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Nighthand
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Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:05 pm

Flashmail!
To: The Freedom Fighters
From: Nighthand
Subject: Rescue Nall

We're mounting a rescue of Nall. Raine has verified that he was captured on that field, the video Marionette showed wasn't false. Sheena is coming too; if we're not fast, I suspect she'll leave us behind. I'd rather not have her going off alone.

From the video, at least the field level is Fire based and deals constant damage to us due to the heat. Stock up on health drinks and ice scrolls. This could be the toughest fight yet.


Nighthand hurried through the hideout making sure everyone was in action, before heading directly for the gate. Sheena was there, waiting out of respect for the team, but clearly antsy. She much rather would already be there, demolishing her way through the field’s monsters and racing to the bottom of the dungeon to rescue Nall.

Nighthand adjusted his blade and waited for more people to gather by the gate. As soon as most of the group was there, Sheena gave up waiting and gated, shouting her keywords out.

”Lambda, Gated Folding Stare!”

Nighthand followed his own muttering serving the same effect as Sheena’s shouting did.

He noticed two things immediately upon entering the field. The first was that the spawn point was off; he gated in a full eight feet in the air, falling as soon as the rings disappeared. There was nowhere to go but down, and not enough time to spread his wings, so he simply took the hard landing and rose to his feet. The second was the heat.

The heat was Intense. Even the lava cave of the Shinja hadn’t been this hot. He was instantly covered in sweat, sweat that literally steamed off his exposed skin. The steaming had a side effect as well, one Marionette had told them about; already, his HP was dropping because of it.

Sheena was already busy. As she had appeared, a monster had arrived at their location; a single level 20 fire elemental. It didn’t stand a chance. Sheena landed on it and drove it into the ground, a single fist driving through its body and destroying it. As the rest of the group arrived and noticed the heat, she came to her first revelation.

”Ap Vakz slows the rate the fire damages you. Cast it on everyone if you have it. Ap Do!”

Nighthand nodded and switched around his armor, and began casting Ap Vakz until everyone, himself included, and followed it up with his own casts of Ap Do. It took some mage’s souls to have the SP, but it was done. He also cast a La Repth, to bring everyone up close to full.

Sheena had already set off across the field at a dead run, and they raced to catch up with her. It wasn’t difficult to see where they were going; a massive volcano was the only feature of the otherwise flat plain, a field of half-molten stone and seething pools of magma. Now and then bubbles rose up and burst, spraying the area with drops of molten rock; painful if they were near, but that hadn’t happened yet. A hot wind blew from the direction of the volcano, offering no comfort from the heat.

The sky was filled with smoke and roiling clouds, but there would be no rain here. Only a snowfall of soot and ash would pour from that sky.

As they ran, it became clear they weren’t going to make it unopposed. Two separate groups of fire elementals were racing towards them, far enough ahead that they would converge right as the party got to them. Which, at the rate all three groups were going, wouldn’t be long.

Hopefully, they were prepared to fight.

------------ooc:
Group 1 of Elementals:
1x Level 60 Giant Elemental
4x Level 40 Elementals
6x Level 20 Mini Elementals

Group 2 of Elementals
1x Level 40 Elemental
8x Level 20 Mini Elementals


The groups are separate but if you let them come together, they will merge. They operate under a sort of pack mentality, with the strongest being the “alpha”. The alpha will to a small extent direct the elementals in battle, but not enough to really matter. They all fight alone, without teamwork or tactics, but they are ferocious and care very little for their own well-being.

Each round that we go without killing them all, the sounds of battle attract more elementals.

Rue spells deal extra damage, but not double damage; it seems they have a slightly higher than average magic resistance. Physically, they take normal damage, but rue doesn’t do much extra.

Remember, the level 20s have access to all level 1 fire spells, the level 40s to all level 2, and the level 60s to all level 3. This includes summons.

IMPORTANT: You must consume 1 health drink or 1 repth per post to account for the damage of the ambient heat, or else you become much easier to kill. If you go three rounds without that healing, you die because of it. This is assuming you keep ap vakz on you (though I’ll probably make recasting that part of GM posts when it becomes necessary).


Edit: The Elementals all look about the same, only slight variations in size and intensity of their heat give off the difference between levels. They're all made out of fire, for the most part, but solid nonetheless. They can change their shape to a slight degree, manifesting spikes or lengthening arms or whatnot temporarily, but their basic shape is humanoid. They can manifest any class's weapon they want for attacks, or they can just hit you with their bodies for damage.

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

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Phoenix512 » Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:17 am

Once Phoenix received the flashmail, he quickly decided to visit Carmina Gadelica. He usually like going to the shops there instead of using the shadow shops in the hideout but this time, he could not figured out why he decided to go there this time. He was on a time table as Sheena wants to quickly to save Nall. Once the blademaster bought his supplies, he began to head back to the Chaos Gate. As he was walking, he thought to himself that Suzaku still has not to return to him. Phoenix was wondering on how she was doing as he was going to need her for this rescue. Suddenly he felt a change in the wind. He looked behind and saw a familiar face.

“Damn, I guess I was being careless. I thought I could sneak up on you like before.”

Phoenix was rather annoyed by Miki and reply back to her in the same tone.

“What do you want, Miki? I don’t have time for you right now.”

Miki changed her happy attitude and talked to Phoenix in a somber voice.

“I know, Phoenix-kun. Miaka wanted me to tell you that Suzaku has completed her quest. But she won’t immediately join you. It will take some time for her to come back to you. Her power will be needed to rescue Nall. Before I go, there’s one thing to keep in mind. Believe in her, Phoenix-kun.”

After Miki said that, she disappeared from Phoenix as quickly she appeared. The last statement that Miki said about believing in Suzaku was a bit redundant as he believes in her. Phoenix managed to head back to the hideout without further interruption and join the rest of the Freedom Fighters to the field where Nall was being imprisoned.

Phoenix’s reason for rescuing Nall is not as noble as most of the others. It has been noted that the blademaster did not like Nall or his recruiting tactics. The blademaster was going to rescue Nall as he wanted to defeat the creature that Nall could not defeat. Basically he was going for bragging rights but he would not admit that out loud especially to Sheena. She probably would have attacked him for that thought like she did to that elemental she easily killed just now.

The field was unbelieving hot as Phoenix put up his hood. He could never stand the heat even though his name said otherwise. But besides being hot, it also had an effect on his health which was unusual as ambient heat would not cause a decline in HP. The blademaster felt a bit better with the Ap Vakz but it was not enough to completely stop the drain on HP.

Phoenix got to wonder about the Elites’ lackeys as he saw the volcano. Was he trying to create a fake geothermal power source? Who knows but then again, they are mad to some degree until he saw the two groups of elementals headed towards them. The blademaster deduced that Sheena in her haste had sound off an internal alarm. One group consisted of one huge elemental, four medium ones, and six smaller ones while the other just has one medium one and eight smaller ones. He decided to take on the group with the huge one.

The blademaster fire off a Wind Blade towards the group and managed to connect at one of the smaller ones. The blade seemed to weaken it quite a bit and Phoenix proceeds to finish it off with a Rue Kruz attack from his Fishing Gloves. Before he charged towards the group of elementals, he used an Ice Strike scroll and targeted it one of the medium elementals. The MeRue Rom caused chunks of ice and snow to blow at multiple elementals enough to distract them for Phoenix to sneak into the group. He also noticed that the Rue spells did not have the full effect on them but still quite effective.

As Phoenix was approaching striking range for his weapon attacks, the huge elemental fired off a MeVak Kruz at Phoenix. With the enhanced speed from his own Twilight ability and Ap Do, he activated Rue Crack to avoid the level three Vak spell and hit the huge one. But he did not fully avoid the attack as parts of it impacted his upper legs and lower midsection. The momentum of the Rue Crack was enough that the impact of the MeVak Kruz did not cause him to fall back. The Rue Crack managed to injure the huge elemental long enough for Phoenix to retreat from it.

The blademaster continue his attack at the elemental group at the ones he previously weakened as they have created various weapons to attack him with along with spikes on their body. One of the medium elementals extended its arms towards Phoenix but it was easily avoided. He saw one of the smaller ones about to stab him with a sword and immediately stab it with his own sword. That act killed it right there but he paid the price as another medium elemental connected with an axe swing across the chest.

That attack caused Phoenix to be in pain much more as it opened up the scars on his body. He fired a Rue Kruz at another small one that was about to attack him before focusing his efforts on the medium elemental that attacked him. The blademaster avoided an axe strike from it by sidestepping his right and plunged his sword into it. “RUE CRACK!”

Phoenix’s attack made him jump into the air with the sword going through the medium elemental. The attack did not completely kill it at first until he came right back down as the elemental was reforming its body from the first movement of the attack. At this point, Phoenix was getting low on SP and the remaining elementals were getting ready to mass attack him. He used an Ice Flow scroll to cover his escape from the elemental group. He leapt forward to give himself space between him and the group before running back towards the others.

The blademaster cast La Repth on himself and drank a Mage’s Soul before heading back to the front lines. Suzaku, come back quickly. If this is a taste of things to come, I will going to need you.

[OOC]Group 1:
1 Level 60 Giant Elemental (injured)
3 Level 40 Elementals (1 injured)
5 Level 20 Mini Elementals
[/OOC]
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

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

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Senna » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:18 am

It didn’t answer her question when she asked it, but it did so later when Canti asked it. Interesting. Whatever it might say about thought patterns and all that nonsense, she had her answer – it wasn’t all-knowing, it wasn’t psychic, it was just enhanced and had created a strong network for information for itself. Oh, it knew a lot. But it didn’t know everything – not even all the simple things.

That said, it didn’t make her any less galled to be doing this thing’s bidding, and only one thing kept her from refusing flat-out to accommodate its plan. It wasn’t Nall. No, that was regrettable, but in the end he made the decision to wander off alone, investigate by himself, and he’d paid what had to be an expected price for that. If it were just him, saying no way would have been the easiest thing in the world.

Though it was exactly that same line of thinking which led to her staying and biting her tongue. Her expression would have let anyone who had two brain cells to rub together know exactly how she felt about blithely trotting along after Marionette like trained dogs, which was precisely what half the group seemed more than happy to do. That was the rub. They were going, and her refusing again to bow to what she perceived as the poorly-thought-out herd mentality of the majority might well lead to her no longer being welcome in said herd.

So she held her tongue. They finished their little interview, and they all trooped dutifully back to the Hideout. And once there, she realized something that bothered her and made her powerfully miss the presence of one of their number. Not Nall, not Zan and not Sekai, though all would have had their uses right about now. No, it was Rayo, the Wavema…er, the Archer. Because he was the one with the plans, and if ever there was an opportunity for plans, THIS was it. They knew the environment they were going into. They knew the monsters to expect, assuming Marionette’s words were true (She wasn’t putting stock in that, but she at least trusted her own ability not to get tunnel vision). There was a need to move quickly and to get in as few fights as possible. The normal swarm attack would likely get the job done, but how efficiently?

She thought about doing something about it – at least asking who had water-based spells and such of higher than first level. But she didn’t. She wasn’t Rayo. She wasn’t anyone whose demonstrated judgment was likely to be trusted. Heck, they might not even trust her with information like the strength of their spells. She let it pass. She needed to learn to relax. If no one else was worried about it, why should she be?

As the group scattered to do their own thing, Senna headed straight to the portal, reading the new Flashmail as she went. She was actually well-stocked already, even for going into the pit of Hell. There was a faint smile. The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim / When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl. Somehow she doubted the coming fires would be so simply cowed.

So the rest of the ground regathered and away they went, rescue mission on parade.

She expected the first thing she noticed to be the heat, but she was wrong. The first thing she noticed was a short drop and a sudden stop. Lacking the noose around her neck normally associated with this phrase, all she did was land sort of hard.

THEN she noticed the heat.

It was stifling, like trying to breathe directly from a pile of ashes, only more painful. She’d never been close to a volcano, the closest she’d been was perhaps a bonfire, but she imagined this, or some faint shadow of it, would be the experience.

She coughed as she stood, and was no sooner on her feet than she noticed the same HP-dropping effect everyone else was experiencing. “We might… wanna use La Repths to save SP,” She said on the heels on Nighthand’s cast of it himself. A well-placed La Repth could pick up five or six people for less HP than individual Or maybe not. It was a little hard to think when it became this difficult to breath.

And it seemed that thinking might become at a premium here in a moment. So, she tried to do so, for a few minutes at least. And these were fire monsters. And she knew Hac had one whale of a spell that should do a number on some of those fire creatures. Jogging up, she cast Ap Corma and, as she drew abreast of the sword-wielder, she said, “Shall we whittle those?

Her spear was already pointing toward the group that Phoenix was further trying to pick apart. Well, that was good. A boost should give Hac’s spell even more of a bite, and there was something she could do to make it even better. The thing to do was to get that big one before it…

Too late. Phoenix became the target of a rather large spell. On the bright side, this gave her a chance to cast a second spell. Dek Ruem sought out the level 60 version of these monstrous creatures. Monstrous because she was NOT feeling very sympathetic to the fiery things in general and enemy monsters in specific. Call it displacement.

So, taking her own advice, she cast a La Repth to heal herself and anyone in a reasonable distance. Then she was watching to see if a good GiRue Kruz might be required. To bring down the big creature. But given the tendency people in this group had to just swarm the enemy and the damage she assumed Hac was going to do if he acted as she expected, it might not be needed.

Though keeping a resurrect on hand for quick activation just-in-case might not be a bad idea…

[OOC]Group 1 – no change but to reiterate:
1 Level 60 Giant Elemental (injured)
3 Level 40 Elementals (1 injured)
5 Level 20 Mini Elementals
[/OOC]
Last edited by Senna on Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:17 pm, 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
Lighteria
Well-Oiled Machine
Posts: 176
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:59 am
Location: :noitacoL

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Lighteria » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:04 pm

"...and that's everything that happened." Kit finishes up with what presumably was a summary of what happened in the last field so Lighteria isn't completely out of the loop. Again, Kit speaks in English to the twin blade, still hoping that whatever funk he's in can be snapped by something out of the ordinary. Of course, information on Nall would fit 'out of the ordinary' to a tee by itself, but Nall being imprisoned? Nall, the guy with hacks coming out the USB port, was captured? That just didn't seem likely. Either they caught the poor bastard while he was sleeping or the team was about to rush off into the jaws of something they probably have NO chance of defeating. More than likely, it's some sort of trap or really well disguised illusion. At least that's what the logical part of Lighteria's barely functioning brain is trying to tell him through the haze of his consciousness.

"..."
"Come on! Say something already!!"

Despite what her pleading may imply, Kit really hadn't been gone THAT long. In fact, to the twin blade, it felt like the group had only just ported out before they came rushing back into the hideout. But to Kit, it may as well have been 26 days since they left without him... after all, Lighteria hadn't gotten better yet! And she'd been to a field for goodness sakes! What's it TAKE?!

"...more time." Lighteria murmurs.
"Wha-?" Kit suddenly says to him. She actually hadn't been listening to him as much as she was listening to her inner complaints ABOUT him.

"There's no more time." Lighteria repeats himself in the same rather flat tone. Now if you've ever spent time in The World, you quickly realize the look that people get when they're reading a Flashmail that only they can see. Their eyes stare at seemingly nothing and trace from left to right and quickly back again. In fact you if you spend ANY time with the Freedom Fighters and have even the slightest interest in what they're actually doing you would pick up this somewhat subtle body language almost immediately and figure out what it means. Unfortunately, this kind of detail is completely lost on people who truly and honestly don't care about anyone else unless they're getting something from them. Kit falls into this category which is why she's so confused as to why Lighteria is finally lifting himself off of the couch.

"No more time?! For what?" Kit asks him, absolutely boggled by all this.

"Stay here Kit. This one is too dangerous." He mumbles, heading towards the chaos gate.

"But- what... happened? Why-?!" Kit stammers, watching the twin blade gate out. There's a long pause before she says anything again, the golden teleport rings fading out of sight.

"Mew. Mew meow MEW mew mew. (Ugh. Humans make absolutely NO sense sometimes.)"


Perhaps now would be a good time to delve into Lighteria's head for a brief moment as he's switching fields. Since he gated in from the last field, the twin blade has been in a rather deep blue funk to put it mildly. As on might guess from his name, in-game profile, and overall demeanor, Lighteria has been unsuccessfully trying to get his online personality to match that of what he would consider to be the personality of an angel. Of course, given his painfully shy state of mind and overall aloofness, he hasn't really done all that hot a job on that. Now throw in the fact that he actually helped people literally kill someone named Angel, is a bit of a harsh mental blow that the kind-hearted twin blade really, really was not ready for. In all honesty, Lighteria would like nothing more than to sit on his tiny little corner of the couch and be depressed... but there's one immutable circumstance in play right now that even a depressed, self-loathing Lighteria can't ignore.
A girl might be in trouble.
Indeed. If the words "Sheena is coming too. I'd rather not have her going off alone." hadn't appeared in Nighthand's flashmail, Lighteria would definately be sitting this one out. Buuuuut they did. Actually, there have been a total of about three separate instances in this game where Lighteria has rushed into a situation he had no idea about for the sake of possibly, maybe playing the hero to a girl... one of which turned out to actually be a guy with a high-pitched screaming voice, another where the girl wasn't being attacked at ALL, and the last where the girl ended up leaving without so much as a thank you. He has yet to actually pull off the dramatic rescue that always, ALWAYS plays in his head when he thinks on these things... namely him donning a superhero cape and leaping into the middle of a fight, defeating the monsters and leaping away to safety with the girl in his arms, but he'd be damned if he gave up that dream. So with a depressed and heavy heart that is clearly NO match for his comic-bookish naivety, the twin blade gates into the new field, his heart sinking as he enters.

Ok, techinically it's his whole body that sinks. For some reason, the warp in point was eight feet up into the bloody AIR. You can almost hear the Looney Tunes music chime in the background as Lighteria blinks twice, looks at his feet, and then plummets to the ground like a lead balloon. Frankly, he would have preferred the annoying whistle-fall to plopping onto what felt like a bed of hot coals. He yelps and gets to his feet quickly, his hands feeling like they're sizzling when touching the ground here.

"Yeeow!! For the love of-" He mutters the last part inaudibly to save himself the trouble of apologizing for a bad word. Fortunately for all involved, his complaints about the searing heat are short lived. Sheena barks some pretty damned useful advice which Nighthand wisely takes. However, as the Ap Vakzs are being passed around, Lighteria's unfortunate tendency to get tunnel vision activates. Casting Ap Do on himself almost immediately, the twin blade takes off in LITERALLY hot pursuit of Sheena before buffs or even any semblance of a plan can be circulated amongst the group.

Being rather quick on his feet, the twin blade begins to close the gap during the chase... buuut not quite quick enough to reach Sheena before the packs of elementals come into view. Now really, any idiot could figure out that Sheena needed NO help in dispatching the monsters of this field by the way she slaughtered the level 20 elemental in her way, buuuut Lighteria still spys the group of of elementals to the right and immediately thinks: Imminent Damsel Threat. Thus, in a much more reckless manner then he really should be letting himself do, Lighteria pulls out the Master Blades he keeps in his inventory somehow and rushes smack dab into the middle of the group. With him being the first target to rush blindly up to them, the group of mini elementals is quickly directed by the larger one to pummel him senseless. Apparently they don't take into account the sheer amount of exuberance the player can summon up when he's got the notion he's saving someone. With a graceful leap, the twin blade plants his feet on top of two of the mini elementals rushing towards him and launches off what apparently passes for their heads in this game, extending his right leg out to plant a firm flying kick to the larger elemental's torso. Fortunately for the twin blade, lest he loose his emotional momentum, the kick connects and he drops to the ground in front of the monster, kneeling down and coiling his body slightly to the right in preparation. "Thunder Coil!" He says somewhat boldly for him, peeling out into a top spin with his blades out, slashing the large elemental and the three mini elementals that stayed close to their leader. Master Blades may have been a rather good choice for this maneuver even though the twin blade had picked the weapon out of his pack for the sole purpose of using the skill, as he spins "Critical Hit" flashes above two of the mini elemental's heads. The string of criticals combined with the fact that Lighteria out-levels the damn things by over a dozen, slays them instantly and sends the third one reeling. ...Not so much for the big one of course. THAT one was going to take some more hits to take down. Of course, Lighteria really hadn't planned too much further ahead then this. Plan 'Wing It' was going to have to pull some pretty nice tricks out of its plan bag to get Lighteria out un-pummeled.

[OCC:]
Group 2 of Elementals
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly injured)
6x Level 20 Mini Elementals (2 Dead, 1 Critical)
[/OCC:]
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"

Lord Canti
Exalted Player
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Lord Canti » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:40 am

(In the end, Marionette had been helpful, now that they'd gotten him to talk english instead of riddles, but...the Twin Blade could shake the sense of disappointment from their exchange. The only thing the puppetmaster had done was prove that he was not the enemy, because he wanted their help and gave up a good amount of information. But...in finding out how deep the rabbit hole goes...all ya find is this mad tea-party. A jester pulls the strings but has no give himself. He directs and he commands, and what tangled webs he weaves, but always remains within the shadows. Not an inch will he give of his own accord, not unless it fits his agenda. Well...at least they had this: They would never have to read his freaky font again. In saying they would not meet again, in saying he would not help them even after going through a literal hell for him AND jumping through his damn hoops, maybe they'd at least have earned some privacy. Canti didn't like that Guardian remarked on Rey at all. Before they left on the mission, he told her everything...since she'd missed out. Powerless? Maybe. Or maybe a person standing outside the box is the greatest god in the world. Either way, the Twin Blade had no vengeful thoughts for Marionette. Possibly, he'd suffered even more than them all. It was kind of a shame that he'd never know for sure. Well then...nothing to do but go forward and help Nall.)

To: The Freedom Fighters
From: Nighthand
Subject: Rescue Nall

We're mounting a rescue of Nall. Raine has verified that he was captured on that field, the video Marionette showed wasn't false. Sheena is coming too; if we're not fast, I suspect she'll leave us behind. I'd rather not have her going off alone.

From the video, at least the field level is Fire based and deals constant damage to us due to the heat. Stock up on health drinks and ice scrolls. This could be the toughest fight yet.


(Canti had grabbed as much possible rest as he could before this mission. He didn't wanna go in at about half zombie-mode like on previous occasions. His talents, such as they were, would be needed like everyone else's. In fact, sometimes a little moreso. Marionette had said it was a fire field, with fire enemies of Level 20, 40, 60, and 80. Fucking hell... But...on the bright side, it was his element. Unless it was storming at the same time or there were geysers there like at Yellowstone, he wasn't gonna be hurting badly at all. No critical hits from boobytraps, for instance. This said, he still needed to prepare, and headed off to the hideout stores to stock up.)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12&p=12487#p12487

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(Once he was done with that, though, he headed to the Chaos Gate where the others had gathered and...hang on. He'd never seen Sheena out fighting before, right? Mostly, she and Raine were a support group, sustaining and improving and even moving their hideouts from place to place. The first place he'd met those two was in here, or a 'here' like this. The point was...he wondered what sort of fighter Sheena was... He never even thought to ask, and he'd certainly forgotten if she'd mentioned it. Kinda' rude of him... But she wanted to go after Nall and was very adamant about it. No matter what the class, that was all that was needed. Canti admired that, as she led them into combat herself, speaking the magic freakin' words.)

"Lambda, Gated Folding Stare!"

(The Twin Blade followed suit like everyone else and found out, like everyone else, that someone had forgotten to put the ground under his feet. So, with an "Oh shit!", he fell. And, like Nighthand, he landed hard. Canti had tried to spread his wings, but they'd only just spread out when he hit ground. Guess there was no point, was there? Still, at least he didn't land on his head. Standing up straight, he looked around...and felt it. Yup. This place was a hot, stinking, pile of Pompeii. Hot as hell and twice as ugly. Normally, Canti would be saying this was his kind of town, but that was a misunderstanding for this. His kinda' town was a hot spot of hellish proportions that DIDN'T drain away his HP a tiny bit every second. Therefore, this place automatically blew like Hurricane Andrew. Sheena was already killing a monster when they got there. Okay...she was a Fist Fighter. Cool. She gave some sound advice and casted Ap Do on anyone around, which was damn useful, as well as Nighthand's casting of Ap Vakz and La Repth. That started him fresh, for now, and with some enhancement. The heat, though not as oppressive on him, was still stealing his HP. It would require him to heal regardless. Whoever built this place took unnaturally-strengthened enemies into account. Canti had bets now that a fire-immune character would STILL suffer. Ah well. Shit happens. Before proceeding on, he heard Senna...)

“We might...wanna use La Repths to save SP.”

Canti: Maybe, but I brought alot of support stuff on the HP/SP front, so maybe not.

(The Twin Blade followed Sheena and the rest with ease. A wide open space like this made leaping around with the help of his wings completely effortless. He caught up in no time, and noticed the newcomers almost immediately. A field of wandering monsters... That's what it was all about. Okay... He could handle that. Smirking, he broke off and went on the attack. There were two groups, and boy did they look wicked. Liquid fire in humanoid shape, able to make weapons out of themselves and cast fiery spells. The first group was probably the worst, since it had much more diversity. Attacks were already being made against both parties. Canti chose number one. The bigger they are, the quicker they want 'em dead. With injured elementals underway, Canti took to a more permanent attachment to the air, hovering for a moment...then flying towards the two regular-sized elementals that hadn't been injured in the first group. They saw him immediately, turning to attack as soon as he was within close proximatey. Too bad they weren't as fast. Racing between the two, Canti jabbed his knives out and caught both of them in a fly-by, distracting them from the others. Then, he began to sneakily back just out of the way of their swinging arms as they stepped forward to attack. Canti pulled out a Health Drink, waiting for it to happen.)

Canti: C'mon, put two-and-two together. You know what comes next.

(They did, and a second later, two separate fireball attacks struck him from above, doing...minimal damage. Canti grinned. It was a slap on the wrist, not nearly as painful as all the other stuff that had been thrown at him as of late. He emptied the Health Drink into his mouth and got down to business. Flying to the side of one, he swung his knives to counter the elemental's attacks. As long as steel was between him and them, they were not making contact. By the rules of the game, it was a Defense. He slashed into the elemental several times his speed superior to it, and only backed off when it manifested a sword, so he could get out of its way. The other Level-40 had been kept out of arm's reach by Canti always remaining on the other side of the one he was fighting. It's easy when you've got wings. He flew, they didn't. That's how it was. But it backing off, he didn't want the other one to feel left out, and he had all of ONE actual Rue spell that wasn't an item. Canti hit it with Rue Kruz...and lo and behold, steam rose and it growled like the breath of a balrog, quite angry. Extra damage, elemental damage. Not as badass as the usual criticals, but he'd expected at least THAT MUCH. That being said, Canti launched himself up and out of the way of the first one's sword before plunging down directly at its head.)

Canti: Dark Dance!

(Normal levels of damage this time. Yyyup. These guys were like his distant and untainted cousins...except he was smarter, so they had to be like Alabama relations by comparison. A BiVak Rom hit him while he was Dark Dancing on the previous guy's face, and one elemental died while the other caught the Twin Blade off balance, throwing him to the ground. Severe damage or not, it was still a vortex. He began to get up but you head pissed-off elemental with a warhammer bearing down on him. Surprised, Canti let off a series of black explosions in its face and chest, jumping back. Observers would note that this was not a conventional spell, though it was apparently Ani-related. The elemental was still alive when the darkness cleared, though injured. The warhammer vaped, at least.)

Canti: Heh. Whoops. Might've overdone it a bit.

(He took a Mage's Soul after that, since the explosions were a good 6-8 quick burst of his Darkness Flame, draining his SP like a fuel-reserve. Well, at least he was doing his part. In a place like this, he could do no wrong.)

OOC: Bad Guy Report>>>>>

Group 1 of Elementals:
1x Level 60 Giant Elemental (Injured)
4x Level 40 Elementals (1 Injured, 1 Very Injured, 1 Dead)
6x Level 20 Mini Elementals (Untouched, Thus Far)

Group 2 of Elementals
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly injured)
8x Level 20 Mini Elementals (2 Dead, 1 Critical)
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.

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

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Zhao Xun » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:20 pm

Nighthand's flashmail caused me to dart off to the shops before rushing in headlong as I usually did. Saying that this could be the toughest fight yet, when I knew they had already tangled with other Elites... well, it woke me up, to say the least. Foolishness and bravery wouldn't win out over caution and preparation.

-------
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12&p=12489#p12489
-------

My arrival at the field brought with it a strange rushing sensation, a sense of confusion about where exactly I was, and then a sharp pain when I realized I'd just hit the ground. Trying to ignore it, I hopped up and felt a different pain, one I suppose I should have expected, but it came as a surprise nonetheless. The heat was intense almost to the level of insanity. My thick cloak did precisely nothing to shield me from it, despite the fact that the item description read: “A common item of clothing, generally worn to shield travelers from excessive heat or wind. Provides no real defensive value.”

Feh.

Getting over the heat enough to check out our surroundings, I saw exactly what the others had: a fight I was meant to be a part of. I knew from Marionette's info that I wasn't up to the level of anything in this field, but... could I back out? Of course not. Nall was here, and I owed him a debt, whether he thought so or not. Were it not for him... I didn't even want to think about what would have happened to myself, as well as Canti and Dien. We owed him big, and it was time for us to pay up.

Those who joined the fight before me seemed to split up to attack the two groups of enemies we saw coming towards us, and while the group that seemed stronger got more attention... well, leaving Lighteria to fend off the weaker group all alone was probably not the best of ideas. He did quite well against the smaller ones, but I figured he could use some backup, if only to give our enemies more than one target to deal with.

Looking to the smaller foe that Lighteria had already injured, I grinned as I realized that I was finally well-equipped for something we were doing. My repertoire of Rue spells was reasonable for a character of my low standing, and I'd finally get a chance to do something more than just hack away like I always did. ”Rue Kruz! Rue Kruz! Rue Kruz!” I cried, targeting the weakened monster, and the string of spells brought him down almost instantly. It might have been overkill, but... I wanted to be sure. Unfortunately, I'd managed to grab the attention of a couple of the other elementals, who began to move towards me. A pair of Vak Kruz spells converged on me, one from each of them, and while I tried to recover from the pain, they converged on me. One manifested a spear and stabbed at me, catching me in the side, while the other took a swing that I barely managed to avoid. I hopped backwards, slammed down two Health Drinks to bring myself back up to a reasonable amount of hit points, and decided on my next move.

“Rue Zot!” I yelled, catching the two of them off guard a bit. While they were recovering from my attack, I rushed in and struck at one of them twice, then instantly backed away from the flames surrounding his body. The heat wasn't something I relished, and this environment was doing enough to make me sweat already. They came at me again, but this time I was prepared, hopping to the side of a spear stab while nimbly avoiding another body slam. However, I probably couldn't deal with the two of them alone.

Seeing Lighteria fighting against the rest of this group, I dodged around my aggressors and headed towards him. The two of us could, after all, fight more effectively together than we could apart.

OOC:
--------------
Group 2:
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly Injured)
5x Level 20 Elemental (3 Dead, 1 Slightly Inured, 1 Injured)
--------------
Zhao's Profile

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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
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Hacorie » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:08 pm

Stepping forward as his conversation with the Long Arm Senna came to a complete end, the Heavy Blade slowly began to open his mouth as his eyes locked on with those of the puppet master, Marionette. As the audible sound began to resonate from his vocal chords, Hac was suddenly cut off. One by one, more players began asking question after question, giving Marionette an onslaught of answers to perform in such a minute amount of time. The most intriguing of which came from the character called Dien. This Blademaster asked about the location of one of the makeshift leaders of the Freedom Fighters, Nall. The question actually gave Hac an aghast feeling. The Heavy Blade had almost forgotten the Blademaster who had first Flashmailed him in promise of Rare Items…of course the items came, but at a tyrannical price…Hac’s real life body.

“That bastard, if I ever see him again, I’ll give him a nice punch in the face. Just one, after all…we still need his help.” Hac whispered to himself as his hand dropped from the hilt at his side and began to curl up into a fist. Feeling the popping of his knuckles sort of comforted Hac; the releasing tension built up in the ligaments just somehow rejuvenated him in a spiritual and physical sense. The action was sort of a habit, but instead of physically feeling obligated to do it, the action was more of a subconscious doing. When finding himself in a state of holding back an extreme emotion, the Heavy Blade would always find himself expanding and retracting his fingers in tight succession. The exact starting date of the mental addiction was unknown, but the Heavy Blade always found himself doing it.

After a brief request from Nighthand, the party one by one began to dissipate from the room. Golden rings lit up the room and as they descended and rose numerous times, the room was left bare, save Marionette and his Guardian. What they thought about the meeting was unknown to the players, but most likely they had a uniform opinion of the probable outcome of the future. Whether it be their demise or triumph from the organizing of their coup d’état would only be predicted correctly by the pawns involved.

The immense game of chess had finally begun.

White: The Hacker Elites
Number of Players Total: At least 6
Pawns: vary

Vs.

Black: Marionette
Number of Players Total: 2(Marionette and his Guardian)
Pawns: The Freedom Fighters


The board was set; the timer started; the coin tossed; Black had the first move, and oh what a move it would be. Watching as his surroundings changed back those of the Lambda server hideout, Hac knew by instinct what was coming next. The group called the Freedom Fighters was going to hold true to their name and free one of the founders Nall from the grasps of his captors. In fact, just as Hac began to make his way back to one of the enclosed dormitory style sleeping quarters, a Flashmail was shot his way from Nighthand.

Flashmail!
To: The Freedom Fighters
From: Nighthand
Subject: Rescue Nall

We're mounting a rescue of Nall. Raine has verified that he was captured on that field, the video Marionette showed wasn't false. Sheena is coming too; if we're not fast, I suspect she'll leave us behind. I'd rather not have her going off alone.

From the video, at least the field level is Fire based and deals constant damage to us due to the heat. Stock up on health drinks and ice scrolls. This could be the toughest fight yet.


Turning a blind eye from the mail for a moment, Hac kept walking toward one of the many cots around. He could not wait to rest, but unfortunately for the water based Heavy Blade, it was not the time. Watching the door, Hac noticed Nighthand hurrying along while quickly shifting glances from room to room to probably make sure everyone was suiting up for the battle to come. Rolling his eyes after the man had passed, Hac slowly turned around while imitating a sad pouting child whose ice cream had just fell from loose gripped hands to the dirty ground below. It should also be pointed out, that Hacorie was afraid to go to the upcoming field. It was fire based the weakness of water elementals. The Heavy Blade would struggle throughout the field’s entirety if it was truly as Marionette described it to be. The intense heat…Hac was not looking forward to that aspect, but maybe since fire and water were both weaknesses of one another; the Heavy Blade could pull off a miracle.

”Lambda, Gated Folding Stare!” Hac heard as he slowly waltzed into the room with the Chaos Gate. Noticing most of the group already present, Hac shoved his hand in the air pointing his index finger to the sky. Without saying a word, the mass army of golden rings began to illuminate the entire area. As the bright flash calmed, every single player in the room was gone including Hacorie. There was no turning back now for any of them. They had to face what troubles were lying ahead in order to rescue an essential part of the team. Could they do it? Could the Freedom Fighters actually pull this off? Who knew….well Marionette might have known, but he does not count.

Wow did the scenery and atmosphere change in the small amount of time. The group had gone from a nice ‘room temperature’ to the surface of a blazing sun. However, something was amiss in the gigantic ball of lava in which the group had arrived. Everything seemed so small. Hac looked into the distance as his body was still materializing, and noticed he could see everything seemed so far below him. Of course, not taking the initiative to look at his feet, the character did not see the reason was because the spawn point was tweaked just a little. Instead of transporting feet to ground, Hac was gated in, in mid-air. Fuck… he thought as gravity took hold. Plummeting the few feet below, Hac’s eyes fell to a squint as an annoyed look appeared upon him. Not even a second later, the curdling scream of a monster could be heard. Turning his head, Hac only caught the tail end of the grey ashes of the beast flowing off in the wind.

Seems we get a grand welcoming…

It was a party to be exact; a party for pyromaniacs. With the fire theme holding up quite well (the added effect of health degeneration was a nice touch), the Heavy Blade quickly started taking in his surroundings. Quickly, he spotted two groups of what looked to be fiery creatures. Literally, the creatures seemed to be completely made up of the element.

“Shall we whittle those?” A voice called from behind as complete warmth began to rise through the Heavy Blade’s spine. Giving off an abnormal shiver, Hac turned to see his Long Arm friend. “Of course Senna, after all, it would be rude to not indulge in a dance at the party. Ap Ruem. Hac said as he watched a rune engulf the two characters. A demonic grin slowly kept across Hac’s face as his hands slipped to the hilt of the Oceanic Aura resting at his side. The blade had not been used in quite some time, but now was the time to show everyone its true worth.

Shifting his glances back and forth, Hac took in the movements of each of his teammates while simultaneously trying to judge the worst of the two groups. It was actually quite hard to do, the monsters all looked the same. However, the group that Phoenix was currently engaging seemed to have a more powerful aura erupting from it. With focus now set on that group, Hac watched as Senna pointed her spear in the same direction. With only two words, another azure rune shot out. This time however, it was toward the great group of fire monsters. It was Dek Ruem…what a gift Senna had just prepackaged to Hac. The fight was now on.

”Keep that resurrect ready… Hac said as he shifted a hasty glance to his partner in crime. With only a nod, his vision shifted back to the fire group. If you do not want to get hurt, move from my path! I am about to rid the field of these…things!” Of course, Hac could only hope the group would listen to him. After all, it’s not like he really had the respect of Nighthand. In an all out sprint by the time of the word ‘things’, Hac already had a plan in mind. Spotting the most intense of the creations, Hac slowly withdrew his blade so that a small amount of the illuminating glow was shown uncovered from the sheathe.

”MeRue Zot! Hac called as he pinpointed the creature. His reasoning for the monster seemed to be a just one. The more fire a creature seemed to have, the more powerful it was. Due to Phoenix’s mini onslaught as well as Canti’s, Hac seemed to be safe until after the spell hit. After all, the previous attackers would most likely be the targets of the group since they were the closest. Watching on as mass spikes began to erupt from the ground, Hacorie watched as some of the Vak based monsters disappeared while wailing in a deep agony.

One…Two…Three down… Hac thought as the spikes slowly started to disappear as his presence was noted.

His actions would most be held as a suicide, but Hac was not going to end his assault just yet. He still had one more thing to accomplish. Feeling the power of his blade start to flow through his body, Hac found himself running toward the group of monsters still, eyes locked on what was actually the level 60 fire elemental. Now basically on top of the monster, Hac pulled his blade from its sheathe while calling a single word to the Heavens.

“Rukimi!”

With the level two Shogasho type move initiated, the Heavy Blade quickly noticed numerous red runes appear beneath his body. As his attack swiped away a semi-low amount of HP, Hac watched as the fiery runes from hell began erupting into their various spells.

BiVak Rom times two from the two level 40s that were on the brink of death, a level one Vulcan summon from one of the level 20s, and finally a MeVak Kruz from the big guy.

Needless to say, Hac was fucked. Fucked in the ass. Hopefully Senna had that revive still clenched within her fist. Hac could only hope as his physical body disappeared in the vast fire erupting from all over the place. Hac could also hope though that the players in the group listened to him because if any were in the fiery spell vicinity, it would not be a good outcome.

((OOC:
Group 1 of Elementals:
1x Level 60 Giant Elemental (Slightly more Injured than last time)
4x Level 40 Elementals (2x Very Injured, 1x Very Injured, 1x Dead)
6x Level 20 Mini Elementals (4x Dead, 2 Unhurt)

Group 2:
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly Injured)
5x Level 20 Elemental (3 Dead, 1 Slightly Inured, 1 Injured)

1x Hac dead XD
))
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

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

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Senna » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:36 am

Canti’s comment caused a grin on Senna’s face. While all the items in the world might not do anyone any good if their holder wasn’t on the field, the confidence of his words made her wonder just how many healing items he DID have.

This wasn’t the time for asking though – she had her role (support) and he had his (offense). And right now, the person she was working in support of was ready to begin bringing the… er, ice.

Of course Senna, after all, it would be rude to not indulge in a dance at the party. Ap Ruem.

The slightest twitch of the pointy end of her spear toward her forehead was the closest approximation of a salute she could afford at the moment. She brought the largest enemy’s Rue element down and the others went on their merry way to smack the enemies around.

Keep that resurrect ready…” Hac said as he dashed into battle – a good point. She did pull one of those highly useful items out of her inventory just in case. Even if he didn’t need it, with this many enemies, the odds were good someone would.

And the fight was intense, not the least because of the ambient heat. They were outnumbered, but since when had that mattered?

Senna forced her focus to stay on Hac and, by extension, Phoenix and Canti where they were in the range of that first group. Large water spells, a myriad of fire spells. – there was steam rising from the field from the combination. And as it cleared…

Ah, great, Hac was down. Activating the item in her hand, she directed a Resurrect in his direction. As soon as the effect passed, she pulled out another item. The group was doing fairly well a whittling everything down, but there was one bright point of concern, literally. That big one, the level 60 with the massive spells. With a little flick of the wrist, a move she’d learned from one of her former clanmates, she unrolled and activated the scroll all in one move. “We’re getting there.” She shouted as the Cygnus materialized in a blue spell around the level 60 creature. The words of encouragement felt highly foreign on her tongue. She followed it almost immediately with a pair of words which felt a lot more familiar. “GiRue Kruz.

The effect of the scroll and the effect of the spell were both the same – a clashing of ice like giant teeth grinding together. Given her stats and its semi-weakness to the water, the guy was on its last legs.

Though apparently, it didn’t like its treatment at the group’s hands and was firing back at anyone idiot enough to take them on. There was a rain of fire that she couldn’t begin to escape from, then the world faded to graytones and most of the light went out. Sighing, wondering what was going on in the real field, she set about waiting for a Resurrect herself, and thanking The World’s gods that death stopped the fiery pain of death by lavarocks.

((OOC:
Group 1 of Elementals:
1x Level 60 Giant Elemental (Just about dead)
3x Level 40 Elementals (2x Very Injured, 1x Very Injured, 1x Dead)
2x Level 20 Mini Elementals (4x Dead, 2 Unhurt)

Group 2:
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly Injured)
5x Level 20 Elemental (3 Dead, 1 Slightly Inured, 1 Injured
-I wasn’t sure if the first number should be to complete total or the number alive. Decided to go with the number alive. If this is not the right way I’ll change,
//OOC))
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)

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Raven
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Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:43 pm
Location: Toronto
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Raven » Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:26 am

After the encounter with Marionette, Raven was still left with absolutely no idea what was going on. He could gather that the Freedom Fighters had some sort of bad history with the guy, but that obviously didn't concern Raven at all anymore since he seemed to be helping them now. Raven's perceptions on the matter might have seemed naive to some, but to him, it made perfect sense considering his circumstances. He was trapped inside the game now, and he was trying to adapt to all the problems that arose from that little piece of information. For one, he had apparently been drafted into this group known as the Freedom Fighters. He didn't remember any of them ever saying it, or being told anything to that effect, but that's what it felt like. He had barely recovered from the incident that had left him like this, and he had already gotten a flashmail letting him in on the group's next mission. It seemed they were going to continue this kind of thing as he had barely started working on his movements in the training area of the hideout when he had gotten another message about going to a field that Marionette had told them about. Then again, they had an excuse for it as it seemed that their leader was trapped in this field and they seemed eager to get him out of there. Marionette had filled them all in about the situation that faced this man named Nall, a name Raven had heard several times before. Almost all of those times he had heard the name from Nemera, and none of those times had it been anything very flattering. That being as it was, he knew very little about the man other than the fact that Nemera seemed to completely despise him.
To: The Freedom Fighters
From: Nighthand
Subject: Rescue Nall

We're mounting a rescue of Nall. Raine has verified that he was captured on that field, the video Marionette showed wasn't false. Sheena is coming too; if we're not fast, I suspect she'll leave us behind. I'd rather not have her going off alone.

From the video, at least the field level is Fire based and deals constant damage to us due to the heat. Stock up on health drinks and ice scrolls. This could be the toughest fight yet.
Raven had been in the training area of the hideout since he had gotten back, and not for combat training either. He was trying to work on his problem with walking while in game. To put things simply, he had forgotten how. Not because of the huge stream of Dread Code that hit him had messed with his mind, and not because of any hacker or screwup made by Raine when she was fixing him. It was the fact that he had not actually been able to walk in real life for several years before being trapped. He had been in a wheelchair, so this whole walking by thinking about it thing wasn't exactly coming naturally anymore. It hadn't been a problem when trapped by Dread Code temporarily, but it was now for some reason. He could only assume that since the Dread Code was a false coma, that he was still bound to game parameters. Now that it was caused by Twilight, and he was really part of the game, it was just like doing it in real life. He just considered himself lucky that he had his avatar body and not his real one, because then he would be running around The World, fighting monsters in a wheelchair. He was getting better with the whole walking thing pretty quickly though, and he assumed it was because it had only been a few years since he ended up in a wheelchair and had been walking fine for his entire life before that. He was able to walk now, just not well. Once he got the message though, he stopped to give it a quick look over.

Hmm...funny how he doesn't mention the monsters ranging from level 20 to 80, or the doppelgangers that Marionette mentioned to us. Then again, I think most people were already there to see that, so it probably doesn't matter. Raven thought.

He made his way out of the training area and up through to the entrance of the building, thinking about possible strategies for the battle to come. Nighthand was probably right about this being a tough battle, so he needed to be ready. If what Marionette said was to be trusted, the Highers were merely a speck of dust to the Elites. After all he had seen of the Highers though, thinking about it that way just sent a chill down his spine. He needed to be ready, he needed something to help him against an entire army of fire monsters. His water element weapon was pretty low level though, meaning that it would be fairly useless against the monsters to come. If that was the case, then he knew exactly what he needed, and headed straight to the Weapons Shop in Carmelina Gardelica.

* * * * *

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=836&p=12493#p12493

* * * * *

With that errand done, he was ready to go, and headed to the Chaos Gate with his new weapon already equipped. The Lake & Sea may not have been the weapon he had been thinking of, but it worked just as well. Just a little short in the level department, but this one had an area of effect spell on it as well, unlike what he had been planning. In many ways, it was a better choice, and Raven was happy to possess it. As he stood in front of the Chaos Gate, he made one last check of his equipment. It was almost all fire element stuff, boosting his fire element stat quite a bit. The only exceptions to this were his head gear and sword, which had Rue spells on them. The high fire element defense might help in this field, and the water attacks would help kill monsters that attacked him. He was all set to go, and all that was left was to call out the keywords.

"Lambda-" he began.

He hesitated for a moment as a thought occured to him. Why was he doing this? Why was he going to go and put his life in danger for these people that he didn't even know? Why was he going to put himself at risk for this Nall guy that he had heard nothing but bad things about from Nemera? Why was he going to these lengths to do this? He thought these things over for a few moments, and finally let out a long sigh as the answer came to him. It was the same reason he had gone with the Eventides every time, the same reason that had gotten him into the situation he was currently in.

Why do it? Why not? I need something to do to stop myself from going stir crazy anyways, so I might as well help these guys out at the same time. Raven thought with a smile.

"Lambda: Gated Folding Stare." he called out to the gate.

* * * * *

The three golden rings released him in midair above the burning field, and Raven started to realize exactly what Nighthand's message had been talking about. The first thing he noticed was not the pain in his legs after landing on the ground below, but the temperature of the damn field. Plainly put, it was really fucking hot. Cold he was used to dealing with, heat, not so much. He could see his health dropping little by little too, something that made him wish he didn't need his current head gear equipped so he could have Repth on his list of skills. Giving the field a quick scan revealed that a good number of the group had already arrived, and were already fighting the Elementals. He immediately discovered that there were two groups of them, and the Freedom Fighters had split into two parts to fight them. Both sets of Elementals had six remaining, but in varying sizes. He knew from the conversation with Marionette that the size represented their levels, so he assumed that the smallest ones were the level 20s. Since the next largest was presumably the level 40 variety, it was a bad idea for Raven to touch them. He wouldn't survive long enough to do enough damage to it, so the smaller ones were his targets. With that in mind, the majority of the party was dealing with the group containing more big ones than the other. In fact, of the six, only two in that group were the small ones. The other group, currently being dealt with by two others, had five small ones and one of the slightly larger variety. That was the better target for him, a group filled with ones his level and only one higher level monster. That was the set he would help fight.

Raven took off towards the second group, taking care not to trip and fall on his way, and drew his sword from its sheath. Finding a large rock on the way, Raven leaped on top of it, and used it as leverage to put himself higher into the air above the monsters, leveling a glowing blue hand at one of the Elementals in particular.

"Rue Kruz!" he called, waving a hand in front of him, and creating a blanket of icicles floating in front of him that fired at the elemental.

The blanket found its target, and stabbed into its body, melting as they did, but doing their damage nonetheless. The attack had the secondary effect that Raven had been looking for too. It made the monster stumble and bump into another that was very close to it. As Raven came down, he came down towards those two monsters, his sword shimmering with blue energy.

"Rue Revolver!" he called.

He cut into the first monster, and a torrent of freezing air blasted all around the point of impact, doing damage to the both of them. With that attack over, Raven slashed at the first monster a few more times for good measure. The creature seemed angered, and held up a fist to attack Raven, a large spike of fire forming on the end of its fist. Raven smiled and swung his sword to counterattack, the blade glowing blue once again.

"Rue Slash!" he yelled.

His attack didn't kill the creature, but it did managed to slice through its arm before making a nice cut into its body. Raven followed up his attack with another set of slashes, and then jumped back a bit from it to where the other two were standing.

"Hey guys, I hope I'm not late." Raven told them with a smile.

((OOC:
Group 1 of Elementals:
1x Level 60 Giant Elemental (Just about dead)
3x Level 40 Elementals (2x Very Injured, 1x Very Injured, 1x Dead)
2x Level 20 Mini Elementals (4x Dead, 2 Unhurt)

Group 2:
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly Injured)
5x Level 20 Elemental (3 Dead, 1 Slightly Inured, 2 Injured, 1 Critical)
//OOC))
Raven
Level 23 Blademaster
2400 Gold
Skills: Rue Kruz, Juk Kruz, Vak Crack, Rai Rom, Gan Crack, Ap Corv | Skill Drain
Items: x30 Health Drinks, x12 Mage Souls, x5 Resurrects, x4 Gale Breaths, x9 Speed Charms, x9 Meteor Swarms, x5 Warrior's Blood, Nightblight, Plasma Storm, Fire Tempest, x4 Ice Floe, Sprite Ocarina, Fairy's Orb, Fortune Wire, Hermit's Bane, x3 Ice Storm, x2 Ice Strike, Cygnus, Matoi, x2 Dark Night

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

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Fuzzhead » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:45 pm

Silk was in more or less a retarded daze throughout the conversation with Marionette. Call it his ultimate failing, but something about conversation with their so-called super nemesis simply did not sit well with him, and for that reason, he simply ignored him and everyone else. That way he couldn’t get pissed at his allies for associating with such an unsavory character. Nevertheless, there were some tidbits that even the willfully ignorant Fist Fighter wouldn’t ignore, those being the key words to an allegedly fiery field containing their absentee leader, Nall. This information Silk drunk in with rapt attention, as combat had ever been his forte.

Anyways, events moved along rather quickly, and it wasn’t long before the gang had grouped back together in what had to be the hottest place in the entire world. Quite literally, steam curled up from his body, and to his dismay, HP seemed to be leaking out of him with each passing breath. Nighthand was kind enough to cast Ap Vakz on all of them, curbing the rate of the HP loss somewhat, but even then, it was clear to the Fist Fighter that regular healing would be required to keep his head above the water… or lava, as the case may be.

The Freedom Fighters hadn’t been given much time to gather their bearings when two groups of towering fire elementals made their presence known. With loud roars that sounded more like the shifting of logs in a large fireplace than anything bestial, these literally flaming creatures wasted no time in crashing towards them, and it was soon made clear that they wielded far more than their fiery exteriors.

A medley of fire spells erupted from the creatures even as Silk’s allies tore through their ranks, replying mostly with Rue-type spells. Some, however, were a little creative… they preferred to use what defied common logic: namely, lightning spells or darkness spells or what have you – the point being, they weren’t using Rue spells, which just seemed silly to Silk.

It became clear that in Canti’s estimation, the creatures were rather stupid, and that while they bore some resemblance to his own fighting style, if there was any relation, it was probably a relationship that, he decided, originated from what surely was a place of low esteem, Alabama. It was immediately Silk’s mission to dislodge this poor impression from the Twinblade’s head, and of course, nothing other than a rousing, off-key rendition of the Southern Anthem would suffice.

”Sweet Home Alabama! Where the skies are so blue!” he warbled, hoping that by releasing the pride and joy in musical accomplishment of the Heart of Dixie, Canti would soon change his mind about his relatives’ origins.

And this was all well and good, but these fire elementals weren’t to be taken completely at ease. Silk drew back his fist and unleashed one of his more powerful water-based attacks: “Winter’s Touch!” he called, smashing his fist into one of the already injured elementals, courtesy of Raven. With the elemental destroyed, the Fist Fighter turned his attentions to another creature, this time attacking with spells: “Rue Rom, Rue Kruz!”

The creature who was the object of Silk’s dubious affections found itself in some pain, although it seemed strange that firing projectiles of ice at a creature that was literally on fire would have any effect at all. This fellow was completely unhurt, however, and he replied with a salvo of his own. A trio of Vak Dons made arced towards the still-singing Fist Fighter, and they were staggered in such a way that dodging one would not necessarily implicate a clean dodge of all three.

Squirming and twisting violently, Silk managed to avail himself of not one, but two fiery meteors, only to find himself face to face with a third. “Ow!” shouted the Fist Fighter, bringing his song to an inglorious halt. With his entire chest burnt to a crisp, Silk found it necessary to utilize a health drink if he intended to remain relevant in this battle.

No longer singing, the martial artist grimly approached his flaming foe, once again charging for the Winter’s Touch attack. Although his strides were slow, he was by no means caught off guard when the elemental attempted to ward off his advancement with a few fire spells. When a Vak Rom sprouted out of the ground at his feet, Silk had the wherewithal to roll aside and then immediately break into a mad dash forwards, his fist extending in what would undoubtedly demolish this elemental for good.

“Winter’s Touch!” he called. And with that, he eliminated the enemy.

((OOC:
Group 1 of Elementals (I killed :
1x Level 60 Giant Elemental (Just about dead)
3x Level 40 Elementals (2x Very Injured, 1x Very Injured, 1x Dead)
2x Level 20 Mini Elementals (4x Dead, 2 Unhurt)

Group 2:
1x Level 40 Elemental (Slightly Injured)
5x Level 20 Elemental (3 Dead, 1 Slightly Inured, 2 Injured, 1 Critical)

I have no idea how I should record my headcount… I’ll just say that I killed two more level 20 elementals in Group 2.
//OOC))
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

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Dien
Exalted Player
Posts: 226
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 1:59 am
Class: Blademaster
Location: The "Who's Online List," Stalking People...

Part 1

Post by Dien » Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:33 am

He was glowing orange. It was a strange phenomenon that he hadn’t noticed before, but there was definitely an orange hue shooting out of his skin. Only after his brain had processed a significant chunk of the information overload by Marionette had he realized it. It wouldn’t be visible in normal lighting, but he definitely had an aura of fiery haze evenly coming out. Apparently it didn’t care for his clothing, either, as it simply passed straight through without incident. What was more was that the glow had force with it, which explained why his hand felt like it was levitating slightly off the arm-chair, even though all appearances said otherwise. It also had a hint of Vak to it, which didn’t really surprise him at all.

Being an Emissary of Vulcan had to have some side effects, after all. That wasn’t something he’d thought about much, either. Having been caught up with dying, being reborn, fighting, and hastily retreating, he hadn’t really had the opportunity to worry about it. Worrying about the welfare of his friends had taken greater priority, but Marionette’s reassurance had set his mind at ease. This left him with nothing else to think about but his assumption of power.

Memories of his time in the Flame came pouring back. Five minds had implied—at least to him—that his purpose as an Emissary of Vulcan was to play the part of a Vulcan summon spell. From the Flame, all five of them had been called out to fight against Leek in the Tower Ruem, which had been quite the majestic sight to behold. At least until one of them fell prey to the man’s power, thus rendering all of them largely incapable of flight.

It was strange to consider: at the end of Vulcan’s Revenge, he’d had an entirely different power under his control. In the form of a massive scimitar, his power had formed in what was called the Lahat Hereb. How he knew what to call it was beyond him, but the power it had held was unreal. What was it that one of the entities in the Flame had said? That they were forged from what Vulcan’s Mantle couldn’t contain within him? So under this mantle, he would only ever be able to access a fifth of his power? That was lame.

Still, he didn’t know what else the Mantle entailed. While before, his power had been practically limitless, it also had the effect of tearing him apart. Perhaps it was for the better that he was under the influence of another power; it did keep the hole in his chest largely at bay. Yes, it was still there: he’d been absently checking its status since having sat down. No doubt the other players in the group had noticed it as well; now that he knew his friends to be safe, he wouldn’t hold back if asked what had happened.
__________

All notions of relaxation were thrown aside as the group prepared to move out; the urgency which Dien had felt only moments before was now echoed to the whole group. Nall was captured, and the Elites were on their way to pick him up for whatever brand of torture they deemed acceptable. That list could span from here to Mars and back, and it was likely that they would waste no time in getting there.

They had to hurry, otherwise Nall would be gone for good.

Many players made hasty visits to the storefront section of the hideout, which Dien saw as a good idea. A few items later, and he was good to go. His reasoning? Mage’s Souls would directly affect his SP. While he would have Rig Geam in place to slow the loss of SP due to spells and skills, replacing them and using Rue Revolver continually in the right place time after time would be far more effective for dealing with swarms of Vak monsters than would be a MeRue Rom. Mage’s Soul gave him 3 attacks, while scrolls were only good for one hit. Somewhere along the way Lake & Sea had been deposited in his inventory as well, so he didn’t have to spend money on that. A quick cup of water from the newfound Café, and he was off through the Chaos Gate.

(OOC: if this turns into anything more than a crappy post from here on, it’s God’s doing)

Though it was a typical fire field, and while he was an Emissary of Vulcan, it was still too darn hot! Lava pits stood open here and there, while the dry, parched ground gave way to the heat, appearing to be perpetually half-melted. Occasional bubbles also popped in the lava, which would do damage even to the stronger among them. To those like Dien? It was Hell. Burns were forming on his skin at a regular rate, and even with the La Repths and Ap Dos that the group was providing, it didn’t help the constant influx of pain.

In the distance a single volcano stood, spewing out a constant flow of lava a la Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. At the same time, though, dark clouds covered the sky, letting a snow of volcanic ash fall lightly on them from above. For a moment, Dien was taken back by the fact that the hackers apparently didn’t know their science: pyroclastics and flowing lava didn’t mix, so unless there was a caldera going off somewhere nearby as well, it was a detail error on their part. As useless as the information was, it did speak something to the particular hackers they were dealing with; not caring much for aesthetics in exchange for functionality. All of it in combination with the sulfur-thick air made for an incredibly difficult atmosphere to fight in.

While other fighters were concerned for their HP welfare, the blademaster also remembered something else from his science class. Volcanic ash, when it was like this, tended to build up very quickly, and had an effect in the lungs like cigarette smoke – only about ten times faster. If the hackers had paid attention to that much, it would soon become hard for them to breathe as their lungs started to fill with concrete, which would then make its way into their bloodstreams to slow reaction times, mental processes, and tire and atrophy muscles. Eventually, they wouldn’t be able to move any longer, and would be forced to let themselves be buried in the lethal snowfall to face extinction.

Hopefully, those details had been ignored as well, as that particular brand of death would suck more than drowning.

Granted, before he could even face the foes that had lined up as their greeting party, he had to deal with eight full feet of falling to the hard earth below; which was only aided by the thin and smelly air. Land as he may, the fall was still painful, though probably would have been worse if there had been someone beneath him. Assessing the situation as he cautiously pushed himself up only reminded him of the fact that humans and volcanoes were not meant to coexist. As the rest of the group engaged in combat, he reflected on the words that Marionette had said regarding the Elementals.

There were four different types—normal, Ch, Rf, and Pha, he’d guessed—each one bearing different levels of strength. Levels were 20, 40, 60, and 80; very mathematical, if he had to say so himself, and correspondingly, they could all cast spells of the same strength. The puppeteer had described them as brutish and disunited in their fighting tactics, implying that such tactics weren’t in fact there. Finally, they traveled in packs about the strongest they could find, which spoke to the instinctive nature of their existence. Quite literally, they were the field’s guard-dogs.

A plethora of fighting strategies lined themselves up in his mind, simply based on those facts alone. Obviously, the higher level elementals would bear higher defense and higher HP, while those lower would be easier to handle. Still, en masse, any number of these guys could easily do them in, if they decided to spam them with the spells they had. No information had been given to SP counts, though he imagined enough to fire off summon spells in rapid succession: ample food for skill drain to work by, if anyone had it. The best strategies would be to have two or three players sit back and stay on health duty, while another two or three players attacked the pack’s alpha, and the rest worked together to take out the small fries, getting as much out of them as possible before moving up to bigger fish. It would also be advisable to have a mage unit composed of the lighter class fighters and a force unit composed of the heaver classes, that the mages could handle the casting of Rue spells and scrolls to aide the force unit in their assaults. At the same time, because of how crucial the white mages would be, they could not be allowed to stand together, lest they be taken out by a single massive attack.

As well as the strategy would work against a mob of mindless apes like this, there was no one to coordinate such efforts. Even now as chaos ensued, Dien couldn’t even pick out how many people were involved in the fight (though if he could, he’d find his plan lacking people to pull it off). There was no way to see the classes in an all-out fight like this, either, as in order to survive, you had to be watching your skin and your skin only. As it appeared before him, this kind of fighting produced utter chaos and survival based on miracles alone.

“Might as well jump in,” he said with a sigh, surprised that his clothing hadn’t started to singe away under the heat. Granted, he did have a slight protection by the Orange-Glo, so that might have had something to do with it. Pulled from his sheath was Lake & Sea; not the best choice for defense against fire spells, but at his level and class there was no better weapon to fight a fire with. Right off the bat, he sighted his targets: a pair of level 20 elementals who were about to engage in suppressive attacks against his teammates. Dashing between them, he caught them entirely off guard with a Rue Revolver skill, the steam rising off the newfound weapon in his inventory faster than anything he’d seen before as the magic danced about the blade. A cut was made in each, which quickly turned their attention to the blademaster between them. Two axes were formed for each beast’s hands, which resulted in a grand total of four axes about to be pummeled upon him.

Raising his sword, it took an entire Rue Slash skill to keep the swings at bay, and even then he didn’t quite escape unscathed. Another Rue Revolver was called, which cut into the beasts again with what was apparently enough force to demolish them. Healing Potion consumed, and he moved onto his next target: a whimpering, pathetic version of the monsters he’d just downed. With three swift strikes from his sword, it was done, which left a grand total of 3 more level 20 monsters. Not bad for frying the small fries.

As he looked, though, he noticed the grand alpha on its last limbs. Not to let an opportunity like that pass, he quickly utilized a Mage’s Soul and joined the fray against the thing, unleashing another Rue Slash into its fiery body to let it sink to the fire-ridden earth in dismay. It seemed easier, but really, it was just because he’d shown up so late in the game.

OOC:

Kill Count!
Group 1:
Lv.60 “Giant” Elemental – Dead!
Lv.40 Elemental – 1 Injured, 2 Very Injured, 1 Dead!
Lv.20 “Mini” Elemental – 6 Dead!

Group 2:
Lv.40 Elemental – 1 Slightly Injured
Lv.20 “Mini” Elemental – 1 Unaccounted-for, 1 Slightly Injured, 2 Injured, 4 Dead!

TOTAL:
01x Lv.60 “Giant” Elemental – Dead
05x Lv.40 Elemental – 1 Slightly Injured, 1 Injured, 2 Very Injured, 1 Dead
14x Lv.20 “Mini” Elemental – 1 Unaccounted For, 1 Slightly Injured, 2 Injured, 10 Dead
Image
Image|||Level 35 Blademaster (+200 EXP)
Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

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

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Phoenix512 » Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:12 am

Phoenix was ready to tackle the elementals once again as the others were pounding away the two separate groups of elementals. Hacorie and Senna had already fallen from the group that he attacked first. With the combined efforts of the Freedom Fighters, the two groups of elementals were slowly dying off. The first group had only three of the regular size elementals while the second group still had its alpha along with four of the smaller elementals. The blademaster decided to finish off what he started which was the first group of elementals.

Before Phoenix back into the fray, he used two resurrects to bring back Hacorie and Senna into the battle. Then he proceeded towards the three regular sized elementals as they were in confusion as they lost their alpha. The blademaster took advantage of the confusion as he fired off three Rue Kruzs at each one of them. The piercing ice attacks injured them even more now as the ice pierced through their bodies.

The three elementals now turned their attention towards the blademaster as they want revenge for being pierced with ice. One of them will not even get its opportunity for revenge as Phoenix killed it with a Wind Blade attack. The remaining two attacked with GiVak Dons targeted at the blademaster. The meteors were descending very fast at Phoenix and quickly switched to his new sword, the Nataku. Even though it was weaker than his current weapon the Oberon, it had a skill that could help avoid most of the damage from the combined GiVak Dons. “RUE REVOLVER!”

The attack propelled Phoenix towards the remaining critical elemental as the meteors impacted on the ground. He felt the splash damage of the attacks burning on his skin but he did not mind as he successful killed another elemental. There was only one elemental left now and it wanted to kill the blademaster with a weapon instead of spells. The elemental took a swing at Phoenix but it was blocked by the blademaster’s own sword.

The elemental kept trying to cut Phoenix into pieces but it was too slow as he was much faster than his current enemy. He either avoided the attacks or blocked them with the Nataku until he found a moment to stage his own counterattack. When the elemental attempted to chop Phoenix into two, the swing left it opened for Phoenix to attack. He sidestepped to its left side and swung horizontally at its midsection. The attack critically weakened the elemental and finishes it off with a mere Rue Kruz.

Phoenix felt bad for killing the final elemental in the first group with a spell after fighting it in a duel but it would have mostly likely try to do the same thing as well. He switched back to the Oberon and wonder if the other Freedom Fighters had finished off the other group of elementals. The blademaster cast La Repth and Ap Vakz to deal with the nightmarish heat of the volcano. This field would not allow the group to recover SP easily. The Freedom Fighters would have to test their supply rationing in this field as Phoenix used another Mage’s Soul to bring his SP back to nearly full. He wondered if the Elite lackey has air conditioning in the dungeon.

[OOC]Group 1:
Completely dead

Group 2:
1 Level 40 Elemental (slightly injured)
4 Level 20 “Mini” Elemental (1 slightly injured, 2 Injured)
[/OOC]
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

Raquar
Ikkitousen
Posts: 108
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:28 pm
Location: Hiding in the shadows

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Raquar » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:04 am

The whole ideal with Marionette made his head spin just that much faster. If this kept up, it was soon to become its own orbital body in space. He had absorbed, or attempted to absorb the information that the Puppeteer had parted with them, but he found that with everything else he couldn’t shake from the recesses of his mind, most of it went in as a giant jumble of mess that he would have to sort through later. What wasn’t garbled however was the group’s next task. He had mulled things over as he hung out at the back of the crowd, both in Marionette’s little field and back returning at the hideout, but there proved to be not much point. He had just barely gotten lost in his thoughts when a very urgent flashmail arrived from their glorious leader.
To: The Freedom Fighters
From: Nighthand
Subject: Rescue Nall
Message: We're mounting a rescue of Nall. Raine has verified that he was captured on that field, the video Marionette showed wasn't false. Sheena is coming too; if we're not fast, I suspect she'll leave us behind. I'd rather not have her going off alone.

From the video, at least the field level is Fire based and deals constant damage to us due to the heat. Stock up on health drinks and ice scrolls. This could be the toughest fight yet.
He brainlessly followed somebody out toward the Chaos Gate where the sight of Sheena snapped him back into reality. She was quite literally fuming and that was an awkward sight as since the boy had been here, she had but nothing but positive and chipper, sometimes to an annoyingly strong degree. Apparently being obnoxiously positive wasn’t the only thing she was good at. He called out the keywords in turn as the rest of the group did that would whisk him away to the field.

The landing blew and so did the heat. The heat was aversely oppressive, sweat glands on overdrive as the heat slowly scalded away at his body. The Ap Vakz helped a bit but the heat still more or less served as an agitation, both mental and physical. If the other was still here, he might have enjoyed it, but alas, the Blademaster was gone, and the heat now just served as a dull, painful reminder. That was about all he had time to take in, as the group set off at a charge following their pissed female leader. He had noticed her return position from seemingly a strike in the ground before she was off, Ap Do’d and charging full speed ahead. He would have to make a mental reminder to thank whoever had cast the two buffs on him later, but not was not the time, hopefully he could just keep up with the crew.

They kept together as more or less a loosely knotted group, as they raced toward the dungeon. Their luck however did not hold, as two packs of fiery blobs of . . . well, fire caught onto the group and set all three units on a collision course to hell. Or some other extremely annoying hot place. The information Marionette had given them was recalled to memory, and he settled on the idea of dispatching some of the lower level fiends. Let the High and Mighty’s deal with the big fuckers. The sounds of battle had broken out as he moved toward some of the smaller creatures in the second group. His spear caught one through where a chest cavity should be as the humming sprung up in his brain and around him. Except, now he had his spear. The spear pulsed with its own energy, its own musical quality to match those of the wisps that would serve as his protection. It was like he had his own little mini-symphony, and together, their notes would bring darkness to the world. And no, it wasn’t nearly as evil a goal as it sounded. He managed to dodge a swipe of one of the beasts paws before another crashed into his back sending him stomping forward right into a fireball that splashed down into his noggin. Ow. He picked himself up, dusted himself off, ducked under another claw before firing tiny shards of ice into the beast closest to him. Yeah, if they were going to drop flaming balls of molten shit on him, he had no problem making them all into their own little elemental popsicles. Grinning, he fired a wisp away at the injured beast that sent it staggering back. Now it was time for the flair.

The Long Arm leaped into the air, spear glinting in whatever source of light there was before arcing down into and through the beast in question. A horizontal slash and one final thrust were all that was needed to send the thing to its final rest. He wheeled around, setting his sights on the next closest thing that happened to be injured already. Perfect. He charged forward letting the power flow into his spear. The darkness swirled around him, the spear an extension of his arm as the darkness tore into the creature and ripped shreds out of it. It howled at him, setting the are aflame in a whirlwind of fire, one that the boy ignored for the time being as he continued to ravage the creature’s body even after the skill expired. The pairs of slashes, the cuts, the thrusts, it all became a dance to his own personal music, one that would spell doom for the creature that he had targeted.

When the thing had finally been extinguished, he took a moment to breathe, and shake as much excess sweat as he could from his body. The heat had taken quite the toll on his body, that coupled with the beating he had more or less rushed into made the La Repth activated from the new piece of headgear almost a necessity. Setting his sight on another beast, this also a byproduct of previous skirmishes, he set forward hoping to conserve his SP and let it recharge a bit. Hopefully. He had gotten a single vertical slash in when the creature toward him and went Rocky Balboa on him. The huge flaming fast that crashed into his jaw literally sent him into the air. That was a first, he could proudly say he was the first person in The World he knew that had been straight up uppercutted by a monster.

He had gotten some decent hangtime, when the desire for flair returned. Angling the spear downward, and bracing his lead foot against the base of the head of the spear, he twisted his body into something that would make Kung Fu movie stars of old jealous. He had to resist the urge to shout out some ridiculously stupid attack name, Raq Meteor, or Darkness Comet, as his foot drove the spear through the belly of the beast. That would teach the little bastard to uppercut him. Wrenching his spear out of the ground the boy twisted round bringing his spear in a crescent, up and over to crash into the head of the monster. With any luck, the thing would be addled for a few seconds that would allow his next flurry of swipes across the creature’s frontside go unnoticed. He counted six of his own blows amidst two of the elemental’s own against him before the thing went down. He turned to look for the next enemy when his face was once again blasted by a giant flaming ball of goo. The BiVak Don forced him to the ground where a swiping claw sent him flying a few feet to the left. At that point, the only thing he was aware of was a source of blisteringly intense heat that crashed into him. He didn’t see what it was, or where it had come from, only knew that it was enough to burn the last cinders of his life into ash as he slowly materialized above as a ghost. He had managed to provide some support at least. Now hopefully somebody would be kind enough to revive him so he could return to the, oh so wonderful world of painful heat and uncomfortable sweat. Why did he get himself into these things?

OOC:
Headcount: 3 Level 20 "Mini" Elementals Vanquished
Remaining: Group 2 -
1 Level 40 Elemental (Slightly Injured)
1 Level 20 "Mini" Elemental
Level 28 Long Arm
Archspear, Newt Necklace, Smith's Gloves, Wyrm Scale, Kuja's Thong Dress
EXP: [700/1000]

WISHLIST
Levels
Weapons: - All
Armor: Head - Scarab Earring
Body - Nothing until Mid 30's. Ninja Garb Hand - Nothing until Mid 30's. Leg - Nothing until Mid 30's.
Items: Cooked Biles, Darkness Scrolls (Any and All)

Asgard
Exalted Player
Posts: 285
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 4:28 am
Location: Carmina Gadelica Alleyway

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Asgard » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:59 pm

Asgard appeared on the field, late again for the party. Falling the same eight feet as everyone else, he was caught by slight surprise, but landed on his two feet, primarily laying low to the ground. He could not see anything at first, for the ground emitted stinging heat that immediately assailed his eyes. But his vision cleared, and he saw the rest of the group fighting the group of elementals with great fervor. He couldn’t see his scout, Terro, anywhere to be found, which instantly washed him with worry. Yet, there was something that he couldn’t put his finger on.

There was a distinct, but faint, rumbling on the ground. He passed a hand down to the ground and confirmed his previous thought. There was something causing vibration in this molten world, and it was slowly, but surely, getting bigger. It could either be an earthquake, or reinforcements, either which were very bad occurrences in such an unstable environment. A shrill cry from one of the monsters rang out, as well as the clash of weapons and skills upon armor and scales; Asgard knew that he couldn’t just stand around and doddle. These things needed to die, and die fast.

The Fist Fighter reached into his item pouch and retrieved three of his favorite items: three Speed Charms. Nether, I need the power to continue on at an unrivaled pace, with agility unmatched. The speed charms disappeared in a stream of gray clouds. The cirrus entities rotated around him, granting him the one time ability to create the custom 3x spell.

"MeAp Do!"

The smoke and a third of Asgard`s SP disappeared in an instant. As the words flew from his mouth, the Fist Fighter`s adrenaline rose to its peak. His feet felt lighter, like he could fly, and fly he must. As of now he had three times his regular movement speed, something that would give him an edge in at least a few upcoming brawls. Might as well try this new weapon out as well, Asgard thought, as he armed himself with his Spiked Nunchaku. Asgard broke into his dead run for the last two elementals standing, with the smaller of the two standing closest to where he began. Placing his right arm forward yards before impact, he slammed into the unsuspecting miniature elemental at full speed, knocking him straight into its bigger brother.

The bigger humanoid beast roared as the younger seemed disoriented, but not slain from the body slam. The beast roared once more and charged the interloper. However, Asgard`s agility was far beyond that of the elemental, and performed a miraculous sidestep-counterattack, moving a foot to the left of the charge, and then taking his right hand and used it to grasp and then slam the head of the elemental straight into the molten ground. His hand seared, for the fire elemental was ablaze, but he had to have a firm grasp to render the elemental dazed so it could not fight back.

"Now, you are coming with me."

The Fist Fighter got back to his feet, dusted himself off, and quickly picked up the level 40 elemental by its left leg. At first, the elemental itself was fairly heavy, so without hesitation, the Fist Fighter grabbed a Warrior`s Blood from his item bag, and crushed it, its power instantly washing over him. Now, with the buff, it was a lot easier to drag it along to the still fazed miniature fireball. By now, it was almost up to its knees, trying to get a grasp of vision, but Asgard prevented that completely by swinging the other stunned body from behind his back, up and over and finally onto the dazed body, bringing both bodies back down to earth.

The Fist Fighter switched weapons, turning the Spiked Nunchaku back into his inventory, and bringing his Steel Steps to bear. He began by just stomping the absolute hell out of the stacked elementals, unable to move, defend or counterattack. Every strike made the steps become more and more azure, until at the end, without hesitation, he raised his leg up high, his weapon shining in the desolation of the land.

"Blizzard Strike!"

He brought the leg back down onto his nearly defeated enemies and finished the job, severing their existences from this mortal coil. He rested his attacks, beginning to breathe a bit harder than normal. The heat was finally getting to him. He turned to the group, taking a swig from one of his Health Drinks.

"Sorry I`m late. I needed to stock up, but it took longer than usual." He grabbed his collar as he talked, and much like a cartoon, steam erupted from his exposed neck.

"Rig Saem! Rig Gaem!" A swirl of blue and green encased him for a moment, granting him a regeneration of both body and mind. He could feel the MeAp Do course through him still, only taking a few moments to slay the rest of the elementals. "We should get going. I`m under the impression that there are more of these things heading this way."

==========

OOC:

Group A: DEAD

Group B: DEAD
This is my non-banner profile. Read at own discretion!
Wishlist (Bolded sections denotate priority, in descending order)
In General: LEVELS
Pet-Related: EX-Levels, [Lv. 2]Overdrive Sphere, [Lv. 2]Ressurect
Armor: Dice Gloves (20 RARE), Golden Turban (42), Saint Cross (41), Protect Ring (41)
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Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:10 pm

Huh… I didn’t even get to kill anything. Nighthand thought to himself, finding himself somewhat slow to get to the action. Even Asgard, a late arrival, beat him to the fight using some ability of his.
You could have used state shift, and gotten here faster.
Yeah, but it looks like I didn’t even need to.
Nope. And besides, Sheena didn’t even stop. She let you guys fight and kept running.
WHAT?

It was true. Sheena knew the party could handle such simple things, or perhaps just didn’t care. She at the very lease knew she could outrun them, and outrun them was what she had done. She kept running, and was almost on the edge of view when Asgard’s words broke the heat-laden silence. There probably were more Elementals heading their way, drawn by the commotion.

Nighthand then cast a La Repth across the party still standing. The Ap Vakz hadn’t worn off yet, but the heat was still getting to them. Another few seconds was all it took to resurrect the few who had died.

Nighthand, finally, shifted himself more towards speed, simply to catch up. He knew several members of the party wouldn’t be able to handle the pace, though, so he kept himself back enough to split the distance; able to return if he needed to, or dash forward if required.

He downed a health drink as he ran. Soon, he drew near enough to Sheena to see beyond her, and see the looming volcano fortress.

The mountain in front of them had no foothills; it was more like an eruption in the surface of the earth, a blast from the inside shoving tall spires of rock out and up. The volcano itself was belching a vast cloud of smog and ash, yet flowing magma rolled down the sides. Only one section of the mountain was left untouched by the lava, and it was their destination.

It was as though a giant’s spade had cracked down through the rock, scraping away a chunk of the mountain and leaving a sheer vertical face in the center of a canyon with ever-taller walls. The rock was smooth and glassy on either side, and ended in a sheer face marked by the entrance to the dungeon.

The entrance itself was a pair of massive double doors, ten times taller than a man, made of the same solid rock as everything else. It was set with a selection of jewels, looking like pure orbs of fire encased in glass themselves. Two of them were the size of basketballs, set like eyes on either side, with four smaller softball sized gems surrounding those. Patterned in a hexagon between the two other patterns were six smaller golf ball sized gems. They all twinkled in unison.

If that was all, entry to the dungeon would have been simple. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all.

Standing in the canyon, between them and the door, was a selection of elementals larger than the two groups they had already killed. One stood a head taller than the rest, and had a small ‘crown’ of flames around its head; plainly one of the level 80 Elemental Kings. Arrayed in front of it, in various groupings, were a total of ten Giants, fifteen of the normal elementals, and thirty of the minis. A veritable war party of fire beasts.

It was time for Nighthand to make a move. While he stopped just inside range of spells, Sheena continued running.

One of his recently obtained scrolls was selected from the cape that held them all, and he opened his scarred eye to the fiery sight before him. The hole where his eye had once been glittered icily.

”ABSOLUTE ZERO!”

For a moment, nothing happened. The scroll activated, but the spell was in momentary stasis, allowing Nighthand the opportunity to act. (15) And act he did. He reached out and grabbed the spell, clogging up the channels so the energy continued to build longer than it would have naturally. Then, just when the pressure was beginning to strain his control, he released it.

Around a pair of the Giant Elementals, a gigantic tornado of ice and snow erupted from the molten ground. It spiraled up into the sky, raging in place, great boulders of ice slamming into the ground around it. From back far enough, as the party was just arriving, a cool breeze washed over them, feeling frigid even in the heat.

When the spell died, the two Giant elementals were simply gone, a section of the ground where they had stood no longer molten. The spell had barely faded when Sheena, running at full speed through the massed elementals without touching them, ran across it. Her target was plain; she was going for the King.

Her first punch slammed the elemental with such force that it rocketed towards the door; not dead, but no doubt close. She didn’t slow, but continued for a few more steps. Then, she leapt into the air, spinning in an angled corkscrew. At the last possible second, she pulled out of the spin, and slammed her elbow into and through the elemental, driving into the door. The entire canyon shook with the impact, and the Elemental King disappeared in a burst of heat. So much for stealth… there could be no better knock on the door of the fortress than that.

Sheena, however, was not satisfied. She slammed a fist into the door that had not budged at her first strike, and the canyon rang again with her blow. She pulled back for a third, but in unison, the gemstones flared up.

A familiar spell effect occurred right behind Sheena, and the Elemental King was revived, Rip Maen cast by the gemstones. It grabbed Sheena before she could react and slammed her into the door, then threw her into the crowd of Elementals. She rolled and dashed back, but took pause when she saw the sheer number of creatures before her. She could take them, but she would take damage, and she had a party to help her. Her fury was broken, for the moment.

The gems sparkled remorselessly, waiting for something else to happen.

----------------ooc:
Remember to heal yourselves of the heat damage.

1x King Elemental
8x Giant Elementals (2 injured)
15x Normal Elementals (3 injured)
30x Mini Elementals (1 injured)

The Gemstones pulse each post and have a 50% chance of casting a random Vak Spell. If it does not cast a Vak spell, it casts Rip Maen on one of the dead elementals, with higher level getting preference. They pulse a spell out a minimum of once per post (not round), so include it in your post. Flip a coin or something to see which it casts. They can cast any random fire spell. If your post is long, or you just feel like it, you can have them cast multiple times.

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