
She takes a deep breath and smiles as best she can. (high persuasion check). She holds up the daggers with her hands loosely, fingers splayed in a type of non-threatening manner.
The bright rays of sun suddenly disappear, making the deck of the ship appear gloomy and dim. A voice echoes out from the front. "She may not be looking for a fight..." Nerezza steps out from behind the front mast, Dusk Reaver in his hand, the large blade devouring light at an alarming rate, and the God's eyes alight with a rage that cannot be described as anything other than pure hatred. "But I am..."
He slowly walks toward the center of the ship, spreading his wings as he does, Dusk Reaver still drawing light in and consuming it. "All of your lives belong to me now. You will all pay for the choice to harm her. Your pitiful God, Mephistopheles, cannot help you."
Delilah's deceptive smile turns into one of confidence now. Knowing she can help in this and put a stop to this evil, and....Knowing that she is ready to try to prove herself, she mutters, "greatness."
Her rope animates, tying knots around each dagger. It begins coiling around her like a snake, ready to strike.
(10) Cyrus smiles cookedly, his teeth glinting in the dim shafts of sunlight. He looks covetously at Dusk Reaver and licks his lips. "I see our mouse had a pet rat as a bodyguard... you seem bothered by our treatment. How interesting." He draws his daggers with a flourish, the other cultists hesitating and waiting for a signal.
(13) His hands glow, and he forces his mind toward his new opponent hoping to catch him off guard... Hoping to make him an ally, charming Nerezza.
Nerezza feels the man's feeble attempt at entering his mind and smirks. "You have no idea who I am, do you...?"
Nerezza retaliates with a mental attack of his own, a memory of pure pain and agony at a visceral level from Nerezza's past... the emotions he felt as he watched his best friend and brother in arms, Saar, fade from existence. The pain associated with that memory slams into Cyrus, forcing him to his knees. (I.... rolled an 18. Lol)
(11) Cyrus' body convulses with the utter emotional destruction that mental attack accomplishes. Hands shaking, he drops his daggers with a loud clatter on the deck. He holds his hands to the sides of his head, trying to manage the intensity of the retaliatory attack.
Tears stream down his face without abandon, and he looks up at Nerezza standing above him. "What in the nine hells..."
"I am The Night Stalker. The Soul Thief. The Dark One. I am the God of Shadows. I am Nerezza, the one contracted with claiming your master's worthless and pitiful soul. You have made a vast mistake in harming that girl. She is special. She is a friend. And I am NOT LOSING ANOTHER ONE!"
As the last words leave his mouth, he lifts Dusk Reaver and cuts a large tear in the fabric of reality, pouring forth the shadow realm onto the deck of the airship and the surrounding area.
A small pack of Umbris leap through, growling and circling a few cultists, their dark wispy bodies glinting and steaming in the dim sunlight. A Bryxxni zips through the tear, shrieking (13, deafens some peoples) before landing and advancing on a cultist, a low thrumming coming from it's throat. Color begins to fade from the airship as it is replaced with the realm of shadow.
Delilah's heart skips a beat at being referred to so endearingly, and yet pained because she knows from Rodrick of Nerezza's horrible loss. Determined not to get used any longer, she whips her silken rope out with a flick of her hand. She sends it to slice across the backs of fleeing cultists. The paralysis works wonders on them, just as it did for her, and they crumple to the ground.
At the flooding of the shadow realm, she sees a Bryxxni land jn front of her, stopping another three cultists. They stumble back as it lets out its shriek. (4 for me xD) Delilah winces, the sound causing her to loose sound of the battle raging around her. She brings the rope to coil back, watching the creature with intense interest. She doesn't move to cause it distress, hoping and knowing it will likely be friendly to her. (14?)
Cyrus meanwhile (6) visibly quakes, scrambling back from the snapping jaws of a vicious Umbris. The animal advances on him, ripping at his arm with its teeth.
Nerezza snaps his fingers and the Umbris attacking Cryus backs off. "You don't get off that easy. Umbris kill relatively quick and painless. Much like a wolf... you deserve something worse. Something like... him."
A white blur zips through the tear, slashing a set of gashes in Cyrus's leg. A yowl is heard from high above in the masts, followed by the sickening impact of the crow's nest cultist hitting the ground, his neck ripped out and chest shredded open, gasping for breath and gurgling. The white felpid crawls down the mast, growling and baring it's teeth at Cyrus, its eyes glowing a faint blue.
(5) Cyrus watches in absolute horror at the man, Dominick, looks up at him with rolling eyes, choking on his own blood and bile. The hissing whine of the white felpid makes his voice crack in terror. "I... I admit defeat!" He struggles to force a smile, retreating and inching away, putting his back to a well as his leg leaves a bloody smear along the deck.
"I see the little mouse was... Was right to choose a strong god! What a power you hold!" (11, he tries in vain to flatter, hoping he can convince him to take him as a disciple... He likes and craves power.)
Nerezza scowls at him. "One such as you isn't worthy of being a Child of the Shadows... you a fickle. You are weak. You have no loyalty. Mephistopheles would kill you himself if he weren't himself weak and worthless." He holds up a hand, and the white felpid stops overtop of Cyrus. "My dearest Ruby... might I have you join me up here for a moment?"
Her ears ringing, Nerezza's voice cuts through the numbness and haze. Keeping her rope active and loosely gripped in hand, she clammers up the railing to land as deftly as possible beside her friend.
She looks at him, then eyes the white felpid with a mix of awe and horror... She brushes her hand against her leg, remembering the story she heard vividly. She forces out as strong a response as she can muster, "Y...yes, of course."
"What do you wish to happen to this man? I can tell you, he is evil to his core. His memories are vile."
The felpid growls at him and bares its teeth, grinding away at the deck with its claws, eager to act at the command it may receive.
(18)
She turns and glares at the man who has scorned her, beat her, and stabbed her. Seeing through his pale mask of self preservation, she gives a wan smile.
"I'd already made up my mind to kill him once before now. I almost had him... Although I failed then..." her eyes flash, feeling the least remorse she has so far,
"Let the cat have it's mouse."
The felpid lifts it's head and roars, bunching all its muscles and then pounces on Cyrus. It latches it's jaws onto his neck, squeezing the airway closed as it digs it's claws deep into his flesh to gain position as the man tries to squirm and fight free.
The felpid keeps him that way for a few minutes as the man fights for air, punching at the large beast but to no avail. Finally his eyes roll into the back of his head and he loses consciousness, and the felpid rips his chest open with it's hind legs as it pries upward on his neck with it's jaws.
Delilah watches, transfixed and disturbed. She can't help but look away at the end, glancing back at Nerezza.
"Undying," She mutters, maintaining eye contact but catching the dagger blades in her hands. Her rope coils up around her shoulder before un-animating.
"I've learned more today, Nerezza..." She glances back at the beast, crunching the bones of its prey. Vague twitches from Cyrus' body at the carnage.
"I'll... remember. And make use of it." She tightens her grip on the weapons.
********Escape Attempt 6 Non-Canon Ending********
Sensing something drastically wrong with Ruby, Nerezza steps through the shadows and into the room, and upon seeing Ruby rocking back and forth muttering the same word over and over, something inside Nerezza snaps. He draws Dusk Reaver from it's sheath of shadow, and begins the slow, arduous process of cleansing the airship.
Each cultist he meets falls victim to his large blade, no words are spoken by the shadow God. His eyes are ablaze with a fury that can be felt without even being seen, setting all the cultists on edge, without even knowing the danger they are in.
Finally he turns the corner and sees Cyrus. Sensing something is different about him, Nerezza finally says something. Pointing Dusk Reaver at him, the blade literally dripping the blood of Cyrus's fellow cultists. "You... you are the one."
Cyrus stops dead in his tracks. First looking at those glowing eyes, like the fires of some great abyss, and then slowly looking at the swirling mist of darkness from the dripping blade. His mouth is dry, and he feels rooted to the spot.
Nerezza walks forward, never breaking eye contact, and with each step his fury seeming to increase. When he finally reaches Cyrus, he stops... and touches the wall... pulling his hand back from the wall, he holds it out to show Cyrus something.
In his hand is what appears to be a small piece of black silk, except it is writhing around and moving. "This is your shadow, boy. With it, you are mine!" Nerezza glares at him and squeezes the shadow, forcing Cyrus to fall to the ground in agony as his whole body feels as if it is being crushed.
Cyrus screams, ripping and clawing at his body as if trying to free himself from the invisible, crushing grip. He feebly attempts to cry out to Mephestopheles, but can't force enough air from his lungs to form the words.
"You hurt her with the aid of your God... now you will end your life with the aid of another..." Nerezza throws Dusk Reaver into the floor of the airship, and to Cyrus's horror, his body begins crawling toward the blade even though he's telling it with all his willpower to stop.
Nerezza calls out, "Mephistopheles! You are next, you worthless bastard! You should hace known better than to harm a child of the shadows... you should have known what I would do..."
Cyrus, his body in excruciating pain already from broken and cracked ribs, and having no control over his muscles as they crawl toward their doom... Starts to laugh.
Horrific fear and madness utterly overtake him. His cackling, his cursing of the gods and his screams of agony can be heard throughout the ship... reverberating to every inch of the vessel. They only serve to magnify the immediate, devouring silence that follows.