Feel it right behind you, a grinning monster out to kill

[forgeabettertomorrow]

🧙 WHO: Darin Altway and You!
⚔️️ WHAT: Caster has cursed Darin and now he's using Familiar Fusion and going berserk
🕒 WHEN: Right after Caster's declaration against Archer and the aftermath a few days later!
🗺️ WHERE: Camelot and Darin's Forge
⚠️ WARNINGS: Potential Violence/Blood/Gore/Mild Body Horror

[He doesn't know how long it's been since he passed out. He remembers Caster's message. He remembers meeting her at the edge of Broceliande Woods. He remembers...]

[Pain.]

[He comes to in a sweat. Not from pain or nightmares or anything of that nature, but because the forest around him is currently ablaze. He tries to jump to his feet but his senses are off. Skewed. Something was very wrong and he could feel it. It felt like oil seeping into him, slowly gripping the very cockles of his heart.]

[Rationale gives way to panic and he's stumbling away from the treeline. He had to get back to Camelot. He had to get back for...some reason. Something inside of him screamed that he had to.]

[But his footsteps slowly grind to a halt as he crests that final hill. As Caster's dark curses finally find their hold and grip his very being, altering every bit of his perception and reasoning.]

[The witch's curse was a powerful one. In her grief, she hexed Darin to see his greatest fear. And to act on the rage that he spent his life tamping out; the one fire in his soul he refused to stoke.]

[He falls to his knees, staring at a ruined Camelot. Everything he'd come to know, the happiness he was so desperately seeking. You see, if Darin was as much of a monster as he claimed, then his fate should match that of the monster, the witch of betrayal, that he sought to defend. It's only fair, right?]

[There would be no peace. Not while monsters walked among the people of this world.]

A - Transformation (CW: Blood/Mild Body Horror)

[Camelot was gone. Or at least, Caster's curse made Darin believe that it was. And Darin, on his knees, was slamming his fists into the earth with all of his magical given might; each blow sounding like a cannon shot as it cracked the stone beneath his fists. Inconsolable, he screams, believing no one will hear him.]

[However, anyone making their way to the woods to try and stop Caster or the fire she's set might stumble upon him. Calling out to him draws his attention to you, but there's something...off...about his eyes. They're clouded over with a dark haze. And while he might be looking at you...what he sees is something different altogether.]

You...it was you!

[Enraged, Darin pushes himself to his feet, magic coursing through his body so sharply that it crackles in the air. The air becomes stifling. Oppressive.]

You've taken everything from me, Dromas! Everything! So, you want a monster?! I'LL GIVE YOU ONE

[His giant antlion familiar bursts from the ground behind him and latches onto Darin's back. For a moment, it looks like his familiar might actually attempt to subdue him. Unfortunately, those enormous, terrifying mandibles find purchase in Darin's back and, for a horrifying moment, the familiar begins to burrow. Writhing in pain as his magical power skyrockets faster than his body can compensate, Darin lets loose a blood-freezing scream. But just as quickly as it had begun, his familiar disappears into Darin's body as the two merge.]

[Darin slams his hands into the ground as he begins to grow and change. Two horns erupt from his temples, black and glinting in the light of the burning woods behind him. His torso swells; muscles grow massive as chitinous plates form around his extremities like armor. His body contorts, his back arches, until finally he's a hulking beast, towering at over ten feet tall.]

[Green eyes glowing ominously amidst the haze, the newly transformed Darin lets loose a bellow that sounds like it's three voices screaming in cacophonous harmony.]

[And then he rushes to attack.]

B - City Escape (CW: Blood/Violence)

[Believing Camelot to be nothing but wreckage, Darin storms the city chasing...something. In his cursed state, every person he sees looks exactly like the person he believes to have brought about this disaster. Unfortunately, in this state, Darin isn't much for conversing. He's barreling through Camelot, tearing through buildings like they weren't even there. And any person, resident or not, that crosses his vision is likely in for the fight of their lives as he presses the attack. After all, in his mind, Camelot is in ruins.]

[He tears up a chunk of the street and hefts it towards a group of terrified people, all of which scatter. Or attempt to. It might be too late for some.]

C - Lockdown

[It had been several days since Caster's message. Several days since he'd lost control and was set upon the good people of Camelot. He'd been keeping to himself in the forge almost the entire time, only going out occasionally in the evening for food or groceries. When he did, he wore a cloak with the hood drawn to hide his blue hair and he barely spoke.]

[Of course he did his best to help the city recover from the damages. For the first two days, he worked tirelessly to get supplies and forge tools for whatever reconstruction needed to be done. But he would always send then out anonymously or send them to whoever needed them via a proxy. It's clear that he's doing everything he can to avoid going into town himself and he hasn't been spotted in town since the incident.]

[He threw himself into his work after that but...he still seemed off. Anyone who stops by the forge might find him struggling; hammering away at something that just isn't taking shape properly or tinkering with, and subsequently screwing up, some detailed work. Finally, in frustration, Darin pitches his hammer across the forge with more strength than intended, burying it into the wall across the work space.]

[Frustrated, he sits down and buries his face in his hands.]

Wildcard

[Got another idea that you want to thread out? Go for it!]

(OOC: Feel free to threadjack as much as you want during the events of this log! It's going to be chaotic and people should definitely help each other! Got questions! Message me on the journal, my discord, or hit me up at bitterbearface)

Comments

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[If you think that's the last of his bag of blood tricks, think again, Zel.]

[Have you ever heard of the Blister Beetle?]

[They have this fun ability that Darin's about to demonstrate.]

[Discarding his weapon, Darin drops to all fours and really digs in. His torso swells and crackles with dark magical energy. Slowly, his jaw unhinges, revealing two terrifying mandibles. And then, a high pressure blast of blood fires from his gaping maw like a beam cannon, slicing entire trees down as he cranes his head in an arc.]

[If he unleashed that in Camelot, half the city would be cut down.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[I have heard of the Blister Beetle, as a matter of fact. THEY DON'T SHOOT BLOOD LASERS, YOU MANIAC. STOP MAKING UP BUG POWERS!!

Zelgadis barely manages to roll out of the way as that tree he'd just slammed into comes crashing down, and once he's back on his feet he takes a quick look around at all the absolutely absurd devastation that Bug!Darin had just unleashed. It's very clear that Zel is in way over his head, but if he doesn't do something, then there's a good chance that Darin very well may end up blowing the fuck out of Camelot.

Dammit, Zel really needs to just stick with being chaotic neutral, this hero shit is going to get him killed one of these days.

Since ice had seemed pretty helpful before, Zelgadis takes advantage of the fact that Darin is stationary and tries encasing him in ice again, while running to take cover behind a tree, because FUCK being out in the open right now]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[DARIN CAN BE AS ANIME AS I WANT DEAL WITH IT.]

[Fortunately, Darin can't seem to spam that attack and needs a minute or two to recover. Which means that Zel is succeeding in icing him over. At least he's currently managed to freeze all four limbs to the ground.]

[He struggles and lets out a roar of defiance, but he seems locked in place for the moment.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[THAT'S NOT ANIME THAT'S A SIN AGAINST NATURE no you're right that's anime as fuck

Oh good, Darin's locked in place. For now. That works. Instinctively, Zelgadis attempts to heal his arm with magic, but is very quickly reminded that he doesn't have healing magic here when absolutely fuckall happens. Inconvenient, but something he can deal with later. That broken arm is just going to hang uselessly at his side for a while, that's fine.

With Darin unable to move, Zelgadis chances approaching him, building up a shell of stone over top of the ice he's already stuck Darin to the ground with. He makes sure to cover over Darin's mouth with stone too, since apparently he has BLOOD LASERS now.]

There we go. That just has to keep you here until your fusion wears off. I can be patient.

[He takes a moment to encase his broken arm in a thin layer of ice in an attempt to keep the swelling down. Familiar fusion only lasts an hour, right? So he only needs to wait at least that long, then he can punch Darin in his idiot head for letting himself get captured by a maniac.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin growls but doesn't seem to be doing much. In fact, he doesn't even appear to be struggling.]

[But he is staring daggers at Zel, scanning his body for any open wounds.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[Oh good, Darin seems to have calmed down, and Zelgadis happens to spot his sword nearby. He takes a moment to retrieve it and return it to it's place on his hip before returning to Darin. It's not super exciting, but it might give Darin a chance to catch sight of a few bloody patches on Zelgadis' thighs and torso, resulting from cuts caused by Darin's stupid ball of blood and anger. Zel doesn't seem too concerned about any of his wounds, he can just find a healer later or something.]

Nothing to say, hm? That's fine by me, you hardly seem capable of conversation right now.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin's eyes narrow and he begins to focus, manipulating the blood from Zel's open wounds into forming dagger-like tendrils that snake out and begin stabbing at him from all angles.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[EXCUSE ME BLOOD MAGIC IS KIND OF FUCKED UP??? I love it

Well. Zelgadis reacts the way anyone would when being stabbed by one's own blood, and that is with great confusion, and much panic. Like, how do you fight your own blood? Now he's just bleeding more which is probably giving Darin more blood ammo to use on him, and that's not ideal. He draws his sword BUT LIKE... DOES HE CUT OFF THE BLOOD? I mean he tries that but then he realizes that he's just bleeding more, so instead he shoots Darin in the face with a fireball and tries to run for the trees again. He's hoping that being out of his line of sight will prevent Darin from doing this blood stabbing thing.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[From behind the smoke and ash of the fireball, there's a chilling, booming sound; it's laughter.]

[Zelgadis played right into Darin's hands. The heat from the fireball melts and weakens the ice encasing him beneath the stone. With a sharp twist, the ice and stone splits with a deafening crack and Darin begins to pull himself free. He pushes through the smoke to reveal that the fireball had burned away most of his face, down to the bone, and Zel is treated to the sight of his face literally regenerating into a terrifying sneer.]

[With another deafening scream, he rushes Zel and swats at him with one of those massive arms, backhanding him with tremendous force.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[Well the first thing Zelgadis does is mentally kick himself for shooting fire at a guy he'd encased in ice. What kind of dumbshit move was that!? That's what he gets for letting himself panic.

If it wasn't for Darin's healing magic, that fireball would have likely been enough to take him down, considering the fact that his face was gone. But nope, Darin springs right back up lookin' like fucking Ghost Rider over here, grows a new face like it's not even a thing, and now he's charging over to turn Zelgadis into dudepaste.

Having no time to dodge, Zelgadis once again shields himself with stone. It's not as effective as just having stone skin had been back home, but so far it's proving to be pretty effective when it comes to lessening the damage he takes from these hard blows. He's still sent flying by the impact of course, but he's able to jump back to his feet relatively quickly. No doubt Darin will be able to close the gap between them quickly, so Zel needs to think fast.]

Guess I need to be more creative. How about this!?

[He extends his hand, but nothing visibly seems to happen. That is, until the wind picks up around Darin before abruptly stopping and going eerily still. Darin may begin to find that it's difficult to breathe, that's because Zelgadis is a ghoul and has removed all of the air from the immediate area where Darin is standing, including all of the oxygen. Now he just has to figure out how to keep Darin in the bullshit zone until he passes out from a lack of oxygen... That's probably easier said that done but he'll totally figure something out.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin staggers and croaks as the air is vacuumed from his lungs. Thinking about nothing more than self-preservation and the destruction he wishes to wreak, he starts channeling a series of strength buffs into his arms.]

[His arms and shoulders swell grotesquely as his raw power is doubled exponentially, then he throws his arms out wide.]

[With all of his stored and augmented might, Darin brings his arms in and claps so hard it sounds and feels like a bomb going off, the shockwave that ripples out flattening trees in the vicinity.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[Oh cool just when Darin couldn't get any fucked upper. Zelgadis had begun attempting to box Darin into the oxygen-free zone with some stone pillars, BUT, they don't stand a chance against whatever the actual fuck that was. Neither do the surrounding trees or the baffled chimera, who finds himself knocked flat on his back before he can even register what's going on. Ironically, Darin's attack knocks the air out of him, and though it only takes a couple moments, it takes Zelgadis way too long to recover and push himself back to his feet. The blood he's lost and the over all beating he's taking, on top of the energy he's spending on casting spells, is starting to take it's toll. He knows he won't be able to escape in his current state, and he doesn't have the energy to keep fighting like this.

This isn't going well.

Perhaps in an act of desperation, Zelgadis draws his sword again. He had no choice but to try to hold his ground, he had a feeling that surrendering wasn't going to do him any good here.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin had clearly had enough. In fact, Zelgadis was hardly even on his radar anymore. With Camelot in the distance, he rushes forward and swats Zel aside as he bounds by.]

[Sorry, Zel, but he's got mayhem to wreak.]

[heartlessswordsman]

[Zelgadis braces himself, swinging his sword uselessly as Darin comes up on him, but even if the blade had connected it wouldn't make any difference as Darin knocks him aside so easily. He'd consider himself lucky that Darin had decided to just ignore him rather than make sure he was dead before trundling off, if he hadn't been rendered unconscious after slamming into a fallen tree.

He's just gonna. Y'know. Be here for a couple days until he wakes up.]