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

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

🧙 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)

Threaded | Flat

[ That's a frightful amount of noise outside. Adela can't help frowning as she moves to her window, only to stop as she now more clearly hears screaming, feels the ground trembling beneath her feet, and sees... Something. She really doesn't know how to describe it, it looks vaguely familiar but also so, so monstrous.

What it looks like doesn't matter as much as that it seems to be going after people and destroying the city. Without thought further than that, Adela grabs her sword and books it to where she sees it going. Maybe from here she can lure it to the training grounds?

She has to try. ]

HEY! This way!

[ In hindsight, Adela will probably berate herself on this being a terrible idea. For now, she figures she can at least be fast enough to evade this... Creature? Before trying to take it down. Who knows if getting its attention even worked, though. ]

[[ OoC: Darin, I'm sorry that one of your apprentices is a hard-head and does not look before she leaps. If someone's wanting to thread-jack, I'm planning on having Adela sustain a couple of injuries from this (dislocated shoulder and bruised ribs but nothing permanent). She's NOT going to be able to do much in terms of stopping Darin right now. ]]

[Zelgadis wasn't interested in trying to stop Caster from fighting whoever the hell it was she was pissed at. It wasn't his business, he didn't really care. Sometimes you just need to go get revenge on someone, he gets it. That's not to say that he was ignoring the entire situation, though.

He had been a bit nonchalant while asking Caster about Darin, but in reality, he really was worried. So much so that he was heading out on his own to find the idiot. He's really not thrilled that someone that he considers a friend was caught up in someone else's bullshit...and he's even less thrilled when he finally comes across Darin. He'd seen a familiar fusion before, but it hadn't been anywhere near this violent, this terrifying. Whatever Darin's yelling about catches Zelgadis completely off guard, but one thing is certainly clear; Darin isn't at all in his right mind right now.]

Darin!! Snap out of it! Tch, like that ever works...

[Clearly is doesn't work this time either, since now Darin's charging him like a pissed off bear. Zelgadis draws his sword, but rather than try dodging, he attempts to block Darin's path with a wall of stone using his elemental magic. He half doesn't expect it to stop him, but hey, this is a good way to get a feel for what Darin's capable of.]

Edited 2021-06-10 01:15 (UTC)

[What do you do to soothe a soul whose greatest fear has come true?

It's a question Marianne has been pondering since she learned that the monster that tore through Camelot was Darin. By all accounts he was hardly lucid or fully aware, and Marianne personally can't fault him too much if that's truly the case. However, she suspects he won't give himself that same degree of grace and forgiveness.

She remembers their conversation during the Trials well, how he had mentioned that Camelot had become a place of comfort and solace for him, how it let him side-step the fate waiting for him back home. Surely, that feeling has been all but obliterated now.

Her heart breaks for him. She cannot leave him alone in his time of need.

Even though she has yet to come up with a good answer, Marianne is giving it her best shot by trying to make sure he eats. Goddess knows she hardly does when troubled. She arrives at Forge Ahead with soup, bread, and a bit of her dried lavender. The last item isn't for eating--it's to help his nerves. That's what she uses it for.

She finds him pounding away at... something... and clears her throat to announce her presence.]

Darin? It's me, Marianne.

Edited (forgot the subject line) 2021-06-10 02:24 (UTC)

[ Luke had kept to his word: that he was only going to interfere on Darin's behalf. Fortunately, he hadn't even needed to do that much; he came up on the scene as Darin was bolting away, forcing him to immediately about face, chasing after him. Without being able to sense him, Luke lost sight of him quickly, and he cursed quietly, doing his best to follow the general direction he last saw him going. ]

[ He broke out through the trees, just in time to see something blue disappear over a nearby hill. His feet were pounding after him in the next moment; he knew he was in shape, considering he still did the same exercises he did on Dagobah, but Darin still was outpacing him easily. Later, when they were safe and everything was back to normal, he was going to make sure to get whatever training regimine he was doing. ]

[ At the very least, he wasn't out of breath by the time he finally caught up, spotting Darin collapsed on his knees and screaming. Luke hurried to run up to him, to try and calm him down, but a pressure on his arm made him stop dead. His head snapped down to see his familiar curled around his arm -- almost like it would be grabbing him to hold him back if it were a person. The black scales felt cold, brittlely protective, red eyes looking fiercer than usual, and the krayt dragon let out a hiss that was a clear don't get any closer. His mouth was posed to ask why, when everything went so utterly wrong. ]

[ Luke could only stand there and stare at the horror that was unfolding before him, eyes widening with each twist of Darin's limbs and horrific scream that rips from his throat. Not even the rancor had caught him this off guard, and he found himself taking a step back, trying to ignore the trembling in his knees as the towering monstrosity took its final shape, his mouth going dry with a fear he hadn't felt in a long time. ]

Darin...?

[ That was a mistake. ]

[ The utterance had been soft, so much so that he wasn't even sure if he said it or thought it. But it was apparently loud enough for the creature Darin had become to hear. Glowing green eyes snapped on him immediately, and for a moment, Luke felt frozen in place, scared and terrified and not sure what he was supposed to do against that. ]

[ He snapped out of it when the creature came barrelling toward him, just in time to throw himself out of the way, rolling as the creature's fist hit the ground where he was so hard he could feel it shake like a ground quake. Luke rolled up to his feet, throwing his cloak off so he would have more maneuverability if it came to a fight, but his hand only lingered over his lightsaber, reluctant to pull it on someone that was clearly not in their right mind. ]

Darin, snap out of it!

[Hawk definitely heard the commotion even if he didn't get himself involved in the nonsense with Caster. It's rather hard to miss for one who is in the city at the time. Lucky for that group of terrified people, he's able to use some magic in time to stop that chunk of street from hitting them.]

Hey, how about you pick on someone who is a worthy opponent and would enjoy it more?

[And with that, he's going to pull out his swords and be ready for Darin's attack. Hopefully that will work to get the attention drawn towards him rather than people who can't fight.]

[Dromas. Now that is a name Allura recognizes.]

[As it so happens, Allura is not the target of the first charge. She had come seeking Darin, expecting him to still be a hostage in captivity, right up until she heard his voice echoing through the woods. Followed by screaming, and unearthly sounds. And at that point, she's already taken a sharp detour to find the source, fretting over what kind of scene she'll be coming across.]

[After all, it wasn't impossible that Dromas could show up here, was it? And the learning curve for magic was not so steep that he couldn't quickly put it to malicious ends. And that was assuming that this encounter was following the established rules of this realm and its magic. Were there abilities that even it could not suppress? What if this, too, was somehow part of Caster's conspiring?]

[With no time to sit around and speculate, she's hurrying, Scrambling through the trees, towards the sound of combat. Already, her bayard is drawn but not transformed, merely held at the ready in preparation for the worst that she might encounter.]

[But she stops and nearly stumbles back when she finally lays eyes on him: The form of a behemoth, barely more than a silhouette through the trees, nearly unrecognizable save for the mane of hair on his head.]

Darin, how...?

[For once, she's hesitating to charge at him, both because it feels at odds with the whole rescue mission plan, and because whoever is fighting him is having a really bad time. She needs to stand back and figure out what's going on here before she rushes to attack.]

[He's a vision of rage. There has to be a way to calm him down. But he's not about to sit down and listen to reason.]

[What if he didn't have a choice but to listen? She takes cover behind a tree, and sends him a telepathic message.]

Darin? Is that you?

[She knows it is, but that's not the point. It's one-way telepathy. She needs to observe how he responds to know if it's working.]

Darin, you need to stop this. You need to calm down!

Edited 2021-06-10 07:12 (UTC)

[ Yiiikes. A few inches to the right and that hammer would have hit her face! Maribelle grimaces, trying not to think about that - nor get angry, which is the greater challenge - before clearing her throat. ]

... I'd ask if this was a bad time, but then again, I doubt there will be a "good time" soon.

[ On the day of the... Well, let's call it what it was. The rampage... Momo had done her best to evacuate civilians who unluckily found themselves in Darin's path. The destruction he caused was extensive, but Momo knew that when he came to his senses, he would want to know that the casualties were kept to a minimum.

As she expected, in the days following the incident, Darin was subdued, quiet, clearly ashamed of what had befallen him. He sent Momo out on deliveries, rather than going and helping himself. Having seen the witch woman's post, Momo has some idea of why things happened the way they did, but it pains her to see Darin this way. She knows that eventually, it's going to reach a breaking point.

Which it seems to, when he throws a hammer and it embeds itself into the wall. ]

Darin-san... [ She frowns, her voice timid. ] Will you please talk to me? I can help.

[On the night of the rampage Hijikata heard Darin's horrible screams even over the sounds of the forest fire, but he was locked in battle with Caster, knowing he had only one hour to defeat her before both their familiar fusions would come apart, hoping that others would find and aid Darin while he had her distracted (not that he was the only one who came for her). In the end he was taken out much before the hour was up, and after that he was unconscious for a long time as both his injuries and the fusion spell demanded their price.

When he came to his senses he found that he, along with some others who went down in the fray, had been collected and patched up by volunteer healers, so he immediately caught up with what had since been posted on AOL. Sure enough there was some shaky footage of the antlion beast tearing through the city, plus many first-hand accounts of the devastation he brought. At that time Hijikata didn't know what to think of it, other than "Caster caused this".

After confirming that both she and Darin survived the incident he waffles over whether he should give Darin space and just send a text message, but overhearing some workers talk about how a bunch of newly forged tools was donated gives him the push to go check on him in person. When he arrives at the forge Darin's hammer throw seems to make the entire hill shake, but he doesn't even blink (he's used to dodging bazooka rockets, after all). He lifts up his sheathed sword.]

Hey, are you open for business? Last month was really rough on Muramasha.

[As soon as Mukuro had seen Caster's broadcast, she grabbed her weaponry and rushed out to try and find Darin. After all, she had no intention of giving the witch a heads up she was coming, and could tell quickly that the woman wouldn't listen to reason. Her priority was getting in and getting Darin out, hopefully whilst Caster was distracted posturing at the Network.

By the time she got to the outskirts of the woods though- that was when she saw Darin emerge atop the hill, starting to scream, punch the ground-

It reminded her of those brainwashed by Despair back in her world, how the Remnants behaved when the despair infested them and they began to tear apart the rest of the world...especially that look in his eyes.]

Darin- Darin what's wrong-?!

['Dromas'? Who was that? Before she could even yell, though, he started to painfully change- was that thing burrowing into him? That was unnerving in itself, and with a whistle to call Fenrir, just in time to see him charging right for them.]

Darin!

[She rolled aside, the hellhound joining her in the shadows as she drew her knife, ready to fight back.]

[Mukuro had been rushing around trying to involve herself with the repair efforts- her military training certainly served her well, even if she continued to make bad excuses about having to do manual labor as part of her fashion shoots.

...She was too distracted to make a better excuse, and she knew exactly why. She was worried, dammit all.

And so, she came back to the forge that afternoon with a bag of pastries and a takeaway tea from the cafe down the road- just in time to see that hammer impact the wall.]

...Darin? Hey, take a break already- you've not eaten yet, right?

[Keith had been on his way to investigate the heavy smoke when he heard the screaming. It definitely wasn't a good sound, and he picked up his pace to a run, only to spot... something charging out of the woods and heading towards Camelot. His brain didn't immediately identify what, or who, he was seeing beyond a large creature that looked angry, could potentially be a threat to the city, and might have possibly caused that fire.

He clenched his jaw, drawing his sword, and prepared to stop this "monster" from attacking Camelot.]

[Barbara doesn't know Caster and doesn't know what this Grail War is. What she does know is that Caster has taken Darin, and also has set fire to part of the forest that Barbara lives in. There isn't any question about what to do: arm up and put a stop to it.

Fire is easy to track. Darin's very, very loud voice is also, and Barbara breaks into a run, arriving just in time to see Darin and his familiar... merge. It is not a pleasant sight. Barbara can only stare as Darin rises, ten feet tall and monstrous...

...and enraged.

who is droma? what did he take? it doesn't matter, she has to get darin and his familiar to, well. not do whatever they intend to do. when the darin-antlion amalgamation rushes her, Barbara's instinct is to go UP, and she does.]

DARIN! LYON!

[When Zidane gets back from his own happenings in the month, he doesn't even ask questions. Really, shit just seems to be happening in Camelot often enough that seeing construction was just going to be a common thing to get used to. Does he find out what happened? Well, duh, it's on the network - there's some internet scrolling to see what he missed, but is he going to comment at this point? Nah...]

[Instead, Darin would find his door kicked open at the forge though. Is he asking questions about the hammer? Nope! He has food and a few drinks and his bright face.]

Guess who's back!? Also, I'll fix your door later.

[~~Read the room, Zidane.~~]

[ It's about time she sees Darin again.

It's been a few days, and Adela's recovered noticeably. She's gotten her shoulder healed (if only because she knows Darin will feel worse about it if he has to see the injury), and while it can still be difficult to breathe if she works herself too hard she feels like her chest injury is doing better without help. And, while she's a little hesitant, she knows she has to see for herself that he's okay.

Seeing him throwing a hammer into a wall isn't a good start.

It's not like she doesn't get why. Even if he wasn't aware of what was happening (which honestly she has no idea if that's true, though the fact that she couldn't communicate with him at all is a pretty big indicator), he's got to be feeling terrible. She can't really blame him for that.

Finally, she quietly makes to sit next to him, her voice soft in an attempt to get his attention. ]

Hello, Darin. It... It has been a while.

[At one point, she had thought she would check in right away. The same day, possibly, if she could track down where he had run off to.]

[But there's a few reasons why Allura's taken so long to check back in on him, starting with the fact that she needed the time to recover herself. Once the dust had settled and all the magic and adrenaline left Allura's system, she had found her body in worse condition than expected. And while normally she would resist taking proper time to rest, the thought of Darin seeing her in such sorry shape and holding himself responsible? That was enough to convince her to stay in her room and sleep it off.]

[Besides that, though, she was curious if he would take the initiative and check in on her. That last word — that goodbye — still hangs ominously in her memory.]

[But even she had more than a few doubts that he would, given that there would be a lot on his plate after all the chaos. So, she doesn't take it personally when he never shows up, and once most of her strength is recovered, she heads out to visit him instead.]

[Which has brought her here, knocking on the door to the forge. And then opening it, and peeking her head inside, as if she's not certain she'll be welcomed in.]

Darin? Are you in?

[Maybe that's a silly question, but after he left the hotel, she wasn't certain where he moved. She only know that this is where he works.]

[Makoto had just been ready to wind down for the night, going over the feed when... oh. Oh crap. She had no idea who this Caster or Archer were- and here she thought she'd outrun powerful, vengeful witches in this world- but they didn't matter right now. All she knows is that Darin's in trouble.

She doesn't even bother to respond to Caster's diatribe, plenty of people were handling that already. Right now, her focus is on two things: finding Darin, and stopping him. Kaede gallops at her side as she runs through the street, adrenaline serving as a good substitute for Jupiter's might as she hears... something. A roar or a cry... her eyes widen as she turns and charges towards the sound.]

Darin!!!

[A couple of days have passed since Darin's fun rampage through town, and ya boi Zelgadis simply hasn't been around. Why is that, you may ask? Is it because he's angry at Darin for attacking him? Nope. Perhaps he was assisting with the clean up efforts? Wrong again, douchebag. No, he's been out in the woods, unconscious and bleeding.

But now he's awake, cranky, and late in the evening he's kicking in the door of Darin's forge. He's covered practically from head to toe in dried blood and dirt, an arm hanging uselessly at his side as he storms inside.]

There you are, squid for brains! What were you thinking, getting captured by that crazy witch!? I oughta smack the dumbass out of you--

[Which he begins to approach to do, but he doesn't even make it two steps before collapsing and falling face first into the floor.

So, that's how his day is going.]

Edited 2021-06-15 16:03 (UTC)

Threaded | Flat

B - City Escape (Thread-Jacking Welcome)

A :) (Thread jacking welcome!!)

C. T_T

A (probably gonna segue into C with handy dandy time skips)

B

A-ish (as a starting point, thread-jacking encouraged)

Lockdown