E|\|7er Th3 W0rl|) &hr0*gH t|-|3 Yamiyo 5e|2\/%R.

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Raquar » Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:14 am

The group had come back from their various errands and whatnot and was currently clustered in the hideout. Not feeling overly, well anything, really the boy leaned against an outside wall. There was nothing really to do inside, he wasn’t involved in many of the various schemes and adventures around this area so for the moment was perfectly fine keeping his nose out of the major stuff. They would move onto the next main segment eventually and in the meantime, the boy had done his exploring and was content. True enough, it wasn’t a whole lot later that the group emerged, with the intent to attend their little . . . meeting.

He joined the little congregation without a word; everyone seemed absorbed in their own troubles or those of a nearby companion. They wound their way along back to the Vak Sector until he once again stood before the Vak Castle. It was as magnificent and awing as before with the holographic sheet of flame roaring upward around a fist thrust through molten crags. It was an amazing site, yet the boy shirked toward the center of their group attempting to avoid notice by anyone who might have been present at his previous visit.

They were met at the door by a servant of some sort and proceeded to follow him through the entrance lobby familiar to the boy and towards one of the back staircases. The stairs leaked upward forever. They passed dozens of separate landing with a smattering of both open and closed doors yet not a soul to be found in either. He was breathing relatively hard by the time they reached the holding chamber where the butler ushered them inside. They were met here by one of those abrasive jackass protector types who opened his mouth only briefly before leading them into the Master’s office.

Others struck up conversation and Raquar listened only barely, instead looking around at the surrounding area and scrutinizing the person they had come here to meet. His entire body was long and knobby; he was one of those people that looked dangerous and powerful without fitting the physical stereotype. His eyes were the type that seemed to be constantly analyzing and processing information, his brain seemed to be constantly active. It was at this point that the guard was dismissed and things started to move. The Fire Master expressed his awareness of their little plan and it was here that Raquar interjected his voice.

"So what do you want us to do? Knowing about such you still agreed with the meeting, which to me means if you're willing to offer us some sort of assistance or information we'd need to do something for you first."

The Master smiled. "You could be correct there. We're working as quickly as we can behind the scenes, and you lot seem reasonably powerful." He paused to give the group a glance over. "However, I'd have to test your intentions."

"What would you have of us?"

He paused for a long while, fingers knitted together in front of his face as he thought. "Our long-term goal is to recruit a certain personage to our cause. That won't be possible for you just yet. What I need you to do..." Another pause. "Word is, an event is going to take place somewhere in the Raio Sector. It will be quite the uproar, so it shouldn't be hard for you to find. I'll need you to take part; partly to prove your loyalty, and partly to shrug some suspicion off of certain of our rogue elements."

The Long Arm flashed a quick grin, "I'm all for perpetrating trouble and causing problems. I think you've found the right crew for that. Now it may be slightly impertinent for me to ask, but if we assist you in the necessary ways, what's your end of the bargain?"

"As I said. You throw suspicion off of some of our members. Once that has happened, we can move more openly on to the next stage of our plan. If you succeed, then you can participate and help us. If you fail... well, more than likely you'll be dead."

"Such is the way of this world. Alright well, assuming its okay with the head honchos," gesturing loosely to Demorian and Nighthand, "I'm in at least."

He turned towards Demorian. "Sounds pretty straightforward to me, and seems like our best bet at the time. You agree?"
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
Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Nighthand » Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:01 pm

Demorian watched the exchange between Raquar and the Fire Master for its duration while he thought, and worried. Something was off here. So when Raquar got the details of the plan out of the Master and turned to ask Demorian if it was agreeable, Demorian’s eyes narrowed.

“One question.” Demorian said, keeping himself ready for action should the need arise, though he doubted it would.

“Hmm?” The Vak Master asked, interested.

“How did you know about the coup?” Demorian asked. “We only thought of it a short time ago, and none of our members are your informants.”

The Vak master laughed. “Really? Well I wouldn’t be too sure of that, for one thing. I have eyes and ears everywhere. Now that is neither confirmation nor denial of ones presence in your group, but, you never can be sure these days.” He smiled. “Really though… you? Think of the coup? My friend, this has been in the works for quite some time. You just happen to have come to a conclusion that was long in coming.”

Demorian looked around the room, surveying the rag-tag group of ‘heroes’ who had joined up in Nall’s cause over the years. Just then, really, it seemed like their victory was unlikely without some sort of help against the Elites. Perhaps…

“I see.” Demorian said. “Our coup wasn’t on your agenda at all, was it?”

“Of course not. What, did you hope to have me step up to the plate and try to take over Klive’s position of power?” He laughed. “Not going to happen.”

Demorian nodded. “Very well. We’ll participate in your coup… the Raio sector, you said? What else can you tell us about it? I’d like to be prepared.”

The Fire Master nodded. “A good plan. Sending you in blind would minimize the chances of your success, and we can’t have that. But I can’t tell you everything, of course; if you get captured instead of killed, if the coup goes wrong, then you would betray everything. I can’t take that risk. So. Here’s what I can tell you.”

The Master of Fire paused again, thinking about how to phrase his information.

“Klive knows that now is not the time for our coup to take place. Our array of power can’t hope to prevail against what is arrayed against us. So we need to recruit someone else, one of the on-the-fence players of this game. If we recruit them, then we’ll be able to act.” Another pause.

“However, one of our members is convinced that Klive’s injury was no accident. He plans to attempt action today, to draw out the leadership of the other side and kill him in public. This… is not going to go well. If he succeeds in this attempt, retribution will be swift, and we will be out one member. If he failed, he could be tortured for information and betray us all. Either way, we lose.” One more pause, as he thought some more.

“Klive has resigned himself to the loss of this member, regardless of the action taken today. Your job is to – One second.”

The Fire Master pressed a button his desk, and a piece of paper appeared on the surface. From the familiar-looking address block at the top, this was his way of receiving Flashmails. He read it quickly and waved his hand over it, making it vanish.

As he did so, a loud WHUMP sounded from outside, as if an explosion went off some distance away. To hear it from so far away meant it was something of a large explosion, and the Fire Master smiled.

“Change of plans. Instead of the Raio sector, you’ll be headed to the Anid sector. This is important. Our rogue member is tearing apart the Anid sector in an attempt to draw out Garaa and kill him. Garaa combined with the Anid Sector Guardians will no doubt prevail, but we can’t allow our member to be captured.” He shook his head.

“Your job is to support our rogue member, in theory. Go there, help him against the Anid Sector Guards and Garaa, and when the time comes, allow him to die – or kill him. Whatever you do, do not leave until you are SURE he is dead, be it by your hand or Garaa’s or anyone else’s.”

Another flash of light flickered through the window like a bolt of lightning, and another explosion’s muffled noise rumbled through a moment later. The Vak Master stood and went to his window, looking in that direction, shaking his head.

“Go, all of you. If you return, we can proceed to the next phase of the plan.”

Demorian turned to the rest of the group and gestured for the door. “You heard the man. We have work to do.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One hurried trip out of the office later and the group, despite being glared at by the Master’s personal bodyguard, were out of the castle and out of the sector in nearly record time. Traffic around the chaos gate was hurried, with people flooding in all dressed in black and purple, denizens of the Anid sector fleeing, presumably for their lives.

Once they had gated in to the Anid sector themselves, they saw why. What stood before them was a long and direct path of destruction. The Halloween-styled houses and buildings, all the carefully built up comedy-horror architecture that Nighthand knew from the old tournament in Yamiyo, lay in rubble around them.

The street looked like a tornado had gone through it in a very direct path, and it was obvious where that path was leading. It was the straightest line from the chaos gate to the Anid castle that could be taken, with the occasional twist in the road eliminated by means of building-leveling blasts. Smoke and fire rose into the sky, giving the whole place a slight haze that made sight in the distance impossible.

The group seemed special, in this case; the Freedom Fighters were the only players running TOWARDS the carnage and destruction. Everyone else, it seemed, was heading for one of the various exits, getting the hell out of the sector. Soon it became obvious why.

A blast of lightning, a column of pure electrical plasma, blasted down from the sky in the distance. The impact was the thunderous explosion they had heard all the way in the Vak sector, and sent a cloud of debris and fire into the sky.

“Let’s go! We need to get there before anything happens!” Demorian shouted, and took off running. Nighthand followed, keeping pace with the icy blademaster.

“Who do you think is up there, Demorian?” Nighthand asked as they ran.

“I have my ideas…” The blademaster responded. “We’ll see in a moment though. Guaranteed it’s someone with the balls to challenge Garaa in his home turf.”

“Yeah, that’s what has me worried.” The heavyblade said.

It wasn’t hard to follow the wreckage to the point, roughly halfway between the gate and the castle, to where the person they were supposed to ‘protect’ was wreaking havoc. They heard him before they saw him, as he was shouting into the sky.

“COME OUT, GARAA!” The voice echoed across the buildings. “I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME. SHOW YOURSELF!”

Another blast of electrical power shattered a building in front of them, and the group drew up short when the figure who channeled it came into view through the smoky haze.

The man was a wavemaster with a long robe, typical of the hacked wizard, looking more like an elderly sage than a proto-wavemaster. He was bald on the top of his head but had a long white beard and mustache that reached nearly to the ground, twisted with yellow ribbon and beads. His robe was gray and white, laced with yellow motifs of thunder and lightning. He held a forked staff plated in gold, that sparked with electrical power. He also wore a set of very unique earrings.

“Rugudorull…” Nighthand whispered to himself.

“I was afraid of that.” Demorian said. “Who else would be powerful enough to challenge Garaa?” He mused, before shrugging. “At least we get to level one Elite out of this.” He smiled, grimly.

“COME OUT GARAA! I’LL KEEP BLASTING UNTIL I LEVEL THIS SECTOR OR YOU SHOW YOUR FACE!” True to his word, Rugudorull raised his staff and another column of lightning blasted the building in front of him, clearing the way towards the castle a little further.

“You’ve crossed a line, Rugudorull.” Came a monsterous voice from the shadows, and a hulking cloaked beast emerged – literally – from the shadows. Despite the cloak, the massive heavy mace and the shape of the 12-foot-tall demonic monster made it clear this was none other than Garaa, the ostensibly most powerful of the Elites.

“ME?” Rugudorull shouted. “I know what you did! I know it wasn’t an accident! You’re going to pay!”

Garaa raised a massive hand and two dozen of the Anid Sector Guards appeared on rooftops and in the street, surrounding Rugu and the group. They were a spectrum of different classes, but all were dressed in the uniform of the Sector Guardian; mottled black and dark gray bodysuit, matte black class armor, and a face-hiding skull mask.

Rugudorull wasted no time in blasting two of them with Lightning, sending their charred corpses into a wall. He waved at the group, his eyes narrowing at Nighthand before they passed over him, the chance for recognition passing. “You lot! Help me out!” He cried, before Garaa was on him, the massive mace swinging for the fragile wizard’s head.

Rugudorull dodged with surprising speed for an old man, dashing back as his earrings began to glow. Then all was chaos, as the Anid Guards attacked anything not one of their own.

-------------------------------------------OOC:

Alrighty! I’m not dead! This post has been a long time coming and heralds the beginning of the end. Garaa Vs. Rugudorull! Darkness Vs. Lightning! Who will prevail!

Our goal is to survive ourselves and to make sure that Rugudorull doesn’t. As such, protect yourselves from the Anid Guards, even kill them if you wish, but feel free to let them “slip past” and go for Rugu. Just be careful. Their goal is to capture the Rai Elite alive, not to kill him.

Garaa will for the most part ignore us as trash in the way, but if you try to attack him I’m sure he’ll exact retribution. He’s focusing on Rugudorull.

The Anid Guards range from level 30 to level 50, and span all the game classes. They have an array of darkness skills at their disposal (any darkness skill their class can have. In the case of classes without darkness skills, they use non-elemental basic skills and spells.) All of them have access to Wryneck and Wryneck Ch. For skills, they can access any level of physical attack, but only up to tier-3 spells; no Phas.

Additionally, all of the Anid Guards have two special abilities unique to them. They have Shackle Stars and Leg Binders.

Shackle Stars are a thrown weapon like a shuriken, which look like plate-sized starfish made of metal. If they hit you, they spring to life and crawl around you, snagging your arms and using leverage against your body to twist your arms behind you to bind your arms. The only way to break free is if the shackles are struck by a lightning spell or by a physical attack from someone else. You’re free to zap yourself, but keep in mind it would hurt. If the thrown starfish misses you and hits a wall or something, it will just harmlessly shatter. They can’t be caught and re-used or anything.

Leg Binders are a similar starfish-like metal creature, but they are laid down like land mines or traps. Once they’re placed they camouflage themselves so they’re quite hard to spot, though still possible if you’re observant. If you step on one it shoots up and binds your leg to that spot. Again, they can be broken by thunder spells or physical attacks, but in this case you can hit them yourself. Of course, that gives the enemy that placed it plenty of time to fling a Shackle Star at you, or deliver a heavy attack.

Mid-Quest Rewards

Since this quest kind of got killed while I was busy with life, I’m delivering some mid-quest rewards for the bit that’s been done. Nighthand, Raquar, Takua, Locke, Sekai, Talal, and Canti all receive 500 exp.

As an additional incentive bring life back to this thing, anyone who posts between now and February 1st gains an additional 500 exp. Only one-time reward, not per-post, but it’s an incentive to get back into the game.

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Lord Canti » Tue Jan 18, 2011 2:55 am

(Yes, he'd gone out on a Lord of the Flies reference in mind. It was timee for somebody else to talk and see what they could weedle out of this guy. It seemed as though he were exceptionally bright and very careful to choose his words. Well, so had Canti...mostly to make sure he didn't make the group look like Public Enemy #1. Coming to them as a group that seemed concerned for the state of the server and such was at least a safe enough manner in which to come and go safely and without trauma. To whom? Couldn't say, but then how many of them here had a decent resistance to fire? Once the Twin Blade had clammed up, there was a lull in the room, as though the others were making up their own minds. This was where Talal stood and began to have words with the Fire Master. She appeared to be playing off of the conversation he just ended, only it was more like she was trying to get a bug up the man's ass and spur him into some kind of action. As a response, the big bodyguard with the fiery temper - Mr. Burbling Volcano-Head - decided to give a shout at her.)

”Wait just a goddamn minute. Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”

Canti: Don't you fucking dare.

(When the bodyguard moved, Talal made ready for a fight...but she wasn't the only one. Canti's own hands were ready to pull out weapons and Shadow let out a deep and ominous growl. It was his master that stopped him, which was a good thing since it wasn't likely the guard would've lived through fighting this group. In the end, however, it didn't seem like Talal got any better results than he did. Maybe they learned something, but he wasn't giving them much to work with, if anything. Now, Baron... He had a more effective strategy. The guard was angered enough by his words that he DID lash out at the guy. However, Canti didn't react because it felt as though Baron was doing it all on purpose. He was being far less subtle than either he or Talal, and the anger of the bodyguard finally made the Fire Master lose his patience with him. And so...)

"…Out."

(Baron had succeeded in making the burly bastard leave them alone. He did, however, apologize to the master of the district for his actions. This led into a small surprise, though.)

"On the contrary, it's been a while since someone has had the gall to stand up to me, in the face of, well, that. I can tell you're not the brains of the operation, but, no matter. I believe we have something to discuss, and with my guard out of the way, you can speak freely."

(Go figure. He was playing them the entire time for the benefit of his bruiser. Probably the big guy couldn't stand disloyalty or something. And oh yeah, let's not forget the other nuggets of joy, like how the Fire Master seemed to know EXACTLY who they were and about the coup plan. But why?! And how?! It was HIS idea to turn the power in on itself, now that Klive was weak! What in the hell is going on? One of the Elites probably DID give him a description of their band of Robin Hoods. However, the man in the seat had gone on to discuss their next move as Raquar spoke up. It looked as though the Fire Marshall wanted to test them first before he thought about using their capabilities. Gee, you'd think he would've heard about how they beat a super-powered Administrator outside the server gates. Oh well. In any case, NOW Demorian got to the heart of the matter.)

"One question."

"Hmm?"

"How did you know about the coup? We only thought of it a short time ago, and none of our members are your informants."

"Really? Well I wouldn’t be too sure of that, for one thing. I have eyes and ears everywhere. Now that is neither confirmation nor denial of ones presence in your group, but, you never can be sure these days. Really though... You? Think of the coup? My friend, this has been in the works for quite some time. You just happen to have come to a conclusion that was long in coming."


(Canti slumped his shoulders upon hearing this. Dammit, that was HIS plan! He'd thought of it because HE and Raquar were the ones who made Klive sick! You can't just go hide in the shadow of polotics and good behavior and say "Oh, well I've been plotting against Klive this whole time!". No way! That's cheating! But...we must digress. For, as Canti appeared to be literally smoking with irritation now, Demorian and the Fire Master kept on talking, and some sort of agreement was made between them to take part in his mission, join forces, yatta yatta yatta... He began to give them more information - and Canti gulped at the part where he mentioned a particular member thinking Klive's injury was no accident - when he suddenly interrupted himself to read a Flash Mail. Afterwhich, something like an impact or explosion was heard from quite a distance away...)

"Change of plans. Instead of the Raio sector, you’ll be headed to the Anid sector. This is important. Our rogue member is tearing apart the Anid sector in an attempt to draw out Garaa and kill him. Garaa combined with the Anid Sector Guardians will no doubt prevail, but we can’t allow our member to be captured. Your job is to support our rogue member, in theory. Go there, help him against the Anid Sector Guards and Garaa, and when the time comes, allow him to die – or kill him. Whatever you do, do not leave until you are SURE he is dead, be it by your hand or Garaa’s or anyone else’s. Go, all of you. If you return, we can proceed to the next phase of the plan."

"You heard the man. We have work to do."

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

(Getting outside, Canti did not have as much trouble in getting over to the gate as need-be. There was a flood of people moving away from it, but he didn't have much of an issue because...well...he was flighty. Okay, he masked it as a series of jumps for the time being, but the point was that you weren't going to keep the dark Twin Blade from his appointed rounds. Of course, any Freedom Fighter choosing to rally behind Shadow would find a path being made, in that the Bogie-hound was head-butting and ramming any player in the way quickly out of it. Shortly thereafter, the Chaos Gate was used and the Twin Blade found himself in...well...chaos. Canti hadn't even been here yet, and it was a real shame because the place probably looked swanky as hell. But...someone had gone and destroyed all that, leaving behind nothing by wrecked and ruin. And apparently, they were the only ones heading towards the blasts of lightning that appeared to be shaking the place up. And when they got nearer...)

"COME OUT, GARAA! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME. SHOW YOURSELF!"

(The person responsible for all this brought about several comparisons that Canti wanted to shout out. He wanted to think of the Wavemaster as Merlin, Gandalf, Blizzard-Beard, Tim The Enchanter, and so on...but Nights and Dems had a name for the guy already.)

"Rugudorull…"

"I was afraid of that. Who else would be powerful enough to challenge Garaa? At least we get to level one Elite out of this."

(Suffice to say, Rugudorull kept blasting until a dark form emerged and...yeah, Canti recognized it right off from the last time he'd shown his face. It was Garaa. This was his domain and this was a feud between big-shots over something that probably neither one of them had anything to do with. Honestly, it was at this time that Canti felt like a Decoy Protagonist, even though the REAL decoy was over there in robe and beard. Meanwhile, THE SKULL MAN and all his merry duplicates came on the scene. These were the guards of Anid Sector, and before you know it they were all in the same boat. Beard-Man decided to shout out at them and the guards decided to take that as an invitation to attack. Now, Canti saw some of them heading this way and took a second to hold up his hands and say...)

Canti: Now, wait a minute, guys. I'm just a simply district member.

(They didn't care, but the Twin Blade wasn't really trying to appeal to their sense of generosity, but rather put them off their guard for a second. This did technically work, in that they paused for a second, then all three that were onto him raised their swords to attack and...suddenly struck down at empty air. A perplexing moment. I mean, he'd been there a second ago, right? Then, there'd been this blur and he was...behind them...? Yeah, while Canti hadn't appeared to do anything before his vanishing act, the demon dog off to one side had casted AP Do on him and he zipped out of the way slash at all of their behinds. There was a collective shout as they turned and one of them struck across the Twin Blade's leg in passing. Hey, speed-ups make you faster, not invulnerable to attack. Now...for the record...the order of the three that attacked him were Blademaster, Heavy Blade, and Blademaster. They'd immediately devoted a party of three to him BECAUSE he looked like he came from the sector, and that he'd have Darkness elemental strength. Two of them advanced and attacked, leaving Canti to try and parry swings while jumping back to put in a little distance. The third one would've attacked as well, but...)

Heavy Blade: AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!

(...uhhh...someone had gripped him by the ankle and pulled, dragging him further away. The growling-with-his-mouth-full sounds coinciding with this seemed to indicate that the culprit was an oversized blackish canine. The Heavy Blade managed to pull away from Shadow and start slashing at him, unaware that Canti - after taking and giving some hits - was running right towards him.)

Canti: 'Scuse me!

Heavy Blade: URGH!!

(The sound you have just heard was Canti flight-jumping nearly over the guard's head as he dodged several Shackle Stars. He impacted the back of his skullmet with a knee and just kept going, the other two Blademasters moving past past as the Heavy Blade pitched forward. If you must know what was going on, the two other guards had casted Ap Do upon themselves and were able to match Canti's speed as though nothing had happened. They caught up with him and took turns using Revolver on him, which he was having a hard time defending against with them on either side. Meanwhile, back at the Heavy Blade, he'd lost track of the dog, so he saw Canti and summoned Wryneck on him. There was a roar and...blackness. What? He could hear the Twin Blade being hit, but he was losing HP as there was something like TEETH...)

Heavy Blade: AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!

(Imagine a big monster dog biting the upper-half of your head and pulling you down, so it can whip you back and forth. So much for him, at least for now. Canti had been thrown back by Wryneck. It was higher-level Wryneck, so it'd actually done some damage. However, given that he had all this darkness to spare and everyone here but his own team and Rugu were using the same element... May as well spend it constructively. The Twin Blade stood and DARKNESS FLAME-ON! A black aura surrounded him as he levitated a foot off the ground. It was a dense aura, the kind that'd corrupted a legion of snowmen to death outside the server town. Canti swooped at the left Blademaster and rammed into him, knocking him on the ground. The Twin Blade grinned wickedly and palm-struck the guard in the helmet.)

Canti: Need a light?

(It was diminishing to HP to be in his presence alone, but Canti also conjured a flamethrower attack to the face and proceeded to kill the hell out of this guy. The other one went to strike Canti from behind and...Shadow howled, casting a spell of paralysis at him. Unfortunately, it didn't take and the Twin Blade was slashed before he could finish the job.)

Shadow: That had to hurt...

Canti: Must be getting careless... BAM!

(He pointed his finger down at the ground and let off an explosion that threw back the one guard and killed the other. Canti stood up and brushed himself off - noticing that Shadow was sitting on the Heavy Blade's face - and launched himself at the remaining Blademaster, slashing and stabbing rapidly with one thing in mind. While the Anid Guard was busy defending himself, Canti kicked up at the pommel of his sword - jarring his concentration and stance - and stabbed both blades at the neck to end him. That left the Heavy Blade, who threw Shadow off of him and tossed down a bunch of Leg Binders before throwing a few Shackle Stars. Canti canceled his SP-consuming aura - It was starting to get expensive, folks. - and zipped around to avoid the things entirely.)

Canti: C'mon, I'm a Twin Blade. Use some sense.

(Okay, so he summoned Wryneck again. That was enough for him! Canti flew over there and diced him with Thunder Coil, watching as he fell over dead. He looked over at Shadow, then down at the Leg Binders which failed to spring on him.)

Canti: What was he even thinking? Did he not notice me levitating?
TO: All Freedom Fighters present.
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: So, the plan?

If we leave the two head honchos alone and focus on the cronies, I think they'll wear each other out until one gets in a killing blow. At least, that's probably what should happen. They wanted Rugu guy dead, so do we just let Garaa paste him and then beat down the dark man? In any case, we probably shouldn't actually help these two directly.
OOC: Assuming we're keeping a careful count of flunkies, the dead count is now Ani Guards 3, Freedom Fighters zero. More news as it develops.
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
Takua
Ikkitousen
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:19 am
Class: Wavemaster
Location: Walking the line of madness

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Takua » Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:07 am

Takua had remained standing against the wall of the Fire Master's room for the entire meeting. He wasn't comfortable here. He wasn't comfortable anywhere, really, but he wasn't ready to admit that to himself. Or to anyone else. He stood, watched, listened. Shuddered, and repressed the urge to run as hard as he could. It was all that he could do to repress that urge, but at least looking at his...friends, his group, helped.

Though there was unfinished business on that front as well.

He tried not to swear when the Fire Master said that he knew what was going on. Suspicions about this being a trap, about their being caught by the Elites, or even worse, swirled through his mind. Fuck, they were all dead. He'd say something to Klive, and then the Elite or another would come here...Xenobia. There we go. She'd just freeze them all, and then kill them slowly. And there would be no 'prison' for anyone, except maybe Nall, since that man had something that they wanted. Go figure.

And as it went on...nothing happened. They continued to be told things that Takua, quite frankly, didn't believe. Ondine was a silent presence next to him, an illusionary body that stood on the other side of him from Sekai and her guardians. When the man finally spoke Klive's name, she spoke up, a restless quality to her tone. “I don't trust any of the politics here, but if their coup works, it may work out to the best of all.”

He didn't turn to her, instead just thinking at her. 'Yes. I should. But you know what I'm hearing. I'll do my best. So, we're killing someone to protect the greater whole? Or are we killing someone that the Fire Master wants out of the way, but it has nothing to do with the coup? I find that more likely than that the person that we're killing being something that we really need to kill.' He hesitated. Could the Fire Master be telling the truth? The Freedom Fighters had a lot to gain from all of this. But he didn't know. He just didn't know. And all of his thoughts were geared towards betrayal, or workings behind the scenes. At what would happen if this was all just being used.

If they were all being used...then he was right. He didn't want to be right. But he couldn't stop hoping that, just maybe, he was wrong. The Master didn't want this...Garaa to die. Fortunately for the Wavemaster, there was nothing wrong with his deductive skills. Garaa must be the Elite of Ani, if they were now headed over to the Anid Sector, and they were talking about the leader of the opposition. That reeked of Elites. Which meant that, so soon after they took on Xenobia and got utterly annihilated, they'd try to do the exactly same thing to another Elite. This sounded...like a really bad idea.

Well, okay. Hadn't they killed two of them in the past? Maybe? But they weren't the leader. Which meant that Garaa was likely to destroy them all, and in ways that weren't resurrectable. If he was that pissed, or someone did that much damage to him. Even then, they were supposed to attack this other member. Could they kill both Elites at once? Would that work? It'd be a mighty blow to the opposition if they could...it'd be really useful...although the Master said it'd get them all in trouble...

No, fuck the Master. If they could, they'd take Garaa down. Given the opportunity, Takua would take out the future threat. Fuck martial law and everything else that might happen. He'd been thinking about this since he'd seen the Bazaar. He knew what he wanted to do. What he could do. The small smile that he showed was brutal, and he erased it before anyone else could see it. Ondine's voice broke in a second later, her face shocked. “You're not g-”

A whisper was her only reply. One that held every ounce of determination that he could summon right now. “I will.”

But then they were moving. Leaving. Because whatever had caused that explosion (it couldn't be Klive. Was it another Elite? Another player? Attacking Garaa on his own turf...what power? What Wave?) wasn't slowing down for the assassins that he didn't know were coming. This was...sickening. It made Takua's stomach squeeze and feel pain. This was what he was afraid of. But he was betraying someone, not the other way around. People that this man, or woman, thought were coming to aid him or her were really...going to kill them. And in one shocking moment of betrayal, it would happen. It made him...

So, while they were running, he held back just a bit. Made sure that he was next to his three...friends, before asking the questions that were on his mind. It was annoying, but a quick four Ap Do's made running so much easier to do. Easy enough to talk while running past the stampede of frightened Anid residents. “I...have a question. I'm assuming that we're up against an Elite. We're working, apparently, for an Elite that is fighting against the dominant powers that be. Or, so says the Fire Master. What keeps him from setting us to be the fall guys, or even getting rid of us, by sending us to get rid of someone that he wants to get rid of? Why does he not want the leader of the opposition to be hurt or killed?” He didn't...couldn't voice what he wasn't saying. Why are we betraying someone who might think we're helping?

Sekai was unnaturally quiet, her young face drawn and a pale color tinged with near-grey with her eyes looking positively huge the further their party entered into Anid territory amid the fleeing residents- monsterous, creepy, demonic or stereotypical goth as they came. She remained silent as her two companions flanking her side, keeping her between the two physically stronger, close ranged combatants, turned their attention to the boy voicing his doubts now instead of back in the room.

"The hell's your reason for not speaking up back there instead of now?" Kira asked, a sharp note of irritation in her voice as she sent the boy a hard look with amber eyes that clearly spoke her dislike of the situation they were in now. "Little too late for regrets now, don't you think? You could always head back to the hideout- I can't leave Sekai in this place and December won't either, so you might need to bribe someone else to if you're not gonna throw yourself into a battle you're not sure about." December frowned, her spring colored eyes disapproving of the blunt words thrown carelessly toward the Wavemaster. She gave a kinder smile at the boy, a more sympathetic expression and warmth in her voice than Kira's biting irritation and impatience. "It is as that man said; we are definitely those considered 'on the fence', in terms of alliance, so to speak. We are all truly out for ourselves in the long run, the question we should be asking-"

Sekai spoke at that moment, finishing December's thought, as her own had traveled down that path and reached the same unfortunate conclusion. "is whether or not the side we're supposed to be against is the one who will benefit our goals the most in the long run." The strain in the fifteen year old girl's voice was clear and her eyes darted, step faltering for an instant before she swiftly made up the lost ground. Her snowy hair- longer all around than it had been- blew out of her face as the air steadily felt less pure, more... malicious and evil with every step into the cold feeling sector of the server. "It falls on strategy and guesswork now," The unhappiness in her voice was more than clear, eating away at some of the fear as her thoughts on the subject seemed to distract her from the phobia plaguing her mind and heart. "which means we once again become pawns in someone else's fight."

Takua ran for a minute more in silence, digesting that.  His thoughts had long since followed that path, and he had considered it paranoid.  Interesting.  Of course, it was, or at least self-serving, but apparently he had good cause to be paranoid right now.  It was also at that moment, when he was about to speak, that the person causing those explosions came into view.  And everything suddenly started to click for him.  So, he'd been right, then.  Especially when Garaa himself showed up.  The Lightning Elite, then?

“So.  Our rogue member is another Elite.  And the leader of the opposition is Garaa.  I think our job just got a little more complicated.  We can't kill the leader of enemy Elites, and we're guaranteed a kill on one anyways.  How much in favor are you three of weakening, if we can, Garaa?  I'm really in favor of killing him, really.  It's not like the Freedom Fighters aren't in epic amounts of shit as it is.  And it'd be so much easier with an Elite on our side."  He paused.  Hesitated.  He didn't want to say it, but he said that he'd trust them, god dammit.  He would do it.

“I just...don't like this.  Not because I don't think it's necessary...but this is just what I fear."  The voice was quiet.  He was afraid of this, badly so.   “That people that I thought were on my side will stab me in the back.  And now I'm doing that to someone else."  He shook his head, getting rid of his own words.  He would do this.  He needed to do this, beyond his own fear, so that everyone here could go home.  So that he could get medication.  "It's okay.  I'll fight.  I'll be taking from everyone's vision.  Although, I do have an idea.  When I say so, can you three back into a triangle, looking out?  Back to back to back?  I've got an idea that...might tip the battle in our favor.  Or at least give us a good opening gambit."

"It's a risk everyone takes," She watched the massive thunderbolt strike and explode whatever it'd touched and winced. "Eventually, someone will betray you and ruins it for everyone else you know." There was just a trace of weary bitterness in her voice, speaking from experience it seemed. Kira and December both shot the girl a matching look of sharp concern in response as a gold bow appeared, clutched tightly in the honey eyed teenager's hands. She managed to turn her eyes away from the oncoming battlefield ahead and gave a slightly worried look to Takua. "I wouldn't count on any of the Elites being on our side; we're to be used as pawns and shouldn't expect anything more." As for his question about Garaa- someone she could feel the Ani energy pouring off of in ways that made Trent look like he was about to reveal his own status as a Rai affiliated player- her eyes still remained away from the battlefield up ahead, studying the metal of her weapon. "If we can get them to take one another out, fine by me... but make sure the Rai Elite is dead; I don't want... his kind of insanity to be left to run free- he'd sooner turn on us the moment we took out Garaa."

“That's...true."  He eyed her for a moment...and something seemed to click.  Something worked.  And he felt a sudden...sense of both kinship and distinct sense disconnect.  That he knew, but she wasn't ready to share. She, too, had been betrayed then.  And he nodded at her, a sad smile.  "No Elite will be our helper.  But for the purpose of walking this chessboard a little closer to the end, I suppose we need to play a little game."  He stopped...looked at them all, and nodded his head in a thank you.  He couldn't ask her what had happened.  He didn't deserve that kind of closeness.  Not yet.  Perhaps not ever.

Seemingly satisfied with whatever the younger girl had said, Kira shot a look over at the Ruem based Wavemaster and narrowed her eyes, fixing him with a stare that was a massive bug pinned to the wall of a dungeon on the end of her spear. "What the hell are you planning that needs us forming a triangle around you or one in general?" Kira's first look at Garaa had her swearing a blue streak in the air, slipping into a harsher sounding language before going into what had to have been Japanese... and then back into English again. "What plan and how stupid and suicidal is it for you this time."

He could have twitched.  Shuddered.  Done any number of things that he normally did when Kira got angry at him.  He looked back and answered totally truthfully.  “If you three are in a triangle, I have perfect view of the battlefield."  He gestured at the oncoming swarm of Anid guards, some of whom were angled at them.  “I have a set of items, thanks to the Bazaar, that would let me take out another wave.  It's expensive, so I'd prefer to wait until its necessary.  If you three can see everyone approaching, I can wipe them out before they can touch us."  Which was all true, of course.  But he wanted a minute or two to watch Garaa and Rugudorul fight in order go gauge what was going on and to better calculate his plan.  Plus, if reinforcements did show up...he did want to get rid of them.  As soon as possible.

"...don't do anything that'll draw the attention of the two Elites. We're already a thorn in their side, we don't want them retaliating against us while we're this weak." Sekai finally responded, interrupting whatever Kira and December'd been about to say and gave the Wavemaster a drawn, measuring glance that hinted that she thought she knew what he was thinking of doing... and didn't like it. "Right now, we need to thin out the numbers of their army before doing anything remotely close to attacking the Elites themselves." Noticably, the young Archer was refusing to look anywhere near that section of the battlefield, probably trying to stave off whatever panic attack was about to hit- and with Garaa supposedly looking as monsterous as people said, it'd be on a level that Trent inspired... if not worse.

He'd gotten, even if they didn't quite realize it yet the go-ahead that he'd wanted from Sekai, Kira and December. Which meant nothing to the rest of the group, unless they came to the same decision as well. Well, if he was still thinking straight, the odds were good that they'd want to take another Elite down if they could. That the two different Elites were currently concentrating on each other meant good things. If they could weaken each other enough for killing blows from the Freedom Fighters, things would be good. But Rugu probably wasn't as strong as Garaa. That much was clear from what the Elite himself had said as well as the Fire Master.

Ignoring the whispering, the glances at him from the corners, from his group, his attention was fully on the few guards that were rushing at the Wavemaster's group. Which was just too damn bad for them, now wasn't it? How high of a level were they, anyways? His eyes glittered with barely repressed urges to nuke everything now, and just be done with it. No. He'd wait, and watch the fight between the Elites. It'd be best if he knew how fast the Ani Elite was.

Ani...Sekai wouldn't be okay here. Another reason to end this fight as quickly as possible. He got a quick glimpse of her from one of her bodyguards, likely her lover. Her face drawn and pale. Yes. Now. He raised his staff, and spoke two words.

It was the first time that he'd really seen a 4th level spell. In one moment, there was an Ani guard moving at him. In the next, he couldn't even see the guard as a tornado of ice and water erupted just a few yards away. Cold wind whipped at him, a few spray specks of ice slashed at his face. A moment later, he dropped three thunderbolts into the whirling cloud of water and ice.

It was impossible to smell any more ozone from what the Rai Elite was doing, so at least he was spared any more intensity from that reek. Taking out another staff, the Great Elite, he dropped another two words. Lanceor Ch, the Lightning Summon, took the lightning and water storm to the next level, and the explosion leveled the Anid Guard. Taking one last look at the smoldering corpse, the Wavemaster took to the air.

Which made him very easy to spot, of course. He never saw the metal that bound around his arm, bringing it back behind him to prevent him from being able to do anything. He did, however, zap it with a Rai Rom. The electrical charge ran through him too, of course, but that was livable. The darkness blast from an OrmeAni Zot, however, was somewhat less comfortable. Ani erupted from the ground just as he hit it, brought there when his wings were disabled, clawing at his body as pain erupted from the wounds. Glancing up, he saw the guard that he thought had cast the spell through the eyes of one of his fellows. Both of them were enveloped in the GiRai Don that he cast, triple lightning bolts impacting the ground that practically radiated the element of its Elite.

He followed it up with a Yarthkins Rf from the Cosmic Staff and then another PhaRue Rom. God, he loved the sight and feel of a Pha spell that he had cast. It made him a little giddy just thinking about it. But that didn't stop another two spells from landing on him, or a slash across the face before he was done. Fortunately, two Ola Repths could take care of that. Smiling grimly, he watched as the wave of healing moved out across the party. It looked like six of them had been taken down, but that left...just a bit over a dozen, with the two Elites still going at it. What would happen next?
Takua - Lvl 57 Wavemaster
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Wishlist: Levels, Stun Rod, Hag's Wand, Wand of Truth, Ex-Level, Ex-Spheres, and Myth: Demiurge, FL Fukuoka

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Sekai » Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:43 am

For once, Sekai intentionally kept herself at the back of the group and as out of sight as she could in the room. And, for once, the girl who favored diplomacy over anything else chose to keep her mouth shut and allow someone else to do the desperate attempt at dealing with other people and gaining allies to help them out. Asking her why would do no good, as she was searching for the answer within herself at the that exact moment. She didn't know, to be honest. She didn't know if it was because all of her attempts ended up thwarted or ruined because someone decided to pull a... oh what was that weird video that had been really really popular in that game when she'd been a kid? Someone did a kamikaze and just pissed everything off until it was nothing but a violence filled, chaotic mess.

Ever present at her side were the two AI who'd chosen to follow and protect her- even though it typically meant being exposed to all kinds of crazy shit that baffled the two like no other. After the incident there in the Bazaar, the one to her right was sticking about as close as the girl's own shadow... and with an equally dark and clearly unhappy look on her face that could have given the jackass guard kicked out for being a pest a run for his money. The one on her right had a more pleasant and friendly expression on her tanned face as she observed the room they were in out of curiosity. Her former master and creator had bragged about ties to a 'Fire Master', though one look stated the man had been very likely lying through his rat-like teeth.

Do you ache anywhere, little mistress? Perhaps a chair would be a good idea, December thought as she gave a courtesy glance down to the much shorter Archer in green to check on her. After all, she'd only gotten a couple of hours- a good estimate, anyways- of rest before they'd had to attend this little meeting and had gotten into one of those fights that had been more personal than a duel over mutual insult.

Battles like those never ended well; emotionally or physically.

Sekai shook her head slightly, one corner of her mouth pulling up in a slight smile in response to the concern through their link. No... though it is nice of you to ask. I appreciate it. She really didn't hurt anywhere- except her heart and her pride. Embarrassment and failure tended to hurt her more than any physical injury she'd ever experienced in this world had done, and causing a public scene crossed with having two random strangers bring her guardians and Takua-san to come and get her was more than humiliating.

At least she'd won the stupid fight, that was really more than she could say for a lot of the ones in the past, that was for sure.

A faint rustle was the only sound Kira made as she shifted her weight, listening in on the Fire Master and Demorian's conversation as well as Sekai's thoughts. Wouldn't say that was a victory. She commented silently and ignored the look the green eyed assassin sent her as a result. Things between her little one and herself were currently... strained, to put it best. The icy former princess was still pissed off at the girl for going off on her own and getting into a fight without calling for back up or letting them stand on the sidelines just in case something went wrong.

Not to mention that, when she'd gotten there, she'd heard of the extent of the injuries sustained in said fight and how she'd taken on a Heavyblade anywhere from five to nine levels higher than she was that just so happened to be the same System Moderator that had been the catalyst for their meeting to begin with... even if it was kinda, sorta indirectly.

Well, I'm so very sorry for beating up your ex-boyfriend, I didn't realize you still had unfinished business with him. There was more than a sarcastic note in the girl's immediate response, a flash of hurt and resentment in the normal soft golden-brown eyes the only indication of her mood.

Kira shot her a look out of the corner of her eye. They were definitely becoming bad influences on the young Japanese girl; that was a display of attitude the girl hadn't ever turned in her direction before. He isn't my ex-boyfriend. Hell, he wasn't even my boyfriend to begin with. She shot back defensively, a small part of her guilty of considering and even wanting it from a time where things had been... better, between them. Right before he'd introduced her to that fucking hacker friend of his.

Sekai knew that too, dammit. The little Archer was intentionally trying to piss her off for some reason the Long Arm wasn't able to fathom at the moment and that bitch, December, was making things even worse by either agreeing with the girl or making some other comment that wound up making the situation worse than before.

I suppose if telling the truth makes me a bitch, then it must be so. December's mild tone of disapproval rang through a private link between the two of them, leaving their snowy haired charge out of the argument about to explode between them. The rose haired woman frowned, watching carefully as the Fire Master gleaned over what looked to be what a lot of the... influential individuals in this place tended to use as their private messaging appearance.

Before the two could even start the impending fight, there was a stiffening in the young Archer's shoulders, the soft colored eyes narrowing as she watched the hand wave. The resulting explosion afterwards only seemed to confirm whatever it was that the fifteen year old had been anticipating. Unexpected developments. We will be going into the battle. There was a shaky note in the girl's mental voice,that bothered both of them, the two bodyguards for the girl exchanging puzzled glances.

Little one? A cautious note, as the girl's nerves and temper were still quite perilously short from what she could sense and the shapely Long Arm moved a bit closer, a cool hand clad in silk brushing against a bare shoulder as she spoke again through their link. What'd we miss?

December's hand, warm and slightly calloused in comparison to the cool silk that covered Kira's own, rested against the girl's back, small circles moved with her palm to try and calm the young girl down as green eyes narrowed. What had those two been keeping from her this time? First their... unusual relationship- which she would not say a word on, lest she upset and make the littler one rather unhappy- and now some secret that undoubtably was going to cause more problems than it would probably fix.

Her eyes had turned haunted as she bowed her head in resignation, as if submitting to some kind of inescapable fate as her hands clenched into white knuckled fists and she spun around to follow the rapidly emptying room out the doors. Anid Sector. She left it as that, the tone in her voice enough to bring Kira to a soft, viciously swearing point as she hurried after the young girl to keep pace.

Anid Sector? Why were they heading to that Garaa fellow's area? Surely they didn't have a bone to pick with that particular... monstrosity. December thought in dismay as she caught the bodyguard who'd lost his temper glaring at them... and gave him a rebuking look followed by a wink and a knowing smile before catching up easily with the Long Arm and Archer. ...no, there's no way we'd run into her. The rose haired assassin thought after a moment, running through a mental checklist of people she'd learned to avoid during her times as a freelance assassin in this odd but endearing server.

...but as her charge had said, they were being called to battle, and she would have to remember to ignore the temptation to rebuke and scold the temperamental ice princess and pay better attention. It wouldn't do for her little mistress to have the one up and not share certain information, after all.

**

”...we are bringing her into a battlefield full of the element she fears the most; one of you please explain to me how this makes any kind of rational sense.” December finally asked, hands already itching to draw out her blades and carve their way through the fleeing ranks of men, women and... whatever else there was out there to get to their destination faster. Sekai ducked beneath an eight and a half foot tall... she didn't really know how to describe it other than like that one skeleton from the American movie she'd seen a long time ago, but she was more than able to duck between his skeletal legs and keep running forward on legs that wanted to give out dearly.

Because I won't forgive myself if something happens and I'm not there. She replied finally and stopped the conversation there as Takua finally spoke up. He was one of her reasons and Kira knew it, the two exchanging a glance between them before Sekai looked away first. She didn't like it, understood that Takua-san didn't either and that it was probably going to get them killed or worse in the long run.

But it was about the only good choice they had left; and she was becoming annoyingly accustomed to being used as a pawn in someone else's game.

The decision made between the four of them, they hit the battlefield and spread into the triangle. The moment one of the two women were attacked, she'd have to summon one to be active at a time and leave the other as a look out. “I got first lookout, let's see if those blades actually work or if you're all talk.” Kira made the call, frowning pointedly at the surprise on both Sekai and December's faces. ”The hell you looking at me like that for? I wanna see what kinda shit you can bring to a fight, so sue me.”

Sekai pulled the bow and focused, a flare of light from her back signaling the summoning going off and December suddenly straightened with a luxurious sounding sigh, rolling a sun kissed shoulder in delight as she pulled her blades. “Shocking Arrow of Voltage!” She called out, launching a highly charged bolt into the fray of oncoming Anid soldiers, pegging one right in the hip as he... or she, she couldn't tell from that distance, dropped and tripped one of their own allies. Stick to the plan; we need to keep Takua-san as safe as we can.

December spread herself a little further, catching the attention of another Twin Blade who attacked, frowning at the thing the skull headed warrior had hurled towards Kira... and gave a musical note of laughter when it tried to restrain her... and the restriction on the little Archer's ability caused the Long Arm to turn into a ghost. The starfish-like thing hit the ground and shattered, Kira sending a rude gesture towards the Twin Blade heading right for them.

Sucker. That woulda been a bitch if I'd been the one summoned though. Be careful, little one.

She traded blows with the other warrior, annoyed beyond what she wanted to admit when he activated one of his skills and raked a poisonous series of shallow slices across her body. I shall borrow this, and make up for its use later. Out of Sekai's inventory, she removed the one thunder scroll the girl had in her possession and used it. The electrified tornado crackled and roared as it did little more than irritate the other fighter long enough for December to lock him back into combat.

A lucky hit opened up the jacket from shoulder to hip... revealing the... rather pathetic chest of a burly female warrior. December pursed her lips and made a small mou. “Oh dear, no wonder you prefer the front lines.” A hollow, muffled snarl of rage was her signal, Sekai spinning around and firing another electrified bolt the moment December allowed her blades to fall. Taking satisfaction in the teamwork, she sent a query toward the young Archer to see how she was holding up- even she found Garaa's monsterous form intimidating.

There was a wry note in her response as she let fly with a few arrows from her bow, reloading and firing again to keep some of the melee fighters on their toes and to do small amounts of nonelemental damage. Use another scroll over in Kira's direction if you can, I'm trying to keep them distracted or at bay for as long as I can. She directed, using one of her Juk scrolls in response to a trio headed their way. Takua-san was doing well, she liked the Gan and Rue spells he was firing off- even if the massive summon was kind of awkward looking from her angle. December followed the jagged mass of thorns, briar and bramble rising from the streets with a Vak scroll, the flames eating at the deadly jungle that caught two of the unfortunate men and women by surprise and ripped at them.

This... it sounds bad. But the less human they look, the easier it is for me not to be as afraid. Sekai admitted quietly through the link to the two AI. A pause as she fired off a few more regular arrows, taking out one who was barely clinging to his health anyways and took the horn off of another's helmet as the third took out one of those weird star things they were throwing like shuriken. I don't get the Western devil thing anyway, so I think I'm more puzzled than scared by his looks... but the aura is terrifying. I don't wanna get closer.

She admitted that much at least, eyes narrowing as she was hit with something from behind that had her arms locked painfully behind her back. Falling backwards to hit it on the ground was probably a bad idea, she thought with a wince and stumbled backwards right into something that latched on to her leg and tripped her anyways, forcing her to fall and hit the ground back first hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

Growling under her breath, she muttered one of the low level Rai spells she had, feeling her body jerk and seize beneath the electrical current as both the bondage things, or whatever they were, fried and rendered themselves useless. December'd dashed over, having used a Speed Charm to increase her already wonderous ability to move like a sandstorm with wickedly gleaming blades to help the girl up. Shooting a dirty look to the guy who'd thrown it, Sekai called in her favorite bow to use when it came to going against jerks like him, pulled back and fired. ”Shocking Arrow of Voltage!” The arrow zipped forth, striking true right beneath where the mask hung to try and protect his throat. Critical Hit erupted and hung in the air as a result, Sekai finishing off the few levels higher player with another arrow of the same time, without the awesome critical at the end and fired off a RaJuk Zot beneath the feet of the first one she'd hit earlier, leaving his black and mottled gray clad corpse dangling, impaled at several different points by the powerful Juk spell before hitting the ground with a solid thump she thought she could hear from there.

”Let's get back into position,” Sekai said finally as she began to run back toward where Kira was standing, the tall spirit form of the Long Arm practically stalking Takua's every move to keep him in sight and within range in case December was killed and she'd need to step in. “Something tells me things are about to get worse, and I don't want Takua-san to get caught in it.” As for that Flashmail...
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Sekai
Subject: RE: So, the plan?

I don't know, to be honest. I don't like where this is going at all and, well, call me paranoid but... I think things are going to get worse really, really quickly regardless of what we do. Let's... well, if you can hit either of them and make it look like an accident or frame the other one? I would say go for it. Stay out of their way as much as possible though; those weapons and, um, abilities of theirs are going to be nasty even with a casual or glancing blow.



((So... yeah. If I read Tak's post right, he killed three, Canti got three. Killed 4 myself, 1 heavily injured and two lightly so. Total: 12 dead Anid soldiers (including the two Rugu smoked), 1 Heavily Injured, 2 Lightly damaged. 9 Uninjured.

...and, uhh, I'm back? [size=0]I think.[/size]))
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Name: Sekai
Level: 54
EXP: 0000/1000
Class: Archer
Clan: Army of Darkness
HP: 835
SP: 347

Currently Equipped:

Einherjar: Kira, December, Zorya

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

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

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Locke
Ikkitousen
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:21 pm
Class: Twin Blade

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Locke » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:29 pm

Baron sat back in his chair, still nursing his bruised cheek as he listened to the conversation between Demorian and the Fire Master. He didn’t say anything for the duration, merely taking in information and filing it for later use. It seemed that there was someone in Klive’s... alliance (Baron wasn’t terribly sure about the situation in that regard, but it was the best term that fit with his understanding at the moment) who wanted to draw out their opposing side. Infighting among the Elites, maybe? Certainly that was all and well for the Freedom Fighters; every Elite down was one less between them and escape from The World, and fighting between them made the job much easier.

So now that they knew the situation, and the Fire Master knew theirs, what was going to happen? The man made it more than clear that he had no intention of taking Klive’s position, which in a way was a relief to Baron. He wasn’t ready to deal with the Elites yet, at least not on a direct level. Maybe this rogue member was a strong hacker, but he wasn’t in the same class as the Elites, and for some reason that little difference in power made it all the easier for Baron to deal with things. He just wished he had some abilities to level the playing field, but until they developed, like Nemera said they would, the Twin Blade was stuck using only the things that came as part of The World’s code.

On the other hand, whoever was ripping up the districts as Klive’s “ally” wasn’t exactly a player of limited strength. The sectors contained a large number of hackers with no inconsiderable power, but whoever was causing the chaos down there wasn’t slowing. Another lightning bolt complimented that thought, and a rumbling roll of thunder washed over them. No, he wasn’t slowing at all. Unfortunately, that just increased Baron’s trepidation; thunder and lightning to that magnitude, strength, and sheer amount suggested that they were changing targets from one Elite to another.

Baron would have preferred to kill the sick one.

Unfortunately, there were no words to be had. The Twin Blade was uncomfortable with the situation, but what would speaking out do them? Last he checked, he was anything but fireproof, and he was in the center of the Fire Master’s power. Any signs of aggression would probably be met with fire, pain, and swift death, not to mention the potential at deletion that the Fire Master no doubt possessed. Well, there was no choice in the matter, so rather than argue his points with the group, Baron simply nodded as they were dismissed and left quickly, nothing else to say. When they were outside of the castle, however, he separated to go on his own way. They wanted to leap headfirst into what could be a suicidal madness? By all means, they were welcome to. He, on the other hand, had other plans.

No, that didn’t mean Baron had decided not to help in what was likely a fool’s mission. As much as he wished he could just hide in a corner somewhere and avoid all of this, the Twin Blade knew that even without any of the strange abilities the others had, this server was still ruled by the basic laws of The World, and because of that he could still make a difference. Sure, it would be harder with the cards stacked against them, but Baron had seen his share of impossible victories before. Anything could be taken down, any bastion breached; one merely had to find a way to do it with what resources one had.

Before following the others to the Chaos Gate square, Baron stepped off by himself to make a quick errand. Once he was sure that he was alone, the Twin Blade spoke softly, hoping what he had planned would work. “Higure, I need to speak with you a moment.”

There was a subtle stirring in the shadows as the wolf stepped from them, the wan light that fell upon him causing the gold inlay on his eyepatch to glitter slightly. Baron didn’t flinch; though he had only seen Higure perform that little trick once or twice, the Twin Blade had simply come to expect it. Things vanishing and reappearing were hardly strange to him now. The wolf merely tiled his head rather than speaking, a silent question in his motion asking what he was called for.

“Glad you’re prompt. I’m going to need your help soon; there’s a big fight going on, potentially against an Elite, and we may have trouble. I wanted to wake you and have you alert; I’m going to need you to watch my back. But try to keep it subtle where possible; better to have a trump card on hand just in case.”

Once more Higure merely nodded, keeping oddly silent for the amount he had spoken upon their first meaning. Turning, he vanished into the shadows again, but Baron had no doubt that he’d be ready when they approached the site of the battle. That was why he had stepped aside; sure, it wouldn’t mean anything to his companions that he had a new ally, but better to keep a secret for now; one never knew when a surprise move like that, one that no one expected, could be useful. Plan aside, the Twin Blade wanted to keep Higure’s existence to himself, period; until he knew more about the wolf he was going to keep it that way.

Now he could catch up to the others, and hope he didn’t get sidetracked again…

Why aren’t you speaking with your friends, your allies? If you don’t like your “leader’s” plan, with what’s going on, you should have said something.

So much for a straightforward trip. Baron debated remaining silent; he didn’t feel like speaking with the Gemini at the moment. However, they weren’t going anywhere, and they had all the time in the world to bother him about it, so he opted to answer. The last thing our group needs is a division, a dissension in decisions. Right now, our biggest strength is our ability to work together. All I’d do is weaken our group until something was settled, and right now we can’t afford that, can we?

Just until someone decides you’re acting a bit strangely, of course. There’s also the chance that others disagree and are in the same situation at you… it seems things could turn fragile quite soon.

Of course it would, that was the nature of The World for Baron; nothing worked out like it should. Still, all he could do was try. Shaking his head, the Twin Blade finally headed for the Chaos Gate plaza, noting as he went that the others had already left. It seemed he had been left behind; it could be for the best, strategically. It seemed to be a strange habit for groups, both enemy and ally, to go in a single pack and in plain sight, when one or two members circling around for a surprise attack could have devastating effect from the start of the fight. Either way, he figured it would be more beneficial—at very least, for him—to observe the fight and the opponents before jumping in.

The transport was quick, leaving Baron standing in the middle of the warzone. Buildings were toppled and smashed, parts of the street were cracked and shattered, and people ran from every direction towards the Chaos Gate. Biting his lip, the boy quickly ran in the direction of the raining lightning. Naturally the last place he would want to be was where his target would be found. His blades were pulled out of their sheaths automatically, the Twin Blade switching his armor and weapons around on the fly as he tried to figure out the best way to deal with someone insanely more powerful than him. The only hint he had was the excessive use of the Rai element; with that in mind Baron loaded up all of the Ani abilities he had in order to counter it.

He finished his selections not a moment too soon, approaching the outer limits of the battlefield. Skull-masked figures faced off against the members of Baron’s group, as well as one of two figures fighting each other off to the side. Judging by the fact that one was hurling lightning, Baron figured that meant that he was the target. The cloaked figure standing opposite him, wielding an astonishingly large mace, had to be Garaa. The Twin Blade knew that name after hearing the others talk, and frankly, he was terrified.

Garaa, the Elite of Darkness.

Baron stepped back involuntarily, knowing that the hacker was more powerful than anything else he had ever seen in The World and the Yamiyo Server. No, this was one of the strongest hackers, the Elites, the ones who had dragged them into The World for real. Just the thought of so much power filled the Twin Blade with enough fear that his knees threatened to give way, though he managed to stand.

Unfortunately, his motions also allowed him to be noticed by some of the black-armored figures that were fighting the rest of the group. So much for a sneak attack; three of them broke off and immediately came for Baron, assuming correctly that he was part of the attacking group. Two were wielding large lances, while the third had a enormous broadsword. Long Arms and a Heavy Blade; the latter would have been easy for Baron to chip away at, but with two moderate-speed opponents, that was out of the question. Plus with their getup, the Twin Blade figured they were aligned with the Ani element. Gear changes had to be made quickly, before the battle started, which meant he had merely seconds to get a preliminary build together before the opponents made contact.

Quickly slipping on his Thunder Gloves, Baron sent a Rai Don streaking down towards one of the two Long Arms. Lightning flashed through the air, but missed as the black-armored figure leapt aside. Two more shot down, slowing the advance of the attackers while the Twin Blade switched his equipment between casts. Lightning flashed down, hitting the ground each time without touching the two Long Arms, and Baron grimaced. However, he was ready when they drew near, his Raikoumaru sliding from their sheaths. Metal shone as the lightning flashes were reflected in it, twin beacons in Baron’s hands.

The instant one of the Long Arms drove in close, his spear stabbing forward, Baron sidestepped and slashed out, catching the guard in his armored shoulder. Sparks flew up as his blade collided with armor, and the Twin Blade stepped back with a wince from the numbing feeling in his arm. He barely avoided the next swipe, a horizontal sweep at head level that forced him to duck lest the bladed edge of the spear introduce him to the concept of a headless Twin Blade. Unfortunately, the assault intensified even further as the other Long Arm drove in, and even as Baron ducked the second spear caught him in the back of his knee, the blade digging into the muscle and drawing out a scream of pain. Baron’s leg gave out beneath him, and he fell to the ground.

As he fell, the Twin Blade threw out a GiRai Don that threw dozens of lightning bolts all around him. Both guards were struck, lightning coursing through their armor and causing them to convulse. While he had a moment, Baron healed himself with a Repth, restoring the muscles in his leg and easing some of the agony. Getting up quickly, the Twin Blade moved up to the first Long Arm again while they were both staggered, stabbing his blade forward towards the eyehole in one of the skull masks. The weapon sank in to the hilt, accompanied by a howl louder than his own injured cry, and the man fell back, stumbling and clutching at his eye.

While the first was distracted by the gouged-out eye, Baron quickly turned towards the other Long Arm and slashed his blades towards the lightly-armored neck. The guard’s spear rose, though, deflecting both weapons upward and leaving the Twin Blade’s chest wide open. The butt end of the weapon slammed into his chest, sending him onto his back with the feeling of fire burning in his lungs. Coughing, he rolled to the side, avoiding a downwards slam of the guard’s spear while he stumbled to his feet. His blades cut at armored ankles, but the masked guardian simply jumped over it and brought his spear down with even more force, causing Baron to roll away again.

Vaulting onto his feet, the Twin Blade had maybe a second of reaction time as an enormous broadsword came whistling through the air. He leaned back, barely avoiding the swing as metal clipped the very edge of his nose; what would have been decapitating was merely painful now. Turning, he shot off a point-blank BiVak Rom at the Heavy Blade, flames leaping up in a howling cyclone to engulf him. While he had a breather, Baron made sure to get some distance; all three of the guards were starting to recover, with one clutching at his ruined eye socket. They began to converge on him at once, rushing him in a group; they probably figured that a lone Twin Blade wouldn’t be able to stand the crush from all of them at once.

Of course, Baron had to disprove that by tossing a Merrows at the whole lot of them, his Fishskin suddenly replacing his Raikoumaru. The Rue-formed serpent rose behind him was the only warning they got before pure elemental energy washed over them in a flood, scattering them under the force of the attack. It wasn’t anything near fatal, but nonetheless it gave Baron even more time to react. The Twin Blade quickly rushed at the Long Arm who still had both of his eyes, attacking quickly by leaping atop him and stabbing downwards with both blades. The weapons managed to pierce through the guard’s armor, several deep rends left in the stiff leather and blood running from the wounds. Springing back from the Long Arm, Baron sent a Vak Don behind him, the flames washing down on the armored figure in a rush.

Landing a few feet away, the boy quickly turned towards the Heavy Blade as he began to recover. A sweep of the man’s broadsword forced Baron to quickly leap over the oncoming blade and slash down with his own weapons. However, they only impacted the skull mask and dented it, sending another shock through the boy’s arms. All it served to do was to leave him distracted long enough for the head of a spear to emerge from his stomach and introduce him to the concepts of impalement and disembowelment all at once. Baron’s mouth opened in a wordless sound of shock, but he reflexively tossed a GiRai Don behind him while he tried to recover from the explosion of pain running through his body.

While lightning crashed behind him, Baron took a quick stock of his situation. First off, he was breathing alright, so his lungs were missed. He wasn’t in danger of drowning in his own blood; that was somewhat comforting. He didn’t want to die period but hey, if he had to go at least it was less ugly. The next thing to consider was the spear stabbing through his middle; if The World had a bit more detail to it, he almost would have expected to see some entrails on the spearhead. That was a relief, too. It was almost as shocking that he was being this objective about his near-fatal situation, but he ignored it.

Instead of thinking, shouldn’t you be removing it so you can heal yourself?

Now see, that would be logical and— A surge of pain interrupted the Twin Blade’s internal sarcasm, causing him to double over, and he cut it off quickly. Ow… okay, working on it…

As he reached to remove the spear from his middle, though, the Heavy Blade was back up and charging towards him, broadsword held at his side so that he could use his momentum to swing it with vicious force. Grimacing as his automatic flinch caused the spear shaft in him to shift and tear at his insides a little more, Baron dodged away from the attack and quickly slashed down with his weapon, slicing off the head of the spear with a clash of sparks from metal on metal. The pole was quickly removed, but the pain was so intense that the Twin Blade nearly couldn’t cast a Repth spell to knit the injury shut. Gasping as his vision swam with red, he nearly fell over again. An Ol Repth followed right behind it once the pain was diminished, restoring all of the damage from his body and allowing him to stand again.

He was in the nick of time to duck beneath another sweep of the massive broadsword that came his way. Another swing using the same momentum brought it down in a downward chop that required Baron to twist aside, hearing the blade whistle past. The Twin Blade fired off yet another point-blank spell, this time switching in a Vulcan to blast the guard with hellfire. Heat seared around the two of them, and Baron immediately regretted using it so close. Still, the guard got it worse as his armor literally melted against his skin, the leather bubbling and boiling while the metal itself liquefied, causing a scream of agony that made the boy clench his teeth. It was a fight for survival but he didn’t have to enjoy it.

There were still two Long Arms coming his way though, and Baron didn’t have time for remorse. He also didn’t have time to take his time fighting; if more guards came, he was going to be overwhelmed. Instead, he rather preferred to deal with their target sooner than later; after all, the sooner he was taken down, the sooner they could escape. And Baron really didn’t want to stick around.

To defeat the guards quickly, Baron decided it was time to try out some of the rather… “unique” items he had picked up in the Bazaar. Naturally that meant that they were likely hacked but he had to ignore the whole moral repercussions for now. He could be angry at himself for using hacked things or whatever later; right now, they were a useful tool. After downing a Mage’s Soul to restore his SP, the Twin Blade cast a quick Ap Corma to boost his magical strength, used the “Booster” item that was said to boost the level of a spell or skill, and immediately launched a powerful GiRai Don—only now it was a PhaRai Don. Bolts of magic-enhanced lightning literally rained down on the two Long Arms, causing them to vanish in the bright flashes that threatened to blind Baron. He put a hand over his eyes to shield them, but that didn’t stop him from hearing the screams of pain and smelling scorched flesh. His stomach threatened to twist on itself, but he refused to give in. He had to be strong here; losing his stomach’s contents (what part of them hadn’t been driven out by a spear earlier) could wait until later.

While the coast was clear, the Twin Blade briefly glanced at the fight between their target and Garaa, but all he saw was one clash or another, never enough time to get a feel for the situation. Figuring he couldn’t do worse, and that it might help with their mission of taking out the man—who was the old guy, anyway?—he used his other remaining Booster and another Ap Corma before tossing a second super-powered GiRai Don into the fray. His hopes were that with such a broad attack the old man wouldn’t realize he was the target and that with the confusion caused by such a powerful spell, Garaa might be able to get a solid hit in… perhaps one powerful enough to kill their target rather than just incapacitate him.

One could only hope.

((OOC Count, etc etc. Three more guards bite the dust!))
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Nighthand » Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:27 pm

Nighthand hung back in the battle, even though he knew it might not be the most helpful thing. He didn’t particularly want to put himself in the forefront of the fight, in between two Elites he had battled several times before. If he was recognized, they would be in for trouble, and they couldn’t have that. So he watched, avoiding traps tossed to the ground and destroying them occasionally to allow more free movement in the wrecked square.

Demorian was locked in a duel with one of the stronger of Garaa’s minions. His own icy blade was less suited to combat against Anid than some other weapons would be, but it suited him too well to swap it out. It was a flaw of his, he thought, but his tactical mind and his use of any other game resource made up for it most of the time. As it was even now; he was avoiding showing his full power, dealing slowly with the blademaster while taking minimal damage himself. Arm and Leg shackles were thrown, but never seemed to connect. Spells were cast, but missed more often than not. Demorian was like a mirage, a dancer flowing around attacks and delivering his own light blows.

Finally Demorian delivered the final blow, and it looked that the tide had been turned. Amongst the ‘minions’ anyways. While few of Garaa’s guards remained, the Freedom Fighters seemed entirely intact. Which… posed a bit of a problem, if they were there to kill Rugudorull.

Garaa seemed to be doing his best to do just that, at least. His steps were heavy and cracked the ground, and the blows his massive mace landed shook the earth. Buildings quaked and fell when he struck them. It seemed like a vastly one-sided fight, the black demon twice the height of a man swinging a mace that could level buildings, fighting against an elderly wizard who blocked and dodged with a frail wooden staff.

Yet Rugu seemed to be keeping control of the situation. It was a testament to how powerful the Elites were that such basics of class did little to prove natural advantages. Rugu couldn’t take a hit, yes. When he blocked the mace with his staff he immediately healed, a Pha Repth on himself, and even then he was flung into walls or driven to his knees. He dodged more than he blocked, for obvious reasons.

“I’ve had enough of this! Powers of Thunder, gather before me! DEMONIC PULSE!” Rugudorull shouted to the heavens, and a blast of lightning fit to level yet another building struck… Rugu himself. The power seemed to flow into him, and when the afterimages of the bright flash of light cleared, what was left standing was nearly a mirror of Garaa himself.

Raikiri was Rugudorull’s demon form, Nighthand knew. He had teamed up with several others to deliver a blow that crippled the beast once before. He was vicious, powerful, and very dangerous. But the comparison between the two ended there.

Raikiri was still a foot shorter than Garaa and noticeably less muscular. Where Garaa’s pelt was black as night and matted under heavy armor, Raikiri wore no armor and had a lighter gray fur that bristled with static electricity. Garaa wielded a massive mace, but Raikiri had no weapon. Though, that was a fallacy to assume; Nighthand knew the creature had half a dozen weapons, and maybe more he hadn’t seen. It was something of a mystery just how the Twilight powers of the Earrings of Raikiri worked.

“Whelp.” Garaa said, his demonic face twisted into a smirk. “As if you can even hope to beat me.”

“I will kill you with everything I have!” Raikiri howled. “I know what you did, and it’s unacceptable!”

“I look forward to making you beg me to let you speak, when I interrogate you.” Garaa said. “Traitors like you deserve far more pain than a mere murder can deliver.”

Rugu howled again. “Thunderbolt Cut!”

Another blast of lightning shot from the sky, but this time it zagged before striking the ground, arcing into Raikiri’s open hand. The power flashed and held, then burst apart, revealing a golden longsword with ornate electrical designs. Nighthand recognized it, a dangerous and unnaturally swift striking blade. It was capable of slicing through the air and leaving it charged for nearly a minute, dealing all the damage as if it had struck to anyone unfortunate enough to run into it.

With another pair of roars, the two demons clashed again, the sword flashing through the air and the mace, as always, impacting with the force of a train. Raikiri moved much faster now, leaving arcs of power behind in the air, but Garaa paid them no heed. He walked through them or bashed them away with his mace, all the while pressing the attack.

“Stop moving, you annoying gnat!” Garaa yelled. “Guards! Restrain this beast!”

His wish was their command, and popping in from out of the woodwork (or the collapsed ruins as the case was), another solid dozen of the Anid Sector Guards appeared, converging on Rugu.

“Lanceor Rf!” Raikiri shouted, and a triple-blasé of thunder bombarded the entire area. Nighthand himself, even, was caught in it, as were all the rest of the Freedom Fighters, all of the Guards, and Garaa. It didn’t do a ton of damage, spread out as it was, but it wounded EVERYONE. Most of the damage seemed to focus on Garaa who, while resistant to damage, seemed to be starting to wear down.

Garaa growled and grabbed one of the guards, the poor fool within arms reach. He squeezed and the man exploded into a mist of red and black energy, which Garaa himself inhaled, seeming revitalized. “Chaotic Gale!” He said, thrusting his mace towards Raikiri. A half-dozen blades of translucent black-blue energy shot out, arcing around and slashing the lesser demon before he could react. Raikiri fell to his knees, sword dropped.

“It’s time we end this.” The Anid Elite said, then laughed.


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

Canti, Takua, and Sekai get the 500 bonus EXP. Baron's attack on Rugu and Garaa was mostly ignored; Garaa figured it was another of Rugu's attacks, and Rugu was too pressed by Garaa to care where it came from.

There are about a dozen anid guards again, but they're all around 50% health and focused on trapping Raikiri. Now's your chance.

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Takua
Ikkitousen
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:19 am
Class: Wavemaster
Location: Walking the line of madness

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Takua » Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:39 am

Things had swiftly moved into territory that he was comfortable with. Using Sekai, Kira and December as his eyes, as well as those that he was fighting, was a very efficient way of fighting when he didn't have his own eyes. Yet. Soon, perhaps? He smiled darkly, taking to the air just slightly as he noticed that Kira was following him closely. Why? To make sure that he didn't do something stupid? To support him if it were absolutely necessary? Or the more paranoid whispers, the possibilities. A backstab, a spy. Ha, like they needed to spy on him. And as if they were in any other position to do so.

But things had started to shift from 'okay' to worse. Reminded him a bit of all of the adventures that he'd had in the Eventide Crescendo, in Ganz and in Juka. How swiftly had things gone to burning hell with the Swath and Saol? With the Good Doctor, Sprouce? He'd destroyed an entire field on accident. It still haunted him now and then, but it was mostly a good thing...mostly. Still hard to think that he'd really murdered over thirty people. Well, sure, he'd meant to do that to Sprouce. But not to some of the adults, and certainly not to the children. His eyes remained closed, but they would have been that way anyways.

But here he was, intending to...do very very bad things to Garaa. The way that the fight was going, he didn't think it was going to take much for Garaa to outmatch the Lightning Elite. So he wanted to...even things up a little. The thing that was holding him back was a memory that he had, something that a certain child had shown him. Not of this scene, not even of this time. Or, in fact, of nearly anyone here. It was of Sidhe, cracked and broken on the ground before him. And Nemera sobbing over him, his glitched body telling enough of his chances of getting out alive. He didn't want to die like that, permanently...it'd leave a foul taste in the mouth of people, right? Besides, it'd also kill Ondine. Rather odd, to think that he had a second life (of sorts) in him that he was responsible for. So he could fight, and draw the attention of the Elites. He just didn't want to be deleted.

That he, himself, would die was scarcely in that thought. It was other people. He didn't notice that, as he flew back over to where December and Sekai were forming up, moving toward him as well. Back into formation, as Rugudorull went...well, demonic. And then the fight continued, as Takua threw out Rig Saem and Rig Geams to everyone in the Freedom Fighters, following it up with a normal Ap Do. That done, he settled back to heal with another Ola Repth...and waited.

He knew what he wanted to do. He didn't think that it'd arrive for him so easily. He saw a wave of lightning, probably a Lanceor Rf or something similar, cover the area. Hit the reinforcements, hit Garaa, hit all of them. But he also saw something else, saw the creeping shadows that the lightning showed against the ground. Saw one of those shadows speeding towards him, and the three women around him. His reaction was instant, stopping too late to consider the possibility of a hallucination. And, even as he considered that, the next thought hit. So what if it was? Rugudorull was on the ground, defenseless. If he was captured, this was finished. They'd never get out. He'd be stuck here, insane...or dead. Or they'd all be dead. Better to act now, act first, level the playing field a little.

"Now."

Four items and one spell went off nearly as one. The Sun, The High Priestess, Doublecast and Quickcast, almost totally coincided with an Ap Corma from Baron. Blue energy blazed and circled around him as a bar of light jumped upward from his head, twirling into a helix and then vanishing. A pair of angel wings opened up from the front of his body to the back in a swirl of feathers, lit from above as a miniature sun lit him from above, the rays twining around his body. And, at that moment, he could feel the power. His elemental stats were maxed out. His SP pool was a bottomless well that he could plumb at his wish, the feeling of casting bubbling under his touch. It was heady.

It attracted the attention of three guards that could see him. The closest one uttered a quick and dirty epithet, another one stopped and stared. And, in the next instant, all three vanished in a boil of lightning, as four casts, each, of GiRai Don turned them all into a bloody mess. The first lightning bolt had no sooner appeared as the spells were cast on every other guard that he could see, each one that was weakened. An instant later, and two Ola Repths washed over the party, restoring most of their health.

An artificial high, a power that couldn't last. He knew that no normal server could handle this. It'd have crashed and died like the Hindenburg getting hit with a Vulcan Pha. With every normal, small enemy down, he turned his attention to the darkness that he could see. And the Elite beyond it. Elites, really. Garaa, the Elite of Darkness. Just Rai, or a mix? Who cared? Moving a little higher in the air, above the trio below him, he cast. Doubled sets of Lanceor Ch turned the path of darkness into a blaze of lightning, but by the time the spells could even be seen manifesting, he had already moved on to the Elite.

And his ability to see Garaa vanished in a frenzy of spells. Lanceor Ch, GiRai Don, PhaRue Rom and RaVak Don turned the air around the Elite into a boiling vortex of electrified steam, lightning blazing from the rapidly moving walls of water. RaJuk Rom and Yarthkins Rf added their frenzy to the storm, as the Wavemaster, for one solid minute, turned into the best representation of his class that he possibly could, at his level, with his items. Every spell cast twice, no cast time, no SP cost, maximized elemental stats. The only element that he didn't do was Darkness. He didn't know what it would do, and there seemed to be no reason to cast such a spell on the bastard. After all, what was the point of hitting him with his own element?

It was after the half minute mark that he realized that he hadn't seen any attack at all. Just another hallucination. More to the point, he was fucked once the items ran out of juice. And they inevitably would. But that didn't stop him from casting every spell that he could, the highest ones that he could. Vulcan Ch, LaRue Zot were added to the mix, but nothing lower. He kept the elemental storm up, trying not to apologize to the people below him. He'd distinctly just gone against a few recommendations...but, hey, he was also trying to net them a second kill. Garaa, he had a feeling, might not be so easy to kill a second time. Rugudorull...well, so far, he didn't seem totally powerful.

And he had no illusions about what would happen when the spells were finished. Somehow, it didn't seem plausible that Garaa would die from this. Hurt, sure. Death? No. And, man, would he be pissed. In fact, he and Ondine had just stared a little betting pool as to what state they would be in when they stopped. She was favoring 'wishing you were dead' and he was going along the lines of 'closer to deleted than not'. He gritted his teeth, and spoke to the three below him. "You...may want to get out of the way. This'll stop soon and..." He didn't need to say any more, and knew it. More to the point, he wasn't even sure that there was a point to having stopped at all once he had started. How would he react, if he were as powerful as Garaa, and someone dared to scratch him? Annihilation. Even if he had stopped five seconds in, it'd be the same. Now, at least he was giving the full minute. Plus...

If he wanted to be honest, he was high on the feeling. Magic raged through him, the feeling of non-stop spellcasting. No downside, no SP usage, just a huge smoldering elemental power that begged to be used. So he did. Until he noticed that he was only casting one spell at a time. And then the titanic power within him...receded, down to its normal level. One second later, and his SP level dropped like a meteor, resting at a rock hard zero. And then the last bonus, Quickcast, vanished from him. He was back...just another regular Wavemaster. Just a normal player, who had pissed on an Elite. 'And I'm so, so dead in three...two...'

The smile on his face was cold, but it was a smile. He didn't want to go out screaming, or crying. He'd die as he wanted to dammit. If he did. And that seemed more and more likely as the seconds ticked by. With an Ap Do on himself, he prepared to fly and try and dodge anything that game at him.

What the hell was that?!" Kira was yelling at him, pissed off and showing it. "Get your ass down here, now!" The Wavemaster did the exact opposite, watching his spells burn on the Elite.  Baron had attacked the other one, which meant that both would be attacking now...  "He phased through shadow.  I don't want him coming up from under me!"  He sounded totally calm. He wasn't, but he wasn't about to let her know that. He meant to face what was probably impending death was as much cool as possible...which was becoming harder with every second.

"You just turned yourself into a big fucking target with that, doesn't matter what way he's going to nuke you at this point." She spat back, before turning and giving Takua a perfect view of the Archer's shocked and white face. Not what he needed to see right now...guess she had figured out what was about to happen. "You want us to do our job, get your ass down here or so help your god, we'll bring you down first."

Takua swore something vile.  "Why?  So that you can get killed as well?  I've turned myself into a huge target, there is no good reason to turn you three into corpses as well.  Especially with him as the enemy.  If I'm alone, he might not turn five other people into corpses."  He was completely, irrationally calm, even to himself.  God, he was going to die in a few seconds now.  "Tell me one logical thing that you can do against him that will prevent me from dying, and I'll come down."  Any moment now...

"Because I said so, you suicidal brat; that should be damn good enough reason to do as I say."

He didn't think that they'd accept his reasoning.  He also hoped that they wouldn't be horribly illogical and shoot him out of the sky, effectively killing him anyhow, just to get him down.  Which, he reflected, would be funny.  Switching between all of them, he just skipped over Sekai as she closed her eyes.  And, moving over to Baron, and everyone else, and then back...  "Sounds suicidal Kira.  Even more so than what I'm doing now.  And that's impressive."  And it was then that he noticed what Sekai was doing, as she opened her eyes.  Fucking hell.

"There isn't a logical thing we can do in a fight between two illogical people, but I had to watch you die alone too many times to count; I'm going to do what we promised, what you asked us to do and I'm going to make sure some of the damage gets blunted so you don't end up like you did with Tritoch." Her voice grew as stubborn as she could possibly make it, and Takua wanted to groan. "So be a good boy and do what your Onee-chans say or I'll drag you down to the other two myself."

'You know it's logical, and she was going to do this.  Now shut the fuck up and deal with it.'  That was annoying.  Unfortunately, she was right.  There was no time to spare, so he shot off, casting an Ap Do on himself with his regenerated SP.  "There's a line between defense and suicide, and this is suicide!  And since I don't want you to die for my idiocy...  And he was flying away, as fast as he could, trying to avoid both the Archer and any attacks from Garaa.  If he could.  If he could even see it coming.

"Which is why you have Kira, December and I there to supposedly keep you from being suicidal; but apparently you still don't trust us enough to let us in on your battle plans." She was flying right after him, going really fast. As fast as a little Archer could be, anyhow. Which wasn't slow. Fuck, she could catch him. "Maybe you can go off by yourself one of these days when the three of us aren't looking and get yourself killed," He saw her take out a crossbow and...what? "But this isn't one of those times, Takua-san; you did something stupid and now we all have to face the consequences together. Don't run away like a coward; you're better than that!" She fired, obviously just a little to the side because he could see through her. "I won't miss again, Takua-san; that was your warning!"

Okay, so she had a bit of a point.  Kind of.  She had a point in that, if this had been his original plan, he needed to have told them about it.  And that his own stupidity had gotten them all into this mess in the first place, as well as his inherent need for survival.  He refused to let her see how much she had hurt him with that comment, about going off somewhere and committing suicide.  So he descended, as the arrow shot past him.  So she was ready to shoot him down to get him down, eh?  "Explain to me how shooting me is going to help?"  He couldn't resist that comment, not looking anywhere near her, and happy that he had a good excuse for keeping his eyes closed.  "And you're right.  Next time, I should tell you ahead of time that I'm going to hallucinate.  And freak out.  And attack because I thought we were."  That slipped out with an edge of bitterness to his tone, but not at her.  At himself.  Fuckit, let's see how much he could avoid Garaa on the ground.

"Wouldn't have to shoot you down if you didn't run like I was Garaa-san himself chasing you." She sounded like a smartass fucking kid, and he really wanted to glare at her for saying that. Made no sense, maybe if she looked at what she was trying to do, and what he was trying to do, she'd see that they weren't that far apart. Wait, fuck, that applied to him too. Ugh... "Next time Takua-san should talk first instead of reacting right off the bat; if he can see us through our eyes and we're not panicking, it's probably safe to assume that everything is as okay as it ever can be in a fight." How could he tell her...that he could see them reacting too at times? See them panic? She came down to the ground, and an awkward silence developed between them.

"I'm glad you got back on the ground though," She didn't sound happy...probably because she'd had to bully him into it. But, she also probably was tired of people, just like him, ignoring what she wanted. "You can just tell people I'm scarier than anything than Kira and Garaa-san combined."

Couldn't...laugh. Couldn't laugh. Especially because she'd drawn herself up as much as she could to look tough and intimidating. He couldn't tell her that all it made him want to do was burst into giggles. The thought sobered him, though. Made him think. How could he tell her...that it wasn't as easy as she had made it sound? When Ondine's voice came, right next to his ear in a whisper, he wasn't surprised. 'By just telling her. She can't know how bad it is if you don't tell her.'

But he was running out of time. They'd spent too long talking, so he shot her a quick flashmail instead. Now, with an Ap Do on and a pair of wings, it was time to see what Garaa was going to do. And Rugudorull.

((So...uhh...talking is a free action? ^^;))
Takua - Lvl 57 Wavemaster
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Wishlist: Levels, Stun Rod, Hag's Wand, Wand of Truth, Ex-Level, Ex-Spheres, and Myth: Demiurge, FL Fukuoka

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Locke
Ikkitousen
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:21 pm
Class: Twin Blade

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Locke » Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:31 am

Well that was a waste of time and good items…

The lightning surges that Baron had sent crashing down on the two Elites had done just about nothing. The old man they were supposed to be taking down ignored it completely, too concerned with fighting Garaa to notice that he was being attacked by something completely separate. That much was a relief; if their target was onto them, he could become much more dangerous, surrounded by nothing but enemies. A cornered animal, so to speak. The Twin Blade bit his lip as he considered his next move, watching things play out. For now he wasn’t sure what to do; anything else too soon could draw the attention of either one or both Elites.

Things rapidly escalated, even as he watched. Lightning crashed down, and suddenly a demon stood where the old man had been. Whoever their target was, he now resembled Garaa. Baron’s fears were confirmed as he saw the transformation, pieces clicking together in his mind. Garaa was the Elite of Darkness. He was fighting against a man who seemed to be using very similar powers, matching him for the most part though he seemed to be fighting a losing battle. By that logic, the man that was their target… had to be an Elite as well. Rugudorull, the Elite of Thunder, to be precise.

Suddenly, Baron felt very, very small in a battle between Elites.

There was no time to act though; already more guards were converging as the two Elites met, preparing to do battle while showing their real strength. Baron ducked around a swipe from a Blademaster’s sword, crowding the man and trying to prevent him from using his longsword in close quarters. Immediately behind him was another Long Arm, lance swinging awkwardly in order to avoid hitting his ally. Baron twisted, grabbing the head of the spear and pulling it backwards, causing the blade to pierce lightly into the Blademaster’s armor before the Twin Blade suddenly pulled away from both of them.

A wave of his hand and another Merrows engulfed both, blasting them backwards. As they fell, though, the Long Arm took something from his belt and threw it at Baron, who was too slow to dodge. A starfish-like contraption suddenly grabbed his arm and yanked it behind him, binding his arm. Surprised, the Twin Blade tried to wrench his arm free, only to receive a painful stretching of the muscles and a slight pop from him almost overexerting the joint. Realizing that he was accomplishing nothing by ripping his arm out of its socket, the Twin Blade focused on using his one free arm. After all, the two guards were still right in front of him, and recovering from his Merrows spell. There wasn’t really time to deal with the thing on his arm.

Of course, time was made shortly, though not in the way any of them would have chosen. There was barely any warning, merely a shout as the spell was fired off, and a Lanceor Rf tore through foes and… well, foes, from Rugudorull’s standpoint. Lightning blasted in all directions, and Baron felt a surge of numbness was over his body, followed by an almost blinding pain as electricity surged through him. Alternating flashes of a burning heat and just pain passed through him in bursts, before settling down as the last of the spell blew over, leaving everyone affected in various states of disarray. Baron fell to his knees, catching himself with both hands—he idly noted that the spell had blown the contraption off of his arm, whatever it was—as he tried to catch his breath after that surge.

So being electrocuted officially sucked.

A Rig Geam and Saem that had been placed at some point were godsends right now. Baron quickly tossed up an Ol Repth to restore most of his missing HP, the rest quickly patched up by the Rig Saem that was still regenerating his health. The guards he had been fighting were still alive, albeit at minimal health, so the Twin Blade turned his head, tossing down a GiRai Don to finish them off, refusing to look as they were fried by the lightning. A pair of screams rose up, but they were quickly cut off. The boy shivered as he thought what it must feel like; he had just gotten a taste of electricity himself; he didn’t want to repeat it on a fatal scale.

Now it was time to get back to business. Baron turned to the fight between the two Elites that was still raging fiercely—for all of ten more seconds. He looked just in time to see Rugudorull knocked backwards by one of Garaa’s attacks, weakened, and realized that their mission was in sudden danger. If Rugudorull was captured, they were in deep trouble; the Fire Master and the rest of his side wasn’t likely to forgive failure, and they knew who the Freedom Fighters were—at very least their faces. No, they needed a finishing blow on Rugudorull now, or else they were done. But first they needed to get Garaa away from him, as soon as possible.

Takua provided that means, though Baron probably wouldn’t have chosen that means. The Wavemaster unleashed a blistering barrage of spells, a storm of fire, water, lightning, earth, wood… every element besides Ani was focused into the surge that was focused on turning Garaa into nothing more than a smear. It wouldn’t work; they all knew it. Takua probably knew it as well, but at the same time… it was the opening the others would need. Baron blessed the Wavemaster for doing something so foolish, while at the same time wanting to rip his wings off and smack him a couple dozen times for being an idiot. To summarize his feelings for it, he sent a simple Flashmail; it was all he had the time for.
To: Takua
From: Baron
Subject: You’re an idiot

That was probably the stupidest thing you could have done, trying to paste an Elite with something so straightforward. You’re an idiot for it and to be frank you’re fully deserving of what’s about to come to you. That being said, thank you; by distracting Garaa like that, you’ve left us an opening to finish off Rugudorull. Hope your death is quick and painless. =P
One more was sent off to Sekai, one that would probably be needed.
To: Sekai
From: Baron
Subject: Warning

I’m going to be using a LOT of Ani in a moment… don’t look towards Rugudorull, whatever you do. You will regret it.
Once that was done, Baron started switching his gear around. If he was going to go head-to-head with an Elite, then he would need to be fully ready. His Raikoumaru and Thunder Gloves were equipped to increase his lightning element—and by extension his resistance to it—and the Canyon Eye Bonnet and Ninja Anklet opened up his spell list to a few powerful spells, giving him a powerful starting assault. Another hacked item, The Emperor, doubled his HP so he could take a few hits and another, a Reflect, was put up to defend against and bounce spells back at the user. Finally an Ap Corv to boost his attack power and a Speed Charm to up his speed finished off his preparations, leaving him ready to attempt an attack on Rugudorull.

Dashing towards the fallen Elite, Baron tossed a Dek Vorv ahead of him, thankful for the Rig Geam that had been filling up his SP bar. Unfortunately the spell didn’t stick; neither did the repeat after it. Grimacing, the Twin Blade tossed out another hacked item, The Sap; it was supposed to inflict an enhanced Poison and Curse… unfortunately it didn’t stick either. What a waste. Well if debuffs weren’t going to work, it was time to get up close and personal. Using his enhanced speed, Baron quickly hurried towards Rugudorull, hoping that Sekai had gotten his warning message. There wasn’t time for any more, and the Twin Blade knew that using the Elite’s opposite element was about as close a chance to a minor advantage as he’d get. If Sekai freaked out at the Ani well… it was a necessary evil. He had sent a warning beforehand, so hopefully Kira would keep the Archer well away.

Time to begin.

“OrmeAni Kruz! BiVak Rom! BiVak Rom! GiGan Zot!”

A sizeable chunk of Baron’s SP vanished as four powerful spells went off within a few seconds of each other. Skulls of darkness formed as one of Baron’s most powerful spells, one of the two level three spells he had to his name, appeared around Rugudorull. Malice and scorn were etched into the darkness-cloaked skulls as they suddenly rushed inwards around the weakened Elite. The demonic hacker leapt back, trying to avoid the attack, though it was more of a stumbling move as the spell halfway caught him. Skulls exploded into darkness as they touched him, and the few that missed faded. Right behind them, two large tornadoes of fire formed, engulfing the area around Rugudorull and dealing constant damage, while the GiGan Zot tripped him up more with powerful earthen pillars that blocked his retreat.

Baron leapt in just as the fires faded, trying to surprise Rugudorull by coming so close. More Ani enshrouded his blades as he changed to his Bloody Blades, the Twin Darkness preparing to go off. Moving quickly thanks to his Speed Charm, the Twin Blade closed the distance between the two of them, blades sliding through the air smoothly before reaching the Elite. Dark lines appeared across his body as the weapons slashed through, surges of Ani strengthening each cut as Baron attacked. The entire attack lasted maybe a moment or two, but hit several times thanks to the Twin Blade’s speed and agility.

Using the last few drops of his SP, Baron tried to repeat the maneuver, but Rugudorull brought his sword up to absorb most of the hits, rendering them ineffective to the Elite. Swearing briefly under his breath, the Twin Blade made use of his enhanced speed to quickly move around his opponent. Another pair of BiVak Roms to surround him and a GiGan Don to impale him from below were all fired off, but Rugudorull stood fast, brushing off the majority of the damage and bringing his sword to bare. The Twin Blade quickly ducked beneath the weapon and danced back before charging in again for another Twin Darkness. However, where the Elite had swept his sword, the air still had an electrified charge, and running into it sent another surge of electricity through his body. Baron twitched as his nerves all decided firing off at once was a good idea, before stumbling back out of the lightning’s area.

Once he was out of range, Baron switched over to his Hachiyou. Dark-type abilities didn’t seem to be doing very well, so he went with his most powerful weapons, which also came with a level three skill. Immediately dashing around the lightning and taking the closest opening he could, he let a sheen of Juk rise over his blades, a potent glow to signify the strongest rank of Twin Blade skills in existence. The Wildflower went off quickly, and he spun his blades hit two, four, six total times, not one of them blocked by Rugudorull. Baron started to think for a moment that he might have had a chance by charging in while the Elite was weakened by combat with his counterpart.

Boy was he wrong.

“Million Volts!”

Before feeling it, Baron could have told you the attack was going to be bad. He could have said that it was going to involve electricity. He could have told you that he was going to be one toasty Twin Blade in seconds. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance to. Rugudorull’s blade suddenly turned into a whip made of pure lightning, and in an instant it was wrapped around Baron’s body. If the lightning strike before had been potent, this one seared every inch of his being and made him want to scream if he didn’t feel like he was being broken down from the inside out. His muscles spasmed, his jaw locked in a half-scream, and his eyes felt like they were being cooked in their sockets. The Twin Blade’s body jerked. It spasmed. It shook. It twitched and writhed in agony. Every fiber of him was a fiery pain with brief spurts of numbness, and his vision was full of flashing white.

Then in a moment it was over, and Baron found himself face-down in a pile of rubble. His body was still slightly unresponsive, and the smell of burnt hair and flesh rose all around him. Numbness seemed to spread across his body, and every breath was agony. Slowly, after a few seconds, feeling started returning—and with it came pain. Lots of pain. Pain from seared muscles and nerves, pain from the scrapes on his skin where the rocks had cut him and bruised him… it was all there. At least he was feeling things; it was a good sign he wasn’t dead. Baron kinda wished he was as he slowly rose from the rubble, grimacing at his injuries.

… Ow… I’m never gonna be able to see lightning without remembering that…

Grimacing as he got to his feet, Baron took a quick breath, knowing that it wasn’t over. He couldn’t afford to stop now, not while he had Rugudorull on the defensive. If the Elite was at full strength, likely he would have deleted the Twin Blade offhandedly. But no, the hacker had merely injured him, hadn’t even killed him—yes, it had hurt like hell and shaken the boy bad, but still he was alive. That meant that the demon was weakened; this would be the only chance to take him down. They had to strike before he could recover; after seeing Garaa’s display, Baron had no doubt that Rugudorull would have some way to do so himself.

There was no time to send off a Flashmail either, to get the others on the offensive. They would be busy dealing with Garaa besides; so right now, it was up to him. Hopefully the others would find a moment to come to his aid. In the meantime, he had to do it himself. It was time to roll the dice and see what happened.

It was time to take a page out of Takua’s book. Two Mage’s Souls to top him off, an Ap Corma on himself, and then the Quickcast item he had were all used. A surge of energy rushed through him; it was almost exhilarating. There would be no delay now, and he could draw from his SP pool immediately. He didn’t hesitate in the least; his Fishskin were out, and a storm of Merrows spells started exploding in fours towards Rugudorull. Every four Merrows was followed by a pair of Mage’s Souls. Waves of elemental energy slammed into the Elite, rushing over him in a wash. Baron could feel the force of the attacks, and he was behind them. He wondered what it would be like from the front.

Rugudorull didn’t just stand and take them, of course; a PhaRai Don struck down at him rapidly, powerful lightning lancing towards his head. The Reflect he had put up finally served its purpose, adding lightning to the storm of energy Baron shot at the Elite. It struck the demon a glancing blow, and with a roar of fury he shot forth, charging through each of the Merrows spells that smashed into him. He reached Baron just as the Quickcast ended, leaving the boy drained, though for his sake, Baron hoped that Rugudorull was just as worn out. He couldn’t take anymore, especially with one realization:

His HP was at a critical low.

The reflex to cure himself with a health drink while his SP was gone was too slow; that whip was back, and the feeling of being cooked alive enveloped him again. Fortunately this one was mercifully short; Baron was electrocuted to death before he had to suffer too much. A blessing indeed, even though the sickly, sinking feeling washed over him. Baron took a deep breath before moving away from his former corpse; he didn’t want to draw Rugudorull’s attention even more, and risk getting deleted. Instead he found a nice place out of the way, and started up a Flashmail for the others to see.
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Baron
Subject: Attack!

Quick, get after Rugudorull ASAP. He seems to be weakened—he didn’t do anything really close to one-shotting me, and while he’s still really powerful, he may yet be weak enough to be defeated now. Don’t let up on him—I was able to get in quite a few hits. Also, watch the whip. Death by electrocution freaking hurts.
---

((OOC: I had waaaay too much fun describing what it's like being electrocuted to death.))
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Lord Canti » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:08 am

(So, what was going on right now? Well, during the time that Canti was taking a short breather in between his battles...uhhh...chaos. Let's recap. First of all, the Freedom Fighters were having...not so much trouble with the Anid Guards. Well, they were within certain degrees of toughness, but a good lot of them were killed in a rather one-sided way that would've proven irritating for Garaa, had he been paying that much attention. The fact of the matter was that his focus was mostly on Rugudorull, whose name only makes us think of 'rigmarole'. Which is funny, of course, because that's sort of what this is, at least in part. But moving right along...)

"I’ve had enough of this! Powers of Thunder, gather before me! DEMONIC PULSE!"

(There was a slight problem, in that Gandalf became a Balrog strange monstrous thunder demon, having struck himself with a giant lightning bolt at the height of his irritation with Garaa. The two Elites were like a demonic reflection of each other, each a literal monster by now. No matter how noble one could seem, you had to remember they were the bastards responsible for the comas everyone else here was in. They argued, and they began their fight, Rugu revealing that he could craft weapons directly out of lightning now. Canti silently made note of that...and waited. An opportunity was bound to come up. He had to keep alert and see...and keep out of ground zero for the moment. However, the two of them were growing thin on patience.)

"Stop moving, you annoying gnat! Guards! Restrain this beast!"

Canti: Ah dammit, not more flipping guards...

(Yup. Garaa had put down the "Guards! Guards!" card and they were just popping up like mushrooms...and Canti hated mushrooms, especially in this game. Anyway, this led to a pair of "Oh crap!" moments, actually. First, Rugu reacted to the sudden onset of guards with a summon attack that Canti was all-too-familiar with...but on such a wide scale that even HE had to be...well, I'll say it...shocked! The damage to him and Shadow was not too extreme, but damn! Helluva thing to spring on everybody, Garaa and Company included! This however, did not top the part where Garaa killed and inhaled one of his guards to let out his own kind of evil blast of blasts. Rugu was worn down by this, and things appeared to be more in Garaa's favor. Oh, but then..."Oh Crap" moment #2! What, you thought Garaa retaliating was it? No no no... Takua suddenly piling on a big multitude of spells was! Canti didn't even bother trying to recount all the spells that the Wavemaster let off, or the ones that Baron did either. What WAS important was the effect. Garaa was hit with a mad melange of attacks that currently had him obscured and unable to see things at this time, possibly recovering from heavy hits. Rugu, already weakened, was angered quite a bit from Baron's assault on him and thus whipped him and electrocuted him to death. Important to note here, so sayeth the Darkness Twin Blade. Lightning? Really bad.)
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Baron
Subject: Attack!

Quick, get after Rugudorull ASAP. He seems to be weakened—he didn’t do anything really close to one-shotting me, and while he’s still really powerful, he may yet be weak enough to be defeated now. Don’t let up on him—I was able to get in quite a few hits. Also, watch the whip. Death by electrocution freaking hurts.
(Yes, that much was evident. Alright, Canti knew what he had to do. He was ready, willing, and ab- HOLY SHIT AND WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! The Twin Blade paused before acting as something from out of his field of vision assaulted Rugudorull, something unexpected and loud, like a shriek or something. Looking over, it appeared to be Talal that did it, falling unconscious after she did so. What was happening around here? Well, putting that aside for now, the demon lightning Elite was definitely distracted now, probably with his ears bleeding from the noise and whatnot. Canti finally did it. He was going to use one of his Yamiyo-exclusive items. Seeing as how much destruction Takua caused with his, he now pulled out and applied The High Priestess on himself. The SP gauge froze, and the Twin Blade was good to go. Having not even been on Rugu's radar, he swung high over the demon in the air...and then let off a hideous amount of the Darkness Flame at him. Since this power was fueled by his SP as well, Canti blasted away at Rugu at maximum force. The sort of blast that would eat his SP in one gulp was continuous and creating a large and obscuring bonfire, almost as though he were nuking the Elite in darkness. With no limits, what could stop him from achieving such high levels of destructive power? Well...)

Canti: Nyah!

(At first, nothing had happened. He could assume the Elite was reeling from the blow...but then, the lightning whip swung wildly out of the darkness, trying to get at him as he poured it on. A few times, it came rather close, dangerously close. For his own good, Canti flew higher and fired from a different angle, keeping himself out of the presumed range of the lightning weapon while an Ap Do descended upon him from Shadow. After seeing the effect on Baron, we avoid this kind of trouble like the plague. However, in the next instant, what the Twin Blade REALLY wanted was some kind of lightning defense spell, because the area of his bonfire suddenly exploded with a massive Pha Rai Rom, catching him with the fringes of it as he flew the hell away from it! He was damaged, but not severely. He had to bail on his continuous attack, though, so Rugu could see him in a moment, and would see the Twin Blade flying around and firing penetrating dark fire bullet shots, to put some extra damage and force him down if possible. This was met with only minor success, even though Canti had used a Cooked Bile to up his Darkness element and Shadow had casted Dek Do at the Elite. The speed-downer didn't even touch him, so that's an indicator as to how bad things were here. Yes, Rugu was in bad shape, but not quite that bad.)

Canti: My kingdom for a de-buff that WORKS on a boss character...

(And here's where things got complicated. Much of his gun-shot attacks either missed or didn't hit majorly because Rugu decided to take a sudden leap up at him which made the shots miss or whatever on the virtue of no longer being where he expected the Elite to be. Even still, some of the shots DID connect and - much to the Twin Blade's surprise - were ignored in a rage. It all happened quickly from this point on. As the Elite hurtled in Canti's direction, the lightning whip swept towards him...and a Pha Rai Don spell came down behind him! This would normally be seen as a pincer maneuver, to cut off the line of escape. And maybe against somebody else, this was true. But in the air like this, it didn't quite work out. The Twin Blade dropped down under the whip attack, showing that Rugu had misjudged his adversary, and flew under the Elite as he was passing...two perform two quick actions. Number One, Canti pulled out one of the fire-and-darkness dagger grenades he'd been given by Nighthand and stabbed him in the leg with it. Number Two, he used a Firebane on him and flew a distance away from the Elite.)

Canti: Bye bye, birdy.

BOOM!!!

(Somehow, this seemed a little more special than the huge mass of Darkness Flame that Canti had used on him before. Maybe it was due to the fact that Firebane had held and therefore Rugu felt the full impact of the dagger-bomb that went off on him, or maybe it was due to how embarassing it must be to get flung into a half-ruined building by the explosion. We don't know. However, the Twin Blade decided not to let up, and continued to assault the area Rugu fell into with rapid exploding dark fireballs until his SP bar finally ran out. Yeah, somewhere amidst that blitzkrieg of destruction, The High Priestess wore off and he ran out of juice. And then, almost in after-thought, Shadow dumped an Ani Don on top of all that. Canti watched, waited, and listened... Nothing. He stared at the wreckage that use to be that building, but there was no reaction from Rugu at all... It was too quiet. Was he dead? Should he check? Hmmm...)

Canti: Hey uhh, Shadow? Shadow, come 'ere!

(The large demon dog padded over from somewhere, holding an Anid Guard in his mouth.)

Canti: Get rid of that.

(A sound like 'Ptooey!' followed.)

Canti: C'mon, I need you to go see if he's alive.

Shadow: I'm not going out there. You go out there.

Canti: I'm not going out there. He'll fry me in an instant.

Shadow: It's no picnic for me either. Same stats and weaknesses.

(He had a point there. But since the Twin Blade was more versatile with flight and Ap Do right now, it had to be him. He let Shadow get back to...whatever it was he was doing...and replenished both lost health and SP with items. So, Canti decided to fly over in a fast recon maneuver and see what he could see...which was nothing much. It was sort of a mess down there, but apparently...he was breathing. The Twin Blade attempted to illuminate the spot where Rugu might've been - where he thought he was - and ended up just setting the area of rubble on fire with BiVak Rom. Fabulous. Rugu was buried, and he wasn't coming out right now. More like...he was lying in wait, so that an unsuspecting Twin Blade could unearth him and be killed instantaneously. And also...the memory of what happened to Tritoch was still fresh in his mind. The last time he inflicted heavy damage on a high-powered player, Takua lost his sight. Canti backed off and kept his distance, his instincts flat-out telling him "Danger!". Rugudorull was up to something, and it wasn't worth spontaneous death to find out.)
TO: Freedom Fighters
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: Problem.

As you can see, I've done Rugu here a nasty turn, but I'm almost certain that he's up to something unpleasant. Be on your guard.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(Now, all while dark Twin Blade was going about things, there is still the business of the sidelines to clear up. With only small exception to the rule, Shadow was vacant from the overall fight between Canti and Rugudorull. To explain the reasoning behind this, we switch now to the demon dog's perspective, starting from the loud shriek.)

Shadow: Owwww...!

(What was that? Find the source. It came from almost behind, so...that way? There. Identified username 'Talal'. An attack like his own? No, it doesn't paralyze. It hurts. Username 'Rugudorull' took damage. As Canti got to work, Shadow looked back at Talal, unconscious from whatever she did.)

'...the first thing I would do is go find the largest black demony dog I could find and keep it very close.'

(He then padded over to the other Twin Blade, and...sit. He was more or less standing guard, watching Canti blast away at the Elite. Stood up to cast Ap Do, and then Dek Do. Sit. A couple of Garaa's Anid Guards came close, but backed off with a quick bark, for the moment. Now, Rugu was flying into the building, Canti was pretty much blowing it up, and...Ani Don. There. Helped. Then, he suddenly felt an impact as one of the guards attacked. It too was a Twin Blade, trying to rush him and slice him quickly. That didn't work. Bite, slam, whip about, and the Anid Guard goes limp as the master calls for him. Off-camera discussion, told to lose the guard, ptooey! Come back, check on Talal, sit. Basically...the Bogie felt that this was what his master would want, for him to protect the unconscious Twin Blade from harm.)

OOC: After some discussion, we decided that Talal's next post actually takes place before mine, so I had mine reflect this fact even though I posted first.
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
Talal
Ikkitousen
Posts: 123
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:50 am
Class: Twinblade

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Talal » Sun Mar 20, 2011 8:36 am

She had barely finished her last comment when Baron decided to pick up where she left off, only he was being a little more up front with his tone and line of questioning. At first, all this got him was a date with the bodyguard’s temper. Wasn’t it the responsibility of the bodyguard to guard not voice their opinion of what’s being said? Certainly someone in the Fire Master’s position and political prowess would be able to strategically word his responses to fend off any verbal attacks. Regardless, the situation was getting a bit heated and Baron finally got a fist in the face. In the end it was the bodyguard who got kicked out of the room most likely coming as big of a surprise to the rest of the group as it did to her.

What the….

The surprises kept coming. One of the best was hearing Demorian’s name spoken by someone who wasn’t suppose to know it. From that point on the conversation was enlightening and discouraging all at the same time. It appeared the Freedom Fighters weren’t the only ones with a plan and unfortunately weren’t the first to act on it either. She didn’t like where the conversation between Demorian and the Fire Master was headed, especially when Demorian agreed to take part and bring the group along with him. Then again, even though it wasn’t the original plan it sounded like the possible outcome was headed in the same general direction…the chance to rid themselves of another Elite. A quick survey of the room pretty much summed it up too. No one was really excited about how things were going except for maybe one.

A few loud explosions from outside and an agreement was reached that sent the group out the door. Before she knew it they were out of the tower and running for the chaos gate. Talal found herself following Shadow. She was a Twin Blade and therefore a little faster than most but Shadow had size and a longer stride on his side which left her playing dodge the fleshy cannonballs…or would they be catapult balls? The group gated into the one place that everyone else was leaving as quickly as possible. The Anid sector lay in rubble and ruins, some spots charred beyond recognition while others were just frames left to smolder.

Following the explosions was the obvious direction to head but Talal wasn’t sure if she wanted to get any closer. The noise from the blasts was already giving her a headache, not to mention the smell. With each blast, the ringing in her ears became a continuous low hum that continued to amplify as she got closer. Demorian’s shout out to the group basically served as an override to any current thought of stopping at this point. Once the source of the explosions could be seen, that nagging thought of…this is a really bad idea…resurfaced with a vigor that could put any superhero to shame.

”This guy needs protecting? I think somebody got their wires crossed.”

The young female wondered what she could possibly do to assist such a powerful person…until the dark monsterous form of Garaa appeared followed by his troops that lined what was left of the surrounding skyline with a few more scattered on the ground. Regardless of personal strength or power, Garaa clearly had the upper hand and in the simplest of ways…numbers. Even though the Freedom Fighters hadn’t physically done anything to provoke them, the Anid guards began their assault on anyone within the area. Of course it didn’t help that Rugudorull, as Garra called him, shouted out to the small band of fighters for their assistance. That was all they needed to spur them into action and everyone seemed to take off in their own direction and with their own plan of attack.

”So much for a group effort.”

She suddenly felt very alone among the chaos. A large Anid guard carrying a Heavy Axe didn’t give her much time to ponder what her own plan should be and instead the Twin Blade just began reacting with a loud gasp followed by a quick duck and roll. Was it possible, if only to buy some time, to play the innocent bystander? Anything was worth a shot since having any kind of a plan at all was better than nothing….right? Holding up her hands she was ready to test her theory.

”Now wait a minute! I was just passing thro….”

The Heavy Axeman swung again, obviously and totally uninterested in the reason why she was unlucky enough to be in his way. All things considered, she was really happy at that moment of the class she had chosen to be. The agility and quickness was of tremendous value when dodging a baddy with an axe. Another duck and roll to avoid the next swing occurred with one exception, this time her hands didn’t come up empty but rather both were filled with one half of a matching set of Mikazuchi blades. A set that she had received as a gift but had never properly broken in and considering the blades’ element and who she was fighting…now was a perfect time. Talal had managed to tag the guard and noted his higher level which meant she wasn’t going to be able to take him down in a head-to-head fight. With that thought, she rushed the guard like a linebacker on a mission. The pair exchanged a healthy amount of blows. Talal would throw a Gan Don into the mix and watch the boulders fall, usually just managing to nick the guard in the shoulder or leg. The same went for her as she dodged the Ani based assortment of retaliations getting neither of them any closer to finishing off the other until her luck ran out when her foot found a hidden trap in the ground. The leg binder grew like a vine encompassing her foot and ankle quickly and then moved halfway up her lower leg firmly anchoring her to the ground. The guard stopped attacking and just grinned which of course pissed the girl off to no end, yelling to him as he turned and ran toward Rugu.

”OH COME ON! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED YA BIG COWARD!”

Just great! I already feel insignificant enough in comparison to the rest of the group and now I can’t even get the enemy to give me a second glance. Why am I even here? Oh right…I’m here to keep a promise to a certain wavemaster. Not that he’s giving me any opportunity at all to follow through on that promise. How am I supposed to watch his back if he’s constantly taking off into the sky with those wings of his?

Talal’s mind mutterings continued on while she attempted to hack the metal binding from her leg. Thoughts both mumbled or not touched on everything from family, old friends, old enemies, to discovering The World, training with Takua, going from cocky and independent to almost plain needy. All of it, in one way or another, provided more and more fuel to her inner fury of her life and irritation with herself for being so stupid. By now, Rugu and Garaa were letting it all fly and her mutterings were interrupted by an explosion that sounded to her like it went off not more than five feet away. It was so loud she dropped her blades, covered her ears and crouched into a ball. But there was no fallout, no debris landing on her head, no being thrown as far as the leg shackle would allow, and no reduction to her health from what she thought should have been an eminent blast. Confused and hesitant brown eyes slowly opened but she couldn’t bear to remove her hands from her ears. Rugu had summoned some gigantic creature that was similar to Garaa. They were no longer trying to kill just an Elite, they were trying to kill a gigantic monster with the attitude to match!

A large flash appeared across the sky blinding the girl momentarily and sending a pointed stream of pain through her head. It was followed by a tingling feeling. Someone must have cast a Repth of some sort. Lord knows the poor girl needed it after her fight with the Heavy Axe. There was no time to do anything before the Twin Blade was getting hit by an area attack that affected everyone and stung like hell too! What felt like mere seconds and more blasts of healing…Takua, A quick glance over the field found the Wavemaster. Odd to think she was always upset with him for not thinking of anyone but himself but he was always more than generous with healing everyone during a fight. Among the chaos going on around her and the pain inside, Talal’s mind was suddenly focused on a single train of thought as if nothing else existed at that moment in time. Maybe the problem wasn’t him but …herself. Maybe being trapped in The World was overwhelming her more than she knew. There were definitely things that had happened and were still happening that were cause for concern, especially feelings of friendship and trust that she hadn’t had in a long time. There was also something else mulling around in the background that she couldn’t quite put her finger on but it was definitely something new, something she had never felt before, even before that night at her cousin’s house. Trying to figure it out was going to nag at her until an answer was found. Great! Not something she needed to be concentrating on in the middle of a battlefield.

Unbeknownst to her this whole time was another guard, a Twin Blade, approaching from behind to pick up where the Heavy Axe had left off. The explosions weren’t the only things that were being amplified right now. His footsteps sounded like large mallets being pounded into the ground and until he was close enough to almost strike did she realize he was near. Trying to separate one loud noise from another for the young girl was practically impossible at the moment. The dull roar of a migraine was building in intensity and first instinct was to do whatever it took to keep it from building further. Fighting back the urge to keep her ears covered, Talal reached to retrieve the Mikazuchi blades from the ground. Barely blocking the first strike, she tried moving or rather lunging away only to be harshly yanked back to the ground by the leg binding she had forgotten about.

”AAGGHHH!”

Frustration and pain were getting the best of the poor girl. So much so that all she wanted to do was scream, kick and pound on something. Basically throw a big temper tantrum. For now, the guard would have to do. Lashing out and gripping the blade like a dagger, the girl slammed the blade into the guard’s leg, turned it a half turn clockwise and then ripped it back out. The male Twin Blade roared in pain and stumbled backwards giving her a chance to work on the leg binding some more. Wincing with every clank that sent sparks flying, Talal used the blade like a cleaver against the binding but it didn’t appear to be weakening at all. The Anid guard limped back over and took another swing. This time, the block didn’t come fast enough and the guard’s blade slashed across her shoulder and back. The sting from the attack mushed together with everything else but one thing it did do was give her the last bit of pain induced adrenaline she needed. With one final strike, the leg binding released its grasp. Talal could feel herself losing control and needed to focus on something and what better to focus on than a pesky guard. If expressions could kill, the Anid Guard would have died nine times over in less than a split second from her glare and will probably have wished he would have.

”COULDN’T….Gan Don… YOU SEE … Rue Kruz… I … Juk Kruz… WAS …Gan Don… BUSY!”

The last word was followed by a Fire Tempest scroll that crispy fried what was left of the guard. A couple of health drinks and a mage’s soul for herself were quickly downed as well. To her disappointment, the migraine and the noise level remained but at least her wounds healed up a bit. Surveying the field it looked like most had already downed several guards, that was when she saw him. Takua was once again up in the air having just given himself some sort of energy high and from the direction he was headed, had Garaa in his crosshairs.

She watched as the one she pledged to help protect took off on a kamikaze mission that he would probably not survive and one in which the girl could not follow. Did he plan it that way? Was he trying to kill himself? Sure he had lost his eyesight but…hadn’t he found a way to see again? It’s not like he was using a cane and his aim with spells was still on target…mostly. No, he’s always had the best of intentions, at least for as long as I’ve known him. I need to believe that he knows what he’s doing, as hard as that is at the moment.

It was then that a small airborne archer caught her vision in quick pursuit. The two seemed to have a history of some sort or at least he was more comfortable with the group of girls than anyone else. It was obvious from the start that Takua didn’t want the Twin Blade here, but to ignore her completely when he’d know she’d have questions? Questions….that could be the number one problem right there….maybe. He didn’t seem to mind them until she got nosy about the Eventide Crescendo which is what got them all here to begin with. With that, another pondering….was Canti irritated by her questions? It’s not like this part of the game came with a manual or rule book. Speaking of which where was Canti? Concerned brown eyes panned the area and found him still with both feet firmly on the ground.

”Good. At least one of them knows how to stay on the ground.”

Thoughts were again interrupted by the loud explosions from all the spell casting going on. Talal grabbed her head in pain. Squinted eyes spotted Baron headed towards the Elites adding his own round of various castings to the mix.

”Damnit! What has gotten into these guys? Wasn’t the plan to let Garaa weaken this Rugu character first? Did I miss a memo or something?”

Running toward him, Talal knew she wouldn’t be able to catch up to him in time. Sure enough Baron did what he set out to do, if that was to get the full attention of Rugu by pissing him off that is? The Rai Elite was not exactly someone you wanted pissed at you. Lightning is painful, or so she assumed. Not long after, her fellow Twin Blade found himself crispy fried by electrocution and ghosted. Ghosting…now there was an experience she didn’t want to go through right now. Using a speed charm to reserve her SP for emergency casting, the girl ran towards the corpse of her ghosted friend. She slid to a stop and dropped to her knees next to the charred body. She wouldn’t be able to take much more noise. In one quick and flawless motion driven by pure reaction, a ressurrect was dropped, a mage’s soul left on the ground and her hand was already back up to her head covering her ear. Her body rocked back and forth muttering to herself.

”I just need to find the off switch. No, the volume control is what I need. Yes, yes the volume control. Control in general would be nice of course but volume for now will work. Where is it? Do my ears move now like knobs?” She laughed at herself crazily. No! Of course they don’t turn, how stupid Talal. Think…think…”

At this point she was banging on her head with closed fists still rocking back and forth in extreme frustration. Out of nowhere, she turned to Baron yelling, her voice filled with a sense of panic and her wide open eyes looked at him, crazed.

”HOW DO I TURN IT OFF?”

No time was really given for an answer because by this point she was going literally insane. Her mind filled with an overload of pain, frustration, confusion, fear and a hell of a lot of emotions surrounding various subjects and people. She stood hap-hazardly using nothing but her legs to keep her ears covered, pushing her small and boney knee into Baron’s gut in the process. Talal wobbled closer to the Elites leaving Baron behind her without a second thought continuing her muttering.

”I just need everything to stop for a minute. I need to concentrate. I can’t do that with all of this noise. Isn’t anyone listening? I just need a little bit of SIIIILEEEE…”

Talal’s voice erupted into what could only be described as something similar to a loud banshee shriek that could be heard over the entire area and lasted several long and excruciating seconds. Thankfully, the destructive portion of the powerful sound wave expanded only slightly as it sailed through the air directly at Rugudorull. The large burst drained the distraught Twin Blade to the point of unconsciousness and her body went limp, collapsing to the ground.



((OOC: Sorry for the delay folks. And thanks Canti/Shadow for standing guard. That was awesome! =D))
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Walk beside me that we may be as one.
***************************************
Talal
Image
Level 39 (0/1000 EXP) Twin Blade

Weapons/Armor: Mukuro (Swirling Dark, Dark Dance), Ice Hunter Cap (Repth), Wristbands (Juk Rom), Fishing Gloves (Rue Kruz), Wyrm Hide (Gan Don), Snow Panther (Ap Vorv)

Wish List: Scrolls, Tarot Cards, and Armor higher than level 30.

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Sekai » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:10 am

Even the Elites fought amongst themselves.

Just like the Highers.

For some reason, the thought didn't cheer Sekai up nearly as much as she thought it should have, the young Archer busy dodging thrown shackles and avoiding the landmines as it were. Having to attack herself was kind of annoying, to say the least, as she didn't want to pull December away from her guard duty and fending off one of the two triangle points with Takua-san flying in the air for safe keeping and to give him a better vantage point than most for choice target practice.

That stupid Lanceor Rf hurt too, she'd seen Kira cringe as her former elemental affiliation redirected itself around her incorporeal form.

Kira was the one who sounded out the alert when the Wavemaster chose to do something that couldn't have been called anything other than a suicidal attack. Blasting spells, one right after the other, a maelstrom of elemental power filling the air and wrecking havoc everywhichway until nothing but dust filled the area, Sekai and December both took a moment to evaluate the damage, jaw dropping in horror as the realization of what the Wavemaster had done in Sekai's case.

He was dead; they'd go after him and retaliate for sure.

Little one, if you want me to borrow you for a sec, I'll go beat him until he can't even see straight. Fury filled the voice of the AI, Sekai unable to disagree with the sentiment as she watched Kira unload an epithet filled tirade at the Wavemaster. And, as to be expected, the boy took flight and took off out of reach from Kira's grip. Probably a good idea, as she wouldn't want to be in his position right at the moment.

An angry Kira was not a happy thing to face; even less so when she was convinced you'd just done something magnificently stupid and needed a wake up beating.

December frowned, her attention diverted from the enemy who went down with a blade pinning him through the stomach like a bug to a wall to the Wavemaster- and then to her charge. Yelling like that isn't going to bring him down, you know. The usual lecturing tone of voice was distinctly lacking, showing that she too wasn't exactly happy about the boy's rather dramatic assault on the two powerful enemies before them. Though, rather than it being a personal kind of unhappiness, it was more along the lines of a professional one.

His actions put the rest of them in rather noticeably grave danger, which happened to include the girl she was currently serving as a bodyguard for. And, from what she understood, said girl was also in some sort of agreement to be a guardian or protector of the boy himself.

Which meant, in the grand scheme of things, she was in charge of the boy's safety as well.

So, do we have a plan of action? Now that our cover is rather blown and we're no one's friend at the moment, he's probably going to have a target on him for a while now. We should bring that to your leader's attention when we meet next. Practical and leaping right back into something constructive, jade hued eyes narrowed as she bolted forward, startling the little Archer as her cutlass swept neatly across the stomach of an enemy sneaking up behind her.

Killing him isn't really an option, even if it'd make me slightly happier right now. He ghosts, I can put my hands on him. She grumbled, looking like she anticipated the chance to haul his spirit up by the collar of his robes to throttle the hell out of him. Or just beat the hell out of him when she had the opportunity. Forcing her attention away from the little bastard as Sekai concoccted a plan she didn't necessarily think would work, the Long Arm decided to focus on the shit she could handle at the moment.

Which happened to be irritating the shit out of December.

**

Yet another hollow victory, Sekai thought grimly to herself as she lowered her head and sighed tiredly once her feet hit the ground and she stumbled, taking a few steps to regain her balance now that she was out of the air and recalled the wings. Feathers floated hazily on the air currents for a moment before vanishing completely. She turned, speaking with Takua for a few moments before returning her attention to the battlefield itself. Her bow was back out, in her hands and shots were fired, the girl making a slight noise as a spell combined with an arrow from an Archer she hadn't seen connecting with her leg.
To: Takua
From: Sekai
Subject: RE: None

We'll have to talk about this later; we need to get some sort of plan in place for you. The Elites are not going to let this go lightly, you... may end up marked like I suspect Demorian-san, Nighthand-san, Sheena-san, Rayne-san and Nall-san are in terms of being 'infamous' or a threat.

Um... I'm not that upset or mad at you, please don't think that. I'd just... prefer we keep the suicidal moves and tactics to a minimum if possible. I've... I've kind of had enough of that during my time here, and the Eventide Crescendo just made that kind of, well, really worse.
The snowy haired girl fired back in retaliation, following up with a BiVak Rom and a second level Thunder arrow- just out of spite and braced herself for the pain as she gripped the arrow in her lower thigh with one hand and wrenched it out. That... was significantly more painful than a lot of things I've felt in the last little while. She thought to herself, grimacing and unable to help the pained whimper that slipped out. The wound would bleed itself clean, and it wasn't gushing, so the artery hadn't been hit. She'd received another flashmail, wincing at the timing as she finished the response to Takua-san's and sent off Baron-san's as well.
To: Baron
From: Sekai
Subject: RE: Warning

Um, please be careful. I just got finished yelling at Takua-san about doing suicidal things, now you're doing it too. Kira's mad at him, I don't want her being mad at you too.

She's really not fun to deal with when she's mad, and she takes forever to calm down to boot. >_<

Oh, and, um... thank you for the warning. ^^; it's appreciated, I'll keep an eye on Takua-san for a little while.
...or he'd do it anyways and in a way that was going to get him- yep. That looked painful, she did not want to experience that kind of death. Takua-san would probably relate to that, come to think of it, he'd gotten zapped at least once back in the Juka Prison field. What was with the boys suddenly being all suicidal hero and everything?

Hey! I'm not that hard to calm down! Kira sounded insulted at the idea that she carried a grudge or wouldn't chill the fuck out when need be.

The responses from the other two, however, said otherwise. Especially when they came damn near at the same time.

Um... you actually are.

Yes, you are, dear.

Her glare was heated enough to probably light one of them on fire, had she the ability to do so and they believed strongly enough in it. Scowling, she kept an eye on Takua as she and December raced to get to Sekai and the stupid, stubborn little Wavemaster who was going to get a stern talking to... and ass kicking by the Archer's two protectors.

Things weren't looking too good for the rest of them, Sekai sending out arrows to pelt some of the Anid Guards, switching to occasional spells or arrows to hit the Lightning Elite, trying to keep him from being captured and doing as the Fire Master had requested; kill him or risk being killed herself. I have too many people I'm responsible for to allow myself to die.

The near deafening scream startled her, tawny eyes darting over to the source in time to see Talal collapse where she stood and lay motionless. Wh-what the hell? She thought, shocked enough to actually curse as she began to head that way- only to stop and stiffen at the sight of the huge, Ani affiliated hound that proceeded to stand guard over the woman's prone form.

...well alright then, apparently someone else was watching over Talal-san too.

She'd have to keep better tabs on her people, the fifteen year old thought wearily and turned her attention back to the battlefield, raising her bow once more to fire and assist her comrades.

I think the Freedom Fighters need a vacation to some place relaxing and peaceful for a little while. Somewhere we don't have to worry about Elites tracking us down and killing us, capturing us or doing anything horrible.

((blegh. crap post was crap. But hey. round ender is what this looks like, now to wait to see just how successful... or fucked we really are. XD))
Image

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

Currently Equipped:

Einherjar: Kira, December, Zorya

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

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

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

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Nighthand » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:23 pm

Tak’s assault began and within minutes everything went to hell. The sheer amount of power flying around in all forms was enough to leave Nighthand a little stunned. Even that pure onslaught of spells had a certain draw to him – he loved spells – but there was no way even at the best of times that his hack could allow him to deal with something that ferocious. Even as it happened, he reached out, tried to interact with Takua’s spells, but found himself unable to. If he had to wager a guess, the instant-cast enchantment was overriding his personal ability to hold back, tweak, and alter the spells before they were cast. It was simply a river of power flowing fast and true, and he was unable to dam it up for even a moment.

Then it was over, and the others took the lead, while Tak was berated by Sekai and her entourage. Baron immediately descended on Raikiri, harrying him and keeping him from focusing on recovery. The Raio Elite seemed to have trouble even keeping up with the twin blade, until he finally landed enough hits to bring him down.

Then Canti stepped into play, interrupted for a moment by what Nighthand assumed was a manifestation of Talal’s abilities. About time, he supposed, for her to develop them. With the amount of Twilight flying around, between two elites, himself, Demorian, and the presence of Yamiyo itself… it was no surprise. He wouldn’t be surprised if his own powers grew stronger from this experience, though with the instability still present from Xenobia, that may or may not even be a good thing.

Canti harried Raikiri where Baron left off, all the while keeping the elite focused on attacking and defending rather than healing. His power was dropping, his ability wavering, until finally he slammed into the rubble of the sector and didn’t emerge. Was he dead? It seemed doubtful, and yet…

And yet, Garaa was absent. The cloud of smoke, dust, and leftover elemental haze that had yet to burn off still floated around Garaa’s last known position, yet he made no sound, made no move. The Ani Elite was alive, Nighthand could feel the power still there, but he was still. Idle. If he didn’t know better, the heavy blade would have said AFK.

There was a long pause, a long moment of tension, as everyone collectively held their breaths. Nighthand, filling a role of observer and support, tossed out what few heals seemed needed for their party. He was certain the shit was about to hit the fan, and had two places to watch out for; Raikiri and Garaa. Which would make the first move?

”GRAH! I’M THROUGH WITH THIS! Demonic Pulse, beat faster. True power come through. Advance and increase – Demonic Heart!”

Waves of power spread out through the area, and massive bolts of blinding lightning crashed down from the sky. This, Nighthand thought, was it. This was the power that Raikiri had almost used on them, that day when he was nearly defeated in the Delta server. That day when Royce was called as an unlikely ally to save everyone. This was the power so strong it crashed servers, and could only be used in the reinforced Yamiyo.

The rubble exploded outward, vaporizing in the torrent of plasma raining down from the sky. Then it stopped, leaving afterimages of a bright column in their eyes. Raikiri stood, looking tall and powerful – more so than before. He was easily half again as tall as Garaa, finally standing taller than the demonic Ani Elite. He wielded two weapons, two of his earlier abilities, one in each hand. One hand held his whip, the other his longsword. His body was covered with spines and spikes, metallic and glittering n the dull light. Electricity sparked around them, coursing over his body in constant ozone-producing arcs.

Raikiri stalked from the wreckage until he stood in a clear spot, looking from one side to the cloud that still surrounded Garaa, and on the other to the Freedom Fighters, so recently turned traitor on them. ”It’s time to end this.” He raised his weapons and, his eyes squarely on Takua, reared back for an attack.

”I agree.” Garaa’s demonic voice said. It couldn’t have been more than a normal speaking voice, but it reached all their ears and everything seemed deadened. Then a wave, a dome of darkness, spread out from the smoke cloud that Nighthand now saw was simply allowing Garaa to remain idle, to watch.

Everything was pitch black, but oddly, every player was illuminated. It was as if they all stood in a blank black field, with no source of light but no source of shadow either. Just them, and blackness. Garaa, Raikiri, the Freedom Fighters, and even a few stray Anid Guards remained alive. Was this how Garaa saw things when he coated the world in darkness? No, this wasn’t that skill – if it was, none of them would be able to see either. But it was something sinister, that much was true.

”Raikiri, for your traitorous attacks on myself, you are sentenced to death. The rest of you, trash though you are, will be executed as well. No record of this battle shall remain.” Garaa spoke, his voice the only sound. ”Doomkeeper.”

The darkness snapped back in a blink, revealing the world as it was, condensing into an orb the size of a beach ball in front of Garaa. That orb turned pale, translucent, black-purple pearly-shelled and coursing with power. A power none of them had ever seen before. A power that Nighthand, and Demorian, and all the rest of them had never seen the likes of, but knew. They knew it as intimately as anything else in this game. This power, in front of them, was pure, unadulterated Twilight.

The orb flashed black and morphed, stretching and elongating, tearing and opening and folding in upon itself. From it, as from an egg, emerged an entity that looked like a grim reaper, or a specter, some kind of demon. It was hooded and smoky, black and translucent, Twilight mixed with Darkness. Where legs would be, it trailed off, faded into a void. In one hand, it held a massive weapon, a scythe to end all scythes; not one, not two, but four whole blades.

Takua could not see from his own eyes, but he could see from everyone else’s, and realized with growing horror that this beast, this Doomkeeper, was moving. Moving directly at Raikiri, but also, directly at him. No sooner had he realized this fact than Doomkeeper lunged forward, tearing through Raikiri like the monstrous Elite wasn’t even there. Raikiri shrieked and collapsed, as his muscles betrayed him, and the reaper was there, it’s scythe reared back, then lowered with careful precision around Takua.

The weapon’s great span encompassed, Takua, and Sekai, who was standing nearby as collateral. And, strangely, one of the Ani Guards. The poor warrior looked surprised and betrayed, prepared to strike Takua where he stood, unnoticed. But that Ani Guard was trapped, in this circle of blade.

Then Doomkeeper ripped the scythe to the side, ripping through all three of them.

There was no blood, no bisection of torsos, no physical damage done. All three of them remained at full HP, with no damage dealt. In game terms, nothing at all happened to them. But none of them moved. None of them could. They simple fell, collapsed into a quivering pile. Garaa began to laugh, while Doomkeeper straightened, left without an order for a moment.

For Takua, Sekai, and that poor Anid Guard, that moment lasted hours. Hours in which their lives were torment, filled with pain unimaginable. Bodies would not respond to their minds commands. Takua, perhaps, had the worst of it; his hack refused to respond, his eyes no longer feeding him information. Sekai could not hear the voices of her harem. They were cut off, in immense and unending pain.

A chime rang in Nighthand’s head, of a Flashmail.
To: The Freedom Fighters
From: Demorian
RE: RUN

Doomkeeper deals no damage to you. It strikes at your Twilight infection directly. If it hits you, there’s no telling what will happen. You could die. You could be caught so strongly you can only wish for death while your data is frozen. Your hack could be removed entirely, or reconfigured completely. It doesn’t matter. Go, while Garaa is gloating. Nighthand and I will get Takua and Sekai, the rest of you, RUN.
Another chime, another flashmail almost immediately.
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Sheena
RE: RE: RUN

Belay that order. Demorian, Nighthand, get Takua and Sekai and get out of there. The rest of you, kill Raikiri. We may never have another chance like this. I’m gong to distract Garaa.
A moment of hesitation, a moment of silence while Garaa laughed and Doomkeeper stood idle. Then everything happened at once.

Demorian, using an Ap Do on himself and running with his full speed, stooped and scooped up Takua from the ground, pivoted on his heel, and dashed for the rubble. Nighthand in turn shifted his stats toward speed, allowing his power to drain into it, and speed in a blurred line to Sekai. He picked her up, but there was resistance. He looked, and found the Anid Guard attached to her. For some reason, a pair of shackles unlike anything he had ever seen bound the two together at the wrist.

With no time to sort it out, Nighthand heaved the guard over his shoulder, forced to shift slightly towards strength again to handle the load of two characters. Slower than he otherwise would have been, he nevertheless dashed toward Demorian, out of the way of the battlefield.

Garaa’s laughter ceased, and Doomkeeper started to move, but stopped abruptly as a shockwave thudded through the area. Nighthand risked a glance back.

Garaa reeled into a building and slammed through a wall, such was the force of the blow dealt to him. Sheena stood where he had a moment before, fist clenched. The fist fighter wore her usual black and white near-bikini, and held no weapons – she was simply a powerhouse. Nighthand knew this, but to see it in action against the strongest of the Elites, was something of a shock even to him.

Sheena gave him no time to react, diving through the hole Garaa had made and punching him again. The thud echoed through the area and Garaa sprawled to the ground. Sheena risked a glance up, at the rest of the Freedom Fighters, and pointed at Raikiri. This was their chance to kill the Raio Elite. They needed to take it.

---------------------------:

Doomkeeper sort of looks like this: http://www.divergencerp.org/tempimages/ ... eImage.JPG

Except his weapon looks more like this: http://www.divergencerp.org/tempimages/DeathsScythe.png

Raikiri is catatonic on the ground, Takua and Sekai are in unbearable pain and rather paralyzed by it. It's up to the rest of you to finish off the elite while Sheena keeps Garaa occupied.

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Takua
Ikkitousen
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:19 am
Class: Wavemaster
Location: Walking the line of madness

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Takua » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:37 am

The Wavemaster grew more nervous as the seconds ticked by. Garaa had done nothing yet, and that silence made him more afraid than any amount of violence. Unless he had missed his guess, such a person like an Elite should never stand for an attack like the one that he had done, and would retaliate with crushing force. It was what the Highers would have done, or at least what their minions had done. That Garaa had done nothing...no. There was no way that the Elite was dead, he simply wasn't doing anything. Right?

The torrent of spells that he had unleashed had created their own dust cloud that reeked, at least to him, of the elements. It was its own zone of former death. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if anything less than an Elite or one of their direct creations or underlings would be dead. But...there was a difference between the two. And sheer normal power wasn't enough to overcome that. Was he even in that cloud? Or had he vanished from there, watching from somewhere? He didn't know, couldn't tell, and that was making him increasingly watchful through the eyes of other. Which was why he was able to see Rugudorull vaporize the building simply activating his ability. And see the whip and longsword that he had used to destroy Baron in his hands...right before he started walking. Towards him.

Takua didn't hesitate, seeing the attack that was about to occur, he knew that he needed to dodge. Since he could feel the air more directly, he could feel the electricity in the air. Smell the ozone that came simply from the weapons being in the open air. But he didn't need to dodge...because Garaa was back. Hadn't even left the god damned cloud, hadn't stopped himself from getting hit. Was he even hurt? Did he notice the attack at all? All at once, he felt a surge of inadequacy. Even though he was level 47, he couldn't touch the fucker. Was it just because he didn't have any Twilight abilities? Was that it? Because he couldn't attack in ways that were beyond that of regular attacks?

And speaking of those...he couldn't see the dome of darkness through his own eyes, but everyone else could. And suddenly he could see everyone, regardless of what was in the way. Regardless of everything, actually. It no longer mattered, because everyone in the area was seen. Guards, Rugudorull, even the rest of his group. And then Garaa did what the Wavemaster would normally call playing the part of a villain, except that it seemed to have more weight than normal, and then...

And then he watched as the darkness contracted into something that he knew, he knew, was pure Twilight.

He shivered involuntarily, unashamed to feel fear. As that egg morphed and twisted until a grim reaper stood with a scythe that had four blades. Stood...and then moved. Right, he realized, at him, and he quickly considered his options. Could he run? Maybe, but that might not be wise. Could he fight? Probably-

The blade went straight through Rugudorull, the Elite hitting the ground like a sack of wheat as he screamed.

...not.

And then the answer to the first question appeared, because suddenly the Doomkeeper was there, the blade trapping him, lowered with such careful precision that the Wavemaster might normally say should be bestowed upon a lover. Careful, precise, the blade dropped into position. Blades, really. Enclosing him, Sekai, and...who was that? How had she gotten there without him seeing? And why was Doomkeeper hitting her as well? No time to react, no time even to run, and the blue haired teen waited for a fraction of a second, trying to steel himself to what had to come. Something that would cripple an Elite, and had entrapped him.

And then he was bisected-
His sight shut down-
Pain-

And he hit the ground. Or hit something. He couldn't see anything, and the rest of his senses felt bloody and maimed. As though that scythe had found all of the nerves of his body, not his flesh. Because the pain was a fire in his body, rampaging through his blood, turning his shell into a prison of agony that constricted around him. He couldn't even think to move, and his mind shut down. There was only the sensation that came and swept him away in a crimson tide, the scorched ground under him feeling like pins and needles...or swords. Swords that had skewered every inch of his body, yet left him alive.

In an abstract corner, he wondered that this was the second time he had experienced something like this. But it was far, far more total than his experience in the Swath. And he still had his own perspective, his own mind. There was no respite from the hours of pain that swept through him. And finally, when it felt like days had passed since that terrible scythe had torn through him, when he was wondering if he could even think anymore, or if Garaa had taken them somewhere to be tortured...he felt himself get yanked to his feet. His senses came back in a painful rush, heard Garaa laughing, heard running. Somehow the smell was familiar, but...

The person turned as fast as he could, and Takua could get a sense of how fast he was running. Because every step sent a jolt through his body, and pain seared. He still couldn't move, couldn't do anything at all. His muscles felt like iron locks, and his lungs burned with the need for air. But he couldn't see, could only hear and feel. He couldn't even whimper, or scream. And how he wanted to, but there was nothing that he could do. Maybe, he thought dizzily, when all of this was done, his body would respond again. Couldn't he just fall unconscious? Or had Garaa prevented that somehow? He would, wouldn't he? Just to make sure that those fuckers who had dared stand against him feel everything.

What about Sekai? Ondine? Those thoughts managed to wriggle their way into his brain. And stuck. But there was no way to check either of them, although he thought that he could hear a scream that didn't come from him resounding somewhere nearby...
Takua - Lvl 57 Wavemaster
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Wishlist: Levels, Stun Rod, Hag's Wand, Wand of Truth, Ex-Level, Ex-Spheres, and Myth: Demiurge, FL Fukuoka

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Locke
Ikkitousen
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:21 pm
Class: Twin Blade

Re: Politics or Power: A Choice To Be Made!

Post by Locke » Sat Apr 09, 2011 11:25 pm

A Resurrect came quickly, something Baron was thankful for. Though it was better than the skin-flaying pain of electrocution, ghosting was particularly unpleasant in its empty lethargy, that feeling of slipping away into the darkness forever. Every time he died in the game, the Twin Blade always felt like he was going to vanish, like he was going to be sucked into that void of darkness and never return. There was a good reason for his avoidance of death that anyone who was comatose would be able to get, which was why the boy would always be grateful to whoever spared him from that dismally fatal feeling, doubly so if it was fast.

It seemed that things had gotten interesting since he had been ghosted. Canti had barraged Raikiri with some form of attack, dark flames slamming into him and keeping him preoccupied while the others were busy. Maybe they finally had the Rai Elite on the ropes, would be able to take him down. After all, he had been weakened by Garaa’s assaults, and the strikes of an Elite were likely nothing to be laughed at, if they were like Raikiri’s. The upside was that it gave them an advantage against the target they were set to kill—Baron still shuddered as he remembered that—and hopefully gave them the opening they needed. The downside was that it broke the power balance between Garaa and Raikiri, meaning that when they were finished with the latter, they’d still have one big bad Elite with no distractions and no one to weaken him.

Unfortunately, it seemed that their efforts were easily countered. In a burst of lightning, Raikiri suddenly released true power. Lightning surged through the skies, waves of sheer energy washing over the entire battlefield. Baron ducked down behind the rubble he had been tossed into previously, shielding himself as energy filled the area. It was so strong that it was literally a palpable, tangible wave crashing down around them. Grimacing at the sheer force of Raikiri’s unleashed strength, the Twin Blade took a moment to look around, to see where the others were, how they were dealing with this, but he couldn’t see anything through the brilliant flashes still filling his vision.

When the light finally cleared, spots still dancing in Baron’s vision, Raikiri had changed. It wasn’t an enormous one, save for his size; now the demon loomed hugely over everyone, even the already-impressive Garaa’s height, spikes and spines conducting electricity along his increased bulk. Each hand held a weapon, but Baron hardly noticed the sword in comparison to the whip. He hated that whip! Either way, it now seemed that Raikiri was much more powerful than before; Baron could literally feel the energy rolling off of him like some sort of wave. It was like the cliché final boss of video games; when you defeated them, they decided to transform into some uber-powerful second form.

“Damnit, just when things couldn’t get worse… they do.”

Surprisingly, despite his new changes, Raikiri didn’t last long. Garaa decided on his own counterattack, enveloping the world in darkness before focusing it on a single point, bringing forth a completely new entity. A reaper-like figure, referenced by Garaa as the Doomkeeper, formed from the utter darkness, and just looking at it Baron knew fear. And it seemed his instincts were right, as the creature shot forward, striking several times quickly in succession. Raikiri was the first to fall to the cruel weapon that it wielded, blades sweeping through his body before he collapsed to the ground.

Baron’s eyes widened in shock; what was that thing that it could take down such a powerful Elite in one sweep? Raikiri was on the ground, practically comatose and twitching from whatever agony wracked his limbs. What the hell were they up against that could take this bastion of power and drop him in a single hit? Now the Twin Blade was scared in the truest sense of the word. Before he had thought he knew fear, that he knew what it was to be terrified by something so much more powerful than he was, back when he had first faced the Elites. But this… Doomkeeper… that Garaa had summoned was a whole new level of terror, and putting its creator on a rung above it was so much worse.

When did they begin to think they had a chance against something like this?

And then the Doomkeeper hit them. There was no time to react, or to give a warning, but Takua, Sekai, and a random Anid Guard all went down in one sweep. There was only a moment of surprise and then they were defeated just as swiftly as Raikiri had been. That horrible scythe tore through them, but left no mark, no damage… just a complete collapse. Baron’s eyes widened further as his allies fell, just as quietly and without any warning. The Doomkeeper stopped where it was, silently floating there, awaiting new orders. Baron had to wonder who was next; who would fall, without a sound, to lie prone on the ground? And for a moment, he thought it would be him as the reaper’s eyes met his.

Everything sort of happened at once at that point. Two Flashmails pinged, almost at the same time, and then an explosion went up. Sheena, their leader from before, suddenly slammed into Garaa with a massive amount of strength. The woman, though she fought weaponless, seemed to be on par with the Elite, slamming him through buildings with ease. Without its master’s commands to give it action, the Doomkeeper remained still as well. Commands were barked, people moved, everything happened in a flash. All Baron knew was that he had the contents of one Flashmail to follow, a single order in the midst of all the chaos:

Kill Raikiri.

There was no time to question things, no time to doubt his own abilities. With the command set in mind, he quickly set about preparing himself. An Ap Corv and a Speed Charm were set up, giving him enhanced speed and physical strength, and then he was off. Baron’s mind was focused, set on one point; he pushed out the explosions of force in the distance where Sheena was fighting Garaa, instead dashing forward in a burst of movement, dirt exploding beneath his feet as he quickly approached Raikiri.

A frontal approach was suicide, given the demon’s natural power. Baron had seen both the sword and whip in action, both conducting electricity in their own ways. While the latter simply electrocuted the foe by wrapping around him, the sword left electrical charges in the air, and passing through them was just asking for a shock. However, both had their strength when the opponent was in front of Raikiri, meaning that the best way to get at the demon, assuming he didn’t turn or move too quickly after being attacked by the Doomkeeper, would be to get around behind him, flanking him and preventing the effective use of both weapons.

Using his item-boosted speed, Baron suddenly shot forward, plan set. As he approached Raikiri, he dove to the right, being sure to first feint to the left in order to confuse the Elite. However, as he made the motions, he noticed that the demon hardly moved, making the Twin Blade wonder: just how badly had the Doomkeeper injured him? Raikiri was still the Rai Elite, which meant that he was much stronger as a hacker than anyone on this server, with powers that were more potent than almost anyone else on the server, equal only to the power of the other Elites. Baron had a suspicion that this was a ruse, to lure him in to getting too close or at an angle where he could be taken down quickly. Well, he wasn’t going to let that happen!

Quickly sliding to a stop behind the Elite, the Twin Blade summoned a Gan Don beneath Raikiri’s prone form, launching him straight upwards as the spire of stone slammed into the middle of his back. Again the man didn’t dodge. Biting his lip, Baron quickly shot up behind him, his wings spreading before launching him directly above the demon thanks to the Twin Blade’s enhanced speed. He brought his blades down in a double slash, sending Raikiri tumbling back down to the ground, slamming hard onto his shoulder. Baron’s own wrists and lower forearm were cut from the layer of spines and needles, with light lines of blood starting to trace down them and sting, but the Rai Elite still wasn’t moving.

It was time to end the battle, Baron decided, and did a quick gear swap and then downed a Mage’s Soul, giving himself just enough SP for what he had planned. With a raise of his hand, two Vulcan spells formed above him, twin wyrms roaring out in fury before plunging downwards in a spiraling inferno to slam into Raikiri. Baron was right behind them as he activated a Flame Vortex, one of the most powerful Twin Blade skills that there were, and flame quickly wreathed his weapons as he began to spin, forming his own spiral of fire before heading straight down towards the prone Elite.

So… I’m confused. What are the tactics behind diving straight towards a spine-covered body that is more than capable of impaling you on dozens of spikes?

Well he could always roll aside and I’d hit the ground with a speed-enhanced faceplant. Probably break my neck and all.

So… you’re anticipating that he’s going to dodge your attack? That seems rather idiotic.

Nah. There’s a reason for all this fire though, I had planned ahead for the needles.

There was a short, silent pause before the Gemini replied. So wait… your brilliant plan to avoid slamming head-first into the armor is to dive into a big enough explosion to knock you away?

Baron couldn’t help but grin to himself. Yep!

And then he was on Raikiri. There was no time for continued conversation as the detonation from all three Vak attacks went off. There was a briefly-deafening boom, and then Baron went flying back from the attack, bouncing off of the ground a few times, his front lightly singed from only partial proximity. If he had been closer it might have hurt more; fortunately he had only gotten a small portion of the backlash. A quick, basic Repth spell cured any damage from the landing, stitching up the scrapes and cuts and soothing any of the burns on his body, leaving him whole and undamaged again. Holding his blades before him, Baron awaited Raikiri’s counterattack.

Surprisingly, it didn’t come. The Elite was still laying on the ground, still unmoving aside from harsh, labored breathing and the occasional twitch as his damaged muscles refused to cooperate. Baron frowned; maybe he had been paranoid in thinking the Elite had anything left in him. There was no way that the Twin Blade’s attack would have connected so smoothly if that had been the case. There had been far too many openings that Raikiri could have exploited, too many chances for him to destroy Baron yet again. There was no other explanation for it besides saying that the man was on his last legs now.

But it wasn’t over yet. If he was left alone at this point, the Elite would simply recover and come to take revenge. No, it seemed that something more final had to be done. Baron cringed at the thought, but at the same time the answer was obvious: he had to kill Raikiri. As much as the Twin Blade loathed the thought, he knew it had to be done. This demon—no, beneath all of that, he was still a man in nature—was responsible for the deaths of dozens of individuals. He was partially responsible for trapping innocent players within The World. He had no shame in taking human lives, and if left unchecked he would probably do even more damage. Raikiri had to be taken out, there was no doubt about it.

But could he do it? Baron looked at the twin daggers in his hands. Before, they had simply been tools that a character used on other pixels. Now, they were real weapons. They could harm. They could kill. They could kill. The words rang in Baron’s mind as he looked at them, stared at them with a mixture of loathing and acceptance. He knew what he had to do here, what had to be done in order to ensure the security of the people in The World. Those were real people, people who might never wake up from their seat at the computer, bodies comatose while their minds were trapped in the game. There were people whose families would grieve, whose lives would be taken away from them.

For their sake, he had to do it.

As Baron approached, Raikiri’s eyes opened briefly, glaring at the boy standing above him. The Twin Blade’s eyes were cold, dispassionate. He had to do this, for the sake of so many people, but he hated it. He was a hypocrite, defending lives by taking them, going against his own principles. But it had to be done, and even as the demon gasped out his last accusation, labeling the Freedom Fighter as traitors, Baron leaned in close, his voice low and casual, laced with ice and full of pain.

“Sorry, pal. That's the way you guys made things; the strongest gotta survive, right?”

That was the only warning he gave before his weapon flashed once in the dimmed light of the Raio sector, and Raikiri’s throat was brutally opened, a splash of blood erupting across Baron’s chest, staining the white shirt red. Inwardly he flinched, but on the outside he showed no sign aside from his teeth clenching a bit more firmly, his hands gripping at the blades. The Elite wasn’t dead yet, though he was certainly dying; in respect for Raikiri, the Twin Blade slashed the other blade across, almost just as powerfully, nearly severing the man’s head from his body. The demon shuddered, a gasp coming from his ruined throat, and then he collapsed.

It was done, and Baron’s knees felt weak as he tried to hold himself up. “The strongest have to survive… and we are the strongest because we fight in order to protect something.”

A quick flashmail was sent to the leaders, a simple message that stated Raikiri was dead. As if to confirm it, the demon’s form flashed once, and he was an old man again, his throat in ruins and his body unmoving. Baron closed his eyes, taking another deep breath, trying to keep calm. He could break down later, when it was safe. He wanted to just collapse right now and be done with it, to hate himself for having to take another’s life, to hate The World for trapping him inside of it… he wanted it just to be all over. But for now, the Twin Blade knew that he couldn’t give in, not while Garaa was still out there and they were all in danger.

But damn it hurt.

A flash of movement in corner of Baron’s eye caught his attention, and the Twin Blade flinched as something was tossed his way. Catching it out of reflex, and wincing at the force with which it hit his pal, he groaned and looked at the small object. It was a ring box, used for storing small jewelry. Looking up to see who had tossed it, the boy saw Sheena already darting off to continue combat with Garaa; clearly she had tossed it at him. But why? What was this box for? Then it hit Baron that he was asking a dumb question. It had to do with Raikiri’s—no, he was Rugudorull again—Twilight Item. The Twin Blade had been picking up bits of information here and there from the long-standing members of the Freedom Fighters, and he had learned that each of the Elites had some sort of item that related to their Twilight abilities, or “hacks” as the Freedom Fighters referred to them. Rugudorull’s happened to be the earrings that he wore, so likely the box was some form of storage for them.

Kneeling down, the Twin Blade gingerly undid each of the earrings, removing them from Rugudorull’s ears and placing them in the box. The lid shut quickly, and there was a brief hiss before the case locked shut. No matter what Baron did, the top wouldn’t open again. It was for the best, really; there was no point in him messing with a weapon with powers behind his understanding. Instead, he would keep them on hand and give them to the leaders to handle when they were out of this mess. Right now, they had to either deal with Garaa or escape. And at the moment, the latter was beginning to look really good.

There was no time for complaints though. Baron quickly released his wings, giving one last look at Rugudorull before he pushed off, taking to the skies. Demorian was already high on a building, launching spells at the Doomkeeper, who had started moving again. The spells seemed to be having the effect of promptly locking the creature in place while the others were dealing with Garaa. Why were they sticking around to fight him? It was madness! Sure he was weakened right now, but they already had two members down from the Doomkeeper’s attack, and none of them were at full strength after the battle against Raikiri. All they were doing by fighting Garaa was risking severe damage and potential loss of their members.

Despite that, Baron landed beside Demorian and started launching spells as well. Using a combination of The Priestess and a Quickcast, giving him unlimited SP and a zero-delay timer on his spells, the Twin Blade rained down an absolute wave of GiRai Don spells. Lightning coursed through the air, slamming down on the demon, a bar of white filling Baron’s vision as he continued. While the spells didn’t visibly seem to be doing any damage, the Doomkeeper was still, which was all that was important. It wasn’t attacking them while they kept it in place, stun-locking it while Sheena continued her assault on Garaa. It seemed that they might actually have a chance against the Anid Elite, at this rate.

It seemed that people were starting to recover from the Doomkeeper’s attacks too, forms stirring as they tried to awake. Takua and Sekai, and Canti… it seemed that everyone was alright. That much was a relief; after seeing how Raikiri had been affected by the Doomkeeper’s scythe, Baron had been worried Now that they were starting to get their numbers back, the Freedom Fighters could go on the offensive. Tossing himself and Demorian an Ap Corma, the Twin Blade once more used the same combination of items, finishing the last ones from his inventory and once more boosting his strength.

The storm of lightning slowed down as Baron started focusing his unlimited SP in the form of a barrage of Vulcan and Merrows spells streaking through the air. Supercharged Vak and Rue smashed into Garaa, the Twin Blade’s show of arcane meant to distract and possibly weaken the Anid Elite while Sheena continued her assault. After all, the Fist Fighter, despite her unarmed appearance, was giving him a run for his money, slamming him through buildings and putting the Elite through a whole lot of hurt. Maybe there was a chance that they could win, buried somewhere in the strength that the woman wielded.

Baron still doubted it, despite the chance they seemed to have, but nonetheless he continued his barrage. Every few spells, a GiRai Don would smash down on the Doomkeeper, ensuring that it was stunned and unable to continue fighting them; after all, its attacks were the ones that were the most devastating in the long run by suddenly crippling their members. It would only hurt them if Sheena’s backline support were taken out by that scythe, so it was best to keep the creature in check while they tried to assault Garaa.

Suddenly, things seemed to shift. Baron felt a blow to his shoulder before he was suddenly shoved back, and for a moment all he saw was the shadowy figure of the Doomkeeper as its scythe barely missed him. Demorian, who had shoved him aside, dived through the being, looking for a moment as if he had been hit before Baron realized that he had done so in order to avoid being hit by the scythe himself. The two of them had avoided the creature’s attack this time, but its sudden presence in their ranks forced them to push aside their support role for now in favor of survival. They couldn’t let that scythe touch them!

Baron prepared for a counterassault, silver eyes flashing as he readied another blistering Vulcan spell despite his hacked items wearing off. As he raised his hand for the gesture, however, the world went completely black. Not black as in dark, but black as in the purest sense of not being able to see. Vision was completely cut off, to the point where the Twin Blade literally couldn’t see his hand as he pressed it to his face. All he knew was complete darkness. Was this what happened when the Doomkeeper’s scythe touched you? Did it completely black out your world? No, because the others had collapsed, and Raikiri had been in extreme pain. What was going on then, why couldn’t they see?

It had to be something to do with Garaa; as clichés went, darkness and Ani tended to be one and the same. If this was his doing, they were in a whole lot of trouble. Baron could still hear his own breathing, and the touch of his hand to his face had ensured him that both his senses of smell and touch were in place, but without their sight, the sensory input that humans relied on more than anything else, they were severely crippled. The Doomkeeper was silent, after all, and in the darkness created by Garaa, it could simply come and destroy them all without a single sound. Was this it? Were they doomed?

The flashmail from Demorian wasn’t even needed, and Baron quickly turned and fled in the direction he assumed was behind him, hoping to create a large gap between himself and the enemies. At some point this blindness had to wear off, right? There had to be some way to remove it. That was the Twin Blade’s hope as he continued to fly in his set direction. Twice the boy felt his body brush up against concrete as he flew near demolished or semi-intact buildings, and once he even crashed directly into one, his head spinning and his body sore. At this point, he had the sense to gain some altitude, hopefully above the buildings this time.

Suddenly, light shone in Baron’s eyes, and he winced as his vision abruptly returned. A glance behind him showed an enormous dome of darkness that had probably been the cause for his temporary blindness. Either way, the Twin Blade was out, and that was enough for him. Quickly diving again, he ducked behind the ruins of a building, landing on his feet and waiting quietly, unsure of what to do. They were still in the Yamiyo server no matter how they looked at it, and as long as they were in the hacked server, there was nowhere the escape from the Elites. They needed a plan, and quickly.

A flashmail was sent to the leaders of the group: Nighthand, Sheena and Demorian would all receive one at the same time as the Twin Blade frantically tried to get an idea of where they were to go.
To: Demorian, Sheena, Nighthand
From: Baron
Subject: -

Do we have anywhere to flee to? He said he knows who we are now, so we need a way to get the hell out of here.
The reply was quick, and gave a destination for them to head for. Thankful for this bit of information, Baron quickly took flight again, though he stayed low to the ground to weave between the buildings in order to avoid being seen, and headed towards a long, rolling column of smoke that was near the wastes. What they were to do now, he didn’t know. Where they would go, how they would do it, he didn’t know. However, Baron knew one thing as he headed towards their meeting destination, putting as much speed as he could risk into his flight:

Whatever they were going to do, they had to do it fast, or else they were done for.


((OOC: Sorry about the delayed post, folks. School was rough on me for a bit there, but I'm good to go again.))
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)

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