Quest Post: Going Gorgon

[snekeyes]

WHO: Rider and OPEN
WHAT: Rider's snapped and transformed into her Avenger self, Gorgon, and is on the rampage. And now, a Quest has been put out to deal with her.
WHEN: First week of August
WHERE: Jungle of Judgement
WARNINGS: Fighting, Violence, Petrification, Death, Snakes, mentions of Power Abuse and Trauma (will add others in threads as needed)

[OOC: Plotting post for this ongoing plot is here! Old and new CR most welcome. First/second prompts are the fighty ones, third is the aftermath- let me know if you want to do anything specific so we can plot it out.]



They Would Come

The Jungle of Judgement...Gorgon had heard rumours about this place. A dense forest with unsteady terrain, where many dangerous monsters made their home.

Monsters, just like her.

Statues of some of those monsters, and the occasional curious human who had come too close, littered the area, along with bloody pieces of the ones she had already hunted.

They wouldn't find her here. The tree cover was thick enough that even a creature her size could try and keep itself concealed. But they would come, they always did. They would come, and they would try to destroy her. They were all a threat. To her, and to-...and to...

What was it she was meant to protect, here? In the red mist of her rage, she couldn't remember anymore.

Long hair that twisted into black serpents hissed, jaws snapping at any nearby movement- glowing grey-purple eyes surveying the area as her huge, naga-like body tensed up ready. Wings bristled, claws bared.

They would come.

And she would tear them apart if they tried.

Blood Fort Andromeda

Gorgon had underestimated how much mana this manifestation needed. That rage, that anger that power that blur of bloodlust and vengeance and hatred all eating away at her- she needed more than what hunting could give her.

This wasn't sustainable. Her body bled mana far too quickly.

One by one, she set sigils on the trunks of the nearby trees, each gleaming an eerie red. It would take time, for her blood to gather enough energy from the monsters here- but a lethargic, dense feeling soon settled in the air even as the ritual was prepared.

It was only a matter of time. Even as the bloodlust continued to fray at her mind. Were her sisters still here- safe- no, they were already...

Finally, she could unleash the power of Blood Fort Andromeda. A red haze descended over a wide area of the jungle, overseen by an eye-like orb, spreading its tendrils across to its borders in a wide dome.

A Bounded Field of blood. One that would slowly suck the life force of those who entered.

And there she waited, coiled and ready to strike at anyone who could survive even that to reach her.

Stay Night

By this time, the Blood Fort had faded. Gorgon was already wounded- but the destruction of the area around her, the splattering of her own blood and others, told enough of that story by itself.

...She gripped a torn strip of dark, bloodstained fabric in one clawed hand- trying to seek some comfort from it as she curled up to rest beside one of the only trees she hadn't damaged. Only then, the understanding of everything she'd caused truly started to break through the fog in her mind.

The haze of bloodlust and rage had finally cleared, yes, but it had left a wave of exhaustion and grief in its wake. And from here, alone and tired in this dense Jungle, what now?

They would come, but...let them.

The will to fight had already faded.