All Greek to Me
All Greek to Me
Fresh from their victory and the short rest it earned them, the Dimensional Warriors marched on their new intel toward the newly restored Zenith Point of Earth, located on Mount Olympus. What should have been a pleasure cruised through an idyllic and beautiful city however proved to instead be a mad dash through a war zone, as the forces of Gigyas had already moved into place there in hopes of seizing the point for themselves and were currently clashing with the resident defense forces. Under the guidance of Maeve, rather than plowing through the battle and bulldozing the enemy forces marshaled against them, a more subtle approach was taken. Leaving the Ascension well behind, they took a small craft in under the cover of the battle, and using a combination of clever distractions and stealth, neatly left behind the hoards of Star Men with barely a shot fired. Making their way into a temple, they came upon the ancient demigod hero Hercules, recently awakened from a long sleep guarding an even more ancient scythe. The Inevitable of Death Marut, also known as Stan, had unfortunately tricked Daedalus into helping him steal that scythe, and planned to use it to unleash the greatest of all titans, the monstrous Cronus who was imprisoned beneath Olympus.
'Joining' Hercules, or more accurately following him while he tried and failed to not be anywhere near them, they were confronted by twin trials of Athena, testing their wits with a triad of riddles involving flickering flames, invincible rope, and the grip of fear, and their mettle with a tense battle against her chosen stone guardians atop a greater enemy, a floor that was rapidly disappearing tile by tile. Those who had lingered behind could only stand and watch through the enchanted cage preventing outside interference. Easily vanquishing the statues with their skill and strength, and in one case simply tossing them out of the ring, the gladiators that had run ahead were faced with a special guest opponent, one of the dreaded Black Starmen that in the past had proven night impossible. This too fell before their might after a short but tense flurry of combat...
Despite their swift handling of the obstacles in their way, the arrival of good was too late to stem the progress of death, and the one who so espoused the glory of unstoppable death stood before them with the scythe in hand. Failing both to physically and verbally stop him, their only victory was a look into the automaton's motives; He had, quite simply, lost his mind in his purpose and decided to take it to the greatest extreme possible in hopes of creating some sort of balance, an unnatural death to all unnatural life as he put it. Not only would he slay any who sought immortality, he would kill anyone and anything that happened to be in the -area- where it occurred; As the Earth had recently been restored from a grievously destructive wound, this meant destroying it entirely as he deemed those returned from the cataclysm to be 'unfairly alive'.
~~
Scrambling to the resting place of Kronus, they tunneled their way through the Starman encampment to Olympus. (Someone else will need to flesh out this bit, I wasn't around for it)
~~
And then all hell broke loose, the horizon itself seeming to shrug upward as their worst fear, in the immediate future at least, was suddenly realized before them with the summoning of Kronus. Impossibly massive, his form stretched invincibly into the sky, towering above in a regrettably open bottomed armored skirt that would be his undoing. The battle was not so much a fight as a desperate dash, the Warriors unable to so much as pester the massive being from the outskirts of the zone it threatened, leaving them no choice but to skitter inward like mice while avoiding blasts of godly energy and flying rocks the size of monuments. Sometimes running, other times limping, and often carrying one another through the hell, they finally dove, at the expense of one jester hat, to the safety provided by the forge of Hephastus who lay dead at his anvil, beaten to death with his own hammer. Safe, for now, they stopped to catch their breath, strategize, prepare, and also figure out exactly what had happened at this former dwelling place of the gods. Hera had, it seemed, finally gone too far and slew a bastard son of Zeus, igniting a civil war between the gods that ended in their mutual destruction.
There was little time to grieve, and a much larger problem to face, and so they threaded their way through the underground tunnels to come up at Kronos from below, where his own great size afforded them some protection. The opening blow of the battle was... The end of any hopes the titan may have had for more children, and at the behest of Maeve, the triplicate of Kuja, Sis, and Jack O'Neil raining magical destruction and trinitroperhydric plastic explosives on the exposed universal weak point of the titanic patriarch, bringing him, as would be expected, to his knees. This left him wide open for the GDI's contribution, slamming his exposed choke point from behind with the biggest baddest cannon they could find. Less than chivalrous but highly effective, the beast was briefly down for the count, giving the others time to scale him like the mountain he truly was. Lezard was able to determine that the beast was being kept on this plane by three necromantic runes of great power, one of which Hercules was quick to smash to bits with Hephestus' hammer. While the rest of the team climbed about on the beast to keep him distracted, Daedalus carried Jericho up to make a beeline for the second of the runes in its crown, while Kuja pelted the third with comets. With the help of a timely save by Speiros, Mara avoided being turned into mermaid jelly, and with a quick casting of Feather Fall, Lezard was able to avoid a similar fate as the lurching foe swatted them away like fleas. Finally, torn and savaged from every angle, with his magical link to the world destroyed, the beast that threatened even the Gods finally went down with a crash. His final end came fittingly from the heavens, a bombardment including an orbital strike that obliterated the ancient behemoth in a flash of blue.
Marut seemingly took his loss well, expressing no ill feelings toward the Warriors for interfering and insisting he would simply have to try again next time. He offered to let them go without a fight, as long as they in turn didn't try to hamper him. Considering his power, it was the only sane thing to do. Naturally, it was certain death to attempt otherwise.
Naturally, they did just the opposite. Unable to sway him from his off kilter plans of genocide, the Warriors braced down to do the impossible and kill Death itself.. Sephiroth attempted a gambit, playing the Inevitable of Justice against that of Death in hopes that a violation of his brothers will would cause him to stand down; to his surprise as much as anyone elses, Zelekhut indeed emerged from the aether to enforce his will, giving Marut his own ultimatum; Come quietly or be destroyed. As the two squared up to do battle, the warriors quickly seized the Zenith Point they had originally come for, before rushing back to the aid of Inevitable that -wasn't- going to kill the universe against the one that was...
Fighting an impossible, desperate battle, they called on all their wits, all their strength, all their strategy and a fair helping of sheer divine luck, holding their own despite the incredible, monstrous power of the scythe-wielding clockwork they fought. They started strong, but the power difference started to slowly catch up with them, the casualties coming fast and hard despite their surprisingly effective efforts to slow it and protect one another. The battle wore on and one, perhaps surprising even Marut as those he considered so vastly inferior actually managed to harm him, on several occasions severely, and on others barely avoiding death themselves. Their skill was great though, their cause just, and their heroism absolute... In the end, perhaps out of surprise, out of worry, or just boredom, who can guess at the whim and motivations of death; But incredibly, impossibly, Marut, the Inevitable of Death, the great slayer, the masterpiece of Urza... Fled.
Left on an empty battlefield, the Warriors stared in a mixture of shock, confusion, and to some small part, relief, slowly relaxing their guards as it became clear the escape was just that and not a ploy or feint. But with an enemy such as the one they had been facing, simply surviving could be counted as nothing short of a victory. Scratching their heads and picking up the pieces of their scattered forces to be patched back together, they made camp for the night and discussed their next move...
'Joining' Hercules, or more accurately following him while he tried and failed to not be anywhere near them, they were confronted by twin trials of Athena, testing their wits with a triad of riddles involving flickering flames, invincible rope, and the grip of fear, and their mettle with a tense battle against her chosen stone guardians atop a greater enemy, a floor that was rapidly disappearing tile by tile. Those who had lingered behind could only stand and watch through the enchanted cage preventing outside interference. Easily vanquishing the statues with their skill and strength, and in one case simply tossing them out of the ring, the gladiators that had run ahead were faced with a special guest opponent, one of the dreaded Black Starmen that in the past had proven night impossible. This too fell before their might after a short but tense flurry of combat...
Despite their swift handling of the obstacles in their way, the arrival of good was too late to stem the progress of death, and the one who so espoused the glory of unstoppable death stood before them with the scythe in hand. Failing both to physically and verbally stop him, their only victory was a look into the automaton's motives; He had, quite simply, lost his mind in his purpose and decided to take it to the greatest extreme possible in hopes of creating some sort of balance, an unnatural death to all unnatural life as he put it. Not only would he slay any who sought immortality, he would kill anyone and anything that happened to be in the -area- where it occurred; As the Earth had recently been restored from a grievously destructive wound, this meant destroying it entirely as he deemed those returned from the cataclysm to be 'unfairly alive'.
~~
Scrambling to the resting place of Kronus, they tunneled their way through the Starman encampment to Olympus. (Someone else will need to flesh out this bit, I wasn't around for it)
~~
And then all hell broke loose, the horizon itself seeming to shrug upward as their worst fear, in the immediate future at least, was suddenly realized before them with the summoning of Kronus. Impossibly massive, his form stretched invincibly into the sky, towering above in a regrettably open bottomed armored skirt that would be his undoing. The battle was not so much a fight as a desperate dash, the Warriors unable to so much as pester the massive being from the outskirts of the zone it threatened, leaving them no choice but to skitter inward like mice while avoiding blasts of godly energy and flying rocks the size of monuments. Sometimes running, other times limping, and often carrying one another through the hell, they finally dove, at the expense of one jester hat, to the safety provided by the forge of Hephastus who lay dead at his anvil, beaten to death with his own hammer. Safe, for now, they stopped to catch their breath, strategize, prepare, and also figure out exactly what had happened at this former dwelling place of the gods. Hera had, it seemed, finally gone too far and slew a bastard son of Zeus, igniting a civil war between the gods that ended in their mutual destruction.
There was little time to grieve, and a much larger problem to face, and so they threaded their way through the underground tunnels to come up at Kronos from below, where his own great size afforded them some protection. The opening blow of the battle was... The end of any hopes the titan may have had for more children, and at the behest of Maeve, the triplicate of Kuja, Sis, and Jack O'Neil raining magical destruction and trinitroperhydric plastic explosives on the exposed universal weak point of the titanic patriarch, bringing him, as would be expected, to his knees. This left him wide open for the GDI's contribution, slamming his exposed choke point from behind with the biggest baddest cannon they could find. Less than chivalrous but highly effective, the beast was briefly down for the count, giving the others time to scale him like the mountain he truly was. Lezard was able to determine that the beast was being kept on this plane by three necromantic runes of great power, one of which Hercules was quick to smash to bits with Hephestus' hammer. While the rest of the team climbed about on the beast to keep him distracted, Daedalus carried Jericho up to make a beeline for the second of the runes in its crown, while Kuja pelted the third with comets. With the help of a timely save by Speiros, Mara avoided being turned into mermaid jelly, and with a quick casting of Feather Fall, Lezard was able to avoid a similar fate as the lurching foe swatted them away like fleas. Finally, torn and savaged from every angle, with his magical link to the world destroyed, the beast that threatened even the Gods finally went down with a crash. His final end came fittingly from the heavens, a bombardment including an orbital strike that obliterated the ancient behemoth in a flash of blue.
Marut seemingly took his loss well, expressing no ill feelings toward the Warriors for interfering and insisting he would simply have to try again next time. He offered to let them go without a fight, as long as they in turn didn't try to hamper him. Considering his power, it was the only sane thing to do. Naturally, it was certain death to attempt otherwise.
Naturally, they did just the opposite. Unable to sway him from his off kilter plans of genocide, the Warriors braced down to do the impossible and kill Death itself.. Sephiroth attempted a gambit, playing the Inevitable of Justice against that of Death in hopes that a violation of his brothers will would cause him to stand down; to his surprise as much as anyone elses, Zelekhut indeed emerged from the aether to enforce his will, giving Marut his own ultimatum; Come quietly or be destroyed. As the two squared up to do battle, the warriors quickly seized the Zenith Point they had originally come for, before rushing back to the aid of Inevitable that -wasn't- going to kill the universe against the one that was...
Fighting an impossible, desperate battle, they called on all their wits, all their strength, all their strategy and a fair helping of sheer divine luck, holding their own despite the incredible, monstrous power of the scythe-wielding clockwork they fought. They started strong, but the power difference started to slowly catch up with them, the casualties coming fast and hard despite their surprisingly effective efforts to slow it and protect one another. The battle wore on and one, perhaps surprising even Marut as those he considered so vastly inferior actually managed to harm him, on several occasions severely, and on others barely avoiding death themselves. Their skill was great though, their cause just, and their heroism absolute... In the end, perhaps out of surprise, out of worry, or just boredom, who can guess at the whim and motivations of death; But incredibly, impossibly, Marut, the Inevitable of Death, the great slayer, the masterpiece of Urza... Fled.
Left on an empty battlefield, the Warriors stared in a mixture of shock, confusion, and to some small part, relief, slowly relaxing their guards as it became clear the escape was just that and not a ploy or feint. But with an enemy such as the one they had been facing, simply surviving could be counted as nothing short of a victory. Scratching their heads and picking up the pieces of their scattered forces to be patched back together, they made camp for the night and discussed their next move...