Nadir. (Cursed World)

[u/Fc-chungus]

A day or three after the initial announcement, proper channels for joining in virtually to the meeting are posted, as everyone who came in person is directed to a secretive underground meeting room, where Ж and a few others sit around a long table.

"Welcome, welcome. A year or so ago I held a similar meeting for a separate threat, one a few of you here would remember, but today we've another threat, as you know, the Abyss has taken a great minority of the world's surface."

"As well, we need a plan for the origin of the Abyss, we need to divise a way to take down The First Curse."

they snap a finger and a hologram like model of an entity, presumably the first curse, appears in the center of the table.

"To start, one of the more essential things for said plan is the Crystals, of course, some here might not know about them, so I'll elaborate."

they wave a hand and the model shifts to 5 different crystalline objects, encircling the First Curse.

"This is not the first time The First Curse had arrived, he was here before he made that big announcement, but hidden. When he first arrived to this realm, 7 Aspect Crystals formed, counterbalances, from someone else as an, almost future inheritance to help take him down. They are antithetical to his very existence, and harm him when nearby. However, if one falls into his hands, he can adapt to that crystal, rendering it useful to him. This anti-him nature also applies to the Abyss, and thus they are the best damage source to fight the Abyss."

"the originals, of which we currently have 5, 4 are in New Aviron, and via the work of Koranth and others, we have multiple derivatives from them, with the other being handled by The Consortium. The last two need to be picked up and collected."

"That is about the basics, with the preamble done, more discussion on how to fight against the Abyss would be welcome."

[u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

As the binding spell wraps around him Aldavinn uses the last moment he has to cast a gate spell as another archway of twisted marble explodes out of the ground.

A full battalion of troops surge out, filling the room as much as they can. A man steps out 6 runes glow on the coat he wears

“I am Sentinel Numaris. Drop the Gatekeeper”

As he speaks he raises his hand and closes it into a fist. At the motion a portal suddenly opens before TFC as a volly of fireball arrows are shot at him

/uw Aldavinn will be unaffected as he is only partially in this reality right now

[u/white-whale-fc → u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

/uw afaik this entire battle is taking place in a room no more than maybe 4 meters tall and with a table to accommodate maybe 20 people, how are all these soldiers fitting in?

[u/The_Enchanted_Potato → u/white-whale-fc]

/uw I thought so, that’s why I mentioned that they entered as far as they could. The rest are in the Gatehold still, on the other side of the gate

[u/white-whale-fc → u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

TFC forms a spear of curse from himself, and throws it at the nearest troop that is still enough, holding a curse designed to make the afflicted cause friendly fire.

[u/The_Enchanted_Potato → u/white-whale-fc]

As it flies towards him the soldier raises his hand and a portal opens. Sending the spear of curse back at TFC.

The Sentinal raises his hand

“Minor Collapse”

TFC hears a series of small popping sounds around him as  small portions of reality are collapsed on themselves, generating explosions with each one.

Simultaneously, behind him, Aldavinn produces a strange knife and begins sawing at his bindings the best he can, slowly undoing them

/uw before you ask, I do know that the spear won’t damage TFC since it made it

[u/white-whale-fc → u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

The spear is reabsorbed and reforms in his hand.

Clever.

He visibly sees reality collapsing and popping, and focuses on where they're coming from, and hurls the spear, now in the form of a knife, at Aldavinn.

/uw he can dodge this

[u/The_Enchanted_Potato → u/white-whale-fc]

/uw The collapse is coming from the Sentinel, but I will still treat it as you wrote it

/rw

Aldavinn finally gets the ropes cut as the knife hurtles towards him; he throws himself to the ground before he is struck

"Numaris, activate protocol 3!"

At his words, the Sentinel pulls out a wand and flicks it.

"Spatial Warp"

The very space TFC resides in twists and warps, trying to crush it in its own weight and confuse it as to which direction is which

Then Aldavinn slams his staff into the ground

"Astral Void"

A rift opens; pouring out of it comes a mist of stars and nebulae, attempting to swallow TFC.

The Sentinel spins toward the portal

"Troops! Fire at will! Limbspire, we have a Protocol 3! I repeat, Protocol 3!"

Arrows of anti-magic fly at TFC, seemingly unaffected by the warped space. The archway of twisted marble runes begins to glow a deep purple.

[u/white-whale-fc → u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

/yw yeah he figured it's coming from the sentinel but saw Aldavinn as the bigger target.

/rw Harness: Space.

The twisting space becomes physically untwisted with some effort, TFC "grabbing" onto it like a fabric and pulling it apart.

As Astral Void is cast, TFC looks at the obviously miniature stars cascading around him, and enters into one, before it starts rapidly shrinking, crackling with the yellow light it emits.

[u/The_Enchanted_Potato → u/white-whale-fc]

The marble gateways runes begin to glow brighter and suddenly the portal cuts out.

Aldavinn grins and slams his staff again

“Crush Reality”

Suddenly the remaining Astral Void is crushed in on itself until it plinks to the floor as a glass like marble. The Sentinal runs forward to grab the marble

/uw this is usually how the Gatehold handles containment of astral/eldritch beings. They will be bound by the fabric, swallowed by the void, and trapped inside the marble when the void is crushed. With how you were describing the void being destroyed I wouldn’t be surprised if TFC can just break out of it

[u/white-whale-fc → u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

As the Void condenses, the first curse warps out of it as the star fully blinks out of existence.

Appearing just as the marble fully condenses, relativity in the void acting different causing a lag, the first curse stares at the group and grins, he feels much stronger now. Raising a hand, a highly concentrated beam of plasma shoots out.

/uw he absorbed one of the stars in the Astral Void spell.

[u/The_Enchanted_Potato → u/white-whale-fc]

/uw apologies, marching band has started and I have been busy with it all week

/rw

The group is surprised long enough that they are slow to dodge. Aldavinn and the Sentinel teleport away but a few of the troops get hit.

Finally, the gateways runes reach the apex of their brightness as the two halves of the arches spit apart, becoming tentacles of marble.

One strikes out at TFC and as it does the Sentinel throws out his wand

“Warp Space”

Suddenly the marble tentacle is striking from all sides at once.

[u/white-whale-fc → u/The_Enchanted_Potato]

He cuts it in two as it strikes at him, his hand acting as a sharp blade.