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Nighthand
Master of Games
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Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Nighthand » Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:48 am

Nighthand’s return to the entrance room left him feeling a bit happier about this maze. He didn’t have much of a desire to explore it himself, but that was okay. He worked well as a strike force, rushing to the rescue of any of the party who happened to get stranded. Then again, with a glance around himself, he realized the average level was beginning to climb. It had been a while since they had encountered a new member for their team. It was hard to find new anti-hacker freedom fighters in the home server of the hackers, after all.

So Nighthand took up a position near the teleporters once again, waiting for a call to action. While he did so, he looked over the map Demorian had been making for them.

“This whole place is made out of gimmick floors. NPCs that mimic ghosted players and try to play on our sympathies. Harsh bosses or, apparently, treasure for the dead end rooms without the exit. I’m guessing the exit was locked until the proper key was found, which seems like that heart in the chamber before the vampire boss. There seems to be some decent potential for profit in here, but it’s pretty dangerous for anyone too low level… Fitting for the tower of an Elite. At least we know there’s a way out – it would hardly be a fair challenge if there wasn’t, and Xenobia at least has a sense of fairness.”

Nearby, Demorian nodded to himself. Nighthand seemed to be mostly talking to himself, but at least other people could hear and benefit from it. With the heavy blade here, Nall and Sheena stationed firmly waiting for the exit to be mapped, Demorian decided to go off and explore a few rooms of his own. He could at least fill in a few gaps in the map where he suspected side paths might go. It would keep them from wasting too much time. Every room had two teleporters, and they couldn’t all go to unique rooms, it would take up too much space.

----

Demorian’s first journey was from the Entrance room to room A, the one with loose GP coins. He left them where they sat and continued on to room B, the one full of flowers. Knowing the gimmick already, it was a quick matter to dispatch all of the flowers before stepping on the teleporter that had not been used. According to the map that auto-filled as he explored, it was labeled T1. Another Treasure room, then, and the room itself filled that role. It had a single large gold-plated treasure chest, and a single teleporter he knew would lead back to the entrance.

Flashmail
To: The Party
From: Demorian
RE: Treasure Room

First come first serve. Entrance -> A -> B -> T1, follow your map. I don’t know what’s in the treasure chest, but on the off chance it’s keyed to the player that opens it, I don’t want to end up with something none of you can use. Someone head over to claim it.


After sending the flashmail, he stepped on the teleporter and, as expected, ended up back in the entrance.

Demorian’s second journey began with a step to A once again. Once more ignoring the GP coins, he stepped into and past the flowers. Room C was the one with the statue and the crystal hearts, all of which had been used up. He knew one path led to the vampire boss, so he took the other path. When he stepped into the room, he was immediately surrounded by ten-foot-tall hedges. A tentative poke with his sword showed that they were perfectly ordinary bushes, not attack plants or steel walls covered in ivy or anything. With a series of hops, he got enough of a glance around the room to see that it was filled wall to wall with hedges. Who knew what the correct path was to the end teleports?

Demorian decided not to bother. With a few powerful swings, he slashed through the hedge wall in front of him. Nothing immediately jumped out at him, so he continued, hacking and slashing his way through the hedges until he stumbled across the teleporters. Now, which one did he take?

The answer, as it turned out, was both. The first one led to the room where the vampire boss had been fought, and thankfully it had not respawned. Backtracking through the teleporters, he found the hedges had regenerated, and hacked his way through again. Taking the other teleporter led him to the treasure room he had marked as up for grabs. So, that was one path taken care of.

Flashmail
To: The Party
From: Demorian
RE: Teleporters

If you check out the map, you’ll see I’ve essentially mapped out one part of the maze. This should help prevent backtracking.


Back in the main room, he decided to see where the current wave of folks ended up before he set off again. After all, they might need backup in two places at once.

--------

“So which items do you have now?” Demorian asked Nall, as he lounged against the wall next to the slumped and tired-looking blademaster. Sheena kneeled over him, her hand constantly hovering over various parts of Nall’s body, acting like it was giving her inside information on the way the man’s body worked. Knowing them, it probably did.

“A bunch. Our campaign was pretty successful for a while, before they got really mad at me.” Nall said, with a bit of a smile. He looked weak, but better than he had in a long time. Sheena looked worried, though.

“I’ve heard some Elites were killed, but it was never entirely clear who did it. If they let out that your group was so successful, Yamiyo might question them.” Demorian shrugged.

“All us.” Nall said. First he gestured and a cape appeared around his body. “Kuja’s cloak you know.” Demorian nodded. Earrings appeared on Nall’s head. “Rugu’s earrings are ours now, after that strike.” Demorian nodded again. Heavy ore-studded armor appeared on Nall. “Jett’s armor. I don’t like it, but I can’t exactly pawn it off on anyone else.” Then his hand reached up, and touched his pendant lightly. “The Tear, of course, you know.”

“Unfortunately, that leaves some of the most powerful items still out there.” Demorian said. “Royce’s bracelet, Klive’s gloves, Melzas’ eye, Garaa’s shadow, Xenobia’s crown… not to mention however powerful the Treeweaver has become.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it? To help bring all of this to an end.”

“Right.” Demorian looked up at the ceiling. “I never thought we’d be reunited in such circumstances. I was perfectly happy trying to sabotage them from the inside, but it was getting too hot. You guys were too successful, so they were cracking down on everything. Plus… I was starting to enjoy it a little too much, I think.”

Nall looked up, ready to answer, but spasmed suddenly in pain. One by one, the Twilight Items disappeared from his model, until only the pendant and cloak were left – the two oldest. Sheena scowled. “You can’t keep doing that!”

Nall smiled. “I’ll be fine by the time we reach Xenobia.”

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

“Lady Xenobia.” A voice called from her antechamber. The man who entered was thin and willowy. Literally. His body seemed to be half composed of willow branches, his hair the fronds of a weeping willow.

The mistress of Nature raised her head from where she had been studying a long wooden spear on her lap. At the acknowledgement, the willow-man continued.

“There are challengers climbing your tower.” He bowed low as he said this, as always, his mind open to her intrusion should she desire control. All of Xenobia’s minions gave themselves willingly to her. “Shall I send them away, kill them?” He sounded almost hopeful.

“No.” Xenobia’s voice rang out, soft but clear as a bell. “Let them come. This will be very interesting.”

============
Room Key

En: Entrance room
A: room with loose GP coins in a pile of leaves
B: flowers of three colors. Red shoot fire, yellow shoot paralyzing seeds, white are the only way to kill them.
C: statue with crystal hearts. All hearts consumed.
D: hedge maze.
F: ominous rustling followed by endless bug swarm
G: blue treasure chest that explodes when opened.
M1: Battle against a vampiric ghost
K: ghosted player named RogueBane. Attacks when revived.
O: Room completely on fire. Fireballs bouncing around light sections again when they are doused.
R: a deep well with some GP coins on the rim. Acts as a combination wishing well and monsieur.
T1: treasure chest up for grabs
T2: treasure chest claimed by Canti and Talal
See Attached Map. Feel free to come to me for scripting now.
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Talal
Ikkitousen
Posts: 123
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:50 am
Class: Twinblade

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Talal » Mon Nov 12, 2012 4:46 am

She was the first of the rescue group to arrive back at the entrance room to find Demorian, Sheena, and Nall still holding their positions. Talal, although acknowledging them with simple eye contact, made here way back over to lean against the wall making sure to pull her hair forward over her shoulders. Part of her understood why Kira chose the design she had. The young Twin Blade had some confidence issues that needed to be addressed. That had become blatantly obvious during the events in the tailor’s tent. Although she would have preferred the lesson to be taught in some other manner, one that didn’t include her needing to be continuously worried about being covered to avoid embarrassment. Talal began to inwardly curse her stupidity for picking a fight with the AI. Damn my pride and emotions riding on my shirtsleeves. Damn Kira for being so perceptive and…and…right! Why did she have to be RIGHT! She crossed her arms and huffed softly. Why couldn’t Kira have taken the approach that December did? The Twin Blade mulled over that thought for a bit and at the pink haired Twin Blade’s offer. An offer that was extremely tantilizing but at the same time, worried the girl. But that was all in the past even if it was only a few hours ago. She needed to concentrate on the present which was more than enough drama than bringing in her own petty issues. Another glance over to the group of leaders was made. She could understand Nall not moving ahead until there was a direct path to the tower and truly, being a protective one herself, could also understand why Sheena was still there. Nighthand had risen to the occasion and stepped into the maze to help rescue Baron. Demorian however, she couldn’t figure out. He…always seemed to have more answers than everyone else. Why was that? How long had he been traveling the servers of The World? Then again, as the young girls eyes shifted to the man they referred to as Nall but that she hadn’t formally met yet, how could someone survive being so injured?

It only took seconds before the rest of them had joined her back in the room, Nighthand, Canti and Baron each going off in their own directions. After going through the rooms quickly to join Canti and then passing through the others to get to Baron, Talal felt no one should travel the maze alone. There were too many unknowns and she was glad she hadn’t had to run into some of those rooms alone without knowing which way to go or what to do. It was Xenobia’s tower after all. Would she know there were people working on the maze rooms? Hopefully, she didn’t have any hidden cameras or burglar alarm type things until they got further up the tower. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a surprise they were coming. Maybe they were just numbers in the many players who attempted the towers? Then again, was their presence at her tower really a surprise? She had to have spies in Yamiyo reporting to her on their every move. She had to know they were coming….right? About then, Nighthand began talking about the maze. He wasn’t too loud about it, just talking out loud but the room wasn’t all that big either so she didn’t even have to rely on her new hearing skill to listen, which was nice. It made her feel….normal and got her thinking about another run through the maze. Hopefully, one of the groups would find the path to the tower soon.

Her thoughts trailed off as she looked up and around the room. Baron had apparently already left again, choosing to continue his solo act. She worried about her fellow clan mate. He’d been really quiet as of late and not really trying to intertwine himself with anyone in their new found group. The young girl wondered what kind of turmoil if any he might be experiencing and how the Twilight was affecting him, hoping he was coping better than she was. Then again, he had been on more quests in the regular part of the game prior to their bout with Xenobia and because of that, knew more about the standard game operations than she did. Talal’s eyes then roamed back to Canti and Shadow, immediately bringing a small smile to her face. Canti was doing something with Shadow and had his backed turned to her as she walked up to him.

”I hope that tentacle vampire guy was the tough one of the three traps that Takua’s messages spoke of.”

Canti flinched when she spoke, she had apparently approached quieter than she realized. ”Please don’t say it like that again. That was not as easy as I made it look.”

She smiled, acknowledging his humorous comment. Her head tilted slightly to the side as she wondered. Did he use humor like she did to avoid either confrontation, awkward or uneasy moments? ”My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you. As for ugly back there, I thought you did great! I’m sorry my idea was off though. I wish we would have figured it out before you went through the agony of ghosting.” She offered him one of those crookedly innocent type smiles and a shrug of one shoulder, but it was mixed with a true apologetic look for the pain he endured.

”It wasn’t that bad… Nighthand made it quick. It’s just I didn’t really like the vampire himself. Had a few run-ins with uhhh…certain monsters with way too many limbs. I’ll be fine, honest.”

She smiled softly, recognizing the tone in his voice only because it was one that she herself had utilized on many an occasion; a tone of reassurance. Talal also understood the reasons why he might be using it so made the decision to leave it alone. What she really wanted to do was ask about his other monster encounters but was also learning the slow and aggravating lesson of letting guys be guys, especially when it came to their pride and decided it was a perfect time for a subject change. Giving him a raised eyebrow and head gesture at the tattoo on his arm, ”Is that new?”

Canti blinked at the sudden change in subject looking slightly confused, but only for a second. ”Oh, that? From the Fire Master. I asked ‘im for a bit of an edge in spells and such, ‘cause I’m lacking in fire when it’s one of my strengths too. So, he gave me this ability that’ll allow me to save up for a PhaVak Rom spell from absorbing a bit from spells that hit me. I’ll get some SP from fire spells too.”

So, it was his gift from the Fire Master. It sounded similar to hers except for the gaining SP part and the fact that hers wasn’t in tattoo form. ”That’s great! Have you had a chance to test it out and see if it works yet?” She was truly curious since she hadn’t had a chance to test hers yet.

Canti grinned and nodded. ”Not here. I was only hit a little if at all in the flower room. However, when some crazy cult wanted to recruit me, I did use it then… That’s why I had enough of vampires. Their leader was a hacker type with these blades.” He motioned to his newest weapon addition. The girl’s eyes went wide at the mention of the attempted recruiting. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times attempting to say something intelligent, stopping herself both times, pausing, and then finally…

”Oookay, so you beat the vampire because you have his blades but…you didn’t join the cult..right?” It seemed like the answer should be obvious but then again…

”Hah hah hah hah, no.” Canti gave her a look that said ‘Not in a million years’. ”Those guys were some creepy shadow assassin group that wants to manipulate Yamiyo through a series of executions at the right times. They thought I looked like good material to join because of what they’d observed, which was alot. Fortunately, ummm…I kinda’ left their training camp in disarray. Never mix specially-hacked items with Twilight, not when it gets violent. The leader tried to make ‘me-clones’ with a ring to use my power against me. I didn’t work out.”

A look of relief to say the least crossed the dark haired girl’s features, but at the same time, her wheels began to turn. ”Oh good.” Exactly when did these assassins observe Canti? Had they observed the whole group? If so, that wasn’t going to work well with their mission. With any luck, although not a good alternative either, they had observed him early on prior to recent events or perhaps in a bar brawl or something during his run through the bazaar. She took a deep breath while looking over at the teleporter pads. Time for yet another subject change until she could decide how she wanted to approach that line of questions with him. ”Interested in another trip around the maze?”

At the mention, Canti also looked over at the teleporter pads but then kind of looked away for a second. ”Yeah, about that… Uhh, Talal? I’ve been kinda’ noticing that you’re…uncomfortable here. Is everything alright? I mean, I know this tower doesn’t bring fond memories, so if that’s what it is…” He trailed off.

Okay, not the change in subject she was expecting which in turn also caught her off guard. ”I ummm…” She looked off to the side slightly. ”N-no. I-it’s n-not…I mean, yes, I’m ok.” She hated stuttering for words. It was never very convincing. ”The Tower doesn’t bother me. I honestly don’t know where we were when Xenobia…ambushed us, and then I woke up in the prison.” She flashed him a small innocent smile. The thought of finding Xenobia at the end of the Tower was bothering her a bit, sure. But the outward uneasiness that Canti was noticing had more to do with her new look, not that she would admit to that outright, because that would then draw more attention to it. However the sidelong glance and smile that he then gave her, told her that admitting to it was closer than she had hoped.

”Nah, I just thought it was giving you the creepy vibe ‘cause the place belongs to ‘er. It hasn’t been pleasant here, I know.” He paused, and Talal thought she was in the clear until Canti seemed to almost be hiding his face and his uneasiness when he managed to spill out… ”New look, I see.”

Shit…shit….shit and double shit. Talal immediately blushed and began pulling locks of hair forward. ”Oh! Heh, yeah. My other other one kind of got ruined beyond repair. Kira, was kind enough to have this one made for me.” Her hands didn’t stop moving, trying subtly to place hair strands in places and pull the skirt edges closer together at the slits to no avail. Her response got a reaction of him but to which part he was reacting to she couldn’t be sure.

”Ah…well… Okay, I know it’s just the character, but it looks…good.” Canti was dodgedly not looking her in the eye.

The girl’s hands seemed to slow a bit at his complement. ”Thank you. You don’t think it’s too…” She stopped herself. His inability to look her in the eye either meant it made him uncomfortable to be around her or would prefer to be allowed to stare…or maybe he had already done so. Talal wasn’t sure how she felt about that regardless of which way was causing his uncomfortableness. There was a closeness she felt to him, but what kind was still to be determined. ”I am just not used to it yet although on the up side, being so….open, it should prove to be not very constricting during fights.” Talal smiled and moved to try and see his eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to be uncomfortable around her; the girl silently cursing Kira once again. ”Does it make you uncomfortable?’

Having been called out on it, Canti faced her. ”It’s not that… Real-life me hasn’t been all that social, and game-life me is me playing up a ‘part’, so uhhh… a little social awkwardness, yeah?”

Her head tilted, a little surprised that he was a lot like her on the inside. Who would of thought! ”Me too! This would not have been an outfit I would have chosen but there was no time to change it or I would have been late to the meet up. It… is Kira’s way of…” She paused, an embarrassed look appearing on her face, her arms crossing across her chest as she looks away ”…teaching me a lesson.”

A frown appeared on Canti’s face. ”Wait, you mean Kira was the one who- No, nevermind. It’s okay, honestly. I mean, not that she did it on purpose, but…errr…fuck.” He facepalmed in irritation. ”Any chance you get what I’m trying to say here?” His tone and the way he said it told her that he sincerely liked her look, sympathized with her even, and was trying not to cross a line that might have offended her.

Talal looked up at him, her arms uncrossing although making sure her hair was covering appropriately, and relaxed. He needed reassurance too, it seemed. ”Yes, I do. It…makes me happy…actually that you like my new look.” She thought for a moment, her mind trailing off into how her character compared to her real-life appearance and just started sharing in a soft voice. ”Actually, my character look and my real life look are not very different. Well, if you forget about outfits and just consider height, body type, hair color, etc.” She reached around and pulled her thigh length black hair forward, draped over her arm. ”Except my own hair is more of a dark brown and not at all this long.” Dark brown eyes softly looked at him as she smiled and let out a light laugh realizing that she had just shared personal information. Something none of the group had done that she knew of and Talal hoped she hadn’t crossed a forbidden line and shared too much. This was, for the third time in a short period, time for a subject change. ”Would you join me on another run?”

A relieved smile immediately appeared on his face, which made her happy and relieved as well. ”Absolutely. I actually have an idea on where to start.”

”Excellent!” She looked over at Shadow who had been silent the whole time. ”Are you coming too? I noticed your dislike of the telepads?” She gave the bogie a sarcastic grin.

”Made him promise not to drop me on them like before.”

”Well then, he better keep it or he’ll have to deal with me!” She gave Canti a teasing look over her shoulder.

”Hey, it was only because he pounced me after the blue chest exploded.”

”Master, we don’t even know if I revive like players do…

”Okay, yes. You’re right. We haven’t figured that one out yet. I’m sorry, Shadow.”

A bit surprised at the whole revival issue for shadow, she walks over to the large hound and scratched his head. ”Then play it a little safer please. I don’t want to lose you…either of you…” A quick glance at her male counterpart before turning back to the bogie. However odd it looked, she didn’t really care because it felt right to her, leaning forward and giving Shadow a quick peck on the forehead like she would to a pet back home. Turning around and heading back towards Canti like it was a normal thing to do… ”Which way are we headed?”

There was an odd look from Canti directed at Shadow then… ”Well, there’s a couple of choices from the second telepad there I wanna try out. Namely, the ones we didn’t do on the way to the treasure room. So, the bug room has one and the blue chest room has one, and I wanted to eliminate them.” She nodded in agreement which made Canti turn looking like he was going to head for the telepads but stopped, turning back towards her pointing to himself. ”Red-head.” Talal flashed him a big smile as the three headed for the right hand pad and were wisked away by the light of the teleporter. The trio found themselves in the room of bug-filled rustling leaves and quickly moved to the left pad. The left pad proved to be a dead-end when it placed them back in the all too familiar treasure room from before so they stepped on the only pad in the room and arrived back at the entrance room within a few minutes of their departure.
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.

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

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Lord Canti » Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:13 pm

Canti: ...and I really hate going around in circles, you know?

So, you thought that I could help? Good luck. I've been able to 'ghost' into The World, but actively mapping out a dungeon isn't something I can do with my equipment.

(Welcome back, everyone. We join our black-winged Twin Blade discussing the fine art of cyber-investigations in The World with his outside eye on things, Reyome, effectively talking to her via the tag on Shadow's belt. Remembering that Shadow is, amongst other things, a communications and tracking program fused into a game pet, Canti speaks to her every now and then on things he doesn't understand, or just about any old thing that crosses his mind if it seems talk-worthy. Rey has been...patient with him thus far.)

Understand something, Damon. Shadow's the best ears and eyes I've used thus far. My usual way into The World, short of making a character, is to hack into raw data from the outside, many times without knowing what the interior is like. I look at endless lines of code to see if anything doesn't match what I expect, and then try to force my way into the fringes. There are Admins that can't do what I do, and they're locked out of this server. I can't map out Xenobia's tower or any place in Yamiyo better than you or Shadow can.

Canti: Wait, but how'd...you do that back at Mercenaries?

Okay, I'm a LITTLE more observant. Remember, I can read your data and his data, but I can't solve any mystery you can't. You and Shadow will have to figure this place out.

Canti: That reminds me... You build any quirks into this guy? He's been...odd, lately.

I didn't do anything intentional. He's there to help, and he's there to keep you sane. I hope he's doing alright.

Canti: He's fine, really. It's just that he's not what I expected.

Shadow: You're not what I expected either, dumping me onto telepads that could lead to certain doom...

Canti: *Sigh* Okay, I won't do that anymore.

"I hope that tentacle vampire guy was the tough one of the three traps that Takua’s messages spoke of."

(At this, Canti visibly flinched, and for good reason. He really didn't want to be reminded of that again, not with all the other abominations that had crossed his path since this whole business began. The lightning creature high up on the Tenebrous Tower had been his first REAL brush with death, and ironically it was the man that saved him from it that provided another. Dammit, he did NOT need to be thinking of his failures with Suraisu in the middle of his sudden freak-out about hellish monsters and the virus making it all real and deadly for him. Even still, the latest business was another bout of unpleasantness that he wished he could bury. The main reason Canti could continue was that he played an integral part in smashing it to pieces. That's why Tritoch didn't screw him up mentally either. He felt kind of heroic with that one. Still, Talal had been the one to speak, talking with him about the vampire, and then asking him about his new tattoo. That thing was a bit of fun when he used it. Made him feel like he was really becoming Lord Canti, god of the black flames. Anyway, as she was asking about going back through the tower, a thought crossed his mind.)

Canti: She's been looking out of it for a while now, in fact right at the beginning of all this, when she came back different. This place really worrying her that much? Or...?

(He had to ask. He didn't even know how, for sure, but it seemed...necessary. It was just that prying into the affairs of others was a no-sell situation for him most of the time, not when he himself had a history of withdrawing into himself and his work back at the shop. You wouldn't find him talking much or wanting to talk, just the tinkering of tools and the idle sound of a car slowly being repaired. With that in mind, Canti...decided to finally broach the subject of her new appearance. He was never very good at this. He didn't even explain to others when he dropped out of school for his job. It was something he had to do and he hoped they understood. Many worried, but he didn't answer to them, so what right did he have to ask her anything? Of course, as soon as he learned that there had been an altercation between her and Sekai's helper, Kira...that made him mad. Honestly, Talal looked good, but this wasn't the way to make people change!)

Canti: That evil spirit is gonna answer to me later, dammit!

(All that aside, things calmed down and awkwardness had passed as they got down to business between her, him, and Shadow. What really surprised him was how she and Shadow were connecting. Okay, the same with he and Talal as well, but Canti could outright tell that Shadow was warming up to the girl and vice versa. But now, they were off and into the bug room, taking the other teleporter to...that same jewel-encrusted treasure room. Canti stared in silence.)

Canti: .....

Shadow: Dayum.

(Okay, Plan B, then... They came back to the entrance hall, followed through to the bug room, and headed off to the room that had had the blue treasure chest that exploded and the two telepads in which one of them seemed to spell out certain doom when it was, in fact, a lie. The room was exactly as he'd left it, straight down to the blast-mark on the floor where the chest had exploded.)

Canti: Okay, it didn't come back then. Shame. Talal, when I last came here, I tried to figure out if there was really a certain doom room here on the skull-and-crossbones or the empty pad. And then, I hit the skull, leading me to the treasure room. Right now, I need to see what's in the other room. You with me on this?

"I've got your back!"

Canti: Good, but gimme a minute first. If this turns out super-bad, you and Shadow don't come rushing in unless I say so.

(She gave him one of those...looks. You know the sort: The one where you combine concern and disapproval. It was not unwelcome.)

"And what good does that do you? You would be stuck in there as a ghost....or worse!"

Canti: You come in with reinforcements. Or, you know, if it's a real pickle...you wait for my ghosted self to figure something out first.

(She grinned and told him he had ten seconds, which Canti nodded at and drew his knives before stepping on the telepad alone. And...VOIP! He was in a small room, about one-third the size of the other normal-sized rooms. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of the usual suspects: Wood twisted and warped to fit in in with the rest of it. It was kind of funny to Canti that this whole place eschewed the use of - you know - square-ish rooms. Hard to say why, but it seemed odd to him. This room was empty, though. It had no monsters, no ghosts, no treasure chests, uhhh...no teleporter...)
TO: Talal
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: None

Don't come in here yet!
TO: Canti
FROM: Talal
SUBJECT: RE: None

Problem?
TO: Talal
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: RE: RE: None

Empty room without an apparent teleporter. No baddies or hazards. Just empty. I'm checking to make sure.
(Talal sent back a message indicating that he may have found the main entrance, the right-and-proper way to Xenobia, but Canti wasn't so certain. He was searching around a great deal now, poking and prodding and scratching at about every surface there was to find something hidden about this room. And after a short while, he did: A soft spot in the wall. It had more give than the rest of the dungeon surely would. He flashmailed the fact to Talal and then quickly began to fire the Darkness Flame at it to destroy the obstacle and see what remained behind. He was still working at it when the Bogie and the other Twin Blade appeared after her long ten count. Here, he bid Shadow to take over - trying to ignore the Unicron roar issuing forth as Dark Breath was applied - and turned to address things.)

Canti: As you can see, no hazards yet, but I found something else. Gimme a hand, but be careful.

"Have you tried just using blades to chop at the wood?"

Canti: No, because I don't want to get too close. SP regenerates, so it's only a matter of time.

(At this point, Shadow broke through and revealed a dark alcove of some sort, about the size of a walk-in closet. Talal made a up a torch out of a low-level dagger, a piece of cloth, and some oil, saying "Would you do the honors?" and allowing Canti to set it on fire as the two three of them stepped in to get a closer look, Shadow piling in ahead of them to get a first look. Inside of there...they looked and found...a grinning monkey! It was a statue, and it was NOT in three pieces, fortunately. It was set in place, unmovable, and made entirely of wood. Canti knocked it in the head experimentally.)

Canti: Well, I could do all kinds of nasty, horrible things to it, but would that solve our problem here?

(There was nothing special about it. It didn't hold anything, it didn't have any part of it looing more important than the rest, and it didn't appear to be of any value at all. It was just sitting there with a grin on its face, as though laughing at them. With this in mind, Canti pointed and laughed at the thing to see if anything happened. Nothing did.)

"Time for a little...destruction?"

Canti: Just checking to see if it laughed back. Get out of the way, please.

(The dark Twin Blade used BiVak Rom on it. Why not? It's made of wood! True, Gan is Juk's weakness, but let's try this first. The flames surrounded the monkey and...it...did...not a thing. It was completely unaffected, like it was just scenery and nothing interactive. What followed then was a montage of Rai, Rue, Ani, Juk, and Gan spells...followed by Canti kicking it out of spite.)

Canti: Well, now I know why he's laughing at us. I'm gonna get some outside advice.

(He called upon Demorian and reported their situation, asking him about the monkey. His reply...)
TO: Canti
FROM: Demorian
SUBJECT: RE: Monkey!

Sounds like someone has a sense of humor. You found one secret hidden alcove, maybe there's another?
(...made alot of sense, actually. Canti asked the other two to help him search for more soft spots on the walls and the result was that three more were found. If we call the first one North, then the others would be...not precisely South, West, and East...but close enough. The three of them go to town on their respective wall sections! But then, it was amongst their efforts to uncover them with their abilities and weapons that Talal interrupted.)

"Hey guys! Shush for a minute!"

(Canti and Shadow proceed to cut away at the walls quieter...somehow. Shadow muttered to Canti.)

Shadow: What's she listening for?

Canti: I don't have a clue.

(Okay now... Excavations continued and they each found...three identical monkeys to the first one. Further searching at the walls produced MORE soft spots at not-quite-equidistant intervals around the room. Because of this, there hadn't been a pattern and so it wasn't that easy to find numbers 5, 6, and 7.)

"This is getting us nowhere, but what choice do we have with no way out?"

(Canti looked around the room for a moment.)

Canti: Okay, are there any soft spots left?

(He began to search with his flight powers now, carefully woring at the ceiling and floor now. There was indeed a soft spot on the floor. Leaving it to Shadow to dig at, he continued his search, as did Talal. As he and Shadow began to expose more statues...)

Canti: Is there any part of this room not monkey?

(...he suddenly heard Talal scream as she fell through the floor! Canti flew down after her to try and catch her before something terrible happened, but judging by the "Oof!" it was only about ten feet down. Well, he came in anyhow and landed next to her.)

Canti: You okay?

"Yes, thanks."

(Shining the torch around and investigating with hands, the two of them find - Guess what! - another monkey statue. However...this one is large. It's big, it's wooden, and it's unable to be moved.)

Canti: Hoo boy. Better start checking this room for soft spots too. Unless...

(However, when he tried to check it for soft spots along the left side, Talal was suddenly plunged into darkness. Why? Because...VOIP! Canti was back in the treasure room again. The dark Twin Blade looked around, torch still in hand.)

Canti: Back here again? Really?!

(He returned in a couple of minutes to the monkey room and flew on down.)

Canti: So! That one goes to the treasure room again.

"Wow! You just went poof! and... glad to see you?"

Canti: Thanks. Shadow, come on down. We've got one more 'porter, probably.

(He jumped down and they moved over to the right - more carefully this time - to find the new teleporter. It was then agreed that they would all step on together and...everything explodes forever they ended up in a new room. Here, Canti sent another flashmail back to the others, apprising them of everything that had happened now and to describe this new and fairly-spacious room with two corpses and a rotten dog facing off with them.)

Canti: Agh! Zombies!

(Pause.)

Canti: Hey, wait a minute...

(They were zombified versions...of themselves! Canti, Talal, Shadow...meet Zomti, Zomlal, and Zomdow. Evil zombified counterparts, just standing there as they were! The dark Twin Blade took this moment to wave at his counterpart...and flinch when he waved back in the exact same manner!)

"Ummm....am I seeing things?"

Canti: Shit. We're in trouble.

(Talal quickly checked to make sure that she wasn't zombified. Stranger things had happened, but this wasn't the case.)

Canti: No no, we're not zombies. They are. We're being undead carbon-copied. They're mirroring us, maybe even perfectly. They might be perfectly aligned against us to prevent us from going any further."

"Not good."

Canti: Unless of course 'revive kills zombie'.

(And he tried it, quicker than Talal could raise an argument. Canti really had a bad habit of doing that. It was probably a mistake to act so rashly, but he did it anyway. He tried La Repth to get them all, and Zomti cast the same thing on the living party. No weirdness found, the cure spell did exactly as it was suppose to do for each side without fail.)

"Canti. I was going to say. They haven't attacked and they are mirroring us so, don't pull your weapons."

Canti: I didn't. And now...we're in trouble. Unless Rip Maen works, it's 'Myth Busted' and we're back to a Mexican Standoff.

"What if we tried moving first. They are on the opposite side of the room. Let's move to the side and see if they stay equally distant and move as well. It's worth a shot and would tell us more about how screwed we really are."

Canti: Uhh, okay.

(He moved experimentally to see how this was going to work. Rather than mirroring, they were copying moves exactly. He moved left, so Zomti moved left. It came to the point where the party was circling around the room to get past their party to find...no teleporter. Go figure. Canti then tested a theory about his doppelganger and tossed a Darkness Fireball over his shoulder at the wall to see if his copy could do THAT! And ya know what? HE DID!!)

Canti: O_O Okay...

"You were right Canti...we're in a deep pile of shit"

Canti: Do you want to try the last safe option or should I?

"There's one left? I am out of ideas, so go for it!"

(Canti cast's Rip Maen on Zomti! Zomti does the same thing! It's completely ineffective both ways! And so was casting Repth on himself.)

"That....is not what I would have considered a safe option."

Canti: The only thing they don't seem to do is have our minds or voice.

(He said this as he was testing his powers and Talal was searching around or...something. Honestly, he had no idea what to do with this. There was no way out, no action that the copies could not take or that they could use on them that wouldn't cause the exact same thing to happen back. It was frustrating! It...uhhh...errrm...)

Canti: Talal, what are you doing?

"I'm...looking for something."

"Zombie Repellent?"

"No."

(He honestly had no idea. She was looking around, looking up at the ceiling - which was a 15-foot-high dome, apparently - and possibly looking for something...but what? Finally, she broke the imposed silence.)

"Canti. Can you throw a small fireball in the air, or water even at the ceiling? I am probably wrong, because I usually am, but...I hear a buzzing and it has no pinpoint direction. Makes me think we are inside an electric field or something. Sounds dumb....huh? I don't think the zombie clones are going to attack unless we charge them too! We need to figure out how to get out of here."

Canti: Will Vak Rom do? All my non-standard stuff is made of darkness.

"Sure, just make sure to aim it at the center so you don't hit your counterpart and his won't hit us."

(Doing so, there wasn't any particular effect of interest...EXCEPT for the sudden audibility of a buzzing sound, which Talal had been picking up the whole time with her sound and hearing abilities.)

"That...was odd. The buzzing got a little louder during the spell and then softened with it as it died out. Maybe we should be attacking the walls or ceilings with fire or lightning maybe? I dunno. Kind of like causing a short-circuit of sorts."

Canti: Lemme charge up my tattoo. Then I can hit it with something harder.

"Okay."

(While Talal tried to use a Rai spell at another part of the room, Canti took advantage of the Fire Master's hack and used Vak spells on his counterpart to get them chucked back at him. The tattoo gauge filled all the little dots and then he cast...PhaVak Rom at the ceiling area! The buzzing was made quite loud and Talal indicated a place or thing to blow up, up near the ceiling but more towards the edge. A darkness shot was fired up there and...there was a spark like he'd fried something!)

Canti: It's electric? Boogie-woogie-woogie! MeRai Rom!

(This time...nothing happened. They continued by using Rue spells and then the Darkness Flame again, but whatever it had done...it was done doing it for good already. Canti flew up and tried to grab the thing to find out what he'd been blasting and...apparently, he'd been shooting at a little thing made of wood. Granted, this was the Juk Tower and that made sense, but what WERE these? Canti flew around to see if his counterpart got one...but the blasted things were so small and camouflaged that he would have a helluva time finding it. Meanwhile, Talal urged Shadow not to try anything too rash to the flying Zomti over their heads.)

Canti: Talal, is there anymore buzzing?

"Maybe. I can't tell honestly, sorry."

Canti: Would it help if you were up here?

(She hesitated a little before answering.)

"It might."

Canti: I'll be careful, promise.

"I trust you."

(He was well-aware of WHY she wouldn't be keen on it. Talal had revealed that she was afraid of heights way back at the prison. Still, she seemed alright with it in this case, so he lowered himself down to hoist her up and allow the other Twin Blade to listen carefully and seek out any more of these little wooden whatsits floating around. There was a buzzing to be heard, and Canti got Shadow to fire at the place Talal indicated, but...it missed.)

"Sorry, it's just buzzing kind of everywhere around the edge. Maybe it's not what we need to be concerned with? A wild goose chase? I'm beginning to think even if we disabled whatever it is, that it's not the key to getting us out of the room."

Canti: We can't fight our doubles like this. They'll either damage us step-for-step or block us entirely. We'll just end up ghosts and someone else'll walk into the same thing.

"Maybe we should...ask for help? We've extinguished all of the obvious options at this point I think."

Canti: One more try. Lemme put you down and start shooting. If anything makes a noise louder than normal, lemme know. I'll blow it out and we'll see what what happens. 'Cause unless these three start acting independently or something, we're not even at risk here.

(Canti put her down and then proceeded to use the Darkness Flame as a flamethrower along the upper-edges as told. He only did half of the room since his Evil Dead lookalike was doing the same thing. About a third of the way from the first sparking doohickey, a second one did. Bad Ash, however, didn't hit anything. Perhaps it was ineffective against anything else in the room? The Twin Blade searched and - predictably - found a third one about a third of the way from the other two. Upon wrecking it, Talal shouted at him and pointed up at a globe that was made of metal, plastic, and wood which had...not been there before at the top-center of the dome. Seems those other nodes were keeping it secret, keeping it safe. So much for THAT idea. One Spirit Gun of the Darness Flame shot later, it was exploding and their doubles disappeared, leaving deactivated wireframe models in their place. Apparently, it was an optical illusion created by the globe machine, illusions to make these three humanoids look like zombies, including the one that was bent over to act like Shadow. So, they were out of order now and they had two teleporters again.)

Canti: Fabulous... I'm taking a break.

OOC: Phew! Long one. Man, this place loops around so many times...and I ain't no Looper!
Last edited by Lord Canti on Mon May 18, 2015 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

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User avatar
Bane
Elevated Player
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:26 pm
Class: Fist Fighter
Location: Australia

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Bane » Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:22 am

When Moah came to, his vision was blurred. It was as if he was underwater with how the room seemed to shift and distort before his eyes. It lasted a few seconds before the effect seemed to ease up a little and he was able to get a feel for his surroundings. He was standing, although only just, propped up by his wrists attached to the wall on his back. It was hard, and it felt rough even through his clothes. Wait… feel? He could feel? He tried to move his wrists to pull himself free, but found that his body was tender, sore, and unwilling to overexert itself even with the current situation.

The room he was in was different to where he remembered himself being. Most of it was wooden, or at least carved out of some kind of wooden growth. The floor was comprised of small vines and branches, coiled and overlapping one another to make a smooth surface, but the walls were rough, and formed a complete circle with him on the border of it. Before him, but well out of his reach was a pedestal, a glowing object on top. He squinted, and found that it was a key. It was a cruel joke, if that was indeed the key to his binds, then why would they have it right there, teasing him?

It was at this moment that two other people entered the room, obscuring his view of the key with their own forms: one male, one female. He watched them carefully at first, not wanting to raise the alarm in case they weren’t friendly. A snow leopard stood by the man, looking about the place and possibly acting as a body guard. The man said something about moving on, and then the girl responded, her voice quiet and motioning towards the key, but posing her question to her companion. "...what do you think that key goes to?"

The pain in Maoh’s arms was starting to get to him, so much so that he spoke against his better judgment. "I really, really hope it gets me down from here." He looked at the two of them, who seemed to spin around at the sound of his voice. He watched them, his vision still wavy and he spoke again, clearing his throat before he did so. “Could we… at least try it? I can’t reach it myself.” The girl drew a bow, aimed, and then shot the key right from the pedestal. With a metallic jingle it landed and skidded gently across the ground, away from its resting place.

The soft flutter of wings could be heard, and 5 large moths came into view. They fluttered, but did so slowly, a trail of dust falling to the ground in their wake. They didn’t seem to target any of them, but there was very little chance of them being friendly. The girl, bow already drawn, fired off a few shots, one of her arrows hitting its mark. However, when it did, all of the moths in unison began to writhe violently with green energy, magic flowing forth from their forms, and lashing out as one in the shape of a barrage of Juk Rom spells. It took Maoh a little bit to realize what was happening, but as the leaves and branches whorled around, lashing at his flesh, he couldn’t help but yell out. A primal, pained tone escaped his lungs and he strained against the shackles binding him.

Every swear he knew of came out in quick succession, his breath heaving with pain. He could feel pain now, he was sure of it. Maoh was hoping that such things were just illusions created by his mind from playing the game for too long. But no, that definitely hurt, and his body was already aching, and what just happened didn’t help. The man and the snow leopard distanced themselves from each other after receiving the effect of the spells, likely to avoid getting caught up as collateral damage from other combined spells.

The Archer flinched after the spells struck, before looking at him before turning to look at her companion. She looked at him again, this time saying "Please hold on, it will be over soon." She had a look on her face that made it seem like she was considering something, but she addressed her companion again, a scroll in her free hand. "Takua-san, try and pick them off, I will get the key and provide cover fire." With a flick of her wrist, the scroll unfurled and she made a dash for the key that had clattered on the ground. She moved quick, so as far as Maoh was aware, she was under the effects of Ap Do. As she did so, Maoh finally noticed the staff in the man’s hand: he was a Wavemaster.

Without so much as a word, the Wavemaster lined up a shot with the moth the Archer had managed to hit with, and began to glow with an earthy aura. Above his target’s head formed large boulders, and they each came crashing down, the moth unable to do anything about it. It was dead, leaving four of them behind. Maoh wanted out of his shackles and tried to use a spell, and item, or anything to help him get free. He watched as the moths began to writhe again, casting Juk Rom, but this time targeting the Wavemaster as revenge for their fallen comrade. However, the Wavemaster didn’t seem fazed by the spell barrage in the slightest, and cast another spell, a what light washing over him and reaching out to touch the Twin Blade bound to the wall, and the Archer who by this stage had grabbed the key.

The Archer and the Wavemaster seemed focused on their goals: one dropping big spells on the Moths, with the Archer providing support to the pair of them as she made her way back with the key. As she arrived with the key, the last moth fell to the power of Gan magic, and the Archer undid his shackles. "Are you okay?" Maoh fell to the floor on his knees, propping himself up with his arms and forcing himself to lean back against the wall he was just bound to. "How long have you been here?" The Wavemaster didn’t approach and hung back, the leopard prowling about and keeping its distance as well. The Archer seemed friendly enough, so he felt it was at least polite to answer.

"Don't know. Came to right before you guys showed up. As for how I am... where are we? Why are we here? And why can I feel things now?" Maoh rubbed his wrists, looking at the Archer with an inquisitive but tired look. As much as the healing spell had done wonders for his wounds he still felt tender and wanted to avoid moving more than he had to, at least for now.

"Hooo boy, this's gonna be fun." The Wavemaster came over only a little bit, scratching the back of his head, not really addressing anyone in particular. "Well, the short of it is, you're in a tower that serves as a really difficult, brutally killer dungeon. More broadly, you're in Yamiyo server. Which you probably never heard of if you don't know about Twilight, and feeling things. As for why, you probably got ganked by a hacker." He followed it up with a shrug. He looked apologetic, or was it awkward? Maoh didn’t know, but the Wavemaster continued on. "Which means you're comatose in the real world, and your mind is stuck here. And if that seems impossible, we're the same way, so we'd love it to be impossible." Was this guy serious? He was talking a mile a minute, and so casually it was as if this was all some kind of stunt by CC Corp to further immerse players with their events.

Maoh looked at the man as if he was nuts, then turned to the Archer, who seemed to have a reasonable head on her shoulders. "He's not high, is he?" Part of Maoh prayed that he would be. At least a little bit so that he could justify why the man was speaking about such things. He heard the Wavemaster mutter something but he ignored him, moving to try and stand, supporting himself on the wall he was leaning against. "You didn't answer one of my questions: Why are we here?"

The Wavemaster smiled, or at least Maoh thought so, making his eyebrow twitch ever so slightly. "Actually, I kind of did. A hacker ganked you. That's why you're here. Why we're here? Well, that's a bit more complicated, but we're looking for a way to get back to the real world. This is one step on that path." He was being all mysterious and vague, which Maoh didn’t like. He kind of answered his question, but in the wrong way. It was at this point that the Archer piped up again, interjecting before Maoh could raise complaint.

"He isn't, um, high. But it is true, we are in a similar, um... boat, I think the saying is." She gave the Wavemaster a worried look before talking to him. The way she spoke was familiar, he couldn’t shake it, but what was bugging him more was the pauses. Oh god, the pauses; did this girl have to think about every word before speaking? He turned to face the Wavemaster again, pushing the criticisms to the back of his mind for now.

Maoh smirked casually, looking the Wavemaster over. "I got that the hacker was the reason that I'm here. But the reason I asked again was about why here? Why the killer dungeon?" He tried to stand again, wobbling on his feet but not needing the wall to support him up. He smiled inwardly and wobbled his arms around to keep himself upright. "Look, last thing I remember was I was playing some wacked out event, got ganked by some guy, and now you're saying I'm in a coma? Not likely." He was confident that this was a load of bull that the Wavemaster was trying to feed him. Maoh hadn’t considered comatose being a real reason as it seemed so out there, and he still believed as such.

"It's... true, you felt pain, didn't you?" Again the Archer spoke, shifting more towards her companion as she did so but only the slightest amount. "We... don't know why you are in this place, normally you are taken elsewhere..." Her voice trailed off, making Maoh wonder where people are usually taken when something like this happened. Before he could ask, she continued speaking, her tone showing signs of optimism, or the illusion thereof. "But it's a bit of a blessing in disguise, we found you and now you don't have to go through some of the more, um, unpleasant discoveries on your own." She was right, and Maoh was grateful. The pair of them didn’t seem to be enemies, and having an extra set of hands to sort this all out would come in handy. Maoh refused to accept this, causing the Wavemaster to tilt his head and speak in a matter-of-factly tone. "Okay, fine. Log out. Better yet, take off your headset. Go on, prove me wrong." He shook his head. "It is a blessing in disguise, you're not in a prison. And she's right. We don't know why you're here, but you're lucky we found you. Even if it doesn't seem like it now."

He was lucky? Where did this Wavemaster get off saying that he was lucky that he couldn’t log out? Assuming he was correct, and that he was, in fact, a victim of the comatose pandemic that seemed to effect players of The World. The Archer spoke up, voice soft and uncertain, face seeming pained to hear what he was coming out with. "Takua-san, we need to be more..." She gestured in the air with her hand, trying to find the words to complete her sentence. “ourselves, less like them.” She didn’t seem content with her answer, be it how she phrased it or a lack of anything else to say, Maoh didn’t know. As she was speaking, Maoh’s hands went for his head, fingertips brushing against his hair where normally his headset sat. His eyes widened, and his mouth hung agape, vision blurring only slightly as he unfocused and stared off into space.

The Wavemaster sighed, pointing at him before answering the Archer. "Yes, but until he-" He stopped mid-sentence, considering something. His eyes wandered down to look at the leopard at his feet. The feline however seemed to have a look of amusement on its face, tail flicking back and forth idly to reflect as such. "Sorry. I know it's a lot, and it's not something that any of us like to believe in. But the sooner you know, the better off you are. It's more dangerous now, and you can really die if you don't have a party, or your party is wiped out. It's got its upsides to it, just like real life, and you can really experience all of The World's glory this way, but more than its share of dangers as well. We've both been doing this for a while, in one way or another, and you could do much worse than to come along, at least until you've gotten your bearings." This time he spoke calmer, and almost warm. It was an odd change from how he had been speaking previously, but the slightest look of shame was present on his face as he spoke.

The Archer addressed him again. "It... it does get some taking use to, you cannot be as reckless as you could have been, and never go somewhere alone. The consequences are, um... unpleasant to say the least." She paused again before continuing. "But there are some positives out there, you know. 'The World' is a very pretty place, and you'll be able to get a better, um, experience out of it despite the dangers." To be honest, he was sure she was right, but sightseeing was the furthest thing from his mind right now. He needed to get out; he didn’t want to spend more time here than he had to, especially after how he woke up.

Maoh sighed, defeated, and let his arms hang by his sides. He was far from accepting that this was his new reality. "I guess you're right. I... When we get out of this dungeon, I'm gonna need some answers. Yamiyo? Twilight? Too much, too fast." He dismissed the conversation as he normally would: motion with his left hand as if swatting away a fly. His arm felt oddly heavy so his eyes were drawn to look at his wrist, and on it was something that he hadn’t noticed before. It was almost like a child’s watch, bulky and made of metal; the face of which had four red numbers that flicked to a different combination, never seeming to go below 1111 or above 9999.

"It's difficult to process, but feel free to ask Takua-san and I anything you'd like to know," The Archer was being polite, and the fact that she was willing to answer his questions was a step in the right direction. Overall, her tone was soft, delicate, and carrying the undertones of stress and tension which had been the meeting so far, but her voice trailed off, distant, eyes resting on the device on Maoh’s wrist. "...Takua-san..."

The Wavemaster had a look on his face that Maoh couldn’t pick. Was it concern? Curiosity perhaps? He wasn’t certain, but before he could question it further, the Wavemaster spoke. "You know, if I were paranoid, I'd say that looks like a countdown timer that got a bit wacko. Other than that, looks like something right out of an old game. Or, I dunno, an Predator self-destruct device." He looked up from the device to look at Maoh, sighing. "Honestly, I don't know how big this place is. We can give as much as we know. I'm Takua, this here is Vesica-" He motioned to the leopard, who seemed to cut him off mid-sentence.

"Such gracious manners, one might have thought you'd forgotten them, to only introduce yourself now." Maoh wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but being a cat, he couldn’t be too careful. Takua gave her a glare, to which she seemed to yawn and go back to doing her own thing, paying the conversation no mind. At least that’s what Maoh could make out. He nodded to Takua, acknowledging that he understood whom was who out of the two of them, and turned to face the Archer. She looked embarrassed, or something along those lines as her face was flushed. "Um, my name is Sekai, it's a pleasure to meet you...?" Why had she phrased it as a question? Regardless, her voice was timid, and the pauses made him curious. She was of no threat, at least this was where he was placing his bet.

As Sekai’s voice trailed off into nothingness, Maoh gave each of them a weird look. His hand brushed against the device on his wrist and he left it there, shielding it, making sure it was covered. ”Maoh.” His voice was quiet, still a little sore. He gulped, clearing his throat before speaking again. “My name... well... I guess I go by Maoh now." It hadn’t occurred to him that if he was truly stuck in the game, his real world name would potentially be redundant. Then again, as he was now himself, would it be better to go by his real world name? Does that person still exist? For simplicity’s sake, he was going to stick to Maoh, at least for now. Instinctively, now introduced to the other two, he started muttering to the bracelet on his wrist, attempting to pull it off.

As he came to the realization that the bracelet was attached to his wrist in a way he wasn’t expecting, Sekai spoke again. Maoh looked up from his bracelet and looked her in the eyes. "Um, it might not be a good idea to tamper with it, Maoh-san." Sekai was visibly biting her lip, and she turned to face Takua in an expectant way. Was she perhaps hoping for more information from him? He had gone through potential things that this device, so he was the one that was the most likely to have more answers.

“Uh… Sekai, was it? It’s not coming off anyway. However it got there, it found a way to fuse itself to me. Look.” He stepped forward and held the bracelet out for the Archer to see. It was definitely as Maoh had claimed; it was stuck to him, and his skin was pulled with it when he tried to move the bracelet. The numbers on its surface changed erratically every few seconds, arbitrarily counting something, or reading something, or acting as a clue to something they’ve yet to experience.

Takua smiled slightly. "Well, good to meet you Maoh. We've got more of a group trying to explore the tower. We'll meet up with them later, but we'll tell them you're coming along." Whether or not they planned to tell them before they encountered them was mostly irrelevant, so long as they didn’t just abandon him here. It was hard enough to be in unfamiliar territory with no way to escape, let alone deal with now being stuck in the game as a real individual. Takua frowned, noticing that Sekai was looking at him. "Yeah, you're right. It is. Well, best not to touch it for now. We'll have someone take a look at it, once we get to them. They're...a bit better at this kind of thing." He had a point. Meddling with it may break it, and if it were to serve as a key, it would be more useful to them in one functioning piece.

"Do we just... continue playing, then? Is this how it works?" He spoke quietly, addressing either of the two so long as he got an answer. His eyes fell to the weapons by his sides. For lack of any word he could think of, those weapons were now real. If he was now fighting for his life, then he would need to learn to rely on them proper as opposed to pressing buttons on a controller. Levels meant a lot less now; now it came down to skill. "I guess I'll just have to figure it out at some point then, huh?" The situation seemed to be getting to him; a soft chuckle passed his lips.

"It... certainly does appear to be. Maybe Demorian-san or Raine-san will be able to help you remove it." Maoh looked at Sekai. She seemed startled, but was giving him a small smile. Demorian-san? Raine-san? Why was her voice hesitant? Was she lying? The smile was throwing him off, he didn’t know what to think, but Sekai’s general mannerisms were hard to decipher already. "Um... it isn't... playing, not anymore really. It... it really is more of a survival, um, test now. But we have gotten better at this, you become, um, accustomed to moving differently than before, and you learn how to be more aware of your surroundings and that of those you fight against.”

Maoh folded his arms, looking Sekai over. "Survival..." For someone that had, to this point, found the most enjoyment out of hunting other players in the game. He had started to feel more and more like prey as the day went on. "Guess it's a test then." Maoh turned to Takua, assuming that the more confident of the two had taken charge and was leading the pair. "What's our destination, or won't we know until we meet up with these other people you guys mentioned?"

Takua motioned to the teleporter pads before them. "This is a maze, actually. Each room has two teleporters, like those. Each leads to a different room. There's a way out of here somewhere, but we haven't found it yet. Other than that, we might wind up back at the entrance hall. So really, we don't know, but we'd like to continue up the tower, which is something we can do somewhere in this maze." Maoh liked that Takua was informative and to the point. A party invite came his way too, and he accepted believing it was a sign of good will. "Gotta do that, too. If you die out of a party, you usually die in real life. So stick in a party, and you should be fine. While we explore, we can try to explain the important stuff." Usually? That’s reassuring.

The offer to explain important stuff was comforting, as he was definitely feeling the impact of being thrown in the deep end. "Thanks. It's... a lot to take in. I'm going to need to seriously think about this when, y'know, we aren't trapped in this hellhole. Lead the way." Takua nodded and the three of them headed over to the teleporter pads at the other side of the room. "Which one do we take? Do we know where they go?" They were identical in every way, and with no knowledge as to how he arrived in the room, he didn’t know which one was correct. Takua explained that they had just been guessing thus far and left the decision to him. Maoh looked at the portals, before he found himself looking at the bracelet on his left wrist. "...Left."

They piled onto the teleporter and they were whisked away to the next room. It looked similar to the room he was in before, minus the pedestal. There was one addition however, and that was that the walls had needle-like thorns on them. Maoh turned to the other two after having his small look-around. "Hrm... What do you guys think? Does this room look familiar?" They were all looking around, but it yielded nothing. "Should we just pick another pad?"

Takua nodded. "Looks like it, just keep an eye out." Maoh nodded back. They went on over to the pads and looked between them. Considering Maoh picked last time, he let the other two have the honors of picking. Takua stepped on the right teleporter pad and nothing happened. They looked at each other, Maoh shrugging. Before they could try the teleporter pad on the left, a loud shifting sound echoed through the room. The vines on the walls began to writhe, seethe, and began to close in on them from every angle.

"Oh this is fucking great." Maoh looked around, fingers twitching over his weapons, desperate for a way out. If the teleporter wasn’t working, that left them no way out. "Is there a switch or something to stop this? Wait, the other portal! Can we use that?" He looked at the other two. Takua was casting spells at the walls, his staff and form glowing with Gan energy. However, the spells only seemed to speed up their rate of movement rather than hinder their progress. As for Sekai, her bow shone with a Vak aura before unleashing a single shot at the vines; the fire only glancing off the surface, causing the walls to speed up further.

"By the way, Sekai, hitting you again. Maoh, don't be surprised." Sekai nodded at Takua but kept firing her arrows at the walls. Maoh was halfway through asking what he meant when he felt the acuteness of his senses skyrocket and peak high above human levels. He could smell, hear, and see things a lot better, but alas, nothing came to light. They all seemed to speak together, the plan being to try the other teleporter, then head to the center of the room.

"Done! Let's move!" Maoh ran for the other platform and jumped onto it, the other two hot on his heels. As they moved, the vines sped up even more, as if they were determined to cut them off. The three of them got there, but nothing came up, the teleporter was disabled just like the other one. They headed for the center of the room, and by the time they got there the vines had closed in past the teleporters, leaving them very little room to maneuver. They found themselves backed up to one another with little to no options left. "Attacking it isn't working... Should we try the opposite?" Takua tried an Ola Repth on the vines just in case, but again it yielded no results.

"Just shut up and don't move. Think of it as a test of faith." Maoh grunts and had to consciously slow his breathing down to be as still as possible. The walls were persistent and didn’t cease. They were coming closer and showing no signs of stopping. He wanted to speak, but if it was going to seal their fate if he did so, he preferred to keep his mouth shut for the time being. Sekai pushed Maoh between herself and Takua, which the Twin Blade was a little embarrassed about, but thought that at least he was shielded from the vines. As the vines closed in, they pulsed one more time before fading away back to where they originally were. "Ow. Ola Repth. Vesica, you're so lucky you're right." The scratches that the two higher leveled players had sustained whilst protecting him from the vines were healed up, and they were good to go again.

Maoh looked down at the snow leopard around their ankles and smiled gently. He was relieved that she had been around to save them, but he was too busy to really notice what she did. Regardless they moved on. Heading back to the teleporter pads, they nodded to each other one last time before taking the plunge into the next room.
Maoh l Lvl. %h l EXP: ????/1000 l HP: ???/??? l SP: ???/???
GP: 31,541

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

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Sekai » Mon Feb 25, 2013 5:15 am

Teleporters had a funny way of making her feel like she'd just taken an extremely quick ride through an elevator. As a result, Sekai preoccupied herself with trying to get her land legs back in a sufficent amount of time. A cursory glance about the area revealed what she suspected to be a fairly ordinary room- no obvious looking traps- and a single golden treasure chest in the center of the room.

Speaking of obvious traps. Kira muttered, peering through Sekai's eyes to see if she could spot anything the young Archer otherwise wouldn't have. New kid traveling with them, though 'new' was a bit of an understatement considering the way she and the kid had last encountered each other, had meant that she and December were keeping rather low profile and out of sight until they were absolutely needed.

In Sekai's private opinion; until the inevitable fight with Xenobia.

Maoh's inquiry snapped her out of her thoughts, Takua taking the time to caution the newly comatosed about the potential of traps and commented about the single teleporter likely leading them back into the entrance. "We can... see what's inside, I would rather we not, um, steal from Xenobia-san though." Sekai volunteered her own opinion in a particularly uncomfortable sounding voice.

"You pause a lot when you talk, you know that?" Maoh replied, giving her a look as he popped the chest open.

Sekai's face flamed with color, ducking her head a little and dropping her eyes to the ground. "Y-Yes, I'm sorry."

Gee, it's not like English is her second language, or that she actually thinks before she talks or anything. Nah, she just pauses a lot because it's going to drive you nuts. Obviously Kira didn't like the newcomer- and it wasn't just because he'd been allied with Trent. It's because he was allied with Trent, the hell else wouldn't I like him?

Perhaps it has to do with his appearance? He does look to be affiliated with Vak, and we all know how well you handle individuals with a Fire base. December supplied her theory.

Sekai felt Kira's consideration of the theory before the Long Arm outright rejected it. Nah, if that's the case, I'd hate 'em all. A shrug, awkward when it was felt within your own head. I just don't like 'im, his affiliation's got nothin' to do with it.

The chest revealed an ornate crossbow that was quite the work of art. Sekai knew very little about weapons outside of the game, but this one just looked like a piece of art, something to be appreciated rather than used. Sleek, solid black iron adorned with vibrant reddish runes. An impressive piece, one that would likely make someone think twice about attacking if it were leveled at them.

"Looks like a crossbow. That's your area of expertise, right Sekai?"

Taking that as an invitation to get closer, the snowy haired girl examined it closely. "I've never seen one like this before," she admitted with a clear note of admiration in her voice. Very pretty, but... She shook her head. "but, it does not belong to me- to any of us. It belongs to Xenobia-san, so it should stay here."

To further distract herself from the crossbow, she turned to Takua. "Which transporter do you think will, um, take us further?" A pause, realization kicking in as she remembered there was only one in the room. "I mean, once we're back at the entrance and retrace our steps."

Seriously?

"Sekai, if you recall, part of the point of this maze is reward; not just punishment. It's like a dungeon, congrats, you've reached the Gott Statue..." The grin slowly faded from the Wavemaster's face, the odd look on his face reflected on Sekai's own. How long had it been since they'd had a normal dungeon? Where nothing out of the ordinary had happened and they'd reached the end of the dungeon to collect their rewards like a normal player? "Now take the damn crossbow and put it to good use. Xenobia can't use it anyhow, and you know it."

Holy shit, our world is ending, December; the Wavemaster's actually thinking rationally for once.

Whether or not the disapproving look had more to do with Kira's sarcastic commentary in her head, or Takua's comments was enirely up for debate, but the girl aimed it in the spellcaster's direction and accompanied it with yet another shake of her head. "It does not feel right," she tried to explain. "and we don't know if belongs to someone else in this place." His comment about Xenobia could have been true, but then again... this was the Elites; no one knew what they were truly capable of until they encountered one in combat- and lived to tell the tale. "...and we do not know she cannot use it." That part had a bit of a wry note, spoken as one who had lived through the Eventide Crescendo's many horrors. "I will not take something that does not belong to me, particularly when we will need to, um, negotiate when we reach the top of this tower."

...that is a fair point. December commented, sounding pleased by the Archer's attempt at reasoning with her more rogue minded fellows. As much as I would like to have a powerful weapon at her disposal, I do prefer she not be considered a thief.

Fuck that, the weapon's more important. Besides, with this group's history, you really think she's going to take us seriously? We're going to be fighting her until she's dead, or we are.

The argument continued, the corner of Sekai's left eye twitching slightly as the formr assassin and Kira continued to hash out what was more important- weapons or negotiation strategies- and then moved on to the actual success rate the two of them figured the Freedom Fighters had.

"Wait, we're negotiating with Xenobia?"

Surprise followed by a perplexed curiosity filled Sekai's face, replacing the annoyed expression from before as she turned to Maoh. "Yes, it's the reason why we are here, after all." She paused, hastily moving to correct herself. "I mean, it's the reason Takua-san, the others and myself are here. Um, not necessarily yours, but you are here with us, so by that extension, I suppose it does mean you as well..." She looked about for a reason, something to cover up her fumble and found the device on Maoh's wrist. "That is to say, um, perhaps your request can be to ask if Xenobia-san can remove that... um, thing." she gestured towards the blinking device on his wrist to emphasize her point.

Takua jumped in. "A bit more history and politics here. So there are a group of really powerful people in The World, called Elites. They control all of Yamiyo, and every hacker that lives in this root server. Think of Mac Anu, but four times bigger, and with a giant wasteland in the center. They all serve a guy called The Master. Together, they control Twilight, which is a virus that keeps us all in comas. Twilight also gives...abilities. Non-standard stuff that breaks every law the game has. Since they control it, they have a lot of it, and they're all insanely powerful. So much so that we're trying to get a few on our side to even the scale, and take care of the few who are totally loyal to The Master, and him as well. Cause he's even worse. Enemy of my enemy is a friend, kind of a deal."

"That makes sense. Just... ugh..." Maoh ran a hand through his hair, noticably irritated from her perspective. She didn't blame him, not really, it wasn't a pleasant thing, waking up in someone's tower, or jail cell... or dungeon for that matter.

In an argument that only served to amuse Kira, December, and Takua, much to Sekai's annoyance, the young archer and the new twin blade had it out in a battle of logic that ended with the Wavemaster, thankfully, taking her side on things and ended with the crossbow placed back where it should have been left in the first place.

"This is bullshit!" Clearly, this one was either young or attempting to hide his fear by copping a rather nasty attitude.

Either way, the words were out of her mouth before she could help herself. "This is your reality now, and as Nii-san would probably say, 'get used to it'." Satisfied, she headed for the teleporter.

...oh man, we're a horrible influence on you, little one. Points for sass. Kira's laughter was poorly disguised.

I don't know what you're talking about. Sekai retorted, pointedly ignoring the dirty look Maoh sent at her back as they waited for him to accompany them and teleported back to the entrance.

Nall was still there, slouched against the wall with Sheena next to him, and he still didn't look very good. Demorian and Nighthand were on the other side of the room, she kind of felt sorry for anyone who may come in thinking they were an easy target.

That one gentlemen you and Takua annihilated, for example? Now it was December's turn to laugh. There was the implication of a high five between the two women, rare as it was for the former assassin and Kira to get along.

...well, yes... that's one example, I suppose. You don't think...? None of them looked like they'd been in a battle terrible recently, and there weren't any new scorch marks, melting ice or gouges in the tree either. Still slightly distracted at the thought, Sekai introduced Maoh carefully to each individual, leaving it to Takua to explain to the leaders of the group where he came from.

And then Sheena happened.

Is it bad of me to hope he tries saying something rude enough that Sheena-san will scold him properly? Sekai asked the two, technically three within her. The third, as she understood it, was being intentionally kept asleep and dormant until they had enough time, and a safe place, to deal with her accordingly.

December mulled it over, watching the two interact. If he's wise, he won't do or say anything that will enrage her. I certainly wouldn't want to after that last display.

Pretty sure she'd knock 'im flying all the way back to Mac Anu if she gave him a friendly smack on the back. Kira commented cheerfully, sharing the mental image of the impossible feat with Sekai to cheer the Archer up. It kind of worked, though the young woman was now preoccupied with trying to figure out exactly how that might work.

"Nope! Well, I mean, I could! But I imagine you like the 'twin' in 'twin blade' enough to keep both arms!" The entirely too cheerful reply threw the three of them out of their private conversation and back into the present.

Sort of.

Kira was too busy laughing herself into tears and December was failing to stifle her own laughter. Sekai's eyes widened and she blinked rapidly, trying to figure out if she'd actually heard Sheena right. Takua's laugh confirmed it; Sheena'd actually alluded to ripping off Maoh's arm to fix the problem.
Permanently.

Sheena-san is a scary person sometimes. She thought to the two laughing warriors resting within her mind. It's, um, probably a good thing Nii-san isn't here, I have the feeling he would challenge her.

...I would pay so much GP to see that, little one. The image of a familiar red garbed Heavyblade streaking across the sky like a lopsided meteor temporarily took root. And you know he'd keep coming back for more, and I'd never get tired of seeing that happen.

She wouldn't either, Sekai thought with a quiet groan, rubbing her eyes tiredly with one hand. If there was something Kira liked more than teasing her until she was ready to smack the AI, it was tormenting the daylights out of their mutual friend and ally. Luckily, she didn't have the worry about that problem, as Ko wasn't there, thankfully, and the chances of Sheena and the Heavyblade meeting were extraordinarily slim to none.

Their trip through the other rooms were relatively uneventful, the young Archer explaining what was in each- pointedly ignoring the one she and Takua had blown up for his rudeness, though Kira offered to 'take over' and play with him a little if they wanted to kill some time and have some fun. The room their little group entered was relatively normal looking, rather the same as others... minus the two lizardmen who stood there. She couldn't help it, the words slipped out before she could help it. "Red oni, blue oni?" Honey-brown eyes blinked at the two, one in old looking leather, the other in platemail that didn't look terribly put together.

Both of them were intimidating in more than just size, and Sekai shifted uncomfortably as a result, jumping half a foot into the air at the mutual roar. A bow appeared in her hands, traditional in design rather than one of the crossbows she had in her admittedly decent pool of Archer weapons.

"So... is this considered normal? Like, overcompensating monster puzzles?" Maoh's voice broke through the race of thoughts and conversation taking place in her head.

Her eyes never left the two lizards, attempting to analyze them from a safe distance. "More normal than some we have come across," The doubt in her voice was clear as she mentally rejected or accepted different strategies and suggestions from Kira and December. "Takua-san, go for one and I will go for the other with a spell?" If they were physically modeled after what appeared to be... Heavyblades... sort of, she'd never heard of one with a massive hammer before, maybe they'd fall prey to magic.

Chances of it being that simple were about as great as getting to the top of the tower and having Xenobia freely agree to join their coup against the Master of Yamiyo, and then convincing the other to do the same without any kind of strife.

"Wait, so that's it? It's straight to attacking? What if it's a non-combat puzzle?" Maoh asked with a frown.

"Honestly, this is pretty damn under-par for the course. I almost feel like I'm back in... I dunno, Delta." Takua commented dryly, sizing up the opposition in much the same way as Sekai. "Sure, I'll take the red one. I feel like using a lot of Rue today. Although... nah, still Rue. I'll have enough Vak for later."

Kiss ass. Using my element's not going to make me forget your dumbassery. Kira muttered. Sekai pointedly ignored her and selected her spell, waiting for Takua to prepare his and fired simultaneously- or as close to it as she could.

...well, that was different. I don't think I've seen that many ones since your first run in with that creepy ass fuckhead in black armor. Colorful commentary courtesy of Kira echoed in Sekai's head, her vision blurring unsteadily a moment as the AI's influence bled through.

Sekai wasn't amused. Kira, that was mean. She hadn't gotten that many zeroes back then... had she? The lizards looked at each other and made an odd noise. ...are they laughing at us?

Tactics switched as Maoh popped in with another theory, the two of them trying that to no avail as well. Again with the odd growl-laugh. Definitely laughing at them. Alarm bells rang off as Maoh went in, trying to negotiate with them to let him use the teleporter.

Too late to warn him, Sekai cringed as the Twin Blade was kicked and smashed with a hammer with a hard, hollow thud, and a splatter of blood and crack of bone.

That's gonna leave a mark. Kira commented dryly, no real trace of sympathy in her voice.

December winced in sympathy. Poor child, if this was the first time he had perished as Sekai was thinking, the trauma would probably have a significant effect on him. We all must learn at one point or another, I suppose. The pink haired woman replied dubiously. I do hope this will help him realize this isn't a game. Hopefully, it would encourage a little more care in battle and in his interactions with others.

The first death was always the worst, she remembered her own first death being almost equally as unpleasant when she was still new to the Freedom Fighters' group. This one... might have been more unpleasant, she wasn't quite sure. The log sized arrow through her chest hadn't exactly been fun for the few seconds she'd actually felt pain before the ghosting had happened. "Rip Maen!" Sekai called out, watching the white light fill the ghosted player's body and return him to life.

"Please hang back until we know a little more." Her bow rose, string drawn back until the knuckles of her index, middle and ring finger brushed against the curve of her jaw. Her eyes narrowed, index finger on her left hand pointing towards the target to help align her sight toward where she wanted to hit. "If this does not work... I have the feeling we will be here a while." The bowstring rolled off her fingertips, the arrow notched releasing with a twang as it exploded into a streaking comet of flame to sink into the blue lizard, a second arrow of equal strength coming shortly after to do the same for the red one. A third arrow, non-magical, was fired, again targeting the blue lizard to see if it had any effect.

More ones, though the regular arrow she'd hit the blue lizard with scored a number of twos. Some slight progress, and more snarky commentary from Kira in the mean time. Pointedly pretending she didn't hear the comments being made, Sekai's attention flicked back to Takua. "Takua-san, I can ask Kira or December to help... but I worry that they'll do minimal damage as well, what do you think should be done?"

Hey! I can't suck worse than you three have. Let me at 'em, it'll be fun. Kira retorted.

Of course you could, dear, December piped up, sounding entertained. you could do no damage at all and end up as an aching splatter like your new companion.

Oi, my level's higher than his, for one, that much is fuckin' obvious. For two, Long Arm; we're not as quick as you Twin Blade little shits, but we can take a hit without shattering like glass. She pointed out, offended at the idea she'd just be splattered without being able to get in at least a few good hits.

December rolled her eyes. My mistake, dear, they would have to strike you three times before you would be a paste upon the floor.

"What're the chances that their blades will get through their armor?" Takua-san to the rescue again, Sekai silently promised to thank him later for breaking up the argument.

Sekai made a face, not happy at the chances. "It's... a possibility, I suppose." Doubtful, despite the protests from both women who claimed things would be different otherwise. Plus, she'd rather avoid having to answer the inevitably questions that would arise when Kira or December made their appearance in battle. "Should I remain on healing duty?" She asked uncertainly. Of the three of them, her physical attack was likely still the highest- assuming Kira's theory regarding Maoh's significantly lower level had any weight to it. Takua had more to choose from, magically, and also had access to the same healing pool she did.

"What... What should I do?" Maoh asked, looking worried- not that she could blame him. He was probably shaken up by the death and being able to feel said death.

Takua asked a couple of questions, handing over a handful of Resurrect scrolls to be on the safe side. A Tarot Card was shown, the Fool, and Takua shrugged, apparently not entirely concerned with it. "Let's see if I've still got it from Ganz. Sekai, get ready to Rip maen, I doubt I'll survive a hit."

Sekai nodded, watching anxiously with two spells prepared as requested- if he were lucky, he'd need to be healed. If he wasn't... well, the Rip Maen was for that reason as well. The tail smacked into the Wavemaster, not killing him, but sending the Wavemaster flying across the room to smack into the wall. She winced at the thud.

That could've gone worse, I guess.

"Well, that actually went better than it could have."

Kira scowled. That's what I said, damn it. Ahh well, we know I'm right and the new kid's got a massive level handicap compared to most of us.

Sekai fired, trying to distract the lizard from staring at Takua with little success, watching the tiny numbers rapidly appear. She scowled, muttering a few choice things under her breath as she healed Takua back up to full.

A variety of things were tried, multiple arrows, one or two arrows, cycling through the elements as Vesica and Maoh attempted to handle the physical combat aspect of things. She couldn't see the damage the Red did to the Blue, and winced as both Lizards focused their attention on the Wavemaster after an OrGan Zot was launched.

The two higher leveled players launched into a frenzy of spells, attempting to lower the defenses to elements, attack and to make them confused so they would attack one another until the lizard grew tired of it. Sekai's heart leaped into her chest, the teleporter was clear and Takua was going to get hurt. "Maoh-san, go! We'll follow shortly after."

With the Twin Blade hopefully out of harm's way, Sekai's attention focused on Takua and the lizard steadily advancing on him. Vesica launched herself into the teleporter after Maoh, Sekai following quickly after with Takua on her heels... and watched with a jolt of fright as the Wavemaster's top and bottom halves split from one another as he materialized. "Rip Maen!"

The ghosted player now revived from his gruesome end, Takua stretched out, wincing. "You know, in comparison, I guess that was pretty painless." A wry smile. "Thank you, Sekai."

The white haired archer shuddered in response, understanding what he meant by 'in comparison' and tried not to think about what had happened not terribly long ago. Maoh's horrified look did nothing to help that, and she pitied the new arrival to their group. Being smashed was only the beginning. "Y-Yeah..."

And distracted herself by looking about the room. Large, wooden with an 'end stage' single teleporter currently looking inactive. Nothing out of the ordinary that she could see, so far, anyway. Her eyes narrowed as Takua echoed her own thoughts on the matter. If they had found the end path to Xenobia... could they stall long enough to get the rest of the group there? Or would it rely entirely on them alone?

The very idea of that was terrifying, and though she thought herself fairly okay at persuading others to try a more peaceful, diplomatic course of action... she didn't know what all to expect.

..and didn't trust Kira to keep her mouth shut either, if push came to shove or something was said to piss the Long Arm off.

"That's why I'm here, little mistress. I'll silence her while you do what you need to. December reassured the girl warmly.

Which, naturally, didn't go over well with Kira. Oh, I'd love to see you try, bitch. I'll hang you on the wall and-

Sekai quickly kicked herself out of that conversation. If she couldn't even make those two behave for longer than five minutes at a time, she didn't figure she had much of a chance at convincing Xenobia-san to join their cause either.
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
Takua
Ikkitousen
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:19 am
Class: Wavemaster
Location: Walking the line of madness

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Takua » Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:46 am

Getting chopping in half hurt. It was the kind of screaming agony that, honestly, he was almost getting used to. If one ever truly got used to something like that. Maybe he was simply getting jaded about it, so that even though he felt each inch with exquisite sensitivity, it was just...one more death to add to his tally. No more, no less. He shivered as the sensation of death settled over him just long enough for the abrupt whiplash to screech against his nerves as the Rip Maen engulfed him in light and restored his ghost to solidity.

Thanking the Archer, and commenting about how after getting hit by Garaa, this was...kind of a walk in the park, the Wavemaster surveyed the room. The first thing that caught his attention was the lack of a second teleporter. That, alone, shrieked alarm bells in his head. Not that paranoia was anything new, or, in fact, not with him every waking moment, but now he actually thought there was something to it. It shrieked of a trap, of a boss or treasure...and the lack of a chest made him almost entirely sure that there was a boss waiting for them here.

He was just about to say something about this when Maoh took the opportunity to...go walk over to the teleporter. Takua winced, and opened his mouth to say, “Wait!”...and then shut it as the Twin Blade's foot came down. The room went into full fledged trope mode, shaking and rumbling ominously as the teleporter sank into the ground. Vesica moved up next to him, growling loudly, fangs showing...

And all of the vines on the walls began to writhe. And then slithered, elongating and thickening, towards the center of the room, where the teleporter was. In moments, as Takua retrieved his highest level Gan staff, the kid was surrounded and imprisoned as something akin to a plant golem rose up, chunks of stone embedded in the vines. Well, this didn't look good. He muttered under his breath, certain that Maoh wouldn't hear, “Say hello to a boss. Dammit, right the first time.”

Maoh was now imprisoned in its torso, basketball sized rocks in a body that was otherwise entirely vines. Fucker was big. He called out to the guy, "Doing alright up there?" He moved as he said so, circling around so that Sekai and he weren't so close as to annihilate both in a single swing. Vesica went to the other way, keeping an eye on him. So, how to free him?

The conversation that followed had entirely too much sarcasm for anyone but possibly Kira and himself. No shit Maoh wanted to be freed, but that was easy enough when you weren't the one doing it. Ganz or Vakz? Gan at first, he decided, calling down a PhaGan Don and feeling the power well up within him for a moment before the four giant boulders crashed down, squishing into the fines...and didn't seem to do any kind of lasting harm. It did, however, get its attention.

He flatted himself against the earth as the massive arm swung overhead, a crystal (crystal?) and two rocks where its hand should have been. Well, that was pointless. "Dude. Control burns. Just use fire. Just don't roast me alive." The Wavemaster wanted to roll his eyes. Sure. Don't roast him. When he was under half of either his or Sekai's level, and Takua had access to fourth level spells. Sure. "One is easier to do than another." When the non-elemental arrow essentially vanished into the plant matter, he sighed. Well, clearly, they weren't getting anywhere fast.

So he used a PhaVak Don. The fire boulders slammed down into a corner of the prison, lighting it on fire. It also took out half of Maoh's HP, despite only hitting him with a piece of the splash...unless it was the golem that had hurt him somehow. The vine creature hunched over, smothering the fire, and all of the crystals across its body pulsed once with light before it straightened up. And...nothing else happened. Well shit, that felt pointless. Casting Rig Saem and Rig Geam on himself, as well as Ap Do, he considered what to do. Well, clearly the crystals were important so...MeJuk Kruz.

The wooden spikes materialized around him, and he only had a moment to get out of the center of the impact before he found himself crushed by his own spell. Not altogether massively painful, it hadn't killed him, but still, fuck. Okay, so now it was reflecting his spells? Or just the crystals? Only one way to find out. Giving out an Ola Repth to heal everyone in the room, he returned to the fight.

It swiftly became obvious that it was no only reflecting all spells that targeted itself or the crystals, it couldn't do the same to physical attacks. Also, there were so many vines, or they regrew, that when she tried to tear into its vines, it didn't do anything. She next tried to tear out a crystal...which didn't want to come. She did, however, scratch it...and it started pulsing with a dull, red light.

Well, that was interesting. Hitting it with another arrow, as Sekai proved, turned the light back off, so Vesica turned it back on. And proceeded to get punted across the room by an angry golem, growling in anger as she landed and was forced to suffer the indignity of being healed by her her old master's...friend. Takua frowned as he stared at the crystal, wondering what it meant and how to use it to get past this. Too many damn puzzles. Maoh cried out from his cage, "Sekai! See if you can snipe another one of those crystals! See if it goes red, too!"

The Archer ran in, and the Wavemaster didn't understand why she didn't just shoot the damn thing. Ah well. "Some days, I miss being a Twin Blade." That brought him up short, even in the middle of a fight, and raised an eyebrow as he regarded her for a moment. Finally, he muttered,  "...you were a Twin Blade?" The crystal turned yellow, and the golem surrounded itself in a PhaJuk Rom. Vesica ran out of range, battered by winds, and Sekai retreated as well to pepper it with arrows.  "I was, Archer is a specialty class, you can't start as one...and so Kira helped me go from Twin Blade to Archer." Another pause, amusement in her voice. "She thought it would help me stay out of trouble."

That was an amusing thought. Sekai, out of trouble. Yeah, sure, in what universe was she ever out of trouble with someone? 'About as often as you are. Maybe a bit more, actually. The amused and only slightly mocking response came from Ondine as she flitted at the edge of his vision. 'Hey, I'm better than that.' He was too! She fully appeared, standing next to Sekai, and arched her eyebrow at him. 'Oh really. Shall we talk to Kira and see if she shares that opinion?'

She gave a silvery laugh as he snorted, watching as Sekai attacked the crystals one after the other. The golem was moving now, trying to keep them from spotting the things, 'Fat chance. She's as biased as you are.' She giggled again, only to abruptly still as Sekai's shot had the effect of getting her cast at, three...PhaJuk Roms, if he wasn't mistaken, with her in the center. The girl shrieked in pain, flashes of healing sweeping out past her and enveloping the rest of the party. She'd also apparently accidentally shot Maoh, because he gave a cry of pain that was nearly erased by Ondine's whisper in his ear. 'Isn't biased if it's the truth.'

Yeah, he was just going to ignore that observation. The Twin Blade imprisoned in the creature yelled at them, "PELT THE RED ONE WITH VAK. DO IT." Rolling his eyes at the unnecessary sentence at the end, and preparing to get the spell reflected at him, he cast a GiVak Kruz on the red crystal that Vesica had scratched first.

...and it shattered under the impact of the spell. An instant later, a GiRue Kruz hit him in the face, but spikes of ice were nothing new, and a sign that he had just earned the thing's displeasure. Which also meant that Maoh had put them on the right track after all. Well well, not bad. Flipping through staves, he hit the yellow with a GiRai Don and, as Vesica struck it and turned it green, the next with a MeJuk Kruz.

The ground glowed on three sides around him as the crystals shattered. Instead of tornadoes, he found himself face to face with three Krake summons. And given the sheer size of the circles, they were Rf...or Pha. The Wavemaster didn't even bother to move, instead whispering into the silence that preceded his death, “Fuck.”

His corpse slammed into the grassy floor a few seconds later, shredded by elemental power. He shivered, noticing the look of horror on Sekai's face as she resurrected him. That had...not been pleasant. "T-Takua!” Maoh squirmed in his prison as Sekai took a RaJuk Rom immediately after resurrecting him. "The fuck was that! WHAT DID IT DO."

Sekai knew, and answered before the Wavemaster could recover from the shock of ghosting, shaking his head to get the feeling out. "...that was a high level summon, Maoh-san. Which means we need to be careful." Yeah, careful. Especially because it seemed like it was done playing around, taking them seriously and getting ready to just fucking flatten them all. Which meant that he was done too.

Ap Vorma, Ap Do, Rig Saem, Rig Geam on both himself and the Archer after he downed a Mage's Soul to replenish his SP. At that point, Vesica, Sekai and himself set up a pattern, where Vesica and Sekai pinged the crystals and he destroyed them, the Archer keeping up a steady barrage of healing as spells pummeled them as well. But when the golem suddenly raised its arms up into the air, obviously ready to fuck shit up, the Wavemaster took to the sky, getting away from the ground.

Since the moment its arms thudded into the ground, an enormous amount of spikes erupted from the grass and impaled the two still on it, ghosting them instantly, he considered that a good idea. Resurrecting his two allies and rebuffing them both, he was abruptly struck by how...weird it was. This was normal. Fighting for his life, strange monsters with non-standard abilities, hacks, Twilight...just another day. For Maoh, this was all new. Strange, scary, and it was unlikely that the guy really considered that if he died here, without a party, he would be toast for good.

"This is nothing," Sekai said grimly, though her face was still fairly pale. "just wait until you encounter a battle with one of the Elites... that will be an, um, experience to remember." That just brought to mind the pain that he had...made her experience, from Garaa, and he shuddered. ”If you're lucky enough to remember it, that is." the Wavemaster muttered to himself.

It wasn't long before the Golem evidently had enough, and RaJuk Roms began to explode throughout the room, making it impossible to avoid damage, and only slightly easier to fly. As they continued to whittle away at its crystals, it began to slam its arms into the floor, creating shockwave-like bursts of vines that Sekai and Vesica scrambled to avoid. Getting hit by one, as they soon proved, wasn't death, but it left one blinking in the red, and the constant spray of RaJuk Roms would prove deadly if Ola Repth wasn't administered nearly instantly.

And then, finally, there were no more crystals. Maoh was still trapped, but at this point the Wavemaster was done. If he died, when he died, he could walk out, get resurrected, and join the fight. “Yarthkins Rf. Vulcan Ch.”

Twin summons settled over the Golem, and Maoh died in a scream as rock and flame crushed and scorched him. Annoyingly, although the golem was now on fire, it didn't really seem to mind so much. He felt bad that he'd...well, annihilated Maoh, but it had to happen if they were actually going to bring any spells to bear against this thing. Assuming, again, that it was actually damageable using conventional tactics, and given his utter lack of success so far, he wasn't feeling too good about that.

Especially when another Yarthkins Rf, with a helping GiGan Zot from the Archer, failed to do anything more than knock it around and stun it for a while as the rocks blasted it. But at least he could hit it with spells again, which was always a plus.

The snow leopard AI was currently quite pissed off. She'd spent a good deal of time climbing over that vined freak of nature, got clubbed, spiked, and hit by the blades of lizardmen without actually being able to kill anything. And as much as she hated to admit it, she wasn't going to be of much use right now unless they could figure out what to do next. Which was why she was so delighted to notice the flowers that had bloomed on the four walls first, before anyone else had.

A swift barked command to Takua to see what she saw, and the Wavemaster frowned. A large, almost rose-like flower that's an off white, blooming on the walls. He would swear that it hadn't been there before, which meant that it was new, and connected to the boss. When he tried to go and pick it, instead of just nuking it, it didn't react. It also didn't come off when he pulled on it...and got blasted across the room as the golem swatted him away. Recovering in the air, he pulled up and blew down a PhaGan Don on both golem and flower.

Now why did he do that? The Golem was trying to protect him, and here he'd gone and hit it. He turned his attention to the other three creatures in the room, eyes cold and glazed. Pretenders who had revealed their true colors, he would kill them now. It would be easy to take out the weak one, with the blades. His former familiar would be an annoyance, but the Archer's ability to destroy him at his own range must be dealt with, as was her power. He sneered, bringing out the Cosmic Staff, so that she would be crippled with her fear of darkness. As he touched the shaft though, something stopped him. A touch, a restraint of the side of him that was still her friend, despite all evidence to the contrary, slowed him down. Shoving it off, he-

His head abruptly cleared, jarred back into a state that was only moderately less paranoid and much more normal. Charmed. He'd been charmed by that damn flower, and only sheer luck had prevented him from crushing her under the force of a Wryneck Ch. Sweating, he realized that only her swift Restorative had stopped that from happening. Not what he wanted to go through, or subject her to. Shaking his head, he kept an eye on Maoh as the kid went for the next one on the walls, and fell prey to Confusion. That, however, was easy for him to take care of, and he called out, "Keep going, I'll make sure you don't stay hit with a status effect for long, but it's better that I don't get charmed again."

Of course, as Maoh was next hit with Paralysis, the golem decided to smack him instead, one long viney arm reaching up into the sky as he was looking the other way and distracted enough he didn't hear it. He slammed into the ground from the force of it, body aching and bleeding, muttering out the words to an Ola Repth as he struggled to his feet. Just in time to see Maoh slash the final flower, get sleeped, restored, and...

And the golem split apart. The vines sloughed off the central core of it, where a creature that looked a bit like a Dryad might was currently struggling, just as though her mech had broken down if this were a Japanese anime. Well, he wasn't wasting any time at all. Calling down a Yarthkins Rf, the creature looked up, saw him casting, and did one of her own. Her summon was a Pha, and left him dead on the ground, but she wasn't alive either.

There was a moment of expectant quiet as he was resurrected, as though this boss might have yet another phase to it. Finally, he broke the silence, his voice saying what he didn't believe,  "Well, is this all over then?" And Sekai...said exactly what he was thinking as she glanced around nervously. "It's never over that quickly."

But then the vine vanished and the teleporter came up out of the floor. The Wavemaster blinked. That was...that was it? He felt almost, vaguely, horribly cheated by this. As though there was going to be a badass fight where damage and tactics might actually count. Instead...it was like a puzzle. One that fought back.

They left then, headed back to the main room, and consulted the map. A few rooms later, and they were back in undiscovered country, where...where a person that looked just like Maoh was getting onto the exit teleporter. And as people stared, threw a Gan Rom on their Twinblade, and then ran into the storm to punch...

Takua sighed heavily, as though this were all a trial on his patience. Really? Really? There was going to be a fucking imposter challenge? Even with his eyesight he couldn't see which one was the real one anymore. He turned to Sekai, the very picture of long suffering for the cause, "You know...I feel like I've seen this before." So, so very many times. He turned back to the two wrestling Maohs, resisting the urge to nuke them both and be done with it.

"What's the name of the person who looked at your wristband?" There, something that, hopefully, only Maoh would know. They both paused.  One said "Uh... I... Crap.  You mean scary girl, right?" The other glared and pulled away, stood, and backed off.  "Yeah, what's her name." He held up the wristband, shaking it.  "This thing is like some kind of virus bomb or something."

That was supremely unhelpful. Oh come on. It was her fucking name, they had seen her less than a minute ago. Annoyed now, he glared at both of them. "Really not helping yourself, dude.  What were the creatures in the room we found you in?" They both spoke at the same time, and it was hard to tell who said what, but he heard "moth" "green" and "juk rom" from both of them. Yeah, that wasn't helping at all. One of them spoke up, "It's that one, just shoot him and let's get out of here." The other turned to that one and said, "Dude, not cool!  What's your deal, anyway?"

"What did you find in the chest?" Sekai asked, an arrow steady and already nocked. One glanced at sekai, then muttered "Gimme a second." After a pause, he said, "Shadowflare Crossbow."  The other one rolled his eyes, "Obviously.  Like a construct in this maze wouldn't know everything that happened in it."

"Which of you has it?" Takua watched both of them, slowly feeling that just nuking would be the better idea. Maoh obviously didn't realize any of the ways to prove his real identity, which made this a pain. "Ouch.  Harsh, man.  So...  What if one of us had the damn thing?"  The other, in response, pulled out the crossbow, showing it around. And Sekai shot the one who didn't have the crossbow in the chest, where he fell to the ground, shrieking in pain.

And the one with the crossbow shot her in the face with Nightmare Burst. Well, that proved exactly who the fake one was, and that wasn't going to go over well. The fucker just kept laughing and laughing, shooting arrows everywhere, and even though a lot of those missed, and burning rocks from a PhaVak Don kept falling on him, let alone the arrows that Sekai was firing, he just kept fucking laughing. Which would have made Takua concerned if he didn't see how much damage the faker was taking, which was a lot. Before he died, he let off a Firelord's Burst at Maoh, killing their Twin Blade.

Maoh cried out as he died, although a Rip Maen from the Wavemaster settled that fairly shortly. He panted and stared at both of them, finally saying, "You guys... really don't... mess around..." Sekai, who was obviously unhappy she'd shot the real one, apologized, and Takua looked at her. Messing around eh? Just kinda...going along without understanding the impact of one's choices.

In a way, Maoh was like himself. Treating this like it was still a game. Acting without considering what happened to the people around him who were trying to keep him alive. And it was a total pain to watch him and realize that...yeah...this was why Kira was pissed off at him all the damn time. Finally, he said,  "No...we don't.  Tends to get you killed." Maybe it was wrong to feel resentment. That Maoh had had it easy, when Takua hadn't been to a Gott Statue in...a very long time. Years, now? Was that how long it had been since The World had been a normal game, since nothing had happened at all except for what was promised? 'Events', murders, hackers, AI, The Eventide Crescendo, Twilight...fuck.

Maybe he needed a break. A fight when he wasn't up against things never imagined by the creators of the game. They moved to the next teleporter, and the Wavemaster managed not to sigh. Maybe he was right to feel old, but the young kid who had bought the game, years ago, should have just stayed far away from The World.
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: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Locke » Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:29 pm

Things settled down after Nighthand showed up and the group’s combined efforts defeated the tentacle-vampire, but Baron found himself still a bit on edge. The Twin Blade found himself uncomfortable, knowing that he had been forced to call upon the others rather than solve the problem on his own. Understandably, this was an Elite’s tower, and Baron had been a bit foolhardy to believe that he could handle what was probably considered the “dangerous enemy” by himself. He was only a new Twilight victim, he hadn’t obtained most of the hacked abilities that the others had, and even they had trouble with the vampire. Why had he assumed that he could take on such a powerful foe, like he was some kind of hero? He was just another person here, even with the enhanced abilities and weaponry that being within The World gave him.

You know, there are better times for introverted thinking. If you’re not good enough to handle this by yourself now, then get some help. This isn’t just a dungeon crawl for you; this is reality. You can die here. You can go beyond simple ghosting and simply cease to be. So why not pay a visit to your allies and go through this together?

I’ll think about it. How about for now we just make our way forward a bit longer? If I need help again, I’ll ask for it and stick with them. If I don’t, then you hush and just deal with my incessant need to solo dungeons. Deal?

No.

Baron ignored the wolf anyway, and Higure settled down into a half-nap within the Twin Blade’s mind as they started moving forward once more. Canti, Talal, and Nighthand had already disappeared through the room’s lone teleporter, so the former treasure hunter followed behind them, getting the usual wrenching sensation of disorientation. This time he managed to keep his feet, having become accustomed to the sensation, and didn’t even stumble. Baron didn’t even begin to look to Higure for some sort of encouragement for beginning to adapt to the situation; the wolf would probably just laugh at him for trying to find some praise in such a trivial accomplishment. Great, he was already doing it to himself, calling such a thing trivial. And why was he thinking this much to himself again?

Let’s just move on… you can resume your antics after we’re out of this tower.

A glance around showed Baron that they were back in the original starting room, with Nighthand and the others still present. The Twin Blade considered what that meant for a moment; clearly that last room was a dead-end that teleported people back to the starting room. Would other dead-ends within the maze do the same thing, and send them back? It would be handy for charting out the ends of the maze if they all went back to the start. On the other hand, if the endings all teleported the explorer to random rooms, whether each was assigned specific rooms or they just teleported people at random, then it was just a way to get confused and lost. But then again, exploring dead-ends could lead to the exit as well… well, there was nothing for it but to explore the unexplored, and pray not to become another tentacle shish kabob.

Checking his mini-map, Baron quickly set off on his path again. First he went through the plant room, ignoring the gold coins scattered about, and then made his way into the room with all of the seed-spitting flowers, quickly avoiding sprays of fire and seeds that came his way with his natural agility. This time he went a different way, towards the room that was marked “T1” on the map; Nighthand had mentioned it briefly, but no one had taken the time to go after it. Their loss! Baron quickly arrived in the treasure room with a grin, noticing the golden chest that rested in the center of the room. Without hesitation, he started towards it, intent on finding whatever goodies rested inside.

Pause. Baron was learning from his experiences in the tower, even if the pace was not as quick as the others probably had hoped it would be. A random treasure within a tower of an Elite? That promised to be troublesome. With that thought, the Twin Blade mentally prodded Higure, who materialized nearby as he stepped from the shadows. The wolf nudged at the chest a few times, ready to leap into the shadows should a threat or trap become apparent, but nothing happened as he poked at the golden box. That was a good start; there were no pressure traps either associated with the area around the treasure box or the actual box itself. Of course, that didn’t mean it was foolproof; there were other forms of pressure trap, such as those that activated when the chest was opened, taking weight off of a switch that was concealed on the lip of the box, as well as spring-loaded ones that simply fired from the lock or the interior of the chest.

“Well at least I’m in my element for now…” Baron leaned in close, examining the lock critically. There didn’t seem to be anything concealed within it, at a first glance, and so the Twin Blade drew out one of his daggers, inserting the point carefully into the opening. Most chests were unlocked by simply selecting them, though Fortune Wires helped ensure that they weren’t trapped, but now that Baron was trapped within The World, he couldn’t do simple things that his controller and game interface would normally allow him to do. As a result, he had to pick at the lock with his dagger, unable to simply select it and open it. The others probably knew how to use such commands still; Baron would be sure to ask them later.

A moment later and a soft “snick” came from the lock as the tumblers turned enough for the lid to pop slightly free of the position it was bound at, and Baron stepped back reflexively, expecting something to happen when the lid opened. Nothing did, however, and after a moment the Twin Blade inched forward, gingerly lifting the top of the treasure box open. It creaked open, but without any untoward effects; that was encouraging enough for Baron to look inside to see what his plunder would be. A pair of simple sandals lay inside, relatively similar to the level one light armor equivalent, but Baron could practically sense the power in them. That, and there were shapes reminiscent of clocks on the soles of each sandal.

“Woohoo! All right! A pair of Time Sandals!” Talk about good fortune, finding a rare item like this in a side trip through the maze! Not to mention that this sort of armor was normally only obtained from special events, gained from a Zeit Statue that sat at the bottom of time-trial dungeons. Naturally, its power was to alter time in a specific manner, which in this case was cutting down the time it took to travel from place to place through the speed-enhancing Ap Do spell on them. That would save a fortune on Speed Charms, and Baron wouldn’t have to beg Higure to help him out with one of his EX-Sphere abilities.

Alright, you’ve had your fun… shall we get back to finding the exit then?

…Spoilsport.

Someone has to curb your suicidal inclinations.

Resisting a grumble, Baron took the lone teleporter in the room, noticing that the treasure chamber was another dead-end, just like the vampire’s chambers. Once more managing to keep his balance steady, the Twin Blade found himself back at the entrance. So it seemed that all dead-ends led them back to the start; that was worth noting. Checking his mini-map again, Baron plotted out a quick course along the route Sekai and Takua had apparently been exploring, then found one point in which to fork off in order to go in his own direction. Quickly he followed the path, bypassing the gold coins in the first room and bypassing the Twin Blade ghost in the next. He had learned better than to deal with ghosts! However, the man’s message, conveyed via Flashmail from the others, suggested that they only had one more ghost left, and that he’d be a beneficial one. The Twin Blade had claimed to have two companions, one who was impossibly strong while the other had a great treasure. Therefore if they found the other ghost, odds were that they’d find some tool that would benefit them as they climbed closer to Xenobia.

Xenobia. Baron still professed hesitation at recruiting the woman, but there was nothing he could say to convince the others to change their path. They had chosen to deal with the woman by climbing the tower, convincing her to help them turn against the Master and the other Elites. But with the Elite’s treacherous nature, were they just walking to their own execution? What was to stop Xenobia from turning on them and backstabbing them to gain favor with the others? Sure, Baron didn’t know much about the woman aside from their limited contact as he had been put into his coma, but that alone was enough to make him hesitant to work with her. “An enemy of my enemy is my friend” was a foolish sentiment; they could not determine for certain where Xenobia’s interests lay.

Nothing to be done about it now. Baron had stated his feelings on the matter, that he did not desire to seek the aid of Xenobia, but the others had overruled him. Their arguments did make logical sense: they wanted to turn the Elites against one another, divide their forces into internal bickering while the Freedom Fighters struck out at the weak points. But at this point it felt like guessing; Melzas was neutral, as was Xenobia, though the latter was still a malevolent force. Klive was on their side despite his knowledge of them, as the two groups used each other to forward their own goals. And then there were the rest, who were probably still aligned with the Master; of them, Baron had only run into Gaara, and he alone was enough of a threat that the Twin Blade would think twice, maybe even three or four times before tangling with the man again. And there were what… three other Elites? The number sounded odd to Baron but he didn’t exactly have a list at his disposal to confirm it. Anyway, there were plenty more enemies, and not enough allies.

The next room was wreathed in fire, but a Merrows spell shattered the flames long enough to let Baron pass through to the teleporter, the watery serpent scattering steam and smog in every direction as it cleared a path through the burning flames. Then Baron was in the next room, the one with the well. He remembered a mention from Sekai about the sprite within the well, and cycled through his flashmails until he found it. He really needed to sort out his inbox in the near future! Reading it over quickly, the Twin Blade found that all he had to do was toss in a coin and offer an item. Reaching into his own pocket, as Sekai had mentioned something about being polite and replacing the coin, Baron saved himself a step and just tossed in one of his own coins, calling the sprite from the depths of the well.

Once the Sprite had said its bit about giving something in exchange for the GP he had tossed in, the Twin Blade considered and pulled out the small sphere that Nighthand had found after their battle against Raikiri—quickly he blocked those memories out again, as guilt surged up in his throat—before holding it out to the sprite. The item was declined, and Baron frowned; he should have expected such. The sphere was an unusual item, and somehow was able to imbue Higure with unusual abilities, but clearly the sprite of the well did not think that it was a legal item for this situation. Well, legality could be interpreted in one of two ways, so Baron pulled out one of his “The Empress” scrolls that had been bought in the Yamiyo Bazaar, a hacked item that doubled maximum SP for a short time. He waited to see if it was registered as a usable item, since he was thinking legality could potentially be by category rather than specific items.

It worked. Being a scroll, and thus within the legal category, the sprite took the item and returned a new one that looked similar, only with slightly different wrapping. A quick examination showed that it was The Emperor, a scroll that did quite the opposite of the original item’s effect; instead of doubling SP, this scroll boosted one’s HP. With a nod of thanks to the sprite—the doubled HP could be useful, after all—the Twin Blade tucked the scroll back into his pouch. Since there was nothing else in the room, it was time to move on, and into unknown territory. Looking over the two teleporters, Baron thought about it for just a moment before taking a deep breath and stepping into the left teleporter.

The same wrenching sensation came as Baron was transported between rooms, but once again he kept his feet. He was getting used to the whole teleportation feeling by now, and could prepare accordingly without thinking about it too much. Once more, little personal victory; that was all that mattered. A quick glance around the new room would show that it looked like someone’s shed: the chamber had the standard setup with two teleporters, but from wall to wall it was filled with piles of junk. Rusty weapons, broken armor, random pieces of furniture, and various boxes lined the walls in surprisingly sorted heaps, giving a sense of organized chaos among the mess. Though things were sorted by type, within their categories the various items were simply cluttered and tossed together at random.

This isn’t the kind of treasure I had in mind…

Frowning at the mess, Baron wondered why anyone would bother to keep so much trash, let alone sort it into piles, even unorganized ones. Atop that, he was in an Elite’s tower; had he simply just wandered into some trash chamber? A first glance would make him feel as if that were so, but there were two teleporters in the room, just like the others, and the room was marked “Y.” Was that meant to discourage trespassers, making them think that they had selected a bad route, or was it an actual indication of such? And either way, was it possible that items would be hidden within the piles? Perhaps there were weapons or armor that were considered below someone as powerful as the Elites, but could be usable for someone a bit more down-to-earth, such as Baron.

Well, one man’s trash was another man’s treasure. Figuring that it couldn’t hurt to take a few minutes to snoop through the potential hand-me-downs, Baron started with the miscellaneous pile, looking to see if any restorative items or decent scrolls were hidden among the junk. Unfortunately, he only came up with a thick walking stick and a few random doorknobs buried in the trash; everything else was far worse. Shrugging, and unperturbed by his lack of findings, the Twin Blade instead turned to the pile of armor. Surely, among all that was hidden there, there were a few pieces of Light Armor that might provide a unique skill or two to round out Baron’s spell list!

Unfortunately, there was no such luck. Trying to move a heavy chain shirt aside, the Twin Blade stubbed his toe on an even more solid breastplate that had been hidden beneath it. With a yelp of surprise, Baron stumbled back, rubbing at his aching toes; thankfully his leather boots had provided him with some form of protection, but it still stung! Annoyed by his lack of finds, and then pushed that much further by the offending breastplate, Baron began to think that there was nothing of value hidden within the junk heaps filling the room. Even if there was, the gems were hidden so well within the trash that it would take far too much effort to dig them out by hand. Maybe there was a faster way of getting through the junk…

What are you thinking…? No, don’t be doing that. Baron… Baron! Don’t![/color]

“GiRai Don!”

Bolts of lightning struck into the pile of weaponry, aimed to destroy the garbage or at least blast it out of the way, leaving only the good stuff intact. However, the attack had what in hindsight was a very predictable result; rather than just scattering in the general area around the original pile, weapons were launched in all directions like shot from a cannon. Baron’s natural evasiveness and agility as a Twin Blade came in handy as a sword buried itself in a box behind him, while two spears shattered against the stone walls and a wooden staff slammed against his chest. The last was nigh-unavoidable as he sidestepped a large stone ball that shot past him—like shot from a cannon? That was shot from a cannon! Just fired by a different medium—but while the solid staff probably left a hefty bruise on his chest, it was better than being pummeled by stone shot.

I could have told you that was going to happen…

Shut up… Brushing himself off, and stepping carefully around fragments of a dagger that had broken as it impacted the ground, Baron made his way towards the left-hand teleporter. There was no point in remaining back here anyway; there was nothing to be found but garbage in the room.

The familiar lurching sensation put Baron in another new room, and a quick check to his mini-map marked the room as “Room Y.” Well, he was getting close to Z, which hopefully meant that he was getting close to the exit! A quick look around the room showed that it was standard setup for a room, round with two teleporters, though there were two distinct differences within the room itself. The first was a pedestal, set in the center of the chamber, which bore a very bright red button. To most people, a bright red button and a curious treasure hunter would set off alarms by the dozens, but Baron couldn’t help but succumb to its lure. After all, who didn’t want to push a big, obvious, unmarked button within the depths of an Elite’s tower?

Of course, the second distinction made that difficult: two velociraptor-like creatures stood on either side of the pedestal like silent guards, their arm replaced by blade-like protrusions that gleamed in the game-provided light. The weapons were sharp enough to cut through armor and the flesh beneath by Baron’s judgment, which meant that said button was important. After all, who put guards around a button unless it did something vital within the tower, like open a secret door? Naturally Baron’s urge to push the button grew, like an itch between his shoulder blades he just had to scratch.

And then another feature became apparent even as Baron began planning a course of action that would get him to the button without being sliced and diced by the raptors guarding it: a large clock sat on the far side of the room, old and antique, and started ticking backwards with a lone seconds-hand. It looked like it was a countdown of sorts, and Baron had to wonder what would happen if the clock hit zero; clearly the button had to be pressed before that point, lest some lockdown happen or the tower explode in a massive self-destruct sequence. Come to think of it, weren’t most big red buttons meant for self-destruct, labeled or otherwise? It worked that way in the movies, at least.
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Baron
Subject: Advance Apologies

I have found a big red button guarded by enemies in room Y (check your maps), and I have a 60 second countdown that started when I entered the room. I’m expecting that I need to press the button within that time limit, but I don’t know what it does; as a result, I want to apologize now in case I inadvertently self-destruct the tower. Wish me luck!
An Ap Do spell from Baron’s new equipment had the Twin Blade darting forward with a burst of speed that was hard to rival, considering that running was his class’s specialty. The treasure hunter attempted to dodge past the two raptors, hoping to rush the button and press it before they could react, but they were too fast for him; though he managed to dodge the first strike, Baron found himself slammed aside by a powerful body check that had him sliding across the stone floor, trying to regain his balance. He should have expected monsters within Xenobia’s tower to be augmented, and velociraptors practically screamed speed; the Twin Blade would have to be wary of their speed, even with his own augments in place.

Gonna need your help on this one, Higure.

Done. The wolf materialized immediately, stepping from a shadow cast by the pedestal. Without needing to coordinate it, Higure immediately attacked one of the raptors from behind, pouncing on it with the full weight of his body and digging his fangs into the creature’s neck. The raptor let out a loud shriek of pain from the bite, and it was distracted enough that it couldn’t pay attention to Baron. The Twin Blade took this opportunity to toss a Suvi Lei at the other monster, startling it momentarily as it immediately resisted the paralysis effect. However, it too served as a distraction, and Baron darted between the two raptors, using his enhanced speed to make it to the button and press it down.

Nothing obvious happened, no click or alarms to signify something important. Instead, the clock at the far side of the room shifted and started moving forward again until it was wound up back at its original mark before it started ticking down again. Clearly the button was intended to forestall whatever apocalyptic threat would have been released should the timer hit zero, but that only made fighting within the room that much more difficult; the button would have to be monitored throughout the battle, pressed to keep the timer up on occasion while fighting the raptors. Baron liked a challenge within a dungeon, especially one that tested his dexterity and skill, but when it came to a threat to his very real life within the game, such a challenge lost its sense of fun.

Switching his weapons over to the new Prepare to Fall blades that the Fire Master had granted him, Baron released a blistering Vulcan Ch at the two raptors while they were grouped together. As soon as he saw the summon spell forming, Higure melted away into one of the raptors’ shadows, slipping out so that he was at the far side of the pedestal again and out of range of the powerful fire spell. The raptors, smart enough to not stay still, split into two different directions so that only a fraction of the Vulcan Ch’s damage hit either of them. Swearing mentally at the waste of his precious little SP, especially with only a handful of Mage’s Souls to his name, Baron quickly rushed after the one to his right, closing the distance and slashing at the raptor’s chest with his blades.

As his weapons cut into the tough, scaly hide that made up the raptor’s torso, Baron saw a flash of light on metal and sidestepped quickly, but not fast enough to avoid the bladed edge that cut into his side. Hissing in pain, the Twin Blade avoided clutching at his side, though he could feel warm blood oozing down his side and causing his shirt to stick to the wound. A Health Drink or a Repth spell would heal the damage later, so for now he would have to just deal with the pain as best as he could and hope that it didn’t hinder his fighting ability. It did give Baron new respect for these raptors, however; they were particularly vicious in close-quarters, and not to be taken lightly.

The Twin Blade wasn’t ready to back off just yet, though; instead he charged forward at the raptor, twisting his blades around so that they wouldn’t interfere too much with his hands. As the raptor brought its blades up to slash at the young man’s torso again, Baron leapt, using the creature’s shoulders as a stand of sorts to vault over, getting directly behind the raptor. And it wasn’t a moment too soon, either; the other monster had turned to come after him as well, no longer distracted by Higure, and as a result the Twin Blade had put the first raptor between himself and the second one. A quick motion to the wolf had him place his front legs on the pedestal and awkwardly press the button with one of his paws, resetting the clock.

Another Vulcan Ch exploded outwards as the raptors started charging towards Baron, but there was no time for them to move aside this time; instead they lunged forward, and the explosive area of effect from the Twin Blade’s spell blasted him as well, knocking him backwards even as it did what had to be significant damage to the other two targets. There was no time to recover from the blow, and though Baron quickly twisted into a backwards roll and a vault, three more slashes marred his body, digging deep wounds into his right shoulder and across his chest. The former bled profusely, and numbness started tingling down his entire arm, almost down to his fingers. That was bad, indicating that nerves had been severed with the slash, and the blood loss would further complicate use of that arm.

A pair of Health Drinks from Baron’s inventory had the Twin Blade patched up for the most part, though part of his clothing was still torn and his arm bore a minor cut, as it hadn’t been enough to fully restore his health. It was enough, however, and while Higure pressed the button once more to keep the timer stalled, the Twin Blade leapt forward, switching out his blades for his Raikomaru, which possessed one of his more powerful abilities. Lightning surged through the weapons as the Tempest Dance was activated, and a quick twist of Baron’s body sent the electricity-charged blades scything through one of the raptors. The other had taken the time to tackle Higure, noticing the wolf’s constant vigil over the button and removing him from the equation. Baron’s companion quickly slipped free of the tackle by diving into the shadows again and surfacing elsewhere, reappearing on the far side of the pedestal.

Baron pressed his attack, his blades slashing at the nearest raptor’s chest and neck, trying to finish it quickly and gain the advantage of numbers. However, while his weapons dug into the scaled hide, he couldn’t get the proper angle to deal any fatal blows. Atop that, the creature was smart enough to bring around its own blade-arms, catching Baron’s weapons and locking them to either side while it tried to use its deadly teeth to rip off the Twin Blade’s face. Not appreciating such a tactic, the treasure hunter stepped backwards, watching teeth close only an inch away from his nose.

The clock was still ticking down, and now that the second raptor was perched atop the pedestal, it was looking too Baron like the challenge of beating the two monsters while keeping the time going was going to be too much for him to handle. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, the Twin Blade ran for one of the room’s teleporters, not even sure of which it was in his haste. Upon arriving, however, he found to his dismay that the teleport pad did nothing; it didn’t transport him at all. A closer inspection showed a symbol atop the teleporters, the symbol of a raptor’s head with a line crossed through it, and Baron realized with a feeling of dread that this was similar to the vampire’s room; he had to vanquish the enemies in order to leave.

A glance at the clock showed Baron that he had wasted valuable time, leaving him with only thirty seconds to press the button once more. Quickly the Twin Blade used his continued Ap Do to close the distance between himself and the pedestal, but instead of reaching for the button and risking having a hand severed by the raptor’s blade-arm, he instead leapt up and tackled the scaled monster from atop the pedestal. The two of them went down in a heap of flashing blades and tumbling bodies, but the pedestal was clear for the moment. Higure went to go press the button once more, but he was tackled by the other raptor, which seemed to be taking a leaf out of Baron’s book of impromptu tactics.

Noticing that the wolf was out of the picture for the moment, Baron quickly regained the upper hand in his own wrestling struggle and sprang off of the raptor’s chest, pushing backwards to leave the creature stumbling. The Twin Blade’s hand came down on the button quickly, triggering the timer restart just in the nick of time. As he did so, however, the second raptor threw off Higure, and both monsters lunged at Baron together. The Twin Blade rolled away quickly, leaving the two to run into one another, and retaliated with a pair of quick slashes that were aimed at the torsos of each monster; aiming for the greater mass in that melee was probably the best bet.

Unfortunately the strikes were ineffective, and Baron found retaliation coming his way in a pair of deadly sword-arms. Blocking one with his weapons, the Twin Blade grabbed the arm at its base and pulled it forward, causing it to get fouled up in the other raptor’s attack and severing the limb. Rolling aside in the confusion, Baron tossed another spell at both raptors, a powerful GiGan Zot that tore into them with jagged pillars of stone that rose from the floors. One of the two raptors fell back dead, its body pierced several times by the spell even as the remaining corpse was tossed against the wall from the force of the attack. The other survived as it pulled itself from the growing mass of stone, letting out a loud screech of anger.

Higure pressed the button once more, and then leapt off of the pedestal to tackle the raptor from behind, baring his teeth as he grabbed its neck in his powerful jaws. The monster was pinned for a few moments, long enough for Baron to regain his bearings after the last few frenzied seconds, but that brief respite didn’t last long. One of the raptor’s arms came up to slash at Higure, forcing the wolf back. It was just in time to clear the wolf out of the range of another strong spell, however; one of Baron’s strongest spells, a GiRai Don, slammed down into the raptor from above and blasted it with bolts of dazzling electricity that shook the room with the echoing booms from the impact.

The clock was still ticking, however, meaning that the raptor probably wasn’t dead. Higure, without having to be told, went straight for the button and reset the timer. As he did so, the raptor emerged from the smoke and suddenly lunged at Baron, surprising the Twin Blade. Reflexively he sidestepped, the raptor passing just in front of him. Without thinking the treasure hunter brought one of his blades around to slash at the creature’s throat, catching it just as it darted by and releasing a spray of blood that caused the raptor to finally collapse in a heap a step or two away. With that, the clock suddenly stopped ticking.

“Threat averted…”

“For now.” Higure padded up to him, at ease as always despite the furious battle they had been in. “Are you going to wait for the others now, or keep charging ahead blindly?”

“What do you think?” Without another word, Baron headed for the left-hand teleporter. He didn’t even hear Higure muttering under his breath.

“We’re doomed at this rate…”
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(!)

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

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Nighthand » Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:11 am

Demorian watched the comings and goings of the group as they progressed in the maze, working carefully with his various game tools – many of which he had developed himself – to poke away at the code of the maze. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that he would have a full map any time soon. That is, not before the group had mapped most or all of the maze manually.

With everyone momentarily gone from the entrance room save Nighthand, Sheena and Nall, Demorian decided to give the power pair a chat. He sauntered across the room, taking up a spot leaning against the wall that Nall slouched against. Sheena still poked and prodded him with her power glove, an artifact only Demorian and Nall knew she was using, and that Demorian himself had coveted for quite some time. She never did let him know how she had created it, and he had never been able to replicate her skills. His ability to manipulate Twilight was limited indeed.

For a moment, he reflected on the old days. Nall had been an Elite in the past, this was true. Eventually he had been usurped, his power stolen, his level reset. He had been ejected from Yamiyo, and much of his early questing was simply to find a way back in. He chased every rumor of a rare item, knowing that the keys to Yamiyo often presented themselves as such in order to draw in and trap unwary players.

Raine, Sheena and himself had been his initial recruits. Raine and Sheena were like sisters to the ex-elite. Raine was the sober, older sister who looked after the trio in their misadventures. Sheena was exuberant, extremely powerful and lacked any kind of temper control at all. Nall, of course, had the knowledge to guide them to places they needed to check out. Demorian had only joined later, a fourth member for the then-forming Freedom Fighters. He provided a dry wit, a skill with hacker technology and a powerful blade of his own. He could not match Raine for her skill purely with game code, and he could not match Sheena’s command over Twilight. What he could do, however, was adapt and learn from the hackers themselves. More than once, a trace element of code he recognized led them to a secret hacker haven where they could further their journey.

Those days, after his coma and as he grew in power, had been some of the finest of his life. Nothing matched the camaraderie they had felt, and the power they wielded as the group grew. The Freedom Fighters had seen many iterations over the years. Members grew and members left, and no few of them met bitter ends. Each of these deaths, Demorian knew, haunted Nall – though he would never show it. Demorian had a more jaded outlook. He had accepted the possibility of his death, and the deaths of others. The emotional rift had been part of his initial separation from the group in the first place.

Besides, during his time as Marionette, he had done no few unpleasant things. He regretted little of that time, though. It had brought him back to the Freedom Fighters, and his aid behind the scenes had helped them along their way. Even now, he was in a position to finally end their time in the game.

“Thinking about old times, are you?” Nall said, looking up as Demorian stared into space. The icy blademaster looked down and smiled.

“Something like that.” He shrugged. “That newcomer, Maoh. You always pick up people in the strangest places.”

“The more the merrier.” Nall said, stretching. Sheena gave him a sharp look, but he smiled. “I’m feeling much better, honestly.”

“You still shouldn’t push yourself!” Sheena scolded, but she tucked her invisible glove away and backed off. Indeed, Nall was looking much better. The occasional patch of staticy fuzz crackled across his character model, but overall he looked ready to fight.

“I almost feel bad, letting them do all the work.” Nall chuckled. “It seems like more and more these days I’m left on the sidelines. I used to be at the head of the pack, wading in among the monsters and taking on all comers. We fought back to back all the time, didn’t we?”

Demorian nodded. “All four of us. Yet now… Raine is back at base, Sheena never gets to cut loose and if we lose you, all our hopes are gone.”

“It’s not quite that bad.” Nall said.

“Sure it is. You’re the only one that can use the Items, after all.” Demorian eyed the assortment of Twilight Items Nall wore.

“Even so, keeping them away from the Elites is enough. We can’t let them regain any, or we’ll face a new Elite taking the place of one we killed.”

“Do you trust them?” Demorian asked abruptly.

“The coup? Klive… he was never one to go back on his word, and I can certainly see him growing fed up with the absentee Master. He was never one to really tolerate the leadership of Garaa and Royce. They’re just the power pair and are too overbearing to ignore.” He stared at his hands, lost in thought for a moment. “Whether anyone else will join him, I don’t know. Xenobia is a huge gamble, but especially with that spear, she could turn the tides.”

“I still wonder about that spear.” Demorian said. “She just showed up with it one day. No one knows where it came from, how it formed, what it can do. All we know is that it’s on par with a Twilight Item, and everyone is afraid of her because of it.”

“I saw it develop and even I don’t know.” Nall said.

“It absorbs power!” Sheena broke in. “Kurai PKed people and absorbed their data into it, and it kept absorbing Twilight along with it!”

The three were silent for a long time after that. With the exception of players like themselves and Nighthand, those who had been in the game for a long time, the concentration of Twilight in an individual player was low. The amount necessary to form something on par with a Twilight Item would have involved the absorption of thousands of players. Each one a character killed and deleted entirely.

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

Nighthand had grown antsy waiting in the lobby of the damned maze, so he decided to do some exploration of his own. He picked a path that had been explored already and followed it, choosing teleporters that had not yet been explored to fill in gaps on the map. With how much was already filled in, he expected more to find double-backs and dead-ends, and he was not much disappointed.

Rooms A, K, O and R were the same each time he jaunted out. A was a likely-trapped pile of GP under some leaves, which he left alone each time.

“Why not take some?” Silverblade said in his mind.
“Why bother taking any? I have far too much as it is, and there’s bound to be a trap associated with it.”
“Well, you like a challenge. We could handle whatever comes up.”
“True. I just don’t care enough.”

Room K, of course, was the horribly under-leveled RogueBane. The poor ghost was completely ignored each of the times Nighthand went through. Once again, why bother with a completely inferior challenge?

Room O had, at one point, been completely on fire. The charred surface and stiflingly hot air attested to that. In Nighthand’s scarred eye, the elemental affinity of the room was an odd mixture of Wood and Fire. He didn’t want to rekindle it, so he left it alone. It was an easy path to stroll through.

Room R, on the other hand, gave him pause. It held a well with several GP on the rim, and from the reports generated by the automap he knew it was akin to a wishing well. More accurately, he supposed, some kind of hacked version of the Monsieur game event.

“Want to try it out?” Silverblade asked.
“Maybe. What do we have to wish for?”
“You might try upgrading some scrolls? Looks like there’s a few GP left to throw in.”

Nighthand flicked one of the GP coins into the well, leaning on the rim and watching it fall until it splashed far below. He pulled a single coin from his inventory to replace the fallen coin and the water roiled, splashing upwards. He was soaked immediately, and the water sprite sat on the rim.

“You have offered me this token, and so I will offer you one as well. Present to me an item.”

Nighthand handed the sprite a Summon Night, and she vanished. When he looked at the scroll again, it had been replaced with a Nightcall. A good trade, he thought. Silverblade echoed the sentiment.

Flicking another coin and replacing it as he had the first, he backed up in time to avoid most of the splashed water. She gave him the exact same speech, and he handed her the same Nightcall she had just upgraded. Once more she splashed and disappeared, and he was left with a Bind Wryneck in his hands.

“Nice.”

The next room Nighthand stepped into was room V, which was some kind of storeroom of assorted junk. He strolled through it, though it looked like a tornado had hit it. He saw signs of a spell having gone off, and wondered what might have possessed someone to fire off a spell at inanimate matter. Perhaps it came to life to attack?

Spotting something shiny in the piles, he pulled a Silver Scarab from a box. The metallic insect figurine did nothing, he knew, save sell for some GP. He shrugged and smiled a mischievous smile.

Several minutes later, he had built a veritable tower of boxes, bits of furniture, boards and assorted debris. He had also come across two more Silver Scarabs. All three of the insects he placed carefully on the tower, which he had built to be eye-level. Now the next person to drop into the room would be face to face with three silver beetles.

Chuckling to himself, Nighthand proceeded to room Y. This one had contained a battle-puzzle, Nighthand saw from the map, and Baron had cleared it out. The monsters did not respawn, and Baron was in the next room along one fork. Nighthand, then, took the other.

This fork, it appeared, let to T1. That was a treasure room with the treasure already claimed, so Nighthand popped through it back to the entrance easily.

His next trip was much the same. Rooms A, K, O, R and a face-to-face with his Silver Scarab trap in V brought him to the unexplored branch from the storeroom. This one, as it turned out, led to T4. Yet another claimed treasure room. He sighed, hopping back through to the entrance once more.

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

“They proceed well, mistress.” The willow-man said, kneeling before Xenobia on her throne.

“How long before they reach us?”

“Perhaps not long, if they can pass the rest of the challenges this tower offers. Some of them, their strongest, do little but remain stationary while the expendable members search the maze.”

“I see. Cowardly, but I can’t argue with the effectiveness.” She waved her hand. “Keep watching. Let me know when they are about to arrive.”

“Yes, mistress.” The willow-man strode off, leaving the throne room once more.

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

A, K, O, R passed as they always had. This time Nighthand took the path to room S. This room was completely empty save for a pair of shackles and an empty pedestal now. Maoh, their newest member, had been chained here. Nighthand took a moment to search for any other hint about the man’s existence, but he found nothing.

Room U, as he progressed, would have been a cunning trap if the answer had not been given on the map now. He waited, yawning, as the spiked retracted for him to teleport away.

Room X, then, was his first challenge for the trip. Two hulking lizards with vicious weapons stood directly over the exit teleporters, and whoever had passed through before had not been able to solve the puzzle. He knew from the map key that they had phenomenal defenses. Shifting slightly to speed, he darted in and slashed across the stomach of one. The number “10” popped up, confirming the guess. Who knew how much HP the pair had? It would take him an incredibly long time to whittle it away.

Or would it? Nighthand grinned. He took up a position in the middle of the room and stood, his sword to his side. “Come on, ya big babies.”

“Not the most creative taunt.” Silverblade said.
“Doesn’t have to be if it works.” Nighthand replied with a smirk.

The heavyblade shifted entirely to strength, feeling his limbs go sluggish and heavy. He could still fling his sword around, which was good – it was what he intended to do. Dodging a blow from the lizard with the red scales and plate armor was not going to happen. The massive hammer rose and the lizard, with a heavy two-handed swing, drove it down on Nighthand.

Much to the surprise of the lizard, the hammer met the blade like it would a steel wall. Nighthand barely flinched at the blow, though his feet were driven into the soft wood of the flood by nearly half an inch. Stepping forward out of the depression, he heaved, staggering the lizardman. He whipped his sword around in an unstoppable slash, tearing through platemail and scales with equal ferocity.

The blow did a mere thousand damage, but it was more than anything else had managed against these lizards. The monster howled in pain and swung in a sideways sweep. Nighthand crouched, jamming his sword into the ground and taking cover beneath it.

The horizontal hammer swing had too much momentum to stop when it hit the ramped blade. Instead, the lizard lost its balance as the heavy hammer carried it in a circle. The blue lizard man, approaching to help clear out this foe, caught the hammer in the gut. “2000” was the number that rose up from that blow, and Nighthand grinned.

“I guess the key was to get them to hit each other, eh?”
“Looks that way.”

Nighthand jumped into the air, using a flap of his wings to gain a higher altitude. He came down with a Juk Smash. Thorns exploded from the ground where the skill landed, carving a stripe into the side of the staggered red lizard. Simultaneously, the blue lizard landed a blow of its own, angered by the perceived treachery on the part of the red.

So the battle went, Nighthand trading blows with the lizards as they fought in a three-way melee. Nighthand took some damage from a glancing blow, which sapped a good portion of his health. Thankfully, he was more than stocked up on healing, and the lizards seemed to have no way to replenish themselves.

It was only a matter of time until the red lizard fell, and Nighthand faced down the blue one on one. The battle was short from there, as it was only two heavy blows before it too fell. Nighthand shifted back to normal, weary from the heavy strength expenditure, and felt he moved almost too fast to control. He rested, then, for a long moment before continuing on.

When he moved on, the path was a boring on. He stepped into one teleporter and found himself in room D, the hedge maze Demorian had demolished. From there, the remaining teleporter led him to T1 once again. He sighed and returned to the entrance.

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

“Can you key someone else for a Twilight Item?” Demorian asked the pair. He was more addressing Sheena than Nall, though either could answer.

“I’m not sure!” Sheena said. Nall shook his head.

“The process is a long one.” Nall added. “It has a low success rate as well. I only know of one person who was able to survive, and they didn’t last long.”

“Oh?” Demorian said. “I hadn’t heard of this.”

“It was back when I was still an Elite. All of us, originally, came into The World with our items. We brought the power with us, essentially. We decided to experiment with giving them away early on, to see if we could groom successors. It didn’t seem like we were going to be in our positions forever, but… well, you know how that turned out. Without all of the items, we can’t leave. If we had replacements, perhaps we could escape.” He shook his head again. “Except of course we would never let each other leave. We knew too much about each other, including where our bodies are kept. Still, a possible replacement was worth looking into. The horrible monsters that came of the research still roam the game. I should know, one of them caught me, and it’s why I’m so messed up.”

“I see. And the one who survived?”

“He was a cause for celebration, for a while. Then he disappeared.” Nall seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I hope he escaped, knowing his future would have been terrible as a puppet of the Elites. I suspect, however, that someone killed him in order to prevent anyone from leaving. We may never know the truth.”

“Ah.” Demorian too lost himself in thought, and conversation trailed to a halt.

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

Nighthand’s path now followed a similar path. A, K, O, R were all the same. From S, the room Maoh had arrived in, he took the path room a room that turned out to be room W.

This room was similar to the rest, though the walls had been carved more hexagonally than the circular layout of other rooms. Set squarely in the center of each wall panel was a colored crystal the size of his head. Each crystal glowed with a color – Red, Blue, Orange, Green, Yellow and Purple, each unique, each rotating. Every few seconds they changed, and Nighthand watched for a clue what to do.

Nothing suggested itself, so Nighthand shrugged and moved to the left-hand teleporter. Much to his complete lack of surprise, it didn’t work. Whatever had to be done in this room had to be done before he left.

Opening his scarred and missing eye, he saw the room virtually glowing with elemental power. Each crystal was charged with an element, obviously enough, though their purpose was made no clearer.

“Any ideas?” Nighthand asked his head-partner. “You were always the more studious of us.”
“Well, the crystals alternate elements every three seconds, but they don’t strictly alternate opposites. They are clearly attuned to elements, but there is no residue when they change. They don’t have a base, so to speak.”
“Wonderful. Great news. So what do we do?”
“That’s a great question. Maybe you can remove them from the wall?”
“Worth a shot.”

Nighthand approached the nearest crystal, bathed in its light as he took hold and yanked. It didn’t budge. He tried gaining a hold on it and twisting, but it wasn’t jagged enough to give him leverage. Shrugged, he grabbed his sword and jammed it at the base of the crystal, digging slightly into the wood. He threw his weight against it, hoping to dislodge the now-blue rock.

A lattice of cracks filled the crystal and it went cloudy, and a second later when the rest of the room shifted, it stayed blue. His blade had dug into the crystal itself, clearly damaging it.

“I hope that wasn’t valuable…” Nighthand muttered. Then the crystal shattered, the particles of broken stone dissolving into the air.

His elemental eye watched as the blue particles swirled around, invisible to his normal eye. They flowed around and through him, and he watched them coalesce across the room.

The creature that formed to his normal eye looked like a red-painted version of himself. It had the hair, it had the scar, it had the wings and, most importantly, it had the sword. To his elemental eye, it was completely based in fire. Of course, an elemental threat. It was interesting, however, that the particles were completely water-based until the last moment, when they turned to fire.

Nighthand’s weapon was a dual-elemental blade with both Juk and Gan abilities, but the monster before him was clearly using Vak. It came at him with a Vak Divider, slamming the heavy blade into the ground. Nighthand had moved aside when the first hint of a skill began, shifted to speed to avoid the attack.

Firehand drove after Nighthand with a ferocity matching its element, but Nighthand was undeterred. Nighthand’s speed was such that he had no trouble dodging, though the fiery monster had no limits on the fire-based skills it could toss around.

“Looks like it can’t copy your powers, just your strength.” Silverblade said.
“So it shouldn’t be too hard to take down.” Nighthand replied, dodging another blow and dancing backwards.
“Hopefully, unless it has a trick up its – swap!” Silverblade cried in alarm at the end.

Nighthand did so, allowing the AI to control his body, and just in time. Firehand threw out a GiVak Kruz, but Silverblade had seen it coming. Using his power, the one Nighthand had no access to – despite being able to see clearly how it was done with the elemental eye – Silverblade threw up a MeRue Rom and warped the energy into the building fire spell. The two spells intertwined and, with a kick from Silverblade, dissipated altogether.

“Want to fight?” Silverblade asked.
“You do it.” Nighthand said. “It’s about time you had some fun.”

Silverblade was a more conservative fighter than Nighthand, though their skills were the same. In seconds, the battle was over. Silverblade precisely used their State Shift to strike the perfect balance between speed and power. No doubt some calculation had gone on in his mind, taking their HP into effect and determining exactly what degree of power was necessary to demolish their foe without overkill. Once that was accomplished, it was a simply matter for the precise warrior to deliver a calculated blow. Firehand’s head rolled and the entire body dissipated.

“One down, five to go.” Nighthand commented.
“Indeed.” Silverblade replied. “It can use skills of that element, but not our special powers. It has our base stats, possibly at the time of creation. You saw it do that scan of us when it formed.”
“So the remaining five, assuming they’re the same, will be equally easy to kill.”
“Assuming, yes. I suggest, however, popping them open when they’re yellow.”
“Why yellow?”
“If the act the same way, they will form a darkness version of ourselves. We can use the Nightblade to deal with them. They won’t be able to copy it, since it’s our special ability, and it will weaken their attacks. In fact, they will only be able to use spells, since there are no darkness elemental heavy blades.”
“Well, go for it.”

Moments later, Silverblade was putting his theory to the test. He used their Smiling Blade to lever cracks into a crystal when it turned yellow. Just as before, the crystal shattered on the next change of color, and the particles investigated their character data. The monster that formed was darkness elemental, and as a consequence looked much like Nighthand had when he initially entered The World – dressed in his current clothes, at any rate. And with black skin. So, really, not much like he had initially looked beyond black hair.

”Powers of the Dark, heed my call. Take this offering and lend us your fang, Wryneck, lord of the Night. Come to me, Nightblade!” Offering up one of their level two darkness scrolls, Silverblade held the scroll aloft. Instantly the bundle of paper crunched and puffed into blackness. Behind them, space itself rent open as if a claw had torn it. From the blackened wound, an ebony hand reached out on an arm several lengths too long to be human. It doubled back on two elbows, reaching into the portal. From it, it drew the Nightblade, which it stabbed at the feet of Silverblade.

The sword was the same as always, Nighthand noted, as Silverblade drew it from the ground. The arm disappeared and the rift healed, and already a darkness spell was forming around them. Silverblade held the sword aloft, and Nighthand watched as the darkness particles in the air were absorbed into it. The power of the level 3 spell that formed was significantly reduced, and Silverblade simply took the damage.

Silverblade ignored the dark clone, moving around the room with virtually all of their stats shifted to speed. No spell could land on them, they moved too fast. Each time a crystal shifted to yellow, he shattered it with a blow. The particles could chase them, a factor of the room gimmick, but the monster that formed could barely register their presence.

Soon, five black clones of Silverblade were jolting this way and that, trying to follow their obscenely fast movements. Silverblade used their speed to his advantage – the only player in their troupe that could be faster was Nall, and that was because no matter how fast they got, he could extend time itself to give him a longer period to move.

Silverblade began to harry five clones, leaving long slashes on limbs and torsos as they moved. Each individual attack was incredibly weak – virtually none of their stats were still in power, and they were still attacking high level monsters. Still, the speed at which they were delivered meant they stacked up quickly. Each blow also forced the clones in one direction or another as they reacted to the damage.

Occasionally one of the clones would cast a spell, but the Nightblade only fed off the energy. For Silverblade, it was a trivial matter to avoid the epicenter of the spell as it landed.

Finally, each of the clones had been driven into the center of the room. They had been damaged enough, and Silverblade stepped into the center of them. He paused just long enough for all five to target him with a spell, and initiated the peculiar skill of the Nightblade. He shifted to strength as well, ensuring the skill would deal maximum damage.

They began to spin, a brutal parody of the Blademaster’s Revolver skill. Nightblade Storm, as it was called, sent them spinning with the reach of the extra-long sword. The whip at the base of the handle lashed out as well, dealing extra hits as they spun. A flurry of damage popped up, and around them the clones fell dead.

The skill ended and Silverblade hit the ground. Five simultaneous Darkness spells stuck them, but the damage was gone. They had been initiated, but since their casters were dead, the power behind them was zero. They were merely cosmetic. Awash in darkness that did no harm, Silverblade turned their body back over to Nighthand.

“Flashy. I didn’t know you had it in you.” He commented.
“I thought you might enjoy it.” Silverblade replied.

Unfortunately for them both, the remainder of their trip was a bore. The left teleporter led them to room X, the one where they had so-recently slain the lizardmen. Retracing their steps through A, K, O, R, S and W, they stepped onto the other portal and ended up in M4, another room already cleared by the party. Nighthand sighed and returned to the entrance room to wait.

“Another room down, a few more pathways explored. We’re getting close now. We have to be.”

Room Key

En: Entrance room
A: room with loose GP coins in a pile of leaves
B: flowers of three colors. Red shoot fire, yellow shoot paralyzing seeds, white are the only way to kill them. Respawn every time.
C: statue with crystal hearts. All hearts consumed.
D: hedge maze with path cut through it.
EN: Entrance
EX: Exit
F: ominous rustling followed by endless bug swarm
G: blue treasure chest that exploded
H: an extra-small room with an illusionary ceiling that leads to the real teleporters outside the walls. Monkey statues jeer.
I: illusionary zombie copies of players in the room copy movements. Projector destroyed.
J:
K: ghosted player named RogueBane. Attacks when revived. Keeps respawning but can be ignored.
L:
M1: Battle against a vampiric ghost, now dead.
M2:
M3:
M4: Puzzle boss with elemental crystals and a juka golem. Dead.
M5:
N: A Maoh imposter, killed, but not without friendly fire.
O: Room was completely on fire. Fireballs bouncing around light sections again when they are doused. Room completely doused now.
P: Maoh, Tak and Sekai are here.
Q:
R: a deep well with some GP coins on the rim. Acts as a combination wishing well and monsieur.
S: Maoh was chained in this room.
T1: treasure chest claimed by Baron
T2: treasure chest claimed by Canti and Talal
T3:
T4: treasure chest claimed by Maoh
U: a thorn trap that can be avoided by standing in the center of the room. Enough space for two friendly people at once without damage.
V: a storeroom full of random crap. Maybe treasure in the trash?
W: Elemental crystals that form clones of the one who breaks them. All broken.
X: Two lizard men impervious to most damage except each other. Dead now.
Y: Lizard men and a timer to respawn them. All killed and timer disarmed.
Z: Baron is here
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User avatar
Bane
Elevated Player
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:26 pm
Class: Fist Fighter
Location: Australia

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Bane » Wed Aug 07, 2013 6:34 am

Stepping into the next room, the trio found themselves face to face with an eight foot tall Cyclops with two heads. Maoh sighed, taking in the burly figure in mismatched armour. “Ugh… Can’t we be done with the oversized creatures with equally oversized weapons? We could probably just… get around him, right?” Maoh looked around the room, looking to see if this one had any apparent traps like some of the previous rooms had.

"Well, we can get around him, but I don't really want to leave him for people behind us, or to leave bodies here unless we can't help it." Takua gave them the simple version of it, as much as Maoh hated it, not getting rid of this thing would just be a hassle later for those to follow them into the room. That said, if he didn’t have to fight the hulking mass, then chances of survival and not having to die again seemed to increase. "Sekai, do you mind trying to blind him?"

Turning to Sekai, she studied the Cyclops carefully before her expression twisted into one of a worried frown. ”I will give it my best.” Her hesitant tone filled Maoh full of all kinds of sarcastic confidence that this was going to go well. "But I need something to distract them, else they will block the arrows with their blade, or their, um, shield." It was a fair call, especially considering that shield it had was fairly large.Takua took to the sky on a pair of wings, and with little else to do, Maoh headed in the other direction at a slow walk. In reaction, the beast stomped towards Maoh, whereas the head that seemed dedicated to tracking down Takua’s movements bellowed out a roar. Just as Maoh began to back off, two arrows let loose not even a second apart and impacted with the creature.

Or they would have if a shining barrier hadn’t been conveniently in the way and invisible to the eyes of those in the room. Flitting about around its two heads were no less than six hummingbirds made of a clear material, either glass or crystal. "Takua-san, Maoh-san, target the humming birds, I think they're causing this barrier!" Maoh aimed up a bird and let loose a Vak Kruz, whereas Sekai followed the assault with another arrow. One bird shattered in a rain of crystalline shards whereas the other that was targeted swiftly sidestepped the spell in mid-air. A vortex of rocks spiraled up from the ground and cracked two more of the birds, another shattered to another potshot by Sekai, and Maoh found that his aim was still off with his fire spells.

The Cyclops, who apparently had had enough of their barrage leapt up, club in hand, and smacked Takua promptly to the ground. Maoh winced as the impact occurred, but Takua scrambled out of the way and patched himself up in no time. Sekai shot one of the birds out of the air, and the last remaining one swooped at her and pierced through her like a glass javelin. It took to the air once through, bloody but functioning as if nothing happened. It didn’t last long, as Takua nuked a quarter of the room with his rocky tornado, leaving the room bird-free again. Following it up with another earth-based spell, the targeted the Cyclops, raining rocks down upon it with PhaGan Don. As each rock fell, the shield flickered to life again, twelve more birds now flitting about once the spell had cleared. “So much for that, looks like hitting the shield makes more hummingbirds.”

Maoh groaned and looked around the room for any clue as to what may be the trick of getting rid of the barrier. He looked to the ceiling; nothing looked unnatural about the room aside from it being made from the same plant life as the other rooms. The ceiling would have been great for a spider infestation, he was just thankful that there weren’t any; for now. As he was looking around, three of the birds had him locked and were circling him like vultures. The others seemed to be falling victim to the other two dispatching them with a much higher level of skill than he had, be it in levels or otherwise. Backing up against a wall, he waited to see if he could stop them from swooping him somehow. As an arrow came whizzing into a bird, Maoh leapt to the side, falling onto his hands and knees, ducking under another arrow as it shot down another bird. Aiming up the Cyclops, Maoh decided to see if it was a matter of elements that would break through the shield. Firing off a Vak Kruz at the Cyclops’ mace, he triggered the shield again, causing three more birds to enter the fray.

Takua dealt with more of the birds, although got skewered in the process. That poor guy, one looked painful enough, but three at once would’ve hurt like a bitch. The Cyclops smacked Sekai while they weren’t looking, the club crushing into her, but not killing her either. Maybe the trick was to get the birds to break the shield? It was one more thing that Maoh could try, so he figured it couldn’t hurt any more to at least try it out. Flagging down the birds to line him up, Maoh positioned himself between them and the Cyclops, diving out of the way at the last second. What he didn’t want to happen, did. As the birds dive-bombed the shield, three more birds apiece rose from the aether and joined their companions. Maoh, finding himself now tagged by all ten remaining birds ran for it. “Well I’m all out of ideas!” It didn’t take long for that endeavor to end in death though; at least it wasn’t by the birds.

After thoroughly nuking the largest body of birds, and unfortunately Maoh, Takua got him back to his feet with Rip Maen. The Twin Blade shuddered, still not used to that gut wrenching feeling of dying. “Is the shield the source of the barrier or is it why the birds keep multiplying?” Maoh pulled out one of the Resurrects that Takua had given him before and used it on the Wavemaster bringing him back to life. Sekai, while shooting down the birds, let Maoh look at the Cyclops a bit closer. Was it just him, or was the barrier smaller than what it had started as.

He voiced this to the group, to which Vesica replied. “Yep. How about hanging back and letting someone with clearly has an inferiority complex deal with the birds as we whittle the shield down?” Takua protested, to which Vesica promptly quipped, “Is there any other reason you like big spells?” By simply stating that they were ‘better’, Vesica felt the need to say with a hint of satisfaction “I need say nothing more.” Sekai shot down three of the four remaining birds, with the fourth finding its place by piercing through Takua. Maoh, taking out his weapons for the first time in this whole encounter muttered anxiously to himself before darting in, as poised as a person with no actual experience with using these weapons could be, and let loose a flurry of clumsy attacks, each strike bouncing off the barrier and spawning more birds. As the last strike connected, another strike from the Cyclops flattened Maoh. That time he didn’t have enough time to even scream before he was brought back again, with the first thing he did being run away from the massive creature towards the teleporter.

Sadly, the teleporter was also shielded, causing Maoh to effectively run head first into a wall and summon more birds. Takua, feeling the need to up the ante used Yarthkins Rf to lay waste to effectively everything in the room, bar the Cyclops. As birds rained down on them, Takua kept them healthy with Ola Repth. With little other option, Maoh rushed in and went stab-happy again on the Cyclops, and Takua cleaned up with his arsenal of spells, with Sekai picking off those that tried to get away from the spell’s range. The shield was diminishing, which laid the path for them to continue as they were. Flurry of blows, die, nuke the room, revive, rinse and repeat. The shield went down after the third time, leaving the party with just the Cyclops to deal with. Sekai started off the second part of their battle by shooting for the eyes again, both shots of Rai-infused arrows just missing their mark.

Maoh followed this up by casting Vak Kruz, if only to add to the damage from a safe distance to avoid death yet again. As if only to show him up, much larger and much more damaging fireballs rained down upon the Cyclops. Feeling his shoulders sink, Maoh shot his gaze across to Takua and gave him a look. Of course he had to use the same element he just did. He couldn’t have possibly used a different one to not show him up. Somewhat annoyed at his current state of usefulness, Maoh slunk back towards the portals. “Shall I leave this up to you two, then?” Sekai was the one to respond, and do so while a flaming mass of Cyclops rushed her with his shield. But when she spoke, it wasn’t in her normal ‘always pausing’ sort of manner. For some reason, it was off, but Maoh just couldn’t place why.

“Wouldn’t recommend it,” She continued dodging the shield before continuing her sentence. “It’s not like you know this place or anything, and you’ll be dead in seconds otherwise.” Well, someone suddenly got a whole bunch more direct and confident. Perhaps he had tagged the girl wrong somewhere along the way? The Twin Blade stopped in his tracks and asked what he should be doing instead of escaping. Sekai was the one to respond yet again, her voice still strange. “Fire off more spells if you can, it may help even if the damage output isn’t as high as Takua’s.” The Cyclops ran through a LaRue Zot spell and into a wall, with the Archer slipping to the side out of the way.

If the Archer wanted spells, Maoh would deliver. He only had the two, but given that fire wasn’t being overly useful, he could only try the other one and hope for something better. Casting Rue Rom was his intention, but getting trumped by Takua’s PhaRue Rom was not. Again, the Twin Blade shot Takua a look to which the Wavemaster gave him one back. He wasn’t sorry, and it was quite plainly written all over his face. "Well, I don't have a Pha level Rai spell to take advantage of it. And I'm a Wavemaster, I'm supposed to cast high level spells." Maoh narrowed his eyes and was about to retort before the Cyclops sized Takua up and smashed him into the ground.

Someone’s feeling left out.” Maoh shot around to look at Sekai, who let loose another arrow charged with Rai before letting loose another. Was she baiting him into doing something? Taunting him? Takua got away, and patched himself up with his high tier healing spell before unleashing a series of high level spells to finish the Cyclops in a storm of ice and lightning. "Um, let's... let's go on to the next room, okay?" Sekai’s face was red as if embarrassed, and sounded apologetic as she looked towards Takua. The oddest part was that her voice had somehow regulated itself back to being that timid one he was introduced to her with. Takua gave her a lighthearted wink and smile before the trio went into the next room, stepping onto the rightmost teleporter with Maoh in the lead.

The first thing they noticed about the new room was the abundant amount of shelves, and the second was the sheer volume of books. They were seemingly crammed into the shelves, unsorted from old and new and size. Untouched books were next to ones that were now more accurate to folders with sheets of paper stored between the covers. Not as regular as the books, but adorning the shelves in no regular interval were trinkets and baubles, wooden figures and tools; nothing overly important to their journey, however. Takua took to the sky while Vesica began to explore the room and examine the covers of the books on the lowers shelves. Maoh reached out a hand ad touched one of the bookcases, finding that it was relatively normal. It was just a bookcase, at least as far as he could tell. They were built solid, so Maoh began to climb, pausing to make sure it could take his weight before continuing upwards. The Archer stayed on the ground with Vesica, browsing the shelves for books that could be of value to them.

Takua and Maoh in the meantime decided to look for the way out, either flying or using the tops of the bookcases as a narrow path. Not looking where he was going, Maoh tripped over where one bookcase ended and the other started, sending him toppling back towards the floor. Reaching out for one of the shelves to grab onto, his hand found a manila folder, causing an assortment of sheets to go airborne as he impacted with the ground, flat onto his back. As the sheets came to settle on and around him, he peeled one off his face and had a look. It detailed something about enemies that spontaneously combusted into fireballs and the mechanics behind them. "Well... this is... uh... huh." Maoh discarded the paper off to the side and noticed that Vesica had found some books that may be of interest, whereas Sekai was also having luck finding books that had information. Rifling around the pages and other books around him on the floor, Maoh ripped open a tightly sealed pamphlet, soon to be replaced in his hand with a Permafrost scroll and a minor headache.

In the next series of searches, the party found an outdated map of the tower they were in, a list of cheats for The World that were patched in 2004, an anatomical chart of a pair of lizardmen, a bestiary on the normal monsters in The World, and some erotica set in the game in which they were playing. With a hasty fumble, Sekai snapped the book she found shut and placed it right back on the shelf lest anyone catch her looking at smut. Vesica pointed out the book on monsters to Takua, who scooped up the book and stored it away for later. The next page Maoh looked at was a diagram of the room he was found in, his addition an afterthought given how it was scrawled in in a different colour than the fine lines that made up the diagram of the room. Frustrated, Maoh crumpled up the page in his hands before tearing at it and throwing it as far away as he could, slumping down against one of the bookshelves and folding his arms over his knees.

Sekai in the meantime scored a voucher for 1000gp amongst a folder of receipts made by lesser hackers that resided in Yamiyo. Takua and Vesica were doing a search of their own, with the latter finding a book holding a stash of aromatic grass. High on what was for all intents and purposes, catnip, Vesica rolled into a bookshelf; littering the area they were searching with such books as “A Medical History of Sight”, “The Eyes of Pandora”, “Seeing is Believing” and other such titles. Sekai and Maoh both found books about two different elites, one a scathing review of their policies, with the other mere fan-fiction told from the eyes of some adoring fan. The Archer pocketed the critical analysis on Melzas before moving on, whereas the Twin Blade discarded the book about Jett by throwing it over his shoulder. The next book he picked up was a player’s guide on how to beat a Dryad in a room of the maze, but a quick analysis of the map showed that the room had already been cleared.

Sekai on the other hand found a recount of hacked treasures hidden somewhere in The World. She sent some of the keywords to herself, taken from the list of those that possibly held the chalice for a later adventure. Takua found an excerpt about an Ice Witch who was a Long Arm that enjoyed conversation. The next round of searching yielded the Twin Blade a complete set of The World TCG cards, as well as a dictionary thick guide of every possible board state for the game. Given they were a match to one another, Maoh pocketed them both and continued on the search finding a book entitled “The Greatest Pop-Up Book of All”. Upon opening the book however, he was floored by a cardboard fist, dropping the book.

Takua, having grown tired of Vesica’s high, threw her a Restorative and an Antidote. The Antidote worked, but caused Vesica to glare at the Wavemaster for killing her buzz. Maoh called out to the group, asking if anyone had found anything useful. Takua called back in a slightly mocking tone, “Not really. Other than Vesica getting high on Aromatic Grass.” Maoh clambered up the nearest bookcase after discarding a book and began to look for the portal out of here. His search yielded a book first and foremost, entitled “A Beginner’s Guide to Portals.” Flipping open the book, he got mid-way through the first phrase before seeing a familiar cardboard fist flying towards him. Flooring him yet again, Maoh went falling off the bookcase, landing into a heap of scrap paper and sending pages flying everywhere.

Getting up from his current bed of pages and looking down the row he was currently in, he spotted the portal on the floor. “Hey guys! I’ve found the portal! Let’s go!” Rushing over to it, Maoh stopped short of it and waited for the others to catch up. First to arrive was Takua with Vesica, then Sekai only seconds behind. With the party assembled, they headed into the portal and thus into the next room. The next room that awaited them had only one feature: a single, single-piece oaken chest with gold fittings; completely unopened. Maoh rushed over and flung the chest open without a second thought, looking inside. “Hey, sweet! Boots!” Maoh picked them up and stored them away, before pausing and looking at Sekai with an annoyed look. “I’m keeping the freakin’ boots.”

Without any arguments this time, the team headed back towards the entrance, regrouping with the people that were waiting there.
Maoh l Lvl. %h l EXP: ????/1000 l HP: ???/??? l SP: ???/???
GP: 31,541

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Talal
Ikkitousen
Posts: 123
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:50 am
Class: Twinblade

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Talal » Sun Aug 18, 2013 5:53 pm

Talal had fallen into a light sleep, but not truly asleep. She never could really sleep well since the prison, since becoming stuck here, although having Canti and Shadow near helped her to relax a bit more than usual. Canti’s voice startled her having gotten used to the silence. Opening her eyes but not moving, she looked at him still enveloped within his wings. ”Used to what?” A hand poked out from beneath the ebony wings waving about to their surroundings. ”This. The World, being in it all the time. It’s transforming my brain, making me go native. I’m gonna wake up in the real world thinking I can fly…and that’s gonna suck.” Not meaning to but Talal laughed softly. An image forming in her head of Canti waking up in a hospital, running for the doors and trying to take off to get away from the mad scientists. ”Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. I understand what you mean though.”

”It’s okay. I think it’s silly too. I just hope it doesn’t mess with my work. I haven’t done anything mechanical this whole time. Would it kill them to have like a big block engine puzzle? And I really don’t wanna walk out of there looking like I want to stab people 40 different ways. Helluva blow to the gaming industry.”

His admission of thoughts got her thinking as well and she became quiet once more. Brown eyes stared blankly at the floor, lost in thought. She knew what her biggest problem would be. She would never stop being afraid, always looking around corners and staying away from people. At least here, she had ways to defend herself, but at home she would have nothing. Add to it the uncertainty that she’d be able to rebuild her protective walls and get back to her smart ass/no one can hurt me attitude that she had before playing The World. It wasn’t a very good combination. ”Indeed, I don’t think people would take kindly to your stabbity tendancies.” She laughed softly, pausing, her mind wandering to her life before going comatose. ”Cashiering isn’t difficult. I don’t think it will be hard to return to that, although after being here, it will be extremely boring.” She laughed again. ”It was already a boring job before this.” Talal sat up and leaned against the wall pulling her knees in close, wrapping her arms around them.

”You see? It IS affecting me. I can tell something’s bothering you.”

The female twin blade looked over and tilted her head slightly, a half smile half frown on her face. ”Am I really that transparent?” she questioned softly trying to pull off a sarcastic laugh but probably none to convincingly. ”It’s nothing really, I think I’m the same way. The World has changed how I look at things. Going home…isn’t very appealing anymore, not to say being here is either but...” she paused for a moment and then in a soft matter-of-fact kind of way, ”…I do miss the ocean.”

”You’re not transparent. Just instinct. I’m sure you have family, though, right? Come to think of it, I’d like to see the ocean, maybe work on a boat…”

”Yes… I have family but… we had a disagreement, I don’t even remember now about what, but I walked out. I was told that if I left, I was never to return. I’ve lived on my own ever since.” She was solemn and soft spoken, but the words were sincerely spoken but when the topic changed, her spirit seemed to lift. ”The ocean is wonderful. It’s so powerful, yet serene and relaxing. I love just to sit on the beach and listen to the waves crash. There are plenty of fishing boats and things where I live that are always looking for a good engine mechanic. Most of them run on such tight budgets that they can’t afford to take the ship to dry dock every time it breaks down so having the mechanic as part of the crew is their best option. As long as you don’t get seasick or anything.” Talal laughed softly and smiled at Canti.

”I have no idea if I get seasick or not. Never tried. Not much call for it.”

”Well, I guess if you’ve never been on a boat you wouldn’t know.” She chuckled softly. ”You know… when we finally do get out of here, I’m going to miss these conversations of ours.” she wanted so bad to have a handful of grass or a stick to toss at him, or a bottle of water to spray playfully at her fellow Twin Blade just then. The conversation was getting too heavy for her liking mostly because of where her mind was going not really anything Canti had said. She was ready to just have some innocent but exciting FUN! Canti laughed, shooting her a grin as he did so. ”Same here, but there’s no law saying we can’t stay in contact, right?” If Talal had any strength in her to hold back the happiness she felt from those few simply spoken words, she didn’t have it. It was like a thousand weights had been lifted and she was being showered in all things happy. A large smile, lifted eyebrows, and if he was looking close enough, a sparkle in her eye washed over her features. ”No, there isn’t! That would be really great if we could.” She just stared at him smiling. ”Heh, then we should. Just because we’re escaping the game doesn’t mean we have to drift apart.”

What she really wanted to do was jump up and give him a giant hug she was that happy. Unless he’d heard the conversation between her and Takua, he had no idea that her true biggest fear was losing everyone, whether through dying in the game or getting out and not knowing where to find them. Losing everyone from her new family, since that is how she now felt about the Freedom Fighters, was definitely something she didn’t want to happen but something that Talal had been trying to come to terms with that it would. But of all of them, she hadn’t wanted to lose Canti the most. He understood her and hadn’t pushed her away when she was confused or made fun or light of her fears. He was a true friend indeed. She no longer felt alone in the real world and going home suddenly wasn’t as scary of a thought. ”It’s settled then. No drifting allowed.” With just that simple thought and the happiness it brought, the young girl felt rejuvenated as she hopped up from the floor and walked over to Shadow giving him a big scratch behind the ears. The dark hound in turn seemed to really enjoy the attention and scratching, responding with a gratifying dog-pant.

”So, ready to move on and get out of here?” Canti stood up. ”Yeah, I’m ready. You get all that down, Shadow?”

”I have a perfect record… in my mind.”

”Great. Now then… why don’t you pick, Talal?”

She looked at the portals and did an eenie-meenie-miney-moe in her head. ”Left” Without hesitation due to her lifted spirits, Talal stepped onto the portal arriving in a large open room which seemed very similar to every other room in the maze. A quick survey however revealed there were no teleporters, at least none that could readily be seen. In the middle of the room was a giant tree, fully formed. Looking up, Talal raised her arm to block what appeared like sunlight shining in from above the room. Her eyes casted slowly down the tree away from the bright light. It was your typical tree, deep richly green leaves, brown bark mottled with grey. The branches were hanging heavy with large fruit that looked kind of like giant raspberries and everything was gently swaying but there was no breeze. Talal did the ol lick the finger and hold it up trick just to verify this. Talal couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten actual food. Being in the game, it wasn’t really a requirement.

”Hungry Canti?”

”No… not really. Too much Kirby, Wizard of Oz, and even this game tells me that this is trouble waiting to happen.”

Talal reached up running her hand through the leaves but didn’t pull any off or any of the fruit. A little surprised but the tree didn’t respond in any way to her touch. The leaves for all intents and purposes were just leaves; soft and… leaf like. ”Canti why don’t you fly up and see where the light is coming from.” After several moments of Canti glancing over the room, the tree and finally up towards the where the light was coming from, he spread his raven wings and took off towards the ceiling. She lost sight of him as his form was enveloped by the light, her arm once again raising up as a sun shield hoping to see what was happening. The room suddenly became dark and Talal drew her blades, unsure of what just happened.

The tree began to shake and shiver. Canti’s voice sounded from high up above the tree. ”Talal, back away slowly. Just in case.” The Twin Blade does as she’s told, not that her feet weren’t already moving before his request. ”I don’t think the tree likes the dark.”

”I think the point is to expose what it’s sitting on, and that might not happen while it’s in the light.”

The wheels began turning in her mind trying to catch up to what her counterpart had already figured out by the sounds of things. Or perhaps he was just following his gut, but even though his gut got her friend blown up or charred on occasion, he was usually on the right track. His choice of following that track just tended to have a few flaws at times. ”Then maybe we just need to get rid of the tree? It’s a tree so it should be flammable… right?” Just as the words escaped her lips, Talal was already re-thinking her statement. ”Hmmm… alright, I’ll try it, but if this ends up like another game I know…”

There wasn’t really anywhere to go in the room if the tree took to the fire like a normal tree should and just as her mouth opened to tell her fellow Twin Blade that maybe they should re-think their approach, Canti cast a BiVak Rom from his hovering point above the treetop. Talal got a heavy feeling in her stomach as she watched the fire tornado appear and engulf the tree, charring it. Confusion though spread when the flames died out instead of gaining speed and intensity and the tree healed back to it’s former glory in a matter of about thirty seconds or so.

”What the hell are you trying to do to my tree?!” came a female voice emanating from no discernible point in the room making Talal back up even further away from the tree towards the wall as quickly as possible.
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.

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

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Lord Canti » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:02 pm

OOC: When Canti said he was taking a break, I didn't mean five months! Still, stuff happens, so yeah. Time to get back in the saddle. Nice smooth ride...along with saddle sores. Hey, nothing's too easy in Canti-land. So, without further ado...

IC>>>>>


(You'd probably question the sanity of any person who would dare take a break, a rest, a take-five, or whatever in a place like this. But frankly, the trick and the trap in this room had already been eliminated. It was about as safe as it was ever going to be. No sense getting more worried about it than they already were. Chances are, Xenobia knew they were there and could probably act against them at their whim. So, in a fatalistic sort of way, Canti figured if she was going to do anything with 'em, so be it...and it would be quicker than this irritating teleport maze. Seemed like an old map of Doom, only without the actual demons popping in. Maybe Klive's tower had Demons, Imps, Spiderminds, and more. Here, they'd handled the zombies, at least, leaving them to take a breather. Canti lying against a wall and shaded by his wings, Talal lying down nearby, and Shadow... Shadow was being Shadow, sniffing around and - fortunately - not going near the two teleporters. Once he'd had enough of the room, he'd also taken to having a sit himself. Eventually, the winged Twin Blade said aloud...)

Canti: I'm getting too use to this.

"Used to what?"

(His hand poked out from within the winged enclosure, waving to their surroundings.)

Canti: This. The World, being in it all the time. It's transforming my brain, making me go native. I'm gonna wake up in the real world thinking I can fly...and that's gonna suck.

(She found it funny, and...in a way...so did he. She apologized for laughing, but the truth was that it was silly. He wasn't really going to go native. It was just that he noticed how much easier it was getting to do the things he did here, how his act of knife-play was becoming more 'his thing' than actual mechanic work. He hoped his skills weren't wearing down... And his instincts in here were becoming sharper, like for instance he could tell that something was bothering Talal even though they were just making conversation. It was clear that they both missed things from the outside world. Talal had family, though...she might never see them again, even if she got out. Canti didn't quite know the feeling, but he had one similar: He was never going to see his family again, period. Changing topics to the ocean seemed like the right move. Either one of them dwelling too far on bad moods would kill the small bit of morale they had around here. I mean, Canti's not this happy-go-lucky guy, obviously, but he had at least enough to keep people grounded, most of the time.)

”You know… when we finally do get out of here, I’m going to miss these conversations of ours.”

Canti: Same here, but there's no law saying we can't stay in contact, right?

(Actually, maybe he was better at this than he thought. The look on Talal's face when he said that was absolutely priceless. He hadn't planned this, and nobody had spoken to him beforehand. It just seemed reasonable, that the two of them - or any of the Freedom Fighting[/i] gang - would stay in contact, because they were united by the need for survival and because they had had to overcome terrible things together. Canti couldn't begin to guess what it is that Nall and Nighthand and the more senior members of the team had endured at times. But...in his own time...he had seen a war in Mac Anu after that hell of the tenebrous tower, he had seen a man mutated horribly by power and personally been light-incinerated on the same day, and had to kill more monsters than he could keep track of. Talal hadn't even been eased into it. He knew. He was there for it. She had had to deal with Xenobia directly, escape from prison, fight to Yamiyo and deal with a mad monster administrator, and then fight actual Elites...all in this much-shorter-than-him time. The least he could do was keep in contact! Canti knew when he had a good thing going, and the smile on the girl's face told him that this was definitely one of them. And so, they made the promise: No drifting allowed. He was gonna see if he could keep that with the others as well, but this was mostly between them.

Canti: You've got your camaradre, Nall, and I've got mine.

(With that settled, it seemed like they had rested long enough. He, Shadow, and Talal were ready to continue. Talal chose the left pad and they found themselves in a big ole' room with a large tree and a light-source from up above. Strangely peaceful place, but unfortunately it rang so many alarm bells in Canti's mind that you could label it Shifty McObviousTrap. A nice big inviting tree with lucious fruit hanging from the branches? Anyone who had ever seen the Wizard of Oz or at least played ANY video game including this one would feel that a tree just sitting so innocently around this place was a bad sign. He said as much to Talal, even though she touched the leaves without incident. She suggested checking out the light itself, since he could just fly up there. And after several moments of checking around, he shrugged and flew up there. He wondered if it was a harmful sun. Extremely bright, as he found out, but not...harmful. It was just a light, really. It was a ball up a tube that he couldn't possibly reach with his arm or dagger, but when he put his body in the way of everything...the place became dark all of a sudden.)

Canti: Let there NOT be light.

(The tree had started to shake and shiver, and he warned Talal to back away from it. It seemed clear to them that they had to get rid of this tree somehow to expose what was underneath it, which - all things being equal - was a telepad. This apparently being a proper concensus, Canti prepared to blast the tree away with fire, hoping to god that this didn't end up like Earthbound. Uhh, don't ask. anyway, the BiVak Rom caught the tree ablaze, the damage was done and...it slowly began to heal? Wait, that wasn't right. Even in this game, wood burns! It doesn't...regenerate. Well still, the answer to that little quandry would come, as a new problem would arise.)

”What the hell are you trying to do to my tree?!”

(OKay...awkward. The Twin Blade blinked with a 'What the hell?!' look on his face, then confusion set in. Who the hell just talked?! There was a voice from nowhere complaining about the state of things here and now That would be their trap calling, or at least it seemed so. Someone was rather invested in this tree of theirs, and it was going to be a problem, he could tell. Oh, it wasn't Xenobia, but it still sounded like trouble to him...)

Canti: I...was...uhh...expecting it to turn into a violent tree monster, actually. They have those in this game.

(No response. At least, none from the disembodied voice. But then, Canti was startled to see movement from Talal's end of things on the ground: She'd evaded a hand that was reaching for her and questioned the wooden lady that was there, halfway out of the woodwork, asking who she was. This was a surprise to the flying Twin Blade. He hadn't heard a thing and saw nothing until it was already happening! There was a woman coming right out of the goddamn walls here! Talal poked the wall with her blade. It was solid. She wouldn't get anywhere with that. He had, in the meantime, heard of something like this out of like a fairytale or a fantasy novel, or...a web comic?)

Canti: I...think I know what she is. A woman made of wood? That's a dryad. I've heard of these things. They live in the tree and they're bonded to it. Basically, anything we do about this tree will make her lash out.

"I think we should see if picking a fruit will bring her back. If the other rooms are any indication, we need to defeat her to pass the room...right?"

Canti: Yeah, but be careful. I'm not sure that fruit'll help US.

(Talal reached for one of them - like grapefruits, they were - and found it burst in her hands. Ripe much? Oh yeah. It soaked into the skin and seemed to cause minor healing. "Sweet! Pun intended. The fruit heals." That...seemed very freakin' odd. Was this tree out to disprove everything he thought today? The fruit bursts, the sun's fake, the tree's leaves can't be plucked, and there was a woman of wood protecting everything here.)

Canti: Talal, do you see anyway of handling this short of destroying the tree? She doesn't seem very keen on talking.

"Canti...I think we need her out of the tree to get out of here. Be ready, I'm going to try something."

Canti: Alright, ready.

(Actually, he didn't have a clue as to what he was really going to do, only that he was going to do SOMETHING when the time came, and he was going to do it in style. So...Talal cut off a branch and Canti waited for the other shoe to drop, suspenseful music allegedly playing in the background. Then, the Dryad DID appear, but away from them both, wielding a staff with a hook of some kind. She was clearly ready to fight, and Canti was charging a penetration round of the darkness flame in preparation. Talal decided to try diplomacy first. She apologized for the damage and asked to speak with the woman plainly. Said woman responded by gesturing up at him and...at the same time the other Twin Blade shouted a warning...he heard a sound from behind. Canti looked over his shoulder and went "Wah!" as a number of long thorns tried to skewer him! He moved to a lower altitude to avoid impalement.)

Canti: Okay...that's enough out of you.

(One .50 caliber darkness bullet fired into the top of the tree, hopefully to penetrate further. Talal had also gone on the offensive with a Gan spell, but the Dryad swept away the rocks and leapt into the tree. Canti's shot snapped off an entire limb - and everything that DID get taken off of this thing turned to dust - but it started to quickly regenerate the limb. Dryads care for their trees, flipping nature magic.)

"The fruit! They heal, maybe they are healing the tree?"

Canti: You handle the fruit. I've got another idea!

(He fires his next charged shot at a ROOT. Unfortunately, as he did that...there were some complications. First of all, his shot worked, but quick regenerations were in order. And second, his partner in crime discovered that the fruit had random properties, such as paralysis. Oh, but surprise problem #3, the Dryad leapt out of the tree and hooked him by the leg so that he could get slammed into the ground face-first. Fortunately, Talal had the bright side of this now.)

"Canti...keep her from going back into the tree. I'm afraid the fruit has diffrent effects....I'm paralyzed"

Canti: Got it covered.

(Just then... The Dryad would feel teeth digging into her leg and a strong pull as Shadow wretched his head back. Did we forget there was a demon dog here on the same level as Canti? He was pulling away from Talal and the tree. Canti decided to upend alot of his SP pool towards the act of raining fireballs of darkness down upon the tree at the branches and roots. The previous heavy shots might've been overkill, so now he was trying quantity over quality. This appears to do mostly limb-damage, nothing interfering with the core of the thing yet. The Dryad had, in the meantime, sunk into the floor despite Shadow's strength and the dog had to let go or get sucked into solid wood. Since we can't have that, it was time to hatch a new plan even as the whole thing regenerated anew. Canti cured Talal's paralysis and spoke up.)

Canti: Okay, we have a problem here. She defends the tree, but she also heals the tree, and we can't stop her from sinking into it or any surface of this room it seems once she starts sinking. Only one way for it. Would you two focus on ruining that tree please? I'll handle this.

(Shadow barks an acknowledgement and proceeds to Dark Breath the tree as soon as Talal started, which was after she Speed Charmed herself and got to widdling tree away. Canti had experimented a little. You see, he had decided to cast a fireball at a branch, with or without sunlight to the thing, and apparently...it didn't actually affect its regeneration rate at all. That meant he was actually free to act without having to really worry about the light. And yet...it didn't like the darkness, so what did that actually...mean? Regardless of the skills Talal and Shadow used against it, they were in a holding pattern. It was repairing the damage as quickly as they made it. Canti decided to try something more drastic. He blasted a dark bullet through the trunk itself, hoping the suddenly level of damage would draw the woman out. No luck, and it was repairing maybe too fast for him to just force the tree apart with consecutive shots even. This was problematic, to say the least.)

Canti: Talal, I need to be able to draw her out, but I also need to be able to react instantly when she does...and maybe while blocking the light. You got anything we can block it with that isn't...me?

"Canti...have you tried casting any Ani into the tube? It's literally just a shot in the dark but..."

(He stared at her for a second, almost deadpanned. That was...what she said...errr... Dammit, why didn't he think of that?!)

Canti: One shot in the dark, coming up!

(Shadow facepawed as Canti flung a darkness fireball up there and...poof! Like blowing out a candle, Canti blew out the sun!)

Canti: I did it! I...uhhh...can't see anything...

Shadow: We might be killed by a grue.

Canti: Talal? Umm...torch?

"One a la flambe coming up."

(Okay, it wasn't as dark as all that...once his eyes adjusted...and the torch she made DID still help. However, they were in one dimly-lit room with a Dryad who could be anywhere... The black eyes of the Twin Blade took the place's new ambience in a moment, then got to work.)

Canti: Right... Talal, could you hit me with low-level fire spells until my tattoo is filled up?

(The Vak Tattoo would show that he was only up a couple of dots, which increased gradually as he was struck. It still stung a bit, but at his level it wasn't that bad, plus it even helped his HP. Furthermore, Shadow casted Ap Do on him, just as a safety precaution.)

Canti: Now then... Pha Vak Rom!

(FWOOSH!! The level four fire tornado was cast upon the big tree now. It would be well-lit in here for a while. Canti waited to see when and if the Dryad would strike... The tree burned happily enough for a good ten seconds before he remembered how the initial fire spells petered out much more quickly. Fortunately, or not so, Canti didn't have to worry about that, as the hooked staff caught him around the throat to try and yank him back and pin him against the wall. Tried, very hard, but our god of the black flames had other plans, plans which included flying full tilt away from both wall and floor while grabbing the staff so it doesn't choke him. Trouble is...he wasn't going anywhere. No, the REAL trouble had to be that he felt like he was losing ground, like the Dryad was sinking into the wall and that he'd go with it. You don't get a faster Oh Crap reaction than that. And just as Talal attacked, Canti got a hand free long enough to fling The Tower into the Dryad's face. He never thought much for playing the game's ailment system spells up that much, really, but an item that delivers them all at once? Handy. Even better, it took full effect and now they had themselves a weakened enemy. Talal continued her assault as Canti got free, the Dryad casting RaJuk Roms to get back at them both. Weakened though they were, you can't deny the damage being done there as she was trying to return to the wood. Talal stopped attacking long enough to through Ice Storm and Raining Rocks back at her as Canti used the High Priestess on himself, and quickly puts one arm around the Dryad's neck while forcing a constant stream of intense black fire into her back where she meets the wood. He pulled hard to essentially try and auger her right out of the wall, in pieces if they had to. Shadow force-multiplied this with repeated Ani Dons. It must've been the right move, because the Dryad popped out on her own accord and ran for the tree! Fortunately, Talal was quicker and got in the way, but Canti was MUCH faster and scooped up the wood woman by the legs to pull her up into the air where she can't reach anything, still pulsing black fire through her.)

Canti: I don't know who to beat down! Her or the tree!

(Shadow decides the tree and starts chomping up roots. The Dryad...suddenly nuked Canti, though. You wouldn't expect that from a tree lady, but when a level four spell blasts you suddenly and you haven't even been healing from the previous assaults, you...succumb to a couple of these. So, Canti was torn apart by flower power - which...anyone who's ever watched Yu Yu Hakusho knows is NEVER pretty - and he emerged as a flying ghost. The Dryad hit the ground, brandishing her staff at Talal...who simply Resurrected him. Canti was alive again with five points on his tattoo and a fresh Ap Do from his hellhound. He landed behind the Dryad now with his blades out, which means...it's Metalman time! The winged Twin Blade suddenly spun like a Tazmanian Devil with his weapons out and had them striking rapidly at her mid-section! There was a strange confusing mess for a moment as the woman tried to get away from him and slammed into something Talal projected when she tried to get to her. Once more, the Dryad tried to get into the woodwork, this time through the floor. He and Talal got a hold of her and pulled while using their fire spells, Shadow blasting Dark Breath at her the whole time. Finally...she expired. Went out like a light, so to speak. Couldn't stop them, couldn't retreat, so dead.)

Canti: Okay, I got this.

(Canti then buzzsawed at the tree itself until it was finished itself. The whole thing just POOFED into dust, leaving behind one slightly-marred teleporter pad. Where it led? Back to the beginning...again. We'll skip the comments and the grumbling that would normally be associated with this crazy yo-yo maze for now, and simply move on to the room that was before the tree to pick the RIGHT pad now... 'Twas a standard room, completely empty...except for one woman in an elegant snow-white ballgown. She had floor-length white hair, ice-blue eyes, and a crystal spear. She was standing passively in the middle of the room, making no move to attack or even interact with them as they entered. There were also two teleporters in plain view. Canti, however, was too busy gawking at the moment to notice. That is, until Talal hit him in the shoulder.)

Canti: Sorry, it was one of those things.

(They all stayed close to the walls, away from probably the most-elegant Long Arm in history, while she watched them with curiosity. They seemed to be able to access the telepads without question... Canti shrugged at Talal, saying...)

Canti: Well, we COULD just leave.

"We could. There is always the second time through the room?"

Canti: Knowing this place, it'll happen.

"Lead the way, but this feels too easy"

Canti: It isn't.

(He had chosen at random with a dagger-flip to determine which way to go, still nothing from the watcher. Survey said right, so they went right and...found another treasure room. It looked pretty much like the other treasure rooms, which were shiney and given to have one big chest and one teleporter back to the beginning.)

Canti: Uhhh...ya think we should actually save it for the others? We had one.

"Sounds fair."

(Rinse, repeat, return to the room with the white lady. They were going to head to the next room, but Canti couldn't help but ask something now. So, he addressed their watcher directly.)

Canti: Look umm... If you don't mind me asking...are you waiting for something?

"Not particularly. This is what I do."

"You stand here and look regal?"

"More or less."


(She smiled at them. Yes, this woman was a smiler, one who comments and beams in a charming fashion.)

Canti: I see. Just out of curiosity, how well do you know your way around this tower?

(The woman shrugged.)

"I don't get out much. I know some things, though."

Canti: Such as?

"Nothing for free, my dear."

"Of course not"

(Talal offered a Hale Cross, but the woman made no movement to take the item.)

"I think she wants a more direct question."

Canti: Ah, I see. Alright, then. My friends and I seek an audience with Xenobia. Can you tell us how to get through the maze to her?

"All I can say is that you're on the right track. Or rather, having survived long enough to reach me, you're going to make it sooner or later. I don't know the exact path. Though, I believe the layout changes for each challenger anyway."

Canti: That doesn't surprise me.

"Are you guarding something?"

"Just myself."

"I don't think she knows anything."


Canti: Well, let me ask you point-blank. DO you know anything vital? Why'd she even put you here?

"I know what others have told me in exchange for other pieces of knowledge. As for why I was put here, I ask you in turn -- why are you here? Oh, I'm sure you wish to see Xenobia, but on a grander scale the question is larger. You are free to believe in my ignorance and leave, if you desire."

Canti: Hmmm... Talal? Huddle.

(They moved to the far end of the room, all three of them, and they was whispering.)

"I think she is here as a spy."

Canti: I get the feeling she's being evasive, but spying? What for? Can't Xenobia know what we're doing anyway?

"I suppose so. So what is she evading?"

Canti: I'm not sure. She could be just a harmless information broker, or she could be drawing attention away from her for being...I dunno...a gatekeeper?

"Ahhh...I hadn't thought of that. Good job. So, she's acting all innocent to throw us off the track, you think? Only one way to test that theory. Are you ready to find out? If she is, we are probably outgunned."

Canti: So? We'll call in bigger guns. Let's take this up the chain a little.

"Agreed."

(Canti composes a flashmail to Nighthand and Demorian with the invite to "Come help us defrost an ice queen". They arrived shortly thereafter, Nighthand amused and Demorian rather curious about the situation.)

"Trouble?"

"Do you think she's a keeper Nighthand? She's awfully pretty!"


(And that was pretty sarcastic there, Talal.)

Canti: Yes, she seems so out of place in this tower. We should take her and see how it works out.

(Nighthand actually found this all pretty funny.)

"Sure, sure."

"Is she stopping your progress? I'm not certain we need to fight her."


"Need? Maybe not. But would it be fun?"

"You tell me. She's 50 levels higher than you."


Canti: She's the maximum level?

(Rememeber, Nighthand's at like fifty or something, so that meant that this snow lady was double the flavor and double the satisfaction. Not so funny anymore, I'm afraid... Talal had the right comment on the matter, though.)

"Pretty expensive decor for a maze room if you ask me."

Canti: She claims to know nothing of importance, doesn't impede us, does make small talk, and offers no explanation to her presence. She can't be a spy, because what good is a spy for one little room when Xenobia can probably see us right now? Why put someone - who's even that skilled - in here? I ask you two, what is she protecting besides herself, or what is she doing here?

(Talal pointed to Canti with one of those 'Yeah...what he said' kinda looks. Nighthand was circling the woman slowly, appraisingly.)

"Well, did you ask her? She could be here for any number of reasons."

(And...facepalm.)

"Yes we asked her."


Canti: I asked her a few things like why she was put here, if she knew anything vital, and stuff like that.

"Well. Something might happen if she's attacked or defeated. It might unlock something else in the maze. I've noticed a few such room interactions, but I can't pinpoint which rooms. She -- Nighthand, stop that."

(Nighthand was prodding her floofy dress with his sword. She pushed the sword firmly away with her spear.)

"Are you here to fight?"

"I don't mind a challenge, to alleviate the boredom."

"Hah. We're of like minds on that one."

"She also might be here to barter somehow. It's hard to say, I can't dig into the code of this maze or of her data."


"I tried a scroll but she didn't seem interested. I don't really have much else other than low level stuff."

Canti: No item we have is going to interest her if she's that high-level.

"You might be surprised. What if I was trying to collect everything in the game? It's not like there's anything else to do. Even battle is stale after a while."

Canti: Okay, then. If that's the case, what DO you want?

"Plenty of mid-range items. Unique treasures you're willing to part with. Information I don't already have that may be useful. Entertainment. I am so very bored in this room."


(He now turned his back to the ice woman to speak low to Dems and Nights.)

Canti: Listen, she's at least twice any of us here. What are our actual chances?

"It depends on how fast and aggressive she is. If we can keep up a resurrect chain and she doesn't heal herself, we can whittle her down. If she decides she wants us all dead and has a large area of effect ability, she could probably make it happen. Realistically, she's probably here as a noncombat NPC, with means to discourage those who go for rampant slaughter. I'd consider it a test of character on Xenobia's part."

"So, what you're saying is, give it a shot?"

"No, what I'm saying is you'll get yourself killed a dozen times for no reason."

"This really isn't different from normal."


Canti: I tend to do better here in combat. We three handled the Dryad, but this... The 20 Questions thing? I dunno how to get what I want to know or be certain she's even telling the truth. I get the feeling that she won't be completely honest with us, and that could be a problem. Now, we could ignore her, but again...what if she's actually...wait. Demorian, CAN you see if there's something important or hidden in here?

"I can give the room a once-over. What do you suspect? Not that I can see everything, since I don't have access to most of my old tools from here."

Canti: I feel like she's either a lynch-pin, a really bored door-guard, or an incredible red herring.

(Demorian walked in circle of the room with his hand held as if shading his eyes from a nonexistant sun. when he reached Canti again...)

"Yeah, I'm not seeing any traps or anything. Somthing could be very cleverly hidden, I'll never rule that out, but I think she's just what she says she is. She's not about to turn into a monster or trigger an ambush."

Canti: So, in all likelyhood, this could be a game planted by Xenobia to basically have fun with people.

"More or less. She could be acting as a massive information bank if Xenobia ever needed to blackmail anyone passing through, I suppose. I can't imagine she has need for any of the items we could provide, save -- as she said -- unique treasures she wouldn't think to hack up herself."

"Then we should move on then and not waste our items."


Canti: Yeah, not unless she wants Rusty Nails. I'm not handing over my good knives. I fought like hell for 'em and I'm still using them.

OOC: And there you have it! Stuff! Things! A mysterious lady! Have at it, folks.
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.

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Nighthand
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Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Nighthand » Wed Aug 28, 2013 2:24 am

--------OOC---------

I don't have a lot to post from a GM perspective at the moment, which is fine. The maze is almost over. So here's a quick status update for the maze and what's coming up.

First, the current map.
Image
Next, the rundown of rooms and their statuses:
Room Key

En: Entrance room
A: room with loose GP coins in a pile of leaves
B: flowers of three colors. Red shoot fire, yellow shoot paralyzing seeds, white are the only way to kill them. Respawn every time.
C: statue with crystal hearts. All hearts consumed.
D: hedge maze with path cut through it.
EN: Entrance
EX: Exit
F: ominous rustling followed by endless bug swarm
G: blue treasure chest that exploded
H: an extra-small room with an illusionary ceiling that leads to the real teleporters outside the walls. Monkey statues jeer.
I: illusionary zombie copies of players in the room copy movements. Projector destroyed.
J:
K: ghosted player named RogueBane. Attacks when revived. Keeps respawning but can be ignored.
L: contains the Ice Witch, an ice-themed long arm level 100 who is really just bored.
M1: Battle against a vampiric ghost, now dead.
M2: A dryad boss slain by Talal and Canti
M3:
M4: Puzzle boss with elemental crystals and a juka golem. Dead.
M5:
N: A Maoh imposter, killed, but not without friendly fire.
O: Room was completely on fire. Fireballs bouncing around light sections again when they are doused. Room completely doused now.
P: Maoh, Tak and Sekai are here.
Q: A library packed with information, some trivial, some valuable.
R: a deep well with some GP coins on the rim. Acts as a combination wishing well and monsieur.
S: Maoh was chained in this room.
T1: treasure chest claimed by Baron
T2: treasure chest claimed by Canti and Talal
T3: treasure chest claimed by Maoh
T4: treasure chest claimed by Maoh
U: a thorn trap that can be avoided by standing in the center of the room. Enough space for two friendly people at once without damage.
V: a storeroom full of random crap. Maybe treasure in the trash?
W: Elemental crystals that form clones of the one who breaks them. All broken.
X: Two lizard men impervious to most damage except each other. Dead now.
Y: Lizard men and a timer to respawn them. All killed and timer disarmed.
Z:
As you can see, virtually everything has been done. There are a few things to explore if you all want to this round, but ideally you will make it to the exit by the end of the round. Here's what you can do:
- Explore the Library
- Explore the Storeroom
- Talk to (or fight) the Ice Witch
- Bargain with the Lady of the Well
- Find room J
- Enter room Z (Baron was here but I haven't seen him in ages, so unless he pops up, I'm considering him Mysteriously Disappeared)
- Find rooms M3 and M5, and fight their bosses
- Locate the Exit

If, somehow, no one finds the exit by the end of scripting this round, I'll have Demorian and Nighthand find it. For now, the pair will hang out with Talal and Canti.

Rooms with Unexplored Teleporters:

K (Right)
Z (Both)
J (Both)
P (Left)
Q (Left)
N (Left)

So, take your pick to explore.

About The Post-Maze Round. I'm going to be doing something a little different. Posts have been rare and a long time coming, which happened for various reasons. The next section is going to be a bit of an experiment in gameplay on my part. In order to pull it off, I need to either get all five of you into one room to script at the same time, or forsake scripting for the time being. Given time zones and availability, I'm going with the second option.

Starting next round, post regulations will change somewhat. I won't script with you -- for reasons that will become obvious -- and instead you will post here with your actions. You know, like the good old days. However, because you won't have much to go on, posts don't have to be long. I honestly don't expect more than half a page or a page, at most. Again, you'll find out why.

That said, because posts will be short and contain little, I would like very frequent posts. My ideal would be daily, but I don't necessarily expect that. However, I'd like to shoot for 2-3 times per week. It should be pretty easy, once you know what's going on when we get to it.

Hopefully this is intriguing, rather than off-putting.



Alright, that looks like the bookkeeping is done. Hit me up for scripting the rest of this maze. Hopefully we can knock this out pretty quickly and move on. Any questions, let me know.
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Bane
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Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Bane » Thu Aug 29, 2013 10:30 am

After seizing the boots within the chest at T3, Maoh pocketed them and headed into the teleporter back to the entrance first. He’d noticed something on the map that he wanted to check out after being through the library, and given he had a bomb on his arm, he wanted to try and get it off. Without saying anything as to where he was going, he made a break from the place he touched down for the teleporter that lead to room A, leaving the Wavemaster and the Archer behind.

The first room was filled with leaves, the glint of loose GP coins peeking out from behind the topmost layer of leaves. Moving onto room K, Maoh ran straight for the door, ducking under an incoming attack from the ghosted player in the room. He didn’t look back, knowing that the room had already been cleared given the state of the map and ducked into room O. Something about the room seemed odd given that there were scorch marks everywhere, but the floor and walls had that moist sheen to them. The map said that this room too was also cleared, allowing Maoh to continue on into room R. This one was labeled as the room with a Monsieur in it, whatever that was. He continued on, paying the well in the middle no mind and stepped through the teleporter to his destination: Room V.

As he stepped into the room, right up in his face were three Silver Scarabs arranged on a pile of furniture and boxes. “Whoa! What the-!” Normally, this would be a fairly lucrative find, but the sudden onset of bugs-to-the-face made Maoh flail about, tearing down the structure that could loosely be described as a display stand, and lose the scarabs in the process. Once he had caught his breath again, Maoh looked about the room. It was cluttered with dusty, miscellaneous items as well as boxes and furniture strewn across the floor in no semblance of a coherent order. This was more like a rom to dump trash more than anything else but hopefully there’d be something in here he could use to pry the thing off his arm. Aside from the mounts of clutter, one such area was scorched, and that’s what he decided to check out first.

The scorch marks were caused by lightning, and given that they were indoors, it was a spell effect. Maoh could only guess as to why someone had used a Rai spell here, but given the state of the room, it could be anything from something lurking under the trash to being annoyed at the inability to find anything important in a timely manner. He took a look around the room and then looked at to his arm, raising it to get a better look at it. “Gotta get this off… No way I’m gonna be blown up by this thing.” The bomb on his arm was still alternating different numbers, no indication as to whether or not it was getting any closer to going off or not. Turning back to the pile behind him, he began to sift through the pile, looking for something he could use to maybe slip the device off.

His hands fell across a wooden box covered in dust. Prying it open, Maoh found inside it an assortment of various greases and oils. If this was going to work, then this box was his ticket. Sitting down on some softer, smaller objects, Maoh went about trying each substance in turn. After applying some of the lubricant, he’d give it a pull and try and get it off. Time after time, the bomb remained where it was, leaving Maoh with a greasy lower arm. It came down to the last bottle in the box, and he applied it liberally. The stuff inside the bottle came into contact with his skin and started to sizzle; whatever it was, it was more corrosive than his body could handle. Reaching for a nearby cloth he hurriedly removed the substance along with the remains of the other greases from his arm.

Sufficiently clear of chemical burn threats, Maoh got up and began to tug at his device. If it wouldn’t just slip off, maybe it was stuck down somewhat worse. In which case, he needed something to pry it off. Sifting through the next pile yielded a hacksaw, an ornate one with a completely new blade. He held it just above his arm, wondering if he was safer without his lower arm meaning it would get rid of the bomb. However, that would also hurt like hell and result in minus one arm. Not even beginning to factor in things like potential infection, bleeding out, and the other possible problems of this act in the real world let alone how they translated to The World. After hanging there for about a minute, he discarded the saw to the side, letting his arm fall to his side and sighing out frustrated.

Figuring to dig through the piles to find anything of use, he found a box of children’s toys, in which all of the toys had been replaced with building blocks and nothing but building blocks. Discarding the now empty box to the floor, and sifting through the blocks to find something else interesting, Maoh stumbled across a toolbox. Inside was a miscellaneous assortment of screwdrivers as well as a crowbar. He smiled, a crowbar was just perfect for what he was looking to do, however when he gave it a shot the resulting efforts only resulted in a bruised arm. Angered, Maoh threw the crowbar over to the other side of the room, hearing the resonant sound of glass breaking as it landed somewhere. Heading over to the general direction of where it landed, he hoped to find what had broken through his efforts. He couldn’t find what he had broken, or the crowbar, but he did find a set of ancient cooking spices as well as a set of loaded dice. Pocketing he dice and leaving the spices behind, Maoh re-examined the map.

Taking the teleporter out of the Storage Room to T4, and then again to take him back to the entrance. Looking around at the people who were there, he approached the one he wanted to speak to. "Hey, I want to get this off. How can I do that?" He motioned to the thing on his arm without even a greeting. She mentioned severing the arm, but then pointed out that the bomb could detonate anyway. “You said yourself that you didn't know what would happen when it DID go off. Isn't that a bad idea?" The only thing she had to say after that point was that without the proper tools to find out, they couldn’t tell the effects; also that the sooner they found Xenobia, the better. Leaving the entrance, he went the way he came to reach room N.

Reaching this room in particular made him shudder. This was where the doppelganger was that caused him to fall to a horrid arrow attack. That bow was causing to be more trouble than it was worth, so it was probably going to be Pawn Shop fodder at the rate he was going. Taking the other portal led him to this new room that looked much like all the other wooden rooms thus far. There was a portal that was simply listed “Entrance”, but what drew his attention was the door on the far side of the room, a huge golden padlock on it. “Huh..” Maoh reached out for the padlock and lifted it off with both hands. It was heavy, and about the size of a cinderblock, but more importantly it was already unlocked. He propped the lock against the wall and pushed the door open, peeking inside.

Pushing the door open further, Maoh stepped into the next room, a large cylindrical room with a staircase running upwards along the wall. Looking up, the stairs stretched high above and disappeared high above into a dark hole in the ceiling. Windows dotted the walls and filtered in natural light, not looking back, he began to climb not once thinking to alert the rest of the team of his location or that he had presumably found the way out. Hell, he wasn’t even sure himself but h wanted to climb those stairs. Taking the stairs at a jog he began to climb, counting down the fifteen or so full laps of the room before he reached the top. Taking the last ascent before he reached the hole made him look down and realize just how high up he was.

What was through the hole however was clearly a throne room. At one end, on a throne was a woman. The only other thing in this room was a man made of willow, who upon seeing him, and no longer than a second after seeing the room, knocked Maoh out with a firm hit. The Twin Blade crumpled onto the floor, barely up the stairs, unconscious. His only saving grace was that he was still registered as in a party, and not dead.
Maoh l Lvl. %h l EXP: ????/1000 l HP: ???/??? l SP: ???/???
GP: 31,541

Lord Canti
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Posts: 300
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Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.

Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Lord Canti » Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:06 pm

OOC: And with the go from the man upstairs, I hereby get this party started!

(With the situation in the room temporarily stalled, Canti was left sort of idly wandering about. He'd already had break time earlier, so now he was just sort of restless and bored. He ended up playing with his knives and his launching spikes, waiting to see if there was anything from the others in the room in regards to the ice queen there. No such luck. With her being the maximum level, it seemed like even Demorian and Nighthand were unsure of attacking her. And the best-laid plans of himself, Talal, and Shadow hadn't come up with anything, or else they wouldn't have called these two in in the first place. However, after a few minutes, he went up to Demorian.)

Canti: Can I borrow you for a sec?

"Sure, we can chat."

(He indicated back away from their watcher, over to where Talal was so that she could hear get in on the conversation.)

Canti: Two things, guy. First, are these maps giving us a heads up on where our teammates are, if they're dead or inactive, and stuff like that?

(Whoa, what was with that stare? He seemed to be looking right through them for a moment... Oh wait, he'd seen this happen before whenever he or Sheena were looking directly at the code. Man, it was totally different to be the subject of the glare. He seemed to start getting to work on something by making some typing/swiping gestures in the air.)

"No. I could tweak it to show positions, but I'd have to push the update to each of you. I can do it through flashmail, but if someone doesn't open it, they wouldn't get the update, and thus wouldn't show up."

Canti: Good to know. And...whenever you feel it's a good time works for me. The real thing is this... Uhhh, none of us here, minus yourself, is really that good at diplomacy. D'you think it's possible to get anything out of that lady if ya worked at it? Just askin'.

"Possibly. Do you have anything in particular in mind? Information, items, an invitation to the winter formal?"

Canti: There's no way in hell a fire dude like me gets into the winter anything without melting it. Good old information suits me. You know the questions to ask better than I do. The ones that determine how smoothly or not we can expect things to go.

"Do you think she might know if Xenobia has a weakness, and if so, do you think you could trick her into telling us?"

Canti: Wait, surely it would be the...opposite of wood, right?

"Xenobia, and really most of the Elites, are only loosely tied to the game elements. You've probably noticed. Jett was Earth, all the way. Garaa, sure, heavy into Darkness, though he has some direct-to-data attacks. Melzas and Kuja controlled different aspects of Rue, without overlap. They were both vaguely weak against fire, but not entirely. Xenobia is ostensibly wood, but as far as Twilight is concerned, it's an umbrella Nature category instead. Earth may harm her, especially with her power bolstered by the Treeweaver... but then, simple elemental weaknesses aren't necessarily the best tactic. Talal's right to want to check on a different weakness, especially against a woman who can take over your body."

Canti: Yeah... Okay, good point.

(He wasn't going to argue with him. Demorian was the more senior fellow here, and had been long enough to know just who the hell Jett or Kuja were. Honestly, Canti could care less about about who the old and dead Elites were, not when there were still live ones to consider. His point, though, was that he knew well enough to know that Xenobia might not operate under normal conditions. For all they know, it was not Gan that she suffered from, but the blight and fire of Ani and Vak spells. If so, that worked out in his favor...except that it also would mean she'd take extra steps against him in particular. Still, they couldn't really guess at the moment, and the worst part of it was indeed...the take-over-your-body bit. Now, as Demorian finished the upgrade and Canti opened the mail containing it, he spoke again.)

Canti: See about that body possession to, if you could. I...well... I got issues with that. We're gonna get back to work in the meantime.

(The hacker simply said "Alrighty." as Talal gave him a strange look.)

"Are we going to go explore while Demorian plays inquisitor then?"

Canti: Do you honestly want to stick around for it?

"No, but I don't like the idea of just leaving Nighthand and Demorian here alone either. I mean, I know they can handle themselves and all but still..."

"I'll accompany you. Demorian can take care of himself, even against her. I'm sure he'll bail before things get hairy, which, honestly, they would if I have to stick around here much longer."

Canti: Uhhh...'kay.

(Neither one of them was really sure they wanted to leave Dems here alone with the ice woman, but apparently Nighthand was going stir-crazy or something, so it might've been for the best. Talal gave the two of them a look that said she wasn't sure of this, but it didn't seem like she was going to argue either. She said it was his turn to pick, though, and Canti opened his map. Well now... He could see all of where the party had been and what routes had been taken already, it seemed. He picked a teleporter that had apparently not been used here and...VOIP! They arrived inside of a new room, one that was about the standard for large Tower rooms. However, they were not...alone. The four of them would see now that curled up on/around the lone exit teleporter...was a huge mass of snakes. They were all gently writhing and slithering over and around themselves in that spot, almost hypnotically. Talal visibly shuddered at the sight of this. Canti stared at this for the moment, resisting the urge to say the obvious line in favor of the next one.)

Canti: Asps... Very dangerous. You go first.

(At this, he indicated Nighthand, who was itching for action. As if on a cue, Talal gave him a polite nudge on the shoulder, indicating her agreement that this should be the plan. The Blademaster had NO problems with this at all. )

"Hahaha, gladly. Action!"

(Not known for any great length of subtlety, he spread his wings, braced himself, and launched forward in a blur. Nighthand didn't even pause, but simply blew through it all in a blast of fire. He twisted in mid-air, sprung off the far wall, vaulted up and over the now-very-awake pile, and landed a half-dozen feet in front of you the two of them again. Now that the beast was riled up, it was a bit easier to tell what it actually was. There were hundreds of snakes, except they all seemed to meet and twist and eventually join into one, like a hydra that hercules had hacked away at before getting overwhelmed. A Hecaton-Hydra, if you will. Nighthand's charge seemed to have killed outright maybe a third of the snake-heads...which withered, turned brown, and dropped off like fallen leaves. Rather than divide and revive, however, the new heads that came in their place were thicker, larger, and angrier than before. That's right... It was Giant Hydra: Bigger, Longer, And Uncut. There were, at least, fewer of them, though... Talal studied it for a second.)

"If we have to fight this thing to make it into one huge head.... that's gonna be quite the noggin to fight."

Canti: Yeah, but I've had to deal with dragons. So, should I use one big shot or a series of little ones?

"Depends. How much pent up anxiety and energy do you need to get rid of right now?"

(Probably alot, given the sheer amount of slithering reptile they have to deal with. However, as they were talking, most of the snakes began dribble bright-green ooze from their jaws...and it was beginning to pool up.)

Canti: Uhh, less talksee, more blow-shit-upsee.

(He charged up one of his very freakin' large dark fire attacks and blasted the hydra dead-center in head city. Talal followed up with a casting of Vak Kruz for safe measure. After inflicting their damage, Nighthand flew up and came down in a huge Chopsplosion! and then jumped back again. Hit and run seemed to be the order of the day. The negahydra or whatever it was started spewing out beams of bright green energy from every remaining, and the room in instantly turned into some kind of rave scene. They weren't aiming, but they were so plentiful and random that they were gonna get hit every now and then through sheer numbers unless they were standing behind each other. The occasional Repth was enough to countermand the light damage, though. Canti and Talal were trying to avoid getting hit too many times, but Nighthand wasn't even bothering. The lady Twin Blade pulled out her weapons and started slashing at heads during her light-avoidance dance. Shadow, who recognized that this wasn't the best time to charge in, began to throw Ap Do on Canti, Talal, and Nighthand, one after the other. Lacking his own healing powers, Canti had to actually do a bit of double-duty for him, but he had healing items anyway, so...yeah. Well, they're almost Nights' level... Obviously, this snake would get tougher per head as they get bigger, so it was better not to waste things too quickly. Canti allowed some of his energy to return, then goes for the sequel to the attack that he did before, though he's now hovering to maneuver faster...trying not to hit Talal. Nighthand took this chance to use Rig Saem a few times, once per person in the room, and the HP regen for the moment basically counteracted the laser light show now. Canti's blast and Talal's slashes kept up the trend of heads dying and larger heads spawning. One head in particular was a bit larger than the others now and actually survives a slash from Talal, so as the trend continued it looked like they were going to get quite strong.)

Canti: Okay, let's switch this up a bit. Shadow, you drop the small heads while we handle the bigger heads.

(The Bogie began targeting remaining smaller heads with Ani Don, ramping up on head sizes to strike once he ran out of a particular size-set. This was to handle stragglers while Canti starts using his speed, flight, and Vampire Blades to streak by while slashing at bigger snakes. Talal stopped her hack-and-slash routine for a moment, but continued to maneuver around the light show.)

"Wouldn't it make sense to go for the center? It's heart? Chopping off heads is not getting us anywhere fast."

"Go for it, I'll clear you a path!"

(Nights planted himself right up in the things several-hundred faces and took a huge two-handed horizontal swing, leveling the top of the thing like a hedge. Only a second or two would pass before the heads respawned, so Talal had little time to spare. She switched to her Enou Blades and attacked with Blazing Wheel now. And she wasn't the only one taking advantage of this. Flying above the snake so he CAN'T accidentally hit her, Canti used that SP he didn't expend a minute ago to form a penetrating dark bullet to go right through the area of the so-called heart. From his perspective, it looked like the whole thing was snakes all the way through, like there wasn't really a core to attack for massive damage. Damn! Well, they did damage, at least. The remaining heads were getting larger and stronger, and there were still around 350 or so of the buggers in the small-med size range. Five or six of the larger heads, in response to this barrage, turned inward and blast green energy into a central focal point. A ball formed and exploded outward, blasting all four of us against the outer walls...or the ceiling in Canti's case. It didn't pin them there, but it was a significant blow-back, long enough for the regeneration process to finish and the hydra to take stock of the situation. The laser light show had stopped for the moment, and the hydra was certainly made of fewer heads than it was when we entered, but it was growing stronger and more wary. Canti began to handle restoration for both him and Shadow with his Health Drink and Mage Soul stock.)

Canti: Ugh... Bigger heads and bigger brains. Okay, suggestions? Other than more of piling it on?

"Rai might stun it and keep it from growing bigger. You know...like an electric shock to the system or a stun gun effect?"

"I say we just hit it until it dies. I've fought bigger snakes! Hell, I killed a bigger one than this when I was like level 10 or something."

Canti: I'll try both of those plans.

(With that, Canti cast MeRai Rom on the thing while Shadow spat Dark Breath. And then, the two of them did something they rarely do...because they forget...and go for the fusion attack! Concentrating, the two stood together and invoked a Catastrophe... The surroundings began chip and break as a massive non-element force compressed everything inwards and then exploded with the snake at the center! This appeared to be good all around, as the first two attacks combined to more or less finish off all the weakest heads, and then the overdrive basically stunned the beast temporarily, allowing Talal to lash out with a Thunder Coil attack without consequence. Neither the stunning effect nor the Rai seemed to affect the regeneration, though. Nighthand swapped out weapons so he could pull a Vak Divider after talal's attack, which more or less cleaved the monster in half. Dll of this cut the thing down to around 180 or so heads, all of which are starting to get up there in strength. The hydra snake heads twisted up into one massive bunch and then burrowed into the floor...which sealed up behind it. For the moment, the room is empty of everything but the players and their dog.)

"That's....what we wanted...right?"

(Canti and Shadow, however, were quite wary at this point. Why? Well...)

Canti: Uhh...so, remember the Dryad? Keep an eye on all the surfaces.

(Curious, Talal put her ear up to a wall and listened. Like with before, her hearing power stood a better chance of picking something up. Sure enough, she backed away from the wall all of a sudden with a muttered curse, ready to fight once more.)

"Canti, you're hunch was right. They're everywhere."

(Ohhh...damn. He wasn't exactly thinking it'd be quite like that. He just figured the snake mass would try to sneak-attack them from somewhere. This was different, though... Different and extremely dangerous.)

Canti: So, they'll probably attack from...everywhere, right? Nighthand, you got something for that? Anything I could try will burn you two as well.

"I have an idea...but get ready to spam some repths on Talal It's about to get hot."

(Talal was, naturally, concerned for the moment. She had a pair of pyromaniacs on her hands. Nighthand casted Ap Vakz on himself and then pulled out a fire scroll, casting it on the center of the room. Instead of the fire tornado appearing, however, all they saw was a faint red particulate, sort of red motes floating and spinning in the tornado shape. Nighthand concentrates and the "shape" of the tornado expands a few feet at a time until it more or less fills the room with swirling, harmless red motes. Exalted much? Then, they all began to brighten and glow with red energy.)

"When that thing pops its heads out, I'm letting this go. Pretty much everything will be on fire for a few seconds, and hopefully we'll come out better than the hydra."

(Having gotten this much of a warning, and because she could hear when the snakes were about to attack, Talal actually managed to shield herself some as the incoming madness began. All the snake heads appeared from the surfaces of the room and began to blaze with green lasers. At the same time, Nighthand's attack went off to either kill or force back the heads. This had the effect of whittling down the numbers, but not in Talal's immediate vicinity due to her defenses. It left them with less heads to deal with, but some stronger ones, and they were still in the goddamn walls!)

OOC: To be concluded in Talal's next post.
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.

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Nighthand
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Re: The Journey’s Next Step: Yamiyo In Chaos

Post by Nighthand » Sun Feb 02, 2014 5:03 am

(OOC: Sorry to Talal, Takua and Sekai for god-modding your characters up to the boss room… but really, you’ve had since the end of last August to get a post up. That’s nearly half a year. It’s long past time to move on. I’m moving your characters rather than ignoring you as lost in the teleport maze so you can jump back in if you want. If not… well, thanks for your contributions to Main over the years. If you still want to elaborate on what I’ve posted, you can do so in your first turn of the fight, or not, I don’t mind.

Hopefully this new experiment will get people posting more frequently. The teleport maze seemed fun on paper, but it took 28 months to complete. I’m going to avoid things that ambitious in the future. This battle will be a bit complex, but mostly on my end, mechanically.)

{Summary of Tala’s Scripting}
Talal, Canti, Shadow and Nighthand continue fighting the anti-hydra. The hydra continues burrowing in the walls, popping out to shoot lasers occasionally. They burst from the center of the ceiling, their mouths bubbling and dripping green energy. The energy drool lets off a poison gas that starts to fill the room.

Canti begins firing off black spikes to spear closed a few heads, while Talal fires a Gan Don that has a surprisingly potent amount of damage attached. The poison slowly saps everyone’s health, but not quickly enough to worry about.

Further Gan spells damage the snakes, killing smaller heads, and keeping the monster stunlocked for a time. Eventually, the heads are strong enough to resist the stun and begin to retaliate. Nighthand attempts to boost the power of a Gan spell of his own, but his hack goes awry and the spell blinks out.

Frustrated and angry at Xenobia, Nighthand uses a Bind Wryneck spell and several buffs, alongside his hack. His darkness affinity allows him to shape the spell into a black wedge of power that shears downwards through the hydra, severing heads and severing them again when they regrow. By the time the spear has passed, only six massive heads remain.

Taking up the slack, Talal uses her sonic powers to enhance a banshee shriek that disorients and aggravates the hydra. Canti dives in to take advantage of the distraction with his black flames. It’s effective, but the hydra flings Canti aside with significant damage.

Nighthand fends off a head looking to do the same to Canti, while Canti allows poison to kill him for faster resurrection. Nighthand kills the head, Talal resurrects Canti and Canti uses Bind Vulcan to nuke the area. With some minor collateral damage, the spell blasts the area.

After some discussion and regrouping, the group dives in to attack a head in unison. The hydra retaliates by charging a potent laser attack, which Canti redirects with a well-timed spell. From there, it’s a simple matter to continue hit and runs, eventually slaying the final heads and the hydra altogether.

Confronted with a teleporter back to the entrance, they make their way along the route offered by the map into the exit staircase. Ever cautious, Nighthand steps up to the final room first. After an all clear signal from him, the others step up, only to find themselves controlled by Xenobia almost immediately. Talal takes a moment to send out a flashmail, but by then it is too late.
Too late, of course, because Sekai and Takua were hot on their heels. It was easy to miss; the staircase seemed to absorb sound, and the twists and whorls in the wood made it difficult to see downwards clearly. For all they knew, the others had been waiting at the top for half an hour. In reality, they were merely two twists of the stairs behind.

Likewise, with the way forward clear and the summit open, Sheena helped Nall to his feet. Together, the pair of them made their way through the teleporters, arriving soon after Sekai and Takua to the staircase entrance. Nall in his prime could have zipped up those stairs in an instant, but Sheena held him firm, forcing him to keep hold on his powers. They, too, received Talal’s warning, but there was little they could do but stride into the chambers of Xenobia with confidence.

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

“Xenobia.” Nall said as he crested the stairs. In one glance, he took in his allies standing at ease in a line, facing the wooden throne. Between Xenobia and the group stood a man made of wood. His limbs were thing as branches, skeletal, but hard as ironwood. His face was grown from whorls and knots, his eyes two brilliant green crystals. His clothing was woven of leaves and vines. His hair was long, fronds of weeping willow, waving slightly in a breeze no one else could feel. He held no weapons, and stood at guard.

The only threat the willowman watched was Nall and Sheena. The others stood at ease, but their eyes were locked forward, locked on Xenobia in her glory. Attached to each of them, at their ankle, was a thing tendril of wire-like fine, almost impossible to see on the floor. Nall knew it would be there. He knew how Xenobia, and her powers, worked. Casually, he dropped his own blade point-first into the wood, severing the vine snaking for his own ankle.

Xenobia’s eyes narrowed when she saw the move. Recognition flared; Nall, returned at last. It had been a long time since the two of them stood in the same room without animosity, and it was arrogant in the extreme for Nall to assume there as no ill will.

Xenobia wore a dress of her own, long as brilliantly patterned after the leaves of autumn. When she moved, the pattern seemed to shift, as though she was but a window into a scene of a forest. She lounged on a throne grown from the wood of her tower. Her hair, long and blonde, was held back with a red-and-green tie that fell in its curls. At her brow rested a thick band of gold, an ornate crown; the Master’s Crown. Her Twilight Item and the source of her powers and her reign.

Across her lap was a vicious wooden spear. Where she was vibrant and alive, it was cracked and dead. Where she was textured with the leaves of autumn, it was bare and starkly lined with tiny thorns. Its blade looked fit to rend flesh in a painful manner, more a torture device than a weapon. As powerful as the Crown, the Treeweaver was an unexpected wildcard in the power structure of the Elites.

The motion of severing the vine put the willowman on edge. He looked ready to attack, but held back. No doubt Xenobia would give him the order, if she desired.

“We have passed your challenges and reached your throne.” Nall declared, when Xenobia did not immediately respond. “As per the standing ascension mandate, we stand in your presence to discuss reward.”

Xenobia’s stern expression cracked into a small smile. “Oh, Nall. You stand in my presence, but you have not yet passed my tests. One more stands in your way.” The smile disappeared and she gestured. Three vines, the wire vines of her mind control, rose like snakes from the ground. Three more rose for Sheena, who had stayed back enough to keep free from their grasp without a blade to cut them. “Submit to the challenge, if you wish to claim ascension.”

The threat in her voice was plain to Nall, and plain to the others. Nall could, in a moment, sever the vines that held them all. The free-for-all that would ensue would rock the tower, and the group very well might stand a chance of defeating Nature’s Queen. The Treeweaver, that vicious spear, was a wildcard. The man who made it had killed dozens, hundreds of comatose players, deleting and absorbing their character data into the weapon. It was corrupt, and none could yet say what effect it had on Xenobia. Was she mad with power, waiting for her moment to strike? Had she mastered the spear, and attained a height fit to challenge the Master? Was she unable to wield it, and simply kept it as a bluff?

If Nall fought, they would find out. Perhaps she would win, and their hopes would die in this tower. Perhaps she would lose, but where would they be? They had come here in hopes of an alliance against Garaa and the Master. Her power could tip the scales in their favor. Angering or slaying her would leave them with one option, and Melzas was hardly an option.

“Very well.” Nall said, sheathing his blade. “I submit to your final challenge.” At a gesture, Sheena stepped up and took her place at his side. For each of them, a single vine snaked in, attaching itself to their ankles. For better or for worse, they were all under Xenobia’s control.

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

The willowman pressed his hands together. When he drew them apart, four crystals rested in his palms. No larger than a thumb, they hovered slightly when he let them go. With a flick, they sailed out, striking Nall, Sheena, Nighthand and Demorian each in the chest. Unable to react, the four could only watch as woven vines like steel cables wrapped them up. The four crystals returned to hover behind the willowman in an arch. Four larger crystals materialized, and with each one materialized a piece of armor for the willowman. Bleached wood gauntlets, Ebonwood boots, a chestplate of ironwood and a helm of deep brown mahogany. All eight crystals then disappeared, present but invisible, keys to wooden locks.

“You have brute strength to make it through my maze. Now I test your cunning. You each may attack in your turn, and submit to attacks in return. How will you handle it, I wonder?” Xenobia relaxed in her throne. The fight was on.

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

(OOC: Alright, here’s how this is going to work. Xenobia is putting a strict control limitation on both her servant and all of us. Effectively, she has turned this into a turn-based RPG fight. So! What does this mean?

You get one action per post. You can chat with others to a minor extent, but long conversations will take your turn. For the sake of damage, such a conversation will count as defending. Same with sending flashmails; short ones can count as free actions, while longer ones may take your turn.

Due to the limitations on possible actions, there will be no scripting. There’s no reason to come to me to script that you’re casting Vak Rom, after all. Just post your action and I’ll post what happens.

Post length requirements are very light. A single paragraph is acceptable. A page is as well, if you can cram that much in. Just remember that if you stretch too long into introspection, it’s just as bad as taking a long time talking.

Turn order is variable. I’ve mocked up a rough idea of relative speeds for each of us, to give an idea for turn order. Basically, I’ll call out one of you to post. You post your action. I’ll post again, with details on how your action resolves. My post will contain, if relevant, actions from Nall, Sheena, Demorian, Nighthand, Willow or Xenobia. At the end of my post, I’ll call the next player in order.
Each player is assigned a "speed score". Each time they act, this score is added to their total. The next player to act is the one with the lowest speed score at a given time. For example:

Player A has speed score of 3
Player B has speed score of 4
Player C has speed score of 5

Each player starts at their speed score, so the turn order becomes

3: A
4: B
5: C

Player A attacks, adding 3 to their score. Turn order is now:

4: B
5: C
6: A

Player B casts Ap Do, which cuts their speed score in half for five turns. Turn order becomes:

5: C
6: A
6: B

Player C uses an ability that slows them down in favor of a powerful attack later, adding 50% to their speed score.

6: A
6: B
12.5: C

This progresses until the end of the fight. All of the scores and the bookkeeping are done on my part, in my documents, so you all won't have to care about it specifically. Just remember that you have one action per turn, so make them count.

For the sake of bookkeeping, pets act on their owner’s turn. Canti, each of your posts gives you an action and Shadow an action. Takua, same with you and Vesica.

None of you need to worry about this except to know that Ap Do will get you more frequent turns and some actions (such as Nighthand's shifting from speed to strength) will cause turns to be less frequent.
Because post requirements are so light, I’d like to get one post per person per week. The idea is that you’ll be able to bang out a post in a few minutes, so everything can move fairly quickly.

Any questions, feel free to ask me. I do intend to send IMs/Facebook messages/e-mails or whatever to notify you it’s your turn. Please let me know your preferred method of being poked for your turn – mostly Talal and Maoh, as you two aren’t online as often as Canti, Sekai and Takua.

The first turn goes to Canti, as a high level Twin Blade with high innate speed.

Let’s try not to make this fight take another 28 months. Any questions, let me know.

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