(All Fall Down, League Master Summoner - PoV) (Recent Past)
Taking my time, I examine the field of bodies. Well, body parts really. It dismembered each individual and rearranged them all. Near as I can tell, despite many bodies appearing mostly whole, none contain more than one part from any individual. And the scene itself, the buildings torn down and rebuilt in a parody of farmers, with the farmers themselves being crops to be harvested? Creative, very creative. Our dear scarecrow is becoming quite the artist!
If it would just use a canvas other than people I would absolutely sponsor its work. Hells, if it would use deserving people I would sponsor its work. I wonder if I could convince it to limit its activities to Bilgewater?
Alas, I very much doubt it. And despite finally having free reign to deal with the problem, our little friend is proving rather problematic to track down. As expected, it is attracted to fear. And since I don't fear it, I can't draw it to me so easily.
Turning away from the display, I let out an admittedly rather drawn out sigh.
It seems more extreme measures may be necessary. Unfortunate, but, well, that is what free reign means. And this particular nasty very much calls for it.
Sitting in my...borrowed, lodging, I idly sip at my coffee(extra sugar). The locals, barbarians that they are, didn't have any. But fortunately, being the insightful mastermind that I am, I am always prepared for such a situation and brought my own. Alas, given the substandard tools and environment, the quality is barely acceptable. Ugh, the sacrifices I make for my job.
Leaning back in the chair, I try to tune out the whimpering and crying children locked in the cellar beneath me. It is for their own good. With the runes of protection on the place, they might even survive this mess. And if the damned scarecrow shows up soon enough, the nightmare curses won't even activate. Not very "heroic" of me, I know, but worth it to rid the world of this particular monster.
I take another sip. Bleh. Barely worth it.
Still, it shouldn't be too long. A horrifically powerful mage shows up in town, tells them a demon is going to show up to kill everyone soon, demands they hide, then grabs all their children and locks them away? And in Demacia, a place that hated and feared me even before I started stealing their kids and locking them in a dungeon to perform dubious magical experiments? And where the local tension was already ratcheted way the fuck up? Oooh yeah, this should be like a damned beacon to the monster.
Honestly the villagers probably would have run for help or tried to storm the place already but I told them that doing so would disrupt everything and kill all the kids. Local yokels they are they believed me. A little mind/emotional control may have helped. And cranked the fear on up even further. And I only caused one elderly man to have a heart attack! Not too bad considering I never had much talent for it, always was more of a direct solutions kind of guy.
Yup, now just have to sit tight, and wait.
...
Which is so. Fucking. Boring.
I suppose I could crank call people on the Noxian mirror I stole but I am not sure if I want to reveal the fact I have it yet. Swain answering his mirror only to see dick or ass just sounds absolutely hilarious though. Or I could work on actually trying to reverse engineer it but...eh, work.
There is that big League match going down that I could maybe try to tap into, that should be possible...
I am fiddling with the connection settings on the mirror, trying to hijack the bands when I hear the crows begin to caw, and feel a tingle.
Ah. Showtime.
Adjusting my robes I step out into the moonlight.
There's no point in bothering with most magical detection spells, ol' fiddly widdly is damn good at countering those. Simpler to flood the area with pure magic, overwhelming everything, then check out the few spots that resist.
"Come out come out wherever you are!" I sing-song.
While I admit I have fanboyed over its reputation and legacy a bit...
This fucking monster has killed, like, a fuckload of people, in absolutely horrific ways, for absolutely no reason. And I mean, sure, glasshouses and all, but still. I may appreciate its artistry, and, really, a lot of things about it but...
Well. I am here to glass its ass.
And I really want to see if Mr. Feeds On Fear can feel it personally.
"Fiddddddllllesss! Fiddddlllyyyyyy fiddddddlllllyyyyyyyiddddlllllyyyykinnnnsssss! Come out and plaaaaaayyyy! I ain't got alll daaaaayyyy!" I call out, strolling to the nearest blank spot to my senses as a drown the area in my magic.
Well, the nearest consistent one. There are swarms of crows trying to push in but they are rapidly dwindling as they disintegrate. Get rekt son.
The houses might also be disintegrating as well but, eh, whatever. They weren't going to survive this little dick measuring contest anyway. Really, the whole place was a write-off from the start. You don't have a throw-down with something like this and expect to leave anything nearby still standing.
...Fuck, I forgot my coffee on the table. Gods damnit.
Ah well, it tasted like shit anyway.
Fiddles finally seems to realize hiding isn't going to work and emerges from the barn, the cloak of shadows covering it exploding into crows that try to swarm towards me.
A wave of my hand and they dissolve into nothingness.
"Psh, like that was going to work. Going to have to try harder than that you stupid stick figure. You know, you look like something I would draw and I failed every art class I ever attended." I taunt.
Hrm. You know, this would be a great time for the latest spell I stole!
A snap of my fingers and a pair of great glowing wings erupt from my back.
And unlike poor little Lux's on the TV, these will totally cut a bitch. And the wall behind a bitch. And the building across the street behind that wall.
No one interrupts chicken nugget day.
They put the cafeteria back together eventually, but not the bitch.
The demon stands up rather than hunch and oh, wow, it's actually fairly tall. It glares and begins its little rhyme with its creepy ass voice.
"High above the rotten rows. Cloth and metal. Teeth and crows."
Hmm, I feel the change in the air, as crows circle just outside the field of my magic. Interesting.
"Through the field. Down the lane. Voices never heard again."
Yeah, that's not just a rhyme is it? It is an incantation. Someone is taking me seriously.
"Fiddlesticks. End of men."
I smirk. A few twitches of my fingers and some minor shifts of my foot. There we go.
"Fiddlesticks. First of ten!"
The demon lunges forward impossibly fast. Honestly too fast for me to track normally, only the fact I was expecting it allows me to block it. But block it I do, a raised hand catching the scythe, to the demon's shock.
A full, multi-line incantation, cast in a place drenched in its source of power, by a being as old and powerful as it? No, normally even I couldn't stop that attack so easily. At least if I had actually let the spell just go through like a gods damned moron.
But subtle counter magic can be a real bitch. And ol' Fiddles doesn't seem used to that sort of thing.
Cracks appear in the scythe, red light shining through, as the demon's eyes widen and I give it my smuggest grin.
"Boo!" I can't resist.
CRACK!
The scythe shatters, blowing us both away.
...
...
Owwww.
Ok, even prepared with multiple layers of advanced shields and body enhancements. that rather hurt. Hell of a weapon, artifact, focus, etc. it had there. That said, that was why I chose that as my target. Should have done quite the blow to its power now that it lost it.
With a groan I stand up and dust myself off, looking at the newly formed crater.
Wow, that is a big one. Oddly shaped too, looks like my protection runes on the cellar are holding up. I shall name it, Terror's End. Oh yes, nice and dramatic. Now, let's go see how Fiddles is holding up. Bastard like that certainly won't go down from one hit.
Teleporting to the other side, I take a deep breath and cover the area in another wave of magic until I find my target.
There you are...
*pop*
"Whoa there!"
Dodging to the side, my robes rustle as a limb passes by before its owner is blasted away to get some distance. Teleporting so close was perhaps not the best idea.
"Still up and at em, I see."
It certainly has seen better days, however. One arm is missing entirely, along with much of that entire side and half its face. One of its legs drags along the ground pathetically and what remains is cracked and charred. Almost pitiful really, to see such a legendary being reduced to such a sad state.
"Kkiilll...yyoouu..." it hisses out.
Oh, I think I made it mad.
"Sorry, Fiddles buddy. I'm afraid you are far too weak to follow through on that threat now. We both know you have no chance against me like this. Now, I originally came to kill you, but we seem to have a priceless opportunity on our hands! A chance for me to get quite a bit of prestige, and you to continue to spread terror through the mortal realm!"
"...Ssppeeaakk," it demands warily, slowly circling me, one leg dragging along the ground.
Reaching into my robes, I pull out an orb.
"This is one of our capture orbs. We collect various dangerous entities and force them to fight for us in our little arena. Now, even as weakened as you are, I doubt it will work on you. Not if you resist. Which would force me to kill you instead. Ending your reign of terror forever and preventing any chance of you releasing your fellows."
Its eyes narrow at me.
"On the other hand, if you willingly submit, and play our little game? Well, the entire world watches our matches. You will get to fight some of the most powerful beings ever known and show off in front of the world. Spread into the nightmares of millions. And who knows, perhaps one day you may even find a way to break free. Certainly a better opportunity than death at least, no?"
Holding out both hands, the options should be obvious. In one I clutch the sphere, in the other I charge an Orb of Annihilation.
I give it my best shady wagon salesman smile.
Stepping into the inner sanctuary of the Institute, I raise my sphere in the air.
"Booya bitches, I caught me a Fiddlesticks! Suck it!"
The entrance is silent for a moment before cheers and congratulations break out. Hells yeah.
No one expected me to catch the damn thing, just to kill it.
I make my way to the desk but ignore the box. No way am I dropping this one in, I want to see what makes this thing tick. Might even actually do a little work integrating it myself.
"Oh, yeah, I also found a bunch of orphans as well," I tell one of the receptionists.
"Found or made?" she asks with a glare. Wow, judgemental much?
"Yes."
She sighs. "Griffen's Hollow village, right? You sent word you were setting up there last?"
"Nope, Terror's End Crater," I correct her.
"...Would it just so happen to share a similar location?" she asks, eyes narrowing further.
"Why yes, indeed it would!"
What a coincidence that.
"...I'll send someone to deal with the children."
"They will need someone with a rune mastery. I set up some pretty impressive work if I do say so myself. May need to be a bit quick about it too, the nightmare curse will get progressively worse the longer they wait."
"...Is there a reason you can't go back and free them yourself?" she asks.
"...but...Fiddles..." I clutch my new orb protectively while the receptionist clutches her head.
Does she not understand how long it has been since I was this excited over something? I wanna try him in the Rift sooo bad...
(Albert Laurent, (Former)Demacian Noble Duelist and Treasurer - PoV)
It is always good to have contingencies. Only fools go without them, risking everything on a roll of the dice.
It is far less good to have to use them.
I don't sigh as I sit on the porch of this pathetic shack near a small river. No, sighing is for when you are sad, for when you have failed in some way. Oh no, no I seethe. Failure is when you make mistakes.
I was careful. When Tianna started asking the wrong questions? I paid through the nose to make sure she was removed, no matter how small the risk.
I took my time. When the situation in the city looked to be devolving too quickly, with Jarvan leaving to start a fight with Gerald before the Noxians were in position? I made sure the King was removed and everyone worked together for at least a little longer.
I leaked info into the right ears, greased the right palms, made the right moves. I played my cards right and I gave everyone everything they could possibly want. Jarvan got his chance to play the hero, the Noxians got their chance to show their strength in front of the entire world. No matter who won, I was set. And the thanks I get is being thrown in prison like some common thug!
I slam a dagger through the cheap table before throwing the whole thing over the railing.
Perhaps not the best use of resources, I admit. And I really don't have so much to just waste such things anymore but by the gods! The only one to not betray me was the gods forsaken card shark I cut a deal with years ago to break me out of prison on the remote possibility such a thing ever occurred!
Not only did I never expect it to actually happen but he was hardly the most reliable resource in the first place! The man is a grifter so notorious he was exiled from a clan whose entire livelihood revolves around the practice. And yet somehow, he was the only one to drag me out of that mess, leaving a trail of unconscious guards behind us.
Of course then the bastard wouldn't even let me finish them off either, even that small bit of revenge denied to me. Bah, too much heat indeed. As if half the world doesn't have some kind of warrant out for him. But I complied, I am hardly in the state to be drawing the ire of more Champions, not now. Not when even my own daughter betrayed me.
My fists clench once more as I scowl in rage.
"My daughter!" I scream into the sunset. "The girl I raised from nothing to become a bloody Champion! She comes to my cell, not to free me, but to berate me?! That damned girl! Everything I did, I did for us! For our family! Who does she think made her?! Does she think she would have even risen to the heights she did without my help?! Without my work?! She would have been nothing without me! Nothing!"
I slam another dagger through one of the wooden supports. Again, a terrible idea but I really have to unleash my fury somehow. I need some practice targets but at this point nearly every copper counts.
"Ah, family. Always hits the hardest, doesn't it?" a cultured voice speaks up behind me.
Spinning, I drawing my sword. No one should be here.
A horror in a suit stands just off my porch.
"Abomination," I growl. Just what I need, some demon come for me while I am at my lowest, alone with no guards at my back. This scum will find that I am not taken so easily!
"Now now, no need for such harsh words! I came to offer my assistance, from one betrayed soul to another! And please, don't mind the meat. Result of a dreadful curse, damned untrustworthy mages. Never should have worked with them, let my greed get the better of me," it finishes sorrowfully.
"...What?" The sheer...unexpectedness of the things words stay my hand.
"Apologies for the sudden interruption. See, I am a reasonable businessman, like yourself. Years back I had a good thing going with Noxus when they decided to stab me in the bloody back." Its voice, oddly refined and sophisticated coming from such a horrific visage takes a darker tone near the end.
"All for some worthless neanderthal who was supposedly 'stronger.' No appreciation for actual intellect or talent at all. And if that wasn't enough, the treacherous mongrels put this demeaning curse on me as well. Hence the unsightly appearance. Apologies for that, I am aware of how off-putting it is. And it makes getting fitted for good suits quite troublesome, I can tell you that much," the...man(?) finishes with a surprisingly friendly chuckle.
"I...see." That is...quite the story he is spinning. Awfully convenient, but I do find myself rather short on options at the moment.
"So, given all of that, well, when I saw the recent events playing out on my viewscreen? Saw some of my talented fellows getting worked over for no good reason by those Noxian bastards? Really tugged on the old heartstrings, it did. So, I figured I would seek you out, offer to lend a helping hand. And if it just so happens to get one over on my old ex-'partners' in the process? Well, that is just a nice little bonus, isn't it?" the inhuman visage certainly helps one to pull off a vengeful smile.
This sounds entirely too good to be true, but at this point what do I really have to lose?
"Tell me, what exactly are you proposing Mr...?"
"Ah, Tahm Kench is the name. And I am asking, would you like to make a deal?"