Enter the World through the Lambda Server

Moderator: Nighthand

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Nighthand » Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:31 pm

Sheena was carefully watching the skeletons, in particular the two with runes the rest of the party didn’t know. Of course, after a while it became clear what at least one of the runes meant. Light, the element only used by one person; Royce. Were these skeleton-creatures some kind of experiment in elemental interactions? Or were they weapons, created to be mass-produced as the next big hacker invasion foot soldier? They had no way of knowing, but this WAS a lab, and it would be better to destroy them now than to let the elites get hold of them. If they hadn’t already.

She was half-listening when Dien asked her what she could see, but sadly that wasn’t much. ”Nothing special stands out except those elements… Light and Time. Why do they have Light and Time so easily harnessed? They shouldn’t be able to…” She flexed her hand and the tiny wires from earlier appeared. ”One thing is for sure. We can’t let these things survive!”

The wires embedded in her flesh faded from silver to black, a pure black not tainted by the element of darkness. The faint lines widened slightly, and the fist fighter ran into the middle of the room.

As she passed she grabbed the Vak skeleton by the leg, ripping it easily from the middle of its attack and throwing it out ahead of her. It bowled over the Gan skeleton, and when the two managed to stand up, they brought their swords to bear and charged her.

She paid them no mind, already on to the Ani skeleton. A flying kick removed it from the area Raquar lay trapped, and she flipped over the coffin to release him. He looked up at her and she saw a tint of color in his eyes, a blue growing brighter. She spun and backhanded the Rue monster, sending it flying. Two steps and a punch sent the Juk skeleton into a wall near the entrance. All that were left for her to hit were the Rai, Light, and Time skeletons. Two of which were more dangerous than any other in the room.

The Rai skeleton had not yet moved, so she found it an easy target for a punch that drove it into the ground. It skidded to the far wall, tripping up the oncoming Juk skeleton. She quickly tracked down the Light skeleton, and delivered a kick to it as well. This left just the Time skeleton. It was still standing by its box, unmoved by the carnage. She walked up behind it and punched the back of its neck, satisfied to hear a nice long crunch.

Wait… nice, long? Her eyes widened in slow motion as she realized what had happened. Time; the only thing she couldn’t out run. She was slowed down, incurably save for it naturally wearing off, and she had successfully drew the fire of every skeleton in the room.

The Time skeleton, once it picked itself up off the floor, formed a sword that was little more than a ripple in the air, a blade-shaped distortion. One by one all of the skeletons bore down on her, and she couldn’t move fast enough to fend them off. Then it was all over; the Time skeleton stabbed, the invisible blade driving into her shoulder, and she was frozen.

One after another. Vak, Rue, Juk, Gan, Rai, Ani, Light. They all stabbed her, one by one. The only thing that freed her from the time lock was death.

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

Each skeleton is damaged now, visibly if not functionally. They still act and fight as though at full strength, but are looking more haggard. Sliced flesh, bruises where Sheena’s punches or the room hit them, cracked bones.

Each skeleton absorbs opposing elements, canceling out the elemental part of physical attacks and absorbing spells. They reflect same-elements as well; skills will flare up in your face and spells will come back just as strong.

They tend to react more to the physical aspects of a spell than the magical damage; rocks rising will fling them into the air instead of pounding them, for instance. It still damages them though, if not obviously.

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Fuzzhead » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:46 am

By methods unknown to Silk, Dien and Raquar managed to get the party away from the strange time rooms and on their merry way. They had spent too long pounding their heads against the confounding puzzle, so their pace now was a little more urgent, and eventually they came to a fairly large room with eight coffins therein. Once the entire party had assembled, the coffins revealed their ominous contents: eight skeletons bearing the familiar elemental symbols… as well as two extras. It was battle time, and the group immediately sprang into action.

And by “sprang”, we really mean Lighteria walked up to the “Time” skeleton in an ill-advised bout of curiosity. After a momentary encounter, it was clear that the “Time” skeleton could manipulate time in such a way that whoever it touched would exist in a slower “stream” of time, as exhibited by Lighteria’s ridiculous attempts to speak with them.

Stifling a laugh, Silk approached one of the skeletons even as Phoenix and Canti dealt with the Vak skeleton. Their combined Gan attack seemed to have an effect, but if the effect was appreciable was up to debate. Moments later, in an impressive display of Vak elemental control, the skeleton created a fire sword which he proceeded to attack with. Would the combined forces of Canti and Phoenix be enough to defeat the undead skeleton?

Silk wouldn’t have time to find out, because he was needed elsewhere: Raquar had gotten himself into trouble, and somehow or other, Senna had managed to get herself in trouble while trying to get Raquar out of trouble. Presently, an Ani-elemental skeleton was bearing down on her, and it was up to Silk to keep the angry bag-o’-bones off of her.

“Kiwami!” he shouted, hoping that a purely physical attack would avoid any elemental tolerances the creature might have. Thankfully, the knockback of the attack was enough to buy them both some time to beat a hasty retreat. Silk allowed himself a moment’s self-adoration for his greatness, only to see Sheena absolutely demolish the oncoming Ani skeleton as it tried to move back to their position. The far superior Fist Fighter finished the job Senna attempted by completely freeing the hapless Raquar, and, with the pair in tow, Silk left the immediate vicinity for the relative safety of their comrades even as Sheena continued her rampage.

In the span of a few heartbeats, she managed to deck each of the skeletons, ending with the Time Skeleton. Unfortunately, it was the Time Skeleton which proved to be her ultimate downfall: the same condition that had enveloped Lighteria now trapped Sheena in absurd slow motion, especially considering how ridiculously fast Sheena was in her normal condition. Before anyone could so much as utter a “Vak”, Sheena was stabbed over half a dozen times and left for dead, which, incidentally, was the same problem Dien was dealing with.

“Two Resurrects will solve this problem,” muttered Silk to himself as he applied the item to his fallen comrades. Well, at least Dien. Getting to Sheena’s corpse would be a little trickier, what with the wall of elemental skeleton’s barring his way. “No thanks necessary,” joked Silk even as he moved towards the nearest skeleton, the Rai one. “Kiwami!” he called, engaging the skeleton in honorable one on one combat. Resurrecting Sheena would have to wait.
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

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Rayo » Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:47 am

The fight with Angel seemed more like a blur than any concrete memory by the time the group had exited the field. The bowman felt incredibly tired, and upon returning took a rather lengthy nap. These bodies were not real, but the mental exhaustion was. The level of stress from fighting for one’s life, running and hiding, and being manipulated all took their toll. Auth felt sick of it all, wondering why he had subjected himself to the war once more.

After returning to the battlefield, it was supposed to be to aid his former comrades and make sure they all escaped together. That seemed like a valid reason at the time, but was his conviction strong enough? Members of the group came and went as they pleased; most of those that he had originally fought with were dead or missing. Instead of helping them escape, the former wavemaster was trapped with them. Since that point the ‘freedom fighters’ had only performed guerilla operations, fighting against opponents chosen by yet another person trying to manipulate their paths, Marionette.

For the moment Auth lacked the motivation to act. Survival only acted as suitable reason in the short term while under attack. If the option remained to hide and be safe, survival would not dictate him to attack the hackers. Fight through the rank and file of Yamiyo? With too many battles the group would fail and be defeated, the risk of continual battle was too high. Their enemies could figure out what skills his side did possess, and even a lesser hacker had a good chance at eliminating them all. If more than one Elite gathered, the freedom fighters would be hard pressed to even run away. The administrators of The World with the power of law on their side had barely put up a worthy fight. The power attainable through the system or with the cooperation of the system was not stronger than those with the ability to manipulate and adapt the core rules of the game to what they desired.

Nearly everyone whose mind was unable to break out of the game formed some sort of mental bond with The World. Perhaps it was due to the influence of their soul trying to control the outcome, but in any case the nature of a player could grant them extraordinary abilities. His own was subpar for dealing with the threats that appeared at every turn. His digital form could remember that which had interacted with his body. His power of blue magic as he had deemed it was control over an aspect of memory. Yet, all that the player could accomplish in the end were spells that the game itself introduced to players who had suitable equipment. It might grant a momentary advantage, but it was nothing that could influence the flow of Rayo’s course. Thus, logic dictated that with his lack of power he was safer where he was.

Most of the flashmails Auth received were ignored, although from the few he deemed worth glimpsing over there was trouble afoot again. No surprise there. Nall was captured again, the man who perhaps had the strongest power in their forces. At least he was in possession of several Twilight items which seemed to transcend the rules of game reality more than most. Sure, the archer could go to the field of Gated Folding Stare, but he would not be of any use as he was now.

So long as he could not answer ‘why’, Auth was stuck where he sat. Those with power, the strong, had a duty to help those weaker. Whether it was fending off those hordes of minotaurs or pressing back the waves composed of Knights of War, Rayo had been functioning under that principle. Yet, Primal, Angel, Devil, Elites, and all of the rest could take on their entire group alone. One thing Auth had learned from these fights was that he was weak. In terms of all measurable categories, he was not in a position to act high and mighty. No sense of honor or justice he abided by could validate a course of action. All there was left was a nagging thought. Something, anything should be done. Action for the sake of action alone was foolhardy, but doing nothing when there was opportunity was worse. It was true that he lacked power and knowledge, but neither of those things could be gained by doing nothing. Gated Folding Stare was it…


*****

The field already had something going against it, extreme heat. High temperatures normally bothered the archer, so when the heat could actually cause damage it was really annoying. Auth sprayed the contents of a Burning Oil over his body to help mitigate the seemingly perpetual damage. Concentrating for a moment, the player looked around to try and determine in which direction the dungeon was. Following his gut feeling, Rayo cast a quick La Repth, summoned Bell, and rode off in that direction.

Fairly quickly he encountered the dungeon entrance, two rather large doors that looked to be a pain to open. Brushing his fingertips against the crease in the middle, the archer braced himself and tried to open the door. That was a failure that simply resulted in him falling to the ground. Another La Repth was cast to keep the heat from taking care of him while he dealt with the door, but was unsure of how to proceed. His mind pondered his options when his eyes scanned his opponent. The ground seemed disturbed, was that a sign? There was a bit of rubble surrounding the door, but that didn’t seem to clue him in on an answer. Fortunately, Rayo was not the only one there. Bell, probably wishing to be dismissed already due to the painful temperature, started digging at the base of the door the best a grunty could. Within a few minutes, with the player casting La Repths for the pair occasionally, Bell managed to dig a passable passage and Rayo squeezed his way through. He could have used Bell’s support a bit longer, but there was no way that the grunty was going to succeed in getting in the same way.


*****
A series of plain arrows homed in on the Juk skeleton to decorate its body. It hadn’t been a fun trek, but it hadn’t been too bad either. The dark room proved to be the most annoying, but it only took the archer two attempts to find the right hallway to traverse. Perhaps the worst part had been the stairs, it was never fun to keep on running down stairs that were as numerous as the last staircase was. Regardless, Rayo had reached the battle and his first instinct was to initiate combat.

“Rip Maen!”

Targeting the only ghost within sight, the caster revived Sheena and turned back to Juk skeleton he had targeted earlier. It had looked wounded before he had fired off the last volley… in fact that went for all of the enemies. Physical attacks did not seem ineffective, but the player had not had the chance to observe and figure out what worked well so he simply snapped his fingers as he uttered the incantation for MeRai Rom. Bolts of lightning were sucked up from the floor and drawn down from the ceiling to envelope the targeted skeleton with a flash of light. The level 3 spell seemed to bounce his target around more than shatter bones, so Auth let loose another two arrows to its gut before it landed. Hopefully these enemies could be defeated quickly so he could ask and find out what he had missed.

Ooc: Blue Magic: La Repth
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Phoenix512 » Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:55 am

Phoenix was a bit of a dazed. He was trying to figure why Canti was attacking the same skeleton he was. He guessed it was his way to help him but he could not take advantage of it. He did nothing to make a counterattack of it. The others began their attacks on the skeletons with Sheena trying to kill all of them with quick fists of female fury. But she did not count on the Time skeleton slowing her down and its seven friends taking their revenge and killing her very effectively.

During his time of inaction, Phoenix figured out that opposite elemental attacks are ineffective while using the same element will just bring the pain to you in spades. Before Phoenix could start his renewed attack, an old friend shown up in the battlefield. It was Rayo who put the hurting on the Juk Skeleton. It was nice to see him again but right now, these skeletons need to die as if the Elites figured out how to grant Light and Time affinities to monsters, then the World will be really in danger.

Phoenix decided to go back to his original target of the Vak Skeleton. He fired a Wind Blade at the Vak to get its attention. The skeleton felt the attack and began to turn its attention at the blademaster. It charged at Phoenix with the fire sword but he quickly avoided. The heat of the sword was intense as he began to sweat everywhere. Phoenix continued with his attack on the Vak Skeleton but it effectively blocks its attacks with the fire sword.

The sweat was beginning to interfere with Phoenix’s vision as it drips down to the ground. The skeleton used Phoenix’s disadvantage and cut him with the fire sword. The attacks felt like being branded but a few more scars are not anything to him by now especially with the layer of scars all over his body. With the last cut, Phoenix was knocked down. It was time to regain the advantage.

“GiGan Zot!” The earthen attack appeared below the Vak Skeleton and knocked it high into the sky. Phoenix quickly jumps up back to the ground and then immediately leaps into the air after the skeleton. Once the blademaster was close enough to the skeleton, he activated his Gan Revolver attack. The blade was encapsulated in stone and the fast rotation of the blade and body impacted on the Vak Skeleton.

The skeleton slammed into the ground after the Gan Revolver attack but before it could do anything else, Phoenix was already landing on him. He proceeded to stab the Pegasus Comet into its skull repeatedly. The blademaster was dripping in sweat as he kept stabbing his sword at the Vak Skeleton. One thing was sure; he wanted to kill the skeleton before finishing off the Time Skeleton. He did not want another incident to happen like with Sheena. No skeleton is going to finish off Phoenix so easily or at least without one hell of a fight.
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: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Raquar » Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:30 am

He thought he might have detected a sliver of light underneath the lip of one of the edges but even when he threw his weight against that side the coffin didn’t budge. This sliver didn’t last long before disappearing and he was alone again once again in the darkness of the enclosed coffin. He couldn’t have said how long he was under the coffin before it was ripped off the floor, the boy looking up into face of Sheena. She turned immediately and bitchslapped a skeleton before moving on. The Long Arm took the time to retreat and gain his bearings. The group was somewhat scattered around, Dien was dead, Sheena was in the midst of a heap of skeletons, and it seemed that nobody really had an idea about how to proceed. Since Sheena had leaped into the fray the boy supposed that attacking was probably one of the better bets at this point in time. Granted, he did suffer from some hesitation when he saw Sheena fall but it seemed like the decision was final. Watching Silk take care of the Blademaster and leap into the fray, the boy echoed his actions springing forward, spear outstretched.

As he pushed forward his mind began to hum, wisps of darkness springing to life around him. The closest skeleton to him was the Rue skeleton, and he rued the decision to slam into it, his left shoulder joint freezing where it came in contact with the skeleton. It crashed backward into another skeleton, evidently Gan as rocks rose up around the skeleton. The humming in his head grew more frantic, as the skeletons began to push toward him. He was briefly aware of a wooden spire taking him through the shoulder as he spun around and swung his spear upward slicing the Rai skeleton. The thing retaliated by sending a jolt up his spear through the point of contact, and the electricity raced up the shaft arcing up through his body. A wave of nausea crashed over him briefly causing the boy to hunch over his stomach with a grimace. The humming his brain turned into a gut-wrenching scream as the wisps concentrated at his stomach before dissipating in an angry puff. Scowling as soon as the nausea faded, the boy was dismayed to find that the skeletons had regrouped. Sighing, he focused his energy on his weapon and took a few steps forward. The darkness swirled around the blade of his weapon as it swung right first, then left, and then around again, taking a swipe at each skeleton in turn and suffering the retaliation of each in turn. Trickles of ice crept up his spear and down his arm, spires of wood violated his body, rocks smashed upward into him, electricity jolted through his body, a black smoke covered the entirety of the area, a brief blast of light robbed him of his sight once again and everything around him seemed to shift, stopping almost before everything slowed to a crawl. If that wasn’t enough to finish him, the eight crescendoing swords were more than enough to finish the job.

Having ghosted, he backed off a bit to survey the area like he probably should have before he went it. Phoenix had seemingly succeeded in isolating the Vak skeleton and was serving to pound its head in, the Juk skeleton had sprouted a couple of extra wooden limbs which was attributed to the return of Rayo. Another person was a welcome addition to the crew as they needed all the manpower they could get. For now he was content with watching, fighting wasn’t exactly his forte, he wasn’t terrible at it by any means, but it wasn’t his strongest suit. He wanted to observe for now, to see if he could find anything out that might expedite this process.
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)

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

Part 6: Return of the Flashmail!

Post by Dien » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:04 am

It didn’t take very long for him to get revived. Having asked Sheena’s opinion on the matter, it was merely point of course that Silk should interlope and give him back his body. Pins and needles ran down his spine, spreading then to the whole rest of his body as it formed from the air of the place in a white hot glow. It was something that every one of them had seen and experienced time and time again, but for Dien, he could never quite get used to it. Perhaps he was unique in his experience of pins and needles—he had been the only one to encounter the God-type in the Trek, to his knowledge, and that experience had been, well, interesting to say the least. Every fiber of his being had been re-knit together in that experience, or so it had felt like. After the first time, it had gone back to normal, but then every revival since his initial infection had steadily gotten closer and closer to that first encounter in the tower.

But what did that matter? By right, he shouldn’t be coming back to life at all. It was only by the game’s mechanics that he was allowed to be returned to the realm of the living, and so for that much at least he was very grateful. So then, where were they?

The skeletons had taken one hell of a beating from Sheena while he scrambled out of the way, nearly being hit by one of the less-dead-than-they-should-have-been corpses. All seemed to be going well in her onslaught, at least until she found herself facing off against the time-elemental. It wasn’t even a contest at that point, as her body froze and the skeletons dealt stab after stab after life draining stab into her form. She hadn’t even reacted as her character was removed from its body, though the pain showed once she was finally able to move again, even if only as a lingering memory.

It was then that the Freedom Fighters took their cues. First came Silk’s resurrect, then a sudden appearance from Rayo and his arrows. He promptly then revived Sheena, followed by a devastating lightning spell (for which he had gathered a great deal of legendary following), and then a handful of more arrows. Before it could retaliate, Phoenix jumped into the fray, followed almost immediately by Raquar. Of course, as Raquar continued his attack, the Vak skeleton had distracted itself from Phoenix to attack and avenge his comrades. The process didn’t take very long before the longarm was himself destroyed. Tossing a resurrect to his comrade, the blademaster had a few things to try before getting down to business. Still, he had to grab one of the skeletons’ attentions without turning them all on himself. Since lightning seemed to be in style again, it was time to put his Lightning Bolt scroll to use.

When it went off against the Gan skeleton, he couldn’t help but be reminded of a certain video that had been popular back in the day. Hell, he could practically hear the kids shouting at one another with their silly games. To think that he was actually in a world where such impossibilities and hobbies were active; it was one of those kids’ wet dreams.

More than anything, the skeleton seemed to be more damaged by the rattling that the level two spell had incurred within itself. Just as it ended, the body went flying, recoiling off the wall and hitting the floor hard enough to bounce once before the thing had a chance to regain its footing. Of course, its first course of action was to charge headlong at Dien. This much, at least, was to be expected. Whoever had hacked these had used a fairly simple model for team affiliations and behavioral mannerisms, so predicting action and behavior was a matter of sitting out for one round and watching, or even just paying attention while attacking. It leapt into the standard opening attack for these beasties, opening its body wide for a full-force swing down into the shoulder. Dien, however, had other plans.

Waiting for just the right moment, he pushed forward, holding up his strongest sword and pushing it straight through the sternum of the thing, which now gave way to the force of his attack, allowing the sword to pass right through the elemental rune. However, this did nothing, as the thing was still very much alive, and was still very much swinging at his face. Of course, he noticed this just a fraction of a second too late, swinging his sword and desperately launching the thing at the opposite wall in time to get away with a cut that scraped along his cheekbone, letting blood flow down liberally. Of course, it stung more than anything, and so he swore, taking a moment to check on the fact that he was in fact bleeding before giving chase to this helpless victim he’d chosen. Landing on top of it, he kicked it over and pinned its arms to the ground with his feet, raising his sword high before driving straight down through the thing’s skull. Carving it a new eyehold did nothing, though, and with the thing pinned, he had another idea.

The caskets that these things had popped out of seemed to have some kind of specialty significance beyond just being wooden boxes. At least, so they seemed to have. The fact that they hadn’t vanished yet, and the fact that Raquar had become trapped in one of them spoke to that much, and so looking through the mayhem, his eyes found the coffin that had held his current victim. Withdrawing another scroll from his inventory, he unleashed a Juk Kruz spell on its wooden frame. What happened next really rather surprised him.

At the very same moment, clusters of branches surrounded him and converged with enough force to knock him back off the Gan skeleton. Of course it hadn’t been this one to have cast it, despite its wriggling beneath his grip. He’d seen a green glow at about skeleton chest-height, and so assumed it was the Juk skeleton’s work. Interesting, considering the elemental affiliations. There were some tests yet to be done on these boxes, it seemed, and so throwing the Gan skeleton off, he made his way over to the box while equipping one of his lower-level swords and activating a Mage’s Soul.

“Cross Slash!” he called when in range, and let the non-elemental skill tear its course through the thin wood. To no effect. Gan Don had no effect either, except to agro more of the skeletons onto himself, and so before the Gan one would arrive, he found himself fending off Juk, Ani, and Vak. Of course, decisively hard hits were enough to force them away in recoil, but it seemed just his luck that they should hit their comrades. At once, all of the skeletons were targeting him, and he could only curse his bad luck.

It wasn’t difficult to defend against them. Even using their attacks against one another in the manner that Leek had done was relatively simple, given the simple tactics they were using. There really was no trickery involved at all, and so countering was a piece of cake. Blow after blow after devastating blow was rent onto the skeletons’ forms, and yet they persisted. What had begun as a complete ability to fend them off soon began to wear. As he’d discovered last time, this was the main strength of these opponents: durability. It would take the entire team fighting at full strength to be able to fend them off long enough to take turns, especially given the side effects that he was experiencing upon hitting some of them.

The downturn began with a slice to his arm. His opponent’s icy blade had delved deep into his forearm, chilling it to a halt in mid-swing and grating against the bone. A cry was let loose, and he instinctively kicked the thing, sending it flying across the room yet again. Of course, this was just the opportunity that the Rai skeleton needed to embed its blade in his spine, sending jolts of electricity up and down as he fought the bitter pain. From his knees, he whipped his sword around, delivering a bone-crushing blow to its head and sending it reeling across the floor. However, it was then that the Vak blade ran through his ribs, puncturing straight through and sucking yet more HP from his bar. His free hand took the skeleton and hurled it across the room, though time seemed to be working against him. This was largely due to the fact that now embedded in his left shoulder was the blade of the time skeleton. Cursing, he tried to avoid what was coming, but found himself unable to even move. Shit!

It only took two more stabs to do him in. Unlike Sheena, he hadn’t progressed up and down the leveling scales multiple times, and so his defenses were weak. Death came quickly, and with it, a flashmail.
From: Dien
To: Freedom Fighters
Re: Strategy
Message:
First things first, we need to be smart about this. Rayo’s appearance reminded me of this, and so I’ve got an idea.

There are eight skeletons, and roughly the same number of us, if not a few more. We need to get the stronger players to engage in melee combat against these skeletons. I recommend trying to keep it to no more than two at a time, and if at all possible, to try and agro opposing elements against yourself. Try to avoid elemental attacks, but if you can’t avoid using concurrent or opposing elements to the skeletons your fighting. There will be four fights going on this way, which leaves the rest of the party able to rest until the fighters need a tag out. Pair up with someone who’s just about as strong as you are, and when they tag out, you tag in. We should also keep one or two people on white mage duty, healing people as they need healing, though if we’re on top of things, it shouldn’t take very long.

I seem to remember hearing something about an Elite coming to visit. Let’s get to Nall before they get here.

…oh, and someone Resurrect me, please?
Image
Image|||Level 35 Blademaster (+200 EXP)
Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Lighteria » Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:12 pm

Lighteria blinks a single time. Everything had happened so fast he couldn't keep track of any of it. Somehow people had died and started fighting before he could really realize it was happening. The ridiculously fast speed slows down to normal soon though, leaving Lighteria moving as he normally would but with an incredibly confused look on his face. Sheena had been killed and revived in the same minute and the zombie, skeleton.... things are all pretty angry at this point. No sense in trying for a peaceful resolution NOW. Thankfully, the twin blade wasn't attacked when slowed since he hadn't provoked hostility. Of course now that everyone's fighting that's going to change in a big ol' hurry. First order of business is to resurrect Dien which a Rip Maen spell takes care of quite nicely. As his wrist flicks with the spell and a pure white glyph extends from his palm and dissipates from the spell effects, the twin blade's gaze fixes on the same creature he poked with a long, thoughtful stare as he remembers an old story he once wrote...

(Excerpt from Jai's story: The Last Echoes of Anger)
"I must admit, you have been a nuisance." A man with dark, blank eyes states as his hand sifts through the strands of his long hair which shines a beautiful white with a hint of blue in the dimly lit cathedral. He stands from his throne which is in place of the pulpit, his face darkening as he rises to his feet, the ethereal glow from the stained glass window now at his back. "And my usual tactic of dealing with pests seems to have failed with you as well. Normally I simply fast-forward a man's personal time until they became too old and weak to be any real threat to me... But it would seem you are somehow immune to this effect, which leads me to believe the legend just might be true. ...An immortal?" His finger lifts to his chin, neatly framing a widening smirk for his deduction. The seemingly young man steps forward out of a shadow from one of the large marble columns supporting the church. His gaze rises to meet the long haired man, his eyes filled with the innocence of youth and somehow betraying a vast wealth of experience as well.

"No." The young man states with a plain tone. His brow furrows in anger and he glares with a piercing gaze towards the man on the throne. The dim light from the side windows making his light brown hair shimmer with an unearthly glow. "No small talk. You and yours have caused me enough grief without forcing me to sit through a venomous dialogue." His fist tightens and his eyes shimmer in the light, his body beginning to form a soft, gentle light. His hair lightly lifts from its hanging place, quickly turning a shade of light blue before falling back into place. There's a crackle of energy in the air as his hand begins to glow, his very body exhuming light. "Give her back. Now." The blank eyed man lets out a dark cackle as his grin widens.

"My powers do not limit themselves to simply speeding time up, light immortal..." The glowing young man blinks in confusion... which is all that is needed. Within the time it takes for his eyes to shut and open once again, the young man finds an ornamental dagger lodged in his shoulder. He roars in pain and grips the hilt, tearing it from his body, letting his blood spill down his chest and stain his dark blue vest to a blackened red color. The blank eyed man cackles loudly at the sight, standing again at the pulpit though not in the same position he was in a split second ago. "I think you understand now, hm?" He grins arrogantly as the young man pants slowly from the pain, his wound encasing itself in a dull glow as it closes up.

"I said..." The young man continues with a pained and increasingly furious voice. "Give.. Her... BACK!!" His hand flings past his chest and his hair and clothes billow upwards as a pulse of light erupts from the center of his body. The white haired man only smirks as the world around him slows to a virtual stand still to stop the attack.

"Foolish boy..." He says as he walks slowly down the church steps with another dagger appearing from beneath his robes. "Get as angry as you like. I control your destiny like I will control... the..." The man's voice trails off as he stops in his tracks, his grin fading. His eyes squint as he stares at the frozen visage of the young man, his eyes still narrowed in fury. It takes him a few moments to see it, but in front of him is a literal veil of light, as though the young man had suddenly been encased in a nigh-transparent dome of radiance. The man's eyes begin to glare as he hesitantly reaches out towards the edge of the dome with his hand. Before it even reaches the veil of light, the man yelps out in pain, his hand becoming seared and singed by the light. He pulls his hand back and inspects the burn, glaring at the young man and quickly inspecting the dome. It dawns on him that the young man is encased, the only weakness being the veil seems to not be harming the pews or stone floor in the least. Taking all this in, the man lets out a gasp as he hurries himself behind his throne, making sure the light won't reach any part of his body. With his safety assured, his body shudders, finally releasing it from the strain of the time lock and the light veil blasts past the throne harmlessly dissipating against the stained glass and stone of the opposite wall.

"Why you-!" The man says with a dark glare, his body tensing and time slowing to a crawl again. He rushes out from behind the throne and lets out a gasp, seeing the immortal frozen in a running position, practically already on top of the pulpit and another dome of light exhuming from his body. The white haired man pales and grabs a dagger from his throne, flinging it at the young man's head... but the light sears it upon contact, turning into light and dissipating. Knowing it might be best not to get in the middle of this, the man quickly circumvents the energy veil and rushes towards the door to the church. "Maybe I can't beat you like this, but there is no instant you may let your guard down now, boy." He says to the frozen immortal as he grabs the door handle. "You will die by my hand... there is no esca-" The blood drains from his face as the door flings inwards towards him, revealing a perfectly aligned veil of light covering the doorways. His heart races for a moment as his gaze turns towards the stained glass windows... all encased in an unearthly and soft glow. A bead of cold sweat runs down the back of his head as his body twitches from the strain of time, the young man's movements slowly becoming apparent, the dome of light extending inexorably outwards from his body.

"...They say... there is no escaping time." The man says, slowly turning towards the young man with a solemn expression, the veil of light advancing towards him with more and more speed the more his body un-tenses. "I suppose... It is... appropriate I'm defeated by the one thing.. that seems to have done just that." The man shuts his eyes and extends his arms to embrace the glow. His body relaxes...

"...and his world turns white."

"..."

Lighteria blinks a single time. Recalling that story he wrote took a rather substantial amount of his already heavily limited focus and it would seem his brain only kicked back into reality when he recited aloud the final words of the chapter. He goes completely pale, not knowing just HOW much of the story he actually spoke out loud to apparently no one in particular. He quickly realizes that spacing out THAT much during a fight is bad. Like really, really, really bad. The story spoke for itself though, so the twin blade decides the best course of action he can take is ignoring any looks of disbelief or contempt or really ANY looks at all and just fling himself into the fight as fast as he possibly can. He pulls Yosetu & Fuyou from his pouch, quickly replacing the Rashou and charges as fast as he can towards the 'time' creature. The creature turns its head towards the charging player and readies its sword as Lighteria barrels head first towards it.

"Vak Rom!!" He calls out when he's in the creature's face, going to strike him with his blades. He, of course, is immediately slowed down the second the flame attack lands, the creature easily escaping the brunt of the attack when it's slowed to a crawl. Of course, when it goes to counter attack it has to stop for a moment, noting that the twin blade appears to be encased in a tornado of flames since he just cast said spell. It moves around to the twin blade's back... nope also quite flaming. Though the twin blade is moving laughably slow, he still appears to be attempting to attack the creature, refreshing the vak rom the instant the first burns out. Lighteria doesn't appear to be sweating the possibility of not being immune to his own spell. After all, with the spell casting laughably slow his HP drain is something around a percentage point every few seconds, even the most casual 'normal-speed' repth spell can keep up with the loss, in the mean time, the twin blade makes a slow, constant charge towards the creature, singing it whenever it's too close.
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"

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Raquar » Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:54 am

His wish to stay dead didn’t last for long. Dien was the one whom revived him before leaping off into the fray. The newly alive Long Arm didn’t join him immediately. The instinct in the room was definitely heightened toward battle, and for once the boy couldn’t fault it. He just had to figure out how he wanted to battle. Rushing in head first was probably not the best idea, as they seemed to be bony embodiments of walls, they had taken quite a punishing and still stood more or less without a problem only looking a little worse for the wear. He wanted to single one out and test his luck against it. Maybe the odds were a little better if he could get one of them to fight him on its own. He had to wait, and survey for an opportunity before he struck. When he found such a skeleton, the Rue one, seemingly unoccupied by any player at the exact moment he sent a ball of darkness slamming into its skull. The attack itself was worth very little in the damage compartment, it was more designed to get the thing’s attention then to do any real damage. And hopefully since it was relatively small and didn’t do massive amounts of damage, it would attract only that one’s attention. That maneuver at least was successful, the skeleton turned and looked at him, seeming to weigh the decision of coming over to play with him or resume its trek to wherever it was. Another shadow ball took him in the face and that seemed to ice the deal. The thing paced toward him, icy sword flourishing. The boy stood his ground as the thing came closer and closer, gritting his teeth as the icy blade slide in between his ribs. The wound started to ice over immediately but he couldn’t let that stop him. Shifting his weight on his right foot, he put all his strength into the blow he delivered to the base of the beast’s neck. The bone crunched, but his spear didn’t slide through the neck as he had hoped separating the creature and its head, instead the force of the blow sent the thing flying, crashing into the wall and then flying back. He set the Archspear against the ground and hoped that he hadn’t lost all sense of timing since becoming trapped in this game.

When the thing came back into position he jumped upward, his spear flashing up into the creature’s sternum area. The instant he connected with the skeleton time stood still for that moment before the bag of bones flew upward crashing into the ceiling. He flew at an angle though, so as the thing continued to bounce the boy lost his opportunity to continue juggling the thing. He had no idea how much damage he had done, the things were like tanks, very strong which leant credence to the idea that they had insanely high defense. And then an idea struck him as he watched the creature slide around on the floor. He looked around for their Heavy Blade leader, the person who would probably have the greatest chance of being able to help him.

”Nighthand, do you have the Dek Vorv spell?”

"I might, no idea."

”Would you mind checking? And if so, would you mind casting it on that skeleton there?” He pointed at the newly stopped moving Rue skeleton. ”Since they seem to have relatively high defense, I’m wondering if that spell might help our cause out a little bit.”

He turned back to the skeleton as the man dug around a bit. The thing was getting back onto its feet and looked relatively pissed off. The gaping wound in the boy’s side was nigh forgotten, as the skeleton came at him again. He parried a thrust and ducked a slash before Nighthand called out again.

"Looks like it. Dek Vorv"

He watched the spell briefly incapacitate the skeleton before the debuff stuck and the boy smiled. He rushed the skeleton, dipping left around a downward slash as he swung low, undercutting the thing and sending it to the ground. Before it could recover he slammed his spear into much like a hockey stick, sending the heap of material sliding into the wall. He dropped a Gan Don on the thing as it tried to get back to its feet sending it back into the ground. He started to step forward when another blade snapped through his stomach bubbling out from his gut. Blood frothed in his mouth as something else pierced his shoulder. A giant wooden spike was stuck through his shoulder. Turning his head around it seemed that the Juk skeleton had separated itself from the wherever it was before and had come to assist its counterpart. By this time the Rue skeleton was back on its feet, looking a little worse for the wear, or at least he thought, his vision was a little blurry, but what he didn’t miss was that one’s sword penetrating through his forehead. He barely felt the other sword slashing down his back as he dropped down to the ground. He attempted to mumble out a La Repth was cut short as one of the two swords took him right between the shoulder blades. His life ended but he felt like he had made some progress.
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Raquar
Subject: Debuffs
Message: I asked Nighthand to hit the Rue skeleton with a Dek Vorv spell and it stuck. That should lower its defense for a bit. It might not hurt to see if we can slap the others with some other status effects, maybe that’ll help us out a bit.
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)

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Rayo » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:58 am

Auth extended a Rip Maen to Raquar, the most recent to become deceased. The elemental skeletons seemed to be providing more trouble than they should, killing off players like clockwork. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to just keep an eye open and revive anyone who died. The archer would just need to be careful about it so that he wasn’t marked as the most dangerous target in the room. Healers were often given a higher priority when it came to skinning victims alive and feeding those same victims to rabid grunty cobras.

As he plugged another arrow in the eye socket of the Juk skeleton, Rayo studied the strategies offered by his teammates. Dien’s strategy could be valid, but that would assume the skeletons would obey his rules of engagement. Assuming that they did as it was not outside the realm of possibility, the concept would slow down the battle more than the recurring deaths were. The group was in a hurry to rescue the kidnapped blademaster, weren’t they? Some degree of haste was necessary so that they did so before any Elites arrived.

The call for debuffs was far more appealing to the archer. If these enemies could be affected by such effects than it would speed up this battle of attrition and do the team some good. A quick scan of his inventory showed a few alternatives. The short version was every type of stat based debuffs were at the caster’s disposal, but only two of each item. Still, that wouldn’t pose too much of a hindrance for Rayo, item conservation was one of his specialties. Rayo pulled out three of the banes and marked his target.


“Bad aim, Hunter’s Bane! Pathetic swing, Warrior’s Bane! Armor too heavy, Knight’s Bane!”

Dek Corv, Dek Vorv, and Dek Torv… the combination of all three would make any target quite pitiful in regards to weapon arts. Sadly, that was the situation he had placed himself in. There were eight potential targets and with the items he had at his disposal Rayo could never effectively neutralize all of them. Even if he did exhaust his supplies trying, then those effects would not be available for the next time they were required.

<To Party

In accordance with Raquar’s wishes, I will begin debuffing the enemy targets. I’ll probably draw their attention due to this, but please do not bother to keep them off of me. A revival afterwards would be appreciated. This way I won’t have to deal with the agro generated and can get rid of these nasty effects.

From Rayo>

His first target was the Juk skeleton that he had already drawn the attention of. The three Dek spells went to work, lowering all of its physical capabilities. Next was the Rue skeleton that Nighthand had started the process of crippling already. Saving himself the SP, Rayo only bothered to Dek Corv and Dek Torv that particular foe. Moving along, Phoenix’s current combatant seemed like as good a choice as any. Thus, the Vak skeleton was blessed with the same benefits as its brethren.

It was tempting to leave the Time skeleton alone, but it seemed to pose the largest concern for the party. Time was tricky business, if the matter was only slowing down time that was one thing. If time reversal was possible, then it needed to be destroyed immediately. Dek Torv was all it took for the Time skeleton to rotate its head around, which was somewhat creepy as the body didn’t follow through with the same motions. The archer felt the experience that the others had been dealing with, as his feet barely were moving. Rolling out of the way of bone sticks from some of his other ‘friends’ was no longer an option, so death was assured. In fact, Auth had probably already been pierced by at least one of the skeletons by now, his body just hadn’t registered it yet. If this hadn’t been part of the scenario he had envisioned it might even have been enough to stop him from finishing the word Vorv. Unfortunately for Mr. I like to mess with people by slowing down time McPants, Dek Vorv was simultaneous with the KO of the caster. Admittedly, this was not the best plan, but it worked nonetheless.


Ooc: Blue Magic: Dek Corv, Dek Torv, Dek Vorv
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty

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

Part 7

Post by Dien » Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:27 am

It had come down to combat. Raw, unadulterated, hand-to-hand, balls-to-the-wall combat. There was no other way to take these little bastards down. Granted, Raquar’s and Rayo’s actions would make it undoubtedly easier to pound hell onto these things…somewhat. These things had been able to withstand a full-blown punch from Sheena. One or two more and they’d be done, but of the group, Sheena had the highest capacity to deal out damage. This meant that the defense stats of their opponents were incredibly high, so while a Dek Vorv would help, it wouldn’t help very much.

So, as he pulled out a resurrect and used it on Rayo, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was any real point in trying to continue. It would take at least half an hour for them to whittle through their opponents at this rate, and whittling it was. Unless they managed to find a way of speeding things up, they were likely to encounter their Elite opponent while still battling these fiends.

With a sigh, he cracked his neck and drew his Matoi. It was an earth elemental weapon, so all the skills on it would be useless against the Juk and Gan skeletons, but it also yielded the highest physical attack stat of any of his swords. At this point, it was the most powerful weapon he could wield, despite being five levels beneath his own. Now was the time to kill one of these bastards, no matter how long it took. Of course he’d target the weakest one – the one that Rayo had been focusing all of his energy on when he’d first entered into combat was the Juk skeleton, and from just a general overview of the mischievous things, it was in the worst shape for it. Way to go, Rayo, he thought, smirking at the accidental rhyme he’d created before digging out a scroll.

“Vak Kruz!” he called, watching as his native element surrounded and laid siege to the thing’s figure, barely doing any damage, but certainly catching its attention enough to bring it on the attack. Good, come and attack me, he thought, watching its reckless approach carry it across the room, separate yourself from your opponents so I can slaughter you.

“Ap Corv!” And all at once the spell had enveloped him, his last Warrior’s Blood dissolved. Rig Geam, Rig Seam, and Ap Do were also cast, in rapid succession before the thing was upon him. Their typical first attack was something akin to the blademaster’s Crack Beat: leaping in the air and bringing their weapon down in front of them, enforced by their full weight. Fortunately for Dien, they weren’t that heavy, and he caught the thing’s wrist, stepping forward and vaulting it over his shoulder to collide with the wall behind him, near the door they’d entered. This gave him the precious few moments he’d need to get back into his stronger equipment. While it was nice to have Aps on hand, he needed all the strength he could get at this point, if he was to last.

No sooner was he finished swapping armor than the undead opponent was upon him again. Only this time, instead of avoiding the strike, Dien raised Matoi to meet it, the clangor of their weapons resounding in the small domed room they were in. It didn’t seem to register to the Jukkite quite immediately that his attack had been stopped, and Dien smirked at the completely open torso.

“Too slow,” he said, pulling his new sword across the thing’s ribcage and bearing more cut marks into it to send it reeling away before it had even hit the ground. His assault didn’t end there, as he followed its skidding form, sliding his foot beneath its skull as it writhed in an attempt to recover and nailing it in the temple with the pommel of his sword, sending it once again to the wall. Not done yet, he thought as the thing landed on the floor as though from a jump before spring-boarding into another attack. Timing it as perfectly as he could, he spun about, going through the motions of a revolver skill without actually activating the skill. Blade met bone, sliding between the ribs and colliding with the spine as he put as much force into finishing the attack as he could, following through and watching the thing fly off to the side, slamming into the wall yet again.

Its rebound was just as quick, though, and watching it get up again was rather disheartening. Well, it was either that or it was infuriating. One needed to have one of those reactions, and in order that this opponent might be more quickly destroyed, he chose rage. With a cry, he charged at the thing again, bringing his blade down towards its shoulder. Naturally, it raised its blade to defend, but against the weight and force he was using, the bony arm was no match. Matoi once again landed another notch in the skeleton, this time embedding itself in collarbone and sending the opponent to his knees. Granted, this didn’t stop it from counter-attacking. A short jab to Dien’s knee brought him to mirror his opponent’s pose, and he wrenched his sword from the skeleton’s form, clutching his knee with one hand as he swung at its head, sending it reeling across the room.

Already his ligaments were starting to mend, but he was still becoming tired of this fighting. No matter how many times he hit this thing and sunk his sword into its bones, it seemed to never be any worse for wear. Granted, a few new cracks had appeared since his onslaught had begun, but compared to the blow Sheena had landed, they were nothing. Hell, he thought, rising again to his feet, his breathing slightly labored, this can’t go on much longer. What else he noticed, though, as the skeleton rose to its feet, was how close it had some to sliding into one of its friends. Such a thing could not be allowed to happen – this needed to remain one on one until the Juk skeleton was finished, and any interaction at all with any of the others would bring their blades swinging his way. He rose, feeling the Ap Do starting to wear off. There had to be a faster way of going about this. A weapon with the Death attribute would be good, but unfortunately, none of those existed for his class at this level. Even Critical Hit wouldn’t show up for another twelve levels from what he saw on the equipment list in the Pawn Shop.

Of course, that list didn’t count rare items in the mix. Though they were usually accompanied by crippling stat drops, they typically had offensive power superior to that of most normal weapons. Well, that couldn’t exactly be said of the two he currently possessed. Jinsaran had a high fire stat, but that was about it, and his Zanzamas only had the benefit of Ap Do. Normal swords were better suited for this kind of combat.

But all this thinking and reflection had distracted him, and he was only awoken by a sharp pain in his stomach as the greenly-glowing bastardization of an opponent ran him through. The blade was withdrawn, and instinctively he ripped Matoi upwards, the pommel hooking under the thing’s jaw and sending it flailing through the air. Meanwhile, Dien’s hand shot into the bag at his side, blood flowing freely from his new wound. Rig Seam wouldn’t heal it fast enough, and as more blood was lost, so too was more of his endurance. The Health Drink was downed quickly, closing the wound before the thing had landed. Wait, what?

He’d been distracted again, as he barely heard the clatter of bony feet upon the smooth floor from behind him as he turned. Just in time, he caught the miniature wrist again, and like he’d done so many times before, hurled the thing over his shoulder. Only this time, instead of releasing it into the wall, he simply slammed it into the ground, the bones rattling upon impact, the cracks growing ever so slightly more than they had before. He wasn’t done yet, though. Gripping the wrist with both hands now, he swung again, the bulk of the skeleton’s form arcing over his head as he brought it into the ground one more time. One more, he thought, picking it up and spinning it around him before releasing it once again into the wall. More cracks were visible—he could do this!

A speed charm was burned, giving him Ap Do again, and he charged at the thing before it could rise. Swords were changed out, and Matoi gave way to the 7-Star Sword. It wasn’t as powerful, but it gave him a skill – a skill which he could use to deal yet more devastating damage to this opponent than he had been (besides which, Rig Seam had gone largely unused). Besides, Vak Crack lined up much better with his own elemental affiliations anyway.

“Vak Crack!” he shouted, leaping high into the air and bringing the sword down at the Juk skeleton, who was largely powerless to defend. Before it could return the attack, though, he repeated himself. “Vak Crack!” In fact, a total of four level-two Crack Beat skills were laid upon the skeleton, and with each one, it looked closer and closer to being defeated. I’ve got him! he thought, jumping back and waiting for the thing to recoil. The entire top of its skull had given way to the force of his blade and collapsed into the void. It staggered back to its feet, the bones straining to hold it up as it tried against itself to charge at him. The resulting attack was pitiful, the sword barely carrying any weight behind it as Dien easily knocked it aside, sending a few fingers flying with it.

With a kick, the thing was rent on its back, trying to get up despite the fractures in its bones, and Dien landed on top of it. One sword slice was issued to each elbow, cutting the bones off and leaving it flailing. With his hand, he held what was left of the skull pinned to the ground, and drove his blade under the thing’s sternum.

“Die,” he said calmly, using the temporary torque machine he’d created to tear the bone straight off of the skeleton’s body, breaking the rune. He’d expected this to have some effect, but it was still trying to struggle against him. It’d take at least one more Vak Crack to finish this, and just as Rig Geam brought his SP to adequate levels, the skill was called, driving his sword right between the thing’s eyes and rending what sorry state of the skull that remained in halves. That much seemed to do it, and the bones stopped twitching, leaving the skeleton on the ground with no more feigned life. Rising in a cruel and sinister laughter, he took what was left of the thing and hurled it back into the center of the room for all to see.

“Now,” he shouted, having gained the attention of the remaining seven skeletons, “who’s next?!” Bad question to ask, as all at once they seemed to fix their murderous intent on his own exhausted form. Death came faster this time around, as he was barely able to fend off the horde as they’d attacked. Still, there was a great deal of satisfaction in it, and the stale, lukewarm air of the ghosted realm graced his skin once again, he sat, content to have lead the charge in killing one of these bastards.
__________
(OOC:

So here’s the deal. The only reason I was able to kill the Juk skeleton was because Sheena hit it, it was Dek Vorv’d, Rayo had been nailing it with his arrows pretty well exclusively, and I focused exclusively on my combat with it for three pages. That, and I asked Nighthand. Meaning if you want to take out one of the skeletons, make sure to clear it with Nighthand first.)
Image
Image|||Level 35 Blademaster (+200 EXP)
Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Lord Canti » Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:46 pm

(Thunder Dance hadn't worked. Canti had found himself putting away the Wolverine claws faster than you can say "Bub", on account of how badass the skeleton's retaliation was. He went back to using Magatsu as the Ani-Skull reared on him, swinging its blade of darkness at him. It was hard to see it in this black smog, but he'd managed to figure that much out on instinct alone. Canti did alot of back-peddling to get a feel for its territory, going around it in a counter-clockwise motion to keep from attracting other bad guys. Every now and then, he'd move in and attack, testing the nature of his enhanced perceptions to make sure he got it right. He did. However, the Twin Blade had not been paying too much attention to his surroundings, as Sheena suddenly came by, kicking the black skeleton. Its shadow-fog faded as this occurred, and Canti now watched as two others ran after her.)

Canti: What the hell's going on?

(Then it hit him. She was inflicting heavier damage on the skeletons and drawing their fire for the sake of the group, something Canti did a number of times in the past so that others could inflict heavier damage. Right now, they were all focused on her, giving everyone else a chance to lick their wounds. Good timing, really. The Twin Blade used Repth on himself a couple times, since the frequency of the Ani-Skull's retaliation had taken some chunks out of his HP. He had plenty of healing items, but since the Darkness Flame was of no use at the moment, he had plenty of SP to spare. He watched as Sheena was taken down, and then resurrected soon after. It was a good strategy. Now that they had 'killed' her, the skeletons weren't focused on any combatants. It was a clean slate, so to speak. So, with that in mind, the winged Twin Blade decided to separate one from the pack. Several others returned to attacking the Rue, Vak, Juk, and other skeletons. Canti wanted to get back at the Ani-Skull. Therefore...)

Canti: Gan Zot!

(Rocks shot from the floor and the skeleton was thrown into the air. The Twin Blade took off and made to thrust the monster into the far wall with all the force he could muster. He needed it, too, because if memory served...these guys were built fairly solid. Yeah...remember how he caught his shoulder before? Flying into the Statue of Liberty could be scarcely less painful. But Canti handled this properly. He didn't shoulder-slam or anything. The currently-neutral Ani-Skull was grabbed by its ribcage as the Twin Blade used the velocity to throw them into the wall. It was a good thing he didn't actually try to lift it. It was HEAVY! Honestly, Canti figured he could lift other players, but he was still a Twin Blade, dammit! Not exactly high on the strength category. Nevertheless, the skeleton went wild as soon as he got near, and they both fell from hitting the wall, the Twin Blade himself suffering more from the sword-damage than the impact. Blades drawn, the battle was joined again. Darkness enveloped them both, and the sounds of combat would be heard. Only this time, the Twin Blade had figured out the pattern of the skeleton's attacks. It HAD no real pattern. It was a berserker. It would simply fight and fight without a second thought to the consequences. This allowed the dodgey one to do what his character was built for. Hovering, he ducked and rolled and swooped over attacks, coming in like a bandit to slash at in passing with Magatsu. On THOSE occasions, he took damage, but it was negligible. Dien's message about leaving some of them alone was alright for him, but the trouble here was that no matter what, this was going to take a while.)

Canti: We could focus our attacks on one or two like he said, but it won't do us any good because they're still strong fighters. It's not that they're better, or impossible to manage. They just soak it up and lash out like mad. It doesn't matter HOW we do it, as long as we keep our heads. Only...

(Only it was going to be a problem for him to deal with the other skeletons. Rue and Rai were his weaknesses. He stood a chance of getting critical'd to death by one of them. It might be a while before this skeleton here was down for the count, and those tow would fucking kill 'im! Plus, there were the special skeletons. Light and Time. Now, Sheena had wounded them both, but who knows how long they could last? Time was the most problematic. Time... They had so little of it. Nall had so little... Canti nodded to himself, and then kicked off of the black Stalfos' head to fly himself over to where he left it, to where he left the Gun. Heh, you didn't think he was carrying it this whole time, did you? Not while fighting. This thing weighs, man! But now, Canti hefted this BFG and began to work the controls. Raquar had instructed him, so it wasn't that hard.)

Canti: Let's see... Four switches was at full power, and I don't wanna die yet, so two switches...

(Pulling the gun's main lever back, he flicked two of the switches, aware of the device giving off a low hum as it began to operate. The thrumming became faster and faster as it seemed to make him vibrate along with it. This machine...was something else. Because he only flipped the two switches, it didn't grow any more intense, but it was still a wild feeling. Not to say that it was good for him. It just felt real, more real than The World and how he was stuck in it. It was draining him of his actual strength, meaning that there was an effect on his person, not just his character. There was no doubt in Canti's mind that he could use this for another purpose, if only he could figure it out. But for now, it was a weapon. The Twin Blade took careful aim at the immobile Time Skeleton. With nobody bothering it, the creature was a sitting duck. Canti took the 10 and let go of the machine lever. That was when a wad of energy formed at the end of the machine, glowing in mythic proportions...and yet making it appear as though the room were shrinking around it. An error in perception? He couldn't say for sure, and he almost didn't notice the three strangely solid-looking lances of energy blasting out from the mass. It struck the Time Skeleton dead in the chest and thrust it back into a wall. Canti was so impressed by this that he failed to realize that a backlash was doing the same to him. Okay, so you know those cartoons where one of the characters is flung into a wall so hard that he's kind of embedded in it? Same deal. The impact knocked the skeleton like a ragdoll into that wall, and Canti more or less hit a section close to the entrance. The World went kinda' blurry on him for a while, as a distinct pain enveloped his body. When he came to his senses, he fell forward onto the ground in a kneeling position, and put down the Vegas Vindicator. The Time Skeleton was still in the wall. Canti checked his status as quickly as the pain would allow.)

Canti: Okay, I'm...at half. Everything's been cut in half, and I've got a load of Deks on me. Is this...how it was for Raq...? I think the only reason I'm too tired to even SPEAK is 'cause I still survived. Drained, though...

(Think of running a county mile with lead shoes, a trenchcoat full of ball-bearings, and helmet from a medieval suit of armor. That's the kind of exhaustion Canti was feeling. He'd recover soon enough, and be able to move around, but for now...he was half the Twin Blade he was a moment ago, and it would take a while for it to wear off. He sent out a Flash Mail, since calling to the others seemed to be out of the question.)
TO: The Party
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: Time is short.

Time is our worst enemy right now, and that skeleton is a big honking delay-factor. I don't know if the blast did enough, or any good at all, but someone please find out, kill it if possible. The others aren't as important as this. I would, but I can't move yet...
OOC: The Gun, when used on the skeletons, appears to effect them in some manner, but since there's no HP display or anything, we can't actually know how or IF it was hurt. This, at least, is what Nighthand said. I imagine something was done to it. It may even be the same as Canti right now. Half as powerful with a full set of Deks. We don't know. Find out?
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
Senna
Awakened Player
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:28 pm

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Senna » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:58 pm

Well, Senna had tried, but in the end Sheena had succeeded. There was a lesson in there, she felt sure of it, but she couldn’t quite figure it out. Silk had given her breathing room though, in the middle of the chaos, and she took it.

Warily, she backed up until she reached one of the walls of the room and took a breather. Their usual method of flinging themselves at the enemy – admittedly a beloved tactic of the Long Arm – seemed to be slowly getting them where they wanted to be. And in the heart of everything, a most outstanding display of firepower… Canti sent the time Skeleton against the far wall with a shot from that gun-thing.

There. She snapped off another Speed Charm to give herself the boost to movement and darted through the melee toward the one Canti (And Rayo but she hadn’t noticed that really yet – the Flashmails were piling up and her attention was completely busted) had made slightly more vulnerable. That gun thing might have done something… right?

Last time someone had attacked one of these things it had called the rest of its brothers to take on her slowed form, and Senna wasn’t sure the same wouldn’t happen if she were to try. One thing she did know – if Dien was correct, there might be a hidden ace in this battle.

The Time skeleton was pulling itself away from the wall, apparently not as shaken as she would have hoped from what Canti had done to it. She brought her spear up and around, then used her momentum and the game’s ridiculous physics to make a leap into the air and come down directly on the thing.

If all had gone as aimed, she would have landed crushingly atop it, but as this was Senna, things could never go so gracefully. Her right foot handed as intended on the thing’s shoulder and the point of her spear connected with the top of its skull, but her left foot found only brief purchase before skidding off, her heel clattering down its rib cage. As she pear broke through the skull and proceeded to drive down into the body, Senna found herself clinging to it for dear life, even as the clingable part got smaller and smaller.

And then, as expected, the world around her sped up. That would be the time spell kicking in. So THAT wasn’t gone at least.

Hoping to get one last pre-emptive strike in before either A. the thing decided to kill her or B. she completely fell off its shoulders, where she was awkwardly half-crouching, half-sitting now, she invoked Double Sweep.With her weapon well inside her enemy, she hoped the somewhat-less-powerful attacks would be able to amplify its effects a little bit. Otherwise, she would be stuck trying to backpedal at half-speed.

Not a heartwarming prospect.
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
Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Nighthand » Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:30 am

Nighthand was initially put off by the seeming invulnerability of the skeletons. He was wary about attacking them, especially after seeing Sheena bite the dust so easily. Still, he would have to contribute somehow. Elemental spells seemed to be out, as the skeletons were either absorbing or reflecting them. Unless, of course, they were single-target spells.

He set his eye on the Rue Skeleton. Obviously Rue and Vak wouldn't work on it, but... other elements would. He scanned over his armor and flipped on a helm and gauntlet.

"Dek Raio. Ap Raio." He said, activating the two spells. The dek, of course, landed on the skeleton, while the ap landed on himself. He wasn't very surprised to note that the dek took effect; after all, the one he had cast previously had worked. The skeletons had ridiculous HP and defense, but they had their weaknesses as well.

Sadly, the best single-target spell he had for the Rai element was a level 1 scroll. That just would not do. On the other hand...

He flipped through his inventory once more, restoring his previous armor and drawing out his Plasma Blade. The jagged blade was black as night with a shock of lightning embossed on it, and it's zigzag made it look like the element it carried foremost.

Slowly but steadily he stalked up to the Rue skeleton, wary but not afraid of the blade it wielded. He sped up as he got closer, and activated the skill.

The Plasma Blade crackled with electricity, arcing across the sharp edges. He swung.

"Raio Maxima!"

The skill caught the weakened skeleton full on, and tore halfway through it before the momentum carried it away. The force of the blow sent it skidding across the room, where it promptly stood and rushed back after him.

"Didn't you get the hint the first time?" He said, and activated the skill again. "I said, Raio Maxima!"

The second blow drove the monster into the ground. It seemed shaken, the first real reaction he had seen from one of the skeletons, and he took it to mean it was almost dead. He reversed his blade and drove it downwards, pinning the creature to the floor. It spasmed, and then stopped moving, it's sword fading away.

----------------ooc:
Alright, well.

The Skeletons can be killed freely now, though keep in mind that they're not likely to fall over easily. Keep in mind that the Light and Time skeletons will still be difficult to deal with physically.

On a more ooc note, posting schedule will be a bit up in the air for the next couple of weeks. Given that it's finals time, I'm not about to say you should be penalized for not taking time away from studying. Hopefully we'll get back to a good solid schedule after that.

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

Part 8

Post by Dien » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:01 am

So, it was down to this. The amount of damage these things could receive before dying was known, and it was pretty freaking high. Under normal circumstances, the blademaster would’ve taken the time to PM everyone and strategize about the most effective way to deal with the baddies, but these weren’t normal circumstances. Any minute now, an Elite or two would come waltzing down the road they’d so graciously prepared, ready to rain hell down upon the pitiful band of weary fighters.

Besides the Elite-or-two, there was still the matter of a thing-that-was-a lab technician to deal with, a Vegasly Vindicated lab technician, a doppelganger monster, and on top of that, whatever other roadblocks stood between Sheena and Nall. Then there was the question of Nall’s condition upon rescue. If all went well, then he’d be just fine, ready, and possibly even eager to fight against the ones who threw him into his cell. More than likely this wasn’t the case, and they’d have to drag him out on someone’s shoulders, meaning that someone was bound to be stuck holding/defending him for their storm out of the dungeon. With how fatigued the group appeared to be, such a loss could spell out their ultimate defeat.

But that wasn’t going to be here. Dien owed the blademaster for saving the lot of them from Suraisu, and as his fingers toyed with the clasp to the bag at his side, his eyes closed, replaying the last fight of that escapade. Yeah, if Raine and Nall hadn’t busted in and saved them when they did, he’d have been screwed over to “life” on Yamiyo. He’d never once really thanked him for jumping in like that. Assuming Sheena or Nighthand didn’t grab the man once they freed him, the blademaster determined that he’d be the one to carry and protect Nall on their departure. Though it was for selfish reasons, there was also some logic behind it—after all, of everyone in the group, he was the least familiar with his so-called powers, and also had one of the lowest levels. Facing off against a prison warden or Elite would probably sooner get him killed than damage them, so he’d be better off on guard/white mage duty.

Later, as his body was then returned to him.

His hand had found the bag of infinite holding at his side, and now clutched the single most powerful scroll he owned, Summon: Fire. He could feel its power resonating against his own, the sheer force of it seemingly eager to tear into whatever opponent he felt needed to be dealt with first. That left the choice, then: which of these opponents was most deserving of this particular scroll’s power? Of the six foes still remaining, one was severely damaged, the other five were at no more than two thirds’ health, by his estimate, with some pretty far beneath that. So, the obvious choice for who would receive the summon scroll would be the one on whom it would be able to enact its full rage upon.

Of the options presented, two elements appeared as most dangerous/tedious: light and time. Time was writhing on the floor, having received the wrath of the Vegas Vindicator, and light, well, light had hardly been touched at all. At the fight’s outset, it had been determined that those who touched the skeleton were, as a direct result, blinded for a time. Since losing eyesight was such a crippling factor for the manner in which his comrades fought, it made sense that no one had made any serious attempts at it besides Sheena. That would be his target.

“Everyone!” he called out, tearing the scroll from his pocket “Let’s finish this! If you can’t fight with skills, stand back and spam Kruz and Don spells—summons, too, if you have them. Vulcan!” And with the final word, the rune on his scroll began to glow in a very bright orange, flooding the room and staining the eyesight of anyone who was looking that way. Hotter and brighter it glowed, until all at once, it stopped with a single, deafening crack. His target had definitely been hit, and as his ears rang, his eyes found the light skeleton. Smoke rose from its body, which had streaked in scorched lines across the floor to collide with the wall, and now slowly rose in its sad state. The majority of its phalanges had been blown off, while two of its lower ribs had been snapped in half – the ends now missing. Other areas of the bone seemed to have been melted by the sheer heat of the attack, and as it tried to rise, it appeared as though some of its joints had fused, making it lean slightly to the left as its head twitched back into place.

“Rig Geam, Rig Seam,” he said in rapid succession, waiting a moment to be sure the spells had taken effect and, after having switched into the appropriate armors, “Ap Vakz, Dek Vakz.” No time was wasted on Ap Do, and he ran with all his might across the room to the rising opponent, opening up his assault with Fire & Sky with a skill.

“Vak Crack!” The attack sank through the thing’s collarbone, following through three more ribs before becoming lodged. As he’d anticipated, the World was whitewashed, forcing his eyes shut. But there were other ways to fight. He could feel a sword piercing his stomach, and cried out, forcing himself to reach forward and take hold of the thing’s seething hot skull as it slowly withdrew in preparation for another strike.

“Vak Crack! Vak Crack!” He said, compounding skill upon skill and forcing the fiery blade down and through this miniature opponent. It was still in his target range, though stabbing was no longer an issue. Waiting a moment for some more SP to regenerate, he delivered one more repetition of his skill into what was left, and as the target disappeared, his eyes were granted their freedom. Three down, he said, sitting down against the wall and wincing as the wounds in his stomach were stretched by the motion. With as little effort as he could, Dien reached into his bag and pulled out a Health Drink, popped out the cork, and swallowed its bitter contents down his throat. His pain was alleviated, and while his shirt still stuck to his body with the blood that soaked its front, at least the underlying wound was gone.

He sighed, his breathing still struggling to return to a more relaxed state as he sat against the wall—at least until he noticed Senna’s ghost-target lingering around his next opponent. Digging for a Resurrect, he quickly found and used it, calling the girl back to himself before she could agro the time skeleton against her further. Still, she seemed to linger for some reason, and the blademaster sighed, changing his attention to the other woman in the room.

Sheena stood a good twenty feet away, staring at the fight almost like a guard dog patiently watched the robber encroaching on his property. Her thoughts likely mirrored his in that Time was probably the next skeleton to be taken down, but that was a sensitive subject. These skeletons were like miniatures of the original Elite Eight, and killing the time one, though he doubted it, could somehow be linked with killing Nall. He shuddered to think it—at least until Occam’s razor sliced through his mind, truncating his thoughts to the simplest solutions. Time would be the next skeleton to die, and he’d make sure of it. Spells were the best way to accomplish the task, and while he didn’t have any spells higher in level than one, twelve or thirteen copies of Vak Kruz with his fire stat, plus Ap Vakz, plus Dek Vakz on the skeleton would surely be enough to hammer the last nail in the coffin. Well, metaphorically speaking. There would be no coffin left after that many fire spells. Still, he needed SP, and so he needed to wait. Still only 30, he thought, turning to Sheena, well, that’ll work.

“Rig Seam,” he said, walking over to Sheena as the spell kicked into gear. Her usually cheerful complexion was now wrinkled with contemplation, staring at the various opponents remaining and probably trying to pick out the next target—as though the spell had gone almost unnoticed. “I’d say Time’s next to go,” he said, coming to a halt next to her as he waited for his SP to grow back, “at least, it should be the easiest one to kill at this point.”

Nothing is ever as easy as it seems involving that element,” though she eyed the skeleton in question.

“Well it seems pretty straightforward, if you ask me,” he said, “all of the skeletons appear to have one reactionary skill that happens when you touch them, and all of them have another attack that they can trigger at anyone who’s agro’d them....” his voice trailed off. Still only at 15 SP. Nowhere near enough for what he was planning - he needed to wait some more. “Sheena, I’ve got a question for you: how bad a shape do you think Nall’s in?”

...Bad. He’s not dead, they wouldn’t have killed him, but we absolutely cannot let the Elites get their hands on him! They did something to him, though. They can’t remove the Tear from him, but they somehow made him incapable of fighting back.

“Forgive me,” he responded, “but what Tear are you talking about? I have yet to memorize my World history...”

Twilight’s Tear? It’s Nall’s Twilight Item; the one that allows him to manipulate time.

“Oh,” he replied, “that one. I guess it makes sense that he’s got a Twilight Item, though. You don’t think they tried to use the Vegas Vindi- I mean, the big ray gun on him, do you?”

There’s no way to tell. I hope not, for his sake; we’ve had to put him back together too many times already. I don’t know how many more times his mind can take.” He opened his mouth to speak, though at first nothing came out, the statement still being debated in his mind to think if it was even worth mentioning. It’d probably be more up Raine’s alley, anyway, he thought, changing the subject to something that wouldn’t make him sound quite so foolish. Well, at least so he thought.

“You two really love him, don’t you?” he asked, following up with clarification, in an attempt to make the question that much less awkward, “you and Raine, I mean.”

…we have to.” Her voice seemed to waver a bit, and for a split second, the woman in front of him seemed to open up a bit. But it was uncomfortable for her, even more than this whole situation, and he could tell, so the shovel was brought out again, only this time to help him get out of the hole he’d dug.

“Well that’s good to know,” he said, “though I think Lighteria over there’ll be bummed.” A wave was cast at the player, and Dien turned with a smile. “Cheer up, Sheena. We’re all with you on this—you’re not the only ones who like the guy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a skeleton to kill.” Now then, with that bit of awkward out of the way, the blademaster stepped off towards his chosen opponent: at least, until he spotted Rayo in the midst of the fray. It would have been hard to miss the archer directly across from him, with his bright teal sorta-cloak and the bow in his hand. An idea struck him then, and he composed a flashmail.
From: Dien
To: Rayo
Re: Tactic
Message: Okay, so I’ve got an idea. I’d been planning on spamming the time skeleton with about a dozen level one spells with hopes that that much would be able to kill it, but remembering your former occupation as a Wavemaster, I can’t help but think you’ve got some pretty powerful spells still in your arsenal.

Here’s the plan. I’ll hit it with a spell, and before mine ends, you’ll hit it with a spell, and then before yours ends, I’ll hit it with a spell, and we’ll continue that way until it’s dead. If we position ourselves roughly opposite sides of the room from each other and it, we should be able to kill it pretty quickly.

I’ve tried something similar before while I was being run through a tower dungeon prior to Nall’s rescue, and it works because the spells keep the opponents stationary, and overlap enough to prevent it from moving or reacting.

Once we get time out of the way, it should be smooth sailing for the rest. Just nod when you’re ready.
And after he’d nodded, the blademaster opened up his end of this particular brand of hell.

“Vak Kruz!”
__________
OOC: I highly recommend that anyone who posts try to take out at least one skeleton with their post, if not more. They're all pretty well damaged, and if you hit them with enough, they should fall.

Skeleton Count:
Vak – Damaged
Rue – Dead
Juk – Dead
Gan – Damaged
Rai – Damaged
Ani – Damaged
Light – Dead
Time – Severely Damaged
Image
Image|||Level 35 Blademaster (+200 EXP)
Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

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

Re: Time’s Up: The Race to Save Nall Continues!

Post by Senna » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:59 pm

The outcome of the encounter with the time skeleton was as unwelcome as it was predictable. Bereft of not only the enhanced speed but even her normal pace, there just wasn’t much of a fight between her and the skeleton with murderous intent. Things were further hampered because her grip on her weapon had slid to the very end. When the game mechanics were in charge of the battle it wasn’t such a big deal, but now that she was in charge of her own fighting, it turned out to be a rather large hindrance.

Even if she’d wanted to use her ability, she just didn’t have the time. She tried to block, but the skeleton was efficient, to the point it felt less like a fight and more like an inevitability. In short order, the spear was knocked aside and her awareness was in the emptiness, the same room she’d been in, only empty.

Except… except was something moving?

She caught it out of the corner of her eye and turned toward where she thought she saw it. The doorway? There! Was that-

But already the room was lightening again. “Wait,” she whispered, but it was too late – back to the mayhem of the melee battle. For a moment, she just stared at the doorway. What? What had that been?

But as usual, the sounds of battle reminded her that there were some things she might want to beware of – first and foremost the time skeleton. But since she’d been killed, it seemed to have lost interest in her – what a bonus. Well, perhaps tangling again with that one wasn’t a good idea. Aiding in another place might be more…judicious. She could hear people shouting some instructions, and felt it was a good idea to heed them – or at least help end the fight and hear the words under calmer circumstances.

Reapplying her speed-up, the Long-Arm made a few armor switches and downed a mage soul, then charted a beeline for the Rai skeleton. It occurred to her she didn’t know who had resurrected her – and so promptly too. Well, time to ask later. For now…

Dek Ruem. GiRue Kruz.

She didn’t pay attention to whether or not the water-down ability took hold. As the GiRue Kruz was settling over her opponent, she carried on charging, reaching the thing just after the spell came together with a crash and a splattering of ice shards.

The skeleton was ready for her, sword off to the side she was running at. Ignoring it for the moment, she wound up and swung for hits face. The move left her torso open for a swipe of the sword, digging deep and taking a good old chunk out of her HP. But her attack connected too, smashing into its head.

The skeleton staggered backward while, for once, Senna managed not to lose her balance at either attack or counterattack. She brought the spear around and focused on her opponent again and used the abilities of her speed and reach to strike out at the thing once, twice, thrice, sending bone chips flying. It swung backward at her, putting another slice into her. She stifled a hiss. “Rue Rom!

The spell centered on the skeleton, which turned toward her again and began walking forward, but the spell slowed it and she was still riding high on the Ap Do. Switching for her most accurate weapon, the Ichigou, Senna circled and looked for an opening. As the wind of the tornado spell finally died down, she saw it coming toward her, weapon at ready. Senna set herself and waited. Timing was important. She had to… she had to…

There! She ducked at the last second, bringing her spear in a high circle and aiming for that narrow chink between chin and collarbone. The attack sheared off the collarbone slightly and sliced into the neck bone, the narrow connector between the head and the rest of the body. The blade of the weapon sliced neatly through the bone and whatever tendons were left and send the skull bouncing away.

Ha, bullseye,” she shouted, pumping a fist. “And that’s – oh crap.

The skeleton, bereft of its head and she assumed most of its hitpoints, still had a bit of life left in it (ha ha ha.) She saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and wheeled around, getting her spear in the way of the sword. The blade skidded off the haft and nearly sheared into her left hand. This one she saw coming and – almost against her will – let the blade cut through without touching her flesh. But unfortunately, the concentration on that led to her completely missing the hook-kick it aimed at her legs until she felt one of her feet moving as it tripped her up. “Gah, GiRue Kruz!” she uttered as she fell, the act born of a desperation to buy some time for the inevitable follow up.

It seemed somewhat prepared, though the attack struck home in another crash of ice. Ducking forward, it avoided much of the damage and raised its weapon to-

To die, apparently. It suddenly crumpled forward, apparently hit by something else – another member’s attack, the oversplash from an area attack spell, something. She wasn’t about to look a gift kill in the mouth. A Repth almost healed up the damage caused – wow, had it done that much? Apparently she could do with some stronger armor when taking sword swings to the gut. Well, whatever. Scrambling up again, she went back into the fray.

OOC: If someone wants to take credit for the kill, go ahead. Else, spell splash. Yay!

Skeleton Count:
Vak – Damaged
Rue – Dead
Juk – Dead
Gan – Damaged
Rai – Dead
Ani – Damaged
Light – Dead
Time – Severely Damaged
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)

Locked