EVENT: Heartless Swarm

[fatedhearts]

Things have been fairly peaceful for a while now as everyone has settled into their current lives on this new world. But one day towards late summer, that all comes to an end.

One of the portals in the sky suddenly opens again, an odd glowing light surrounding it as it ejects creature after creature. Then it closes, followed by another glowing portal elsewhere in the sky emitting the same creatures. Small and black, mostly, with odd antennae and glowing eyes. Some here will know them. The Heartless, creatures of the darkness who seek hearts. Those they attack, if they give in to the darkness in their hearts, will become Heartless themselves.

Where is a Keybearer when we need one?!

OOC INFO

Heartless can be encountered anywhere! They're pouring into Edge, the Midgar ruins, Kalm, Wutai, and everywhere else. Balamb Garden won't be spared, but if they're able to seal everything off in time and take flight, they may be safe from the majority of the creatures and be a safehouse for anyone desperate to escape them.

Anyone familiar with Heartless is encouraged to try to defeat them (or control them, if they're lucky enough to possess that ability). But they may find something else will push back if they try. Did someone deliberately send the Heartless through the portals? Who, and why? Does someone on the other side of those portals know what's happening here? And why are the portals glowing when they open? Is there any important significance in that?

(And yes, this is a very significant event that will have a deep bearing on the overall plot!)

Before anyone asks, having your character become a Heartless is probably not a good idea, given that it would be very difficult to get them back to their normal selves at this point in the game. But we welcome intense situations of Heartless trying their hardest to claim hearts before they're stopped!

The event is scheduled to run through August 10th, but backdating and backtagging is encouraged for as long as everyone wants! Post toplevels to this post or create new posts!

Comments

Xigbar | OTA

[as_if_attitude]

Well wasn't this interesting? Xigbar sat atop a bit of crumbling wall in the ruins. Just out of reach of the Heartless. He kept his arrow guns handy, picking one off every now and again, just because it amused him. He wondered who would show up to fight them.

Sure, if no one did stop them this world would go under. With him not having an easy way off, maybe that should have bothered him.

"Heh. As if," he said, not caring if someone heard and thought him crazy. It might lead to things getting interesting. Like someone too busy poking at him to miss the Heartless creeping up on them from behind.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth flew down from above, loose feathers floating ahead of him to the ruined building and the ground. Someone Xigbar likely had heard of at the very least, given they both hailed from the same place in the past and Sephiroth had been a renowned hero across worlds ... at least until whatever had happened that had sent him into seclusion and had caused him to emerge as a skilled user of dark magic. Xemnas had even tried to get Sephiroth to ally with the Organization at one time, perhaps mistaking him for a Nobody. But for whatever reason, Sephiroth had refused.

He clearly seemed to be trying to command the Heartless now, ordering them to leave. Some did, but others resisted. Puzzled and angry by the unusual failure, he went at those Heartless with his sword. They snapped at him, but they didn't stand a chance.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[as_if_attitude]

"Wow, shame you didn't have an alliance or something, huh?" he called, seeing the trouble Sephiroth was having. "And now all you've got to help you, is well... nobody." He smirked. And if he distracted the other... Well that could be fin to watch too.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth grunted as he cut down the Heartless. “Do you have an alliance?” he countered, not looking away from his task.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[as_if_attitude]

"I could be open to one, depending on the offer, if that's what you're asking. But if you're asking if I'm gonna do this out of the goodness of my heart..." he laughed. "As if."

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

“I’d already determined you weren’t the altruistic type,” Sephiroth replied with dripping sarcasm. “I’m managing.” He really didn’t trust someone like Xigbar. He cut down more Heartless all at once with his sword, not batting an eye.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[as_if_attitude]

"Managing like someone who is hitting a late night rush with a full crew of underaged new hires." he said with a laugh.

Look, he had to be random to keep people off balance sometimes. It was good for them. Well, maybe not. But the confusion sure was amusing. And that was good for him. Which was all that mattered.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth flicked a wing, determined not to be childishly baited. "Do you intend to just sit back and watch whatever show comes up in front of you?" Xigbar certainly didn't seem inclined to do anything, and even though Sephiroth didn't trust his help, he found the sitting back and watching irritating. All that was missing was some popcorn.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[as_if_attitude]

He shot one of the Heartless with his arrow gun, smirking.

"I intend to do whatever is most amusing. You want help... make it worth my time."

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

"And even if I figured that out, you still might betray me in the middle of helping if that seemed the most amusing thing," Sephiroth grunted.

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[as_if_attitude]

"Of course," he said with a grin. "Looks like he can be taught. So you have to figure out how to keep me amused without betrayal being more amusing. Truth to tell I am an easy enough guy to figure out," he lied with a laugh. "So which is going to eat at you more? Entertaining me or... well... them?"

Re: Xigbar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

“I have better things to do than figuring out how to keep a member of Organization XIII helping me,” he said.

Lilo | Lilo And Stitch | OTA - Log or Network

[andstitch]

"Whoa! Neat!" Lilo said, watching a portal open. Then she watched the Heartless come out.

"Cool! Darkness zombies! I wonder what happens if one of them bites me!" She pulled out her camera like device to take video to make a monster movie later. She didn't know she was streaming.

Someone... should probably save her.

Sora | OTA

[sora_under_the_clouds]

Sora was taking a walk, exploring. He was trying to practice seeing the best in things, trying to smile like Tenka would be doing if he was here.

And then he saw the Heartless.

Again.

He drew his two part Keyblade, fighting panic. Again... He had to do this again... But without the others this time. Could... could he do it? Sure these were little ones... but what if there was another big one?

He had to try.

Half his Keyblade in each hand, he lunged in, fighting to protect anyone they might encounter, to protect this world... and to fight his own demons once again.

Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[4_lumps_of_thread]

The four teenagers had been out exploring this new place that they had found themselves. They had been talking heatedly, but no one would have heard it because it was all in their mental link. Other than Briar reaching out to tweak a nose, or Daja rolling her eyes.

But then Tris' head jerked up. The others turned to look, wincing from the flash of magic they all saw the glowing portals open up. And then the Heartless began to come out.

Sandry paled. "No..." she whispered. "No... not again.

Daja grabbed her arm. "Panic later, focus now. You're not alone, but we need to work together. You're the only one of us who has fought this stuff before. We need you."

"She's right, Duchess," Briar said. "How do we fight these belbun?"

Sandry, shaking badly took a deep breath. "I had to make a net... we don't have time to spin the Darkness..."

"So we'll spin something else!" Tris snapped, fingers moving quickly to undo one of the small braids beside her face. "You three work on that, I'll buy us time." Lightning danced over her half unwoven braid and across her fingertips.

They clearly were going to try to fight... somehow. But there wasn't a Keyblade among them...

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

As the Heartless swarmed, a winged figure descended from the sky, three blue wings spread wide. He stabbed several Heartless with his long sword as he came down, and they vanished with shrieks. But there were still plenty more.

He straightened, looking over his shoulder. "Are all of you alright?"

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"We'll be fine," Briar said, "but Sandry says to be careful, the unmagic can cling to your weapon."

The lightning shot from Tris's fingers into a cluster of Heartless. "Fight and talk at the same time!" she snapped, more lightning already gathering around her hand. She shot out at another cluster, more gathering even as she expended it. "If I have to flood this place, none of us are going to be happy."

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

"Un-magic?" Sephiroth repeated with a raised eyebrow.

He sliced his sword to the right through a group of Heartless without batting an eye.

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[4_lumps_of_thread]

Sandry swallowed hard and grabbed at something worn under the high neckline of her dress. She took a deep shuddering breath and then explained. "Unmagic... My student and I tracked down and caught assassins who were using it..." She shuddered. "It clings, Winding Circle had to spend a very long time developing oils that could clean it from a surface, or from a person. It clings and eats into you until you are more unmagic than person..." She swallowed hard. "Between that and the dragon salt... everything that made them them... was gone..." she whispered. "Their hearts their bodies, nearly their minds. I had to..."

Briar put an arm around her as Tris zapped a few others.

"Moral of the story," Daja said, "Fight without touching it, and without letting it touch anything you want to keep. I don't know what Lark and Crane had to do to make the stuff to help clean the infection..." She grabbed up a stone and it started heating to red hot in her hand. "I only know Frostpine's part. So we need to destroy these things before they can spread."

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

"Are you calling these creatures unmagic? They are Heartless in my world." Sephiroth attacked several more. "Normally I can control them, but they are not listening to me here." And then he paused as he absorbed the rest of what was said. "And someone has made a cure for being attacked by them?" Such a thing would be invaluable.

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[4_lumps_of_thread]

Well yes she had but excuse Sandry if she fixated on something else... "YOU USE THESE THINGS?!" she asked, horrified.

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

"I control them to leave people alone," he said, flicking a wing. "I do not use them for evil."

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"Using them at all is dangerous without the right cleansing oils!" she said. She looked to the others. "We have to stop them before they devour him!"

"Sure," Daja said. "But not all of us can throw lightning. Open to ideas."

Briar flipped a seed at one, sending green magic into it so it grew into a throny vine that... the Hearless passed right through. "With Daj on this one! We could use a plan before Copper Curls runs herself out of braids."

"I don't know!" Sandry wailed. "We don't have the time or the oils to weave another net to catch them!"

"Net... huh?" Daja said. "Okay, got it." she switched to mental speech. Tris gave her a sharp look at one time, but then they all nodded.

Sandry pulled a hank of spun yarn from her pocket and threw it in the air, it broke into strings and started weaving itself into an open net, Briar threw a few seeds at the mid air net and they grw ingot climbing vines that wove themselves into the pattern.

Once they had a large enough net, Daja called "anyone who doesn't want to get burned stay very very still!"

Sandry dropped the net downwards as the plants on the vine all superheated to the point they made the air waver. Tris, sweating, untied the rest of the small braid on the side of her head and the net dropped neatly so that each person was perfectly framed in one of the holes - so long as they had all frozen when told to, and the net dropped on the Heartless. As soon as it hit the ground the whole thing came alive with lightning, doing more damage than Tris' small bolts had been managing.

"Remind me why we seperated out our powers again?" Daja asked, panting a bit herself, leaning on her staff with one hand, her other hand absently petting the metal over the back of the first hand.

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[3wingedangel]

Cleansing oils? Well, that was something no one used in any world he had been to. But this was hardly the time to talk about it.

He was skeptical of the net going over his wings safely and drew them tightly against his body.

He smirked as many Heartless were attacked at once by the net. “Creative,” he praised.

Re: Sandry, Daja, Tris, Briar | OTA

[4_lumps_of_thread]

"We... We still work well together you know..." Sandry said, voice still a bit shaky.

"Yeah, guess we do, duchess, got an idea to take out the rest?"

"What about a sheet?" Daja suggested.

Sandry nodded. "A tighter weave. Tris?"

"I'll channel through you, weave it," she said shortly.

Sandry nodded and a cloud thickened and darkened as it slowly grew downwards, lighting flashing brightly within it. Sandry and Tris were both sweating a bit. Whatever they were building this time, it was big.