Enter the World through the Lambda Server

Moderator: Nighthand

Locked
Rayo
Exalted Player
Posts: 485
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2003 7:21 pm

Post by Rayo » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:12 am

Angel was acting of her own free will under the service of Marionette. Silk wanted to get drunk and set stuff on fire. Sekai wanted to stop the violence. Blah, blah, blah. They’d all been talking too much. What did any of this matter to the current situation? There were two enemies, or an enemy and an accessory, with killing intent before them. To move survive, to continue onward and deal with the challenges down the line, Angel had to be batted aside.

The player was armed with magic and arrows, nothing was preventing him from taking up that very purpose. A chorus of group healing spells after the tumble took care of any self preservation worries one might have. Why did Sekai want to end it now? If Angel wasn’t taken out, they wouldn’t make it to the hubs. If Marionette, the Elites, and whatever other lackeys they had weren’t dealt with, how would everyone return?


“Pfft. The pet? That’s not who I’m fighting.”

Perhaps the archer was being stubborn, but it was Angel who was angry, the one who disrespected her own pet, and finally the defender of the hub. If she fell, the hub fell more or less. Neither of the other communication bases had boasted any defense with the capability to succeed beyond the guardian.

Whistling a quick tune, his mount appeared beneath his feet, and the thunder duo charged forward towards the center of attention. Electrically charged bolt after bolt was bolt was discharged; Bell had foregone any weaponry in favor of not hindering her master’s ability to fight. The grunty simply provided speed and a second pair of eyes to help evade any attacks during the approach.

The bowman became confused halfway there, since a beam of obsidian poured out from the bow and the arrow was the exact opposite of what it was supposed to be. Spirit Arrow of the Shadows? Wasn’t it supposed to be Shocking Arrow of Voltage. Yes, yes it was. Instead of cursing CC Corps decision to make a weapons update on him during the middle of the battle, the archer was simply glad his weapon hadn’t somehow ceased to exist. Now that would have been embarrassing. Pull out an arrow, aim and release, and then have the arrow vanish inches from the foe’s forehead?

Instead Rayo sparked a single MeRai Kruz to scatter lightning around his target before leaping overhead and pulling the Phoenix Arrow routine. Bell, the knocker-over of dishes lunged forward and latched onto Angel’s leg with her signature bite attack. Despite not being any sort of official attack, Senna could comment on the sturdiness of the hold. The archer landed behind the boss, but made no movements to fire. There were no apparent weak points on her body, damage didn’t seem to even be registered. In fact, his bow was no longer even out. Rayo reached out and latched his arms to the chain connecting Angel to her ‘tool.’


“Shut up, you’re just surrounding yourself with pretend riches because you couldn’t cut it in reality. Are you proud of the fact you’ve got gold in a fictional world? Whatever. We’ll do what we can to prevent you from pushing your fight off to those you should be protecting while you’re here. Still, it’s good you like this place so much, it will be your grave.”
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Post by Zan » Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:36 am

Zan and Nulus continued their synchronized, strategically strong assault on the pet in hopes that it would bring about some sort of solution. Nothing, however, revealed itself despite their best efforts. There was transfer of the golden light, no temporary vulnerability for their true target. Attacking Gimpy seemed hollow and, in the end, the Heavy Blade supposed that was exactly what it was. The more they dug into it, the more his Ghostdancer sunk in hits and Nulus' claws raked pseudo-flesh, the more he felt like he was attacking a wall. The pet, to both of them, seemed little more than a very tactical distraction for those willing enough to accept the theoretical solution. The only thing that had changed had been the kind of force given behind his comrade’s attacks. What had started out weakened or outright useless had steadily regained its deadly precision until it was fairly evident that Nulus was no longer hindered by the ailment that had allowed Nighthand to leave so freely. The fact that any of their party members were leaving right now, during a fight that was rather important, just made Zan shake his head.

Sure, okay, leave everyone else to do the dirty work. Their leader, their leader had stalked off to go play Legos with Lighteria or whoever the hell else wasn't currently in the room instead of staying behind to find some sort of plausible solution. Nall had been Zan's original source of disgust, the lycanthrope appalled by how useless someone so utterly godly in powers was in any of the important fights. Back when the werewolf had been involved in taking down one of the Elites, Nall had actually posed a threat to them, the party. Why they continued to drag his lazy ass around with them was beyond Zan, but that wasn't entirely the point he was hoping to address. No, he was annoyed that the one person he had trusted to lead them, the one individual who could have led them through hell and back without much loss, had decided their efforts were meaningless and found masturbating in a corner more entertaining. Yeah, okay; dickhead. With a rather significant loss of respect for Nighthand, the Lycan decided it was time to stop dwelling over how poorly knit the Freedom Fighters really were. Why did he give them so much loyalty? Why was he risking their own trusts to keep them safe from the Elites while they disabled their communications? The group on the whole, in that moment, seemed doomed to fail.

A peek inside of Nulus' consciousness revealed a stream of thoughts that, amidst the chaos of his bloodthirst and thrill of the fight, was not too dissimilar from Zan's own. The Shade, despite his snarky attitude and quick retorts, had garnered a pretty hefty amount of respect for the other Heavy Blade during his short time with them. Now, having watched Nighthand leave like it was nothing and read over the half-assed Flashmail given in explanation, that was all gone. When Zan posted the mental concept-question of their leader to his partner, Nulus only gave a mental laugh. It was almost as if, to the frenzied friend of the Freedom Fighters, even thinking about Nighthand had lost its merit. A sort of 'Why are we wasting our time mulling over him when we could be kicking some Angel ass?' Though he wanted to, really and truly he did, the lycanthrope couldn't muster up the will or the logic to defend their leader. Maybe he had his reasons, maybe he wasn't being as much of an assclown as it seemed. Maybe maybe maybe. Nulus had gotten one thing right; they had more important things to consider right now...mainly a solution. Seconds from giving up on their 'shield transfer' theory, Raquar's own Flashmail, one that had been ignored up until this point, was finally read.

Oh. So someone still wanted to give it a go.

Seeing no reason to go against it and figuring in turn that Gimpy's sudden death (despite the fact that it didn't seem to be taking any damage) would be a plus, Zan decided it was best to keep up with the plan. First, however, he wanted to test again a theory he was pretty sure he had disproved. The fact that he wasn't certain, that he had forgotten a possibly recent move, just went to show how much the battle had dragged without any sign of fruition. For the sake of SP, the High Forger was switched out for the Christmas-tree-like Ghostdancer and its 'Vak Smash' was called into existence. The weapon igniting in flame, the energy dancing over its surface, Zan lunged its edge down upon the chain that connected master and servant. When it didn't budge, when the golden light didn't even flicker, the werewolf decided a different target was best. Maybe he had to hit Angel directly to down the bitch's little shiny effect. Swapping out his weapon again for the next-lowest in level, the Sun Fang Five, the Heavy Blade gave the blade a few practice swings before summoning forth the energy of a 'Rai Drive.' This little attack plan wasn't initiated once, but twice, sixty Skill Points consumed in Zan's electrical assault against Angel's glow.

Did it do anything?

Aside from appearing weaker than normal, Zan again felt that sensation of pointlessness. No, now it was time to go through with Raquar's (and his earlier) plan of attack. He would attack the pet, hope for enough damage to be inflicted that the golden light became necessarily, and then he'd switch his focus to the exposed Angel. If it worked. The past told him, screamed at him that it wouldn't, but he felt optimistic...for now. Nulus, having never ceased his animalistic craze against Gimpy (one that, despite its apparent wilderness, was actually grounded in combat calculations and careful awareness), seemed happy to have Zan back at his side. The two worked best as a team, something they had learned during their times in the Training Room and the one real quest they had been on together, and their cautiously honed technique of brain-synchronization gave them a unique edge. Technically, it was something anyone with a 'pet' could do, but so few used theirs, even had them, or had thought to do it in the first place. The Lycan almost considered making it worth mentioning to Phoenix, but in the end...just decided not to. Linking minds as closely as it required wasn't exactly an easy thing to explain and, really, Zan made a poor teacher. It was best to spare the both of them what would otherwise be an agonizing experience.

Getting lost in a world that ceased to be word-filled thoughts and consisted only of concepts, emotions, and lightning-fast strategic communication wasn't always an easy transition. Zan was reminded of this as slipped back in that routine with his partner, the Shade and the werewolf seeming almost sloppy at first. In the end, however, training pulled off and they became like one fluid entity once more. It wasn't anything close to the might of the Merged, but in its own way, it was better. The old saying 'two heads are better than one' came to mind then. It this particular case, it really and truly applied. The Sun Fang Five was swapped back out for his strongest weapon once more, the Ghostdancer, and Zan did everything in his power (but human and preternatural) in human form to make his strikes count the most. If the pet was taking damage, the lycanthrope was going to make damn sure it was aware of the threat he and the rest of his party posed. If Nighthand were to get his ass in there, of course, the point would be even more blatant...but for now, Zan was going to deal with what they had. Nighthand could come back whenever the hell. They didn't need him. They hardly had thus far, so there was no reason now had to be different.

Or, that was the theory anyway. God help him if he was wrong.
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).

User avatar
Senna
Awakened Player
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:28 pm

Post by Senna » Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:57 am

The exchange between Sekai, Angel and Phoenix was interesting to listen to from the hallway – not being in the doorway, Senna couldn’t see any of what was going on, but she could hear everything. It was as though the fighting actually stopped, momentarily, as Angel made her reply.

Well, trustworthy or not, she had to give Sekai credit for some guts. Misplaced, certainly, but guts.

Upon receiving Phoenix’s Flashmail, Senna found herself feeling a little irritated. She was decidedly not in the room, purposefully not in anyone’s way in there. She guessed this meant the message was not for her, but she was in a generally irritable mood and getting irrationally bothered by the word choice of a timely and ultimately useful Flashmail. Marionette’s missive was ignored, as its previous had been. Part of her was completely of the same mind as Canti – this was their fight – but the rest of her knew that she SHOULD go back in and help them, since it would get them through here and thus OUT of here faster. Marionette was messing them up. It was… it was frustrating.

She slipped into the room behind Canti, but once she was inside, something caught her eye and triggered a return to Phoenix’s missive. Sekai was on the floor, not moving. She didn’t seem to be hurt, but why wasn’t she moving?

Senna was still feeling, if not unkind, then at least a level of concern about how much she could trust Sekai, but already the spells and attacks were starting to fly. Angel might not be interested in attacking the Archer, but that didn’t mean there weren’t dozens of other ways to get injured about to start flying around. Not to mention, she thought she saw Rayo calling his creature. What was its name? Bell? Something. That creature could cause a lot of collateral damage all on its own. No one deserved that.

Ducking low to hopefully avoid getting hit by friendly fire, Senna hurried over to grouch next to the mostly still form on the floor. She reached down and put a hand on Sekai’s shoulder. “Come on. You gotta get out of the middle of this.

Sekai looked up, face pale and eyes the size of dinner plates at Thanksgiving as she stared at the hand as if she didn't know who that belonged to. Shaking her head and attempting to climb shakily to her feet, the girl's knees refused to cooperate and sent her back down on one.

"O-out of the middle of this?"

Shaky and uncertain as she repeated the words, like she didn't understand and looked up at the Long Arm in confusion.

Senna, for her part, was not enamored with sitting in the middle of the growing maelstrom of Freedom Fighter retaliation. “Yeah. It was an interesting tactic, but you can’t do anything more kneeling out here.

"I didn't... intend for it to be a tactic."

Sekai responded quietly, shoulders slumped in a traditional display of defeat as she stared at the floor in front of her.

"I honestly wanted the fighting to stop."

Anything you try in a…” Senna caught herself in full English major mode and brought that to a halt. “No, I’m not arguing semantics. Useless. Come on, you’re not going to stop anything sitting on the floor.” She reached down to try to get an arm around the archer and attempt to haul her to her feet.

"Do you... do you think I can stop them from fighting?"

She asked quietly, allowing the Long Arm to help her to her feet, though one hand gripped the other woman's arm in a surprisingly strong hold as her knees threatened to give out on her.

"I..I don't think Angel-san is actually here with us."

Both comments gave Senna pause mentally, though she was heading in the direction of the door physically, trying to keep the movement slow.

About the fighting, I think you only have to stop Angel,” Senna said, keeping her head down. “And I think you’ll have to find some way to force a stop. Though… why don’t you think Angel’s here?” She carefully refrained from using her accustomed “it” to refer to their enemy. No use in antagonizing the Archer.

Sekai frowned down at the floor, no idea she was being led out of the room, at least not for the time being anyways. Hesitantly she brought up her opinion on it and what she'd observed.

"My thought was caused by the... um, passing she did when she walked through me."

The surprise in Senna’s next comment was born out of the fact that, since she’d been in the hall, she hadn’t actually seen what had transpired, only heard it. “She walked-“ she stopped herself again from asking a useless question and said instead, “Seems the pet’s here though. Maybe Angel’s laughing from another room…” It would certainly make sense – that’s how Angel had been with them in the anteroom. It had said so itself.

They had reached the nearest wall, and Senna paused there. “Do you want to leave, or stay?” She asked. “I’m planning on playing white mage, if you want to help?

"White... mage? What is a white mage?"

Sekai asked looking up in confusion before her eyes returned to the floor, uncomfortable for one reason or another and shook her head.

"If... if there is a chance to have them stop fighting, I need to be here to do so. And... I want to know why Angel-san doesn't want to go home."

There was a slight break in the soft voice when the word 'home' was spoken.

Senna squinted her eyes and cast a La Repth, which offered little in the way of actual usefulness, as suggested by earlier Flashmails. “So the pet’s just a tool, not a person, She said. Maybe if we can finish this fight, Angel will be more likely to listen? She gave you benefit of the doubt.” It hurt her mind to use “she” but Senna forced the word out.

The word tool seemed to distress the girl a bit by the way she shifted uncomfortably and the anxious expression in her eyes as she looked towards the battle.

"But... if Angel-san's pet is actually a person.. and we destroy her... isn't that murder?"

This time it was Senna’s turn to react, recoiling slightly. “So it’s speaking the truth when it makes us feel guilty by saying it’s alive, but lying about the pet being a doll?” she asked after a moment. “If you don’t want to attack, heal. If you can’t do that, leave. But Angel means to get revenge on some of our group-“ she paused there, a thought coming to her, then flitting away. “I wonder how far she would go for revenge.

"I... I don't see Angel-san as someone who would lie about certain things."

She looked back at the battle.

"I... will try to do something."

Sekai's eyes darkened slightly as she looked away from the Long Arm and from the battle.

"Is... is there a reason that you wouldn't want to go home from this place?"

Suppose it depends on what I was going back to,” she said. Again, she was struck by the fact that no one seemed to think anything suspicious of her actions.

The younger girl nodded a little, looking back over at Angel and the ensuing battle before a thoughtful, slightly distant look came into her expression.

"...I wonder how bad it is then, for Angel-san not to want to leave."

"Not bad enough to justify killing others or trapping them here against their will," the Long Arm replied grimly

"But... isn't that what we're doing by destroying them too? Although... that means we're actually murdering them in both worlds." Sekai pressed, trying to get some kind of frantic message across; if she could only get all of them to see that they'd be destroying each other permanently in both worlds... maybe they'd stop fighting.

This was getting uncomfortable, close to thoughts she did NOT need to have at the surface right now. Senna slammed a hand into the wall, wincing a little at the pain of the impact. "Yes. And Angel knew that, and Angel initiated the fight anyway and Angel continued the fight when you gave the opportunity to stop. It's Angel's decision, and it's made it clear that if you want to change that, you're going to have to FORCE her to stop. How do you plan on doing that?"

She looked away then, taking a quick, hissing intake of breath. "Sorry, sorry," she said, the anger draining from her voice, leaving tenseness and a newly remorseful tone. "I... sorry."

"...you don't have to apologize. People... do not tend to cease conflict in ways other than, well, using more conflict." Sekai replied softly, looking down at the barely visible edges of her boots and sighing a little, sounding weary even though she hadn't been in a coma more than a couple of days at best.

"We only tend to see one side of the story... and I usually wonder when it's too late; what is the other side we're missing?"

This left Senna thinking, along the same line she had been on before. Maybe...
"You asked Angel to stop," She said, apparently ignoring the last Sekai had said. "Right? But maybe you didn't ask right. She likes things. Can we bribe her out of the battle? Force it that way?"

"I... have some GP on me and a couple of rare items and a few weapons of higher level with some value... and a voucher for something or other I'm able to redeem somewhere for something of value."

Sekai responded reluctantly, checking her inventory and finding herself frustrated as hell for not having more she could use to aid anyone.

"With the way Angel-san has her rooms decorated and with the value that I estimate it to be... I.. don't believe we could come up with even a quarter of the sum needed to satisfy her."

"So it's not worth even finding out," Senna said flatly, abruptly tired of the conversation, in which she felt - knowing it to be untrue but unable to shake the impression - that Sekai was subtly applying an eight-letter word to her over and over again. "If you come up with an idea, I'll try to help if it makes sense. Otherwise, I just hope we all come through this. Even Angel, if you wish."

"I... will try to think of something. If we are able to get a set GP amount... I will try to give as much as I am able to towards that amount."

She replied softly, looking like she was trying to figure something out... though more like she was well on the way to giving herself a migraine instead.

"Stay safe," Senna replied before turning her attention fully to the battle. Ap Torv, she thought, would do well for Phoenix and Silk, and so thinking, she cast and hoped.

"You too..."

The small girl returned softly before going back to looking on anxiously towards the battle... and how she was going to figure out how to stop the fighting.
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)

User avatar
Zhao Xun
Elevated Player
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 3:09 am
Location: Wherever I'm needed.

Post by Zhao Xun » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:34 am

Blast it.

Senna seemed to have ignored my message, and Sekai had the same idea Canti seemed to – that these things weren't our enemies. It was nice, yes, but even I knew that Angel had to be killed. The fact that Angel might be human didn't stop me anymore. The Elites were human, and they were the reason everyone was stuck here. We were going to fight them eventually, and this same sentiment wouldn't be present there. So why worry about it now? Foolish, that's all it was. But alas, Sekai seemed as if she would not be swayed... which would make my job that much harder. What if she threw herself between Angel and my blades? Or Raquar's spear, or Zan's claws? She could stop us from hurting Angel, yes... but she couldn't stop Angel from killing us. That made her... a danger. As much as I hated to admit it, that poor girl was now an unpredictable element on the battlefield.
Flashmail!

To: Raquar, Zan, Lord Canti, Senna
From: Zhao Xun
RE: Sekai

I chose you four because, well, I think you might be able to do something about it. Canti and Senna I'd prefer, but if you two are busy, any of you will do.

Someone has to remove Sekai from this room. Quickly. Her desire to stop this battle is noble as hell, but she's willing to go too far. If she gets between any of us and Angel... well, we'll kill her if we keep going, but Angel can walk right through and slaughter us. I know Phoenix said this as well, but... I think it's more urgent than he implied.

Maybe I'm worrying too much, but I'm afraid. For her and for us. Someone, please, deal with her.

~Zhao
No sooner had I sent that flashmail off than I noticed Raquar's, which I had missed in the heat of battle. Attack the pet to shift the aura... well, Rayo seemingly had ignored that, but I was willing to give it a shot, especially since Zan was in with that plan as well. I returned to my previous offensive mentality, rushing at the chained entity and delivering a quick one-two before hopping back and readying another attack skill.

“Thunder Coil!”

I spun like a top, striking the pet with my now thunder-charged blades, not looking to see what kind of damage I was doing. No, I merely kept up my assault, throwing in several more slashes after the skill was concluded, trying as hard as I could to pour damage into our enemy.

Well, Raq, we're trying. Let's hope to God this works... otherwise, we might be finished.
Zhao's Profile

Wishlist:
Levels
Slayers
Other level 16+ Twin Blade Weapons
Cougar Bandanna
Snow Panther
Level 16+ Twin Blade Armor

Miakita hazu no tasogare ga
Konna ni kirei dato naita

User avatar
Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Post by Nighthand » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:34 pm

Outside of the battle, outside of the Dojo setting, Nighthand had left his observation of Lighteria to wander the halls of the mansion. For someone so fond of her money, and as opulent as the mansion was, he was surprised at how small the building seemed. It was larger inside than it looked like outside, he thought, though he didn’t wander to the front garden to see. Even so, unless it had quite a number of floors, it wasn’t that impressive of a mansion. He had seen dungeons filled with more treasure than this, though in a more game-sense than real-sense. Of course, items could be sold for GP, and if GP was what this person wanted, why didn’t she simply collect items to sell? With as much money as she had to spend, she could with relative ease corner the market on rare items and auction them off for quite the profit.

Still, a hacker’s minion didn’t need to be logical. Angel was unpredictable to him. He hadn’t before met someone so in love with wealth that it overrode all other desires, to the point of determining her actions. He knew that if he were to go trashing the rest of the mansion, Angel would almost certainly have a focus on him, and that would be an easy way to be at full strength for the fight… but that wasn’t enough. Even those already in there fighting, Zan and Nulus, Phoenix, and the others, the power alone wasn’t enough. It harkened back to the days when the Elites set bosses against them that were more puzzles than battles. Combat was intense, but the solution almost never had to do with sheer damage alone. These days, fighting lesser hackers, they were easier to kill. It was only a matter of a battle of attrition if they had to kill hundreds or thousands of small monsters. What he didn’t understand was why the hackers always felt the need to make themselves vulnerable. Kuja had the right idea, a passive immortality, but the loophole that if he was attacking he was vulnerable was just stupid.

Then again, maybe Twilight itself had something to do with that. For all that the Elites had control of Twilight, that didn’t mean Twilight didn’t also have control of them. Or perhaps it was some machination of the Master, the mysterious figure that pulled the strings of even the Elites from behind. Maybe he had set something in each of the items, making them have loopholes he could exploit if he needed to. Obviously the items weren’t all-powerful. Nall was proof of that, as were Jett and Kuja. The hackers, even the elites, were fallible. It just came down to finding the right solution, the right loophole.

Angel was created by an ultimately manipulative master, that much was certain. As much as she was a real human, willingly following Marionette, that didn’t matter. She was still warped, still twisted beyond all recognition of humanity. What the puppetmaster had done to her he had no idea, but it was enough to make her less than human. She was little more than the personification of greed. Human inside, maybe, but still less than they were.

Pulling a coin from his inventory, one of his thousands of GP, he thoughtfully flipped it around in his hand. There was power in money, no one could dispute that. Maybe less power in The World than there was in the real world, but who could say, really? Here, money could be so much more than simply tokens of wealth.

He flipped the coin in the air and caught it with a sigh, wandering back towards the Dojo, ideas forming in his mind.

------------------

In the room, the battle was still raging, but with little success. Phoenix’s attempts to make Angel lose her grip on the chain were interesting, but seemed marked with little success. The assault of the phoenix and the blademaster moved the floating pet around, but there was no sign of the chain growing too tense to be held. Angel herself watched as the pet bristled, its own primal anger coming to the surface. It was little more than a doll with emotions, an animal, holding nothing that resembled consciousness… but it was amusing to watch.

Canti’s series of spells rained down, Thunder, Earth, Fire and Darkness washing over the area with power, but again Nighthand’s hunch was confirmed. Damage alone would do little in this battle, whatever the element. The golden shield that surrounded Angel and her chain continued to absorb bits of the energy that came into contact with it, protecting Angel while lessening the damage dealt to the pet. Despite that, the pet didn’t seem to care about damage anyways. It only served to make it angrier.

Rayo’s arrows seemed to do little, though his grunty managed to retain a hold on the boss. Either because she saw the grunty as little threat, or simply didn’t care to move anyways, it was still true that the firm jaws held tight. Zan and Zhao’s added assault continued the trend, with dismaying effects. They had all seen, once, the golden aura shift to the pet… but what effect it had, or what had triggered it, they couldn’t say. Nothing else they did seemed to trigger the shift.

Angel seemed to be lost in thought, for a moment. What she was doing, it wasn’t apparent, but the pet wasn’t waiting to find out. It didn’t want to wait, and when no order to hold back was delivered, it went to town. Phoenix, Canti, Rayo, Zan, and Zhao… the group of them were all hazed in blood in what little of a mind the pet had. While it didn’t have the benefit of the added power of Angel, wielding it as a weapon, it was still capable of fighting on its own. It reached out and grabbed Zan and Nulus, the shade perhaps slightly surprised to be so tangible so easily. Slamming to two together, it tossed them to the ground and flew for Phoenix. Catching the blademaster, it didn’t stop in its flight, sending him into a wall.

The tugging on the chain drew Angel from her reverie, and she reacted with a viciousness very unbecoming of her. Rather than happy that her pet was defending her while she was lost in thought, she seemed angry, and showed it with a yank and twist on the chain. This motion sent the pet from one wall to the other, and while it was plain there was no pain in the slam, the pet knew better than to resist Angel. She, of course, DID know what it would take to hurt the pet. It knew, in the feral way a broken dog knew, not to disobey.

Glaring down at her grunty-shaped ankle charm, Angel glared in the general direction of the ex-wavemaster. Still, she didn’t bother to move or try to kick it off. Let him think it was working? Or maybe saving the grunty for use as a projectile later? Only Angel could say, and for once, she was oddly silent.

Now what?

---------------------------------------
ooc:
I’m going to continue with once-a-week posts for a little bit, because turn-out for this round was pretty low. Only about half of you posted. Those that did, thank you for being on the ball and up to things as usual. The rest of you… >_>

Oh, and in case it wasn’t abundantly clear… Damage alone isn’t going to solve this fight.

Phoenix512
Exalted Player
Posts: 304
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:42 pm

Post by Phoenix512 » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:48 am

Phoenix’s plan to get the chain out of Angel’s hands was a failure for the most part. Marionette’s flashmail was junk to him as he knew his resolve in this battle but for the others it had various results. Canti and Rayo attacked Angel with spells and a grunty even though they should have known that her aura protected her from all attacks. To the blademaster, they were wasting energy on a target that cannot be hurt at the moment. Phoenix noticed that Angel was lost in thought before the pet decided to vent its rage on the party.

The pet was quite powerful as it easily took Zan and his pet and slammed them together before throwing them down to the ground. Then it went towards Phoenix and impacting him to a wall. Phoenix was getting used to being smacked against walls at various angles. This time he smacked the wall with his back and a moment later, falling face first into the ground from the shock. Luckily, Angel had withdrawn the pet with such ferocity or the blademaster would probably be mauled to death by it.

Phoenix slowly looked towards Angel and her interaction with the pet. Their relationship was not one of mutual respect and trust but one of slavery and fear. If the pet with its rage and power was scared of Angel, then she must very powerful. The blademaster slowly got back up to the ground with the pain of being slammed into a wall and falling on the ground affecting him.

Kazuma-sama, are you alright?

I wished I had some of that alcohol Silk was using but I’m fine. Right now, our tactics aren’t working. We’re missing something.

If Angel still has her humanity, maybe we can use it to our advantage.

That’s right, Suzaku. She’s a rich brat. From her point of view, this battle is boring to her. I think I got an idea in getting rid of that shield.

Phoenix took a few steps away from the wall and began to walk to Angel. He was still in pain all over his body but this was nothing to him by now. Once he got within a safe distance, he began to negotiate to Angel.

“Hey Angel, you seemed that you’re a bit bored by us. You wanted to kill some of us for burning parts of your mansion but you want to have fun at the same time. So where’s the fun in killing us if you have that shield around yourself? Throughout time, there have been people who get off from mere danger of losing their fun for pleasure. Maybe that’s the type of fun you need. In most games, the hardest level difficulty has always been that the enemies get stronger while the main character is weaker overall. That shield is preventing you from having fun you desired.”

Phoenix took a pause for a moment before continuing talking to Angel. “So, are you willing to drop the shield and fight against us with the best of your ability? You may die in the process but then again, if you’re so strong then killing us would be not much of a problem to you. So do you want to have fun with us or maybe your rich lifestyle has made you so dull that you don’t like to play?”

Phoenix waited patiently for Angel to make her reply with his request. It was a different tactic but something needed to change if the Freedom Fighters were going to stand a chance against Angel. Having humanity might be consider a weakness but monsters like Primal and Devil did not have it and still lost. The blademaster hoped that her vanity was her weakness and if not, he had no clue what to do at that point. In the back of his mind, he wanted Hacorie and Senna regret killing Devil before he revealed Angel’s weakness because that information would be very helpful right now.
Phoenix
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver

Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Post by Zan » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:20 am

Pointless.

All of it, pointless. No matter how hard Zan struck, no matter how gracefully Nulus flew and slashed at the pet it was just...useless. Other than the undeniable force of impact, the slight twitch from collision, the damn doll never showed so much as a wince or a gasp of pain. Coming to a halt, the werewolf was unable to fight back the frustration that had coiled in his blood like scalding barbed wire. It wasn't that having to fight a boss that had puzzles linked to them was so new to him - hell, that made up most of the Hub Guardians - but the fact that he had mentally run through and tried almost every scenario he could dream of that would make her take the God damn shield down. Short of offering her all of his shit, which he wasn't going to fucking do, nothing clicked as workable. There were a few things left for him to try, a few possibilities to tinker with, but he doubted any of them would come to fruition. After all, the only ideas he had left had to do with physical altercations which, by experience thus far, were completely and utterly laughable. How pathetic Angel must think they all were. How little he cared. Before he could mull over this little confliction, Gimpy decided she had had enough with their bothersome swipes and had come around to do something about it.

The collision of the werewolf's body with his partner's was painful without a doubt, but it did little in actual hit point damage in the end. Already his body was beginning to fill out the bruises, wipe away the aches and pains with the slow-going benefit of his metabolism. Zan got to his feet with a groan, sick of the ordeal and sick of a mansion he had only just entered not too long ago. What happened to the dungeons that, despite their hardships, had been morbidly fun in their own way? There was nothing to that in this place. It wasn't the difficulty in cracking her shield (he had come across harder things, after all). No, it was something droning, something monotonous about the last string of field visits that simply had him sick of it all. This wasn't a sparkling new thought or development with Zan, of course. The Lycan had rolled it around in his head before, considered how much of a relief it would be to leave the Freedom Fighters and go on his merry little way. Now, just like then, he knew he couldn't do it out of the loyalty that bound him to his companions. The Heavy Blade would follow them wherever they needed, drag himself through pain and fatigue and boredom, because he didn't have anywhere else to go. The group offered him a purpose, offered him a motivation during his coma to keep from simply laying around and waiting for the game to simply...bleh, he didn't know, catch fire or something.

Knowing he was unable to leave the room and keeping his recent introspection in mind, Zan's focus turned to the dojo on the whole. Sure, Nulus tearing up the walls outside of the room hadn't done anything to lessen the strength of her shield, but perhaps fucking up the dojo she was holed up in would. It was a long shot, sure, but it was also the only thing that came to mind offhand. Lofting up his Ghostdancer, the werewolf turned away from the boss and charged into the nearest wall, meeting it with a grunted swing of his blade. He tore into it time after time, growling out his need for it to be done, praying that they found salvation in this odd effort. Nulus too joined in, but the Shade seemed several degrees less enthusiastic. It was like he knew what Zan would find when the player turned around to find the glow of Shebitch's shield still in full swing. A sigh pressed passed his lips then, coupling with his detached lean against the tattered wall. God damn it all. Why couldn't someone else be trying? Why was he the only one, Phoenix aside (doing...taunts?), that was giving everything he could to these guesses? Why was he the only one who cared enough? More importantly...why wasn't that reject Nighthand back yet? All in all...not his most calming moment. Eventually he was able to pull himself away from the wall, weapon arched up in another formulating idea. It was dumb. It was brutish. But again - he was the only one trying. Hopefully his momentum would bring someone else in with the wind-loving Blademaster and they'd come up with an idea that wasn't moronic.

"Kannon!" The incantation bellowed out to everyone and no one.

With the Ghostdancer alight with dancing flames, Zan charged not Angel, not her doll, but the chain that connected them. Each strike of the skill fell upon it, clanged and sparked with the force of it...but nothing happened. Figuring it might be the wrong element, a quick weapon swap to the High Forger and its Juk Drive was summoned. With green energy billowing over the blade, leaves falling from the weapon's edge, Zan tried again to break the damn connection. It was no surprise, of course, when nothing at all came of it. Putting the weapon away and reaching for another tactic that spoke volumes of his desperation, the lycanthrope's hands wrapped around the glowing chain and tugged, hoping to launch Gimpy into her master with all the strength offered to him in his human form. Maybe the doll would be her weakness, maybe her weapon was also her bane. It was an interesting theory, but it never found its testing grounds. As soon as the pair felt tension on the chain, they kept it from moving, kept the player from doing anything with it. When Zan didn't quit, when he snarled and tugged this way and that in his need for results, his wish was granted...just not in his favor. The pet launched his way with a tensed fist, the speed at which she approached and smashed her knuckles into his face allowing for little to no reaction. Back flipping from the strength of the hit until he was stopped by the dojo wall, the werewolf thudded to the ground and didn't move.

Oh, sure, he could still move. It had hurt. There was no denying that. Hell, the slowly stitching break in his nose and the dribble of blood from his nostrils over his lips attested to that. It was only that even moving now seemed to require too much effort. Fuck it. They were screwed. It was quitter's attitude but...what was that? Ah, yes. The sound of him not giving a shit. The sloth that overtook him now, he knew, wasn't only human. It was the stubborn, childish 'hmph' of the wolf after being denied his meal. It was the Beast making itself known in an incredibly untimely fashion. Nulus, rather than laugh at him, flew to his side and forced him to get up, forced him to stand. There was a look in the flaming, emerald wolf eyes that demanded he think this through. It wasn't about a sword. It wasn't about damage. It wasn't about what he could break or throw or rip asunder. Sure, there had been strategic and mental theories behind his attempts, but they had come down to combat in the end. The intensity of that stare forced him to drift more contemplations around in his skull. If it wasn't about the body, it was about her mind. What was the one thing that Angel so loved that she, with the right words, could be manipulated into bringing down something as powerful as that bloody shield of hers? The greed. The money. The stuff. Zan was very intent on not handing over all of his earnings to her, so he tried something else - a rare.

"Angel." He said, hoping to catch her attention as he drew out the mostly flat, pink elegance of a ballet shoe. "I'm sure you know this is a rare. Now...if you drop that shield and are able to beat everyone in this room in a fair fight - and by that I mean no cheap field corrosions - then this is yours. If you can summon up some impartial containment for it, I'll place it aside to await the victor of our wager. What do you say?"

It may have been a long shot. Without a doubt, she'd be the wonderful little cunt that she was and make some snide remark about a stupid shoe or something of the sort. Zan was banking on the depth of her greed, banking on the fact that she didn't already have what he was offering her and would want something as special as a rare bad enough to make herself vulnerable. It was probably not the only way to make her drop it. The Lycan was actually pretty confident there was a way to make it go away without her permission, but he was out of fucking ideas. Unless some other jackass actually tried, he'd be stuck with betting a rare on the possibility of their victory. He wouldn't be heartbroken if he lost the show, but he would be pissed. And he'd undoubtedly find a way to blame it on everyone but himself. He was just awesome like that. Zan could feel Nulus' urge to make a crack about the werewolf carrying around a ballet shoe and found himself rather surprised that he didn't. It was unlike the Shade to understand the tact necessary for delicate situations. Usually he did it for that very reason; to give the status quo a nuclear wedgy. It spoke volumes about his growing maturity. There was little in hope that he wouldn't do it once they were out of this mess, but...well...that would be saved for another time.

Gayyyyyyyy.

Or not.
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).

User avatar
Sekai
Ikkitousen
Posts: 123
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:04 pm
Class: Archer
Location: Liminality

Post by Sekai » Sun Sep 30, 2007 1:39 am

It was something out of a horror film that she'd been shown at one point, or like one of those horror anime that she knew Mika-chan so loved to watch. She'd braced herself for a blow, hoping against hope that something, anything could have been done to end the fighting without someone being killed or anymore blood being shed. Instead, she'd felt as if the woman's words physically slapped her and Angel-san had walked through her to get to where she needed to go. Stunned and nearly out of commission due to said shock of the words and the actions combined, one thing continued to run through her head, as if playing on a record that skipped and repeated one thing over and over again.

I LIKE it here. I don’t want to ‘go back’ or escape, or whatever it is you people are fighting for.

Senna's assistance got her out of the danger zone for the time being, the conversation doing some to jolt her back to herself and back into a sort of clarity of mind as the... servant of Angel-san acted on its own and assaulted Zan-san and Nulus-san both. Eyes widening in horror at the blood going down his face, the small Archer hurriedly fired off a La Repth spell, aiming it at the Heavy Blade and feeling herself pale when nothing happened; no wounds healed, no disappearance of blood, nothing. A health drink was used next; still nothing. The others had proved their attacks did no damage whatsoever save for a few peoples' attacks and even still those didn't seem to be working very well either.

It was as she feared; she was useless.

'Kira... Kira. Kira. Kira! Answer me! I need your help; please!'

Tears rose to her eyes, hands clenching into fists as she slumped against the wall, knees threatening to give out from beneath her as the sheer feeling of being in completely over her head, of being caught in the proverbial corner and; of being able to do nothing but stand there and watch as people she had only just started to tentatively start to know them. First Sesshomaru-kun had vanished without a word, abandoned for... things and the treatment and object she had become in her mother and father's eyes, T-Trent's emergence into being and his continual haunting of her mind, her inability to fix the things and people that were broken, Kira's refusal to respond and the inability to reach her or anyone else she wanted to call to help, and her inability to heal anyone from any sort of injury....

There was too much at stake to just leave it up to a life or death battle; she could not be a part of a group that could murder without a second thought.
To: Senna, Rayo, Silk, Phoenix, Zhao Xun, Hacorie, Canti, Sekai, Raquar
From: Marionette
RE: resolvE

iF yoU cannoT kilL onE sO likE yoU, hoW caN yoU hopE tO defeaT thosE whO puT yoU therE? iF yoU cannoT defeaT mY angeL, I havE nO usE foR yoU.
The flashmail was only another slap in the face, the girl's eyes closing even as the words marched through her mind in tandem with what Angel-san had said to her before. No, there were too many questions that she had to just leave it alone and agree with the others. If she was following Marionette-san freely and by her own choice; there had to be a reason that Angel-san didn't want to go back to the outside world.

They'd sat down beneath the Mac Anu bridge, closing her eyes and slipping into a meditative stance as she reached out like Kira had taught her to for the place where the AI resided within her. Materializing with a faint blue light around her person, the Long Arm nodded in acknowledgment and with a pleased expression in her eyes at the girl's ability to reach without too much trouble. They had begun doing so a few times a week to chat and to train each other on something new to see what kind of limitations their bond had; and the potential that was there and waiting to be discovered.

“Leif told me once that I was lucky to live in a world where we had our systems figured out and we coexisted peacefully when we chose to. I'll admit it though; for you humans to flock to my world so much? You all really must need some kind of escape from your problems or some situation that ain't satisfactory.”

She'd asked Kira if there were a way to stay in a peaceful state, only to have the woman abruptly end the conversation and sternly tell her that she needed to go and eat something before she lost weight again.


Her heart froze in her chest as the realization hit her as well; her own situation outside of the world she was in now was definitely less than satisfactory. She was trying to replace what she had been denied outside this world with those she found within the world she was in now. Looking around at the finery in the mansion, the strictly tidy order of things placed meticulously around each room and even in the dojo itself; it was decorated with the material things that probably would have made her mother crow in approval.

It was an empty happiness; someone's precious illusion of what it took to be happy.

What someone was missing in their outside life.

Muted resolve and determination in her heart and with understanding brimming in her eyes, the five foot nothing in height Archer stumbled forward, pushing herself away from the wall and headed towards the spot Zan-san had with Nulus-san and holding out a rare item in his hand. Riches and material things were only so good as long as they were not destroyed; so upset about her items being destroyed had to mean she had little to nothing outside of it that she could call her own. Even she could see the sense in that; as someone surrounded by so many material objects but not even able to claim that she owned herself. Her father and mother had made fairly damn sure that she couldn't call herself, her mind and her body her one thing she could claim as belonging to herself.
To: Marionette
From: Sekai
Subject: RE: RE: resolvE
Message:

There is another way to solve this besides senseless slaughter, even if it is able to be seen as slaughter in self-defense. I may not know the way as I am now but, I will find one where no one has to be killed forever and we won't have to live with the knowledge of someone else's life having ended because of our hands.

If this means you have no use for me... then perhaps someone else may who prefers exploring other options in the long run.

Respectfully,

- Sekai
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Sekai
Subject: Assistance
Message:

I know this is presumptive of me to request, but... I feel as if I must. I do not believe that this is the correct course of action; the property damage isn't truly the reason that Angel-san is upset and asking for our blood in payment.

Please, even if it is a little bit that you are able to contribute to taking the edge off of her anger; I ask that you do; that way we may continue on and search for the answers that truly matter.

Respectfully,

- Sekai
Out of her inventory and into her hands emerged a garment folded neatly in her arms, atop of the brilliant scarlet silk fabric and the gold-fire colored obi and black ties to said obi was a cream colored scroll with a forest green ribbon securing it shut. Next to the scroll was a second pouch, one like she'd left in the room she'd explored with Canti-san in payment for the items they had taken. Though her legs were threatening to give out on her and her hands beneath the folded cloth and the items atop of it were trembling, all she could do was try and keep trying until she was struck out of commission, she was sent elsewhere; or her attempts succeeded.

“I-It is true that I am ignorant in a great many things; but I do not wish to remain that way and I will not lose my ignorance unless the truth is revealed to me to banish that ignorance.”

Swallowing hard and trying to keep the trembling from reaching her voice, wishing she had the ability to say the right then when it needed to be said and deciding to try and risk it anyways, she moved the items in her arms and held them out towards the woman in front of her, not daring to look over at the Heavy Blade she stood next to for fear of what his reaction would be.

“A Red Kimono, one Jungle Rage, and 4,000 GP is what I have to offer in addition to Z-Zan-san's Ballet Slipper. I... I also wish to know why you do not wish to return to the world we have left behind.”

The unspoken desire to understand why Angel-san thought the way she did crept into her voice at the end of her sentence. The others could think what they wished of her for right now, that was not what she was concerned about at this point in time. She needed to see, had to, what her reasoning was to not wanting to go home and stay in this cold, comfortless prison she furnished herself.

Because she was starting to believe leaving the game was a bad idea when compared to what she herself had left behind; and that very thought was beginning to scare her.
Image

Name: Sekai
Level: 54
EXP: 0000/1000
Class: Archer
Clan: Army of Darkness
HP: 835
SP: 347

Currently Equipped:

Einherjar: Kira, December, Zorya

Head: Bat Earrings (Ola Repth 40, Rip Maen 40)
Body: Saint Cross (Rue Zot 10, RaJuk Zot 30)
Arm: Protect Ring (Ap Vorma 15, MeJuk Kruz 20)
Leg: Ninja Anklet (BiVak Rom 20, GiGan Zot 30)
Add-Ons: Forestlore, Wood Magic (permanently raised Wood Offense/Defense by +3 total)

Wishlist: Levels, Summon: Wood, Archer Weapons, Light Armor

User avatar
Lighteria
Well-Oiled Machine
Posts: 176
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:59 am
Location: :noitacoL

Post by Lighteria » Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:45 pm

Is there scratching from the wall? Nah, must be my imagination...

With a shrug, Lighteria looks back down towards the lab table he continues to work at. He glances between the two distinct vials he'd been working with for so long. For a second he stares down at what had begun as an empty flask but which has quickly become Lighteria's project. What few ingredients he'd been able to copy bubble lightly in a discolored and incomplete brew. Next to that, Angel's flask similarly bubbles, only hers is a singular color... it LOOKS like it's complete, only it's not. There's a moment where Lighteria grits his teeth in frustration. Just trying to recreate the incomplete flask has been hard enough, but finding out what's missing from the original could be next to impossible.

...Still. I know I'm close. I think I've got these two flasks almost identical...

"Mew meow, Mew. Mew meow, mew mew mew mew. (I don't know, Lighteria. It's sweet smelling, but I can't tell.)"

Pushing the grape back to the twin blade, Kit retires her nose for the moment and hops from the table, intent on finding a good napping spot if this not-petting stuff keeps up.

"This has to be it." Lighteria says, picking up Angel's flask and staring down into it. "...I just have to concentrate on its smell and see if it matches..." With a deep breath, he lifts the flask to his nose, not exactly sniffing per say, but simply taking in the scent. His nose wrinkles for a moment, the entire flask a rather powerfully sweet smell. He swallows, recognizing the smell of the Royal Jelly he'd found before. Something is definitely off about it though, it's got another sweet smell... For a moment he puts the flask down and picks up the grape, giving it a gentle squeeze so some of its juice seeps out of its skin. With a few quick sniffs, Lighteria takes in the odor.

Holy crap. It feels like I inhaled a sweet tart.

He sniffles and forces himself to take the scent in. He lets the scent linger for a few seconds before suddenly switching back to the flask. With a bit lip, he shuts his eyes and tries to filter out the royal jelly smell in the flask. It's faint... very faint. But after a few moments, a small but similar smell pops up.

"This is it!" He says suddenly, Kit lifting her head up from the floor to see what the commotion is. Before Lighteria can double check though, a voice calls from the hallway.

"Make something tasty?"
Lighteria's ears perk and he whips around, a shocked expression on his face.

"Wha-?" He stutters for a moment, his brain forcing him to make conversation now and panic later. "O-oh! Uh... Sorta." As Lighteria bats at his knee to make it stop shaking, Nighthand walks in the room.

"Well, good to see someone's getting something done. Whether or not it's useful." Lighteria shudders at the words, feeling like he was caught goofing off during a test or something similar. He clutches Angel's vial like a safety bar as he settles his gut.

"S-sorry..." He manages to get out. "I saw all this and... well it was so neat!" He shrinks backwards again, looking down at the floor... where incidentally Kit is grooming behind her ear with total apathy for the conversation.

"That's fine. I mean, there's a boss fight going on, but... I don't think you've broken anything, and you have to have somehow angered Angel to be able to participate. I chose to wander rather than fight. Probably not the best choice as a leader, but meh." The twin blade nods by instinct as he listens.

I can't blame him. And thank goodness he's not angry.

"Y-yeah... I feel guilty not fighting..." He starts out, looking to the side, trying to find reasons he didn't bother searching for before. "But I didn't want to fight her in the first place... and all this... " He trails off, looking around the room at the multitude of ingredients and items. Everything was so fascinating in here and the lab seemed to have a life of its own. The potion making was turning out to be more fun than Lighteria realized. For a few seconds he muses on the situation before suddenly remembering that, hey, he's still talking to someone. His mind snapping back to the heavy blade, his face pales for a moment as his head tries desperately to come up with something to say. His eyes dart to the table and catch sight of the grape. He blinks, grabs it and suddenly thrusts the grape towards Nighthand's face.

"Here. Smell this." Instead of freaking out, like the twin blade expected, Nighthand looks curiously at the thing and takes a whiff.

"That's... not what grapes are supposed to smell like. What is it?" Lighteria shrugs for a moment and looks back to the racks where he found the fruit sacks.

"The bag s-says 'Shimmer Grapes.' I dunno quite why they're like that. But it smells sweet!"

Unless I'm mistaken...

"Doesn't... it?"

"Yeah, it kinda does." Lighteria breathes out, relieved and puts the grape down. "Odd... I had no idea the game supported so many random items for you to tinker with. Unless this is just Angel's stash, but even if it is.. They exist, which means they exist elsewhere. That's how Twilight does things."

"I hadn't considered that..." He says truthfully. He shakes his head and turns back to the lab table.

If these exist outside... Wow.

"It'd be fun if they existed elsewhere..." He says with a surprising degree of honesty and ease of speech. "I really enjoy this. It's fun..." Another lull in the conversation. In a panic he holds out Angel's flask to Nighthand all of a sudden. "You can smell the grape in this mix, can't you?" He says quickly, like the question is more urgent than it is.

"Uh.. a little bit, i guess." Nighthand replies, leaving Lighteria to ignore his reaction and turn back towards the table quickly.

"Angel left this flask on the table." He says, mouth talking by itself in explanation, trying to keep the conversation going. "She was making... something, but left it incomplete. I'm trying to remake it. I've gotten most of it in this one." He holds up his own flask, not turning around "I think the grapes are the last item...."

"What's it supposed to be, anyways?"

Huh. I hadn't actually thought of that.

"It..." His voice cracks suddenly, not really used to talking and the speed of the conversation overwhelming him. "..I'm.. not sure. W-what few notes I found mentioned just a potion... but a good one. But she couldn't find the last ingredient." Lighteria's knee jerks, an unbearable pause in the conversation stunning the poor twin blade.

"Well... maybe you have something here that can help us all. So far, no one's really come up with a way to win this boss fight... but maybe if you make this potion you can barter with her. Probably not for her complete withdrawal, but maybe for the key to the next floor, or something..." Lighteria looks back to Nighthand, the last couple of his words sort of trailing off distantly.

He must be worried about the team... And about the hub. I don't have that kind of worry... I really am terrible! Sitting here tinkering while everyone else is away! ...
It's... so interesting though... And if it's possible to help...


He looks at the flasks bubbling on the work table. "You think that's possible? If she stopped that'd be..." He trails off.

...That'd be ideal.

Suddenly regaining his focus, he starts grinding up a grape in the equipment. "...There's still a missing ingredient. You think I could?"

"If she was working on it to begin with, she was probably somehow invested in it's creation. If you can save her work, and especially if it makes an item that's not normal, that could be exceptionally valuable to her. As we've seen all over the place... she's a creature that enjoys her money." Nighthand breaks Lighteria's focus for a moment, the twin blade suddenly looking around the room at all the fineries he hadn't really noticed before.

"...She really does." He admits as he rubs his nose, the smell of the crushed grape making the whole room smell a bit sugary. "...You think I can even manage it?" He swallows, getting unsure of himself again. "I might be more useful fighting."

"I'm over here, aren't I? This fight is going nowhere. At least, it was when I left. If this gives you a chance to end it in a different way, it's still more of a lead than we've had so far."

"It's still a gamble!" He says suddenly, whipping around to face him. He blinks once and immediately shrinks backwards, the outburst ironically making him feel meeker than ever. He swallows before he speaks. "...I dunno. I want to say... I.. did this to help..." He hangs his head, not wanting to make a poor excuse. "But I didn't. I just started this because it was interesting... If it does end up helping the ground it'll be coincidence..." His gut clenches in guilt. "...I'm sorry."

"It wouldn't be the first time an accident helped us all. Hell, we're all here by an accident of fate; wrong place at the wrong time. It's about time for fate to be on our side, eh?"

Fate... When I think about all that... all that's happened...

"We rely on luck a lot..." His mouth seems to say by itself as he thinks on the past, his grip on the flask tightening. "It's scary."

"And yet it's more reliable than some of the other things we have to rely on..."

...Joke! Laugh!!

Lighteria forces a laugh. "You... might be right."

...Though, I think we're stronger than that!

"Still... people make me confident we can overcome things." He looks up to the heavy blade with deeply hopeful eyes. There's another pause while the twin blade slowly realizes he's getting very, very emotional. Flushing red with embarrassment, he turns around to the desk. "S-sorry, that was silly. ...I really should work on this."

"Go for it, I'll shut up now."

That sounds like he was bugging me... That's not true! For goodness sakes Lighteria, set it straight!!

"T-thanks... for talking." He says meekly, refusing to turn around from working on the grape.


As Lighteria attempts to keep his knee from shaking out of nervousness, Nighthand takes a seat on a nearby, overly-fancy chair. The silence is deafening to the twin blade, even though it only lasts a few seconds...
Because as soon as a lap presents itself, Kit begins to make a beeline. Settling down on Nighthand's lap like it's her nap pillow she lets out a yawn and rests her head.

"Backrub. Now, thank you." She says in English so the heavy blade can understand.

"Bossy little creature, aren't you?"


Sensing this one needs to be cutened up first, Kit flashes the saddest cute-kitten pout she can muster, her how face screaming 'How? HOW can you be so cruel as to not rub my back?' Lighteria glances over for just a moment and breaks a smile as he works.

He doesn't stand a chance.
Last edited by Lighteria on Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Lv. 37 Twin Blade (180 SP)
Weapon: Rashou (Thunder Coil- 30, Suvi Lei- 20, Mumyn Lei- 30) (Life Drain)
Armor: Holy Tree Mail (Juk Kruz- 20) - Scarab Earring (La Repth- 20, Rip Maen- 40) - Time Sandals (Ap Do- 15) - Forest Gloves (Juk Kruz- 20)
GP: 14384

Wish list (In order of priority): Angel halo accessory, chibi angel wings, Bone Armor, Professional

Lighteria: "Obsessively updating my profile since Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:10 pm"

Fuzzhead
Elevated Player
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 1:27 am

Post by Fuzzhead » Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:44 pm

The alcohol exploded into an inferno of bright flames, partially blinding the Fist Fighter. This really didn’t make much of a difference, however, because Angel wasn’t even bothering to move. With that ludicrously powerful shield defending her against all attacks, she could afford to simply stand there and take every last hit, and it seemed now that even the stupidly resourceful Fist Fighter was out of ideas. Still striking the boss with every available ounce of energy, the boss proceeded to first insult them, then stride over to the prostrate Sekai, completely ignoring Silk’s furious blows.

Finally out of energy, the Fist Fighter’s assault abated as he warily retreated, his chest heaving from his exertions. A new barrage of attacks was initiated by the Freedom Fighters, but Silk had had his fill of useless punching and kicking. If they were to achieve victory, it would have to be through a novel idea, and since Angel wasn’t digging him, the Fist Fighter was out of ideas.

Silk watched in awe as the handful of warriors led by the werewolf and his companion threw everything they had at the infuriating shield, and as before, failed completely to reach any kind of measurable effect. Things just weren’t working out, and the Fist Fighter was just about ready to give up. This whole situation was like a dead-end game of solitaire: unbeatable.

And then… Silk watched incredulously as Zan lifted up his Ballet Shoe as an… offering… to the hateful Angel. Yes, this certainly was a new idea, but would it meet with success? The Fist Fighter was loath to give up any of his items, so he hung back, waiting to see what would occur. Sekai, too, joined in, offering up a rare of her own, including gold and a spell. Was this really the way to go?

Grinding his teeth, the Fist Fighter moved to a stop beside Sekai and raised up one of his most prized items: his Spiritual Book. "I, too, offer this up in the hope that we might come to an accord by some other method other than violence," murmured the Fist Fighter, a part of himself protesting wildly at this insanity. Everything about this felt wrong, but if it eventually didn't work out, he could kick Zan's ass later. Or so he hoped.
Level 25 Fist Fighter
Boxing Gloves | Nny Scales | Dice Gloves | Iron Anklet | Time Headband

Skills: Ap Corv, Ap Torv, GiVak Don, Ap Torma, Ap Do, Repth, Kiwami, Double Mortal Scorcher

Wishlist:
1.) Rare Foot Armor
2.) FF Belief
3.) Any stat-altering items

User avatar
Senna
Awakened Player
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:28 pm

Post by Senna » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:58 am

This was really starting to get ridiculous. Senna was frustrated beyond belief at the Freedom Fighters – though that name felt oddly quaint right now.

She was a coward and often a hypocrite and she was okay with that, and so to watch how hypocritical, how PAINFULLY so, the others were, was beginning to wear thin. Though, some part of her mind chimed in helpfully – you shouldn’t have expected anything more.

First Phoenix asked Uriel to drop its shield. Then Zan tried to bribe Uriel into dropping its shield. Then Sekai tried to add to the bribe in an effort to get Uriel to stop entirely, using the same tactic she’d hemmed and hawed about when Senna suggested it not a minute before. At that point, she’d claimed to want nothing more than to stop the fight, but wouldn’t even act on her own on the one reasonable suggestion that had been made. She was obviously NOT as interested in peace as she was telling herself. She was willing to ride the coattails of others, and she was willing to decide SHE knew what was good for others better than they did, but she wasn’t willing to act on it. Or maybe she only decided the idea was good once Zan suggested it, which wasn’t any better in Senna’s mind.

Senna wanted to beat her OWN head into the wall. It maybe into a spike, bleed it out on the floor. There were Flashmails – Marionette, Sekai, neither a person she had any interest in hearing spew more of their drivel.

Oh well. There was nothing much for it. Ranger boots appeared at her feet. They were followed in quick succession by 1,000 gold, a pair of Cygnus, and last and most slowly, a Tranquil Spear. SHe had been considering throwing in her Archspear when she first suggested this, but now she felt like it would be better in reserve. REserve for a long time.

Guess this is what’s called paying for a teammate’s mistakes, she thought, glaring straight across at Zan. I just feel bad for the ones who have to keep doing it.
Last edited by Senna on Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)

User avatar
Zhao Xun
Elevated Player
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 3:09 am
Location: Wherever I'm needed.

Post by Zhao Xun » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:59 am

Insanity. That's what Sekai was proposing. There was no way in HELL Angel would just let us walk away. Sekai thought that Angel wasn't pissed at us about property damage, and yet she offered money as a resolution? Idiocy. Complete idiocy. The girl's naivete shone through like an unbearably bright beacon, and it wasn't what the group needed at the moment. In fact, it was propbably one of the most divisive things she could do.
Flashmail!

To: Raquar, Zan, Rayo, Senna, Lord Canti, Silk, Phoenix, Hacorie
From: Zhao Xun
RE: Sekai

What she suggests is lunacy. Maybe we can't stop Angel just by slashing away, but that doesn't mean we can't beat her through combat. Also, her statement and her methods are contradictory. If Angel isn't pissed because of the damage, then what the FUCK will offering her money do? It's moronic to the core. I think she's a sweet girl, and I think she's trying to do what she knows is right, but... it's truly stupid. Don't waste time and give Angel the opportunity to cause us more harm.

Fight.

~Zhao
That sent, I returned my focus to Angel, and... did nothing. As much as I thought Sekai's plan was stupid, I wasn't going to do something to upset it until more people had voiced their opinions on it. The group as a whole had yet to speak, and though my part was done, the others had a right to decide. I didn't want to repeat the mistake Senna and Hacorie had made before, after all.

Plus, if Raquar and Rayo didn't back me up... then I was probably wrong. But still, I hoped they would understand.
Zhao's Profile

Wishlist:
Levels
Slayers
Other level 16+ Twin Blade Weapons
Cougar Bandanna
Snow Panther
Level 16+ Twin Blade Armor

Miakita hazu no tasogare ga
Konna ni kirei dato naita

Hacorie
Ikkitousen
Posts: 105
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:30 pm
Location: Here and there.
Contact:

Post by Hacorie » Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:06 am

…Dingamuthafuckinling...

Hacorie finally understood why most people waited until halfway through a struggle, or even a breaking point to answer a Flashmail. It was not because they were trying to ignore a person, but instead it came down to two choices: write a message and die, or live and be spared for the moment. Of course there were exceptions to this rule, but these two basic decisions were what characters had to make when that noisy little jingle combed the innards of their ears. However, maybe the annoying notification created by the administrators had another purpose, one for a greater good. (Ha what an oxymoron. Using Administrator of the game and good in the same sentence.) Maybe it was administered to wake someone up from a doze or day-dreaming state. After all, the high pitched squeal had broken many of Hac’s trains of thought. Even though the sound was sudden and quick, it disappeared just as it had appeared.

Of course, as mentioned above, there are times in which answering a Flashmail is the best course of action in battle. This just so happened to be one of the times. See, the Freedom Fighters were interlocked with the pet of the Marionette Angel. This was one of the major boss fights of the wonderful mansion the group had trudged into. Instead of welcoming the change of scenery, idiots decided to wreck the place and piss off Angel. Too bad she decided to punish the few who had abandoned her initial statement of leaving stuff alone in the house and respecting her property. As the battle began, the group initially realized that attacks were not affecting the demon angel (ha another oxymoron). Everything was going from bad to worse, and no one had even come up with an idea which seemed that it could work. Some just wanted to try and beat the hell out of the lady. Others were trying to make her guard drop so they could try and beat the hell out of her.....hell hell hell. Everyone was trying to just fight instead of look at the larger picture, well at least most of the group. A few had not even made move to attack, and some had just disappeared.

However, one lone mistress came forward and bowed herself at the feet of Angel and her pet. She begged and pleaded for the woman to stop her onslaught on the group. Apologizing and on the verge of tears, from what Hac could see. Though, it was all to no avail. The Angel had no interest in the girl’s supplications. The archer was having a tough time, but she did not give up. Changing perspectives back on the main subject of Flashmails, this battle was one where these messages kept everyone updated and addressed personal interests. Seeing the time fit, Hacorie opened the Flashmail which had come into his inbox. It was from none other than the leader of the goon the group had engaged in battle: Marionette.
To: Senna, Rayo, Silk, Phoenix, Zhao Xun, Hacorie, Canti, Sekai, Raquar
From: Marionette
RE: resolvE

iF yoU cannoT kilL onE sO likE yoU, hoW caN yoU hopE tO defeaT thosE whO puT yoU therE? iF yoU cannoT defeaT mY angeL, I havE nO usE foR yoU.
Another cryptic message of sorts. The one unveiled a bit about the opponent of the group with this statement, but the underlying question was one which could not be answered at the moment. “Like you...” Hacorie repeated while gazing at the message. Did that mean that Marionette actually was trapped in the game as well? Why would anyone stay on the side of those with evil intentions if they are trapped with only one hope of escape? Maybe....maybe there was another way to rid the virus of Twilight. Maybe Marionette had figured it out and recruited Angel and Devil to help protect the secret. Then again, why would the puppet master be working for the Elites? The puzzle pieces seemed to multiply with each second of thought expressed through the characters mind. “What should I do...”
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Sekai
Subject: Assistance
Message:

I know this is presumptive of me to request, but... I feel as if I must. I do not believe that this is the correct course of action; the property damage isn't truly the reason that Angel-san is upset and asking for our blood in payment.

Please, even if it is a little bit that you are able to contribute to taking the edge off of her anger; I ask that you do; that way we may continue on and search for the answers that truly matter.

Respectfully,

- Sekai
“First thing I am doing when I escape this place is editing the folders on my computer and replacing the Flashmail sign with a nice song clip or something. Maybe some Lostprophets or Panic. That would be awesome.” Hacorie spoke to himself as his attention shifted back up to the battle ahead of him. “Hmm...this may actually work...” Hacorie exclaimed as he began walking toward the group who was all offering items and money to the woman of immense wealth. So far, the ‘pot’ consisted of many a thing: A rare costume, a nice scroll, a costume piece, a rare book, and 4k GP. It was a rare item hunters dream. Hac was doing everything in his power not to squeal. For after all, he joined the group in the hunt of such items...but so far only a few have even come his way.

“Damn....you guys....rare items...I....want....them....” The broken speech erupted from the Heavy Blade’s mouth as he began circling through his inventory trying to find something to help out. Noticing the pot was small money ways, Hacorie just seemed to smile as a small pouch appeared by his side. Slowly releasing the sealed bag, the character showed Angel the contents: 20k worth of gold. That’s right; the Heavy Blade was going to give up almost all of his savings to the woman of tremendous power. However, even though his feelings were great for certain items deemed to be of the rare persuasion, the Heavy Blade knew his contribution was not enough to sway the mind of the woman. Trying to stop himself from crying his heart out, a single item was withdrawn from another pouch hidden underneath the character’s cloak.

“That gold comes with something else as well...”

A shimmering glow erupted from the Heavy Blade’s hand as he sat one of his rare items onto the ground. The item was an extra costume piece in which Hac actually had no use for. Especially since he owned a complete set of the costume already, but he was keeping it for trading value. After all, the saying does go ‘an eye for an eye and a rare for a rare’. Two gigantic floppy ears lie atop the bad as not to get dirty from the floor. The piece was that of the bunny costume: the ear piece to be exact. Even though it was not the complete costume, it still took a bit of inner deciding to get rid of it.

“For the greater good...” Hacorie whispered as he took a step back and looked up to the Angel and her pet.

“I ask you as well...please stop this bloodshed. I will not harm you any further knowing you are like us, unless forced to. I cannot destroy a life of someone I know is like us. I did....destroy Devil...but thinking it was an AI was a different situation. You...you are human...and....” Hacorie stopped. He did not know how to finish his sentence. He did not want to claim that he would not kill another human, but if the Elites were like that then maybe he better watch his tongue. However, if provoked...killing in self defense would be considered better than killing for no reason. At the moment, Marionette was doing a bit of the logic. However, she extended her own conscious body to the entire house. She considered inanimate objects part of her own being and life. So she was just defending herself in he own mind....if Hac’s logic was correct.

“Unless you attack me for a reason...I will no longer attack you...” Hac whispered as he hoped the fighting would now stop.
Flashmail!

To: Raquar, Zan, Rayo, Senna, Lord Canti, Silk, Phoenix, Hacorie
From: Zhao Xun
RE: Sekai

What she suggests is lunacy. Maybe we can't stop Angel just by slashing away, but that doesn't mean we can't beat her through combat. Also, her statement and her methods are contradictory. If Angel isn't pissed because of the damage, then what the FUCK will offering her money do? It's moronic to the core. I think she's a sweet girl, and I think she's trying to do what she knows is right, but... it's truly stupid. Don't waste time and give Angel the opportunity to cause us more harm.

Fight.

~Zhao
Hrmm...so he still wishes to fight someone who is like us. His sense of honor seems to be great. However, we have a nice little plan going on here. I will not let you harm her Zhao. Not until we actually have to...

With this thought, Hacorie shifted his head to where the Heavy Blade was in the corner of his eye. If the Twin Blade moved, Hacorie would defend the Angel until the offering was either accepted or declined. However, it seemed Zhao was not moving...good...While Hac was making his own offering, his partner in crime had also left an outstanding amount of items to make the invisible pot nice and busting from the top.

Flashmail
To: Sekai
From: Hacorie

I know we have not formally met, and you may not like me for my actions at the previous hub, but...I think this may be the last hope for this battle. This bribe will either make her stop or excite her in rage. If the latter option happens, she may start attacking everyone in the room. With that outcome, I wish for you to either choose to fight or leave the room. I do not want to fight either knowing she is like us, but if she provokes me I will have no choice. Your decision is your own, but if you stay...I will help protect you...you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. We cannot lose someone like that. You may be one of the only ones actually holding this group together...Just keep that in mind...I hope I can count on you as backup in such a situation.

END FLASHMAIL

Flashmail
To: Fuzzhead
From: Hacorie

Maybe if you pay her some money she will wear that for you. =p Who knows, she may actually go for that since it gets her some cash out of it...

END FLASHMAIL


(OOC: Guess I will collect all the items in a neat list...hope I did not miss anything XD

Bathtub of items:
25,000 GP
1x Ballet Change [right shoe]
1x Red Kimono
1x Spiritual Book
1x Ranger Boots
2x Cygnus
1x Tranquil Spear
1x Bunny Change [ear piece]
)
Hacorie
Level 36 Heavy Blade
Gold: 21237

Equips
Oceanic Aura/Sharktooth-Ice Helm-Winter Coat-
Shiva's Rings-Bondage Pants
---Water Magic, BL Yokohama

Wishlist:
Level Meh Up
Weapons: Sakabatou/Rock n Roll/Peace Blade
Body: Knight's Armor
Other: Earthlore/Feng Shui
--------Water/Earth Scrolls

Rayo
Exalted Player
Posts: 485
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2003 7:21 pm

Post by Rayo » Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:37 am

How could any of them plan on taking down Angel if they needed her to cooperate with them for their ‘great’ plan? The boss could plunder their corpses easily enough after the fight regardless, unless it conflicted with her on a moral level. Their host did seem to have issues with property damage and probably didn’t agree with theft. Yet, begging and offering tribute just didn’t seem right. It wasn’t impossible for their opponent to drop her shield; she had done it once before. If dropping it was necessary for her to attack directly, such as when she woke up her pet the last time, putting it back to sleep might allow for the same sort of action.

The archer unwrapped the piece of parchment, targeting the pet once more. If nothing else, the status inflicted by The Moon scroll might delay further attacks for a time. Bell was still attached to Angel by the leg; the grunty would do it’s best to do… well, whatever was possible when the situation for successful action arose. As for the actual owner? The bowman would simply snipe away with a constant stream of basic, ordinary and quite unoriginal arrows. Their cost was negligible, but Rayo needed to confirm how much damage he could deal by himself towards Marionette’s toy even without the shield. High defense bosses often had a smaller HP sum to balance it off. A sizeable portion of the group seemed inclined to work with the Angel; there weren’t many left for an attack. In the worst case, Rayo and Bell might be the only participants in the battle.

Pegging Marionette’s Angel with arrows did allow for the player to finish reading through the flash mails, of which there were too many. Zhao was added to the list of hopeful combatants, along with Phoenix. Phoenix was appealing towards Angel’s pride, Zan and Sekai towards greed; would either influence the girl much? Phoenix was waiting for a reply, and the twin blade might just be looking for an opening.

Most of the room was just standing around, but what of the remainder of the team? Nighthand and Lighteria weren’t within his peripheral vision, nor had they been at any point of his circling around the boss. The mansion might possess additional secrets and surprises on the half they’d explored though, perhaps the battle had unlocked something. It wasn’t as if the difference in manpower would make or break the combat attempt. Since the fight had begun, the only progress they’d made was discovering what wasn’t effective, which was more or less everything tried.

Angel was like them, she was another who wasn’t where she originated from. Yet, she wanted to remain in The World. The girl allied with Marionette and played her game with the party organized to deliver destruction to the hub. If Angel wanted to take the role of the defender, then it was necessary for her to be removed in order to accomplish their objective and move on. The hubs weren’t all important, but that didn’t mean that they could walk away. Presently, around half a dozen of their group couldn’t even if they wanted to be friends and walk away.

All that was left was wait for an opportunity to do something more, and if that didn’t work? Then Rayo would simply go along with his back up plan to confuse the pet into attacking Angel. That might net them a chance too.
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty

User avatar
Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Post by Nighthand » Tue Oct 02, 2007 4:15 am

Angel seemed momentarily taken aback by the sudden appeal to her greed. She eyed the pile with obvious lust, the occasional shake of an arm her only movement. That shake served to keep her pet at bay while she thought, mentally tallying up the value of the items. It wasn’t enough to cover the damages in her mansion, but that was of no matter. Whether Zan had remembered her trophies, or had simply chosen his least-desired rare, the ballet shoe was worth more than its weight in GP to her. The rest was simply icing on the cake… and besides, she wouldn’t mind wearing that kimono. It looks fashionable and quite comfortable.

”Hmph. Your offers interest me. First, though; you.” She turned to Sekai. ”What do you have in the so-called real world?”

The girl shrank a little under the words and the gaze. "I... have a friend. Outside here."

”Do you. What if you didn’t? No, better; what if that friend went up in smoke? What if this person so dear to you died before your eyes, died on the outside while playing this game, and yet… didn’t die? What if you could only see this friend here, in The World?”

"But I have someone like that!" Her cheeks reddened and her eyes dropped. "...I... I'm sorry. I would... I would want to see my friend as much as I was able to."

”So you know. Why do I want to stay in this game? I have nothing on the outside. Here, I can be anything I choose to be, but there? What is there, what place is there, for a-“ She stopped, cocking her head with a puzzling smile. ”No, I’ve said enough for now.”

She bit her lip and lowered her head. "I'm... I'm sorry." Sekai repeated.

Shrugging, Angel turned to Zan, who had started the whole thing, and might as well be the current spokesman for the group.

”So. In light of your teammate’s contributions, do you wish to revise your offer?”

Zan was quiet, not immediately offering up any words. Now wasn't the time for his animal instinct or his martial prowess. No, now was the time to use the brain people seemed to think he lacked because he wasn't entirely human. When it hit him, the werewolf showed no smile, no twitch of his facial muscles. Rather, his tone was firm, confident, and unwavering as he spoke. "I do. All of what's been offered to you, you can have it. It's yours. All of the rares, all of it. You can mount it on your walls, stash it in your rooms. You can do whatever you want." The Heavy Blade held up his hand. "On the condition that we can't beat you with your shield down. If we are unable to bring this form of yours down, you can keep everything with no objections or annoying words from any of piss ants. We'll leave you to your greed and your world and be on our merry little way." A pause. "Do we have a deal?"

Angel paused for what seemed like a very, very long moment. Then, slowly, she smiled.

”I think I will one-up you, boy. I know you came here for a reason, and being unable to beat me is little deterrent for most of you. You have yet to even venture into the upper floors of my mansion, let alone find what you came for. Here’s my offer. I will lower my shield, even remove my pet from the equation. Each of you in this room will become vulnerable to me, and myself equally vulnerable to you; the slate wiped clean, so to speak.”

She paused again, simply for effect, though she knew exactly what she would say.

”I do not care if you progress through my mansion; my goal is to stop you before the end. So. If I kill each and every one of you in this room, I will take the items and move elsewhere in the mansion. You may have to face me again, or you might not. I will not expel you from the grounds. I will, however, have expected you to learn your lesson about destroying my property.

On the other hand, if you can so much as scratch my skin, draw my blood… the same shall happen. Your items will remain your own, and you will be allowed continued progress through my home. You may or may not face me again. You will, however, be faced with swift justice should my property be damaged further in your explorations.

What say you?”


The Heavy Blade was amused at her arrogance, at her almost daunting belief in her own ability. Despite that, he was fairly certain it had basis. It was time to tread lightly. Eyes narrowed, Zan gave Angel a slow nod. "Deal."

Whether or not the rest of the group agreed with Zan’s bartering, Angel considered it enough. She raised one hand and snapped her fingers. The resounding crack that sounded was much louder than it should have been, and a certain… heaviness was removed from everyone present. Anyone attempting to leave or enter the dojo room would find their entry unbarred.

”Any who do not wish to partake in the fight, leave. Any within the room are fair game. Any on the outside cannot affect those on the inside, and those on the inside cannot affect those outside.” She said, lowering her arm. As she did so, a flash of energy erupted from around the players gathered in the room. Each item that had been offered to Angel as reward for her win was surrounded by a soft white glow. Slowly, they hovered away from their owners, until they were piled in a far corner of the room. ”The items are sealed away from all of us until a winner is decided.”

Calmly, ever so slowly, she reached out and grabbed the face of her pet. Immediately, the golden glow left her, blossoming into being around the creature. It spun and looked ready to decimate all in the room, but she forestalled its action. A mighty heave, and she tossed the creature up into the ceiling. It struck… and kept going. It soon was gone, passed into the next floor without a mark on the intervening space.

Dusting off her hands, now devoid of her shield, Angel readied herself to fight. A routine that consisted of changing her metallic arm. The flat metal panels flipped to jut out at angles and began spinning, slowly at first, but picking up speed until they were a humming blur. From between her middle finger and ring finger, a metal bar jutted out, followed by three more, nested like a stereo antenna. It was obviously a sword of some kind, and none present except Angel herself knew what she was capable of doing with it.

It looked like the battle for the items was about to begin.

--------------------------------------ooc:

Regardless of the outcome of this fight, the group is allowed to progress through the mansion. The fight is over the items and whether or not Angel gets to keep them.

People are free to enter or leave the room at any time. However, if you’re a ghost and you leave the room to be revived, you will return to being a ghost when you reenter the room. Basically; if you leave the room, any changes that take place on the outside are removed when you re-enter. It’s Angel’s way of keeping people from cheating and using her self-imposed battleground boundaries against her.

Sorry the post was delayed, Sunday turned out to be a bad day for me. Thanks to those that posted, which was most of you. So, I ask you all; when should I post next? Back to twice a week with a post on Thursday, or continuing with once a week for another round, and posting on Sunday/Monday again?

Locked