5874/Astral Flux: Astral Bargain

Astral Flux: Astral Bargain
Date of Scene:	29 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Dr. Strange fights the Shadow King.
Cast of Characters:	Shadow King, Doctor Strange
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

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Shadow King has posed:
    The fight is an enormous mess. Magic flies, telepathic blasts pulse out heavily from the center of the creature that houses the consciousness of the self-proclaimed Astral King: the Shadow King. There is no question that he is controlling and possessing the city-sized fungus.

    And then there's that tug of the infinity stone, as a huge rippling control wave is inflicted on all of those under the Shadow King's power. All of the strings of the mighty web suddenly light up. The town is drenched in control, the links feeling infinite as stars, as the stone allowed the full use of the massive fungal brain.

    People in the town are crushed to the ground, others turn on each other, more turn on the robot 'invaders', and it is all an extremely elaborate dance. The full choreography was set well in advance, and it all comes together smoothly. Heroes are attacking, of course: Thor's in action somewhere nearby, but there's an appropriate weapon prepared for that nonsense. Iron Man is funny: he'll just lure him in and that threat will end, when he's forced to make everyone retreat, and the next stage of the play can start....

    There are some mages in the inner circle of the Shadow King, and there are shields up, traps for Dr. Strange to trip over if he isn't on his absolute A game. Because if a ripple of that infinity-stone enhanced mind picks up on him, things will go rapidly in the Shadow King's direction, won't they.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange has been pondering this battle for weeks. It's an encounter for the very soul of the planet, this realm, the whole dimension and beyond. He really wishes he would have studied the mushrooms more before coming down, but it's too late and the time is now.

    The wizard floats down, looking everywhich way and feeling for the pull of the infinity stones, the tugging he's mentally warded himself against is now the biggest tool he has to use against the Shadow King. The longer he takes the more likely everything will go wrong and more people will get pulled into the mental powers of the Shadow king.

    Strange comes upon the mushroom and starts to approach it, his hand reaching out as if it were a stray cat and he was trying to calm it as he approached it. His spare hand, held close to his body begins to cast a spell, quick and precise hand motions occur in a methodical process.

Shadow King has posed:
    There is a lot of illusion here, but it is coming from other sources: those other mages, perhaps. At least another telepath. Much of it feels like it all threads back to the Shadow King, though. And his desire to control so much of it means his attention is all over the place. Some things, though, are able to act on their own, and Strange's defenses will let him know that he's in danger of discovery very soon if he does not move.

    He is also not the only one there; a few people are laying on the ground around the zone where the main core is: some awake but catatonic, others in unknown states. One of them sits up, like a floppy puppet, head lolling to the side loosely. It doesn't speak, but it orients on Strange in a very very eerie manner. A tentacle also begins to draw out of the ground with a rumble a few hundred yards away, like a massive underground snake.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange keeps his height in check, with a scrunched over body and his knees bent down real low. The man is slowly making his way through the tunnel system, the one hand resumes its task of casting an elaborate spell as he moves with as much stealth as possible for a man in a large red cloak.

    The wizard shifts his free hand to give a small mystical bolt to the puppet's head, as a means to attempt to put the man back to sleep. Should be the safest and most effective way to prevent the living security cameras from giving the Astral being too much warning.

    The sound of the moving tendril is exactly what Strange was waiting for and he makes a b-line towards the rustling and rumbling sound with haste.

Shadow King has posed:
    More of the puppets sit up as their link was severed, but they too can get zapped. It just will cause a chain reaction, most certainly: it does cause the tentacle to veer into that direction. It isn't forceful or concerned, though: it is a movement of a beast as it swats a fly, as the expectation generally is to simply crush anything that wanders into the tunnels. And so it is that the massive tentacle-like form, boiling with fungal spores that devour, twists down Strange's way. There are nooks to hide in, but the thick protective spores might strangle most people, or simply overcome most robotics that would dare come through. It also runs over one of those sitting-up 'camera' people, who gets swept away; perhaps not dead, but perhaps so.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange stands before the incoming tentacle and with the hand he was putting people back to sleep with, he casts a large barrier for the limb to smash into before it would touch the Sorcerer Supreme. "Halt creature!" The wizard would command before he moves his hand to his temple to attempt to communicate with the fungus. "I am here to help you, I know of the hold the Shadow King has upon you. I am here to free you. Free everyone." The wizard explains before he reaches his hand out to touch the tentacle, dispelling his spell.

    "Shadow King! I wish to speak with you directly." Stephen states as well as mentally proclaims.

Shadow King has posed:
    The fungus itself doesn't respond at all. It is barely a shell of anything: there is no awareness at all. The Shadow King has made it into what would be a mindless husk, though how much of that was intentional or not is probably unclear. The pressure of the Shadow King with the Mind Stone so close is blistering in a way, though the fungus does not seem to be suffering, aside from the injuries now coming in from the attacks that are being flung from the Avengers.

    Astrally, the hold is still fierce, and there's an annoyed reaction to Dr. Strange's tapping. Still, the annoyance is held in check. There is no answer 'verbally', instead there is a massive sense of a head turning, that gaze rotating like a massive eye of Sauron to burn away the mental flesh of anyone that dares request his attention. And the stare continues. There is a prompt to it, even if there's no words.

    To some degree, it may feel like a split awareness: because it is. He is 'hearing', though, that much is clear. He's also busy: it's like asking someone a question who is already on the phone. It better be important.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange's casting hand no longer continues to move, and the wizard steps even closer to the fungus, and his own presence fills the void of the astral plane.

    "Shadow King, I have wondered why that name was so familiar, and yet I wondered why you hid yourself from me in our previous conversation." The wizard begins, looking up to the being he resumes. "But script and story survived in my dimension of you and past deads and attempts. But you already know about those tales." Strange continues,

    "Why do you want Earth so?"

Shadow King has posed:
    Amusement boils forth, as well as disinterest. This isn't a conversation that Shadow King even feels like devoting much of his attention to. He's working on his plans. Still, he's quite aware of Dr. Strange. Even more so. "It is a beautiful place of true suffering, is it not? This race that tortures itself so freely. It deserves me, do you not think?" Shadow King's response answers, light. It reeks of a sadistic pleasure. He's sharing, he's blaring the sensation outwards within his response. It's the proximity to the fungus, in a way, and the mind stone's heavy use. The fungus gives commands without even any effort naturally.

    Suddenly there's full focus, and the tentacles start to pull in, the 'eye' intensifying. "You brought me a treasure. Very cocky of you to think you'll leave with it again," spits the Shadow King, mental teeth bared. "Do not think I do not sense it skulking about. You are not clever."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Maybe I'm not." The wizard says, stepping forward even closer towards the Shadow King, his hands out stretched, "I am here to give you the one thing you desire above all and yet you are not as close as you want to be." Stephen says, arms going out further before he bends his elbows and places his hands upon his chest. "I offer only what I can. Myself."

Shadow King has posed:
    "I'm not against this, mind," answers the amused Shadow King. The Astral plane feels tighter, more fierce, as he starts to work actively to close escapes he forsees as possible from the plane. Traps in the mind? The Shadow King can bend the very reality of the Astral, change the rules of it. Infinitely. "And I have so many of you wanting to be a part of this with me," he continues, tolerant, wise, so /giving/.

    "So do tell me more. Though I must say, your distraction here isn't going to work. I'm killing off your friends that think to use this window," he adds, lofty. "Shall I let them know you've defected?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "I will tell you that I crave power as much as you, and I know it's better to be at the devil's right hand than in his path." The wizard says, "Or in this case it's better to be the devil." Stephen says, hinting that he wants to be the avatar of the Shadow King. The possibilities, possessing the one true Sorcerer Supreme in this day, and doubling the ammount of infinity stones he possesses. "With me and through me alone you could do the greatest things. You would have no need for this... mushroom any longer. A truely powerful and mobile form." Strange says with an odd and yet truthful sense of pride.

Shadow King has posed:
    Something changes. The Astral plane fluxes.

    Everything is flung out, as if there were a mighty power drop or power surge. Physical pieces are going to be a little bit shredded by it, as are thoughts, those collected. There is a dump. And a full migraine of rage and hatred. Someone dared touch a power source, a major power source, and it has flung the Astral into chaos. Not because the Shadow King lacks power over it, but because he pulls his power out of it, as his resources are needed elsewhere.

    "DO NOT MOVE," virtually /spits/ the Shadow King at Strange's head with all the finesse of throwing a building. Overuse of infinity stone? Probably. Because he just doesn't care who is in pain or suffers.

    Just before the astral fell apart, the image of the whole of the floor falling into nothing hit. It is the sense of what he was standing on dropped away. It is the emotion that the Shadow King felt just before the flux.

    Outside of the plane, back in reality, the fungus is in angry chaos, fighting, trying to crush those attacking it. And the wards of magic are splintering everywhere, illusions cloudy with the chaotic mix of messages. At least three puppets and screaming on the ground.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange will do what he must, and his cloak unfurls behind his back and flaps in the maelstorm. "You're focus will be upon me!" The wizard proclaims, his hands snapping into his casting gestures and he suffers the onslaught of astral repercussions, "Take me and you would have had what you needed to conquer a million worlds." Stephen says, not a lie.

Shadow King has posed:
    The pressure of other forces outside are helping this decision. And the arrogance: such incredible arrogance. He could just take Dr. Strange, and abandon the fungus now that it isn't an infinite power source. It would be a good time to do it, and then puppet the fungus. But he'll need to hollow Strange out first; may as well. It's easy.

    But trying to fight off gods while doing this is annoying, so he allocates to his minions, and then turns on Strange fully. With a suddenness, he applies full pressure, to attempt to peel open Dr. Strange's mind like a grape.

    And someone else sees a great opportunity here. A kaleidoscope of portals burst into formation in an array of beautiful star-like patterns. They twist, some of them forcing the tentacles through them, into different locations, far flung. Pieces of other places of the galaxy open, sucking fungus and earth alike into outer space. The pulse of another infinity stone: Space.

    Other mages have shown up: Jeremy darts across one side, emitting icy bursts, disappearing in a froth of illusion, while a third mage appears, with an angry, familiar visage of two copies of Loki that give chase. A fourth player, who was laying on the ground, regains her senses, and starts to form a defensive spell.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange smiles a weak smile. That was exactly the thing he needed to happen. He needed the Shadow King to enter his mind, control his body, and that sets off a series of spells Strange had cast in order to help his world. At any cost.

    The wizard's mind is given to the Shadow King, and a containment spell is cast upon Stephen and he makes his mind and body a prison for himself and for the Shadow King, and then, to make sure the creature couldn't possibly use Stephen as a means of escaping the Astral Realm, Stephen erases his own mind. Not completely he's still going to be Stephen, but he's sending his mind back to the night he got into that fateful car crash.

    Now, the mind of a man who is a Neurosurgeon on the top of his game is inhabited by the Shadow King. A man who doesn't know magic even exists in the world. Useless and floating in what he would assume is hell.

Shadow King has posed:
    This probably would have worked, if not for the infinity stone. The Mind Stone changes the game. And it changes the rules in the Astral Plane. Is it possible to trap someone in a palace of their own power and control?

    The Shadow King's mind splinters. It tears, as it flows inside, partially setting off all of those wards and powers like a crazy weasel set loose inside a house. Pieces are trapped, other things pulse in the plane.

    And then the Mind Stone is removed from the party, by a magical slight of hand far away under the ground inside the heart of a fungal monster. Stolen away, the fracture turns into a complete shred.

    Pieces of Shadow King go everywhere, as he is torn part. The Astral Plane hangs on, threadlike, still infused. Some of it does feel contained, like a corrupted horror, within the magical containment.

    Is it enough to destroy the Shadow King? That remains to be seen.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    And thus Doctor Strange, Neurosurgeon is trapped in a place he doesn't know and with a voice in his head that isn't his. All this after he got into a car wreck so Stephen assumes the worst...