Dream Engine: Beta Tester…. D.C. Comics

Lash deflected the sword from the warrior in front of him with his shield before raising his right hand up and shot a arcane arrow straight into the mans face. The man screamed and fell to his knee's, the essence of his life flying into Lash. Lash collapsed in a huff of sweat, blood, and depression. How many times did he have to do this? How does his patron gleam entertainment from this! Why is he chosen for such an existence!? He had enough!

“ENOUGH!” Lash sprung up from his bed, looking around the dark bedroom. Sweat was pouring from his body. He slowed his breathing and fell back against his bed sheets. Another dream, another set of memories, another life. He looked at his night stand, 4:30 am he groaned in desperation. Before standing up and heading to his bathroom, only to pause half way there....

Congratulations User! Through your past life experiences as well as your current life's education your knowledge of magic and combat has grown. Combat be it physically, or magically will take 2% less energy to preform...

Lash growled in irritation, he had lost track of how many lives he had lived. How many times he had died. Remembering your past lives is not all its cracked up to be. He went to his shower and turned on the water. A comfortable combination of hot and cold. Leaning his head into the spray of water he tried to clear his head. He was in the here and now, not in the then and there. Out of all his lives, this one so far was one of the better ones. At least he had time to orient himself, at least he had friends here. Then another flash of a memory long past...

Lash loaded another shell into his shotgun, slipping it away he loaded his assault rifle. Then taking a deep breath he barreled out of the door and unloaded a clip into a multi limped creature from space. Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam! The creature screamed as its chest caved in.

“No! I'm not here! I'm not here!” Lash screamed!

Lash found himself curled up into a ball in his shower, he quickly finished his shower and stepped out. Only to see another prompt. It was at this time that Erik the gamer felt bad that he had wrote this kind of background for his avatar.

Congratulations User! Because of your past life experiences you've learned the skill, Basic Weapon Master: With the lives you have lived, with the lives you have taken, with the tools you have used? You now have a basic understanding of weapons from Ancient, to Mundane, to Magical, to Science Fiction! We are so sorry that you've lived such an eternity. Good luck.

Lash stood in his bedroom and laughed, a long depressing sound as tears rolled down his cheeks. He laughed and cried for a few minutes before Saurian activated Calm Emotions Lash was thankful as he settled and returned to the present. He put on some simple morning cloths and left his bedroom. He deactivated his homes shutters and greeted a....Cold winter and snowy day. Yay! Still pitch black outside he looked up and saw dark storm clouds. A perfect day to just sit inside and not go any where! Unfortunately he could not do that today. He made a hearty breakfast, then went to his art studio and did a few practice pieces. Thanks to this achievement bonus his art work had taken on a life of its own. The phrase 'Idle Hands' came up several times. Then some insight sparked in his mind and he went and carved a piece of wood into a mask.

The mask was simple, and made with an ash wood. As he was carving it as his finger tips began to smolder as he accidentally activated...

Nature Domain Spell, Burning: Some mages throw fire balls, some engineers make a flame thrower, you. You just skip all the fan fare and move right to the end result. You burn things, sometimes to mold, melt, and combine. Other times to destroy, ruin, and kill. It will be your choice how you use this.

His finger tips carved into the wooden mask, his burning fingers creating a mockery of lines and abstract art. The entire mask was horrid! But, Lash didn't think he was making art. He was experimenting. Lifting the mask up in the air to look at his failure as well as his success. Then he shivered as another spell was subconsciously activated...

Nature Domain Spell, Decomposition: Life and Death are a part of Nature. But what happens to the 'body' after we die? It falls to ruin, and is harvested once more. For nothing is ever truly destroyed, just changed be it for the better or for the worse. You can now help this cycle, but what can be brought to ruin will only be limited to you. Remember, nature is neither good or evil, it just is.

Lash watched as the mask aged, rotted, and fell apart to ash. But he also felt that natural energy was re absorbed by the world to be used at a later time. So he had become the ultimate recycling tool. Lash was, actually kinda happy about that. He quickly cleaned up his studio and went back to his kitchen. He found a piece of plastic and wanted to see...Yep! He could decompose the plastic as well. He had done this with the roots during the interrogation but didn't realize it was a spell. Maybe he just didn't understand it back then. Then he shuddered, could he do this to things while they were alive? He shook his head back and forth. He'd come to that at another time.

Lash moved to his bathroom and cleaned up, went to his closet and put on a nice tailored made gray suit, with a coat vest and red tie. He looked at himself in the full length mirror, he looked good all be it a bit sinister. His tribal tattoo only covered a small portion but it gave his whole body a dangerous vibe. Lash was 6' 4” with a well defined muscle toned body. Nothing like Booraku. But he was impressive, he naturally had blue eyes but they had shifted between blue, green, to combination of both in the form of a reptilian eyes. His skin was healthy pink like a human who was active but didn't get a lot of sun. Pretty normal in a Gotham Winter. It was 7:00 am now, he was going to the Shield and Sword office today with in Gotham. He was suppose to meet with his primary liaison / lawyer today. He left his bedroom, picked up a wrapped gift on his hallway table, and placed it inside his coat. It was a gift to Samantha, he was meeting her today as well at the office. It was a gold, and obsidian stone necklace that had a bit of Nature energy in it. No spells, just the essence. He found that the effect would help invigorate people.

Lash set his alarm, and locked up his home as he left. He took the stairs this time, trying to keep the habit though at this point he wasn't sure he needed it. Getting to the main floor, he left through the front door and hailed a cab. Telling them where to go, and on he went. The cab drive whistled at his suit but kept to himself after that. Lash's eyes flashed reptilian for a moment as Saurian took in the driver. The driver for his credit actually shivered subconsciously realized something dangerous was looking at him but didn't know from where. Saurian had been doing that lately, reading people. Objectively analyzing their weakness and strengths in case something happened. Lash had cast a very minor glamour around his eyes so that if the change did happen no mundanes would see it. It had worked...So far.

After about forty five minutes Lash stepped out of the cab, he had paid with a twenty dollar tip. The drive smiled happily and said goodbye. Lash looked up at a tall high rise building. Shield and Sword had their fingers...Or claws in a lot of different businesses. Not as much as Wayne Enterprises. But they were definitely a global face. He found out that Torloth ran the Global Law Firm aspect while his brother and sisters ran the other sections. Because they were a global company they had branches in major cities across the world. They were primarily a neutral faction in the world of Super-Natural Societies. But, being neutral didn't mean they were push overs. Or, that they didn't have their talons in all sorts of deals, investments, and faction politics. Out of the entire Dragon clan, Torloth was suppose to be the nicest...Great.

“Dawn, I don't remember Shield and Sword in any comics that I've read. Of course I was not an active enthusiast of the comics so they could have been there.” Lash asked softly.

“Hello User, You are correct. Shield and Sword was a generated aspect of the world to help the Users who chose the Magical Origin to have a way to explain their actions across the globe. Unless you have a specific background or history. Then they are removed, and replaced by another procedural generated business. As you may have guessed Warden's are also a generated aspect of The Dream Engine to help insert the User into the world. Though we have the entire Comic universe, the Alpha testers summarized that with such much creative freedom The Dream Engine should put their own stories and idea's into the world. Simply use the Comic universe as a background.”Dawn said to Lash.

That makes sense, Lash thought. With the whole universe at their disposal they could pick and choose what they wanted. Then place their own idea's in. Because at the end of the day they were making a 'Game'. Some things in a game made sense while it wouldn't make sense in a world. Lash walked across the courtyard, despite the time and bad weather the whole plaza was busy. He looked around and saw at least twenty guards in the open, and by his count ten nigh invisible guards mixed into the plaza. As he walked to the front door he stopped and saw a withered tree. It was winter so it made sense that no leaves grew on it. But he still walked towards it.

Lash's title was still set to Shaper. But he could still 'feel' nature around him. Like going to an old bar full of friends. Or coming home to a family home full of memories. This feeling from the tree was off, walking up to it he realized the tree was dead. Been dead for days, he looked around the roots only to see that several of the roots had been mangled. The tree had bled to death, what a shitty way to die. Lash crouched down and dug his fingers into the snow getting to what was placed there. His actions caught the attention of a few people who looked at this impeccably dressed man route around in the snow under a tree. As well as a few guards started to walk over. Then a small fairy pixie settled on his shoulder. She was a tinker bell type. Imagine a full grown woman, only six inches tall wearing green leaves as a dress with butterfly wings.

“Watcha doin?” The pixie asked, not really expecting an answer, only to squeak when Lash answered.

“Something or someone killed this tree. Then placed something here. I'm trying to figure it out. Oh I'm Warden Lash, Beast Talker.” He said to the Pixie. The Tiny little thing fluttered about him excitedly before sitting down on his shoulder again.

“I've heard of you! The Warden that can talk to us! Yes, this tree died a few days ago. We wanted to help it. But winter was here, we of the Summer Court are weak now. So we couldn't.” The Pixie looked sad.

“Why didn't you ask a Winter Court for help. I'm sure the Griak's would have been happy to help.” Lash said, he had reached the dirt and was digging now. He knew something was down here, something metallic.

“Bleh! Those ugly things!” The pixie said in clear disgust. Lash rolled his eyes.

“Yes, the Griak's. I don't understand why you pixies don't like them. Just because they look different.” Lash said as he concentrated on his task. The pixie shrunk her neck in, suddenly sorry she had said that. She had heard that this Warden didn't discriminate over looks. -Friend or Foe, Monster or Beauty. Matters little in the dance of life and death. Saurian said. The Pixie not making the distinction between Lash and Saurian nodded her tiny head.

“Sir, may we help you? Did you lose something?” A security guard walked over. Lash raised his hand up and then slowly reached into his coat pocket and took out a Warden Badge. This thing was amazing! It had a glamour charm on it, he could activate it to make it change its appearance to any Mundane official license, so he could get to where he needed to get to. But, it also had another function. If you were a registered Super-Natural Society it would read as a 'Warden'

“Ah! Sir, hello sorry about that! What may we help you find?” The guard went rigid when he saw the ID. He had just recently been introduced to the super-natural, and learned about Wardens. They were essentially the law-keepers in the mystical world. He responded into his radio. Several mystical security guards appeared near Lash in less then thirty seconds.

“Someone killed the tree here. Though the tree dying is a loss. Its the fact that who ever killed the tree left something behind. I've....Just...A....Oh my.” Lash kept his voice even as he looked into the hole. The pixie looked down and squeaked in surprise before hiding in the collar of his suit.

There in the hand dug hole was a bomb. It thankfully had a timer, but he could feel magic coming off it. He saw a few runes inscribed along the metal attachment to the clock. The bomb it self looked like a fragmentation bomb. The smell of silver was coming off it. This was a were-breed bomb. It was set to go off in four hours. Lash didn't move, scream, or raise his voice.

“Tell me is there an important delegation, or Were-Breed Client showing up today around early noon?” Lash said carefully. Looking at the bomb. The lead security guard read the body language of Lash, then quickly radioed in to ask....

“Yes Sir! An Alpha's 'first' is attending today. They were to negotiate a peace agreement and immigration to move into Gotham.” The guard said carefully. At this point a majority of the plaza was watching. As a team of dozen guards surrounded a well dressed man. That was looking into a hole next to a tree. Several official people were quickly walking this way from the main office.

“Mr. Lash! Hello, I'm part of the building and plaza's main security supervisors. Is there something we can help you with?” A man's voice said. Lash didn't look at him as he very carefully began to dig around the bomb.

“There is a Silver Enchanted bomb in this hole. Set to go off in about three hours, and forty nine minutes. Just in time for a delegation of Were-Breeds to show up. From what I know about bombs this will take out about half a city block, and cover it in a cloud of silver. Any Were-Breed not killed in the initial blast will inhale the silver and slowly die as it corrodes them from the inside out.” Lash said in a clear voice. Which made every guard including the supervisor take a step back.

“So, you can help me by calling Warden HQ and getting a bomb specialist here. However, you can't make a scene because I think this bomb has a remote trigger. If we make a huge deal about this they may trigger it early. Do you understand?” Lash said to the man, still not looking up. At this point he was calling on his Nature Domain to dig around the bomb. It went deeper then he thought. However, thanks to his Basic Weapon Master skill he understood that this was a bouncing Betty. It would shoot its payload up then scatter it.

“Y..Yes sir! W...We'll get right on that.” The supervisor took a moment to slow his breathing. He then selected three guards to stay near Lash, then another six guards to make a perimeter around the area to prevent anyone curious from walking over. A simple excuse was used. Lash was a natural forest conservationist who was a little over zealous in his ideals and was trying to help the tree. As weird as it sounded when reinforced with glamour for the mundanes it worked just fine. Then a simple 'Warden' business was enough for the Society members.

Lash stayed crouched over the hole he had made. The pixie had wanted to stay but... He told her not to worry about it. So it left with a sad expression. Lash had carefully excavated the area around the bomb. The guards helped him move the metal grates surrounding the tree. Erik vaguely remembered that The Dream Engine dynamically creates events the longer you stay in your Avatar. He got the feeling this was one of them. Though having eight or more guards around him caused a scene, not as much as a bomb threat which would have cleared out the plaza, the building, or even the block would have. Thirty minutes went by just like that. Before some one knelt besides Lash.

It was Sam, a Technomancer Warden. Lash was surprised to find out that the Wardens had a Technomancer, Sam was actually the tech-knight that he saw at his ceremony. So technically he was an apprentice but still. He was a tall, athletically built black man, his black hair was dreaded and pulled back. He had amber eyes, and a winning smile that put people at ease. He settled down next to Lash as he we was visiting a friend. He had a tool box with him that was painted with 'Green thumb associates' playing to the over zealous plant cover.

“Morning Lash, I swear its never a dull moment with you around. First you get attacked by a Wet operations team, then you try to teach people nature magic. Thanks for that by the way, it feels amazing every time I finish working out. Sooth is fucking awesome. Then we hear stories about how you have seduced and bed one of Torloth's sisters. Which I'm sure is a rumor, but still funny as hell to listen to. Now! Now you find us a Silver Enchanted bomb. How did you find this? Because a tree was dead. Holy shit!” Sam said with a wide smile across his face. He took out two knee high stools for the both them. Lash took the seat gratefully.

“Hello Sam, sorry to bother you. But I'm a little out of my element.” Lash spoke to him. Sam leaned into the well made hole with a smile on his face. Completely unphased by the death machine in front of him.

“That is just fine Lash! You did a bunny rabbit of a job around this thing. But a question I have is how was this thing placed with out the security knowing about it? This thing is three feet long, and a foot wide. On top of the tree roots being mangled. But no one saw this? Magic would have left a residue. I know for a fact that they sweep this plaza three times a day! So this was done manually.” Sam's kept his smile but his eyes took on a hard edge. Sam turned to a near by guard and ask them to bring the top brass in charge of security. He had questions.

Lash's eyes twitched when he found out that the bomb did have an elevation and proximity sensor in place. So if he had moved it, or jostled it to much it would have exploded ahead of schedule. Thankfully his skill gave him a least that bit of information. Sam took out a tech-magic item and set it nearby. Apparently it interfered with both magical or mundane signal waves. So now the bomber couldn't set it off remotely. Sam gave a hollow laugh then explained...

“So, this is a full Tech-Magic bomb. It has dozens of fail safes for tech as well as magic. So, if someone had found it, then decided to just place a spell shield over it thinking that would be fine. The enchanted shrapnel would have torn through the spell. If we try and use anti freeze to ruin the mechanisms the bomb activates a heat rune. But since you found it, we still have a few more hours to deactivate it. Oh! Don't leave! It has a body sensor in place. It's now categorized me and you for that matter. It assumes its been found, it would send a signal but cant thanks to my interference item.” Sam said to Lash. Lash looked at the guards around them. He shook his head, it had a limited range. Good thing there wasn't a plaza bench here or someone would have set it off just by sitting. In the middle of winter during a snow day. Bright idea Lash.

“OH MY GOD IS THAT A BOMB!? THEY FOUND A BOMB! EVERYONE RUN!” A voice called from the plaza. Lash, Sam, and every guard looked around confused. No one had any idea where that voice came from. Which could only mean it was from someone who knew about the bomb. This made the entire plaza become hysterical. All the people not aware of the situation ran for their lives. Sam raised his hands up in defeat before flashing Lash a smile.

In less then a minute the entire building was spilling with people. Security had received a call saying that a bomb threat had been issued. That this was not the only bomb nearby. Sam said it was possible, spreading out your devices increased the chance of killing your intended target. Or it could be a bluff. Because the bomber had apparently tried to activate the bomb but with Sam's device had recorded six different attempts to set the bomb off. Soon, the Gotham City police arrived, followed by Warden HQ follow up. It was a political pissing contest for jurisdiction. The Wardens who showed up flashed their spell charmed badges making the cops think they were speaking to some government official. Shield and Sword did have a lot of global holdings, made sense that they would be called. But the Warden's knew the GPD were not equipped to deal with this. Soon a Warden/ GPD affiliated bomb unit showed up. This seemed to placate the supervising officers.

“Hiya fellas!” Several Warden's showed up. Lash didn't recognize all of them. But they were Warden's. They set up just outside of range of the perimeter sensor that Sam told them about. Most of them made jokes, had a smile on their faces. But the look in all of their eyes told the story, this was dangerous.

“Warden Lash, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a bad luck magnet.” Said a strong male voice. Lash looked up to see a six foot tall built pale skinned man with midnight black hair that went well past his shoulders that was tied back in a half tail, obsidian eyes, and a clear jagged knife scar across his face that etched across his mouth. He was wearing a very nice tailored suit that was black on black. Saurian smelled a dragon, and for a moment the glamour fell....It was Torloth.

“I swear I don't do it on purpose Mr. Torloth. Please forgive me for not standing and giving proper respect but the device is finicky with movements.” Lash said. Torloth's face showed a look of surprise that Lash recognized him. Then smiled wide appreciating the surprise, he didn't get many of those any more.

“Aha! Not at all! You are doing your job! And doing your job well! I've come to inform you that the head our security was found dead about an hour ago. He put up a fight! But was shredded by claw and fang. We are looking into how this was planted but the important footage is missing from the database. A very thorough job was done. A information worm was found, with a bit of magic tied into it. From I've heard from Warden Samuel, this is a Tech-Magic bomb. So it should not come to a surprise that a Tech-Magic malware was used to clean the system out.” Torloth said all of this like it was a simple matter of fact. Given how old he was, Lash was sure that this was not the first time nor the last someone would threaten his families business.

“Have you spoken to the delegation of Were-Breeds about the attempt on their life?” Lash asked.

“Yes, The First of Skree's pack, as well as The First of Blood-Eye pride, with the new First of the Wolf pack trying to immigrate to Gotham have been told and are rescheduling there visit.” Torloth replied as he took a tablet from his assistant. Lash had the impression that despite the situation Torloth was still working as if this was all business as usual.

“Make sure they have extra security. If I was attacking them I would have a fail safe encase the bomb was discovered ahead of time. Such as attacking their convoys when they made a change in plans.” Lash spoke his mind from his...'Past' experiences. Sam, along with the Warden's were startled as they looked up. Clearly finding the reasoning sound. Torloth seem to agree because he notified his security head to double check. Torloth made a phone call and walked away for a moment.

The Warden/GPD bomb squad suited up and brought with them two suits for Lash and Sam. They then stepped into the perimeter of the device getting ready for the long haul and possible 'death' that came with the job. Warden's may be few and far between but their logistical teams were not. They were provided by the Super-Natural Societies. So, as the Warden's stepped into the zone dozens of people were on standby. Including but not limited to spell mages readying defensive barriers. Engineer's setting up barricades, as well as hard lines for communication. Working with the Mundane GPD to create a perimeter, also looking for the possible other bombs. The entire city block was being evacuated. Lash was not looking forward to telling Lizzy about this. He couldn't lie because news camera's had already got Sam and him.

Something must have happened because Torloth was yelling into his phone. Then he activated a spell barrier to obscure himself then actually shifted into a hybrid human-dragon and flew off in a direction. His security guards sprinted to their cars to catch up. Looks like Lash's assumption was on the money. Something had happened to the delegation. Especially when he got a prompt...

Congratulations User! You have accidentally caused the death of John Woods! The Alpha Lion Pride leader! Though your Patron is aware it was not your intention, this incident has made them laugh by life's unpredictable nature. Which has pleased your Cosmic Patron. Thus they have decided to reward you for this small entertainment.

Reward: You've obtained the skill, Dark Vision: Though your partner Saurian has low light vision due to his heritage. This skill will slowly allow the both of you to see in the dark just as well as you see in the day. But it takes time to grow. Flashlight! Who needs a Flashlight!

Lash tried to keep himself neutral but couldn't keep a sigh from escaping his mouth. No one said anything, but they all knew that something had happened. They went back to their job. Lash was effectively a by-stander at this point he didn't know enough to help. He had done his job, but couldn't leave. Then a thought struck him...

“Sam, how long does it take for the bomb to record a body here?” Lash said loudly enough for every bomb mechanic near to hear.

“About minute...Why?” Sam said as he looked at Lash.

“Is there a way to trick the sensor into thinking its still perfectly level inside the hole?” Lash was getting excited, his voice was giving away his inspiration.

“Yes. But that wouldn't fix the issue, if we touch it to much. It explodes” Sam asked, curious. Lash smiled, then told him about the Pixie that was with him, the bomb should have read her but didn't. Could they trick the bomb into letting Pixie's and Griak's pick this thing up and transport it to another location? Sam leaned back thinking about it. Sam then pointed at one of the logistical officers and told them to get a team of Griak's to this location.

After about thirty or so minutes a swarm of thirty some odd Griak's showed up. Covered in a charm so the mundanes wouldn't see them. They swarmed around Lash saying hello! Soon they were all over near the bomb, the dead tree, as well as sitting on Lash. Sure enough the bomb didn't react to them. Sam was beside himself when he understood how easy this was. The bomb maker took into account that local wild life might find the bomb but didn't want it to activate because a cat, or a pixie came by then left. Sam then tricked the sensor into thinking it hadn't left the hole, but we hadn't touched it. Because the moment they would touch it, 'boom'. But, if Griak's touched it then it didn't go into an alert. So Sam, Lash, and the bomb team, along with twenty or so Griek's walked with the bomb to an empty parking lot, as the gremlins flew/carried it. As it was carried over a simple illusion was made to make the civilians think they were carrying it them selves. Soon the the bomb was inside a blast barricade. A mage cast a haste spell on all of them and they counted down from five then all threw themselves out of the barricade. Then a extremely loud, BOOM! Shook the whole area.

“Riiiinnnnnnnnngggggggggg......L........Laaaa....Laaaash you alright!” Even with all the bomb gear on, Lash's ears were still ringing. He looked up to see Sam smiling wide at him. The man helped Lash stand up. All the Warden's and Gotham PD were grinning from ear to ear. Lash looked around for the Griak's. One of them gave him a thumbs up, they were all alive. Lash had promised the Griak's a full pizza party if they all didn't die. They were ecstatic!

Once the ringing had passed Lash heard the sound of cheering from the nearby civilian population. A job well done, the Warden 'Officials' Told the GPD that they could take all the credit. As long as they could edit out a few bits of information. The supervisors were more then happy with that deal. So, The Warden's walked back to Shield and Sword plaza where their equipment was. The walk had hundreds of people nearby cheering for them. Dozens of news camera's were on them. Lash out of the bomb suit wearing a disheveled tailored suit, Sam wearing a Mr. Fix it gear, and the other Warden's in an assortment of tact gear. They looked, oddly good. To think, it was only eleven in the morning, plenty of time to get in more trouble...