Mykur: The thorn imperium

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Cain looked at the hand with which he’d saluted as Shikai dashed away. How many lives, how many deaths, in a single fingertip? And what for? To liberate whom? It was a struggle he’d spent the last 9 years comprehending. What happens to a tyrant when they’ve achieved everything they ever wanted? Do they combust? Do they sit back and enjoy their laurels? Maybe, do they try to pass on their good fortune?

For a man who’d killed, raped, demented millions, in hindsight Cain could see that all of it had been for the sole sake of vanity. What, now, did he elevate even his Generals to? What was the light they sought, if not simply a sun that would burn the decrepit thing they became to ash for the sole sake of relief? The reasons ever changing, the goal always power. What, then, was left besides to accumulate and destroy it all? Looking back at the Mistress standing amid a graveyard of Kelis, hearing the sirens and the cries of the innocent ringing in the night, Cain saw that the destruction of all this… power… was the best thing for Valucre.

He resolved himself then and there to destroy the most powerful beings on Valucre to save Valucre itself. And then they were all off toward the bay.
 

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As Shikai flitted along the rooftops in a game of cat-and-mouse with the Kelis, Joran City’s authorities took note. A good portion of the attache chasing the criminals split off to follow the ruckus caused by the dozen or so Kelis combating Shikai. The first one smacked through a building by the zombie General took out two-and-a-half apartments, nesting itself in a jagged pile of rubble atop a bed and two-ish corpses. Perhaps to the General’s dismay, it rose from the smolder after about four seconds. Now that the weakest of the Kelis had been dealt with, those that remained were of a hardier breed.

While the Kelis were a misunderstood and unattainable anomaly, the Joran City authorites were able to single Shikai out as an individual entity causing havoc and took after him. One chief in general, a skilled swordsman in his own right, was able to run vertically up a wall adjacent to Shikai and began pacing along the rooftops parallel to Shikai. Then, after three or four hops across rooftops, he began sloping in toward Shikai with his dominant hand settled upon the hilt of his sword.

On the fifth block he leapt and unsheathed his sword, aiming a diagonal slash across Shikai’s midsection as he slanted in from the right side.

[danzilla3 5018]

In between keeping ahead of the Keli clones and making sure he was still heading in the right direction, Shikai didn't notice the Chief until he was upon him. At the last instant, he turned and deflected the blow. One of the clones took advantage of the momentary pause and lunged at the Zombie. Shikai slipped between the things legs and popped up behind it. He shredded its back with his gauntlets, severing the spine, before taking off again. The swordsman was right on his heels.

"Friggin interlopers," he grumbled, "How am I the biggest threat here?!"

Didn't matter. He pressed himself harder, and a few seconds later he could see the glass door of the morgue.

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The lesser officers of Joran city were visibly slowed and even stopped by the Kelis. Keli himself was a well known figure in the city formerly known as the Armory, but a thousand-strong swarm of them was unprecedented to say the least. Although all the Kelis were of different size the greater authorities, though, basically Juran's equivalent of the old Tia's Problem Solvers, were able to chop through all the bionic bastards like butter. The samurai in question who was approaching Shikai shoulder-plowed into one giant Keli and its body burst into an array of cables and circuits in the night.

Steez the samurai extended his hand into the fray of wires and strangely, unnaturally, a spike of steel composed of the broken Keli congealed around his extended arm. With this five foot spear the samurai leapt in the air— flying over the street far below between their buildings— and aimed a stab at Shikai's right shoulder.

Meanwhile Cain and the others sped toward the shore. Shikai had been the first thing the Kelis and police saw, so most of them were after those bodies. The Dead agents and their new fleet would be safe to escape into the 

"You owe me!" yelled Black over the whipping wind.

"Owe you, I own you." grinned Cain as he ran, not even looking at the Captain.

There was odd, creepy silence between them as their footsteps pounded the pavement with a dozen or so of the Black Fleet alongside them. Black knew what it meant, sliding a hand into his pocket.

On 5/25/2019 at 10:55 PM, amenities said:

Cain's words had not been spoken harshly; just as an undertone to the "great" Keli's words; but Black's regularly pale visage appeared even more paper-white than ever. Cain's hand slid into his pocket in that moment, slipping a black piece of metal out.

"You bastard," said Black.

"Hey, I just cashed you out on a lot of good stuff here!"

"That's my dad's. Give it back."

Now they broke out into the more dispersed city blocks nearing the shore, the ships that would take them to their escape waiting unmoored up ahead. Nobody was visibly chasing them, so they slowed to a brisk walk.

"No," responded Cain as he took a breath of the salty sea air, his oceanic eyes gazing out over the black horizon. All of his plans always came to fruition, and he always acted as if he knew they would. He also knew, though, that something blacker than the Black Fleet was on his horizon. What he couldn't tell yet, but it would tear away a piece of him. He needed all he could get, and fast.

"Not unless you squash our silly beef and come to work for me again."

[danzilla3 5018]

"You again?!"

Shikai turned just in time to see the Samurai falling towards him, spear aimed for his shoulder. Instead of trying to dodge or block the thrust, he simply allowed it to pass through him with minimal resistance. Using the muscles in his now impaled shoulder, he held the makeshift weapon in place, and then grabbed it with his left hand. The Zombie pivoted, and turned so that he would drag the other man along with him. With his weapon wrapped around his arm, it seemed unlikely he would be able to free himself in time.

"Get the door for me!"

The Zombie slammed the Samurai through the plate glass of the morgue entrance, opening a way forward. He didn't wait to see how long it took his opponent to get back up. He simply made for the back where the corpses were kept.

[Zashiii 4331]

The Mistress was lingering behind, standing among the smoldering pieces of the building. The rest of them were already outside, and now that the simmering bodies had begun to cool it was like a graveyard. Nestled into the rubble nearby, if she was looking, she would see an amulet. It was dulled from ages in the dirt, almost as if it had somehow always been part of this fresh rubble. 

An amulet? Whatever this little trinket is, the white-haired woman known as the Mistress reached for the trivial thing. "Coming!" she called out to Cain seeing that the man seemed to be a bit impatient nowadays. "On my way!" Then she was trailing after the other members of their little party.

When Shikai went on another direction, she gave the man her blessings hoping he would come back safe. Of course, she never believed in hope so she took matters in her own hands. A tiny wisp of light escaped her outstretched palm which lingered a bit in front of her before winking out. Or did it?

"Bring him back," she said to no one in particular. Satisfied, she joined the others and soon they were off the bay with all the stolen goods.

 

[amenities 3775]

@danzilla3 The three-layered glass of the morgue's door shattered as Steez was thrown through, the consequent force knocking the breath out of him and burying some thick shards of glass in his back. Still though, after a skid on his shoulder, he landed in the crouching position with his spear intact. From the black space leading into the morgue before him rocketed the spear for the General's midsection. Immediately following the first thrust was his white form emerging from the abyss, sword swinging vertically downward in an attempt to cut Shikai in half right after the spear hit him.

As soon as the Mistress touched the amulet, she would feel a welling up of magic, a swelling of archaic natural force that tingled her fingers and convalesced into a beautiful and intimate connection with... nothing. After giving the Dead lady a glimpse of something greater, the facets of the face carved on its surface shifting perhaps ever so slightly, it shut her out entirely. By now, authorities had gathered around Keli's blown out estate and uncovered no more Kelis, for they all seemed to have scattered across the city, but a label in the bar behind the wall Shikai destroyed. The label was a steel plate engraved into the facility's main support stanchion that read: "Facility No.13." From the outside looking in, this was a staggering situation that would require further study when the citizens were safe from danger.

This part of the Dead, meanwhile, appeared to have made their clean getaway. The Black Fleet in front of them, the goods tucked into the Mistress's confines, Shikai with his blade, Cain's feet tapped along the dock coming up to their vessel. Without a swarm of Kelis following them, they were mostly off the hook.

"Stop," came the voice from behind them.

Turning, Cain saw the firing squad lined up on the port side of the dock as the others boarded Black's sleek getaway vehicle. He looked back. He could still hear the cries of the innocent, sirens wailing in the night. It sounded like Shikai was still at large. Breathing deeply through his nostrils, he reached into his bag and grabbed a Fauxton receiver.

"Take this with you to the main fleet," he said, handing the device to the Mistress. She would know what it was. "They should be out there in the dark somewhere. Make sure you elevate it so we have a good line of view."

"I said stop or we'll shoot!" came a voice from the dark lineup of a dozen. "Who are you!?"

[Zashiii 4331]

As soon as the Mistress touched the amulet, she would feel a welling up of magic, a swelling of archaic natural force that tingled her fingers and convalesced into a beautiful and intimate connection with... nothing. After giving the Dead lady a glimpse of something greater, the facets of the face carved on its surface shifting perhaps ever so slightly, it shut her out entirely.

'What a weird trinket!" she spoke out loud as she kept the trinket in her pocket. Whatever this thing is, she would need to take it back for 'research purposes.' Moving onto the docks was a rather uneventful trip but a necessary one. Her ears perked up as Cain demanded all her attention. Still, she had sent her homunculus pet ahead of her into the ship where it will deposit all the stolen goods they had recently acquired.

"Hm?" she cocked her head in curiosity as she listened to the man. "I see," she replied when Cain is done talking. Receiving the receiver from the man, she nodded her assent. "Will do."

But their conversation was cut short by the appearance of the newcomer's voice. The Mistress shrugged at Cain before stepping back into a darker area where the shadows would claim her and her body leaving no trace of her after a moment.

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With all the goods cached and the attache on its way back to the main fleet, Cain faced the dozen guards with magitech rifles aimed at him. He could tell there were three different weapons being used by the differing resolutions of dock lights reflecting back at him through their scope lenses. Even from such a short range, he could tell they weren't taking any chances. Water lapped against the rafters upon which the dock floated in the wake of the small vessel's departure. Cain's body, consumed by shadow, stood on the white platform with the dim lights in his backdrop.

"I said who are you!?"

With the salted winds lashing at his back, the reaper turned his face up to meet his next victims.

"Fire, fire, fire!" In panic the ammunition spilled from their weapons as the skulled creature bound toward them. Bullets pelted his skin, chipped pieces off of his mask, but it didn't slow Cain's undead Shadow at all. As he breeched a diameter of three meters, most of the squadron switched to burst or full auto, chopping away at the lithe humanoid monster's body to no avail. Blood spewed from the black form, but its structure remained intact no matter what they put into it. This, the typically unmatched doom squad's last sight, would be horror incarnate.

Four men were kneeling in the front row, nearly blinded by their muzzle flash in the darkness. With a single backhand, one of their heads were crushed and the other three were bowled to the side. Making a knife hand, the Shadow blew through a Kevlar-coated midsection and swung the impaled figure at his accomplices like a madman. Their death knells, like pigs in a slaughterhouse, echoed through the coastal air, alerting the larger Joran authorities to a gruesome scene carving inland from the docks.

[danzilla3 5018]

Shikai heard the spear whistling through the air, and planted his feet in preparation for what would follow. The weapon tore through his midsection, the Zombie turning his body so that the weapon would miss his spine as it exited his body. Crouching down to the ground, he sprang forward with the full strength of his legs and arms. He caught the samurai in midair, claws pointed towards his midsection. The Zombie's superior momentum would carry both men further into the morgue, and Shikai rolled away when the two hit the ground. 

Looking up, he saw that he had finally reached his goal, and was now among the corpses housed in the morgue. Getting to his feet with a bit of effort, he weaved a few hand signs and then bit the neck of the first one. The body convulsed and contorted before sitting up and looking vacantly at the Dead General.

"Go! Make more friends! I need to finish things up."

The walking corpse wordlessly obeyed, and Shikai checked the explosive tags he kept in a pouch on his belt before turning his attention back the way he had come. Somehow he doubted the Samurai was finished, and he would need to take care of him before he would be free to enact the next step of his plan.

[Zashiii 4331]

With the Fauxton receiver in tow, the woman known as the Dead Mistress moved within the world of shadows. Silent and invisible, her cloaked figure crept from one shade to another at a rather average speed. There really isn't much to describe there as it was mostly similar to someone wearing a full black catsuit and going from one shaded cover to another in an effort to keep that person's presence mostly undetected.

It did not take long for her to reach her destination. The Dead's ship where she'll meet up with the other members was a sight to behold. Such a marvel to gaze at a massive floating can of metal. But she had faith that such  metallic construction could carry here far away into safety.

Meanwhile, her tiny invisible observer has finally reached Shikai where it would stick to the man, unnoticed and unseen. The woman can't help it. If Shikai would be dying today, she should at least record his final moments.

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Steez was just shocked enough by his spear ripping through the zombie's midsection to little avail, just thrown off enough by his following sword strike missing, that the monster was able to launch into him and lodge its claws into his gut. Tumbling into the black shadows of the facility, he had barely taken time to comprehend what building they had fought their way into. It was only when his eyes adjusted to the dark some that he began to see the multiple figures rising from gurneys and looking to him, their feet touching the cold floor as they came toward him.

"Where are you, creep!?" he yelled at the creatures, sparking his personal torch. In the illumination he saw perhaps a dozen of them already standing, and back near the far wall was the one he had chased here. "Who are you!? What's with the Kelis!?"

Keli was a known figure throughout Joran, so the city being overrun by a thousand figures bearing his semblance came as somewhat of a shock. He had always been known to dabble in weird artistic trends, but an army of himself? Shikai, standing there with his guts torn open from Steez's spear, was the last trace of a culprit the authorities could find besides the swarming Kelis, so Steez was going to get as much as he could out of him.

The spear of a Keli's circuits fell from Steez's arm to the ground as the morgue zombies grew nearer. He severed heads and punched out entire hearts, but ultimately he was being driven back toward the entrance if only to save his life. As Steez backed away with his torch, a squad of zombies separating him from the General, the radio on his waistband blared a cry for help.

"We need backup---z$!zt!---Help! By the-whitenoise-bay, it's a slaughter!"

"Shikai," came a crystalline psychic voice through the encrypted black comms pads the Dead use to communicate, "I left the Shadow for you with a Fauxton at the bay. If you can reach him, we can evacuate you."

Meanwhile the Mistress made her way by speedboat to the massive can that was the Black Flagship. Surrounding it were perhaps a hundred other vessels varying in size from other fast crafts like the one she road in on to tugs and mast ships like you'd expect a pirate to ride. Born on the front of the Black Flagship was a dark, opalescent lion's head. The colors warping across its surface made its shape almost impossible to discern in the nighttime and nearly blindingly multicolored and multifaceted during the daytime, rendering the Flagship a difficult-to-comprehend vessel from the front. Two massive spools of cable were mounted on the front of the ship, reeling through different pulley mechanisms and exiting the ship's aft to end in two great anchors. This allowed the ship both to maneuver and tow in almost any capacity. Now these retracted, and a growing sound signaled the ship's movement. Instead of a boiling engine or revving gears, though, the cries of oceanic mammals raised its utterance above the seas. The Black Fleet strode away on the waves to the symphonic sounds of dolphins and whales, the Fauxton mounted on one of the Flagship's highest masts. It would be an hour or two before the receiver was no longer visible over the horizon, and at that point both Cain's Shadow and Shikai would have to find their own ways home.

When Shikai did find the Shadow, he would first emerge on a still warm field of dead bodies stretching up to and into the water. Men were draped over ships, floating in the water, resting on the railings, lying on the beach. It would be a feast for sharks. It would appear there was nobody alive to meet him, friend or foe; the bodies slumped over their own rifles and blades— other bodies— but pushing out of a cocoon of corpses came the jagged skull of the man himself. His body was covered in blood, his mask chipped and oozing with his own blood.

"Let's go," it said casually. Its back had no blood, not a single scratch on it, and from a black pouch there the Shadow withdrew a Fauxton receiver.

[danzilla3 5018]

Steez probably didn't notice, in his state of near-panic, that none of the reanimated dead were actually attacking him. A whistle from Shikai stopped the oncoming horde in their tracks about six feet from the Samurai. The Zombie handed a stack of explosive tags to one of his new Friends, and patted it on the back. Wordlessly, the minion attached a few tags to itself before it went about the task of sticking the tags onto the others. Shikai stepped out from among the crowd to address Steez.

"You've got guts kid!" he grinned, "But you've got it all wrong. I ain't working for Keli, me and him are enemies! Fucker made a whole buncha android copies of himself to make his own little narcissistic army."

Pausing for a second, the General showed the holomap of Keli's holdings around the city to the horde of Friends. The group began to disperse in silence, small groups of each heading for different places around the city.

"Here's the deal. I'm about to give Keli a big ol' steel-toed boot to the nutsack. That should take some of the pressure off you guys and let you regroup and get your civilians to safety. You can take this opportunity to save your city... or you can keep coming after me. It won't solve anything, and I'll probably have to kill ya, but it's an option. I'll leave you to think about it."

Unless Steez decided to stop him, Shikai would head towards the bay. Duly impressed by the carnage that Shadow had left in his wake, he would nod as it retrieved its reciever.

"Ready when you are!"

[Zashiii 4331]

Inside the Dead's ship, the white-haired woman (once known as the Mistress but gods by Linda linda now) can be seen chilling on a comfortable luxury chair she hauled down to the cargo bay. There was the ever present lighted cigar on her  hand and a wineglass on the other. Before her werer a couple of crewmates and laborers she 'borrowed' from the second mate to assist her in unloading the stolen auction items.

Aside from the occasional orders here and there, her workers were actually capable and never lacking in initiative. It took them a while but she had seperated the stolen goods in their respective containters, all secured for transport. She was pretty sure that Reginald would enjoy her delivery. Now that she has taken stock of her spoils, there were actually a lot. In fact, there were stuff she did not even notice were there. 

Half a dozen exalta weapons, each fitted in their own containers or sheathes. A dozen exalta black prisms. Half a dozen stopwatches from Valinde. Five ancient blades from the vampires of Talix-Engine. A box full of exalta prisms. Army shields of healing which are only looted from the chain golems of Ballard Bay. Pelt and furs skinned from Cobran alpha wolves. Rare healing berries from Vintel. Four baby chicks born from the ashes of Whispernight-touched phoenixes of the Cold Mountains, all sedated and prepared for bonding. A large flask containing purified spirits of Moon wood beasts, all prepared for binding to a new owner. A box of bloodstones. A set of elemental runestones. Nine rolls of Cerulo silk. A crate of Mokume-game ore, most likely smuggled from the Rising West. A box of Stryderian scales. And six vials of Godsblood. Eight powerful swords stolen from the Cavern of Blades.

When everyone is finished sorting it out, Linda Linda thanked her workers and paid them generously for their troubles. Left alone, she pulled out that amulet again and stared into it in hopes of learning more from the time. Once more the archaic natural forces within the amulet bonded with hers but only for a brief moment. This time however, it seemed she had made a breakthrough.

"The amulet of Cardinal Iniquities" she whispered, "Somehow it approves of me taking things that I want. Does it want me to indulge more on my desires to unlock more of its potential? What a weird object." Then she looked at one of the weapons taken from the Cavern of Blades. "Shishi would like that one. I'll have to reforge it later."

Taking a sip of alcohol from her wineglass, she set the amuelet on her necklace (which was a series of exalta black prisms looped together) and letting the latter hung low to snuggle just above her chest. Amidst the cloying cigar smoke, her eyes drifted to the shining orb of light projected the events still happening back in the city. Satisfied with a productive day, she decided to amuse herself with witnessing Shikai and Cain's finer moments.

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Zashiii

[amenities 3775]

Full Summary

Following hunches of a legendary sword, Cain, the Dead Mistress, and Shikai walk into a Joran City bar. There they confront an old associate of Cain’s named Black Neon who holds an unknown grudge against him. After doing some convincing, they get Black to assist them in obtaining the legendary blade.

Black is a pirate, a well-connected criminal in these parts. Using his knowledge of underground goings on, Black leads the group to an auction house holding a big bidding night. There are a few hot ticket items, but none of them are exactly what the Dead came for. A man who is in many cases at this auction house the highest bidder, one of the richest to habitually trade and deal off wares. That is their target. Keli is his name, a massive man who has used his riches to transform his body into a marvelous amalgam of technology and biology. By buying one of his pieces the group is able to make it back to Keli’s estate after the auction night.

Inside Keli’s mansion, the group is met with a multitude of Keli clones. All of them seem like simple servants at first. Shikai and Black are offered drinks in an upstairs bar while Keli leads Cain and the Mistress into his cavernous basement to show them how he makes his art.

Quickly discovering that the supposed philanthropist was actually a demented killer who suspended real living people in animation to create his art, the group is caught in Keli’s web. His clones begin literally emerging from the walls of the basement attacking Cain and Mistress, one of them wielding the legendary blade in question. Some upstairs, meanwhile, attacked Black and Shikai. After blasting down a wall upstairs in a spectacle of offensive defense, Shikai finds a node of blue light that identifies him as the new owner of something called “Mykur.”

Suddenly Cain and the Mistress burst from the basement fleeing a veritable army of Kelis. Mykur practically gravitates to Shikai and an awesome display of swordsmanship and technological carnage ensued as the group tore off back into the city. There, they would loot the auction house in which the Mistress had earlier scouted out various items of use. 
Drawing the attention of Joran City authorities as they made their way out of town from the auction house, the group deflected authorities using the swarming Kelis and a horde of zombies created by Shikai to distract from the main group making their way out to the blackness of the sea where the Black Fleet resided. Meeting back up with Shkai, Cain uses a Fauxton receiver to zap his way out to the fleet, leaving little trace of the criminal syndicate and plenty of lasting damage to the city.

 

Short Summary

Cain, the Dead Mistress, Shikai, and the pirate captain Black Neon infiltrate an auction under the impression they will find the legendary Genesaris blade Mykur there. Instead they are led by a rich cyborg named Keli back to his estate. There Keli attacks the group with the sword, but using their wits and strength the group overpowers Keli and makes their way back toward the auction house to pillage it. As it turns out, Keli is a cyborg mechanic who has created thousands of images of himself. This swarm bursts from the Keli estate in pursuit of the group, summoning a huge police response from Joran City. Able to deflect the authorities on the Keli horde, Shikai makes off with Mykur, becoming second in command of the Black Fleet and the Dead makes off with a heavy payload from the auction house. Shikai and the Mistress are promoted to Generals in the Dead.

 

Consequence(s)

- Groups of violent cyborgs roam Joran City looking for the people who stole their treasure.