A Monsters Match

[Octopie]

Icarus

3rd of Zi'da, 719

It was never quiet.

The constant howl of creatures both natural and not always haunted the air of the Wilds, in Northern Gauthrel especially though the sound was only a symphony to the master of the lab. Each new noise meant he had succeeded or failed, a cry of life or the final thralls of death. Either pleased the man working, a failure was only something to learn from and parts not ready to be thrown out. It was a repetitive peaceful life though far from the invigorating days of his youth, before his fool father had banished him like some toddler throwing a temper tantrum. A thing that still grated on his nerves as he often spitefully urged his creations closer to the tribes, delicately toeing the line his kin had drawn in the metaphorical sand. But he was not a stupid man, he would not waste he creatures so wantonly, he only needed something to encourage more parts...visitors, whatever they were called. Monster hunters were always a stupid bunch, as were travelers, as were his fathers oafs, all easy fodder but the man he'd heard of was almost different.

It could be something new. He could use that mask, that magic, whatever power held the strange creature that he hadn't put together with his own two hands. But first he had to get his soon-to-be creation here. A creation that was oh so willing to wander into a den of monsters. The anticipation of company, potentially worth the trouble, made him work faster. He hands flew like an orchestrator conductor until the next cry that reached his ears was one of birth. Almost parentally he patted the hungry beast while others looked on, stopping their own watching and feasting to eye their master.

Icarus smiled at none in particular, a hum in his voice as he spoke. "Go get our guest."

The resounding cacophony rang off the hills while the Mortalborn returned to his work as if he'd never been eager for a new presence in the first place. But even as his hands worked, his mind was wondering whose loose lips he'd be adding to his next creation when he found out who exactly told this newest fool where to find the Man of Monsters.

OOC

Heyo Tio,

Here's the "rules" and the first post, please PM or add any questions or important bits of info relevant to the thread OOCly.

Rules

• Follow ST's TOU.
• Please list specifically what Tio has with him.
• I control Icarus and his monsters but you are free to have or make use of NPCs.
• Responses from me will be within a week of your posts.
• There is no time limit for when you have to post.
• Have fun and don't get eaten by monsters

Template from previous mods, image from Google

[Tio Silver]

Mortal intent, Immortal power, and the bridge between the two; and so, all things become possible.

The words were like a manta in the back of Tio's head, a whisper that he always remembered whenever his thoughts turned to his dream of transcending humanity. Vri had said those words moments before doing something impossible, something that had changed Tio's perspective forever. With those three ingredients he had taken the departed soul of Auya Trueheart and forged her into something far greater. That day Tio had watched in awe as Auya returned to the world as a god, and as he beheld that glorious a single thought had crossed his mind.

If she could do it, so could he.

Of course as any good chef could attest, there was a big difference between knowing what the ingredients were and knowing the recipe. Mortals, Immortals and Mortalborn had surely all interacted in some capacity together in the past, and yet those encounters didn't just spawn fresh little godlings out from nothing. There must be a technique to it, a process, and figuring it out was the key to attaining godhood. Tio had half a hypothesis on what that was. From his own experience providing the mortal intent in Auya's ascension he believed that the mortal in the equation needed only to provide the force of will, the mental drive, to guide the process. From that he assumed that the Immortal just needed to supply the raw energy to power the process, the fuel for the fire so to speak. What stumped him however was what role the Mortalborn was supposed to play. What exactly did they do to serve as the bridge? Did the Immortal power need to funnel through them into the mortal like some kind of divine sieve? Did they provide some sort of template for turning the mortal body into an immortal one? He could speculate all he wanted, but the simple fact of the matter was that there was no way to know for sure what a mortalborn actually did without experimenting on one.

The old Tio hadn't been prepared to experiment on another living being like that. The idea of running potentially life-threatening tests on people like Kura or Nir'wei filled him with revulsion. But Tasha's betrayal had taught him that you couldn't find a diamond without digging through the muck, and the new Tio had hardened his heart to such cruel acts. If he had to reach for the stars by standing atop of pile of corpses then so be it. With this new mindset he had begun to spread word out across the criminal underworld that he was looking for a mortalborn, and it hadn't been long before word got back to him. In Uthaldria there was a Lotharro the locals believed to be a son of Thetros; a terrifying legend who was said to have been raised among them until he betrayed his fellow hunters, devastated his old home in a jealous rage, and apparently now ruled over the monsters in Northern Gauthrel like a mad king. His existence was no secret simply because this man, Icarus Iskariot, had no need for subtlety. He was powerful, a master of the abilities granted to him by birthright, and had no qualms about using them for violence. He would be the perfect test subject...

As long as he could capture him.

"This is a'far as I go." Alfwun, a Lotharro huntsman, grumbled under his breath. While normally a brave, boisterous man, it was easy to notice how quiet and wary he'd become the second they crossed into Icarus' territory. Tio found he couldn't blame him. There was a malice that clung to the air in these parts like fog, prickling the hairs on the back of his neck and warning him that unseen eyes were upon him. "The lord of monsters lives directly north from here. Dunno what business you have with him, but I'll warn ya again to leave well enough alone. He may look like a man, but beneath 'is skin Icarus is as much a monster as his pets."

"I'm counting on it."Tio replied, taking the pouch of nel he'd promised Alfwun in exchange for his guidance here and tossing it over to him. Expecting that he'd be in for a fight, Tio had donned his Darbyton Derby Champion armour and had his sword Neverweather, his combat knife Frostbite and a pistol crossbow strapped to his waist. Throwing knives and smoke bombs were packed into concealed pouches across his person, and around his back he had a coil of rope and his domain bag, in case he had use for his assortment of kits, bombs or thralls. His ring, Thieve's Accomplice, and his Metal Morph in ring form were wrapped comfortably around his right middle finger, and on a chain around his neck tucked beneath his armour he wore an assortment of magical oddities: Delroth's Charm, the Luminescent Tear, a twig of Arrowroot and The Emerald Store.

Alfwun grunted an acknowledgement and turned to leave, hurrying out of the area with the haste of someone trying not to show how scared they were. When he had gone Tio dug down into his soul and called upon his attunement spark, feeding it a trickle of ether and feeling it hum to life inside his chest. He cast out his awareness in the direction of Icarus' lair, searching for that rare note he'd detected only twice before.

It wasn't long before he found it. There, a little while away, was the note of a mortalborn. He locked on to the frequency, frowning at the other notes he detected coming off of Icarus: jealousy, violence and malice. So much malice.

"Time to get to work." He muttered to himself, pulling the piece of Arrowroot up to his mouth and taking a bite. The vile taste filled his mouth but he forced back the urge to spit it out and instead swallowed it down. The shadows around him seemed to cling a little tighter to his body, and feeling that it was working Tio set of at a quick jog in the direction of Icarus, keeping his Omnivision spread out in all directions around him. He had no doubt that Icarus would have monsters patrolling his territory, and he figured that his best bet was to simply avoid them altogether. Flying would leave him too exposed to winged monsters, but by staying on land he could take cover behind the trees and rocks scattered about the place. With the Arrow Root and Thieve's Accomplice supplementing his own stealth skills he was confident he could avoid detection, and Omnivision would allow him to watch out for danger ahead. For good measure he used his dreamwalking skill Cloaking; stepping into a plane of reality slightly askew from Idalos to hide himself from the perception of whatever might be watching him.

[Octopie]

Icarus

3rd of Zi'da, 719

Alfwun would find he was not quite as lucky as Tio was.

The Mortalborn did not take kindly to people with loose lips, and while his location wasn't a secret per se the best kept silence was that of those dead. Icarus hummed as he paused in his creations, monsters were no great feat for him but humans could be tricky, and his latest guest didn't seem to want to be found. They tracked him well enough by anything he touched but spotting him was not something they could do with any ability. If Icarus were lucky the man would be swallowed by other things wherever he hid but then that would ruin the fun. It had been so long since he'd had an entertaining guest. One who posed a challenge, and his creations where not his only monsters.

His lab itself once breached was an array of tunnels where monsters filled entire spaces, where a misplaced hand or foot could released hoarders of creatures or traps of all kinds. Just for fun some even lead directly to the Mortalborn and his monster pets himself. What wasn't fun was waiting for some human twit to bother him. Icarus was, as always, torn between the want to battle this and the want to be left alone to do as he pleased. The guest was proving worth his while, and if they made it to the the man himself then he might not kill them, and use all their interesting parts for an unstoppable monster. If he made it to the lab, but while his monsters may not be able to see, hear or smell the newcomer they could touch him.

With a smile and a wave of his hand, the Mortalborn opened a hatch that connected just in front of the lab entrance. From it spewed darkness that grew with startling fury, it rolled down the like a growing cloud of fog that upon closer inspection was an array of rat-like creatures. Some with wings, some with extra feet, some with several heads and necks of varying lengths and sizes. All together they speed in all directions to cover the area, searching without direction for the thing they could bump into, something to sink their abundance of teeth into. Icarus could not be sure it would make a difference but he doubted the guest could escape everything single one without any scratch, but it would be fun to see them try.

And if the did make it through he could watch them through his halls, the entry way having to doors: one straight and one to the left. But which would they pick if they made it? Neither were easily assessed but a chessboard of the Mortalborns own making to deter and gather the parts of people he needed. With his newest move placed Icarus went back to work, as if he wasn't playing a game at all.

OOC

Please specify which you pick upon entry if you he makes it in within the next post, left or right.

Template from previous mods, image from Google

[Tio Silver]

Stealth had proven to be a good idea. The nearer he drew to Icarus' frequency, the more Tio detected signs of strange and unusual lifeforms prowling around the territory. Each of them seemed utterly unique, spawned from the same original base creatures but twisted into entirely new species by some kind of rapid evolution. Was this perhaps the power of Icarus' domain; the power to force monsters to evolve? Whatever the case each of the beasts seemed hungry for blood, and Tio had the unsettling suspicion that they were actively searching for him. Did Icarus know he was coming? Perhaps he had scout monsters that'd spotted him heading here? Whatever the case it didn't matter now: as long as he was invisible the mortalborn would surely have no way of tracking him.

The sound of light, rapid pattering caught Tio's ear, and he paused in his steps to listen. What was that sound? Rain? No, the sky was clear. But it was definitely the sound of lots of light little things tapping the ground all at once. And whatever it was it was getting closer...

A swarm of black burst out from the treeline before he could comprehend what was happening, spilling out all across the ground. Instinctively he jumped into the air and took flight to avoid them, but more darts of black that seemed to be able to fly followed in the wake of their landlocked brethren, shooting erratically around the air like mad flies. One of them collided right into Tio's chest, and for the moment that it was halted in midair by the impact Tio got a quick glance at the creature. It seemed to be some kind of hideous mutant rat creature, with grey dragonfly-like wings on its back and an extra mouth halfway down its neck. In the split trill that he studied it however the rat recovered from the shock of the crash and let out a loud, shrill squeak. The moment the cry was issued the rest of the rat creatures turned around and swarmed the area around him, calling out for the others to converge on this area.

That cunning dastard. Icarus must have prepared for tracking invisible enemies before. If touch was the only thing that could detect him then all he had to do was send out a swarm of smaller monsters in every direction, and whenever one hit him it would called out for the rest of it's kind to scour the surrounding area. That way one only had to track the noise of the monsters that collided with him to know where he was. Not to mention that now they knew he was somewhere nearby the rats were zipping around with their teeth bared, ready to bite at whatever invisible force they bumped into. Clever boy.

Thinking fast, Tio's hand shot into his domain bag as he willed a particular item of his to come to his hand. When he withdrew it again he was clutching a small walnut. It was a strange little item he had obtained after dealing with ghost pirates about an arc ago, however was that it had two very special properties: it seemed to be almost completely indestructible, and whenever it was hit it let out an almost musical chiming sound. He threw the walnut down at one of the rats below, and watched with satisfaction as the nut struck the rats skull and let out a clear, beautiful note.

The noise attracted the nearby rats to it, and acting on primal instinct they tried to bite down on the walnut. But each time their teeth did nothing but scrape across the surface, and the walnut issued its chiming note again and again with each strike, thus drawing the attention of more rats. Regardless of how Icarus was controlling them the fact remained that rats were still unintelligent creatures, and when they saw each other swarming around something making a strange noise that they couldn't see (not because it was invisible, but because the small size of the walnut allowed it to remain hidden amongst the swarm of rats) they assumed it must be caused by the thing they were searching for. While the swarm focused on his distraction Tio flew off in the direction the rats had emerged from, figuring that if they'd come from over there then there may be an entrance to Icarus' laboratory nearby.

Up ahead he finally spotted what he was looking for: a doorway carved into the base of a mountain. Hovering down near to the ground again, Tio approached the door and lightly pushed against it, surprised to find that it was unlocked. Was Icarus challenging him to come inside if he dared, or did living out in the wilds surrounded by an army of loyal, bloodthirsty monsters just make the whole point of locking your front door kind of redundant? Whatever the case the door swung open, revealing an entrance hall with two more doors inside: one going straight ahead, and one shooting off to the left. It was tricky to tell exactly which direction Icarus' frequency was coming from, but Tio thought it was coming from the direction of the door leading off to the left. Cautiously he pushed the left door open and floated down the tunnel, scanning ahead with his Omnivision for any traps of monsters coming his way.

[Octopie]

Icarus

3rd of Zi'da, 719

Icarus could finally see him.

Perhaps not in the traditional sense but his more sentient creations spoke to him various ways, and certainly when they latched onto things that were not there. Unconcerned and not quietreporting but more of a daily feeling of what was happening to or around them, and everything he saw made him laugh. Foolish travelers, idiotic humans and humanoids who attempted to cavalierly enter his domain but none had amused him more the man who had just entered his lab. The rats, completely bespelled by a nut, the nut he held in hands after the rat monstrosities had been...helpfully moved out of the way to end the distraction. A curious thing, so simply done, the Mortalborn had till there were tears in his eyes. His unwanted guest was proving to be fairly intelligent and full of surprises, and still entirely unseen.

If he could get his hands on a creature like this, the things he could create nearly made him salivate but it also brought the question: what did they want?

It would not be the first assassin nor likely the last. There were fools who sought glory, those who wished to try and gain favor from others, the reasons were endless. It would be stupid to dwell on them now but just as stupid to forgo them entirely, better to put them on the backburner where he put his latest though far from greatest creation. This man wanted something, no one risked themselves like this for nothing, and Icarus didn't like to share or give anything. Regardless of the amusement brought, he had no desire to actually let this, likely humanoid, creature take anything more than his time. Not to mention Icarus loved it when people went left. After all, the true genius of any plan was putting the most obvious choice in front of a person then watching them get it wrong, doubts and deceptions clouding their judgement. His more obvious, though entirely fake, traps probably had a little something to do with it. Though few every made it to the left hall, even fewer made it out.

Had the left hall any torches or light of any kind if would show a startling simply hall.

A completely unordinary things until one touched the various traps throughout.

Nearly stone on the wall linked to something, whether monster or arrows, stone son the floor if touched fell away into beds of spikes, pits of things better left to nightmares, and the like with no rhyme or reason, no discernible pattern. The roof was perhaps the easiest looking but if touched would begin to steadily drop to the floor, forcing the person to touch the ground and suffer whatever fate opened up beneath them. Unless of course they managed to crawl along it fast enough to escape being smashed or worse.

Though for those would could fly it was much easier. Simply do not touch anything.

Should a roof crawler or flying creature succeed, they would almost meet the Master of Monsters himself, or the would meet his guard.

Neither could be considered pleasant but at least you might plead with the Mortalborn.

And Icarus never liked company bothering him, even when they amused him so. Even when the potential benefits of a person could help him, he wanted nothing outside of his creations. No, it was better to prepare his beloved creation at the end of the hall, blocking it much like a door would though light crept beyond it and the figure of the waiting, impatient Mortalborn not far behind.

OOC

It seems impossible but is it?

Please PM if you have any questions, otherwise, good luck, Tio!

Monster

Template from previous mods, image from Google

[Octopie]

Unlocking Your Rewards!

Comments

Though it would have been interesting to see the play it out, it was a fun short insight into Tio goals!

As it is abandoned (per request) I have graded it as a collab. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Points

15

Can be use for magic? Yes or No

Knowledge

Skill
Stealth x4
Endurance x4

Non
NA

Loot

-1 Echo Walnut

Wealth

NA

Renown

+15 for hunting down a Mortalborn and trying to break into their layer

Injuries

Minor bites from rat monsters

Skill Level: Appropriate