[Lair Task] The Blight (Shik/Bacca/Nomi/Shaheen)

[Seussi]

OOC

[ Task of Famine: ] The Blight
This task requires a group of AT LEAST three initiated members (students or Horsemen), to a max of five members. They may go anywhere in the Human World using the portal catacombs in the Lair. These catacombs lead to small human world towns only. All players must follow these steps to successfully create a blight and then harvest the Fear from the starvation, death and paranoia that results in it.

gaia_crown [ Step 1: ]

- You must first create a parasite, something from the Human world that you will infect with Fear so that it mutates to do as intended: destroying crops. Make sure your parasite is not too powerful: some clan members fail entirely at this stage because they lack subtlety. It is not about instantly destroying a victim but gathering as much Fear from them before they die. Setting is key.
- Have one team member/ the leading member/ first person who posts, choose a parasite for your team (ie: rats, crows, locusts are fairly common, or you can try some more exotic options like crocodiles, etc etc, but also remember HUMAN WORLD LOCATION is key for what kinds of parasites). Now all team members will roll ONCE as directed below, imbuing the creature with a little bit of their Fear/ redirecting their Fear to the creature
- Rp out all results as usual

Roll a 6-sided dice: Famine members can roll 1d4 (4-sided dice) instead. This determines your Fear imbued amount that you give to the chosen parasite. After ALL team members have rolled, add up all the dice roll amounts, add the modifiers below, and THEN match to results:
- If you have 3 members you have a +6 modifier
- If you have 4 members you have a +3 modifier
- If you have 5 members you have a +0 modifier

Results (after adding EVERYONE's dice rolls and adding the modifier):

0 - 5: You have a LEVEL 4 creature. It practically wipes the board
6 - 10: You have a LEVEL 3 creature. It is rather powerful, and destroys crops rather easily
11 - 15: You have a LEVEL 2 creature. It is decent, and will do its job, with a moderate amount of Fear concentration.
16+: Your creature has EXPLODED FROM TOO MUCH FEAR. :T You end up with a backup Famine locust that the clan has given you for emergency use in case you fail. It kind of sucks and you feel miserable and sad and disappoint.

gaia_crown [ Step 2: ]

Now it is time to release your creature out into the crops! It is working! The crops are turning a sickly, mottled colour. However, the humans are freaking out and trying to destroy your creature! This is where you must intervene.

Roll 2d6-sided dice: Famine clan members can get a natural +2 attack modifier to their creature/parasite. You need to roll three times.
- The FIRST dice roll determines the attack of your creature, the SECOND 2d6 the attack of the human. You need to help by making your creature strong too!
- If your creature is level one, you get no attack modifier
- If your creature is level two, you get a +1 attack modifier
- If your creature is level three, you get a +2 attack modifier
- If your creature is level four, you get a +3 attack modifier
- IF your creature's final attack including modifier is WEAKER than the human's rolled attack power, your PARASITE/creature DIES.
- Label at the bottom of your post in OOC quotes SUCCESS if your creature defeated the human or FAILURE if they were killed instead. Now it is time to tally results for the ENTIRE TEAM.
- Add a + 2 modifier for each team member on your team (so instead of 0-3, it would be 2- 5)

LESS THAN 2 creature deaths: It's okay you're doing fine! You manage to gain +3 Fear Points for EVERYBODY on your team!
3- 5 creature deaths: Well, you've seen better, your blight will continue to grow thankfully. You manage to gain +2 Fear points for everybody on your team!
6- 8 creature deaths: You've seen better days but it could be worse. You might spread a tiny amount of Fear. +1 Fear points
9+ creature deaths: All your creatures die, or are soon finished off. Weak. You get no Fear points :T

I'll totally think of a better title at some point.  

[Seussi]

Another day, another lair task. The war chieftain waited for the others to arrive, giving each a small nod in greeting. Shik might have even gotten something close to a small smile from the horsewoman, but as she lacked experience in the common gesture, it likely just looked very out of place on her face. The other two horsewomen were recognizable to her. She knew their names, knew they were sisters, but little else. She might not have had many friends back on the isle of war, but she had made it her business to at least know the names of those she might have to work with in the future.

Shaheen wasn't trying to pull rank on the others. Indeed, considering how out of sorts she'd been lately with the voices in her head getting worse, it would have probably been better to leave somebody else in charge of this little expedition. But her pride just wouldn't allow for it. She was a chieftain, she was supposed to be a leading example. And besides that, she had been the first to arrive. And so, by the time the others had gotten there, she'd already chosen the 'parasite' that they would use to create their blight; crows.

The town itself was quite obviously a farming community, sprawling and surrounded by fields of crops, with a river winding nearby. The perfect setting for their task.

"So, now that we're all here, I guess we should get started." Some form of excitement for what they were about to do glimmered in the chieftains golden eyes. Harvesting fear by destroying humans...or at least, by destroying their land. It didn't get much better then that.

Ol-j-man

pinchmonster

Bilious

((I don't really care about post order to start with, so just post when you can and we'll go from there~))  

[Bilious]

Bacca was excited. She had been spending far too much time aloof and brooding, and a trip to the Human Lands seemed to be just the trick to perk up her unstable moods. And a call from their Chieftain... She was trying her best to bottle her sparkly-eyed adoration and doing a poor job of it. "YES Chieftain! We are here! We will crush them and it will be marvelous and we'll paint their silly little farm with blood and-" She hesitated, brows furrowing and lips pursing as she realized she wasn't quite sure what the plan was, exactly. "I sharpened my knife I am ready to go! May the blood of our enemies fill a large tub for your bathing pleasure!" The little horsewoman straightened, wings spread as she gave the larger woman a prompt salute.  

[bipolar bee]

Ever since the event known as prom, Nomiki had taken to following around her little sister rather rabidly. When they were both summoned by Shaheen for a task, Bacca was insanely excited while Nomi forced her concern into a mask of cool indifference. She couldn't always flutter after Bacca like a mother bird.

No matter how much she wanted to.

Landing lightly next to her sister, Nomi immediately crossed her arms across her chest, drew herself up to her tallest (which still only brought the top of her head to Shaheen's shoulder) and gave the other two horsemen a cool look as her wings folded comfortably against her lower back.

"Yes, blood of our enemies."

She sounded almost bored.  

[medigel]

And then, last of all of course, was Shik, who arrived with a few telltale beat of his wings not long after Nomi, looking almost catlike with the crooked smile on his normally placid face. Then again, what greater pleasure was there than to do good work in the company of the beautiful women of War?

Hmm . . . Well he could think of other things, but that was better saved for a different time. A blight wasn't exactly a mood-setter for him - too boring, too indirect.

"Ladies," he purred with a small incline of his head toward each as his wings folded, pleased to see them each for differing reasons. The sisters especially he remembered as being two very different sides of the same token, so in spite of the lackluster task Shik felt he was going to have a fine time of it - and if not, well, then he would make it so. He eyed the crow for a moment, then shot Shaheen an amused look. "And here I thought we would be working with more rocks."  

[Seussi]

Bacca was...a lot more enthusiastic then Shaheen was expecting. The chieftain didn't find this to be a bad thing, by any means. Bathing in the blood of humans actually sounded quite nice. Relaxing, even. Unfortunately, however, that wasn't what they were here to do. She was going to have to burst the much smaller horsewoman's bubble in a moment, though until then she just offered her an answering smile in the form of a smirk before her attention was shifting towards the others.

Nomi was like the polar opposite of her sister, and it seemed as though she was actually bored at the prospect of killing humans. Shaheen frowned a little, feeling both curious and slightly confused at the reaction.

And then there was Shik.

...What the hell was wrong with his voice? As her attention snapped to him her eyes narrowed as she gave him a look that pretty much said "wtf". His entire demeanor seemed different. Like he was attempting to act smooth and refined instead of the rough and brutal man she was used to. What was he....

Shaheen was suddenly struck by an immense and overwhelming feeling of self doubt that was almost staggering as the whispers in her head intensified. When Shik asked his question her eyelids fluttered closed and she took a deep breath to steel herself, trying to concentrate through the sudden cacophony.

And then they faded to more manageable levels once more and she found herself with eyes blinking open, feeling slightly confused. "Hrm? Rocks?" She asked, clearly disoriented. "Don't---Don't be silly, Shikoba." She shook her head and turned away from him, over towards the makeshift cages of crows that were waiting, her attention shifting back towards Bacca and Nomi.

"I'm afraid very little blood will be shed here today. Our mission is to provide a blight, to create panic and discord." This was not the way Shaheen was used to fighting her battle, but it was what was being asked of them to do. "These crows will do the work for us. Imbue them with some fear, but not too much." Even as she spoke, it was clear in the chieftains eyes that she still wasn't feeling particularly well, but she was attempting to push past that.

She concentrated her fear, standing before the cages and forcing it forward, carefully, slowly.....

And then her control slipped. Her fear rushed forward in a much too concentrated mass and she grimaced as she stepped back.

Ooops.

Quote:

New round~

Bilious

pinchmonster

Ol-j-man

 

[bipolar bee]

Nomiki's face pinched when she caught sight of Shik; her attention was immediately diverted to the task at hand. She wasn't even going to engage him in conversation; the last time that she had, Bacca had turned on her like a rabid weasel, and Nomi would much rather not have to deal with her sister being a horrid little beast again.

Giving the delicious, handsome, well-built horseman a curt nod, Nomi turned her attention towards imbuing the crow with Fear.

A little too much Fear.

Sending Shik's impressive pectorals a seething glare, Nomi crossed her arms over her chest in disgust.  

[Bilious]

Bacca accepted her bird carefully, fear prickling off of her fingertips as she squeezed the feathery beast.

Shik was here, like a glistening beacon of manliness, pectoral muscles tensed and ready, powerful biceps and triceps all ready and waiting like a powerful weapon glittering on the mantle.

And all their eyes went on him.

Bacca's breath caught in her throat, her thumb sliding up the struggling bird's neck.

The whispers bubbled up in her head, her one golden eye glowing for a moment as her brows furrowed. She was the smallest, the youngest there, the least likely, the left overs, and he was princely prize the vultures all circled around.

Her expression turned bitter towards her sister and chieftain, finally slamming her curved knife into the bird's chest. "Did I do it correctly, Chieftain?" She smiled sweetly.  

[medigel]

Shik only chuckled at Shaheen's sputter of a response, basking in the differentiated stares each woman gave him as he waited for his turn with an air of casual indifference. Although he did frown a bit when the crow seemed to swell from Fear under Bacca's dagger, and others looked equally queasy as well. He bent over the makeshift cages and gave the crows a cursory glance. "I believe . . ."

The horseman reached out and poked the crow with a talon-like nail to give it a little Fear. It promptly exploded with a miserable squawk into nothing but shredded meat and feathers; the rest followed suit in a domino effect.

"That we are too much for this task," Shik concluded as he straightened and gave a snort, blowing away a few feathers hurtling toward his face. The blood splatters he left alone because, well, that was probably the most fun he was going to get out of this task. "The only blight there should be should come from our own hands, not by relying these wretched creatures." He turned to the group and made a small gesture. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Not that it mattered, as a Famine Clansmen with a terribly amused expression gave them a mere locust for their troubles. Shik wanted to squash it almost immediately.

(( GJ YOU GUYS, WE MADE IT EXPLODE 8DDD

Stil Shik's abs' fault ))  

[Seussi]

Shik's chuckle grated on her, and she clenched her teeth against snapping on him. She was struggling just to get through her day, clearly finding even this one small task difficult to accomplish, and all he could do was laugh at her. It made something deep inside of her gut wrench, and brought her anger boiling to the surface, threatening to overflow. Like she really needed a reminder from him of how pathetic she'd become, or have him undermining her in front of the others. No. Just, no.

With some amount of extreme effort, however, she managed to keep her wayward emotions in check. She took a small step back away from the crows, arms crossing over her chest, her eyes almost glowing as she shifted her narrowed gaze to each war sister, then back to Shik again. She felt a sinking suspicion that something was going on here, and whatever it was, she didn't like it. Of course, she also found Shik attractive, but that wasn't what kept drawing her back to him over and over again. She'd known him since childhood. She felt like, at times, she could actually talk to him. These two, however, they were looking at him almost like he was a piece of meat and....

Her eyes widened slightly, realization settling in. He was enjoying it. He was...they were...

Shaheen would have face palmed then and there if it wasn't for the fact that they were in the middle of a task and she was still attempting keep a hold of at least a shred of her pride. The birds began to swell as more and more Fear was pumped into them, and Shaheen knew that it was too much.

"No." Her voice was practically a snarl that she directed towards Bacca. She could ignore Shik. That would just be for the best at this point. Ignore him and what he was doing, and hopefully show to Bacca that she had no interest in playing her little game to vie for his attention. She'd gotten more then her fair share of his attentions, recently, and was fairly certain she could get it again any time she wanted. "They're going to..."

"Explode", was how she would have finished that sentence, except that she didn't have to, because at that moment, they did. Blood splattered against her body, and black feathers rained down from above. A famine horseman muffled his laughter, then offered them locusts to replace the birds that they had destroyed.

"Of course, I agree." She said, her words directed at Shik even though she refused to look at him. "But these were the instructions given to us, to reap fear. If we don't do it correctly, we won't get anything." Except blood. Blood and violence, and carnage. It was tempting, oh so very tempting.

She sighed. "Let's just...do this stupid insect thing and if it doesn't pan out, we'll raze them to the ground."

Quote:

Feel free to RP reaction or start on part two~

Bilious

pinchmonster

Ol-j-man

 

[bipolar bee]

Nomiki pressed her lips together when Bacca purposefully slaughtered one of the birds; it was incredibly difficult to hold back the urge to roll her eyes, but Nomi managed it. Her sister was unwell - Nomi knew this to be true - but even still there were times that Nomi wanted to throttle her.

This very moment, in fact.

"I do not wish to stand here all day playing games with Famine's little pets," she grumbled snarkily, weapon at the ready. The bugs immediately pulsed and swelled as Nomiki imbued the swarm with her Fear.

A smug smile was directed at Shik's chest.

"That is how it is done."

She preened.  

[Bilious]

Bacca's expression was trembling, contorted with a strange mixture of rage and jealousy, "I can do that. Anyone can do that. It's not that hard stop showing off, sister, I'll cut you in your sleep," her voice dipped down into a mutter as she glanced from horseman to horseman, her face flushing, a darker grey blossoming under the greyed half of her face as she glanced to Shik.

She knew she was younger than the other horsewomen. But she could still be impressive. She would win his favor he would see what a great and glorious warrior she was and he would lay at her feet on a pile of corpses while she lifted her sword up high-

The locusts suddenly popped like popcorn.

"AAAAARRRGGGGGGG!" Bacca threw the cage violently against a tree before crouching down with her arms around her head and stifled a miserable sob.

She was not crying in embarassment.  

[medigel]

Aaaah, ignore him all you wanted, Shaheen, and throw the rules at him too while you were at it. He'd still slip around them somehow. "For once I agree," he said at her suggestion to lay waste to whatever was in their path, offering Shaheen an impish grin even if she was purposefully not looking. This was a wonderful little game they were playing, no?

Now, to see if he could actually not kill his pet this time. "Indeed it is!" Shik praised Nomi as he plucked the insect off the ground and tapped its head with a nail; it shivered from the gift of Fear but did not, in fact, blow up this time. "I might have to follow your example from now on, Nomi. Control has always been such an . . . issue for me."

But of course, Shik was not finished - no, it wouldn't do to favor one over the other just yet. "That isn't to say a lack of control wouldn't be warranted in some situations," he continued over Bacca's sob. "I'd say it's enviable that you have so much power to give, hmm? Perhaps after this I might test it?"  

[Seussi]

This was a horrible game Shik was playing. Absolutely horrible. He would be lucky if he didn't wake up the next morning with her blade pressed up against his neck. Still, she just closed her eyes and tilted her face upwards, praying to...something, (The great horse lord in the sky, perhaps?) to give her the strength to just get through this task so that she could leave and get away from the other three horsemen who were behaving like hormone driven teenagers.

And Shaheen definitely wasn't about to take part in whatever ploy Shik was attempting to pull off here. Nope. Even though each word he spoke to the others sent a stab of pain deep inside of her chest. Even if she suddenly felt incredibly nauseous. She was just going to shove those feelings deep down inside, lock them up, ignore them until this was over and she could find time to dig them up and mull them over later. Her face impassive, she finally opened her eyes, and turned towards the others.

"Oh, so good of you to get it right, on the second try." She snapped back towards Nomi, the other woman's snide comments finally grating on her to the point where she could no longer ignore them.

"And you, get up, you're embarrassing yourself. Act like a woman of war, not some sniveling child fighting over a toy." Yes, Shaheen was definitely losing her patience.

"And you." Finally, directing her glare towards Shik, which wasn't exactly new. "Stop encouraging them. If you want to take them to bed with you after this is over, fine, but right now, we still have a job to do." She hissed out that last part, then shook her head at him. Disappointed. Clearly disappointed in all of their behaviors thus far. And him telling Nomi he needed to learn control? HA! He was the biggest control freak that Shaheen had ever met! He even somehow managed to be worse then her parents, and that was saying something.

Now, with all that out of the way, she turned, grabbing for a locust and concentrating her fear into it. She still had some trouble, sure, but she could blame that on the insanity, and on the others being as aggravating as they were, riling her up and making her lose her calm center. Still, her locust didn't explode, so it was a far cry better then last time.

1+6+1+3+3(modifier)= 14

11 - 15: You have a LEVEL 2 creature. It is decent, and will do its job, with a moderate amount of Fear concentration.

pinchmonster

onwards to step 2! If they don't all kill each other first biggrin

Bilious

Ol-j-man

 

[bipolar bee]

Nomi's eyes narrowed menacingly as Shaheen snapped at her, pearly teeth baring as soon as the other woman turned away to snark at her sister.

Nobody snarked at her sister (even if she was being an insufferable t**t).

Nobody.

Chieftain or not.

"Oh, it is such a pity that it took our glorious Chieftain a second try as well, hmm? Perhaps you are merely jealous that Shik knows how to appreciate a capable sister of the War clan - and perhaps you are jealous that he does not wish to take you to bed."

Nomi knew she should stop, that she was being disrespectful, but...

"Or perhaps he has already taken you to bed and has found you sadly... lacking. Chieftain."

After nodding quite respectfully in Shaheen's direction, Nomiki gave a low hum of approval as she turned her attention back to the task at hand. The blight acted as a proper blight should; Nomiki purred softly and preened before cooing to nobody in particular, "And that is how it is done."

Nomiki's gaze cut to Shaheen, her wings fluffing with pride.

"On the first try, Chieftain."

Smug b***h.

((SUCCESS))

Bilious

Seussi

Ol-j-man