((OOC: Nulus - Equipping Dek Do EX-Sphere.))
Waking up wasn't difficult, Zan's otherwise-controlled senses naturally expanded without his will behind them during his sleeping hours. The moment the Freedom Fighters had begun to stir the next day, his eyes snapped open and the stimuli of sound and smell came flooding in. Although he wrestled them into stability not a second later, it wasn't before a sneak of the food from the kitchen slipped in. Groaning at the knowledge that he didn't have the time to grab a snack before he left, having come far too dependent on the availability of meals he didn't really need, the lycanthrope reluctantly made his way towards the Hideout's Chaos Gate. Everyone had assembled by the time he was there, but it didn't look like it had been for very long. Those who had been sleeping still seemed to be shaking off the sleep, not unlike himself. Whatever cue Nall had been waiting for to make the transportation to the Hub seemed to initiate and he was off. One by one the group followed him in until even Zan had the whisper of 'Pulsating Light Trap Core' falling from his lips. With all the description he had been given by Rayo through his humorous chalkboard presentation, it wasn't at all what he had imagined.
The Heavy Blade couldn't remember if there had been a mentioning of a fire, but the remnants of fresh scent that still lingered told him that where the golden rings had taken him had once been lush with trees. His inner-wolf whined at the loss of such potential beauty, at the death of several of the Wyld's many children. Zan's nostrils were clogged with the smoldering smell of spent flames and soot, the ash that steadily fell from around them enough to bring a sharp cough from his throat. Dulling his smell just a hair, enough to allow himself somewhat normal breathing in this field, Zan stilled at the sudden presence of Nall's voice. Following his indication, the lycanthrope's body tensed at the steady rise of 'life' from the ashes. The assortment of knight-like monsters varied in definition and (obviously) power, but all of them did the same thing for the Beast within. Having been so consumed by that odd boredom back in the Hideout, Zan was unprepared for the intensity of his Beast's battlelust. It was like a tidal wave that had risen from behind him, an unexpected, looming presence that you could do little but accept. A whisper in the back of his head told him he didn't have to give in, that he had the control to fight it, but he didn't want to. It felt too good.
Zan glanced to his left and his right at his comrades before his eyes drew forward once more and the last bit of his control slipped through his fingers as words. "Let's get to work."
His right eye joining his left in wolven amber, Zan's hands spasmed with the rapid transformation into claws; each digit elongated and capped with lethally curved nails. Where only his canines sharpened under his-usually calm will, the lycanthrope felt each and every tooth become like a pointed blade, mouth now looking more like a shark's than the wolf he called. The veins in his neck standing out in the unconscious change of his vocal cords, he roared out his challenge to the creatures of ash before him, the sound that came forth far from anything a human could ever dream to make. With that as his only warning, the half-crazed (and, oddly, still intelligently focused) Heavy Blade burst forward. Every tendon in his body tightened, muscles flexed with strength, Zan tossed the first Soot Knight that appeared in front of him aside like a rag doll with a simple backhand that exploded the monster into a cluster of blackness mid-flight. Charge unhalted, the second Soot Knight followed his charge head-on, taking away his ability to 'nudge' it aside like he had his brother. It didn't matter. Body tensed for collision, strength fueled into his sprint, Zan simply passed through a cloud of ash, his would-be opponent able to do little but pop at the impact of the Lycan's charge.
The intelligent half of Zan, the one currently riding backseat, was surprised at the ease of their defeat. They were the weakest of the variety, that much was obvious, but he still had expected more of a resistance. The blur of his run never slowed, never ceased, he watched a third Soot Knight place itself in his war path. Rather than be repetitive with his violence (especially with the shield the monster carried wisely placed outward to actually stop him this time around), the lycanthrope vaulted over his opponent, his foot cracking against the back of the Knight's skull on his way down. Landing hunched on the balls of his feet, Zan listened to the collection of black particles drift to the ground at the monster's death. Feh. Where was the challenge? As if waiting for someone to think just that, a significantly stronger looking Knight edged its way into his vision. Still crouched as he was, soft pants heating up his breath, Zan waited but a moment before he launched himself at this new threat. The tornado of fire that engulfed him mid-leap was passed through as he went, the pain and the mild drop in his hit points ignored as he smashed into the Ash Knight and brought both of them to the ground. Only the monster's shield kept him at bay, Zan's hands and feet writhing to dig into something, teeth gnashing only inches from the Knight's face.
The Lycan could feel his strength folding the Ash Knight, could feel its arm buckling, and reveled in the roar of anticipated victory that bellowed from him. The force of it dribbled the spit that had collected on his numerous fangs over the monster's face, a brief degradation before the shield collapsed beneath his persistent thrashings. In a desperate move, the monster tried to bring its blade over to force Zan off of it, but a simple side-slam of his fist against the thing's wrist snapped bone, rendering the hand useless and knocking the weapon a few feet away. A wrench of the shield to the side as well and the next few seconds bled together; claws flashing, digging through armor and ashen flesh time after time after time. A grab of the Ash Knight's head in either hand and the proceeding, numerous and forced collisions into the desolate ground ended it. Rising over a true kill, a true death brought on by the allowance of his Beast to the surface, Zan felt the battlelust pull back an inch. An inch was all he needed to ignore the mental pleasure of giving over to the Beast completely and, a second later, Zan was once more normal (if one could consider a man with scars riddling the left side of his face and a single eye that was uncannily like that of a wolf normal). Killer teeth and gnarled claws reduced to normality as well, the Heavy Blade took a deep breath.
The breath brought the familiar smell of Knights he had dusted to his nose, the confused player quickly turning around to decipher that particular puzzle. For a reason he couldn't explain, the Soot Knights had risen from his slaughter with no effect to their health bars. Uh? A comparison of the strength difference in his head between Soot and Ash and the solution was more or less simple; too strong a hit to any Knight would pop them into those ash clouds...only to have them rise undamaged. Looks like that Raquar kid would serve an even bigger purpose in this first fight than Zan had imagined. Such contemplations were cut short by the sound of footsteps behind him and the whir of the air changing. Quickly spinning on his heel, the lycanthrope was able to sidestep the fall of another Ash Knight's blade, but not the proceeding descent of purple-black flame-covered rocks. The Ani Don rattled him for a moment, each strike knocking him into the path of another until the spell had ridden itself out. Dark purple wisps rising off of him in the aftermath, he lifted from his slight hunch and glared at the Knight with all the malice he could muster. That wasn't going to be allowed to happen twice.
Let me help. The voice was sudden enough to startle Zan.
Not yet. This little shit is mine. The lycanthrope was stronger than the Ash Knights; it wasn't going to be a problem.
Fine, but let me do one thing to make this fight go faster. We have bigger problems. A pause. Look up, jackass.
When Zan did and his vision was filled with the aerial stare of an Ember Knight above, he allowed Nulus to peel away from him and manifest from the black cuffs on his wrists, the green-flame eyes that had occupied them suddenly slamming shut. The lycanthrope expected some sort of first strike by his partner, but the Shade simply held out his finger-blade hand and called upon a spell Zan didn't initially recognize. It was enough to provoke the Ash Knight towards them and only then did the Heavy Blade get it; Dek Do. The Knight's approach was almost laughable. Zan's own hand held out to his side, a trio of code-rings of various sizes spaced and out and swirling from it, the High Forger was quickly called to his aid. The weapon was new and untested, sure, but he was going to give it a great trial run. Bolting in to close quarters, Zan parried the feeble strike that had been waiting for him, his weapon flashing the other direction to tear a gaping gash in the Ash Knight's gut. It fell to its knees, shield slowly held up in meek defense. The Heavy Blade allowed it to believe there was a shadow of chance it would be able to stand against his punishment before he slammed his foot into the side of its shield, the circle of metal jerking the Knight's arm to the side and leaving it wide-open for defeat. Smirking, Zan ended the battle with a quick and tactical decapitation.
Now for the real fight.
All of his attention now turned upward to the Ember Knight that wavered above (the monster apparently too temporarily distracted by the numerous fights below to have taken any immediate or prolonged interest of the Heavy Blade). Simply staring at it let Zan know just how strong it was, how completely unlike the other Knights it would be. Eh, there was really only one way to find out. Nulus was the first to head up, the Shade's natural flying ability making it the obvious guinea pig. Oddly enough, the First didn't seem to care, Nulus rather intrigued at the prospect of a real challenge. His partner's speed seemed enough for a while against the attacks of the Ember Knight, clash after clash resulting in nothing but loud noise until the Knight found its opening. When Nulus was rocketed back to the ground with a collision of the sword's butt to the top of his head, Zan's companion thudding into the ground, the Lycan knew they'd have to manage this together. First? Well, first they both needed a good Ol Repth. The proper equipment temporarily swapped and both individuals in tip-top shape again, they wasted no time synchronizing their thoughts. Communicating now in only concepts and images, it made their teamwork more efficient and their attacks more coordinated. What it didn't do, however, was prepare them for the appearance of Ani's rune on the ground at their feet and the level two zot spell that followed.
They bobbed and weaved from the grab of the spider legs as best they could, but a few tearing digs were unavoidable, the pain a flare of cold-fire on Zan's nerves. Both of their hit points knocked back down again, the lycanthrope muttered a blatantly annoyed and sore 'La Repth' before fixating his mind back again on the idea of an assault against that motherfucker. It wanted to tango? Zan was more than glad to be a dance partner. Nulus too, he noted, was eager to show the Knight what he was working with. The plan came in a flash of time, in no more than a breath. Just like before, the Shade flew upward, tattered cloak whipping in the wind as he climbed higher and higher. Zan was off running, however, eyes continuing to point themselves at the target in the sky (partly praying he didn't trip or run into a boulder or anything equally humiliating with his eyes not in front of him). When he was more or less behind the Ember Knight, he bent his knees, tendons mounting with force until he let that collective energy go and sprung himself into the air. Unlike Nulus, Zan had no control where he went at this point and could only hope the momentum wouldn't fuck up his aim. Rather than stop at the Ember Knight as the monster had expected, Nulus zipped up further and avoided the attempted strike against it, continuing to garner the thing's attention as Zan's zipping body neared.
The upward sink of his blade into the back of the Ember Knight as he collided with it with an audible THUMP (something that, unavoidably, hurt them both) was darkly satisfying, the blade sliding through meat and bone like butter thanks to the force of his sudden presence. The side effect of the attack, however, was the loss of the Knight's control over its flight. Both of them tumbled through the air, Zan desperately holding onto the grip of his weapon as they flipped madly on. Before the lycanthrope could register what happened, however, a double strike of the creature's elbow to his face dislodged his weapon and, with it, his attachment to the monster. The confusing fall was, aside from the mentioned chaos of the confusion, oddly peaceful. It gave his heart a second to calm down, to slow, before he hit the earth with a spiderweb of cracks. Coughing up blood, the crimson liquid spattering over his face and his neck in turn, Zan did his best to ignore the incessant beeping of his critical state. Half-lidded eyes watched Nulus keep the Ember Knight busy and spell-free against the lycanthrope, but he knew it would shake his partner soon and come to finish him off. That, sadly, just wouldn't do. Life Sword momentarily called into being, Zan not wanting to wait for his infection to naturally regenerate his health, the following Ol Repth washed away his pain and stitched all of his wounds in a blink of time.
Ahhh. Better.
On his feet, the Shiva's Rings and Sun Fang Five swapped out, Zan was ready. Both of the mentioned pieces of equipment would do all he needed to take advantage of the weaknesses of the bastard above. The moment Nulus was smacked half-dead to the earth once more, Zan took advantage of the Ember Knight's momentary vulnerability, his signature MeRue Rom launched to give the Knight a taste of bittersweet vengeance. No critical occurred, as Zan had hoped, but the monster was still put through hell with smack after smack of the massive crags of ice. Swaying weakly in the air, seemingly attempting to gather itself again, it practically screamed for him to finish it off. Well, by damn, he'd be happy to oblige! The Sung Fang Five flickering with gathering electricity, the Heavy Blade felt his predator's smile curl upon his lips. No more putting this off, no more stalling. The fight was done. Not a second later and he was whipping through the air towards the Ember Knight, weapon arched back and ready to deliver the energy it was alight and blinking with.
"Rai Drive!"
Zan's voice turned its returning attentions toward him, mistakenly giving him an open and undefended torso to tear into. The moment his blade landed with the first horizontal slash, the words Elemental Critical thundered above the beast. The second waist-fall of his attack finished the Knight off and, as he flipped and slammed the Sun Fang Five down, the third and final strike proved to be little more than overkill. But what beautiful overkill it was. The body crashed and crumpled against the ground like Nulus and Zan had before it. Falling back down and landing more or less smoothly (the cracks at his feet aside) a few feet next to the monster, the Heavy Blade could do little but grin as Nulus floated next to him.
"I think I'm going to like this questing shit." Nulus offered.
For once, Zan couldn't disagree with him.
-----------------------------------------------
((OOC:
Soot Knights: 8 Left
Ash Knights: 3 Left
Ember Knights: 2 Left
OOC:))
Moderator: Nighthand
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).
Behind her, she could hear the meeting breaking up – that wash of noise as chairs scraped, joints creaked after a period of inactivity and people began their own sets of conversation, both on and off the topic of the meeting.
Having left the meeting herself (a bit prematurely, perhaps, but them’s the breaks and she didn’t regret it) she was still confronted with the question of what to do with herself, with her time until they decided to troop off and spring the trap. And whatever the others might things, agreeing or disagreeing with that assessment, she’d seen nothing to suggest these Elites wouldn’t try to get rid of them by whatever means at their disposal. They had to see the group as a threat – a small threat, but still. And everyone knew (or should know) the best way to deal with threats is to get rid of the small ones first.
She was just considering trying out that training sim when a timely chime alerted her to another Flashmail. It seemed she’d gotten more of those in the past day or so than in any other period during her time in The World, no matter how lengthy. She leaned against the wall where she’d be out of the way of the rest if they chose to walk the way she had, slid to a seat on the floor and took a look.
There were a couple reasons for this. First and chief among these was that she knew him to a point that she trusted him. Also, as an extension of this, she felt she could trust his word on how long he’d been a part of this thing.
But still… it sounded a little like a pep talk - the sort of inspirational stuff meant for movies and workplace posters, and the sort of thing she wasn’t sure she could take seriously (but that was the wrong word wasn’t it? It was more that she couldn’t take such advice as… as real.) . Try to trust almost everyone here? His place was with his own "kind?" So now they were some sort of subspecies? Her syntax and editing teacher would have been amused at the suggestion of the wording. The thought actually brought a small smile to her lips as well. The fact that he hadn’t meant it that way (she hoped) gave birth to that small bit of amusement. Lit majors are not, in the end, known for their understandable or mainstream senses of humor in many cases.
Well… she shrugged and closed it. She could promise only one thing – she would try.
This was something (completely off topic) that had always struck Liss as odd from the old Star Wars movies. At one point, the venerable mentor was telling his young trainee that he had to do or not do, because there was no try – at least not in HIS training school apparently. It was some more of that inspirational mumbo-jumbo that made little sense when it was actually thought out. You could always choose not to do something (wasn’t she doing a lot of that lately?) but could you really just choose to DO something? Accomplishing a goal was not a matter of choice, it was a matter of circumstance, work, attention and luck. You had to TRY before you could DO. And so, trying was the best one could ever promise.
Apply your do or do not to logging out of here, Mr. Yoda, she thought, the sarcasm acidic even to her.
So she would try – try to trust them on at least the base level, try to help them even when she thought their scheme foolish, try not to lose her temper and try not to withdraw from battle entirely again. (Hadn’t she hated Phoenix for the same thing? But no, it wasn’t that. He was welcome not to participate. It was in not taking the full blame for his decision upon himself, in her eyes, that she had reviled that action.)
She sighed inwardly. Trusting? Trying? It might take a lot more work than she’d initially thought.
Looking around, she noticed that the room seemed to have gotten dark. Or maybe she just hadn’t noticed because she was so wrapped up in her own angst. Disgusting, that thought, and yet accurate – more accurate than she cared to admit. Further thought on the subject was interrupted again by the infernal chime.
If this is another…
Well, it was "another" but not the sort she had been about to threaten, she found when she opened it. Another from Marionette. It just didn’t know when to leave bad enough alone, apparently. A letter just to her. How sweet.
"You’re losing your touch," she murmured. There was miraculously little venom in the words, all things considered. After all, this was the thing responsible for her being stuck here. She wondered if the others had been subjected to receipt of similar notes of encouragement and hope.
Forcing her mind from further thoughts along that line, she looked around again. the place actually WAS pretty comfortable looking. A bit of rec room and living room thrown together. People were filtering out singly or in groups, and one of them, noted out of the corner of her eye, was the same one she’d received the second-to-last Flashmail of the day (so far) from. As he neared, she spoke up in greeting.
"Hey Hac. Sounds like I didn’t miss anything much in there?"
It was asked out of courtesy as much as lack of anything more useful or friendly to say. She felt a little bad that she’d already been on her way out when he started making his point, but not bad enough to go back and give credence to the proceedings.
It seemed her leaving was the least of the stressors on Hac from that meeting. His fist thudded into the wall as he said, "You can say that again, just like the last time...all my input is ignored even when the whole meeting was asking for just that. He did not even consider my comments."
She winced very briefly, a sensation more felt than seen. Yes, definitely didn’t miss anything by stepping out early. She did feel bad for him though. He had experience and levels that should have made his words a bit more weighty, and from what she’d heard as she made her exit, they echoed to a point her own thoughts on the topic. "That seems to be the modus operandi. I thought it was just me seeing the lemming-like rush because I'm new, but I guess not. Should be.... fun." She chuckled humorlessly at the poor use of the word.
The chuckle felt a little out of place, and perhaps it looked so as well. "Quite a turn around; is that a smile? Just a few moments ago you looked like a little Emo-kid about to slit your wrists. What's wrong? Not use to the 'feel' of things?"
It was that obvious? Great. She was projecting like a television. Mentally she made a note to try and stop that. No use in putting her own irritation out on others who didn’t ask for it, right? An Emo-kid about to slit her wrists? Ugh. Even the Emo kid part was enough to turn her stomach, but that was a WHOLE other story.
She shook her head – unsure if it was in reaction to his comments or her thoughts – and said instead, "Tired of just standing around. Tired of feeling like we're in a tunnel with only one way to go. And... yeah." Another chuckle. It still felt weird. "Not used to the feel of things. How long'd that take to get used to?"
"Til I walked into that meeting room a while ago," Hac said, surprising her. She would have thought it was long before. Though what did she know, being in here all of one day? "I found myself lost and all alone. I disappeared in mind and physical appearance until just recently. It took me a long time to accept the face that I was trapped, but one day it hit me like a gigantic boulder. I knew I would have to be here and listen to 'Nall the stup...Great'." She stifled a laugh as he rolled his eyes. Not a good time to laugh at the leader. Former… old… whatever. She had no idea what the power structure was in here.
She tilted her head in the direction of the meeting room. "So how long've they been in charge of the asylum?"
"Nall....since I joined up. Nighthand however, was more of a side leader. Another player named Gingistune was also in control. She was incredible in might and in personality. A true hero...but she has disappeared. I have no problem with Nighthand/Silverblade. He never treated me like crap."
As he recounted this, Senna glanced across the room. So many different people. There was an archer in the group – that was unusual in itself – though she didn’t see the woman now. A number of powerful blade-fighters. No axes in the mix – not a surprise given the fairly lackluster opinion of the class which was essentially an armed brick wall with about the speed of that same item. How long had they all been here, invited (ha!) by Nall, and now led, more or less, by the Nighthand guy. Or the Silverblade in the Nighthand guy’s brain. THAT was another thing taking a lot of getting used to.
"I'm not sure I trust people with split personalities..." she said, letting the last word sort of trail off.
"So do you not trust yourself then?" Hac chuckled. Senna wasn’t quite sure what he was referring to – her brain was too tired – but the implication was one worth thinking about. Smiling again, tired but figuring it better than the alternative grump that might replace it, she replied – and used it to segue into another question she’d wanted to ask.
"You know, I'm not sure anymore. So, I'd ask what you've been up to, but it sounds like a longer story than my attention can handle. So how about this... that Marionette thing send you a letter too?"
Hac’s smile disappeared. Ah crap, I shouldn’t have…
But he was answering too. "Yes, he/she....it did. Though I have no idea why. I have never met or heard of the creature. It is quite a puzzling matter. The message I received seemed to be directed only at me though, was yours the same? I even replied back to see if even this thing would ignore me..."
Marionette. The puppetmaster. HER puppetmaster, in its way. She was dancing his damn dance now, wasn’t she. "That seems to be its MO. Cryptic messages. Roundabout intimidation. It's trying to get under our skin, I think, though I have to admit I'm... disappointed in my message."
"I sort of was in my own as well. It referred to my past and not my present. Maybe it knows nothing about the current me? I guess I will see when it replies...Well...I am getting a bit tired. Tomorrow will be a long day. You should get some sleep as well." He punctuated this thought with a yawn before adding, "I have a hunch my suspicion will end up being correct..."
So do I, but I HOPE it’s not, Senna thought. Aloud, she only answered, "Sounds good. G'night!"
And I’m glad to have another friend here. That, too, was kept silent in her mind. But it was with a somewhat easier mind that she settled back against the wall and drifted off to the sleep her mind had been clamoring for.
Morning came with a bolt of aching pain down her back.
… Morning. It was hard not to use that name for it, though time in The World seemed to be forever frozen at one time of day and she had no idea what time it was back where her body…
Both hands went to her face then, fingers winding into her hair and curling tight in an atypical but long-used stance Senna (and previously, Liss) used to fight off stabs of nausea. Her body was somewhere completely separate from her mind. She was… out, somewhere. In a coma somewhere, she supposed, like Canti. God. Wasn’t that death? Wasn’t that the definition of death? Mind and body no longer one? God…
Slowly, her curled position and the pain as she pulled at her hair and dug her nails into her scalp (just a little. Not TRYING to draw blood here) subdued the rush of illness she’d felt, letting it recede like the waterline after a large wave. Her fingers loosened, then released her hair and moved automatically to her weapon, which had been propped against the wall at one point but which had skewed to the side and leaned against her at some point during the night. Using that, she got shakily to her feet, trying to keep the sick feeling at bay by concentrating on how much it sucked to wake up after sleeping against a wall. Every muscle in her back and shoulders and more than a few in her arms and neck seemed to be claiming they were much shorter than previously and couldn’t POSSIBLY be expected to hold her in an upright position. Stretching, she grabbed a bite to eat in the kitchen (Was that even needed, she wondered) then joined the rest of the gathering group for the beginning of their next sparkly adventure into the unknown.
But as they arrived, in ones and twos, sparkly was not the first word that was coming to mind. Ashen maybe. Desecrated. Ruined. Not sparkly. A shame. Seemed someone let a spell get out of hand – or maybe the field was a dog-park of sorts for creatures of the Vulcan persuasion? (And no, she didn’t mean Mr. Spock’s kin.) The place was covered with ashes.
And after a moment, those ashes were moving.
It took a few seconds to even register what she was seeing. Nall pointed them out as party guests, and not just a feature that you got when the burnt remnants of a forest were mixed with a breeze. She herself stopped glancing around, gauging who was here and who was not, at his comment. And he was right, they did have company. Dry, ashy company. Like an attack of bad complexion, only a bit more dangerous.
There were three types of creatures – little, bigger and scarybig. Seeing as how the group had both people whose levels were, in comparison to her own, littler and more scarybig, she decided to split the difference and go about taking on one of the bigger ones. There was no immediate strategy called out, just a battle joined. Until something better came along then…
Her fear returned, filling her up, like a tide. She pushed herself. Forward. Go. Let it be impetus. Let it drive you to finish faster, attack harder. The best way to end the battle is to start it. And so.
Senna went into motion, an Ap Do adding a bit of quickness and battle grace that she couldn’t seem to display in normal, everyday things. She darted forward, following Zan’s example. Her weapon was again the Ichigou, and this she let drag in her hands a little before swinging like a major-leaguer at the first of the creatures she came across.
The thing was one of the littler creatures, and with her heightened perception, it seemed to move almost pitifully slow, as though it were simply waiting for her swing to take it across the gut. Her weapon met with resistance at first, then the molecules of the thing seemed to lose their cohesion along the path of the spear, letting the weapon drag through and cause its damage, then freeing it in a trail of black smoke.
That concerned her a little. Unlike the swords most of her compatriots wielded, her weapon had a wooden haft to keep it from weighing too much and to make it easier to balance. Little wisps of smoke showed where the remaining embers in the creature had tried to set her spear alight.
Ah well, time to move on. There would be time to ponder that later. The ash underfoot provided a slippery surface to run on and she could feel it coating her nearly-bare feet – not pleasant. The ground to her left exploded in a burst of fire, flaming wads of stone landing like bombs. It seemed to be targeted at someone else, but the splash damage caught her arms, face and clothing, burning and causing her eyes to tear over momentarily as it sucked away a small chunk of HP.
Temporarily blinded, Senna slowed and tried to rub at her eyes with the back of her arm. All it seemed to do though was make things worse, since her arms were similarly ash-covered thanks to her earlier run-in with the little monster. Tears and ash turned to a black paste smeared across her face in what she assumed was a ridiculous manner. It was only by forcing more tears and literally crying the grit out that she finally cleared her vision.
And found herself staring down one of the big monsters.
It was running at her, but even as she brought up her weapon, it leapt up and went airborn, its target somewhere else in the swirls of ash their battle was kicking up.
Thanking whatever God might watch over The World, Senna oriented on one of the medium-sized monsters and charged, again calling on her enhanced speed (she estimated there wasn’t a whole lot of that left to her at this point, so she intended to get use of the remainder.
The creature saw her coming, and its reaction and movement were both faster than its little brother had been. As it turned, she saw the colored lights of a spell playing across the peaks and valleys of the uneven ground like sunbeams torn apart by a prism. She couldn’t tell the type – never would, as the glyphs were nothing she ever intended to really study – but by the color she could tell the element. Ani huh? She would have guessed Vak.
The attack came seconds later, another drop-type attack created from the flight and subsequent falling of several … were those skulls? … wreathed in black flames. Most missed, only hitting her with their peripheral damage as the skulls shattered and threw up gouts of dark fire. On, however, thumped down squarely between her shoulders, driving her to one knee. Her HP did a similar drop in protest.
Spitting to one side, Senna focused her attention back on the Ash Knight, which was apparently only too willing to do likewise, and the combatants came at one another.
There were a couple differences between this pair and the pair from a few seconds ago, mostly centering around the Long Arm. Having assumed fire-based enemies, she was expecting to use Rue attacks, but this new development was going to allow her the pleasure of trying out her newest weapon. She swung hard, only to have the knight’s sword block the attack, but she followed up with an uppercut with the butt end of the weapon, the blunt side of the weapon maneuvering beneath the enemy’s arms and striking him (it?) across the side with a good deal more physical resistance than the previous enemy had offered.
The strike didn’t cause much damage, but the enemy brought his elbows in protectively, an amusingly human reaction. Senna stepped back and struck down, using the awkward placement and momentary loss of concentration on her enemy’s part to sweep his weapon down and out of her way with a vicious chop-style attack, then targeted his exposed torso area and activated one of the skills on her weapon, Rai Wipe.
Electrical energy crackled golden-white down the length of her spear, reminiscent of the color of a Chaos Gate or portal. Even her hands were wreathed in the energy, giving them an oddly light feeling, as though the six-foot weapon weighed nothing. She felt something push at her back (an attack? Splash from a spell? A stray bit of debris? Who knew) but ignored it as she went into her dance.
At the first slice, the electricity leapt eagerly from her weapon to the creature she was attacking, the tendrils of light reaching out to wrap around it before her spear even touched flesh. (Ash. Whatever.) It didn’t stop there though – the first slice carried all the way across, furrowing the chest area. It reached the end of that arc, then like a pendulum, unstoppable, inexorable, it came back in a diagonal slash downward that again knocked the weapon aside before looping up and taking its final pass across where the face would be.
They were not the places she was used to this kind of attack going, but everything felt… light. Like she was in control of everything about herself in this place, this moment. She’d never tried to alter the attack from its preset paths before, but fund that it was possible now, with the feel of the weapon in her hands, the true balance of it affecting her balance, her motion. Green trails, the afterimages of the lightning, crossed her vision and painted their odd colors on her opponent.
They faced one another again, both injured in several places (though oddly, Senna felt the hit with the spell might have actually knocked out some of the kinks from her odd sleeping position). Then they were at it again, both driving forward, darkness weapon clashing off lightning weapon, both glancing off.
Senna took a cut across the arm, screaming through clenched teeth at the pain, but not stopping. There was still an energy there. Still a lightness. She drew back and shoved her weapon home with all her might, impaling the ash-creature on it.
The stood there a second, a tableau in blue and black. Then she swore the not-quite-formed face twitched, the sort-of-mouth turning up in a smile. Smoke began to rise from its front, where the weapon disappeared into its body.
With a shout, she tore the weapon sideways and back out of the creature, widening the hole it had made. Glitters of yellow and orange glowed dimly along the blackened stretch where her spear had been within the Ash Knight. She just stared at it a moment, not quite sure what to do about this development, afraid to keep her back to the rest of fight too much longer (but doing it. As promised, she was trying. She was trusting.) but feeling like there was no danger of this one, this thing, truly and irreparably hurting her.
Then it made a slight move, or slight it seemed, until fire and pain, iron and lead, clawed suddenly at her stomach, forcing her back one stumbling step. She looked down. A weapon there. A weapon, growing like an extra limb, from her waist.
The thing was definitely grinning now.
She gave a weird, hitched breath. Her body was screaming for healing. That had been more than just a strike, it had too much damage to it, too much strength. A skill? A drive-like skill?
She spat again. "Rai Rom."
Lightning and wind met injured darkness and ash. The grin went away, and a moment later so did the sword, and shortly after that, so did the knight. There was no corpse that she could see, just the ash flying everywhere in the aftermath of her spell. The corpse could be under the ash. The corpse could have turned to ask. The creature could be not a corpse at all, but simply separated into the ash components, but it was no longer a combatant she had to worry about. Another cough, then "Repth." Blue healing light competed with the red light of war, and for a moment, all Senna wanted to do was stand there. The gash in her arm remained, not terrible enough to be mended by the incomplete healing spell. Another breath, and she turned.
The fear was lessened. Slightly lessened. This time she had faced the fire and stayed alive. Would that it did not have to be done many more times. She looked for her friends.
((OOC: Soot Knights: 8 Left, 1 of which is injured
Ash Knights: 2 Left
Ember Knights: 2 Left))
Having left the meeting herself (a bit prematurely, perhaps, but them’s the breaks and she didn’t regret it) she was still confronted with the question of what to do with herself, with her time until they decided to troop off and spring the trap. And whatever the others might things, agreeing or disagreeing with that assessment, she’d seen nothing to suggest these Elites wouldn’t try to get rid of them by whatever means at their disposal. They had to see the group as a threat – a small threat, but still. And everyone knew (or should know) the best way to deal with threats is to get rid of the small ones first.
She was just considering trying out that training sim when a timely chime alerted her to another Flashmail. It seemed she’d gotten more of those in the past day or so than in any other period during her time in The World, no matter how lengthy. She leaned against the wall where she’d be out of the way of the rest if they chose to walk the way she had, slid to a seat on the floor and took a look.
Senna read over the letter with the quick, concise skimming that few other than a lit major can master – a necessity if one planned on actually keeping up with all the reading that course of study required. What she saw was more bad news, to her mind at least. If it was from just about anyone else in this private little hell (what was that line? Hell is other people?) it would have been ignored, but Hac was being given the benefit of the doubt.Flashmail
To: Senna
From: Hacorie
Hey it has been a long while, neh? Well I am glad to see you again. Too bad it had to be under these circumstances. Being trapped in this game...and all that jazz. Anyways...I just wanted to tell you that it would be better if you tried to trust almost everyone here. You seemed to have an annoyed face on as you left. I left this team a long time ago to find myself, but in the end...I knew my place was helping my kind here to find a way to escape. So on a lighter note, let’s catch up in the field. I think it will be fun to compete with you once again.
There were a couple reasons for this. First and chief among these was that she knew him to a point that she trusted him. Also, as an extension of this, she felt she could trust his word on how long he’d been a part of this thing.
But still… it sounded a little like a pep talk - the sort of inspirational stuff meant for movies and workplace posters, and the sort of thing she wasn’t sure she could take seriously (but that was the wrong word wasn’t it? It was more that she couldn’t take such advice as… as real.) . Try to trust almost everyone here? His place was with his own "kind?" So now they were some sort of subspecies? Her syntax and editing teacher would have been amused at the suggestion of the wording. The thought actually brought a small smile to her lips as well. The fact that he hadn’t meant it that way (she hoped) gave birth to that small bit of amusement. Lit majors are not, in the end, known for their understandable or mainstream senses of humor in many cases.
Well… she shrugged and closed it. She could promise only one thing – she would try.
This was something (completely off topic) that had always struck Liss as odd from the old Star Wars movies. At one point, the venerable mentor was telling his young trainee that he had to do or not do, because there was no try – at least not in HIS training school apparently. It was some more of that inspirational mumbo-jumbo that made little sense when it was actually thought out. You could always choose not to do something (wasn’t she doing a lot of that lately?) but could you really just choose to DO something? Accomplishing a goal was not a matter of choice, it was a matter of circumstance, work, attention and luck. You had to TRY before you could DO. And so, trying was the best one could ever promise.
Apply your do or do not to logging out of here, Mr. Yoda, she thought, the sarcasm acidic even to her.
So she would try – try to trust them on at least the base level, try to help them even when she thought their scheme foolish, try not to lose her temper and try not to withdraw from battle entirely again. (Hadn’t she hated Phoenix for the same thing? But no, it wasn’t that. He was welcome not to participate. It was in not taking the full blame for his decision upon himself, in her eyes, that she had reviled that action.)
She sighed inwardly. Trusting? Trying? It might take a lot more work than she’d initially thought.
Looking around, she noticed that the room seemed to have gotten dark. Or maybe she just hadn’t noticed because she was so wrapped up in her own angst. Disgusting, that thought, and yet accurate – more accurate than she cared to admit. Further thought on the subject was interrupted again by the infernal chime.
If this is another…
Well, it was "another" but not the sort she had been about to threaten, she found when she opened it. Another from Marionette. It just didn’t know when to leave bad enough alone, apparently. A letter just to her. How sweet.
Her lip curled a little, another small smile. This was all it had? It seemed to enjoy flaunting its own peculiar brand of omnipotence and omniscience, and this little nugget, which just about anyone who’d been on the last field could have come up with, was the best it could muster?Flashmail
To: Senna
From: Marionette
RE: messagE
yoU lacK confidencE iN yourselF; buT wilL yoU stilL finD iT iN yoU tO fighT againsT mE wheN thE timE comeS? oR wilL thaT despaiR keeP yoU froM thE fighT?
"You’re losing your touch," she murmured. There was miraculously little venom in the words, all things considered. After all, this was the thing responsible for her being stuck here. She wondered if the others had been subjected to receipt of similar notes of encouragement and hope.
Forcing her mind from further thoughts along that line, she looked around again. the place actually WAS pretty comfortable looking. A bit of rec room and living room thrown together. People were filtering out singly or in groups, and one of them, noted out of the corner of her eye, was the same one she’d received the second-to-last Flashmail of the day (so far) from. As he neared, she spoke up in greeting.
"Hey Hac. Sounds like I didn’t miss anything much in there?"
It was asked out of courtesy as much as lack of anything more useful or friendly to say. She felt a little bad that she’d already been on her way out when he started making his point, but not bad enough to go back and give credence to the proceedings.
It seemed her leaving was the least of the stressors on Hac from that meeting. His fist thudded into the wall as he said, "You can say that again, just like the last time...all my input is ignored even when the whole meeting was asking for just that. He did not even consider my comments."
She winced very briefly, a sensation more felt than seen. Yes, definitely didn’t miss anything by stepping out early. She did feel bad for him though. He had experience and levels that should have made his words a bit more weighty, and from what she’d heard as she made her exit, they echoed to a point her own thoughts on the topic. "That seems to be the modus operandi. I thought it was just me seeing the lemming-like rush because I'm new, but I guess not. Should be.... fun." She chuckled humorlessly at the poor use of the word.
The chuckle felt a little out of place, and perhaps it looked so as well. "Quite a turn around; is that a smile? Just a few moments ago you looked like a little Emo-kid about to slit your wrists. What's wrong? Not use to the 'feel' of things?"
It was that obvious? Great. She was projecting like a television. Mentally she made a note to try and stop that. No use in putting her own irritation out on others who didn’t ask for it, right? An Emo-kid about to slit her wrists? Ugh. Even the Emo kid part was enough to turn her stomach, but that was a WHOLE other story.
She shook her head – unsure if it was in reaction to his comments or her thoughts – and said instead, "Tired of just standing around. Tired of feeling like we're in a tunnel with only one way to go. And... yeah." Another chuckle. It still felt weird. "Not used to the feel of things. How long'd that take to get used to?"
"Til I walked into that meeting room a while ago," Hac said, surprising her. She would have thought it was long before. Though what did she know, being in here all of one day? "I found myself lost and all alone. I disappeared in mind and physical appearance until just recently. It took me a long time to accept the face that I was trapped, but one day it hit me like a gigantic boulder. I knew I would have to be here and listen to 'Nall the stup...Great'." She stifled a laugh as he rolled his eyes. Not a good time to laugh at the leader. Former… old… whatever. She had no idea what the power structure was in here.
She tilted her head in the direction of the meeting room. "So how long've they been in charge of the asylum?"
"Nall....since I joined up. Nighthand however, was more of a side leader. Another player named Gingistune was also in control. She was incredible in might and in personality. A true hero...but she has disappeared. I have no problem with Nighthand/Silverblade. He never treated me like crap."
As he recounted this, Senna glanced across the room. So many different people. There was an archer in the group – that was unusual in itself – though she didn’t see the woman now. A number of powerful blade-fighters. No axes in the mix – not a surprise given the fairly lackluster opinion of the class which was essentially an armed brick wall with about the speed of that same item. How long had they all been here, invited (ha!) by Nall, and now led, more or less, by the Nighthand guy. Or the Silverblade in the Nighthand guy’s brain. THAT was another thing taking a lot of getting used to.
"I'm not sure I trust people with split personalities..." she said, letting the last word sort of trail off.
"So do you not trust yourself then?" Hac chuckled. Senna wasn’t quite sure what he was referring to – her brain was too tired – but the implication was one worth thinking about. Smiling again, tired but figuring it better than the alternative grump that might replace it, she replied – and used it to segue into another question she’d wanted to ask.
"You know, I'm not sure anymore. So, I'd ask what you've been up to, but it sounds like a longer story than my attention can handle. So how about this... that Marionette thing send you a letter too?"
Hac’s smile disappeared. Ah crap, I shouldn’t have…
But he was answering too. "Yes, he/she....it did. Though I have no idea why. I have never met or heard of the creature. It is quite a puzzling matter. The message I received seemed to be directed only at me though, was yours the same? I even replied back to see if even this thing would ignore me..."
Marionette. The puppetmaster. HER puppetmaster, in its way. She was dancing his damn dance now, wasn’t she. "That seems to be its MO. Cryptic messages. Roundabout intimidation. It's trying to get under our skin, I think, though I have to admit I'm... disappointed in my message."
"I sort of was in my own as well. It referred to my past and not my present. Maybe it knows nothing about the current me? I guess I will see when it replies...Well...I am getting a bit tired. Tomorrow will be a long day. You should get some sleep as well." He punctuated this thought with a yawn before adding, "I have a hunch my suspicion will end up being correct..."
So do I, but I HOPE it’s not, Senna thought. Aloud, she only answered, "Sounds good. G'night!"
And I’m glad to have another friend here. That, too, was kept silent in her mind. But it was with a somewhat easier mind that she settled back against the wall and drifted off to the sleep her mind had been clamoring for.
Morning came with a bolt of aching pain down her back.
… Morning. It was hard not to use that name for it, though time in The World seemed to be forever frozen at one time of day and she had no idea what time it was back where her body…
Both hands went to her face then, fingers winding into her hair and curling tight in an atypical but long-used stance Senna (and previously, Liss) used to fight off stabs of nausea. Her body was somewhere completely separate from her mind. She was… out, somewhere. In a coma somewhere, she supposed, like Canti. God. Wasn’t that death? Wasn’t that the definition of death? Mind and body no longer one? God…
Slowly, her curled position and the pain as she pulled at her hair and dug her nails into her scalp (just a little. Not TRYING to draw blood here) subdued the rush of illness she’d felt, letting it recede like the waterline after a large wave. Her fingers loosened, then released her hair and moved automatically to her weapon, which had been propped against the wall at one point but which had skewed to the side and leaned against her at some point during the night. Using that, she got shakily to her feet, trying to keep the sick feeling at bay by concentrating on how much it sucked to wake up after sleeping against a wall. Every muscle in her back and shoulders and more than a few in her arms and neck seemed to be claiming they were much shorter than previously and couldn’t POSSIBLY be expected to hold her in an upright position. Stretching, she grabbed a bite to eat in the kitchen (Was that even needed, she wondered) then joined the rest of the gathering group for the beginning of their next sparkly adventure into the unknown.
But as they arrived, in ones and twos, sparkly was not the first word that was coming to mind. Ashen maybe. Desecrated. Ruined. Not sparkly. A shame. Seemed someone let a spell get out of hand – or maybe the field was a dog-park of sorts for creatures of the Vulcan persuasion? (And no, she didn’t mean Mr. Spock’s kin.) The place was covered with ashes.
And after a moment, those ashes were moving.
It took a few seconds to even register what she was seeing. Nall pointed them out as party guests, and not just a feature that you got when the burnt remnants of a forest were mixed with a breeze. She herself stopped glancing around, gauging who was here and who was not, at his comment. And he was right, they did have company. Dry, ashy company. Like an attack of bad complexion, only a bit more dangerous.
There were three types of creatures – little, bigger and scarybig. Seeing as how the group had both people whose levels were, in comparison to her own, littler and more scarybig, she decided to split the difference and go about taking on one of the bigger ones. There was no immediate strategy called out, just a battle joined. Until something better came along then…
Her fear returned, filling her up, like a tide. She pushed herself. Forward. Go. Let it be impetus. Let it drive you to finish faster, attack harder. The best way to end the battle is to start it. And so.
Senna went into motion, an Ap Do adding a bit of quickness and battle grace that she couldn’t seem to display in normal, everyday things. She darted forward, following Zan’s example. Her weapon was again the Ichigou, and this she let drag in her hands a little before swinging like a major-leaguer at the first of the creatures she came across.
The thing was one of the littler creatures, and with her heightened perception, it seemed to move almost pitifully slow, as though it were simply waiting for her swing to take it across the gut. Her weapon met with resistance at first, then the molecules of the thing seemed to lose their cohesion along the path of the spear, letting the weapon drag through and cause its damage, then freeing it in a trail of black smoke.
That concerned her a little. Unlike the swords most of her compatriots wielded, her weapon had a wooden haft to keep it from weighing too much and to make it easier to balance. Little wisps of smoke showed where the remaining embers in the creature had tried to set her spear alight.
Ah well, time to move on. There would be time to ponder that later. The ash underfoot provided a slippery surface to run on and she could feel it coating her nearly-bare feet – not pleasant. The ground to her left exploded in a burst of fire, flaming wads of stone landing like bombs. It seemed to be targeted at someone else, but the splash damage caught her arms, face and clothing, burning and causing her eyes to tear over momentarily as it sucked away a small chunk of HP.
Temporarily blinded, Senna slowed and tried to rub at her eyes with the back of her arm. All it seemed to do though was make things worse, since her arms were similarly ash-covered thanks to her earlier run-in with the little monster. Tears and ash turned to a black paste smeared across her face in what she assumed was a ridiculous manner. It was only by forcing more tears and literally crying the grit out that she finally cleared her vision.
And found herself staring down one of the big monsters.
It was running at her, but even as she brought up her weapon, it leapt up and went airborn, its target somewhere else in the swirls of ash their battle was kicking up.
Thanking whatever God might watch over The World, Senna oriented on one of the medium-sized monsters and charged, again calling on her enhanced speed (she estimated there wasn’t a whole lot of that left to her at this point, so she intended to get use of the remainder.
The creature saw her coming, and its reaction and movement were both faster than its little brother had been. As it turned, she saw the colored lights of a spell playing across the peaks and valleys of the uneven ground like sunbeams torn apart by a prism. She couldn’t tell the type – never would, as the glyphs were nothing she ever intended to really study – but by the color she could tell the element. Ani huh? She would have guessed Vak.
The attack came seconds later, another drop-type attack created from the flight and subsequent falling of several … were those skulls? … wreathed in black flames. Most missed, only hitting her with their peripheral damage as the skulls shattered and threw up gouts of dark fire. On, however, thumped down squarely between her shoulders, driving her to one knee. Her HP did a similar drop in protest.
Spitting to one side, Senna focused her attention back on the Ash Knight, which was apparently only too willing to do likewise, and the combatants came at one another.
There were a couple differences between this pair and the pair from a few seconds ago, mostly centering around the Long Arm. Having assumed fire-based enemies, she was expecting to use Rue attacks, but this new development was going to allow her the pleasure of trying out her newest weapon. She swung hard, only to have the knight’s sword block the attack, but she followed up with an uppercut with the butt end of the weapon, the blunt side of the weapon maneuvering beneath the enemy’s arms and striking him (it?) across the side with a good deal more physical resistance than the previous enemy had offered.
The strike didn’t cause much damage, but the enemy brought his elbows in protectively, an amusingly human reaction. Senna stepped back and struck down, using the awkward placement and momentary loss of concentration on her enemy’s part to sweep his weapon down and out of her way with a vicious chop-style attack, then targeted his exposed torso area and activated one of the skills on her weapon, Rai Wipe.
Electrical energy crackled golden-white down the length of her spear, reminiscent of the color of a Chaos Gate or portal. Even her hands were wreathed in the energy, giving them an oddly light feeling, as though the six-foot weapon weighed nothing. She felt something push at her back (an attack? Splash from a spell? A stray bit of debris? Who knew) but ignored it as she went into her dance.
At the first slice, the electricity leapt eagerly from her weapon to the creature she was attacking, the tendrils of light reaching out to wrap around it before her spear even touched flesh. (Ash. Whatever.) It didn’t stop there though – the first slice carried all the way across, furrowing the chest area. It reached the end of that arc, then like a pendulum, unstoppable, inexorable, it came back in a diagonal slash downward that again knocked the weapon aside before looping up and taking its final pass across where the face would be.
They were not the places she was used to this kind of attack going, but everything felt… light. Like she was in control of everything about herself in this place, this moment. She’d never tried to alter the attack from its preset paths before, but fund that it was possible now, with the feel of the weapon in her hands, the true balance of it affecting her balance, her motion. Green trails, the afterimages of the lightning, crossed her vision and painted their odd colors on her opponent.
They faced one another again, both injured in several places (though oddly, Senna felt the hit with the spell might have actually knocked out some of the kinks from her odd sleeping position). Then they were at it again, both driving forward, darkness weapon clashing off lightning weapon, both glancing off.
Senna took a cut across the arm, screaming through clenched teeth at the pain, but not stopping. There was still an energy there. Still a lightness. She drew back and shoved her weapon home with all her might, impaling the ash-creature on it.
The stood there a second, a tableau in blue and black. Then she swore the not-quite-formed face twitched, the sort-of-mouth turning up in a smile. Smoke began to rise from its front, where the weapon disappeared into its body.
With a shout, she tore the weapon sideways and back out of the creature, widening the hole it had made. Glitters of yellow and orange glowed dimly along the blackened stretch where her spear had been within the Ash Knight. She just stared at it a moment, not quite sure what to do about this development, afraid to keep her back to the rest of fight too much longer (but doing it. As promised, she was trying. She was trusting.) but feeling like there was no danger of this one, this thing, truly and irreparably hurting her.
Then it made a slight move, or slight it seemed, until fire and pain, iron and lead, clawed suddenly at her stomach, forcing her back one stumbling step. She looked down. A weapon there. A weapon, growing like an extra limb, from her waist.
The thing was definitely grinning now.
She gave a weird, hitched breath. Her body was screaming for healing. That had been more than just a strike, it had too much damage to it, too much strength. A skill? A drive-like skill?
She spat again. "Rai Rom."
Lightning and wind met injured darkness and ash. The grin went away, and a moment later so did the sword, and shortly after that, so did the knight. There was no corpse that she could see, just the ash flying everywhere in the aftermath of her spell. The corpse could be under the ash. The corpse could have turned to ask. The creature could be not a corpse at all, but simply separated into the ash components, but it was no longer a combatant she had to worry about. Another cough, then "Repth." Blue healing light competed with the red light of war, and for a moment, all Senna wanted to do was stand there. The gash in her arm remained, not terrible enough to be mended by the incomplete healing spell. Another breath, and she turned.
The fear was lessened. Slightly lessened. This time she had faced the fire and stayed alive. Would that it did not have to be done many more times. She looked for her friends.
((OOC: Soot Knights: 8 Left, 1 of which is injured
Ash Knights: 2 Left
Ember Knights: 2 Left))
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
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Phoenix512
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 304
- Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:42 pm
OOC: Equipping Ap Corv and GiVak Rom orbs on Suzaku
Phoenix got an answer to his question about the flashmails from the hubs which hitting the other hubs would get a more complete picture of the Elites’ current plans. The next part of the meeting was more of a recap for me and most of the others. At least it confirmed Zan’s theory about Lighteria who should have known all of this. He wondered what happened to the real Lighteria and why this imposter was doing such a bad job at acting like the real version. He added that mystery to his list of things that are left unanswered in the World.
Lighteria tried to suggest for the group to shift the Admins focus on us to the Elites but Raine put that idea to rest with the same reasoning that he remembered before. Phoenix knew that the Admins would rather go after less powerful hackers like the Freedom Fighters than after the Elites but at the same time, they would need us to defeat the true threat. Rayo suggested that the group go back to the other hub which the blademaster brought up before. While Zan seemed to be annoyed with the whole meeting and Nall in particular, he began a rant and left the room before anything was agreed upon. Phoenix thought that he himself acted like a jackass at times but Zan completely take the cake with this rant. It made Phoenix looked tamed in comparison.
Next up was Canti who did not ask a question about the Hub situation but with Suraisu. Phoenix did not know the details about Suraisu except that he was a hacker that brought Dien, Xhao, and Canti into this mess in the first place. He did not really care about the whereabouts of said hacker since he was a minion of the Elites and rather low on the totem pole. He really cared about the Elites themselves since they are more of a threat that any minion was. After Nall answered Canti’s question, Silverblade decided to go back to the previous Hub but the group was going to wait a day at least before returning back there but Hac did not like that idea at all. He thought that Marionette would strengthen its defenses from last time but Nall thinks that he would leave the Hub’s defenses alone.
Suddenly Phoenix got a flashmail from Marionette himself which he was shocked by the contents. How the hell did he know about the new powers? I just got them not too long. Only Rayo knows about them and hasn’t really gotten a chance to talk to anyone else about them. Can he able to sense us through the Twilight? He continues to drive the fact that he’s all-knowing and powerful. Even though he’s the guardian of the hubs, he shouldn’t be able to track us and know things about us that barely even other people know. I need to leave this place for a bit since we aren’t moving out until tomorrow.
The blademaster decided to leave the hideout for Carmina Gadelica. He never visited the city before even though the current hideout was located there. He took a walk around the city which was always covered in darkness but the city lights made it look elegant. Phoenix thought about going up to the rooftops but his jumping skill was not up to par due to loss of the gravity powers. He did not want to attract attention from the other players by doing a running jump to get up there. So he continued to walk around the city and felt a gentle breeze. The breeze felt differently to him compared normal breezes in the past.
Phoenix could not explain this feeling except that he knows the feeling is different. He quickly infers that the different feeling was a side effect from the new wind powers. He stopped at a bridge and leaned forward against the railing. The wind user began to think about some things. So many people have returned or joining the group for the first time. It’s rather weird. It’s like that defeating Primal have attracted all these people like a recruitment poster. Marionette thinks that I lost something from the trade which might be the sheer power of gravity itself but the wind is powerful itself. The main benefit is that I have control of my will instead the darkness within. That itself far outweighs the sheer power I lost. I paid too many prices during this curse and don’t care about additional prices. I know the path that I walked on pretty well now. There will be more tolls ahead. I’m ready to pay them when they come up.
After that pondering, he returned back to the hideout and sat in the common room waiting for the others to get ready to go. Phoenix was not really tired after his ordeal and did not want to train for the moment. He managed somehow passed the time before the others were ready to go to the previous hub. He equipped Suzaku with two orbs before going into the field.
Once arriving at the hub, the blademaster immediately noticed that the field has changed from the previous visit. The jungle was burned to the ground from the fire that was used to defeat the rock-throwing monkeys. Phoenix did not mind the jungle burned down since he still feels shivers from the data drain attack that Kurai gave to him long ago. With this new terrain, the group still encountered initial resistance but this time, it was in the form of knights made of ash.
Before Phoenix could react, Zan immediately jumped into the fray and discovered an interesting ability from the weakest knights. They could not be killed by a very strong attack. This ability reminded him of the time when the group fought off a bunch of tigers while they were affected by a strength reducing effect that was strongest with the higher level players than the lower level ones. I think I’ll take out one of the winged knights. Suzaku, I’ll have you on standby since I’m not too sure if they can be affected by fire. If the initial fire didn’t destroy these guys, I doubt additional fire would do the job.
Phoenix noticed that lightning does a great job against the ashy knights but being a blademaster, he would have to resort to Rai Rom for elemental critical damage. He switched to the Silver Bracer and a moment later, an Ember Knight attacked him with GiVak Kruz. Phoenix reacted with a quick jump into the air but could not completely avoid the attack. The embers impacted on his legs and forced him back to the ground. He felt pain all around his legs and could not stand up immediately. The blademaster cast La Repth to remove the pain from the legs which allow him to be at least one knee when the Ember Knight began to dive towards him.
Even though he could not fully stand up, Phoenix had the perfect defense in mind for the Ember Knight. He lined up his blade towards the Ember Knight or more specifically, where the wings connected at the body. “WIND BLADE!” He swung the sword in a horizontal arc from the left side of the body to the other side. This motion created a high-speed blade of wind that cut off the wings of the Ember Knight before being disbursed. The ash wings were no more as the wind blew them away as the Knight crashed down the earth.
Phoenix managed to recover enough to dodge out of the way to avoid the wingless Ember Knight. He was sort of happy that his new wind power does not cause him pain compared to the gravity power. He switched from the Bloody Pain to the Matoi as the Ember Knight stood up from the quick descent. If the Knight had any emotion at all, it would be most likely be pissed from losing its wings. It charged at Phoenix and began to swing its sword at him. The blademaster felt the heat of the sword as he avoided it with his wind-enhanced speed. In terms of speed, they were about equal as it managed to block off a counter from Phoenix with its shield. He was realizing that a straight-up sword fight would not be the best way to defeat this knight. He decided to use Rai Rom this close to the knight but it would affect the Ember Knight more than he would. “RAI ROM!”
The lightning tornado caused the Ember Knight to be stunned with Phoenix feeling some of the attack but that would be corrected now. “GAN CRACK!” He jumped into the air and immediately came back down with his sword swinging downwards at the knight. After the attack was over, he jumped backwards a few feet and did another Wind Blade attack. This blade was formed in a fashion of a Crack-type attack and hit about the same spot from the Gan Crack attack. The Ember Knight stood there for a second before it split up into many pieces before disappearing completely.
Phoenix gave out a short laugh after the Ember Knight was defeated. Marionette, it looks that I did not lose as much you think. My true power is more useful than gravity ever was. It’s been a long time that I felt so alive or having fun. Wind does represent the free spirit after all. I guess I’m finally feel alive now.
OOC:
Soot Knights: 8, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 2
Ember Knights: 1
Phoenix got an answer to his question about the flashmails from the hubs which hitting the other hubs would get a more complete picture of the Elites’ current plans. The next part of the meeting was more of a recap for me and most of the others. At least it confirmed Zan’s theory about Lighteria who should have known all of this. He wondered what happened to the real Lighteria and why this imposter was doing such a bad job at acting like the real version. He added that mystery to his list of things that are left unanswered in the World.
Lighteria tried to suggest for the group to shift the Admins focus on us to the Elites but Raine put that idea to rest with the same reasoning that he remembered before. Phoenix knew that the Admins would rather go after less powerful hackers like the Freedom Fighters than after the Elites but at the same time, they would need us to defeat the true threat. Rayo suggested that the group go back to the other hub which the blademaster brought up before. While Zan seemed to be annoyed with the whole meeting and Nall in particular, he began a rant and left the room before anything was agreed upon. Phoenix thought that he himself acted like a jackass at times but Zan completely take the cake with this rant. It made Phoenix looked tamed in comparison.
Next up was Canti who did not ask a question about the Hub situation but with Suraisu. Phoenix did not know the details about Suraisu except that he was a hacker that brought Dien, Xhao, and Canti into this mess in the first place. He did not really care about the whereabouts of said hacker since he was a minion of the Elites and rather low on the totem pole. He really cared about the Elites themselves since they are more of a threat that any minion was. After Nall answered Canti’s question, Silverblade decided to go back to the previous Hub but the group was going to wait a day at least before returning back there but Hac did not like that idea at all. He thought that Marionette would strengthen its defenses from last time but Nall thinks that he would leave the Hub’s defenses alone.
Suddenly Phoenix got a flashmail from Marionette himself which he was shocked by the contents. How the hell did he know about the new powers? I just got them not too long. Only Rayo knows about them and hasn’t really gotten a chance to talk to anyone else about them. Can he able to sense us through the Twilight? He continues to drive the fact that he’s all-knowing and powerful. Even though he’s the guardian of the hubs, he shouldn’t be able to track us and know things about us that barely even other people know. I need to leave this place for a bit since we aren’t moving out until tomorrow.
The blademaster decided to leave the hideout for Carmina Gadelica. He never visited the city before even though the current hideout was located there. He took a walk around the city which was always covered in darkness but the city lights made it look elegant. Phoenix thought about going up to the rooftops but his jumping skill was not up to par due to loss of the gravity powers. He did not want to attract attention from the other players by doing a running jump to get up there. So he continued to walk around the city and felt a gentle breeze. The breeze felt differently to him compared normal breezes in the past.
Phoenix could not explain this feeling except that he knows the feeling is different. He quickly infers that the different feeling was a side effect from the new wind powers. He stopped at a bridge and leaned forward against the railing. The wind user began to think about some things. So many people have returned or joining the group for the first time. It’s rather weird. It’s like that defeating Primal have attracted all these people like a recruitment poster. Marionette thinks that I lost something from the trade which might be the sheer power of gravity itself but the wind is powerful itself. The main benefit is that I have control of my will instead the darkness within. That itself far outweighs the sheer power I lost. I paid too many prices during this curse and don’t care about additional prices. I know the path that I walked on pretty well now. There will be more tolls ahead. I’m ready to pay them when they come up.
After that pondering, he returned back to the hideout and sat in the common room waiting for the others to get ready to go. Phoenix was not really tired after his ordeal and did not want to train for the moment. He managed somehow passed the time before the others were ready to go to the previous hub. He equipped Suzaku with two orbs before going into the field.
Once arriving at the hub, the blademaster immediately noticed that the field has changed from the previous visit. The jungle was burned to the ground from the fire that was used to defeat the rock-throwing monkeys. Phoenix did not mind the jungle burned down since he still feels shivers from the data drain attack that Kurai gave to him long ago. With this new terrain, the group still encountered initial resistance but this time, it was in the form of knights made of ash.
Before Phoenix could react, Zan immediately jumped into the fray and discovered an interesting ability from the weakest knights. They could not be killed by a very strong attack. This ability reminded him of the time when the group fought off a bunch of tigers while they were affected by a strength reducing effect that was strongest with the higher level players than the lower level ones. I think I’ll take out one of the winged knights. Suzaku, I’ll have you on standby since I’m not too sure if they can be affected by fire. If the initial fire didn’t destroy these guys, I doubt additional fire would do the job.
Phoenix noticed that lightning does a great job against the ashy knights but being a blademaster, he would have to resort to Rai Rom for elemental critical damage. He switched to the Silver Bracer and a moment later, an Ember Knight attacked him with GiVak Kruz. Phoenix reacted with a quick jump into the air but could not completely avoid the attack. The embers impacted on his legs and forced him back to the ground. He felt pain all around his legs and could not stand up immediately. The blademaster cast La Repth to remove the pain from the legs which allow him to be at least one knee when the Ember Knight began to dive towards him.
Even though he could not fully stand up, Phoenix had the perfect defense in mind for the Ember Knight. He lined up his blade towards the Ember Knight or more specifically, where the wings connected at the body. “WIND BLADE!” He swung the sword in a horizontal arc from the left side of the body to the other side. This motion created a high-speed blade of wind that cut off the wings of the Ember Knight before being disbursed. The ash wings were no more as the wind blew them away as the Knight crashed down the earth.
Phoenix managed to recover enough to dodge out of the way to avoid the wingless Ember Knight. He was sort of happy that his new wind power does not cause him pain compared to the gravity power. He switched from the Bloody Pain to the Matoi as the Ember Knight stood up from the quick descent. If the Knight had any emotion at all, it would be most likely be pissed from losing its wings. It charged at Phoenix and began to swing its sword at him. The blademaster felt the heat of the sword as he avoided it with his wind-enhanced speed. In terms of speed, they were about equal as it managed to block off a counter from Phoenix with its shield. He was realizing that a straight-up sword fight would not be the best way to defeat this knight. He decided to use Rai Rom this close to the knight but it would affect the Ember Knight more than he would. “RAI ROM!”
The lightning tornado caused the Ember Knight to be stunned with Phoenix feeling some of the attack but that would be corrected now. “GAN CRACK!” He jumped into the air and immediately came back down with his sword swinging downwards at the knight. After the attack was over, he jumped backwards a few feet and did another Wind Blade attack. This blade was formed in a fashion of a Crack-type attack and hit about the same spot from the Gan Crack attack. The Ember Knight stood there for a second before it split up into many pieces before disappearing completely.
Phoenix gave out a short laugh after the Ember Knight was defeated. Marionette, it looks that I did not lose as much you think. My true power is more useful than gravity ever was. It’s been a long time that I felt so alive or having fun. Wind does represent the free spirit after all. I guess I’m finally feel alive now.
OOC:
Soot Knights: 8, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 2
Ember Knights: 1
Phoenix
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver
Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver
Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath
The meeting had reached its end and the group was dispersing. The day itself was beginning to wind down and most members were already showing fatigue. Of course it was only natural to get a fresh start in the morning, after all why push yourselves when you know you're going to be pushed anyway? The twin blade understood of course, but that didn't make the wait any easier.
The hideout eventually shifts to silence as the players go to rest. Kit, after a wonderful hour and a half of back scratching, heads for the couch where Lighteria sits in quiet contemplation.
...I can't believe I'm going to spend the night like this. This wasn't supposed to last this long! I should be gone by now! ...
...Damn it. I sound like this is all going according to some sort of delayed plan. Everything HAD been going that way up until today though! This is-... This just is... completely screwed up. No rhyme or reason to anything...
His head droops as he stares at the floor, shaking lightly.
I don't think I can handle this. I need someone to talk to.
With that, Kit jumps onto the couch and smiles. Lighteria looks over and blinks his eyes, his gut untwisting a little, thinking this was just what he needed. He opens his mouth to speak but Kit simply walks past him, clamping down on a pillow with her teeth. The twin blade blinks in surprise as he watches the kitten growl with effort, slowly walking backwards and dragging the pillow off the couch. It hits the ground with a light 'fwump' and Kit smiles proudly, whiskers twitching lightly. Without another word, she jumps onto the pillow, claws lightly at the surface and curls up into a ball, shutting her eyes and purring lazily, drifting off. Lighteria just watches her for a minute.
...
...!^@$ing cat.
Ironically, that had helped. Instead of worried, Lighteria was now just plain angry. In a huff, he flops onto his side, resting on the couch and shutting his eyes, forcing himself to sleep.
The next morning...
With the reluctant realization that he's not at all hungry... literally feeling nothing of the sort, the twin blade skips breakfast in favor of equipment prep. After all, if you don't even feel hungry or physically need food, why bother with it apart from the taste? And as good as wolfing down another gigantic sundae sounds, things in the hideout just don't feel in synch with the 'kick back and binge' mood. On top of the groups tempo being at odds with him, Lighteria is definitely feeling the effects of pre-battle jitters. The MASSIVE ice cream head ache he'd experienced yesterday had left any doubts of how much pain you could actually feel like this behind. As he stares down at Akatsuki, his face pales lightly.
Oh God... I really hurt him. ...I mean I actually really hurt him. ...That was NOT part of the plan.
He looks up at a good portion of the group preparing to gate out.
...Then again, you can't really blame me. Look at these people. This isn't even supposed to EXIST. People don't GET trapped in games! That just doesn't even come CLOSE to being right. It just... BREAKS truckloads of physical, moral and really cognititave boundaries! Not Possible!
...Of course. Here I am. Trading places with the sissiest male player I've ever seen into a situation that supposed to be purely impossible. Oh, and the cat talks. My GOD, the beating they're giving to logic should have a mandatory life sentence, I mean it's just BRUTAL. ...
"We should probably go soon, you know." Kit suddenly says, still resting on the pillow from the night before.
"Yeah yeah..." Lighteria mutters, getting up. He stretches out and slips the blades into his belt, glancing down to the cat for a few seconds, expectantly. "...Well? Not going to wish me luck? Pep talk? I'm sure you're the kid's cheerleader every other day." He smirks, sarcastically.
"Mew mew meow mew moew meow mew mew moew mew mew! (I hope someone shoves their fist down your throat and you slowly choke on it!)" Kit says in a peppy, cheerful voice.
"Good enough." Lighteria says with a nod, smirking as he heads for the chaos gate. "This shouldn't take too long. Heck, maybe I can make this little dungeon run go my way."
The two gate out soon after.
λ Pulsating LightTrap Core
*sniff*
Oh DAMN, this place smells like the one time the refinery caught fire!
Wrinkling his nose in disgust and irritation, Lighteria glares towards the charred and burning landscape, Kit opting to take residence on his shoulder. His hand lifts just above his eyes to shield his vision from the falling ash long enough to get a good, clear assessment of the field. It takes him a few seconds to realize his feet are nearly covered in ash. He looks down and grimaces, shuffling his foot lightly in the soot. Luckily, the boots he wears are just high enough for rugged terrain travel and, in this case, keeping random junk out of his shoes. He shakes his head one and sneers at the terrain, speaking up.
"Nice vacation spot, Mary. Can't wait to see those wild parties in the second circle." He says, recounting a passage from Dante. As he speaks though, the ash starts to rise up around the group.
“Uh, guys? We've got company.” A voice chimes past the twin blade's hearing. He scowls as he sees the soot take shape.
Oh cute. Custom monsters. Just fa-antastic.
With safety in mind, the twin blade takes a step backwards towards the center of the group members, hoping they'll provide a bit of cover. With that in mind, he flashes a grin and holds out his hand, glyphs forming around his avatar.
"GiRai Don!" He he half-shouts, his finger pointing towards one of the Ash Knights. There's a brief flash of light above the monster's head as the spell releases. Without warning, three gigantic plumes of lightning careen down from the sky, each one striking the knight with brutal force. Elemental Critical flashes lightly as the monster bursts into a thousand flakes of ash. As they float to earth, Lighteria lets out a laugh. "Oh gimme a break, they're like walking party favors!"
"Hey." Kit suddenly chimes into his ear. "Are you not paying ANY attention? It took no damage."
"Eh?" Lighteria lifts an eyebrow quizzically and turns his head back from Kit to the pile of ash. ...The reforming pile of ash. The twin blade blinks in surprise and starts backing away as the burnt earth reforms itself back into the figure of a knight. "....Crap." He mutters, the knight starting to rush forward, bent on revenge.
...Great. Well, if you can't blast it to death, may as well just clobber it over the head.
With the knight still rushing forward, the twinblade steps backwards again, his head held out to cast another spell while there's time. "Gan Don!" He barks out, stepping backwards again when the casting it done. Almost immediately a large chunk of earth falls from the sky and crashes onto the head of the Ash Knight. The monster stumbles lightly as the boulder crumbles to dust from impact, its ashen helmet becoming askew. It slows a moment to right its armor with its free hand but lunges towards the twin blade soon after. Lighteria gasps and leaps to the side, nearly slipping from the soot under his feet. With a growl, he holds his hand out again as the knight lunges lightly past him.
"Gan Don!" He says again, another boulder crashing down onto the knight's head. This time, with the knight having been unbalanced from lunging, the impact sends the monster crashing to the ground for a moment. It lifts itself up quickly, its head swaying curiously back and forth like it's seeing stars. "Gan Don!" Lighteria says, getting frustrated with the monster's resilience. A third boulder lands on the monster's skull, sending its soot helmet clean off. It stumbles backwards in a punch drunk haze, its sword swinging randomly in whatever direction it feels like. "Gan Don!!" Lighteria says, similar in tone to how you'd say 'just die already!' The fourth boulder crashes into the knight's body, this time caving its head in and crushing a good portion of the torso. It twitches and collapses into the soot, disassembling back into the ground.
"Mew mew meow. (You need a therapist.)" Kit says quietly, claws still dug into his shoulder for support.
"Shut up and lose the claws, flea bait."
(SP 55)
Soot Knights: 8, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 1
Ember Knights: 1
The hideout eventually shifts to silence as the players go to rest. Kit, after a wonderful hour and a half of back scratching, heads for the couch where Lighteria sits in quiet contemplation.
...I can't believe I'm going to spend the night like this. This wasn't supposed to last this long! I should be gone by now! ...
...Damn it. I sound like this is all going according to some sort of delayed plan. Everything HAD been going that way up until today though! This is-... This just is... completely screwed up. No rhyme or reason to anything...
His head droops as he stares at the floor, shaking lightly.
I don't think I can handle this. I need someone to talk to.
With that, Kit jumps onto the couch and smiles. Lighteria looks over and blinks his eyes, his gut untwisting a little, thinking this was just what he needed. He opens his mouth to speak but Kit simply walks past him, clamping down on a pillow with her teeth. The twin blade blinks in surprise as he watches the kitten growl with effort, slowly walking backwards and dragging the pillow off the couch. It hits the ground with a light 'fwump' and Kit smiles proudly, whiskers twitching lightly. Without another word, she jumps onto the pillow, claws lightly at the surface and curls up into a ball, shutting her eyes and purring lazily, drifting off. Lighteria just watches her for a minute.
...
...!^@$ing cat.
Ironically, that had helped. Instead of worried, Lighteria was now just plain angry. In a huff, he flops onto his side, resting on the couch and shutting his eyes, forcing himself to sleep.
The next morning...
With the reluctant realization that he's not at all hungry... literally feeling nothing of the sort, the twin blade skips breakfast in favor of equipment prep. After all, if you don't even feel hungry or physically need food, why bother with it apart from the taste? And as good as wolfing down another gigantic sundae sounds, things in the hideout just don't feel in synch with the 'kick back and binge' mood. On top of the groups tempo being at odds with him, Lighteria is definitely feeling the effects of pre-battle jitters. The MASSIVE ice cream head ache he'd experienced yesterday had left any doubts of how much pain you could actually feel like this behind. As he stares down at Akatsuki, his face pales lightly.
Oh God... I really hurt him. ...I mean I actually really hurt him. ...That was NOT part of the plan.
He looks up at a good portion of the group preparing to gate out.
...Then again, you can't really blame me. Look at these people. This isn't even supposed to EXIST. People don't GET trapped in games! That just doesn't even come CLOSE to being right. It just... BREAKS truckloads of physical, moral and really cognititave boundaries! Not Possible!
...Of course. Here I am. Trading places with the sissiest male player I've ever seen into a situation that supposed to be purely impossible. Oh, and the cat talks. My GOD, the beating they're giving to logic should have a mandatory life sentence, I mean it's just BRUTAL. ...
"We should probably go soon, you know." Kit suddenly says, still resting on the pillow from the night before.
"Yeah yeah..." Lighteria mutters, getting up. He stretches out and slips the blades into his belt, glancing down to the cat for a few seconds, expectantly. "...Well? Not going to wish me luck? Pep talk? I'm sure you're the kid's cheerleader every other day." He smirks, sarcastically.
"Mew mew meow mew moew meow mew mew moew mew mew! (I hope someone shoves their fist down your throat and you slowly choke on it!)" Kit says in a peppy, cheerful voice.
"Good enough." Lighteria says with a nod, smirking as he heads for the chaos gate. "This shouldn't take too long. Heck, maybe I can make this little dungeon run go my way."
The two gate out soon after.
λ Pulsating LightTrap Core
*sniff*
Oh DAMN, this place smells like the one time the refinery caught fire!
Wrinkling his nose in disgust and irritation, Lighteria glares towards the charred and burning landscape, Kit opting to take residence on his shoulder. His hand lifts just above his eyes to shield his vision from the falling ash long enough to get a good, clear assessment of the field. It takes him a few seconds to realize his feet are nearly covered in ash. He looks down and grimaces, shuffling his foot lightly in the soot. Luckily, the boots he wears are just high enough for rugged terrain travel and, in this case, keeping random junk out of his shoes. He shakes his head one and sneers at the terrain, speaking up.
"Nice vacation spot, Mary. Can't wait to see those wild parties in the second circle." He says, recounting a passage from Dante. As he speaks though, the ash starts to rise up around the group.
“Uh, guys? We've got company.” A voice chimes past the twin blade's hearing. He scowls as he sees the soot take shape.
Oh cute. Custom monsters. Just fa-antastic.
With safety in mind, the twin blade takes a step backwards towards the center of the group members, hoping they'll provide a bit of cover. With that in mind, he flashes a grin and holds out his hand, glyphs forming around his avatar.
"GiRai Don!" He he half-shouts, his finger pointing towards one of the Ash Knights. There's a brief flash of light above the monster's head as the spell releases. Without warning, three gigantic plumes of lightning careen down from the sky, each one striking the knight with brutal force. Elemental Critical flashes lightly as the monster bursts into a thousand flakes of ash. As they float to earth, Lighteria lets out a laugh. "Oh gimme a break, they're like walking party favors!"
"Hey." Kit suddenly chimes into his ear. "Are you not paying ANY attention? It took no damage."
"Eh?" Lighteria lifts an eyebrow quizzically and turns his head back from Kit to the pile of ash. ...The reforming pile of ash. The twin blade blinks in surprise and starts backing away as the burnt earth reforms itself back into the figure of a knight. "....Crap." He mutters, the knight starting to rush forward, bent on revenge.
...Great. Well, if you can't blast it to death, may as well just clobber it over the head.
With the knight still rushing forward, the twinblade steps backwards again, his head held out to cast another spell while there's time. "Gan Don!" He barks out, stepping backwards again when the casting it done. Almost immediately a large chunk of earth falls from the sky and crashes onto the head of the Ash Knight. The monster stumbles lightly as the boulder crumbles to dust from impact, its ashen helmet becoming askew. It slows a moment to right its armor with its free hand but lunges towards the twin blade soon after. Lighteria gasps and leaps to the side, nearly slipping from the soot under his feet. With a growl, he holds his hand out again as the knight lunges lightly past him.
"Gan Don!" He says again, another boulder crashing down onto the knight's head. This time, with the knight having been unbalanced from lunging, the impact sends the monster crashing to the ground for a moment. It lifts itself up quickly, its head swaying curiously back and forth like it's seeing stars. "Gan Don!" Lighteria says, getting frustrated with the monster's resilience. A third boulder lands on the monster's skull, sending its soot helmet clean off. It stumbles backwards in a punch drunk haze, its sword swinging randomly in whatever direction it feels like. "Gan Don!!" Lighteria says, similar in tone to how you'd say 'just die already!' The fourth boulder crashes into the knight's body, this time caving its head in and crushing a good portion of the torso. It twitches and collapses into the soot, disassembling back into the ground.
"Mew mew meow. (You need a therapist.)" Kit says quietly, claws still dug into his shoulder for support.
"Shut up and lose the claws, flea bait."
(SP 55)
Soot Knights: 8, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 1
Ember Knights: 1
Lv. 37 Twin Blade (180 SP)
Weapon: Rashou (Thunder Coil- 30, Suvi Lei- 20, Mumyn Lei- 30) (Life Drain)
Armor: Holy Tree Mail (Juk Kruz- 20) - Scarab Earring (La Repth- 20, Rip Maen- 40) - Time Sandals (Ap Do- 15) - Forest Gloves (Juk Kruz- 20)
GP: 14384
Wish list (In order of priority): Angel halo accessory, chibi angel wings, Bone Armor, Professional
Lighteria: "Obsessively updating my profile since Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:10 pm"
Weapon: Rashou (Thunder Coil- 30, Suvi Lei- 20, Mumyn Lei- 30) (Life Drain)
Armor: Holy Tree Mail (Juk Kruz- 20) - Scarab Earring (La Repth- 20, Rip Maen- 40) - Time Sandals (Ap Do- 15) - Forest Gloves (Juk Kruz- 20)
GP: 14384
Wish list (In order of priority): Angel halo accessory, chibi angel wings, Bone Armor, Professional
Lighteria: "Obsessively updating my profile since Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:10 pm"
A small part of Kira's mind commented that it was probably more than just a good thing that Sekai was so off her ass asleep that she could probably tackle the girl in full out physical form and wouldn't budge her. Especially since, other than the fact that Kira was taking a shot in the dark, no pun intended mind you, and guessing that the tall man she'd just finished bantering and chatting with was affiliated with the Ani, or Darkness element, that Sekai probably would have right out stroked out from a heart attack at the sight of him.
....okay fine, yes, pun was fully intended.
He had a good sense of humor at least, or somehow had the same brand of humor she did, and seemed to take the situation seriously. The identity and purpose crisis was a familiar one to Kira, mostly because she felt the edges of one starting to crash down on her as well after everything that had gone on lately and she'd responded with something that had... well, sounded more Sekai like than something she'd have said more than a year ago really. After she'd finished laughing at the final statement that the Heavy Blade, appropriately named Silverblade, had made about needing to stay alive long enough for the 'show' in Theta, the AI glanced thoughtfully at the girl sleeping soundly on the beat to hell and back couch. It was a rare sight to see her sleeping so peacefully after so many nights of being vigilant long enough to wake her from her nightmares and get her to relax and off to a still not quite restful sleep. Traumatic incidents tended to wear the mind, body and soul out, the guardian of the girl decided with a bit of a mental sigh, leaning against the couch and watching her with one hand propping her chin, trying to figure out just what the hell it was about the girl that inspired such a protective streak in her.
Sure as hell wasn't the naiveté; that was for damn sure.
Sure she pulls off the 'I'm cute, small and have really big eyes, please don't hurt me' thing really well but, hell, so do several other players I've seen. Actually, I know one of them personally, wonder how she's doing since I've been gone.
A slight rustling of clothing and of feathers drew her attention, barely perceptible movement by the woman led her eyes to the form of the black winged guy Sekai'd been talking to earlier. The one who'd shared, or acted like it anyways, the same sentiments about hackers as she herself did. Slight tensing of her body as she watched him look over in their general direction for a quick moment before he slipped out of the room quietly and without a word. Alrighty then, she thought with a quirk of an eyebrow and shrugged to herself. They hadn't looked down that particular door yet, she'd make sure to let Sekai know that more exploring was in order when the girl woke up and such. Frowning as the entire 'Hideout' seemed to fall silent after a few hours, Kira let herself relax a little and moved from her position on the floor, stretching herself out and cracking her back as she wandered around the room a little, making sure not to separate too far from the sleeping girl and always keeping her within eye-shot in case she needed to go over and wake the girl up from her night terrors.
Bored as hell was never a good thing for someone like Kira, she tended to get herself into many unfavorable situations that way and, from past experiences, decided that a little self-training was in order. Nothing major since she couldn't really affect a damn thing that was living or dead at the moment but hey, something to be said for keeping herself in shape anyways. Besides, there was absolutely no reason she should be slacking off and not keeping herself in prime condition dammit. Taking up her weapon from where she'd laid the thing against the wall, she examined the double-edged blade with a critical eye, making sure the weapon, despite the lack of use in the past while, hadn't retained any damage from her last battle with it. One edge was smooth and sharp, the blade itself was about the length of her arm from the tip of her middle finger to the curve of her elbow, and the second side was a wickedly barbed thing with three serrated edges spaced about three inches apart. One side for a clean, quick cut or decapitation and the other side for a brutal, more damaging internal attack that could also be used for sawing something down... or off for that matter. Despite the fact that she and her weapon were ghost like, a faint remainder of color still showed in the right lighting of their former, more physically solid selves and she was proud of that fact dammit.
I'm getting old if I have to concentrate to remember my damn routines.
Alright, weapon at attention and... go! A large waist high sweep followed up by a diagonal slash up towards the right shoulder and a completed tri-movement action finished off by a cleave right down the center of wherever her invisible opponent was. Her eyes narrowed as she reversed the movement, starting with a downwards slash, then a sweep from the right shoulder to the left him and finished off by a vertical swipe across an imagined gut to disembowel her opponent. A grin appeared on her face soon enough as she increased the amount of distance in her attacks, rather than keep it restrained to a section of the room, using the entire floor and generally taking up as much space as possible for her exercise. Rough, offensive battle tactics soon smoothed out into a rhythmic pattern that combined offense with defense into a sort of fluid dance-like movement with the range weapon and its wielder in harmony. With her blade raised in the air, she narrowed her eyes and concentrated to make it vanish back into her 'inventory' and continued the warm up exercises with nothing more than a few simple techniques she'd learned from watching a Fist Fighter one day. It wasn't unusual for her to be up more than forty-eight hours of a human's time span, mostly because as an AI, she had a different sense of time than those of the other world did and used it according to what she felt was needed to be done.
“Is that Tai Chi Chuan?”
Kira's head turned to look over her shoulder, pausing in the middle of one of the forms and blinking at the girl sitting on her knees, damn how she hated sitting that way and it made her knees hurt just watching the way the younger, less experienced girl did it as if it were nothing at all, and watching her with a curious look on her face. Just how the hell did she wake up without her knowledge in the first place? Damn, she really must have been caught up in the exercise to have completely overlooked the signs of the girl moving and waking up. Embarrassed, though she struggled not to show it, the AI dropped the form and stretched out her hands and arms above her head before walking over to where the girl sat and crouched in front of her, elbows resting on her knees as she grinned at her.
“Maybe so, dunno the name of it but, it could be right since I picked it up from this one Fist Fighter I hung around for a little while. Supposedly some kinda art that makes you look like water fighting, so I figured I'd try and give it a shot. You didn't move the entire time I watched over you and during what I think most of my training session was, sleep good?”
The girl rose to her feet and stretched in much the same manner, listening carefully for any signs of waking from anyone in the Hideout before she responded softly to Kira's inquiry.
“I didn't dream or have any of my attacks or night terrors so... I think my sleep was fitful enough.”
Biting her lip and wondering just how on earth she was going to ask Kira to, well, help her warm up and wake her up from the still hazy effects of the sedatives that still floated in her system. Even outside this game, she'd never responded well to the anesthesia and generally was in the hospital a good three or so extra hours post operation, or whatever other treatment she'd had done that required her being 'put down,' just trying to wake up and shake it out of her system.
“Can you... um, if it isn't too much trouble, teach me a little bit of that exercise to warm up? It... it's probably going to be a long day ahead of us and I want to be ready for anything.”
Kira raised an eyebrow, rising from her crouch to look down at the five foot nothing girl and smiled at her a moment, secretly proud of the girl for taking the entire situation seriously enough that she was trying to train herself into preparing for combat.
Well why the hell not?
Two hours later...
She wasn't doing too badly, Kira mused to herself, watching the girl with a critical eye for a moment as she struggled to memorize the form she'd been shown and taught. After a moment, Kira wandered over beside her, much to the confusion of one upset girl because she couldn't seem to get it right, and picked up where she'd just ended to restart the movements again with her. The frustration caused brightness in Sekai's eyes soon began to disappear to be replaced by a shine of excitement as she followed Kira's lead and found that she was screwing up less. Sure her movements weren't nearly as fluid and graceful as the AI's were and definitely not as natural looking but, at least she was able to do it at this point. Apparently Kira liked to put new spins on things, showing her how to turn on her heel to move and strike quickly with one hand right after they'd finished the form and to start all over again to combine the two.
“It's like I said earlier to you little one, it's not a style for offense; it's a defensive style kind of thing that I was taught and I generally only use in sparring matches, training or warming up before a day's worth of battling in the fields. Good for toning the muscles and the body, not to mention releasing stress and get the energy flowing to your veins. Fist Fighter also told me he'd heard a rumor it helped increase your life expectancy by years if you did it long enough.”
They practiced a little while longer, smooth and flowing movement like the coming and going of an ocean wave right before there was a sudden, sharp turn and strike of the hand and a pivoting of the position to face a new direction. Eventually they managed to both get caught up in their training and their enjoyment of each other's company to the point where Sekai was subconsciously timing her movements with Kira's own; their strikes and wide, slow arm and hand motions coming into sync with each other the longer they focused on their two action form.
Someone's feet hit the floor in the other room, breaking the sound of the slow, even breathing of the two trainees and causing them to both drop their stances immediately to look in the direction of the sound. A wry half-smile touched Kira's lips as she faded out, a small pale blue sphere of light where she'd stood hovering for a moment before dashing and fusing with Sekai's body. Temporarily illuminated in a blue-white light, Sekai's eyes closed as she felt Kira find her place within Sekai's mind and settle herself comfortably in the same lotus styled sitting position and leaned against the 'wall' to await the time she was needed for combat or whatever else the girl would call on her for.
Ahh well, it was fun while it lasted little one. We'll have to make a habit of this, maybe find a secluded place here in this 'Hideout' thing to make it so it's you 'n me so we can warm up some more and I can teach you a few more things. Hell, if I can manage to solidify myself for more than ten minutes at a time? I'll spar with you the real way and really give you a workout, or we can go off somewhere in a field and kill something for a while; just you and me.
Sekai smiled in response and waited quietly in one of the chairs, sitting up straight out of habit and watched as, one by one, those who woke prepared themselves and gathered in to carry out the next assault on this... communication hub that they'd apparently been to before but had been forced to abandon for some reason or another. One by one they fell in line and headed out to the previously unseen Chaos Gate and muttered the keywords to the area, golden rings falling and transporting everyone, herself included as she spoke the words in a hushed whisper, into the face of their next challenge.
A deeper part of her, one that Sekai didn't understand and couldn't explain, recoiled in horror at the charred, barren and ash filled landscape that greeted them once she opened her eyes. The remains still flickering with orange embers let her know that this had once been some kind of wooded area, filled with plant life that now lay smothered beneath the ashes that nearly came up to her shin. Something cool touched her cheek, the girl raising a hand up to brush it away with her fingers, only to find her fingertips coming away a darker dove-like gray in color and her brow furrowing as she realized the 'snowflakes' falling were ashes.
'It's...-'
A field of death and destruction.
Kira finished the thought for the shocked girl grimly, watching through her eyes and noticing the rest of the party looking as surprised, if not more so, as her little one was about the contents of the field. A warning from the guy with green markings, she thought he might have been called Nall, also known as a bastard hacker in the AI's opinion sent the rest of them on alert and on edge. Looking for the opponent unti- oh what the fuck was this; Kira thought to herself, noting Sekai's equal confusion and eyebrow raise of disbelief as the ash piles started converging and reshaping themselves. No white longbow or curved mahogany bow was going to take care of this, the both of them decided with a grim expression and checked their weaponry before deciding on the elegantly crafted silver metal bow. Not real silver, much to Kira's grumbling at having been jipped out of a good product with the actual shiny metal that came with the element she loved. The weapon was called to her hand, the gemstone on her glove glowing as she gripped the metal comfortingly, tightly in her hands and looked towards the oncoming opponents.
Just stay close to wolf-man and you'll be just fine battle wi-”
As if the scarred man had even caught a bit of her train of thought, he pulled his shifty thing that Kira still had not the slightest fucking clue as to how it worked and promptly hauled some mucho ass to go and utterly beat the living shit out of the soot things. The expression on Sekai's face was priceless as she stood, blinking in disbelief as Zan damn near barreled through one completely and back handed another to get it out of his way before converging on a third to engage in battle. The ones he'd hit away from him? Exploded.
...exploded into soot.
Well that plan just got fucked in the ass and became useless.
No masking the irritation in the grumbling and sulking AI's voice this time as she glared through Sekai's eyes at Zan's party with whatever bastard he'd decided to go after and shred like that torso she suspected him killing the shit out of in the Cafe thing.
'Kira!'
What?! It's the truth!
Further observation gave the embarrassed Archer some time to try and figure out a good tactic against these things and find some kind of weakness against them. Element wise... she frowned, Darkness seemed a likely option really, though why it wasn't violet miasma and instead purple flames was beyond her understanding for the time being.
'Kira, help me with the wings and get me into the air, I need a vantage point against... well, any of these really.'
You're goin' after the bitch with wings, no arguing, he's the nastiest one here and you're gonna take him down and prove you're not just a pretty little thing.
White wings unfurled and beat a cloud of grayish-black ash into the air as the appendages launched the girl several feet up, beat again and got her to about thirteen feet high before she balanced herself out and looked for the winged opponent Kira was talking about. Spotting... one? There was only one? Frowning because she'd been sure she'd seen more than one of them, Sekai took her opponent in her sights and in one practiced, smooth movement she'd been working on since Kira had, without her permission might she add, signed her up for the Archery Club in school and fired the first arrow off. A streak of metal pierced through the air and slammed into the shoulder of the Ember Knight, a chunk out of it poofing back into soot as it became alerted to another hostile opponent somewhere nearby.
I think I need to hit it with some kind of elemental spell and fast; it doesn't look happy at all and-!'
A scream escaped her as she was hit and enveloped in black-violet flames that seared her flesh and clothing, instinctively curling in on herself and wings beating heavily around her as she jerked away, wings moving her the hell away from the spot the flames were and began frantically putting the smoldering bits of her clothing and hair out. A second attack hit her while she was distracted, a strangled shriek this time out of her mouth as she was sent spiraling down and landing with a grand explosion of ash and soot that rose high into the air. She'd probably let Kira shoot someone if they made some kind of Hiroshima or Nagasaki crack at the cloud that started dissipating after a few moments from the impact of her body against the ground.
Little one; I have an idea. Roll around and cover yourself with the sooty stuff as much as you can.
Sekai was busy spitting out sooty and spluttering from it being in her nose. Gods only knew what it would take to clean this crap off but, she caught on to Kira's idea immediately and rolled herself in the darker parts, like she was having trouble getting herself to her feet and had Kira once again launch her into the air. This time? She was a dark grey sooty thing with blackish gray wings and whose hair was a very dark black-silver with some streaks of the normal color coming through. Amber eyes narrowed as she pulled the bowstring back, took aim and concentrated on the arrow itself, feeling the energy through her veins and letting it flow into the projectile itself as the metal shaft began to crackle brightly with a brilliant gold energy. Gritting her teeth, she let the arrow fly and hoped against hope that it would be one of the times she could actually dead center the strike into her target instead of hitting somewhere close or something else all together.
“Shocking Arrow of Voltage!”
Humming dangerously, the now white-gold arrow streaked through the air, leaving a trail of crackling energy behind as it sought the target and found it, just three inches below the place Sekai'd been hoping to hit and bit in deep before promptly making the damn thing explode and a gold sign of Elemental Critical flashed up afterwards. Breathing hard from the hits she'd taken and with the force of the words and spell she'd sent after it, Sekai's free hand gripped her left side as a hiss of pain escaped her and had tears springing to her eyes. Shoot, she thought with a visible wince, it was still going on? Why the hell hadn't they taken care of that kidney yet and why was it still hurting?!
Sek; whack a bitch again 'cause it's time for round two.
It'd reformed after her hit, drat it all to an infamously condemned place she didn't want to talk about, much less say the name of lest she condemn herself to head there if she were killed in this world. Aiming her palm at the monster in the infamously known and well used gesture for 'stop', Sekai narrowed her eyes as the energy collected there, making her palm feel hot and itchy with the power collected and sent it off in a series of gold-white spheres of electrified energy that swarmed around and crashed around their target. No elemental critical but, hey, still a nice effect to watch one of the wings destroy itself and become unable to be regenerated at the semi-quick pace it'd been able to before.
Time for another 'Arrow' if she had anything to say about it.
Wings beating with the Ember Knight struggling to keep itself aloft and in the air, fiery eyes met furious gold ones and locked in a battle of wills. Anger justified by the twin attacks that she'd been hit with, Sekai drew the second arrow and aimed it at the Ember Knight's face, glaring at it the entire time and felt the energy pull away from her and pool into the arrow. It was going to twin-cast her again, the son of a bitch, and the tell tale signs of the black energy that was starting to send the irate Archer into a sudden panic attack because, well, where there was Darkness; there would be Trent. Where Trent would be? There was no escape and there was no hope left for anyone. He couldn't be beat and oh Gods- he was going to show up if she didn't do something soon, Sekai panicked, beneath the layer of soot and ashes that caked her normally soft peach skin she turned white with fear, and began looking for the nearest escape out of there if the feared man managed to get through somehow to get her.
Pull your damn self together Sekai and kill it! Trent isn't here; he ain't coming here and he won't get you. I sure as fuck won't let him and Zan already told you he'd kick any son of a bitch's ass who tried to start shit with you. You're protected, you're safe and you're going to be fine as soon as you kill this damn thing!
Panic made her stupid, or at the least, very clumsy and reckless when it came to shooting the damn bow and the arrow launched itself as she let go of the string after she'd accidentally aimed down in a sharp gesture of surprise from Kira's near-snarled words at her. The electrified arrow zipped past a few of the soot idiots who'd tried to get in her way and shot itself into the gut of the one winged knight, not to be confused with the infamous one winged angel of course, and promptly exploded. This time, much to her relief, it didn't rise up from the grave of ashes below it.
However? Nasty son of a bitch still had the time to fire off the damn spells before said soot explosion. A repeat performance of one tiny Archer female plummeting into the ground and sending up a second mushroom cloud into the air when she impacted into not one but three of the vaguely humanoid, blade wielding Soot things that didn't have wings and were smaller and less defined than the one more humanoid. Said Soot Things weren't happy as they began to reform and glare at her; cat was out of the bag so to speak and they knew she wasn't their leader Ember Knight by the way she coughed, spluttered and generally began trying to clear the soot and ash out of her system.
Watering eyes squinting over to see the things coming after her, Sekai promptly remained in rushed panic mode and used the 6' longbow to literally swat through them, making them explode and reform with each hit she gave the three converging on her.
“Go away!”
She yelped frantically, speed of the 'swat through butterfly cloud' technique increasing with every moment the increasingly frantic girl spent trying to drive them off before she finally managed to use some portion of her brain.... and sent a wind-like spell at them with her preferred element adding a personal touch.
“Juk Rom!”
The three were in the process of being 'sploded when they were caught in the Wood tornado spell and were sucked into it. The cyclone, small as it was and completely black with barely a tint of green energy to it thanks to the soot-ash things, zipped off towards the left and soon dissipated without even a sign of one of the soot things. Higher levels must come in handy, so do frantic and panic increased strength. Breathing hard and promptly sneezing up a storm, Sekai found herself back up in the air and Kira taking over to give the poor thing a break before she went batshit fucking insane like she'd done in the Eventide Crescendo's Hell Pit of a field. Sneezing herself a few times before she decided enough was e-fucking-nough, Kira looked out over the battles being raged and summoned up a nice little surprise for anyone in the vicinity and party, which since rules no longer applied, was every fighter on her side.
“La-ah-ah-hahchoo! Dammit, La Repth.”
Scowling as the blue healing energy restored her HP-and her skin/clothing back to non-sooty status, though it looked like her now-gray wings would need to be put away and reequipped later on if she wanted them back to white, Kira surveyed the battle scene and watched to see if she could do anything else... okay fine, one more arrow into the ass-region of one of those vague shaped Soot Things wouldn't be too much to ask for. And besides; she could taunt the damn thing from up here while it tried to swipe at her for all she cared.
------------------------------------------------------------
Soot Knights: 5, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 1
Ember Knights: 0
....okay fine, yes, pun was fully intended.
He had a good sense of humor at least, or somehow had the same brand of humor she did, and seemed to take the situation seriously. The identity and purpose crisis was a familiar one to Kira, mostly because she felt the edges of one starting to crash down on her as well after everything that had gone on lately and she'd responded with something that had... well, sounded more Sekai like than something she'd have said more than a year ago really. After she'd finished laughing at the final statement that the Heavy Blade, appropriately named Silverblade, had made about needing to stay alive long enough for the 'show' in Theta, the AI glanced thoughtfully at the girl sleeping soundly on the beat to hell and back couch. It was a rare sight to see her sleeping so peacefully after so many nights of being vigilant long enough to wake her from her nightmares and get her to relax and off to a still not quite restful sleep. Traumatic incidents tended to wear the mind, body and soul out, the guardian of the girl decided with a bit of a mental sigh, leaning against the couch and watching her with one hand propping her chin, trying to figure out just what the hell it was about the girl that inspired such a protective streak in her.
Sure as hell wasn't the naiveté; that was for damn sure.
Sure she pulls off the 'I'm cute, small and have really big eyes, please don't hurt me' thing really well but, hell, so do several other players I've seen. Actually, I know one of them personally, wonder how she's doing since I've been gone.
A slight rustling of clothing and of feathers drew her attention, barely perceptible movement by the woman led her eyes to the form of the black winged guy Sekai'd been talking to earlier. The one who'd shared, or acted like it anyways, the same sentiments about hackers as she herself did. Slight tensing of her body as she watched him look over in their general direction for a quick moment before he slipped out of the room quietly and without a word. Alrighty then, she thought with a quirk of an eyebrow and shrugged to herself. They hadn't looked down that particular door yet, she'd make sure to let Sekai know that more exploring was in order when the girl woke up and such. Frowning as the entire 'Hideout' seemed to fall silent after a few hours, Kira let herself relax a little and moved from her position on the floor, stretching herself out and cracking her back as she wandered around the room a little, making sure not to separate too far from the sleeping girl and always keeping her within eye-shot in case she needed to go over and wake the girl up from her night terrors.
Bored as hell was never a good thing for someone like Kira, she tended to get herself into many unfavorable situations that way and, from past experiences, decided that a little self-training was in order. Nothing major since she couldn't really affect a damn thing that was living or dead at the moment but hey, something to be said for keeping herself in shape anyways. Besides, there was absolutely no reason she should be slacking off and not keeping herself in prime condition dammit. Taking up her weapon from where she'd laid the thing against the wall, she examined the double-edged blade with a critical eye, making sure the weapon, despite the lack of use in the past while, hadn't retained any damage from her last battle with it. One edge was smooth and sharp, the blade itself was about the length of her arm from the tip of her middle finger to the curve of her elbow, and the second side was a wickedly barbed thing with three serrated edges spaced about three inches apart. One side for a clean, quick cut or decapitation and the other side for a brutal, more damaging internal attack that could also be used for sawing something down... or off for that matter. Despite the fact that she and her weapon were ghost like, a faint remainder of color still showed in the right lighting of their former, more physically solid selves and she was proud of that fact dammit.
I'm getting old if I have to concentrate to remember my damn routines.
Alright, weapon at attention and... go! A large waist high sweep followed up by a diagonal slash up towards the right shoulder and a completed tri-movement action finished off by a cleave right down the center of wherever her invisible opponent was. Her eyes narrowed as she reversed the movement, starting with a downwards slash, then a sweep from the right shoulder to the left him and finished off by a vertical swipe across an imagined gut to disembowel her opponent. A grin appeared on her face soon enough as she increased the amount of distance in her attacks, rather than keep it restrained to a section of the room, using the entire floor and generally taking up as much space as possible for her exercise. Rough, offensive battle tactics soon smoothed out into a rhythmic pattern that combined offense with defense into a sort of fluid dance-like movement with the range weapon and its wielder in harmony. With her blade raised in the air, she narrowed her eyes and concentrated to make it vanish back into her 'inventory' and continued the warm up exercises with nothing more than a few simple techniques she'd learned from watching a Fist Fighter one day. It wasn't unusual for her to be up more than forty-eight hours of a human's time span, mostly because as an AI, she had a different sense of time than those of the other world did and used it according to what she felt was needed to be done.
“Is that Tai Chi Chuan?”
Kira's head turned to look over her shoulder, pausing in the middle of one of the forms and blinking at the girl sitting on her knees, damn how she hated sitting that way and it made her knees hurt just watching the way the younger, less experienced girl did it as if it were nothing at all, and watching her with a curious look on her face. Just how the hell did she wake up without her knowledge in the first place? Damn, she really must have been caught up in the exercise to have completely overlooked the signs of the girl moving and waking up. Embarrassed, though she struggled not to show it, the AI dropped the form and stretched out her hands and arms above her head before walking over to where the girl sat and crouched in front of her, elbows resting on her knees as she grinned at her.
“Maybe so, dunno the name of it but, it could be right since I picked it up from this one Fist Fighter I hung around for a little while. Supposedly some kinda art that makes you look like water fighting, so I figured I'd try and give it a shot. You didn't move the entire time I watched over you and during what I think most of my training session was, sleep good?”
The girl rose to her feet and stretched in much the same manner, listening carefully for any signs of waking from anyone in the Hideout before she responded softly to Kira's inquiry.
“I didn't dream or have any of my attacks or night terrors so... I think my sleep was fitful enough.”
Biting her lip and wondering just how on earth she was going to ask Kira to, well, help her warm up and wake her up from the still hazy effects of the sedatives that still floated in her system. Even outside this game, she'd never responded well to the anesthesia and generally was in the hospital a good three or so extra hours post operation, or whatever other treatment she'd had done that required her being 'put down,' just trying to wake up and shake it out of her system.
“Can you... um, if it isn't too much trouble, teach me a little bit of that exercise to warm up? It... it's probably going to be a long day ahead of us and I want to be ready for anything.”
Kira raised an eyebrow, rising from her crouch to look down at the five foot nothing girl and smiled at her a moment, secretly proud of the girl for taking the entire situation seriously enough that she was trying to train herself into preparing for combat.
Well why the hell not?
Two hours later...
She wasn't doing too badly, Kira mused to herself, watching the girl with a critical eye for a moment as she struggled to memorize the form she'd been shown and taught. After a moment, Kira wandered over beside her, much to the confusion of one upset girl because she couldn't seem to get it right, and picked up where she'd just ended to restart the movements again with her. The frustration caused brightness in Sekai's eyes soon began to disappear to be replaced by a shine of excitement as she followed Kira's lead and found that she was screwing up less. Sure her movements weren't nearly as fluid and graceful as the AI's were and definitely not as natural looking but, at least she was able to do it at this point. Apparently Kira liked to put new spins on things, showing her how to turn on her heel to move and strike quickly with one hand right after they'd finished the form and to start all over again to combine the two.
“It's like I said earlier to you little one, it's not a style for offense; it's a defensive style kind of thing that I was taught and I generally only use in sparring matches, training or warming up before a day's worth of battling in the fields. Good for toning the muscles and the body, not to mention releasing stress and get the energy flowing to your veins. Fist Fighter also told me he'd heard a rumor it helped increase your life expectancy by years if you did it long enough.”
They practiced a little while longer, smooth and flowing movement like the coming and going of an ocean wave right before there was a sudden, sharp turn and strike of the hand and a pivoting of the position to face a new direction. Eventually they managed to both get caught up in their training and their enjoyment of each other's company to the point where Sekai was subconsciously timing her movements with Kira's own; their strikes and wide, slow arm and hand motions coming into sync with each other the longer they focused on their two action form.
Someone's feet hit the floor in the other room, breaking the sound of the slow, even breathing of the two trainees and causing them to both drop their stances immediately to look in the direction of the sound. A wry half-smile touched Kira's lips as she faded out, a small pale blue sphere of light where she'd stood hovering for a moment before dashing and fusing with Sekai's body. Temporarily illuminated in a blue-white light, Sekai's eyes closed as she felt Kira find her place within Sekai's mind and settle herself comfortably in the same lotus styled sitting position and leaned against the 'wall' to await the time she was needed for combat or whatever else the girl would call on her for.
Ahh well, it was fun while it lasted little one. We'll have to make a habit of this, maybe find a secluded place here in this 'Hideout' thing to make it so it's you 'n me so we can warm up some more and I can teach you a few more things. Hell, if I can manage to solidify myself for more than ten minutes at a time? I'll spar with you the real way and really give you a workout, or we can go off somewhere in a field and kill something for a while; just you and me.
Sekai smiled in response and waited quietly in one of the chairs, sitting up straight out of habit and watched as, one by one, those who woke prepared themselves and gathered in to carry out the next assault on this... communication hub that they'd apparently been to before but had been forced to abandon for some reason or another. One by one they fell in line and headed out to the previously unseen Chaos Gate and muttered the keywords to the area, golden rings falling and transporting everyone, herself included as she spoke the words in a hushed whisper, into the face of their next challenge.
A deeper part of her, one that Sekai didn't understand and couldn't explain, recoiled in horror at the charred, barren and ash filled landscape that greeted them once she opened her eyes. The remains still flickering with orange embers let her know that this had once been some kind of wooded area, filled with plant life that now lay smothered beneath the ashes that nearly came up to her shin. Something cool touched her cheek, the girl raising a hand up to brush it away with her fingers, only to find her fingertips coming away a darker dove-like gray in color and her brow furrowing as she realized the 'snowflakes' falling were ashes.
'It's...-'
A field of death and destruction.
Kira finished the thought for the shocked girl grimly, watching through her eyes and noticing the rest of the party looking as surprised, if not more so, as her little one was about the contents of the field. A warning from the guy with green markings, she thought he might have been called Nall, also known as a bastard hacker in the AI's opinion sent the rest of them on alert and on edge. Looking for the opponent unti- oh what the fuck was this; Kira thought to herself, noting Sekai's equal confusion and eyebrow raise of disbelief as the ash piles started converging and reshaping themselves. No white longbow or curved mahogany bow was going to take care of this, the both of them decided with a grim expression and checked their weaponry before deciding on the elegantly crafted silver metal bow. Not real silver, much to Kira's grumbling at having been jipped out of a good product with the actual shiny metal that came with the element she loved. The weapon was called to her hand, the gemstone on her glove glowing as she gripped the metal comfortingly, tightly in her hands and looked towards the oncoming opponents.
Just stay close to wolf-man and you'll be just fine battle wi-”
As if the scarred man had even caught a bit of her train of thought, he pulled his shifty thing that Kira still had not the slightest fucking clue as to how it worked and promptly hauled some mucho ass to go and utterly beat the living shit out of the soot things. The expression on Sekai's face was priceless as she stood, blinking in disbelief as Zan damn near barreled through one completely and back handed another to get it out of his way before converging on a third to engage in battle. The ones he'd hit away from him? Exploded.
...exploded into soot.
Well that plan just got fucked in the ass and became useless.
No masking the irritation in the grumbling and sulking AI's voice this time as she glared through Sekai's eyes at Zan's party with whatever bastard he'd decided to go after and shred like that torso she suspected him killing the shit out of in the Cafe thing.
'Kira!'
What?! It's the truth!
Further observation gave the embarrassed Archer some time to try and figure out a good tactic against these things and find some kind of weakness against them. Element wise... she frowned, Darkness seemed a likely option really, though why it wasn't violet miasma and instead purple flames was beyond her understanding for the time being.
'Kira, help me with the wings and get me into the air, I need a vantage point against... well, any of these really.'
You're goin' after the bitch with wings, no arguing, he's the nastiest one here and you're gonna take him down and prove you're not just a pretty little thing.
White wings unfurled and beat a cloud of grayish-black ash into the air as the appendages launched the girl several feet up, beat again and got her to about thirteen feet high before she balanced herself out and looked for the winged opponent Kira was talking about. Spotting... one? There was only one? Frowning because she'd been sure she'd seen more than one of them, Sekai took her opponent in her sights and in one practiced, smooth movement she'd been working on since Kira had, without her permission might she add, signed her up for the Archery Club in school and fired the first arrow off. A streak of metal pierced through the air and slammed into the shoulder of the Ember Knight, a chunk out of it poofing back into soot as it became alerted to another hostile opponent somewhere nearby.
I think I need to hit it with some kind of elemental spell and fast; it doesn't look happy at all and-!'
A scream escaped her as she was hit and enveloped in black-violet flames that seared her flesh and clothing, instinctively curling in on herself and wings beating heavily around her as she jerked away, wings moving her the hell away from the spot the flames were and began frantically putting the smoldering bits of her clothing and hair out. A second attack hit her while she was distracted, a strangled shriek this time out of her mouth as she was sent spiraling down and landing with a grand explosion of ash and soot that rose high into the air. She'd probably let Kira shoot someone if they made some kind of Hiroshima or Nagasaki crack at the cloud that started dissipating after a few moments from the impact of her body against the ground.
Little one; I have an idea. Roll around and cover yourself with the sooty stuff as much as you can.
Sekai was busy spitting out sooty and spluttering from it being in her nose. Gods only knew what it would take to clean this crap off but, she caught on to Kira's idea immediately and rolled herself in the darker parts, like she was having trouble getting herself to her feet and had Kira once again launch her into the air. This time? She was a dark grey sooty thing with blackish gray wings and whose hair was a very dark black-silver with some streaks of the normal color coming through. Amber eyes narrowed as she pulled the bowstring back, took aim and concentrated on the arrow itself, feeling the energy through her veins and letting it flow into the projectile itself as the metal shaft began to crackle brightly with a brilliant gold energy. Gritting her teeth, she let the arrow fly and hoped against hope that it would be one of the times she could actually dead center the strike into her target instead of hitting somewhere close or something else all together.
“Shocking Arrow of Voltage!”
Humming dangerously, the now white-gold arrow streaked through the air, leaving a trail of crackling energy behind as it sought the target and found it, just three inches below the place Sekai'd been hoping to hit and bit in deep before promptly making the damn thing explode and a gold sign of Elemental Critical flashed up afterwards. Breathing hard from the hits she'd taken and with the force of the words and spell she'd sent after it, Sekai's free hand gripped her left side as a hiss of pain escaped her and had tears springing to her eyes. Shoot, she thought with a visible wince, it was still going on? Why the hell hadn't they taken care of that kidney yet and why was it still hurting?!
Sek; whack a bitch again 'cause it's time for round two.
It'd reformed after her hit, drat it all to an infamously condemned place she didn't want to talk about, much less say the name of lest she condemn herself to head there if she were killed in this world. Aiming her palm at the monster in the infamously known and well used gesture for 'stop', Sekai narrowed her eyes as the energy collected there, making her palm feel hot and itchy with the power collected and sent it off in a series of gold-white spheres of electrified energy that swarmed around and crashed around their target. No elemental critical but, hey, still a nice effect to watch one of the wings destroy itself and become unable to be regenerated at the semi-quick pace it'd been able to before.
Time for another 'Arrow' if she had anything to say about it.
Wings beating with the Ember Knight struggling to keep itself aloft and in the air, fiery eyes met furious gold ones and locked in a battle of wills. Anger justified by the twin attacks that she'd been hit with, Sekai drew the second arrow and aimed it at the Ember Knight's face, glaring at it the entire time and felt the energy pull away from her and pool into the arrow. It was going to twin-cast her again, the son of a bitch, and the tell tale signs of the black energy that was starting to send the irate Archer into a sudden panic attack because, well, where there was Darkness; there would be Trent. Where Trent would be? There was no escape and there was no hope left for anyone. He couldn't be beat and oh Gods- he was going to show up if she didn't do something soon, Sekai panicked, beneath the layer of soot and ashes that caked her normally soft peach skin she turned white with fear, and began looking for the nearest escape out of there if the feared man managed to get through somehow to get her.
Pull your damn self together Sekai and kill it! Trent isn't here; he ain't coming here and he won't get you. I sure as fuck won't let him and Zan already told you he'd kick any son of a bitch's ass who tried to start shit with you. You're protected, you're safe and you're going to be fine as soon as you kill this damn thing!
Panic made her stupid, or at the least, very clumsy and reckless when it came to shooting the damn bow and the arrow launched itself as she let go of the string after she'd accidentally aimed down in a sharp gesture of surprise from Kira's near-snarled words at her. The electrified arrow zipped past a few of the soot idiots who'd tried to get in her way and shot itself into the gut of the one winged knight, not to be confused with the infamous one winged angel of course, and promptly exploded. This time, much to her relief, it didn't rise up from the grave of ashes below it.
However? Nasty son of a bitch still had the time to fire off the damn spells before said soot explosion. A repeat performance of one tiny Archer female plummeting into the ground and sending up a second mushroom cloud into the air when she impacted into not one but three of the vaguely humanoid, blade wielding Soot things that didn't have wings and were smaller and less defined than the one more humanoid. Said Soot Things weren't happy as they began to reform and glare at her; cat was out of the bag so to speak and they knew she wasn't their leader Ember Knight by the way she coughed, spluttered and generally began trying to clear the soot and ash out of her system.
Watering eyes squinting over to see the things coming after her, Sekai promptly remained in rushed panic mode and used the 6' longbow to literally swat through them, making them explode and reform with each hit she gave the three converging on her.
“Go away!”
She yelped frantically, speed of the 'swat through butterfly cloud' technique increasing with every moment the increasingly frantic girl spent trying to drive them off before she finally managed to use some portion of her brain.... and sent a wind-like spell at them with her preferred element adding a personal touch.
“Juk Rom!”
The three were in the process of being 'sploded when they were caught in the Wood tornado spell and were sucked into it. The cyclone, small as it was and completely black with barely a tint of green energy to it thanks to the soot-ash things, zipped off towards the left and soon dissipated without even a sign of one of the soot things. Higher levels must come in handy, so do frantic and panic increased strength. Breathing hard and promptly sneezing up a storm, Sekai found herself back up in the air and Kira taking over to give the poor thing a break before she went batshit fucking insane like she'd done in the Eventide Crescendo's Hell Pit of a field. Sneezing herself a few times before she decided enough was e-fucking-nough, Kira looked out over the battles being raged and summoned up a nice little surprise for anyone in the vicinity and party, which since rules no longer applied, was every fighter on her side.
“La-ah-ah-hahchoo! Dammit, La Repth.”
Scowling as the blue healing energy restored her HP-and her skin/clothing back to non-sooty status, though it looked like her now-gray wings would need to be put away and reequipped later on if she wanted them back to white, Kira surveyed the battle scene and watched to see if she could do anything else... okay fine, one more arrow into the ass-region of one of those vague shaped Soot Things wouldn't be too much to ask for. And besides; she could taunt the damn thing from up here while it tried to swipe at her for all she cared.
------------------------------------------------------------
Soot Knights: 5, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 1
Ember Knights: 0
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
-
Lord Canti
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
- Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.
(No one had really seen much of Canti that night, between the time that he'd left and the time the mission to the Hubs was renewed. The last person to see him go was Kira, and he only returned about an hour or two before the mission began once more. He had come in, zonked on a couch, and then woke up to the annoyance of having had to move out already. True, Canti had had long hours before, but sometimes...after a while...we start to wonder where our limits really are. This gave unto the team a Twin Blade who looked groggy, somewhat, but also seemed...oddly mellow, laid back. Something had drained away some of the pissed-off nature of this player, for the time being anyway. He didn't say anything to anyone, but the sound of him stretching as soon as they left...sounded a little more relaxed than the usual. Canti WAS in a better mood, though he wouldn't say why. He didn't seem to share Silverblade's worry when apparently things had changed in the Pulsating Trap Core either, mostly because the word "Trap" was sort of a dead giveaway. This place had once been alive, a forest of lush, green plant-life. Now...it was about as dead as Canti's eyes.)
Canti: Oh, it's the end of the world and we know it...
(He grinned slightly at his own little joke, feeling a bit better. According to what he'd heard, Pulsating Trap Core was partially-solved thanks to the efforts of the other group, in which that was half their force at the time. Now, with all of the people from the previous two groups and about twice as many friggin' people, it should go four-times as fast, right? Still, as Canti looked around, he couldn't help but feel...unpleasantly nostalgic. This was like a graveyard, a REAL one and not like that zombie-fest from the Tenebrous Tower. It reminded him of his dad's funeral, where he'd been left all alone to pick up his life somehow. Kinda' sad, now. Ashes to ashes...dust to...what the fuck?)
"We've got company."
(And what a company...)
Canti: Okay... That's a new one.
(There was soot and ash and whatnot forming together into some kind of crazy opposition. Now, Canti had hung back a bit, getting his bearings while staving off some sleepiness, but this got him awake enough. It was his nature to respect the power of fire, as he had a dark and fiery Twin Blade. Seeing a number of creatures forming from the aftermath of a hella-powerful blaze was contrary to this understanding. It did not add up. But, the long and the short of it must've been this... The guardian of this place pulled a fast one on them, lulling them into a false sense of security. So now, there were these knights, right? Something about them seemed familiar, in a way... A number of them formed here and there, one nearby Canti. Experimentally, he thrust his dagger into it as hard as he possibly could. The monster exploded. Exploded? Yeah, soot, dust, smoke - all of it going every which way until...it reformed again. Canti's instincts told him that he'd still damaged the brute, but also... Oh, this was good. The Twin Blade smiled suddenly. He felt darkness, and then he saw both Zan and Sekai scored elemental criticals against similar knights. Canti grined at the Soot Knight HE was facing.)
Canti: You're all gonna die very horribly.
(Actually, they'd already cleared out some of the opposition already in the short time that Canti had been messing with this guy here, but now he operated a playlist of music themes and selected "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" and began to fight. Armed now with his Fuse Blades instead of anything tough, Canti began to rip into the Soot Knight like a demon himself. Aha! Yes, that was the ticket! Look at him! He didn't explode from THAT! Tearing at his surface and damaging him was like raking claws across the body of Wolverine. Pretty soon, it was all back in place. Canti just kept attacking, not worrying about the monster's attacks at all. Even when he felt the sting of the slash, it was weak... He too was darkness-embued, so these suckers...ALL of these suckers...were his bitch. A slash and a stab and his first Soot Knight exploded with a lightning charge.)
Canti: Heh. If we had HIM here, he'd blow them all away with one strike.
(No need to ask of whom Canti was referring to there. If that Fist Fighter had been here, a single summoning of his most powerful attack would wipe these guys out very easily. It would've been a handy thing to have, really. But since he hadn't actually found him yet, no such luck was to be hadHe looked around the area and found...yeah, they were kicking ass. There was some action over in the direction of Sekai and Kira. For a moment, Canti's throat tightened as he saw that there was trouble, a kind of trouble that involved first having dealt with one of these Ember Knights, and then three Soot Knights. Canti had to stare for a moment. It was... She was good... Her fight with the creatures had been somewhat frantic-looking, but...one could not deny that she had capability in the face of danger. Canti remembered her early remark, the one about how she'd intercepted the attack of a strange code for someone she knew, herself being sucked into this mess instead of him. Sekai had a strength, an inner strength...)
Uhhh, Canti?
Canti: Hmmm? Oh, whoops.
(A warning from the bleechers, some badasses of his own were nearby. Three of his OWN Soot Knights, and an Ash Knight. They had no more 'leaders' to depend upon, so the ash-dude was acting as some sort of lieutenant. Okay... The malformed humanoids now approached him as one, their swords raised. Canti...was not impressed by this. Backing away without a single fear of his foes, he crossed his arms - which were still holding onto his Fuse Blades, of course - and taunting them.)
Canti: C'mon, guys... You can do better than that... You look like a bunch of pathetic black slime-wads.
(That seemed to get them angry, so there was a slight change in venue. They were knight-creatures made of soot. Who's to say they couldn't change that shape a little? Suddenly, they all became like Twin Blades! Canti was looking at a quartet of creatures that looked like him before he got stuck in The World! Oh, that was low... Canti kicked the first one in the supposed nuts and made it explode, then wented after both a Soot Knight and the Ash Knight with Thunder Dance. Elemental criticals stole chunks from both of their health, and the Twin Blade back-slashed the Soot Knight to an early...re-grave-ing...whatever. That left a Soot Knight to stab him from behind as he fended off the Ash Knight in front. Canti gritted his teeth.)
Canti: It really doesn't hurt that badly! I'm only humoring you!
(It did still have a sting, but not as much as it would on anybody else. He wasn't immune, but there was certainly an edge to be had here. Canti elbowed the guy behind him and made with another Thunder Dance to the harder opponent ahead of him. Another elemental critical, and soon the Twin Blade was able to take down the Ash Knight's last bit of HP, followed shortly after by raking the ground of the other Soot Knight's exploded remains so it COULDN'T reform, what with their being lightning involved and so on. After that, he noticed that since two of their own were already taking a break...and there weren't much left after that...he'd take a break too. Disengaging his Fuse Blades, Canti spread out his raven-like wings and took to the air, meeting the same altitude as Sekai and Kira. Hovering over nearby them, the Twin Blade observed the fleeting remainder of battle, then looked over at the Archer and the AI - which he didn't know was an AI yet - and spoke to them.)
Canti: You did really well back there.
OOC: YOUR SCORE TODAY...
Soot Knights: 1, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 0
Ember Knights: 0
Canti: Oh, it's the end of the world and we know it...
(He grinned slightly at his own little joke, feeling a bit better. According to what he'd heard, Pulsating Trap Core was partially-solved thanks to the efforts of the other group, in which that was half their force at the time. Now, with all of the people from the previous two groups and about twice as many friggin' people, it should go four-times as fast, right? Still, as Canti looked around, he couldn't help but feel...unpleasantly nostalgic. This was like a graveyard, a REAL one and not like that zombie-fest from the Tenebrous Tower. It reminded him of his dad's funeral, where he'd been left all alone to pick up his life somehow. Kinda' sad, now. Ashes to ashes...dust to...what the fuck?)
"We've got company."
(And what a company...)
Canti: Okay... That's a new one.
(There was soot and ash and whatnot forming together into some kind of crazy opposition. Now, Canti had hung back a bit, getting his bearings while staving off some sleepiness, but this got him awake enough. It was his nature to respect the power of fire, as he had a dark and fiery Twin Blade. Seeing a number of creatures forming from the aftermath of a hella-powerful blaze was contrary to this understanding. It did not add up. But, the long and the short of it must've been this... The guardian of this place pulled a fast one on them, lulling them into a false sense of security. So now, there were these knights, right? Something about them seemed familiar, in a way... A number of them formed here and there, one nearby Canti. Experimentally, he thrust his dagger into it as hard as he possibly could. The monster exploded. Exploded? Yeah, soot, dust, smoke - all of it going every which way until...it reformed again. Canti's instincts told him that he'd still damaged the brute, but also... Oh, this was good. The Twin Blade smiled suddenly. He felt darkness, and then he saw both Zan and Sekai scored elemental criticals against similar knights. Canti grined at the Soot Knight HE was facing.)
Canti: You're all gonna die very horribly.
(Actually, they'd already cleared out some of the opposition already in the short time that Canti had been messing with this guy here, but now he operated a playlist of music themes and selected "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" and began to fight. Armed now with his Fuse Blades instead of anything tough, Canti began to rip into the Soot Knight like a demon himself. Aha! Yes, that was the ticket! Look at him! He didn't explode from THAT! Tearing at his surface and damaging him was like raking claws across the body of Wolverine. Pretty soon, it was all back in place. Canti just kept attacking, not worrying about the monster's attacks at all. Even when he felt the sting of the slash, it was weak... He too was darkness-embued, so these suckers...ALL of these suckers...were his bitch. A slash and a stab and his first Soot Knight exploded with a lightning charge.)
Canti: Heh. If we had HIM here, he'd blow them all away with one strike.
(No need to ask of whom Canti was referring to there. If that Fist Fighter had been here, a single summoning of his most powerful attack would wipe these guys out very easily. It would've been a handy thing to have, really. But since he hadn't actually found him yet, no such luck was to be hadHe looked around the area and found...yeah, they were kicking ass. There was some action over in the direction of Sekai and Kira. For a moment, Canti's throat tightened as he saw that there was trouble, a kind of trouble that involved first having dealt with one of these Ember Knights, and then three Soot Knights. Canti had to stare for a moment. It was... She was good... Her fight with the creatures had been somewhat frantic-looking, but...one could not deny that she had capability in the face of danger. Canti remembered her early remark, the one about how she'd intercepted the attack of a strange code for someone she knew, herself being sucked into this mess instead of him. Sekai had a strength, an inner strength...)
Uhhh, Canti?
Canti: Hmmm? Oh, whoops.
(A warning from the bleechers, some badasses of his own were nearby. Three of his OWN Soot Knights, and an Ash Knight. They had no more 'leaders' to depend upon, so the ash-dude was acting as some sort of lieutenant. Okay... The malformed humanoids now approached him as one, their swords raised. Canti...was not impressed by this. Backing away without a single fear of his foes, he crossed his arms - which were still holding onto his Fuse Blades, of course - and taunting them.)
Canti: C'mon, guys... You can do better than that... You look like a bunch of pathetic black slime-wads.
(That seemed to get them angry, so there was a slight change in venue. They were knight-creatures made of soot. Who's to say they couldn't change that shape a little? Suddenly, they all became like Twin Blades! Canti was looking at a quartet of creatures that looked like him before he got stuck in The World! Oh, that was low... Canti kicked the first one in the supposed nuts and made it explode, then wented after both a Soot Knight and the Ash Knight with Thunder Dance. Elemental criticals stole chunks from both of their health, and the Twin Blade back-slashed the Soot Knight to an early...re-grave-ing...whatever. That left a Soot Knight to stab him from behind as he fended off the Ash Knight in front. Canti gritted his teeth.)
Canti: It really doesn't hurt that badly! I'm only humoring you!
(It did still have a sting, but not as much as it would on anybody else. He wasn't immune, but there was certainly an edge to be had here. Canti elbowed the guy behind him and made with another Thunder Dance to the harder opponent ahead of him. Another elemental critical, and soon the Twin Blade was able to take down the Ash Knight's last bit of HP, followed shortly after by raking the ground of the other Soot Knight's exploded remains so it COULDN'T reform, what with their being lightning involved and so on. After that, he noticed that since two of their own were already taking a break...and there weren't much left after that...he'd take a break too. Disengaging his Fuse Blades, Canti spread out his raven-like wings and took to the air, meeting the same altitude as Sekai and Kira. Hovering over nearby them, the Twin Blade observed the fleeting remainder of battle, then looked over at the Archer and the AI - which he didn't know was an AI yet - and spoke to them.)
Canti: You did really well back there.
OOC: YOUR SCORE TODAY...
Soot Knights: 1, 1 injured
Ash Knights: 0
Ember Knights: 0
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.
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.
Hacorie, yet another heavy blade. It seemed like the swordsman had only just arrived, or rather returned, but eagerly enough had gone through the form as well. The wizard nodded a thank you and listened for as long as the rest of the team continued to speak, and ended up falling asleep in his seat after it all ended.
*****
A standard ping brought Rayo back to the common state of consciousness they all experienced. Useful field information or perhaps data from a player who didn’t care to work with paper? Of course not. The wavemaster regarded the Marionette’s flash mail for only a moment before discarding it. Why would the hacker resort to such petty attempts at messing with him? Primal’s light show in the last field left much more of an impact than a randomly mailed sentence or two. Did it serve any purpose? Perhaps it was a warning of something to come, a way to discredit him or what not. The hackers could do much worse, and such a plan wouldn’t work for very long.
The time had come to return to the surviving hub, giving them a second chance at completing their mission. Giant snakes and gargoyles had already been cleared, what worse could be thrown their way?
What seemed to be the entirety of the monkey’s forest home was now cinder, eliminated by a friendly fire from earlier that the mage would claim no credit for if any of the primates asked around. The terrain was changed, but by what they had done previously. It indicated that the field had been completely rewritten or modified to make it harder for them… maybe. In a world where data could alter their surroundings with ease, it was pleasant to see a lasting effect from actions. Cause and effect were still in play to some degree.
Turning towards the creatures that rose from the ashes, one of his new staffs was released for play, the Cosmic Wand. The magician was eager to test his new equipment, and the red carpet seemed like the most convenient opportunity. Did the hackers input any emotions into their approaching knights? Once Zan or someone else moved in, the ability to feel fear would be evident enough.
“Yarthkins Rf!”
His strongest summon, level wise anyway, to date. The mole poked it’s head out of ground long enough to send two of the Soot Knights into the sky for a moment, shattering their presence. Upon crashing back down, all that happened was that they burst forth, and after a bit more time came back together. Holding back, he hung back while the others performed an effective slaughter. With the exception of a general effect La Repth, the mage waited to the sides. Their opponents didn’t appear to be affected by his brand of magic, at least not his elemental charges.
Changing tactics once most of monsters were exterminated, the monsters were given a chance to aid the freedom fighters in their struggle. One Miu Lei later and the healthier of the pair remaining was now under his command. Raising it’s axe, the knight currently being labeled Barry by the amused caster, lifted his axe and dropped it on the head of his comrade. Controlling them both might have been better, but this seemed somewhat more fair. Barry didn’t do whatever the sorcerer would demand, but for now it’d leave his allies alone and strike away at the only other threat left. Barry, bright as he was, wasn’t skilled enough to actually pull the axe back out from it’s resting place. Instead the pawn pulled out a different weapon, this time a sword, and gutted his former compatriot. Blissfully unaware of his inevitable destruction, Barry waited patiently in place to be taken advantage of.
ooc:
Soot Knights: 1 Remaining
Ash Knights: 0
Ember Knights: 0
Blue: La Repth
*****
A standard ping brought Rayo back to the common state of consciousness they all experienced. Useful field information or perhaps data from a player who didn’t care to work with paper? Of course not. The wavemaster regarded the Marionette’s flash mail for only a moment before discarding it. Why would the hacker resort to such petty attempts at messing with him? Primal’s light show in the last field left much more of an impact than a randomly mailed sentence or two. Did it serve any purpose? Perhaps it was a warning of something to come, a way to discredit him or what not. The hackers could do much worse, and such a plan wouldn’t work for very long.
The time had come to return to the surviving hub, giving them a second chance at completing their mission. Giant snakes and gargoyles had already been cleared, what worse could be thrown their way?
What seemed to be the entirety of the monkey’s forest home was now cinder, eliminated by a friendly fire from earlier that the mage would claim no credit for if any of the primates asked around. The terrain was changed, but by what they had done previously. It indicated that the field had been completely rewritten or modified to make it harder for them… maybe. In a world where data could alter their surroundings with ease, it was pleasant to see a lasting effect from actions. Cause and effect were still in play to some degree.
Turning towards the creatures that rose from the ashes, one of his new staffs was released for play, the Cosmic Wand. The magician was eager to test his new equipment, and the red carpet seemed like the most convenient opportunity. Did the hackers input any emotions into their approaching knights? Once Zan or someone else moved in, the ability to feel fear would be evident enough.
“Yarthkins Rf!”
His strongest summon, level wise anyway, to date. The mole poked it’s head out of ground long enough to send two of the Soot Knights into the sky for a moment, shattering their presence. Upon crashing back down, all that happened was that they burst forth, and after a bit more time came back together. Holding back, he hung back while the others performed an effective slaughter. With the exception of a general effect La Repth, the mage waited to the sides. Their opponents didn’t appear to be affected by his brand of magic, at least not his elemental charges.
Changing tactics once most of monsters were exterminated, the monsters were given a chance to aid the freedom fighters in their struggle. One Miu Lei later and the healthier of the pair remaining was now under his command. Raising it’s axe, the knight currently being labeled Barry by the amused caster, lifted his axe and dropped it on the head of his comrade. Controlling them both might have been better, but this seemed somewhat more fair. Barry didn’t do whatever the sorcerer would demand, but for now it’d leave his allies alone and strike away at the only other threat left. Barry, bright as he was, wasn’t skilled enough to actually pull the axe back out from it’s resting place. Instead the pawn pulled out a different weapon, this time a sword, and gutted his former compatriot. Blissfully unaware of his inevitable destruction, Barry waited patiently in place to be taken advantage of.
ooc:
Soot Knights: 1 Remaining
Ash Knights: 0
Ember Knights: 0
Blue: La Repth
Last edited by Rayo on Fri May 11, 2007 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty
Upon arriving back in the field we had fled from at first, I was dumbfounded by what I saw. The land had been lush, green... and now... this was our fault, wasn't it? This senseless destruction? This world was real enough to me that I felt true guilt at seeing what we had unleashed last time we had come this way. Was I a destructive entity after all, even after everything I had done to suppress the instincts planted in me by my other self?
I didn't even suppress him until after we had set these fires... it can't be that. I'm safe... I have to be....
My thoughts of self-doubt were quickly struck from my mind when the ashes littering the landscape began to coalesce into bodies around us, and the need for action was apparent. Monsters made of ash? That's a new one.... Regardless, I had to help out the group. I went to attack... and froze. What's going on? I thought. Why can't I move? I want to help... I want to be useful!
I stood, locked in place, unable to fathom why, and watched as my comrades all took up the proverbial call to arms and began to fight with no fear. Zan single-handedly thrashed a number of the creatures, and Senna, the Long Arm I'd never even spoken to, took down one and injured another. All around me, people whom I wanted to befriend, who I wanted to earn respect from, were fighting with both a ferocity and calmness that my weak knees wouldn't permit.
Have the battles within me taken away any chance I have of fighting any real enemies? Can I do it? Or will I be stuck forever back here, watching, waiting... letting everything be done for me?
I want to help!
The rest of the group had whittled the enemies' numbers down to one, leaving me but one target. My whole body seemed to come to life at once, freeing my legs from the mysterious bonds that had imprisoned them, and the rest of me, till mere seconds ago. I rushed at the final enemy, letting loose all of the speed that my class imbued me with in this faux world I now lived in. Even if there was but one enemy, under the effects of a Miu Lei, I was going to give it everything I had.
As I reached the clueless foe, my first blade raked across its side, waking it up to what was happening around it. It began to bring its shield to bear against my blades, but not before I was able to sneak in a second strike on its unguarded center. The creature took a half step back, and I knew I was making progress, but as I swung for a third consecutive strike, the shield got in my way. It did more than that, though. The beast both blocked and deflected my attack, throwing me off balance after my fairly reckless assault. It took the opportunity to lay a shot on my right arm, opening a fairly deep slash wound down the outer edge. I hopped backwards, trying to recover as quickly as possible, then squared off with the beast for a split second before lunging forward again, though with more control than before. I threw a feint with my now weakened right arm, which the thing moved to block and deflect again, but the lack of power in that strike kept him from using my momentum against me a second time. My left blade moved in on the ash monster's torso again, adding another slash to the tally.
The monster backed off again, allowing me a second to catch my breath, but I decided to use that time in more productive manners. “Stacatto!” I cried, and unleashed the power of my most potent sword strike on the unsuspecting creature. A series of rapid fire swings later, all that was left of the beast was a pile of ash. And as a bonus, I had eased my doubts somewhat. Overall, success.
OOC:
Soot Knights Remaining: 0
Ash Knights Remaining: 0
Ember Knights Remaining: 0
I didn't even suppress him until after we had set these fires... it can't be that. I'm safe... I have to be....
My thoughts of self-doubt were quickly struck from my mind when the ashes littering the landscape began to coalesce into bodies around us, and the need for action was apparent. Monsters made of ash? That's a new one.... Regardless, I had to help out the group. I went to attack... and froze. What's going on? I thought. Why can't I move? I want to help... I want to be useful!
I stood, locked in place, unable to fathom why, and watched as my comrades all took up the proverbial call to arms and began to fight with no fear. Zan single-handedly thrashed a number of the creatures, and Senna, the Long Arm I'd never even spoken to, took down one and injured another. All around me, people whom I wanted to befriend, who I wanted to earn respect from, were fighting with both a ferocity and calmness that my weak knees wouldn't permit.
Have the battles within me taken away any chance I have of fighting any real enemies? Can I do it? Or will I be stuck forever back here, watching, waiting... letting everything be done for me?
I want to help!
The rest of the group had whittled the enemies' numbers down to one, leaving me but one target. My whole body seemed to come to life at once, freeing my legs from the mysterious bonds that had imprisoned them, and the rest of me, till mere seconds ago. I rushed at the final enemy, letting loose all of the speed that my class imbued me with in this faux world I now lived in. Even if there was but one enemy, under the effects of a Miu Lei, I was going to give it everything I had.
As I reached the clueless foe, my first blade raked across its side, waking it up to what was happening around it. It began to bring its shield to bear against my blades, but not before I was able to sneak in a second strike on its unguarded center. The creature took a half step back, and I knew I was making progress, but as I swung for a third consecutive strike, the shield got in my way. It did more than that, though. The beast both blocked and deflected my attack, throwing me off balance after my fairly reckless assault. It took the opportunity to lay a shot on my right arm, opening a fairly deep slash wound down the outer edge. I hopped backwards, trying to recover as quickly as possible, then squared off with the beast for a split second before lunging forward again, though with more control than before. I threw a feint with my now weakened right arm, which the thing moved to block and deflect again, but the lack of power in that strike kept him from using my momentum against me a second time. My left blade moved in on the ash monster's torso again, adding another slash to the tally.
The monster backed off again, allowing me a second to catch my breath, but I decided to use that time in more productive manners. “Stacatto!” I cried, and unleashed the power of my most potent sword strike on the unsuspecting creature. A series of rapid fire swings later, all that was left of the beast was a pile of ash. And as a bonus, I had eased my doubts somewhat. Overall, success.
OOC:
Soot Knights Remaining: 0
Ash Knights Remaining: 0
Ember Knights Remaining: 0
Zhao's Profile
Wishlist:
Levels
Slayers
Other level 16+ Twin Blade Weapons
Cougar Bandanna
Snow Panther
Level 16+ Twin Blade Armor
Miakita hazu no tasogare ga
Konna ni kirei dato naita
Wishlist:
Levels
Slayers
Other level 16+ Twin Blade Weapons
Cougar Bandanna
Snow Panther
Level 16+ Twin Blade Armor
Miakita hazu no tasogare ga
Konna ni kirei dato naita
-
Nighthand
- Master of Games
- Posts: 1265
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
- Class: Bladesmage
- Location: ...Tracking...please wait...
Scrambled thinking?
It was as if everyone was itching for battle, ready to kill and more than willing and able to do it. The ash beasts provided more than enough of a chance to exercise this set of skills, and it was only a matter of a few minutes, albeit a very intense and frenzied few minutes, before the final charmed ash beast fell into it's component ashes. And to think, Silverblade and Nall hadn't even had to move.
Marveling at the change in their environment, Silverblade struck off in the direction that they would have to go. Whether or not everyone noticed right away, he didn't know, but he knew the direction they had to go. Soon enough the dull crunch of boots on ashes filled the air, the whole party following behind. Ash coated everything and made it grimy, dirty. Smoke choked the air, making it hard to breath, causing an occasional cough to sound behind him. Good thing they wouldn't get some kind of lung cancer from all of this.
After a few brief minutes of trekking, they neared the edge of the ash-covered area and discovered what had caused the fire to stop burning. A low stone wall had been erected, stretching as far as they could see in either direction. It wasn't high, only a couple of feet, easy enough to hop over... just enough to stop the fire from spreading. It seemed almost perfectly calculated to leave the entire starting area covered in soot, but make sure the fire stopped just outside the range of sight. Silverblade knew the wall hadn't been there before. Marionette's doing, no doubt.
And, as his tracing of the path had been rather accurate, on the other side of the wall from where they stood was an opening into the forest. The path.
Shrugging, Silverblade stepped over the wall and proceeded down the path. A glance back showed nothing but dense forest. So. The illusion was undisturbed by the fire; as they progressed down the path, it would appear to disappear behind them, just as before. There would be no retracing their steps in this forest. He could still see the group though; losing each other wouldn't be an issue.
A short distance down the path, they came to the clearing that had caused them so much trouble before. The path was close to as they had left it; only now, it only split into five separate paths. Each was bordered by a pair of trees with oddly-colored leaves. One strange-colored tree was standing alone, with no pair; this was the path they had taken last time they had come. The bright yellow leaves wilted over a sign that was different from what had been there before. On the sign was the phrase “This Path Ends With Light.” Ironic, for it had really ended in a darkened cave.
Five paths, seven total signs. The one sign, their clue sign, stood lonely in the center of the small clearing.
Your senses are muddled, your knowledge is low
You only desire to know where to go.
Your trail is broken, your guidance misled
A single false move here could leave you all dead.
So choose your path wisely and walk to it's end
And hope that a foe won't be made of a friend.
The other signs, however, were different as well. The gibberish phrases had changed.
Between the Red trees
Ahead the stills yowl
Between the Blue trees
Scandal sees even now
Between the Green trees
Needlepoints rites
Between the Brown trees
Repress dogma
Between the Black trees
Astral rends keen
It looked like, once again, they had a selection of gibberish to choose from, to pick their next path.
------------ooc:
Pick the next path, by next week. Otherwise Silverblade / Nall chooses... which will be by the best argument of people who posted, or by flipping a coin if no one has an opinion.
Marveling at the change in their environment, Silverblade struck off in the direction that they would have to go. Whether or not everyone noticed right away, he didn't know, but he knew the direction they had to go. Soon enough the dull crunch of boots on ashes filled the air, the whole party following behind. Ash coated everything and made it grimy, dirty. Smoke choked the air, making it hard to breath, causing an occasional cough to sound behind him. Good thing they wouldn't get some kind of lung cancer from all of this.
After a few brief minutes of trekking, they neared the edge of the ash-covered area and discovered what had caused the fire to stop burning. A low stone wall had been erected, stretching as far as they could see in either direction. It wasn't high, only a couple of feet, easy enough to hop over... just enough to stop the fire from spreading. It seemed almost perfectly calculated to leave the entire starting area covered in soot, but make sure the fire stopped just outside the range of sight. Silverblade knew the wall hadn't been there before. Marionette's doing, no doubt.
And, as his tracing of the path had been rather accurate, on the other side of the wall from where they stood was an opening into the forest. The path.
Shrugging, Silverblade stepped over the wall and proceeded down the path. A glance back showed nothing but dense forest. So. The illusion was undisturbed by the fire; as they progressed down the path, it would appear to disappear behind them, just as before. There would be no retracing their steps in this forest. He could still see the group though; losing each other wouldn't be an issue.
A short distance down the path, they came to the clearing that had caused them so much trouble before. The path was close to as they had left it; only now, it only split into five separate paths. Each was bordered by a pair of trees with oddly-colored leaves. One strange-colored tree was standing alone, with no pair; this was the path they had taken last time they had come. The bright yellow leaves wilted over a sign that was different from what had been there before. On the sign was the phrase “This Path Ends With Light.” Ironic, for it had really ended in a darkened cave.
Five paths, seven total signs. The one sign, their clue sign, stood lonely in the center of the small clearing.
Your senses are muddled, your knowledge is low
You only desire to know where to go.
Your trail is broken, your guidance misled
A single false move here could leave you all dead.
So choose your path wisely and walk to it's end
And hope that a foe won't be made of a friend.
The other signs, however, were different as well. The gibberish phrases had changed.
Between the Red trees
Ahead the stills yowl
Between the Blue trees
Scandal sees even now
Between the Green trees
Needlepoints rites
Between the Brown trees
Repress dogma
Between the Black trees
Astral rends keen
It looked like, once again, they had a selection of gibberish to choose from, to pick their next path.
------------ooc:
Pick the next path, by next week. Otherwise Silverblade / Nall chooses... which will be by the best argument of people who posted, or by flipping a coin if no one has an opinion.
Wishlist: Any Armor or Weapons under level 50, Any Scrolls (prefer level 2+)
Battle was never going to be something she could get used to. She’d never been much of a gamer in the first place, and actually being in the game, knowing what the consequences of failure could be, did not ease her mind at all. Still, she was feeling pretty good about her performance. She’d taken out a creature a bit above her own level without incredible amounts of trouble.
But as she turned and took in the rest of the field, her enthusiasm for her own (success? Not the right word, she didn’t think. It was not success, but survival without lasting damage) accomplishment waned. The field was cleared in short order of their enemies, the battle taking place with the speed and fury of a catfight. And most of the people she could see across the field seemed to have more than bested her mere survival, her lone destruction.
Well, she supposed it was to be expected. As she returned to the group, she resolved not to think about it. If she kept questioning her ability after every fight she was only going to drive herself mad faster than it already seemed to be happening.
The grouping of her compatriots was loose, with some of them ranging a fair way off across the ashy field. Still, there was one place with a slightly higher concentration of soot-covered individuals, and it was there she headed.
“You guys really did a number on this place before,” she commented her voice sounding with an edge of awe. She was impressed. The power it would take to do this sort of thing must be immense. It was a little surprising that they’d been able to do this much damage but hadn’t gotten further along in the field. Not so surprising, she guessed. Things in this place were… odd. Why should destruction equal success on every plane?
Silverblade took the lead, and the rest of them fell in, a loose amalgamation of classes and looks but unified in their now-grubby appearance. As they trooped through the burnt-out field, their passage raised even more grit and dirt into the air than had been there before, only adding to the problem. Senna caught a lungful and paused a moment, coughing with one hand over her mouth. The taste of smoke and ash filled her dry mouth. This was NOT the best experience she’d had to date in The World. She resisted her urge to wipe at her eyes with the back of her arm again. It would do no more good this time than it had the time before.
As they walked, her mind wandered, and despite her earlier resolution, she found herself thinking back to the fight they’d just come through. Was she dropping the ball? Or was she on par and the REST Of them were just ahead of the game? The later really made more sense, given what she knew of them. Several had displayed quirks and abilities which would not be found in the normal catalogue of skills and spells.
But still, was that any excuse?
Yes, yes that’s exactly what it was, she thought grimly. An excuse. Not useful, just explanatory. A way of explaining her inability to keep up. Cathal had been right on that count. A bug part of being an effective fighter was in having useful equipment, but the majority of it lay elsewhere. Even between two people of similar level with similar equipment, one would be better. In fact, given the right circumstances, one could be head and shoulders above the other. Instinct. Awareness. There were so many places where nonmaterial aspects of battle would make a difference.
Like with that Archer. She’d fought amazingly, at least to Senna’s eyes. She’d considered going over to tell her so, but had decided to hold off a while. That one seemed a little… withdrawn. People who were withdrawn made Senna uneasy. It was as though she was just waiting for herself to say the wrong, stupid thing to offend them or prove her ignorance and meanness. It wasn’t anything they did. Just a view of herself, colored by past experience. Perception. Funny, in a way, how they could create a reality.
But back to the original thought. She was only a little more powerful than Senna level-wise, she figured by the attack damage, but she’d dished out a good deal of damage, and all with a weapon which was really best used from a distance. It was hard not to feel at least a little impressed by that. Or Canti, who was his own ball of hell unleashed when he really got into the fight.
Which led to another thought. If what everyone seemed to be saying was true, then she also had some ability in her that would allow her to fight above the level she currently worked at. There was some suggestion that the abilities were unique to the user, and that they augmented the player him- or herself. But what did she have to augment? And worse, would it make a difference? She could see herself blowing up herself or someone else if she got some ability she couldn’t hold onto.
Well, she resolved that if that happened, she would sooner just not use it than run the risk. The group *did* have a good number of powerful individuals. Was there any reason to push herself?
Or was she being a coward? And if so, was that a bad thing, inherently?
The thoughts were perhaps a little more philosophical than warranted by the current conditions and the situation they were in, but Senna (and moreso Liss, but was there really a difference any more?) had always been given over to a certain amount of introspection when left to the silence of her thoughts. And given the fact that the very nature not only of the world and The World but of her own soul and being had been suddenly and undeniably called into question over the past day or so, she didn’t begrudge herself it.
Heh. That brought forth another point though. What if her ability enhanced her cowardice? Wouldn’t that be… interesting? A nice, material manifestation of her own internal thoughts. Ah well. At least if that happened there would be no more worrying about people guessing. And would they react any differently? Like with Marionette’s comment earlier, she didn’t think it would really come as a surprise to any of them that she was more of a hyena than a wolf. They wouldn’t judge her any more harshly for that, right?
Eh… she wasn’t sure at all. She tried instead to force the thought away. It didn’t bear thinking about.
After a good bit of walking, the group arrived at a low wall. It reminded Senna a little of low farmhouse fences, the sort made with the discarded stones pulled from the fields to ease plowing. Directly across the low stone blockade, a path opened out of a forest that she hadn’t noticed as they approached. Let’s hear it for being distracted. However, it was somewhat interesting that they’d arrived right here. Nighthand – or whoever he wanted to call himself – seemed to have a damn good sense of direction.
The group climbed over the fence in their various ways – Senna herself made a neat leap, putting a foot atop the wall to help propel herself across, then nearly faceplanted on the landing due to the excess momentum. So much for the grace and agility of a Long Arm. Straightening, she smoothed the front of her pants the way one might a skirt. Sidling up alongside Hac, she couldn’t help but ask, “Have I always been this clumsy?”
She knew the answer, but speaking aloud might break up the mental circle she was running in.
The forest looked neither cool nor inviting to Senna. It looked dense, dangerous – the sort of place where a corpse could rot and fade away with no one being the wiser. She was more than a little relieved when they finally reached what she could only assume was the starting point of the six paths that Rayo had described in the companion text to his pictogram and such on the chalkboard earlier. A sole yellow tree stood where she assumed the sixth path had been, but it was not that item that caught her attention.
She stepped closer to the blue trees, eyes narrowing slightly as she read the words. A phrase, but a nonsensical one. It was a familiar sight to the Long Arm. Well, not familiar as some things, but she was no stranger to this particular manner of arranging letters. Her lips moved, speaking a single word.
“Anagrams?”
Anagrams were among the sorts of word puzzles she had enjoyed in her free time. They were some of the hardest for her as well – oftentimes they required a kind of thinking around corners that she wasn’t good at. Still, she’d long since learned the trick of them, letting her eye just rove the letters, looking for words and starting from there. It didn’t always work, but if she was right…
The blue one proved tricky. She thought she could make out the words endless, waves and ocean – but there was a letter left over. That couldn’t be right. Turning, she glanced across the others.
And she saw it.
The knowledge came quickly, just a flash of understanding. It might be that the Brown Trees’ message was a little less jumbled than the rest, or maybe she just happened to see it just right. She stepped toward it, heedless of what the others might be talking about at the moment. Something about that message. It was the two esses… no. The whole second half of the first word. Press. Press… her mind shuffled things once, again, again.
There!
She read it through a couple times, lips moving but making no sound, eyes skipping back and forth across the message. But doubt… was it really that easy? Frowning a little, she penned (well, without a pen, but you get the idea) a message to the Wavemaster.
Her attention turned back to the other signs. The red one for instance… Hellish? No. Shadowy? No…
And the worries and thoughts were gone, at least briefly. The sweet bliss of a good mind puzzle is that while working through one, REALLY working, there is little room in the conscious mind for thinking about anything else.
But as she turned and took in the rest of the field, her enthusiasm for her own (success? Not the right word, she didn’t think. It was not success, but survival without lasting damage) accomplishment waned. The field was cleared in short order of their enemies, the battle taking place with the speed and fury of a catfight. And most of the people she could see across the field seemed to have more than bested her mere survival, her lone destruction.
Well, she supposed it was to be expected. As she returned to the group, she resolved not to think about it. If she kept questioning her ability after every fight she was only going to drive herself mad faster than it already seemed to be happening.
The grouping of her compatriots was loose, with some of them ranging a fair way off across the ashy field. Still, there was one place with a slightly higher concentration of soot-covered individuals, and it was there she headed.
“You guys really did a number on this place before,” she commented her voice sounding with an edge of awe. She was impressed. The power it would take to do this sort of thing must be immense. It was a little surprising that they’d been able to do this much damage but hadn’t gotten further along in the field. Not so surprising, she guessed. Things in this place were… odd. Why should destruction equal success on every plane?
Silverblade took the lead, and the rest of them fell in, a loose amalgamation of classes and looks but unified in their now-grubby appearance. As they trooped through the burnt-out field, their passage raised even more grit and dirt into the air than had been there before, only adding to the problem. Senna caught a lungful and paused a moment, coughing with one hand over her mouth. The taste of smoke and ash filled her dry mouth. This was NOT the best experience she’d had to date in The World. She resisted her urge to wipe at her eyes with the back of her arm again. It would do no more good this time than it had the time before.
As they walked, her mind wandered, and despite her earlier resolution, she found herself thinking back to the fight they’d just come through. Was she dropping the ball? Or was she on par and the REST Of them were just ahead of the game? The later really made more sense, given what she knew of them. Several had displayed quirks and abilities which would not be found in the normal catalogue of skills and spells.
But still, was that any excuse?
Yes, yes that’s exactly what it was, she thought grimly. An excuse. Not useful, just explanatory. A way of explaining her inability to keep up. Cathal had been right on that count. A bug part of being an effective fighter was in having useful equipment, but the majority of it lay elsewhere. Even between two people of similar level with similar equipment, one would be better. In fact, given the right circumstances, one could be head and shoulders above the other. Instinct. Awareness. There were so many places where nonmaterial aspects of battle would make a difference.
Like with that Archer. She’d fought amazingly, at least to Senna’s eyes. She’d considered going over to tell her so, but had decided to hold off a while. That one seemed a little… withdrawn. People who were withdrawn made Senna uneasy. It was as though she was just waiting for herself to say the wrong, stupid thing to offend them or prove her ignorance and meanness. It wasn’t anything they did. Just a view of herself, colored by past experience. Perception. Funny, in a way, how they could create a reality.
But back to the original thought. She was only a little more powerful than Senna level-wise, she figured by the attack damage, but she’d dished out a good deal of damage, and all with a weapon which was really best used from a distance. It was hard not to feel at least a little impressed by that. Or Canti, who was his own ball of hell unleashed when he really got into the fight.
Which led to another thought. If what everyone seemed to be saying was true, then she also had some ability in her that would allow her to fight above the level she currently worked at. There was some suggestion that the abilities were unique to the user, and that they augmented the player him- or herself. But what did she have to augment? And worse, would it make a difference? She could see herself blowing up herself or someone else if she got some ability she couldn’t hold onto.
Well, she resolved that if that happened, she would sooner just not use it than run the risk. The group *did* have a good number of powerful individuals. Was there any reason to push herself?
Or was she being a coward? And if so, was that a bad thing, inherently?
The thoughts were perhaps a little more philosophical than warranted by the current conditions and the situation they were in, but Senna (and moreso Liss, but was there really a difference any more?) had always been given over to a certain amount of introspection when left to the silence of her thoughts. And given the fact that the very nature not only of the world and The World but of her own soul and being had been suddenly and undeniably called into question over the past day or so, she didn’t begrudge herself it.
Heh. That brought forth another point though. What if her ability enhanced her cowardice? Wouldn’t that be… interesting? A nice, material manifestation of her own internal thoughts. Ah well. At least if that happened there would be no more worrying about people guessing. And would they react any differently? Like with Marionette’s comment earlier, she didn’t think it would really come as a surprise to any of them that she was more of a hyena than a wolf. They wouldn’t judge her any more harshly for that, right?
Eh… she wasn’t sure at all. She tried instead to force the thought away. It didn’t bear thinking about.
After a good bit of walking, the group arrived at a low wall. It reminded Senna a little of low farmhouse fences, the sort made with the discarded stones pulled from the fields to ease plowing. Directly across the low stone blockade, a path opened out of a forest that she hadn’t noticed as they approached. Let’s hear it for being distracted. However, it was somewhat interesting that they’d arrived right here. Nighthand – or whoever he wanted to call himself – seemed to have a damn good sense of direction.
The group climbed over the fence in their various ways – Senna herself made a neat leap, putting a foot atop the wall to help propel herself across, then nearly faceplanted on the landing due to the excess momentum. So much for the grace and agility of a Long Arm. Straightening, she smoothed the front of her pants the way one might a skirt. Sidling up alongside Hac, she couldn’t help but ask, “Have I always been this clumsy?”
She knew the answer, but speaking aloud might break up the mental circle she was running in.
The forest looked neither cool nor inviting to Senna. It looked dense, dangerous – the sort of place where a corpse could rot and fade away with no one being the wiser. She was more than a little relieved when they finally reached what she could only assume was the starting point of the six paths that Rayo had described in the companion text to his pictogram and such on the chalkboard earlier. A sole yellow tree stood where she assumed the sixth path had been, but it was not that item that caught her attention.
She stepped closer to the blue trees, eyes narrowing slightly as she read the words. A phrase, but a nonsensical one. It was a familiar sight to the Long Arm. Well, not familiar as some things, but she was no stranger to this particular manner of arranging letters. Her lips moved, speaking a single word.
“Anagrams?”
Anagrams were among the sorts of word puzzles she had enjoyed in her free time. They were some of the hardest for her as well – oftentimes they required a kind of thinking around corners that she wasn’t good at. Still, she’d long since learned the trick of them, letting her eye just rove the letters, looking for words and starting from there. It didn’t always work, but if she was right…
The blue one proved tricky. She thought she could make out the words endless, waves and ocean – but there was a letter left over. That couldn’t be right. Turning, she glanced across the others.
And she saw it.
The knowledge came quickly, just a flash of understanding. It might be that the Brown Trees’ message was a little less jumbled than the rest, or maybe she just happened to see it just right. She stepped toward it, heedless of what the others might be talking about at the moment. Something about that message. It was the two esses… no. The whole second half of the first word. Press. Press… her mind shuffled things once, again, again.
There!
She read it through a couple times, lips moving but making no sound, eyes skipping back and forth across the message. But doubt… was it really that easy? Frowning a little, she penned (well, without a pen, but you get the idea) a message to the Wavemaster.
She was well aware that she could have asked out loud, but had no such intention. This was a fluke, a happenstance that she managed to be a fan of this obscure form of mental amusement and exercise. As Calvin had so eloquently put it in one of the comic strips, it was always better to keep people’s expectations low. That way they wouldn’t start thinking they could depend on you for this sort of thing on a regular basis.To: Rayo
From: Senna
Subject: <None>
Please check my spelling. The brown sign. Does it rearrange to “Progress made?”
Her attention turned back to the other signs. The red one for instance… Hellish? No. Shadowy? No…
And the worries and thoughts were gone, at least briefly. The sweet bliss of a good mind puzzle is that while working through one, REALLY working, there is little room in the conscious mind for thinking about anything else.
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
(OOC: Oi! Sorry I'm late. >.<)
Victor sat on the edge of a river. A shiver went down his spine as he caught a sliver of a shadow out of the edge of his vision. Collisions in his head left him tired; right now he wish he could've hired someone to take his place. Escape from this base way of living -- it was his main goal for today. If it meant he had to slay someone, or perhaps give himself up to the infinite Gray of the afterlife -- it didn't matter to him. All he wanted was to escape this strife.
Safety in numbers, that was the key. Free -- that's what he wanted to be, and if he had to make a few unsavory friends, so be it. See it through, that's what he would do, and he knew just the Longarm to call.
Senna, the hottie with the wine-red hair, and a body so sensuous -- like a pear. That's who he needed, but there was no room to be horny. Not to be corny, but Victor had bigger fish to fry. It would be a far cry, but Silk the Fist Fighter banked on Senna's friends to make his load lighter; and in the end, maybe he could escape.
A chill on his nape left the Fist Fighter feeling vulnerable as a grape. Hidden amongst many, but weak if alone. It was time to take his phone and quit sittin' on his own. Time to send a message along.
Well sadly, she's got a fairly unpretty slouch, but that’s not from sitting on the couch. With a fine toned buttocks and a chest like a pair of clocks, Senna was far from ugly, even for a nasty, negative grouch. But no, the best part of her was the hair. Dare he go on? Yes, her red wine locks were perfect, especially if she wore one of those maids’ frocks. That would be nice like Oh Jesus Christ it’s time that Silk proposed his everlasting love; they were made for each other, like a hand and a glove. And no brother would stand in their way, no enemy, and no babies would turn Senna’s hair gray.
And then suddenly it began to rain on his dream. She’d cream me if I don’t refrain from staring at her tight ass, so firm yet soft I’d like to crash right in, and her eyes were so bright and maybe if she wasn’t level twenty-three. That’s right, her level was higher than his, so her body was flyer than his. There was no hope for a relationship there, not if he didn’t get this inferiority complex out of his hair. Sittin’ at skimpy twenty-one, there could be no fun on dates, bowling or the movies. Any girl he dated, no matter how groovy, that was better than him at anything, be it moving crates, strolling, or struttin’, would cause his other self to stick his cranky butt in.
Oh damn this situation was just ferocious, so there would be no mitosis, between a tadpole of his and an egg of hers. One begs to differ, but something in him wouldn’t get stiffer if there was a divide between her and him. So no he wouldn’t stir up a problem, or buy her those furs, because honestly these thoughts were like a big smelly turd.
After a time, there was a small chime, indicating that his mail had arrived. Clive spelt backwards is Evil C, but this bit is utterly unrelated so don’t let it grate in the tunnels of minds. Dank and grime, that was how Victor felt now that his chances with Senna had been realized into a crime, but he also needed to get out of here. Cheering up, he followed the directions in the mail, while reflections of his stale heart made him seem frail.
“Won’t be long before I’m on my way.”
Victor sat on the edge of a river. A shiver went down his spine as he caught a sliver of a shadow out of the edge of his vision. Collisions in his head left him tired; right now he wish he could've hired someone to take his place. Escape from this base way of living -- it was his main goal for today. If it meant he had to slay someone, or perhaps give himself up to the infinite Gray of the afterlife -- it didn't matter to him. All he wanted was to escape this strife.
Safety in numbers, that was the key. Free -- that's what he wanted to be, and if he had to make a few unsavory friends, so be it. See it through, that's what he would do, and he knew just the Longarm to call.
Senna, the hottie with the wine-red hair, and a body so sensuous -- like a pear. That's who he needed, but there was no room to be horny. Not to be corny, but Victor had bigger fish to fry. It would be a far cry, but Silk the Fist Fighter banked on Senna's friends to make his load lighter; and in the end, maybe he could escape.
A chill on his nape left the Fist Fighter feeling vulnerable as a grape. Hidden amongst many, but weak if alone. It was time to take his phone and quit sittin' on his own. Time to send a message along.
It was sweet and simple, although it could end badly, like popping a pimple. Gross! And like any boy does, Victor decided to think on how hawt Senna was.To: Senna
From: Silk
Subject: I'd like to meet your friends.
Hi. I'd like to meet your friends. Can I come along with you guys wherever you are?
Well sadly, she's got a fairly unpretty slouch, but that’s not from sitting on the couch. With a fine toned buttocks and a chest like a pair of clocks, Senna was far from ugly, even for a nasty, negative grouch. But no, the best part of her was the hair. Dare he go on? Yes, her red wine locks were perfect, especially if she wore one of those maids’ frocks. That would be nice like Oh Jesus Christ it’s time that Silk proposed his everlasting love; they were made for each other, like a hand and a glove. And no brother would stand in their way, no enemy, and no babies would turn Senna’s hair gray.
And then suddenly it began to rain on his dream. She’d cream me if I don’t refrain from staring at her tight ass, so firm yet soft I’d like to crash right in, and her eyes were so bright and maybe if she wasn’t level twenty-three. That’s right, her level was higher than his, so her body was flyer than his. There was no hope for a relationship there, not if he didn’t get this inferiority complex out of his hair. Sittin’ at skimpy twenty-one, there could be no fun on dates, bowling or the movies. Any girl he dated, no matter how groovy, that was better than him at anything, be it moving crates, strolling, or struttin’, would cause his other self to stick his cranky butt in.
Oh damn this situation was just ferocious, so there would be no mitosis, between a tadpole of his and an egg of hers. One begs to differ, but something in him wouldn’t get stiffer if there was a divide between her and him. So no he wouldn’t stir up a problem, or buy her those furs, because honestly these thoughts were like a big smelly turd.
After a time, there was a small chime, indicating that his mail had arrived. Clive spelt backwards is Evil C, but this bit is utterly unrelated so don’t let it grate in the tunnels of minds. Dank and grime, that was how Victor felt now that his chances with Senna had been realized into a crime, but he also needed to get out of here. Cheering up, he followed the directions in the mail, while reflections of his stale heart made him seem frail.
“Won’t be long before I’m on my way.”
Level 25 Fist Fighter
Boxing Gloves | Nny Scales | Dice Gloves | Iron Anklet | Time Headband
Skills: Ap Corv, Ap Torv, GiVak Don, Ap Torma, Ap Do, Repth, Kiwami, Double Mortal Scorcher
Wishlist:
1.) Rare Foot Armor
2.) FF Belief
3.) Any stat-altering items
Boxing Gloves | Nny Scales | Dice Gloves | Iron Anklet | Time Headband
Skills: Ap Corv, Ap Torv, GiVak Don, Ap Torma, Ap Do, Repth, Kiwami, Double Mortal Scorcher
Wishlist:
1.) Rare Foot Armor
2.) FF Belief
3.) Any stat-altering items
Once the group was paused in front of the signs again, the wave master looked another way after a quick read through. Their clues were new, although their purpose seemed the same. The last path they took had ended up unsuccessful, would any of his new guesses prove any better? Some other genius could be bothered to handle the decision making for this task. The wizard had been outvoted last time, not that his would be destination would have fared much better.
An opportunity was being provided, one Auth would not quickly pass up; the gift of time. With the appearance of the abominations of soot, there had been no time to ready himself for the duration of their stay. Anything that could be cast without actual item use was to be done now, so equipment swapping wouldn’t be as frequent. Amusing clinking sounds aside, there was no great reason to change his armor. Moving away from the group, the wave master dragged his staff roughly against the ground, marking a circle and then moved to the center of it.
“Don’t mind me, I’m just prepping! If you stay outside of my zone you won’t mind what I’m doing!”
After giving them a moment to let his call sink in, his brand new armor was switched in, and then promptly tested for power and durability. The RaJuk Zot he conjured drew branches from the ground skewering the enchanter right there. With an Ola Repth, the damage was mostly repaired. An icy version of the first rise spell followed but in a weaker form, and then Gan Rom as the dust tornado tore away the ice and wood that pinned him where he was held. After dropping back down, the wizard muttered an Ol Repth and brushed himself off.
“I’m no longer a spell magnet, don’t mind me.”
Sitting down between where the yellow trees stood, his equipment back in place, light wand resting across his legs, he waited. How often did his plans actually work out? Take Primal, the main defender of the last hub. It was his reasoning that led Hijinx, Senna, and Phoenix to their deaths. While the boy could claim partial credit for eventually taking it out the firs time, all he actually did was give Zan an opening that the heavy blade was actively trying to achieve. As far as he was aware, his spell barrage tactic failed them miserably against form two, while Dien figured out the trick and performed all of the required roles. Against the third his plan worked as far as his initial targeting scheme, but the over all idea fell through and didn’t go far past conception. Besides becoming a target, nothing intelligent was dreamed up at the end either.
Teamwork was essential, it had to be. Their opponents were so often alone or few in number, it only seemed rational to put their numbers to good use. Yet, try as he might, his plans didn’t have the desired outcomes. Marionette might have been right… his own performance might end up creating the lack of trust, rather than any convert actions by hackers.
<Zan, Armina,
We’ve got a forest that won’t let us try to go back, and a field with alternate paths, and a cave somewhere down the yellow path where our eyes are near useless. We can’t cover ourselves perfectly, but we can try to guard ourselves the best we can.
With your nose Zan, can you cover the front? I’m sure Nighthand/Silverblade and Nall will be there, but Nall’s horrible at warning us of anything, and frankly you’d just do a better job of it than the former.
I’m not sure how well you can control it for what I’m asking Mina, but how possible would it be for to work rearguard and try to just be receptive towards random thoughts floating about? If my hunch has any basis, you might be able to pick up the thoughts of whatever could try to follow or ambush us. I don’t know how many thoughts come from normal monsters, but it should conceivably work on hackers and enhanced AI units.
Thanks.
Rayo>
Almost immediately after sending out his requests, a ping came to his ears. It was far too quick to be from either Zan or Armina. Well, too quick for Zan. Technically Armina could have probed his mind once he actively started thinking about her, a good defense mechanism mind you, and then composed a response as wrote his question down. Instead it was from Senna, had she figured the riddle out? Two checks, one mental and another on paper with arrows pointing here and there showed her correct.
<Senna,
I think you’ve settled into the position of the genius I was hoping for. Yeah, ‘Repress Dogma’ does translate to ‘Progress Made’. I must not be very good at things, I never even considered the option of an anagram last time we passed through here. We’re lucky this time around to have you with us.
Rayo>
ooc:
Blue: RaJuk Zot, Ola Repth, Rue Zot, Gan Rom, Ol Repth
An opportunity was being provided, one Auth would not quickly pass up; the gift of time. With the appearance of the abominations of soot, there had been no time to ready himself for the duration of their stay. Anything that could be cast without actual item use was to be done now, so equipment swapping wouldn’t be as frequent. Amusing clinking sounds aside, there was no great reason to change his armor. Moving away from the group, the wave master dragged his staff roughly against the ground, marking a circle and then moved to the center of it.
“Don’t mind me, I’m just prepping! If you stay outside of my zone you won’t mind what I’m doing!”
After giving them a moment to let his call sink in, his brand new armor was switched in, and then promptly tested for power and durability. The RaJuk Zot he conjured drew branches from the ground skewering the enchanter right there. With an Ola Repth, the damage was mostly repaired. An icy version of the first rise spell followed but in a weaker form, and then Gan Rom as the dust tornado tore away the ice and wood that pinned him where he was held. After dropping back down, the wizard muttered an Ol Repth and brushed himself off.
“I’m no longer a spell magnet, don’t mind me.”
Sitting down between where the yellow trees stood, his equipment back in place, light wand resting across his legs, he waited. How often did his plans actually work out? Take Primal, the main defender of the last hub. It was his reasoning that led Hijinx, Senna, and Phoenix to their deaths. While the boy could claim partial credit for eventually taking it out the firs time, all he actually did was give Zan an opening that the heavy blade was actively trying to achieve. As far as he was aware, his spell barrage tactic failed them miserably against form two, while Dien figured out the trick and performed all of the required roles. Against the third his plan worked as far as his initial targeting scheme, but the over all idea fell through and didn’t go far past conception. Besides becoming a target, nothing intelligent was dreamed up at the end either.
Teamwork was essential, it had to be. Their opponents were so often alone or few in number, it only seemed rational to put their numbers to good use. Yet, try as he might, his plans didn’t have the desired outcomes. Marionette might have been right… his own performance might end up creating the lack of trust, rather than any convert actions by hackers.
<Zan, Armina,
We’ve got a forest that won’t let us try to go back, and a field with alternate paths, and a cave somewhere down the yellow path where our eyes are near useless. We can’t cover ourselves perfectly, but we can try to guard ourselves the best we can.
With your nose Zan, can you cover the front? I’m sure Nighthand/Silverblade and Nall will be there, but Nall’s horrible at warning us of anything, and frankly you’d just do a better job of it than the former.
I’m not sure how well you can control it for what I’m asking Mina, but how possible would it be for to work rearguard and try to just be receptive towards random thoughts floating about? If my hunch has any basis, you might be able to pick up the thoughts of whatever could try to follow or ambush us. I don’t know how many thoughts come from normal monsters, but it should conceivably work on hackers and enhanced AI units.
Thanks.
Rayo>
Almost immediately after sending out his requests, a ping came to his ears. It was far too quick to be from either Zan or Armina. Well, too quick for Zan. Technically Armina could have probed his mind once he actively started thinking about her, a good defense mechanism mind you, and then composed a response as wrote his question down. Instead it was from Senna, had she figured the riddle out? Two checks, one mental and another on paper with arrows pointing here and there showed her correct.
<Senna,
I think you’ve settled into the position of the genius I was hoping for. Yeah, ‘Repress Dogma’ does translate to ‘Progress Made’. I must not be very good at things, I never even considered the option of an anagram last time we passed through here. We’re lucky this time around to have you with us.
Rayo>
ooc:
Blue: RaJuk Zot, Ola Repth, Rue Zot, Gan Rom, Ol Repth
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty
-
Armina
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 4:10 am
- Location: Zanarkand, when not in The World
- Contact:
((Gah! Sorry I'm so late popping back in. So much to read... and I thought I typed long posts! *laughs* Anyway, this might be long to catch up. Majorly bummed I missed the Q&A & intros, but I'm decent at covering for actions & oportunities missed by now. ^_^))
Nall. She wanted to run to him, give him a hug, but something... he was harder and more distant now. Like Nighthand that was not Nighthand. Silverblade. The petite LongArm reminded herself.
Bubbly grin plastered on her face Armina double-checked her mental shields while keeping up some light feelers as she copied down her equipment lists for Rayo, making little jots at the bottom of the page as a sheepish expression crossed her face & twinkled a bit in her bright blue eyes.
Rayo... I only just earned my new spear. Don't really know it's skills very well yet. And I need to sell some useless junk and stock up on things I'll actually remember to use, okies? And... I hope it's okies not to list the 'gift' Damian gave me, but then you know all about that, don't you? Well, except I've trained up a bunch in it. Only in 'normal' situations, but it at least should't be a hinderance. ^_^
Smiling, she settled in to the meeting, flashing each member a bright smile while trying to catch their eyes. So hard... so sad... Her telepathic 'feelers' were picking up more than the still developing telepath could easily decipher, but enough to feel the gloom, the dual personalities, the extra thoughts and AIs... She was finding it very difficult to feel so much negative thoughts & feelings and follow the meeting at the same time but somehow she did so. It cost her asking her own questions however, which saddened even the optimistic LongArm.
Armina did not even know Hec, but she beamed and was tempted to pull him into an embrace if she had been closer when he asked about Gingitstune. She has to be alive!! She just has to be! See? Nall's alive, just as I knew he was!! But what of Kurai & the others? Ranza? Shooting a thankful grin at the one that was Hijinx & "seeing" that her thoughts were the same despite the more than evident change of appearance, glad that someone was still cheerful & friendly. So many sad & dark thoughts... So different from listening to the 'normal' players of The World, or even the occasional Crimson Guard. Their lives must give the others some light. We... Freedom Fighters? when did we start being called Freedom Fighters? I like it. Better than 'those stuck in a game' or something anyway. We don't know if there's hope, and it seems many have cut out what hope they might have had.
She for one was glad for the recap that Nall gave, finding she understood it much better now than when she had been a novice at everything. Her heart reached out with light fingers at things she picked up from Zan's mind, finding a kindred spirit in missing her love at least. Others missed theirs she knew, but the feeling of giving up in him made her own heart ache with sympathy.
Meeting adjourned, Armina gave a wave to everyone -more pronounced for those she had known and the LongArm Senna she had just met- and bounced off to get food and handle the restocking of her inventory she had told Rayo that she needed to do. She was more than a little disappointed not to have any new "attacks" with funny names to learn, but perhaps those would come after Rayo had time to look through all their abilities. Her spear was resting on her shoulder as she jogged, trying to get a feel for the place that would likely be her home away from the fields Damien had bequethed her.
Eating first, she nearly chocked on the warm broth when a flashmail surprized her.
Deep in thought she managed to keep her cheery, welcoming smile through the rest of her meal & while she found the new hideout-server's shops to conduct her buisiness. Armina hoped those who knew her would not notice her silence. Thankfully Rayo had gone to bed. He probably knew her best, of those remaining from the group she had known.
Newly equiped, Armina found the showers and made use of them to clean both body and mind. Her shields now were fully up, tendrils out only to detect dangerous thoughts. Fluffing out her short auburn tresses and giggling about her furry cat ears the petite girl set about cleaning her clothes & drying them before donning them once more & heading to the bunks. Picking one Armina plopped down with spear beside her and sighed heavily. She had not once lost her smile & did not let it falter now either. They need more smiles... so do I...
There was a soft russle from her hair shifting upon her pillow as Armina shook her head softly at herself for what she was about to do. Flashmails... how could I have forgotten about them?
~next day~
Nervousness gripped her harder than she gripped her new spear. Creatures of ash... What next? What other crazy things did I miss while I was gone? Armina saved her questions, letting her open eyes watch as other attacked and took out the monsters thrown at them. She only knew from stray thoughts of those that had been here before that the field had changed. She tried to ignore how it bothered her while storing the information away at the same time.
Quietly she jogged towards the back of the group as they continued. Her blue eyes were bright and as cheerful as her smile. It seemed that once out of the hideout some of the extra thoughts in her companions minds became more focused and now more of the thoughts she picked up tended towards the current situation -making things much easier on the burgeoning telepath. Still it was difficult.
Nall. She wanted to run to him, give him a hug, but something... he was harder and more distant now. Like Nighthand that was not Nighthand. Silverblade. The petite LongArm reminded herself.
Bubbly grin plastered on her face Armina double-checked her mental shields while keeping up some light feelers as she copied down her equipment lists for Rayo, making little jots at the bottom of the page as a sheepish expression crossed her face & twinkled a bit in her bright blue eyes.
Rayo... I only just earned my new spear. Don't really know it's skills very well yet. And I need to sell some useless junk and stock up on things I'll actually remember to use, okies? And... I hope it's okies not to list the 'gift' Damian gave me, but then you know all about that, don't you? Well, except I've trained up a bunch in it. Only in 'normal' situations, but it at least should't be a hinderance. ^_^
Smiling, she settled in to the meeting, flashing each member a bright smile while trying to catch their eyes. So hard... so sad... Her telepathic 'feelers' were picking up more than the still developing telepath could easily decipher, but enough to feel the gloom, the dual personalities, the extra thoughts and AIs... She was finding it very difficult to feel so much negative thoughts & feelings and follow the meeting at the same time but somehow she did so. It cost her asking her own questions however, which saddened even the optimistic LongArm.
Armina did not even know Hec, but she beamed and was tempted to pull him into an embrace if she had been closer when he asked about Gingitstune. She has to be alive!! She just has to be! See? Nall's alive, just as I knew he was!! But what of Kurai & the others? Ranza? Shooting a thankful grin at the one that was Hijinx & "seeing" that her thoughts were the same despite the more than evident change of appearance, glad that someone was still cheerful & friendly. So many sad & dark thoughts... So different from listening to the 'normal' players of The World, or even the occasional Crimson Guard. Their lives must give the others some light. We... Freedom Fighters? when did we start being called Freedom Fighters? I like it. Better than 'those stuck in a game' or something anyway. We don't know if there's hope, and it seems many have cut out what hope they might have had.
She for one was glad for the recap that Nall gave, finding she understood it much better now than when she had been a novice at everything. Her heart reached out with light fingers at things she picked up from Zan's mind, finding a kindred spirit in missing her love at least. Others missed theirs she knew, but the feeling of giving up in him made her own heart ache with sympathy.
Meeting adjourned, Armina gave a wave to everyone -more pronounced for those she had known and the LongArm Senna she had just met- and bounced off to get food and handle the restocking of her inventory she had told Rayo that she needed to do. She was more than a little disappointed not to have any new "attacks" with funny names to learn, but perhaps those would come after Rayo had time to look through all their abilities. Her spear was resting on her shoulder as she jogged, trying to get a feel for the place that would likely be her home away from the fields Damien had bequethed her.
Eating first, she nearly chocked on the warm broth when a flashmail surprized her.
Marionette? Didn't Ni... Silverblade say that was the guardian of the hubs we're tackling? Why would they contact me? Why now? Because I joined back up with the group? And what's meant by "darker side"? Not in me!!! I won't let it! Bad enough the darkness in the others' thoughts... maybe I should... hmmm... I don't know if I can. Not yet anyway. Would I? Should I even try? No... I'll go back to bringing the laughter my way. I don't need telepathy for that.Marionette wrote:Flashmail
To: Armina
From: Marionette
RE: messagE
innocencE haS alwayS beeN youR domaiN. yoU begiN tO maturE, buT whaT darkeR sidE wilL yoU seE?
End Flashmail
Deep in thought she managed to keep her cheery, welcoming smile through the rest of her meal & while she found the new hideout-server's shops to conduct her buisiness. Armina hoped those who knew her would not notice her silence. Thankfully Rayo had gone to bed. He probably knew her best, of those remaining from the group she had known.
Newly equiped, Armina found the showers and made use of them to clean both body and mind. Her shields now were fully up, tendrils out only to detect dangerous thoughts. Fluffing out her short auburn tresses and giggling about her furry cat ears the petite girl set about cleaning her clothes & drying them before donning them once more & heading to the bunks. Picking one Armina plopped down with spear beside her and sighed heavily. She had not once lost her smile & did not let it falter now either. They need more smiles... so do I...
There was a soft russle from her hair shifting upon her pillow as Armina shook her head softly at herself for what she was about to do. Flashmails... how could I have forgotten about them?
Sending that her smile softened tenderly and her blue eyes closed. Wish I could say goodnight to Trevor too... then the stress of the day claimed her in sleep.Flashmail
To: Ranger
From: Armina
RE: Goodnight, Sweet Prince
Short & sweet... I'm safe. Relatively. I found them. Well... kinda. It's confusing. ^_^ Anyway, I didn't want you to be worried.
Thank you.
I miss you.
Hug Deidre for me.
You're in my thoughts.
Good night, Sweet Prince. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
-- 'mina
End Flashmail
~next day~
Nervousness gripped her harder than she gripped her new spear. Creatures of ash... What next? What other crazy things did I miss while I was gone? Armina saved her questions, letting her open eyes watch as other attacked and took out the monsters thrown at them. She only knew from stray thoughts of those that had been here before that the field had changed. She tried to ignore how it bothered her while storing the information away at the same time.
Quietly she jogged towards the back of the group as they continued. Her blue eyes were bright and as cheerful as her smile. It seemed that once out of the hideout some of the extra thoughts in her companions minds became more focused and now more of the thoughts she picked up tended towards the current situation -making things much easier on the burgeoning telepath. Still it was difficult.
Peeking through and around the others -perhaps even "seeing" the signs through someone else's eyes- Armina sighed heavily at what was either a riddle or a brain tease. Neither of which she was particularly skilled at. Riddles again? She blinked, remembering the flashmail from the night before & was tempted to respond to it when...signs wrote:Between the Red trees
Ahead the stills yowl
Between the Blue trees
Scandal sees even now
Between the Green trees
Needlepoints rites
Between the Brown trees
Repress dogma
Between the Black trees
Astral rends keen
She blinked again, contemplating to herself before clicking reply.Rayo wrote:<Zan, Armina,
We’ve got a forest that won’t let us try to go back, and a field with alternate paths, and a cave somewhere down the yellow path where our eyes are near useless. We can’t cover ourselves perfectly, but we can try to guard ourselves the best we can.
With your nose Zan, can you cover the front? I’m sure Nighthand/Silverblade and Nall will be there, but Nall’s horrible at warning us of anything, and frankly you’d just do a better job of it than the former.
I’m not sure how well you can control it for what I’m asking Mina, but how possible would it be for to work rearguard and try to just be receptive towards random thoughts floating about? If my hunch has any basis, you might be able to pick up the thoughts of whatever could try to follow or ambush us. I don’t know how many thoughts come from normal monsters, but it should conceivably work on hackers and enhanced AI units.
Thanks.
Rayo>
Feeling better to have something specific to do and since she was in her flashmail already, Armina took a moment to do something about the cryptic message sent her.Flashmail
To: Rayo
From: Armina
RE: rear guard
Normal mobs have no thoughts, neither did those Ash things back there. Anything having a thought though... yea. Shouldn't be a problem. ^_^
I'll send out a 'call' my way if I catch anything. ^_^
-- 'mina
End Flashmail
Smiling to herself, Armina's deathgrip on her spear relaxed to battle-ready, her stance balancing with a dancer's grace as she set her mind to the mental rear-guard she had promised her friend.Flashmail
To: Marionette
From: Armina
RE: re: messagEThanks. Awfully sweet of you. But I wonder... Why contact me? Why now? I'm told you're the guardian of the hackers' flashmail hubs... do you get something out of sending me riddles? Us riddles?Marionette wrote:
innocencE haS alwayS beeN youR domaiN. yoU begiN tO maturE, buT whaT darkeR sidE wilL yoU seE?
I don't expect answers I'll understand. I suppose I should say thanks that in some odd way you must care to get involved.
I'll keep my innocence, thank you.
End Flashmail
Level 33
Skills: JukRepulse (WoodL2), RaiWipe (ThunderL2), RueKruz(1:S:Water), DekGanz (dec. Earth), RaiRom (1:Thunder), Repth, RipTeyn
Specials: LifeDrain
Items: 4Antidote, 2Restorative, 23Health Drink, 10Mage'sSoul, 5Ressurect
Flashmails were interesting. When the game was just a game they were just a method of communication, but now they were becoming a vital pipeline of information, taking the place of the phone or IM or any of the myriad of other ways reality offered for people to talk. And just like any other mode of communication, their frequency of use varied. Such as right now, when they seemed as common as glances or breaths.
No sooner had she shipped off her own than she was alerted to the receipt of another. She hesitated a moment, having much the same momentary confusion as the person she’d just Flashmailed had, unknown to her. It couldn’t be him, there was no way to read and respond that fast. So, curious, she opened it.
It was Silk. Well, new Silk. She still wasn’t sure what to make of new Silk, but he seemed… well, nothing was throwing up flags for her from him.
Silverblade.
It was at least getting easier to use that name in her mind. She supposed she should be thankful that other decided to take over so shortly after being introduced to him.
Senna approached warily, for no other reason than that she didn't really KNOW this guy. "Silverblade, was it? May I ask you something?"
"Sure, what's on your mind?"
"I've got a friend. He's... like us, I guess. He wants to join us, and I figured you'd be the one to ask." Straightforward enough, she guessed.
A pause. She had just time to think maybe I should have just asked forgiveness after instead of permission before when he answered. "I.. guess so. I suppose you can invite him. Just know he'll probably have some people keeping an eye on him, to make sure he isn't a minion of the hackers."
She cracked a smile. "Sure. I'd be disappointed if most new people weren't watched that way, to be honest. Thanks." Of all the answers she might have expected, that was probably the best possibility. Retreating a bit, she opened the Flashmailer again and began composing her reply to Silk. Almost the moment she opened the message, another arrived in her collection. She almost just closed the as-yet-unstarted reply, but decided against it. One thing at a time. So thinking, she began writing.
Her sense of direction wasn’t the greatest of all possible things, but luckily, a field of ashes should offer a good bit of aid to her friend. The ashes might be prone to being picked up on the breeze, but there were enough of them and there was enough char layer on the field to make their impressions deep.
That out of the way, she opened the Flashmail that had tried to interrupt her before. From Rayo, eh? A quick scan and she grimaced. He’d better not expect any more luck like that. The others – especially Dien and Zan in her experience, - were the puzzle solvers. Still, things were stuck for it. She’d have to say something. Assuming it WAS the right way, she figured it better to point that out than to just hope someone else would figure it out – and she assumed given time, most of them could.
So, she gestured toward the brown trees. “I vote that way,” she said. “The message can rearrange to ‘progress made’.”
There, it was said. Let them make of it what they would. Let them outvote her. It was, after all, only one way the letters could rearrange (though not the only one) and the anagram thing might not even be right – or the clues unraveled by working the puzzles out might be misleading in themselves.
Still, if this was assumed to be a test rather than just a stall, why bother making one clearly at least neutral, while the others were more directly bad? The blue, for instance, or the black trees whose letters seemed to promise eternal darkness. Green and red were still giving her trouble, and she actually played with the idea of Flashmailing them to herself. It wasn’t an idea based on any thought that if brown were the wrong path, the answers to the others might provide some better direction.
No, she was just uninterested in being bested by a word game.
No sooner had she shipped off her own than she was alerted to the receipt of another. She hesitated a moment, having much the same momentary confusion as the person she’d just Flashmailed had, unknown to her. It couldn’t be him, there was no way to read and respond that fast. So, curious, she opened it.
It was Silk. Well, new Silk. She still wasn’t sure what to make of new Silk, but he seemed… well, nothing was throwing up flags for her from him.
She considered the question briefly, but ultimately knew it wasn’t her call to make. Much as it galled her, she was going to have to seek out permission for this one. She wasn’t particularly keen on either of them, but given the circumstances, she figured one of the leaders was far more likely to give answer, and so…To: Senna
From: Silk
Subject: I'd like to meet your friends.
Hi. I'd like to meet your friends. Can I come along with you guys wherever you are?
Silverblade.
It was at least getting easier to use that name in her mind. She supposed she should be thankful that other decided to take over so shortly after being introduced to him.
Senna approached warily, for no other reason than that she didn't really KNOW this guy. "Silverblade, was it? May I ask you something?"
"Sure, what's on your mind?"
"I've got a friend. He's... like us, I guess. He wants to join us, and I figured you'd be the one to ask." Straightforward enough, she guessed.
A pause. She had just time to think maybe I should have just asked forgiveness after instead of permission before when he answered. "I.. guess so. I suppose you can invite him. Just know he'll probably have some people keeping an eye on him, to make sure he isn't a minion of the hackers."
She cracked a smile. "Sure. I'd be disappointed if most new people weren't watched that way, to be honest. Thanks." Of all the answers she might have expected, that was probably the best possibility. Retreating a bit, she opened the Flashmailer again and began composing her reply to Silk. Almost the moment she opened the message, another arrived in her collection. She almost just closed the as-yet-unstarted reply, but decided against it. One thing at a time. So thinking, she began writing.
Her sense of direction wasn’t the greatest of all possible things, but luckily, a field of ashes should offer a good bit of aid to her friend. The ashes might be prone to being picked up on the breeze, but there were enough of them and there was enough char layer on the field to make their impressions deep.
The last line left her feeling a little uneasy. The clearing at the end of the path. That was a phrase for death in another unreality, the place where the dead waited for others – friends, enemies, all. She almost deleted it, replaced it with something a little less loaded, but in the end, she just sent it as it was.To: Silk
From: Senna
Subject: <None>
We’re in Lambda server, at Pulsating Light Trap Core. Follow our tracks across the ash field. Should bring you to a forest path. Take that. We’re in the clearing at the end of the path.
That out of the way, she opened the Flashmail that had tried to interrupt her before. From Rayo, eh? A quick scan and she grimaced. He’d better not expect any more luck like that. The others – especially Dien and Zan in her experience, - were the puzzle solvers. Still, things were stuck for it. She’d have to say something. Assuming it WAS the right way, she figured it better to point that out than to just hope someone else would figure it out – and she assumed given time, most of them could.
So, she gestured toward the brown trees. “I vote that way,” she said. “The message can rearrange to ‘progress made’.”
There, it was said. Let them make of it what they would. Let them outvote her. It was, after all, only one way the letters could rearrange (though not the only one) and the anagram thing might not even be right – or the clues unraveled by working the puzzles out might be misleading in themselves.
Still, if this was assumed to be a test rather than just a stall, why bother making one clearly at least neutral, while the others were more directly bad? The blue, for instance, or the black trees whose letters seemed to promise eternal darkness. Green and red were still giving her trouble, and she actually played with the idea of Flashmailing them to herself. It wasn’t an idea based on any thought that if brown were the wrong path, the answers to the others might provide some better direction.
No, she was just uninterested in being bested by a word game.
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
The battle had ended quickly. Which was good, because the twin blade didn't have much patience anyway. Traveling in the field quickly becomes a pain for him. The ash hadn't been too bad when they were fighting, adrenaline has a way of removing small distractions until the big things are done. However, now that the soot soldiers are literally dust in the wind, Lighteria finds himself unable to get over the fact that there's a good half foot of soot trying to crawl into his shoes and make his feet itch. On top of that, the constant downpour of soot is starting to make his face half way gray. Somewhere in between the random embers falling onto his nose and largish flake of gray ash floating onto his eyelash causing him to blink about eighty thousand times, the twin blade starts to lose it. His teeth start gnashing as he wipes large swaths of ash from his forehead, his fist clenches in a harsh rage as a small ember lands on the back of his hand, burning him lightly and extinguishing before he could vengefully brush it away. He forces himself to squint for the remainder of the walk, serving the dual purpose of protecting his eyes and also giving a general **ck off, vibe from the angry look. In the mean time, Kit is curled into an EXTRA tight ball on his shoulder, face buried in her own thick fur; her gray fur slowly turns an off color as ash collects on her coat.
Ugh. I feel like I need a shower in the real world after all this. What a miserable field. I hope this gets better...
Almost on cue, a thick forest appears in front of the group along with a small wall. The twin blade arches an eye brow at the sight of the wall. It's definitely out of place considering everything else in the field looks natural and not man made; stranger still is the odd cut off where the barren hellscape just seems to stop abruptly into an untouched forest. If this was reality, he'd start voicing all the reasons this SO cannot happen. Buuut, with a talking cat on his shoulder and ash piling on top of one of his bangs, making it hang down like a gray pendulum, he's more than happy to disregard physics in exchange for shade. With a quick leap he's over the wall and following silver blade again. As he waits for the others, his mind flashes a moment on how darned EASY that jump was. His eyes glance down to his weapon for a moment, the blades tucked safely into the straps of his belt.
Kinda simplistic fighting style... jump around and poke stuff with sharp metal sticks. I think magic is much more refined...
As they walk, Lighteria continues to praise himself internally. Kit, on the other hand, leaps off of the twin blade's shoulder to rub against the bark of a few nearby trees, smears of gray ash streaking across the trunks of the trees they pass. It's definitely not an ideal way to clean off, but the kitten decides to make due. Between the two of them, only Kit notices the trail disappearing behind them and that's only because she ducked her head deeply to brush it against some leaves. It's disconcerting but she doesn't bring it up... yet. It isn't long until the entire group comes to a clearing. Lighteria walks towards the left of the clearing and growls, batting at his bangs like they're flies, small clouds of soot poofing off his hair and settling onto the ground.
"Fraking soot... I'm slapping that Mary once for every ember burn I got on my hand." The twin blade mutters grimly but audibly as he dusts off, clearly ignoring the signs and the general dilemma of what they're going to do. Kit takes notice of his dusting and walks over, partially to get him to help but mostly to get his help dusting her fur off.
"Hey, can ya dust off my head? I can't reach." Kit mews up to Lighteria, settling into a light sitting position at his feet. The twin blade grunts and leans over, batting her head a few times, being rough enough to be annoying but not enough to complain about.
"Pain the butt..." He mutters against, dusting most of the soot from Kit's back and head.
"Hey." Kit interrupts, watching the twin blade get the soot out of his hair. "Just because your cover is almost nil with the group doesn't mean you can slack off or give people grief. We're in a situation here still, despite not being in immediate danger. The path is gone and Marionette left cryptic cl-"
"Not my problem." Lighteria interjects, knocking soot out of his boot. "Besides, if I was the one guarding this place the only reason I'd give people puzzles is to fool them into thinking they can figure out the right way. They'll go all brainy and logical and feel all good about themselves when they solve it, not even thinking that it's all just a trick to get people who think they're clever to willingly walk into a pit or something. ...and... what is that mage doing?"
The two look over towards Rayo as he prepares his magic. Kit is a bit horrified by the ordeal, seeing him get hurt and all, the twin blade though spends most of his energy repressing a smile. As the light show fades, the twin blade holds out his arm and points a bit over the wavemaster's head, calling to him.
"Hey Sensei! If you EVER need someone to blast the living hell out of you with spells, well by gum mister you can just call on me next time!" He smirks and goes back to dusting himself off, having actually meant every word; beating people up is a great stress reliever. Kit sighs deeply and shakes her head, going to check out the signs. To her, it's become quite clear she's getting very little help from her owner.
Time passes as the brains of the operation quickly solve the puzzle. The red-haired Long Arm had apparently not only deduced the signs were anagrams, but she also had solved one or more signs. Kit stares at the letters for a moment as she sits near the center sign, mentally confirming that the letters matched up.
"Wow. You're right! That was really sharp." Kit says to Senna, tail swishing lightly back and forth as it does when she's thinking or impressed. She tilts her head towards the sign between the black leaved trees for a moment, working out the letters. "...Astral rends keen... I read darkness... ....ant reel?" She tilts her head the other way, whiskers starting to twitch. "....oh, wait. Eternal! That's gotta be it." Lighteria claps lightly from the other side of the clearing, Kit hissing back towards him lightly, not appreciating the sarcasm. Clearly, patience was going to wear thin quickly with them.
Ugh. I feel like I need a shower in the real world after all this. What a miserable field. I hope this gets better...
Almost on cue, a thick forest appears in front of the group along with a small wall. The twin blade arches an eye brow at the sight of the wall. It's definitely out of place considering everything else in the field looks natural and not man made; stranger still is the odd cut off where the barren hellscape just seems to stop abruptly into an untouched forest. If this was reality, he'd start voicing all the reasons this SO cannot happen. Buuut, with a talking cat on his shoulder and ash piling on top of one of his bangs, making it hang down like a gray pendulum, he's more than happy to disregard physics in exchange for shade. With a quick leap he's over the wall and following silver blade again. As he waits for the others, his mind flashes a moment on how darned EASY that jump was. His eyes glance down to his weapon for a moment, the blades tucked safely into the straps of his belt.
Kinda simplistic fighting style... jump around and poke stuff with sharp metal sticks. I think magic is much more refined...
As they walk, Lighteria continues to praise himself internally. Kit, on the other hand, leaps off of the twin blade's shoulder to rub against the bark of a few nearby trees, smears of gray ash streaking across the trunks of the trees they pass. It's definitely not an ideal way to clean off, but the kitten decides to make due. Between the two of them, only Kit notices the trail disappearing behind them and that's only because she ducked her head deeply to brush it against some leaves. It's disconcerting but she doesn't bring it up... yet. It isn't long until the entire group comes to a clearing. Lighteria walks towards the left of the clearing and growls, batting at his bangs like they're flies, small clouds of soot poofing off his hair and settling onto the ground.
"Fraking soot... I'm slapping that Mary once for every ember burn I got on my hand." The twin blade mutters grimly but audibly as he dusts off, clearly ignoring the signs and the general dilemma of what they're going to do. Kit takes notice of his dusting and walks over, partially to get him to help but mostly to get his help dusting her fur off.
"Hey, can ya dust off my head? I can't reach." Kit mews up to Lighteria, settling into a light sitting position at his feet. The twin blade grunts and leans over, batting her head a few times, being rough enough to be annoying but not enough to complain about.
"Pain the butt..." He mutters against, dusting most of the soot from Kit's back and head.
"Hey." Kit interrupts, watching the twin blade get the soot out of his hair. "Just because your cover is almost nil with the group doesn't mean you can slack off or give people grief. We're in a situation here still, despite not being in immediate danger. The path is gone and Marionette left cryptic cl-"
"Not my problem." Lighteria interjects, knocking soot out of his boot. "Besides, if I was the one guarding this place the only reason I'd give people puzzles is to fool them into thinking they can figure out the right way. They'll go all brainy and logical and feel all good about themselves when they solve it, not even thinking that it's all just a trick to get people who think they're clever to willingly walk into a pit or something. ...and... what is that mage doing?"
The two look over towards Rayo as he prepares his magic. Kit is a bit horrified by the ordeal, seeing him get hurt and all, the twin blade though spends most of his energy repressing a smile. As the light show fades, the twin blade holds out his arm and points a bit over the wavemaster's head, calling to him.
"Hey Sensei! If you EVER need someone to blast the living hell out of you with spells, well by gum mister you can just call on me next time!" He smirks and goes back to dusting himself off, having actually meant every word; beating people up is a great stress reliever. Kit sighs deeply and shakes her head, going to check out the signs. To her, it's become quite clear she's getting very little help from her owner.
Time passes as the brains of the operation quickly solve the puzzle. The red-haired Long Arm had apparently not only deduced the signs were anagrams, but she also had solved one or more signs. Kit stares at the letters for a moment as she sits near the center sign, mentally confirming that the letters matched up.
"Wow. You're right! That was really sharp." Kit says to Senna, tail swishing lightly back and forth as it does when she's thinking or impressed. She tilts her head towards the sign between the black leaved trees for a moment, working out the letters. "...Astral rends keen... I read darkness... ....ant reel?" She tilts her head the other way, whiskers starting to twitch. "....oh, wait. Eternal! That's gotta be it." Lighteria claps lightly from the other side of the clearing, Kit hissing back towards him lightly, not appreciating the sarcasm. Clearly, patience was going to wear thin quickly with them.
Lv. 37 Twin Blade (180 SP)
Weapon: Rashou (Thunder Coil- 30, Suvi Lei- 20, Mumyn Lei- 30) (Life Drain)
Armor: Holy Tree Mail (Juk Kruz- 20) - Scarab Earring (La Repth- 20, Rip Maen- 40) - Time Sandals (Ap Do- 15) - Forest Gloves (Juk Kruz- 20)
GP: 14384
Wish list (In order of priority): Angel halo accessory, chibi angel wings, Bone Armor, Professional
Lighteria: "Obsessively updating my profile since Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:10 pm"
Weapon: Rashou (Thunder Coil- 30, Suvi Lei- 20, Mumyn Lei- 30) (Life Drain)
Armor: Holy Tree Mail (Juk Kruz- 20) - Scarab Earring (La Repth- 20, Rip Maen- 40) - Time Sandals (Ap Do- 15) - Forest Gloves (Juk Kruz- 20)
GP: 14384
Wish list (In order of priority): Angel halo accessory, chibi angel wings, Bone Armor, Professional
Lighteria: "Obsessively updating my profile since Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:10 pm"