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>>29016964
“Shambler.” Irren's tone is flat and unhappy. “There is no chance of this being an accident. Dimensional Shamblers aren't stupid, and they know what wards mean even if they can ignore them.”

“Ohhh, shiiit.” Rechert goes pale and holsters his gun. Viss follows suit, seeing what he does. “We can't hurt it with mundane weapons, Anne. It's invulnerable to them. All of them.”

“Well, that pretty much leaves us with one option then, doesn't it....” you reply, your heart speeding up as you prepare for your first real combat.

Jakob opens his mouth and gives a garbled hiss sliding from the wall to the floor, row upon row upon row of silvery teeth gleaming in the strange light. Holmes scrambles a little closer to it along the wall, hanging by one massive claw and both legs. A meaty sucking sound and the scrape of bone on bone precedes the emergence of a three foot long blade of metallic bone from his other claw, and the Phantom's weird, mouthless face shifts, the suggestion of a gaping jaw under the sheath of alien flesh.

“Where do you want me, Firefly?” Viss asks, her eyes bright and eager.

Rechert puts his PDA away shaking his head. “No answer yet. But he can contact Viss – er, Watcher in her Tager form – she can hear radio waves.” There is no fear in him now, no hesitation. Any hint of concern for his safety is gone, submerged in the cool temper of a Shadow. “When you change, all hell is going to break loose, especially near the beds and carts, Firefly,” he reminds you.

>Orders?

>>29017018
I'd rather not risk a fire and suffocation besides the hounds and this thing in the room. So if we transform, we need to engage this thing in melee and far away from anything flammable.

Will the wards be safe if we transform?

We can't hurt the shambler until it manifests properly, and even then Rechert is probably the only one who can permanently damage it. The rest of the team needs to distract the shambler until Lucky has a shot at it. Anne and whoever has the best defense and regeneration will tank it (use teamwork to pin it down far away from anything flammable), everyone else flank attacks to get Rechert the chance for the killing blow.

>>29017174
Also, what do we know about these things? Any particular weakness or tactic that has proven effective against them?

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Reminders:
Shadows can turn invisible, but have light armor and slow regeneration; ranged weapon are posionous darts, and their thorny arms and claws. Limit weapon is multi-attacking teleportation.

Echoes limit weapon is a mad frenzy; they're no threat to allies, but it is strictly melee. Bite and an electron heavy beam weapons are it. Great armor, impressive regen.

Phantoms have the arm blades, an arcane energy blast, and their disorienting sonic howl. Their limit weapon is a mass of lashign tentacles that attempt to consume the target. Great armor, impressive regen.

Whispers have energy globes which can blind the enemy, flight capability, and tentacle whips. The railgun will not be useful. Deadly wing-razor limit weapon. low armor, low regen.

Mirage use a photon beam, their clawed shoulder whips, and their limit weapon is a set of illusionary mirror images. Good armor, good regen.

Efreets can breathe gouts of flame, their massive, rocky fists, the ura of intense heat around them, and their incredible strength. While Anne cannot use her limit weapon, she can perform a incredibly powerful slam attack. Incredible armor, incredible regen.

>>29017174
>>29017179
>Tagers, being supernatural creatures, can harm this thing - but only in Tager form.

>The wards are intact - the room is sealed from outside intrusion by supernatural entities and magic, but the wards will not interfere with any of your abilities. As Irren pointed out, the shambler can ignore wards, but it doesn't harm them.

>Widow mentioned she killed one by herself, but she's a veteran and outlasted two other murders. Slipt mentioned that they exist in multiple dimensions all the time, and that her own teleportation limit weapon was exceedingly effective. Fire, of course, annoys and harms almost everything, even extra-dimensional beings.

>>29017183
Addendum: Tagers are "environmentally sealed" and can maintain their life without air, under massive pressure, and are immune to naturally occuring extremes of tempurature. Echoes can hold their breath next to forever, Efreets are immune to any kind of heat, and Whispers sensory array includes radiowaves, infrared, and x-rays. All Tagers have a life-form scan ability, which may or may not reveal firther weaknesses but can definitely reveal health and well being as well as genetic traits.

>>29017174
>As long as Anne doesn't go out of her way to damage wards, she can avoid harming them. If it knocks her down or throws her at the circles, she could potentially damage them. she won't do it by accident on her own - she's too agile and she's no idiot.

>>29017236
So, Anne should be on the front lines considering her armor and regeneration. Our Echo and Phantom are on secondary tank duty, considering their armor and regen. Viss can use those energy globes to blind it (hopefully) and the Phantom dude can probably disorient it with its howl. Because it can teleport, our best bet is to slow it down and confuse the living shit out of it.

We can probably divide into three teams of two - one tank and one support, so this thing can't teleport behind us or flank us. Rechert's limit weapon is probably the most effective thing we can utilize against a shambler. For now, have him scan that thing.

Do we know how these things fight, or if they can summon reinforcements or something? Or do we have to wait for Mordecai to fill us in on that?

>>29017459
>You have no information on how they fight, or if they can summon reinforcements; neither Slipt nor Widow mentioned them calling on allies.

Barring additional input in the next 5 minutes, I write.

>>29017018
>Gather intel via Rechert and Viss; three groups of two, yourself and Jakob frontlining backed up by Irren and Holmes; disorient then assault.

“All transform.” The command is galvanizing, and the effect immediate. Viss becomes the glittering, strange insectoid Whisper, and immediately flies to the far side of the room away from the creature; Rechert becomes the strange, muscular Shadow and thick, hard thorns of bone and chitin slide out of his flesh along his arms, shoulders, and legs. He shimmers and vanishes from sight. Irren transforms, his appearance the most alien, and the faint flicker of his displacement field is only there for an instant as he activates it.

Even as the creature slowly stalks in place, moving through other realities as others walk down a hallway, you stand up and take two running steps and hop into the overturned cart. As you leap to the forefront you change, muscle and bone shattering and shifting, darkness exploding into beauty as your vision shifts back and forth between thermal effects and nightvision lit by your own body. ((Lucky, give me information on that thing. Watcher, see if you can give me an ETA and any weak points it may have, and back up Lucky. Try and get information from anyone on how these things fight. Fourth, you're my backup, Guts and Fangface back each other up. Guts and Watcher, disorient it first, then we hit it.))

[Con't.]

>>29017706
The silent acknowledgment feels good, feels right. You stand up tall, still looking up at the pillar of alien, shifting flesh and bone and organs. The creature's joints do not seem to follow any rhyme or reason, and actually change from movement to movement. You can see more and more of it as it approaches, thick, rugose hide becoming opaque, less of the internal flesh – pale and strangely twisted – and organs visible. Long talons extend from a multiplicity of fingers and the arms shift and twist unnaturally. It has a mouth filled with fangs, but no apparent jaw – only an open hole with teeth that seems to work and shift independent of each other.

Compared to what you've seen over the last day, this isn't really all that awful to look at, just threatening.

Watcher – Viss – contacts the entire murder, her inflection letting you know this. ((Dimensonal shamblers are intelligent, and usually they're not very aggressive. But a summoned one can be told to hunt down and kill a target and they will for some price. They're multidimensional, making them impossible to hurt with normal weapons. We can hurt it ourselves, and people who have fight it say that Shadow limit weapons and Vampire limit weapons do the worst to it. There's a Mirage that says displacement and projections aren't as effective on it and they can sometimes see invisible Shadows.))

Irren-as-Fourth speaks up. ((Anne, if it's an assassin, lets find out who it's after.))

((Fuck that, it's breakign and entering.)) Jakob-as-Fangface is clearly interested in one thing. Holmes-as-Phantom agrees with him.

[Con't.]

>>29017719
((Anne, I've scanned it, and we have about another minute before it is actually close enough to our dimension to hurt us. It definitely has some magical forces binding it too, it was definitely summoned and sent by someone.)) Rechert-as-Lucky was speaking only to you; the others were not privy to this information.

((Firefly....I'm 'hearing' some strange noise on some of the lower and higher bandwidths, sound and radio both. I think it's the Shambler.)) Watcher doesn't keep this from the others.

[] Try and communicate with it.
[] See who it moves towards first.
[] Don't let it get any closer, hit it with ranged weapons before it's fully formed.
[] Other: Write in.

>>29017728
> [x] See who it moves towards first.
> [x] Try and communicate with it.

Be on guard, though.

>>29017728
[X] Try and communicate with it.
[X] See who it moves towards first.

Bet it's us.

>>29017838
Or Yen and/or his roommate. Probably sent by those guys Rechert mentioned earlier, the guys tampering with divination magics.

>>29017796
>>29017838
[X] Try and communicate with it.
[X] See who it moves towards first.

((See if you can communicate with it at all Watcher. Give it a little room, people lets see who the lucky winner of one cross-dimensional-death-sentence is.)) You take a single step back, your increased frame giving you an easy five-foot stride.

((Ten on Firefly.)) Holmes' immediate response would make you roll your eyes, if you had them.

((I'll take that,)) responds Irren. The Mirage is already moving up to help cover you, his long tentacles waving threateningly. He does stand a good two yards off from you though.

((Ten says it's Viss.)) Jakob's comment is intriguing.

((How do you reason?))

Jakob's grin is way too predatory in Echo form. ((Jocks hate nerds.)) You can't really argue against that.

((Takes a nerd to summon one though. Maybe someone I spoiled the curve for....)) Her response would have gotten a grin, but you don't have a mouth either. ((No good, Firefly. I can hear it, but it seems to be just repeated litanies. I think the spell might be doing something with it. Mordecai radios that it's a dimensional Shambler, and that we're allowed to kill it with impunity for trespassing.))

[Con't.]

>>29017998
Jakob and Holmes start towards it but you snap at them, ((Steady! You get to kill it on my say so, not before.)) They immediately stop moving towards it, the Echo jumping to the ground and the Phantom still clinging to the wall like some kind of superhero for an ancient picture-book.

True to Rechert's prediction it solidifies, mid step, and that mid step makes the unpleasant lightshow vanish and also moves the creature forward. It is entirely solid, a pale grey-green hide of some rough leathery stuff, spurs and pock-marks and wrinkles covering it. The thing is taller than Towern was, easily twelve feet, but the arms and legs are completely nonsensically aligned and long or short. It reaches out for you, a handful of talons ready to close on your face.

>Order the assault+
[X] Flame Breath (Roll 3d30+13, one for each blast, Agility+Firearms)

OR

>Anne may make up to 3 attacks.
[] Flame Breath: 1d30+13 (Agility+Firearms)
[] Hit It: 1d30+13 (Agility+Close combat)
[] Grapple: 1d30+18 (Strength+Close Combat)
[] Hit It HARD: 1d30+13 (Agility+Close Combat – uses 2 Attacks, does massive damage.)

OR

[] Other: Write in.

Did you get the full Shadows of the Damned music OP?

Rolled 23, 4, 20 + 13 = 60

>>29018010
>>Order the assault+
> [X] Flame Breath (Roll 3d30+13, one for each blast, Agility+Firearms)

[x] Grapple: 1d30+18 (Strength+Close Combat)
[x] Hit It HARD: 1d30+13 (Agility+Close Combat – uses 2 Attacks, does massive damage.)

Rolled 7, 23 + 18 = 48

>>29018041
Shit forgot my roll

>>29018023
>I might have done so.

>>29018041
Would grappling even work against these things if they're capable of teleporting?

>>29018084
>Unknown if the can teleport.

>>29018041
>>29018029
Need a tiebreaker.

Rolled 1

>>29018107
> 1 for flame breath
> 2 for beating the shit out of it.
And order the assault.

>>29018139
>>29018041 + >>29018066
>>29018029

Order the assault+
[X] Flame Breath (Roll 3d30+13, one for each blast, Agility+Firearms)
>36, 17, 33 Burn, bastard, burn.

Follow Up:
[X] Grapple: 1d30+18 (Strength+Close Combat)
[X] Hit It HARD: 1d30+13 (Agility+Close Combat – uses 2 Attacks, does massive damage.)
>25 Hit it Hard, 41 Grapple

A pair of simple circles filled with light open above the maw, pale white glow edged in deep red that sinks into the grey-green hide, like eyespots, more than eyes. The creature can see you – you can feel it looking at you like you felt the symbiont looking at you during the ritual. That huge claw starts to close over your face when you give the order. ((Burn it.))

A blinding flash of light erupts in front of is, as an earsplitting howl echoes through the room. The claws close partially, hesitate, the creature wavering like a heat haze....and then blazing energies erupt throughout the room.

The hissing sizzle of magical energies, the sharp cracking of photon beams and electricity, and the soft rush of liquid flame drowns out the soft 'phuts' of darts stabbing deep into the dimensional stalker's hide. The creature recoils, the arm drawing back in at least two places, while the other one swings wide, actually growing in length and size as though pulling mass from the main body. Dark ichor spurts from the gouges and tears in its hide, the flesh rippling and shifting as it tries to close over gaping wounds like something independent of the shambler itself; in other places the hide parts and squirms as liquid fire sloughs off of it, the flesh and bone within blistering and steaming. You step closer, pouring flame over the creature, when it swings at you.

[Con't.]

>>29018292
Clasping your massive claws of stone and flame together, you knock its arm aside, not quite managing the bone shattering blow you had hoped for. Annoyed, you step in and grab the creature, your obsidian fingers gouging through the hide and setting it aflame where you touch it. You bring it in close, the creature surprisingly light for all its bulk.

The others close in as well, the Echo tearing massive chunks of hideous flesh from its body, the Mirage's tentacles lashing out and leaving huge gouges far from where they actually touch the beast. The Phantom moves with incredible speed, razor sharp blades carving slices from out of its body. You squeeze, hard, and feel bones and organs shift, crack, and reform. The creature's good arm wraps around your back, talons sliding along your obsidian flesh and chipping, cracking it, leaving rivulets of fire even as the creature burns in your grasp. It's hurting you, but you have the upper hand – and numbers. That mouth is awfully close to your head however....and its head and mouth getting larger?

[] Tear it apart. (2d30+18, Grapple+Maim)
[] Crush it harder. (1d30+18, Grapple)
[] Hold it still for the others (1d30+13, Pin)
[] Other: Write in.

Rolled 25, 18 + 18 = 61

[x] Tear it apart. (2d30+18, Grapple+Maim)

Rolled 28, 1 + 18 = 47

>>29018308
[XXXX] Tear it apart!
Fuck this shit!

Rolled 12, 22 + 18 = 52

>>29018308
> [x] Tear it apart. (2d30+18, Grapple+Maim)
Seriously, though, be careful that that thing doesn't take a bite.
Crap, sorry about the previous roll.

>>29018389
>No worries, I'll take these. This time....

>>29018365
>>29018387
>>29018389
[X] Tear it apart. (2d30+18, Grapple+Maim)
>Grapple: 43, 46, 30
>Maim: 36, 19, 40

You're certain you're not hallucinating – your senses in this form are far wider ranging and far more acute than you'd like in this particular case. Its mouth and head are actually expanding, or perhaps becoming their normal size, or perhaps you are shrinking.

Fuck that.

You squeeze even harder, feeling flesh give and bones snap inside its shoulder and along its back; The creature starts to struggle, rather than try to bite you, and you PULL. Seeing your efforts, A pair of hook tipped tentacles swing under the other arm and sink into it's back, while the Echo clamps down on the arm extending from the shoulder you're pulling at. The creature seems to contract, to pull itself together, the flesh itself becoming tougher, denser. But when the Phantom and the Shadow leap onto its back, clinging, and help with blades and barbed arms....

[Con't]

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>>29018599
It cracks open like an egg, multicolored organs hanging in thick glowing ropes as you and Jakob tear arm, shoulder and head away from the rest of the torso as the others hold it fast. Multicolored steam rises as some of the organs rupture, and ichor explodes everywhere in gouts that paint the ceiling, the walls, and the floor, not to mention you and your friends. The Phantom and the Shadow leap off of it, and the Echo shakes the arm like a dog with a bone. The monstrous thing's mouth works and the eyes slowly dim, the regenerative powers it has still trying to keep the separated body parts alive. Not even a nightmare could survive this sort of damage, however, and the lights of organs and eyes alike fade into dimness, then wink out in bits and pieces.

The Echo and Phantom roar and howl their victory, and the mental exultation of the murder – your murder – is deafening in your minds. In all nearby minds, you suspect; they're not being very circumspect in their joy at a successful kill. You push over the still standing legs and partial torso, which collapses before you, dead.

((Firefly-)) Viss starts to say....but she's wrong. That's not who you are.

((Hestia.))

Silence reigns over the mind-web of the Tagers of the Eldritch Society Enclave in Detroit.

((I am Hestia.))

A second roar of triumph and joy erupts among your murder, the Murder of the World, and you lift burning hands before you, looking at the hands that will destroy the Chrysalis Corporation and destroy the Children of Chaos for certain.

TO BE CONTINUED....

>>29018617
Man we're badass.

>>29018630
You had doubts? You couldn't have done it alone though - it was starting to win that last contest.

>>29018643
It was about to chomp our head off, wasn't it. Luckily we had our team with us.

Thanks for running. Great fun as always, and see you next time.

>>29018675
Yes. And while Anne would have survived having half her head bitten off, it would have made it difficult to run the fight without half of her brain. luckily the other half is in another dimension.

It would have been interesting to see how her symbiont would have dealt with her being unconscious....

Rolled 7, 10 + 18 = 35

>>29018617

YES! VICTORY!

Next one we kick apart. Like George Washington!

For your amusement:
1st round:
One gossamer bomb, three gouts of flame, a howl and an arcane blast, two fathom beams, three photon blasts.
Anne takes 8 vitality damage out of 30 at it grabs and tears at her.
Round 2: Anne's squeeze does massive damage, but her attempt to tear it apart does minor damage. With two barbed tentacles, a frenzied bite from the Echo, and two sword cuts, plus the tearing from the Shadow, it loses all it's vitality and a fifth more than that.
If it had survived, Anne's head would have taken 20 damage requiring a tenacity test at a very high DC to remain conscious. Failure and her symbiont would have taken over....

>>29018617
Ehhhh... Hestia? I preferred Firefly to that. The Murder of the World makes me chuckle, though.

Short thread, too bad. But at least we resolved this threat.

>>29018753
As an example, that first round would have killed anyone in power armor, or a half dozen dohanoids outside the rare types (of which two would still have died).

Anne's murder has every right to be proud of themselves.

>>29018756
Hestia actually was voted in from a previous thread. Also, it does suit her character. Hearth goddess, protector of families, and fire goddess....

The murder of the World reflects that your murder's first kill was an extradimensional monster, rather than Dhohanoids.

Of course, it might be an omen. But who believes in those, right?

>>29018756
Yeah, but we're still unsure of whether the hounds are after us or not. And whatever summoned this thing is apparently after our pack - whether it's the guys Yen and his roommate got the stuff from or someone else... Things are getting complicated.

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With that, enjoy the Solstice's end, have good holidays.

>>29018863
Thanks, you too. All the best.

I dont get it. When do the furries and the rape machines come in?