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Lighteria
Well-Oiled Machine
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Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:59 am
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Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Lighteria » Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:21 am

There is admittedly very little Lighteria can do when he's split himself into an aura. Certainly he could have tried entering a weapon or maybe even entering someone's head to talk with them... But that would require a lot of focus and wouldn't do much good anyway. Lighteria, after all, is not one who gleefully engages in conversation on a whim, especially in the middle of a fight. If only he could direct the giant swarm of orbs a little better, maybe he could annoy a particularly troublesome target, but at this point, the best he can do is float around. Indeed it will probably ALWAYS be the best he can do. After all, the element has a.... bit of a mind of its own. Without direction from Lighteria's fragmented mind, they simply spread and swarm around the various spells and fire based attacks. Indeed, letting them just go on autopilot managed to catch pretty much every spell and Vak skill that was cast in the last few minutes. Flames have been burning brighter and ice spells have been fizzling... actually, the ice spells have been REALLY annoying. Since are of effect spells have been flying around the battlefield like fireworks on the Forth of July, at least one orb has been caught in every single spell, which means his head has been literally assaulted by "Immune" messages, since fortunately the orbs are immune to the element he's blocking. Still, the sheer amount of them is enough to give the poor player a headache and keep him from understanding anything going on in the battle. It's not a fun time, his head essentially being a haze of boosting flames and blocked spells.

Only when the ice spells start to die down does Lighteria start to get a grip on the entire situation. There’s still plenty of enemies around for sure, but not so many that its impossible to get a grip. Knowing that rather hefty amount of damage has been both boosted and blocked by the aura, the twin blade decides now might be a good time to try reforming. The weaker spells, after all, the ones with a chance of fizzling out completely within the aura also seem to have stopped, which means it’s probably best to start helping a bit more directly. With that in mind, the orbs in the field stop their aimless floating and start to converge again on a single point. Luckily for Lighteria, they’re high enough in the air to avoid random swipes, the snowmen apparently more interested in stabbing people with actual weapons than little, warm glowing marbles. With no orbs dying, the reformation process is done much faster than normal… a mere thirty seconds elapse before the orbs reach each other and fuse. Sparking and crackling, the orbs flash a white light for just an instant, leaving Lighteria standing in the snow. He stumbles forward from the shock of having his body back and barely catches himself on the soft ground with one hand. He blinks a few times and lifts his other hand in front of his face to check that it’s all there.

Huh… I’m all here. No real major loss of HP… I must be getting better at this.
(Reformation reaches level 5)

Of course, as he says that a MeRue Rom goes off in his face. The impact sends him flying onto his back in the snow, making a rather amusing crater. The long arm snowman that fired it off skis over towards the hole to see the damage, only to have Lighteria burst upwards with a blade outstretched, planting it pretty squarely into the monster’s face. With his eyes burning now instead of his body, the twin blade plants his other blade into the monster’s belly and proceeds to rip and tear in a fury, so very, very angry that his brief victory was interrupted. It quickly fades into black and disappears in front of him, leaving the twin blade to stare at the fifty some odd snowmen left. There’s a brief wave of despair seeing that number still alive… granted it’s WAY less than what there was before, but it’s still quite a few, and all of them are at least somewhat close to his level… sorta.

Before another spell can hit him while he stands around taking stock like the space-case he is, Lighteria rushes forward to the closest melee snowman he can find, another long arm to be precise. It takes a wide, powerful swing at the twin blade’s face as it sees him approach, but the twin blade ducks the blow and charges forward, getting right up to his carrot nose, his blades thrusting right into the thing’s chest. It tries to shove Lighteria away of course, but the twin blade only lets himself be pushed to a certain distance. Just as it tries to right itself, it notices Lighteria’s foot on the end of its ski, juuust a bit too late though. It tips right over onto the snow and lands on its side. Lighteria doesn’t even flinch before he stomps down and slashes it to snowy, messy ribbons on the ground.

With that out of the way, the twin blade takes off running again, this time towards a little cluster of ten beasts that seem to be distracted by casting magic on someone. No matter, Lighteria figures it’s best to keep himself mobile either mobile or in a cluster of enemies so it’s harder to be hit with spells or arrows. This group is juuust perfect for that. As he runs, he pulls the Akatsuki from his item pouch and grips the hilts tightly, making a flying leap onto the back of one of them while he’s distracted. Its spell stops, of course, when the blades plunge into the snow of its back and suddenly burst into flame. The snowman drops its wavemaster staff in shock as the start of a Twin Dragons attack essentially rips the top half of its body off… fire against snow after all. The shock of the ambush quickly wears off from the others though and they charge forward to swarm the twin blade. Lighteria was pretty ready for that though and quickly dives into the group of four of them, his blades looking like giant torches as flames veil the edges of the Akatsuki. The resulting battle can only be described as a complete clusterf*** of blade swinging, clashing, flames and death. Of course, they’re all lower level and Lighteria has the elemental advantage. The battle is over fairly quickly with the twin blade standing amidst a pile of dying snow men, scratches and cuts on his chest and face, along with a dazed look as though he’s saying “I can barely recall what just happened.” He fires off a quick repth though and looks back towards the group to see how they’re doing. Zan’s flashmail still tickling the back of his mind, saying: “You know, I should probably be more worried about this than I am.”

Level 10: 0/300
Level 30: 46/150 (42 Lightly injured, 4 Moderately injured)
Level 50: 0/50
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"

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Dien
Exalted Player
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Class: Blademaster
Location: The "Who's Online List," Stalking People...

Part 11

Post by Dien » Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:07 am

There wasn’t much too it. A few more odd attacks from his teammates and the crowd of snowmen had thinned considerably. Granted, he’d been trying his best to keep fighting, but until this point they seemed to be oddly avoiding him. There was also the fact that a few devastating attacks had been launched, reducing their outnumbering from ten-to-one to a staggeringly simple three-to-one ratio. All of the lowbies had been annihilated, and thanks to some fancy theatrics from Canti, the mammoths were gone as well. All that remained were a few dozen injured mid-level snowmen, who between the various abilities being displayed, appeared to be more than handled. One more big attack, and the battle would be over—not that Dien was capable of producing such a thing. No, his glow probably wouldn’t appear again until just after the battle, so he was shit out of luck, and had to resort to slicing things.

And slice he did. One snowman lazily tried to sweep past him, and the blademaster shoved his sword into its side. The thing caught on his weapon and spun, failing to regain its balance before colliding head-first with the last patch of clean snow. A light groan escaped Dien’s lips as the last shred of evidence that this had once been a peaceful locale was destroyed, and he took the few steps towards the snowman’s slowly reconstituting body, kicking the dust and stabbing the mounds that lingered until they stopped building. He had to admit frustration as the battlefield continued to be thinned. The rate with which these opponents could be killed would continue to drop until the last one was dead, if only because it would take that much more time to get from one target to the next.

Nostalgia brought to him the memory of deathcall, the skill from the archaic “World of Warcraft” game that literally brought an opponent to right in front of you from several yards away. Such an ability right now would be invaluable, as he wouldn’t have to keep wasting SP and items on the magic required to get the attention of these brutes. He was lucky to stab his sword into the occasional drive-by-sticker, but that was no way to fight. He needed some way to get these things back close together again.

Good luck with that,” Danielle remarked, appearing next to him in the snow, “the medium ones seem to prefer using ranged attacks. If they work like normal monsters, then you’ve gotta be really careful with how far away you are when you attack. Otherwise—hey, are you even listening to me?!” Dien changed equipment again, reissuing his Rig Geam before swapping one more time. She knew exactly what his plan was, and compared to the one she was offering, it sucked.

“I know what you’re thinking for a change,” he said, turning to face her for a moment, “and I’m exhausted. Running around and playing snowman roundup would wipe me out, so I’m just going to launch a couple summons and let them run wild.” She sighed in exasperation, but conceded the point. After all, what could she really do to stop him?

After taking a moment to assess the battlefield and find its center, the blademaster-soon-to-be-caster moved there and spread his feet on the ground. He’d never tried what he was about to do, and as he spread his arms, he could only pray that it would work. From what Dien had seen, summon spells took on a form that matched the whim of the caster. Takua’s Vulcan Ch had been in the form of a phoenix, one of Nighthand’s amplified Wryneck spells had taken the form of Chernabog, and with those a great number of other examples played through his mind. So logically, if he willed his summons to be walls of fire that stretched from the directions his hands pointed for a split second that would logically be what he got.

He hoped.

In all actuality, it was a bit of a stretch. Still, he raised his right hand forward, targeting an area that seemed like it would yield a good payoff of dead snowmen. A MeRue Rom spawned around him, and he grunted, taking the damage as it came before calling the first summon spell.

“Vulcan!” He shouted, and from his hand erupted just what he imagined: a wall of fire that plowed straight through the targeted snowman. Quickly, he turned left, but not a moment later the spell had deactivated. Granted, within the target area, there were no snowmen left standing, so that much was good. Vital chunks of HP were being whittled away by the spell as it toyed with his mobility. When it came to AoE spells like a MeRue Rom, he’d learned that the farther from the center, the better. It took a great deal of effort to move his arm even slightly, so the next summoning would have to wait until the ice goddess finished having fun. He’d have to talk to Kira about that later.

Finally, he pulled his arm quickly to the side, putting another snowman in the scope and firing off the summon. His SP was depleted, and a handful of the remaining snowmen were annihilated. A quick check revealed two Mage’s Souls: and a moment’s debate warranted the use of one of them. He could at least take down a few more snowmen, if he was clever with how the spells were cast. Twice more the summons fired, thinning out the ranks of the frosty horde even further. It would be over soon.

But no sooner had his last Vulcan spell gone off than the visage of Lady Merrows came careening at him. Ice grew around him at an alarming rate, walling him off from the rest of the World, and as she floated over him, she clenched her fist. That very instant, the walls of ice broke inward, squeezing Dien for a few moments and sucking out more of that precious HP he’d been warily keeping an eye on. He collapsed in a coughing fit after she disappeared, a steaming crimson stain in the snow growing with every breath. The fighter reached for his bag, but his hand couldn’t reach the clasp before a weight of ice fell upon him, crushing him deep into the snow. Whether it was the suffocation that killed him or the sheer weight of the spell, he couldn’t say, but for the time being, he was very distinctly dead.

((OOC:
Level 10: 0/300
Level 30: 13/150 (1 Lightly Injured, 9 Moderately Injured, 3 Severely Injured)
Level 50: 0/50
))
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Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

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Takua
Ikkitousen
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Class: Wavemaster
Location: Walking the line of madness

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Takua » Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:05 am

Takua downed a Mage's Soul as he spun out of the way of a spear that threatened to cut him open. The last several seconds hadn't been good, since the ground had, for him, erupted with more snowman in a haze before vanishing back to his imagination. There were still several of the Deluxe versions around, although massive explosions from all sections of the battlefield seemed to be wrapping up the battle quickly. There were...a good thirteen in his vicinity that weren't already grabbed, or so he thought. Frowning, he quickly called out a BiVak Kruz on the Long Arm Snowman in front of him; leaving a melting corpse in his wake as the waves of fire quickly melted the creature. That was one down, now it was time for a few more.

Quickly calling on the more damaging spell on the Firedrake Bone, the RaVak Don. Three blazing meteors turned more ground into so much slush and damaged or outright killed several more of the frozen enemies. The damaged ones, and indeed most of the rest, turned their attentions towards him. It was only after he saw a typical Merrows appear in front of him, and then two more to each side, that he might have made a mistake in so blatantly marking himself for death. Typically, one didn't advertise one's presence to the enemy unless you were sure, absolutely sure, that you could kill them. Typically without any pain or resurrects involved. Instead, he'd gone ahead and thrown up a huge sign that said 'here I am, come and get me!' without any regard for the consequences. So now he had three very pissed off and hostile summons around his body.

Only a single one hit as he ran out of the range, narrowly avoiding flying ice shards and chunks, but a solid fifty pound ice black slammed into his back as he ran, sending him to the ground. Shaking his head, he rose back up...only to find himself toe-to-ski with two others. Unraveling his Ruem Wings and flapping backwards as quickly as he could, he only barely avoided the long reach of a Heavy Blade sword that was reaching for his head. It wasn't a speed boost that he was looking for, or maybe it was, but he needed to not be bogged down in the snow. It didn't take him another moment to retaliate, summoning one of the Gods of the Waves. “Vulcan.” It wasn't the far more powerful incarnation, but with only three in the blast radius and none in the one that would have been reached by the second level version, he saw no need to spend more SP. With his trusty blazing phoenix turning the three caught in the blast into more water, he concentrated on the rest...right before he felt pain erupt in his back. Knocked forward, he whirled and found a Twin Blade slicing wildly at him. Swearing, he flinched badly as something, or multiple things, screamed into his ear. Shit! He'd already grown more or less accustomed to having...well, a non-stop supply of sound into his brain, but he still wasn't used to the screaming. He really wasn't used to the sound either, the yelling, the talking, the...everything. Not the best of things for him to be going through while fighting! Readying his staff, he willed the spell into-

A blazing arrow shot all the way through the Snowman Deluxe's head, flying past the Wavemaster's shoulder before embedding itself in a second target. Breathing a sigh of relief, he waved to his momentary savior before turning back to the battle. Finding another clump directly in front of him, he took another Mage's Soul (and reminded himself to buy more once they got to a place where he could do so) before blasting four more into oblivion with a single Vulcan Ch. Switching back from the Starstorm Wand to the Firedrake Bone, he smiled as he found the last Deluxe version several yards away and closing rapidly. The Wavemaster was a little worried that there might not be enough time for him to fire the spell, given that they weren't as slow moving as the Supreme versions that he had blasted apart earlier. Even still, there was plenty of time for him to fire off a single BiVak Kruz, every single last blast of fire hitting the monster directly in the head...and turning it from so much ice to digital decay.

Turning, he found Sekai and Kira before he tilted his head towards where Demorian was and then walking over there himself. They had finished the fight before they'd gotten caught by Tritoch, that was good. But the area around them could change to a different atmosphere and lead the way for the beast at any moment now, that was bad. Sticking by Demorian then until they either got the hell away from here or beat the former Admin would be best, and since he and Sekai were still on that duty...it was about time to get over there. He stared though as something seemed to click in his mind...and he flinched again before Ondine spoke, her form suddenly appearing from his right. That was good, she hadn't decided to play in the battle. Or maybe she had and he just hadn't noticed. Oops. Perhaps he should be paying more attention to her. "You gonna be okay?" His response was low enough that nobody could hear.

"No."

((OOC: All dead))
Takua - Lvl 57 Wavemaster
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Wishlist: Levels, Stun Rod, Hag's Wand, Wand of Truth, Ex-Level, Ex-Spheres, and Myth: Demiurge, FL Fukuoka

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Nighthand » Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:20 pm

One by one, a few at a time, and in small groups, the snowmen fell. This continued amidst a flurry of snow until at last, none of the snowmen moved. Demorian breathed slowly, clouds of steam coming from his mouth as he looked around at the settling landscape. Snow filtered down slowly from the sky, but it was the only movement. Even the sounds were muted and missing.

The pleasant calm, slight chill, and blessed silence was broken when Tritoch shrieked again from overhead.

Demorian glanced up, shook his head, and stomped his way through the snow to Nall and Sheena.

“Time to go, eh?”

”Yeah. Nall needs to get to the town as fast as possible.” Sheena’s voice was soft as she poked and prodded Nall’s data, the Blademaster barely moving on the ground.

“ALRIGHT!” Demorian shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “We’ve got to get moving. Tritoch could be zeroing in, we need to get away from the battle ground. This way!”

The Blademaster grinned and started trudging through the snow, heading in the direction they had been walking prior to the battle. How he still knew which way that was, no one could say. Still, he was confident, and Sheena followed The fist fighter had Nall thrown over her shoulder, not exactly daintily, but it allowed her to move faster.

The snow began to melt away, revealing a rocky ground strewn with bushes. The trees began to thin out, though they still gave a lot of cover. Thankfully, the clouds above were still thick and low, making it impossible for them to spot Tritoch. Hopefully it also made it impossible for him to spot them.

Something slowly came into view through the trees and bushes. It looked… like a wall? It was! A wall rose ahead of them, but they never seemed to get close up to it. The more they walked, the larger it grew, but they still were far from its base. Was it the end of the wastelands?

Then, suddenly, there they were. One moment the wall seemed far away, and the next it rose up above them, disappearing into the clouds and off on the horizon on either side.

“Damn.” Demorian said to himself. “I didn’t count on this.” He examined the wall, and when he touched it, a huge circle began to glow. Easily ten times the height of the Blademaster, the great circle just touched the ground and glowed a swirling combination of brown and red. His hand left the wall, and the circle cleared to white and faded back into the brick and stone the wall was made of.

“Another thing that ends up in the Wastes… Failed and discarded puzzles. This wall will stretch into the sky as high as we could fly, and go as far in either direction as we could walk. We have to figure out how to get through it.” He shook his head. “A delay we didn’t need.” He stared up at the wall, thinking.

----------------------ooc:
Each of you will have a different set of colors that the wall displays when you touch it. IM or PM me to find out what yours are.

If two people touch the wall at the same time, no circle will appear, or the circle will disappear.

Tritoch’s wail will be audible more and more.

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Locke » Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:16 pm

The last of the snowmen fell without much ceremony, felled by spells and weapons after a long battle. Finally the last monster was gone, nothing but powdered snow left in its wake. Baron found himself giving a sigh of relief as he sheathed his blades, the weapons sliding into their holders with a practiced ease. The Twin Blade assumed that was some aspect of his programming that stuck even when his consciousness took control of his body, like some sort of reflex. Regardless of the reason why though, he was able to use his weapons like the game mechanics dictated, making him more effective than he would have been otherwise. Baron knew nothing about weapons in real life, and if he had tried to sheath him as reflexes dictated, he probably would have stabbed himself in the thigh. Heaven knows that’d be the best-case scenario.

The monsters had finally been defeated, their mass and numbers defeated by the Freedom Fighters. It was almost a miracle, considering how they had been outnumbered, and yet… they had turned things over almost easily. There had been few casualties throughout (Baron had been one of them, go figure) but for the most part it had been a surprisingly straightforward. The Twin Blade was rather interested in the variety of Twilight abilities he had seen too, and caught himself almost interested in doing a full examination and report on what he had seen. Unfortunately, the situation at hand made itself known again as he stubbed his foot on a frozen root still sticking from the soil. The chill from the snow caused a small shiver to run through his body, and he huddled into his short jacket a bit tighter as he bit his lip.

It’s funny… I used to look at the screen, at the game, and shiver as I looked at the detail to the snow falling, my breath misting in front of me… and now it’s real. This isn’t a game anymore…

It never was a game…

Baron paused in his step, his eyes widening as he recognized the voice, the one he hadn’t heard since the fight back at the dungeon. Libra! What happened? Are you alright?

Baron was greeted with silence. Biting his lip in frustration, the Twin Blade stopped completely, letting the group get ahead of him. Why wasn’t Libra answering? He had come back for a brief moment, responding to Baron’s words, and then he was gone again. Was he hurt still?

Damn it, Libra, I can’t afford this worry on top of the current stress…

Starting forward again, the boy realized that he had fallen a short distance behind the rest of the group during his brief mental conversation and quickly hurried to catch up. His face was lined with concern for the AI whose data he shared, but he forced himself to keep going. Once again, Baron pushed it off for later, when there was time to think. His list was starting to get quite extensive, though, and he wondered if he wasn’t just putting it off to not deal with it. Still, it wasn’t something he could afford to worry about now. What happened if there was another attack like the one they had just survived? If his mind was all over the place again, he’d be of no use to the group. Not that he was much use anyway right now, being newly comatose and without any unique powers or strengths to set him apart…

Stop thinking about it…

Baron noticed that the snow-covered forest around them was starting to fade into a rocky waste, low bushes taking the place of the tall trees that had once towered overhead. Another screech similar to the ones from before broke the silence of the wasteland, and the Twin Blade looked up, expecting to see Tritoch descending to attack. Fortunately the clouds were thick and there was still plenty of cover from the brush, so they were safe even if he actually did make himself seen. Baron had taken the time to reread Zan’s flashmail at some point and realized just how much of a threat the former Admin had become. He was nothing but a monster now- but a powerful one. Swallowing softly, the Twin Blade continued pushing forward with the rest of the group, hoping that they didn’t have to deal with Tritoch any time soon. He would probably tear most of them apa-

CRASH.

Baron winced as he collided with something very solid, his attention having wandered away from his route. Staggering back, he looked up and realized that there was huge wall in front of him. Tilting his head curiously, the Twin Blade followed the line of the wall first to the left and then the right, realizing that it stretched beyond view each way. Looking up, he watched it extend to the clouds above and vanish from view. Apparently it was a very big wall too. And certainly no mirage or illusion, either; the bruised nose Baron now had certainly was a testament to it. The Twin Blade rubbed at his face, wincing at the bruise, but backed up as he considered the wall. There had to be a way past it.

Demorian had already examined the wall, and declared it a discarded puzzle. From the man’s touch, Baron saw a brown-and-red circle appear in the wall. It was simply a mark on the stone though, rather than an actual opening or anything. Just a circular marking on the wall. When Demorian removed his hand, the ring vanished as if it had never been there. Baron found that odd, giving it a questioning look, and put his own hand on the wall. A circle appeared, just like when Demorian touched it, but this one was brown and green instead of brown and red. Pressing against the wall, Baron found it to be solid, unmoving. A couple of repeat presses did absolutely nothing, so it was clear that it wasn’t a panel of sorts to make a hole in the wall. So much for that idea.

Maybe the colors had something to do with the puzzle. The only thing Baron could think of was elements though, so he tossed a random Gan Rom/Juk Rom combination at the wall. The Twin Blade expected it to impact without any effect, but he was surprised when the spell went through the wall- literally. The spell acted like the wall wasn’t there at all, merely appeared half on the side Baron was on while the other was somewhere on the other side. Unfortunately though, the half that was on his side happened to overlap the area Baron himself was standing in. The results? You do the math. The tornado of stone smashed into Baron and caused him to stumble back even as brambles and thorns cut at his skin. How he was feeling then could be described in one simple word:

Ow…

It was now painfully evident that focusing a tornado spell on the wall directly in front of you was not beneficial to a long life. With that in mind, Baron backed up to try again, hoping to observe the effects of his spells from a safe distance, to see if he could figure out how they were piercing the wall. Unfortunately that was met with failure as the spells rebounded off the wall. It was definitely there at this point. So why had they gone through before? The only thing that he had done different was touch the wall, and made the ring appear… so the rings were the key to the wall then. The question was if they let all magic through or just the ones of the colors. Best to test it and be sure.

Wincing at what he was about to do, Baron took a deep breath and put a hand to the wall, watching the ring appear again. Bracing himself, he sent up a Vak Rom at the wall, expecting the fringe of the fiery tornado to blast him. What he wasn’t ready for was the impact as the spell struck the wall, most of the force being deflected right back at him. Flames seared at Baron’s skin and it was all he could to do bite back a shout of pain, but he managed to stay standing. A quick Repth came immediately into play and restored HP and skin alike. Breathing heavily, the Twin Blade considered what he had learned, and decided that blasting spells at point-blank was a bad idea and it wasn’t getting to be any better of one.

“Okay, so spells of the corresponding element can get through… what about people with those elements?”

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the proper Ap spells to buff himself according to the rings, Ap Vakz being the only trick available to him. So he decided to test it out, and Talal just happened to be the nearest person. Baron approached his fellow Twin Blade almost nonchalantly, "Hey, Talal, you have a moment?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Have you had a chance to examine the wall yet?"

"Yes. I was noticing the colors and thinking maybe a sequence of somekind, but so far nothing has worked. You?"

Baron nodded, filing away the possibility. "Yeah, I was looking at it and noticed that spells of the proper element will pass through the wall while you're touching it, so I wanted to try putting an Ap on someone and seeing if they can walk through. What colors was your ring?"

"Oh! That's a good idea. I wasn't thinking elements at all yet. Mine are red and green."

Well, he was on a different track, that didn’t necessarily mean he was right. "Ah, perfect! Here, let's test it then." He cast a quick Ap Vakz on the female Twin Blade. "Go ahead and try."

She reached out and touched the wall with her hand and pushed hoping to walk through. "Eww...it's kinda goey feeling. Reminds me of...uh, nevermind. Anyway, the wall is no longer solid but it still won't let me pass. I think you're onto something though. What about the green, that would be Juka, but I don't have any elemental Aps available." A small frown crossed her face.

Baron frowned as well, knowing that he was onto something but that they were unable to go any further. "Well, you should ask around then, see if anyone has it. I'll look into trying something else."

As Talal wandered off, Baron looked through his spell lists, wondering if perhaps he had an Ap on something he didn’t see before. For a second he thought he had an Ap Ganz, but when he looked he realized that it was the opposite, a Dek. Certainly lowering his stats wouldn’t help… would it? Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Baron cast the spells on himself, figuring that if it didn’t work he’d only look stupid, but that there wouldn’t be any harm in it. The two debuffs stuck readily enough, and the Twin Blade took a deep breath. Well, it was time to give his latest idea a try. He walked to the wall, pushing his hands against it… and slid through easily without any resistance. Suddenly Baron was on the other side of the wall, alone except for Talal, who had somehow made it before him. Clearly someone had the required Ap she needed… and what had happened to her HP?

The female Twin Blade was down to one HP and SP, and Baron looked around hurriedly, wondering if she had been attacked somehow. He didn’t spot anything around and, noting his own HP and SP had been set back up to full, the Twin Blade realized what had happened. Clearly Talal had been given both Ap spells, weakening her considerably, while the Dek spells on Baron had been reversed and had given him full vitality. That was definitely something to be noted, and Baron made a quick Flashmail and sent it to Takua, making sure to note everything so that the group could get back.
To: Takua
From: Baron
Subject: Getting through

To get through the wall, put the Dek spells of the elements represented by the rings on the wall on a person. They will be able to get through. DO NOT USE APS. They will leave you near dead and unable to use items. Counting on you to get everyone through- we can't get back.
Now all they had to do was wait.
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Talal » Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:49 am

In the short time that it took her to get back to the main fold of the group, the snowmen were extinguished. Nall wasn’t really moving and Sheena looked very concerned. At the mention of Tritoch, Talal wondered whom he was referring to but anyone or thing that was zeroing in wasn’t a good thing.

She was happy to see the snow melting away and the trees going back to normal and not so pointy; a hand rubbing over the shoulder that had been slashed by a limb earlier. The cover the trees provided was still a good thing for the group. It was hard to say what the Elites could see from those control rooms of theirs. The warmth that was accompanying the change in scenery was also welcomed. Now that she could actually feel the environments, one of the first things on her list of things to do was consider a change in outfit. Her current choice of clothing felt a little on the thin side.

In the distance, a wall could be seen that rose up over the canopy. Funny, it didn’t look that big on the map they saw. Well, it wasn’t really a 3-D map either so not exactly something to go by. Butterflies began to form in her stomach with the thoughts of finally seeing something that represented their destination. Even though it was still far off, it felt almost tangible.

Not long after the wall just seemed to appear in front of them. It was huge to say the least. A lot taller than she had expected it to be but she guessed that if it needed to keep in the Wasteland creatures, height was a good thing. Demorian didn’t look happy though, especially when he touched the wall and colored circles appeared. Was this not the right wall? Talal stood there and waited patiently for the Blademaster to get his bearings or whatever it was he was doing.

“Another thing that ends up in the Wastes… Failed and discarded puzzles. This wall will stretch into the sky as high as we could fly, and go as far in either direction as we could walk. We have to figure out how to get through it.”

That’s just great. Another puzzle. Why does that not surprise me.

It wasn’t boding well that Demorian looked deep in thought, which meant he didn’t have a clue at the moment how to get through the wall. She watched as others touched the wall and curiously noted that each of them ended up with a different set of colors. That was when the thought struck her that perhaps it was a sequencing thing. Touching the wall in the right sequence of colors may work as the key to a combination lock or something. Or perhaps just using a finger instead of a full hand might produce a different reaction. Taking a few moments at the wall, she played with some of her ideas about using full hands versus just a finger, tried using the tip of her blade as well as leaning into the wall with a shoulder. Everything produced the same affect. So, she was back to her combination lock theory. Talal walked up and stood next to Demorian and calmly offered a suggestion, just to see if there was a reaction to the colors.

"Maybe we should try alternating? Would you care to try it?"

The Blademaster shrugged. ”Anything that might help.”

”Alright then.”

Talal touched the wall and held her hand in place waiting for Demorian to reach out and do the same. Just an instant before his hand touched the wall she released hers so as not to cause the negating effect she noted during her experimentations. Sadly, there was no significant changes. The color circles simply appeared her colors of red and green first, faded a little and then changed to Demorian’s brown and red. She frowned a little, looked up at the taller man and shrugged and then went back to staring at the wall in contemplation.

A thought then occurred that maybe the colors would change if she moved to a different point on the wall, so Talal walked about fifteen feet away and touched the wall again in various ways. The same red and green circles appeared, seemingly centered around her and where her touch fell. Another frown but it didn’t change her resolve to do what she could to solve the puzzle quickly. Nall didn’t look well at all and even though her mind wondered if he was even real, or perhaps a clone set in place to play spy on the escapees, her nature was to do what she could for those in need and Nall was definitely in need at the moment.

Using the opportunity of not moving or battling anything, Talal finally opened the flashmail she had noticed pending, trying to remember when it even arrived. It was from Zan so it must have been just before he arrived at the group. Reading through the message, the Twin Blade could see why they wanted to steer clear of this Tritoch and that explained the strange sounds she had heard once or twice during the battle. The thing that got her though was what Zan said at the end about not know how long he’d been gone and he didn’t mention anything about the others. As much as she wanted to approach him and barrage him with questions about Nemera and the others, there were too many other things that were more pressing. There would be nothing they could do for them until they at least reached the city anyways. Perhaps she could muster the courage to speak with him then. All of these people that morph into horribly dark things wasn’t helping her massive amount of fears any at all.

About then, Baron approached her and inquired about what she knew so far. His idea was a lot different than her sequencing idea and she felt it had as good a chance as any, especially since the majority of the colors, if not all of them did seem to coincide with an element of some kind. She agreed to be his guinea pig since the Ap spells shouldn’t cause any damage to her health, or be painful for that matter.

Once the Ap Vakz was cast she reached out to the wall with her hand and pushed. Her hand only indented into the wall a very small amount and the gooey feeling sent shivers and goosebumps along her frame. It reminded her of those horrible flesh filled doors back in the Juk Prison field; thankfully without the smell. She started to say something to that effect but then decided that might not be such a good idea. The others may not want to remember. No sense in drudging up bad memories for everyone. Baron suggested she go in search of the other Ap spell to match her colors since neither of them had it available. Takua and Canti were both standing nearby so she approached the Wavemaster first thinking that someone of his class and level would have plenty of options available.

"I think Baron is onto something. He cast an Ap Vakz on me and the wall got gooey but not enough to walk through. Do you by any chance have an Ap Juka spell?"

"Nope, just a bunch of Dek's."

The girl smiled slightly even though it wasn’t the answer she was hoping for and turned to Canti who also didn’t have anything. Well, that meant she needed to keep looking and fast since she was unaware at how long the Ap Vakz would last. Looking around, the next person in line was a man tagged as Nighthand, someone she hadn’t yet met. Now wasn’t really the time she would have picked for new introductions; especially when she was basically only approaching him because she needed something. The way she had been raised, it wasn’t a good first impression. With a little hesitancy, she approached him anyway.

”Hi! I’m Talal. I don’t think we’ve met yet.”

"Oh, hey. What do you need?"

Wow! Straight to the point kinda guy huh? Right…definitely not a conversationalist.

” An Ap Juka not to put too fine a point on it. Baron and I think we're onto something and I need someone to cast it on me. Might you have it and be willing to do so?"

”Hell, why not. Anything to get this wall out of our way.”

He cast the requested spell and Talal smiled in appreciation. ”Thanks! Time to find out then.” She turned to face the wall and then turned back around. ”Oh! I should mention just in case this works. The theory is to use Ap spells that match the colors the wall turns when you touch it to get through. Here goes nothin’.”

She turned back around, sent a quick glance and a smile to both Takua and Canti, closed her eyes and just walked straight into the wall and thankfully went straight through. When she reached the other side however, she fell immediately to her knees. Passing through the wall had reduced her Health and her SP both to one point each. Looking out, the other side of the wall was not as inviting as the one she had left. This side was a vast desert and extremely hot even in the shaded spot the Twin Blade currently knelt in by the wall.

CRAP! I don’t have access to my items and not enough SP to heal myself. If the rest of them come through the same way, we’re all dead!

The forethoughts of everyone elses safety was the only thing that kept the panic that she was alone on the other side of a riddled wall with basically no health, no items and no way to do anything about any of it. What if they didn't have enough of the right Aps to get everyone through? What if something found her, helpless, before someone else came through? No, she couldn't allow it to get to her. Baron, Canti and Takua, they were all on top of it. It wouldn't be long now and they would be there, in the same state as she was.

NO! I need to warn them. They need to find a different way. Using the Aps will make them come through helpless just like me. I need to...

Just then, Baron came through the wall and was somehow at full Health with Canti following him closely behind also with good health. She just sat there on her knees, panting in the heat glad that they came through unaffected. They had found another way. She closed her eyes and smiled.
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Walk beside me that we may be as one.
***************************************
Talal
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Level 39 (0/1000 EXP) Twin Blade

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

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

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Lord Canti » Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:45 pm

(The end of the battle came sooner than he expected. No matter, though, since they needed to get a move on and no excuses to stay. Tritoch was still out there, shrieking his fool head off. And as Demorian said, he could be focusing on their battleground as a means of tracking them down. So, they were moving along, heading out of the trees and bushes, though still with clouds. They still could not be seen from above, and could not see above either. It was unsettling, and required that the Twin Blade divert himself. Canti was already switching his music to suit the moment as they resumed their travel. The tromp through the area and the knowledge that the former Admin was looking for them reminded him of Predator, though... Not a pleasant thought. Soon, however, it all came to an end as the group came upon...a wall? A big wall. At first, it was far away, but then...it was right in their faces. Was this the wall out of here? Or just a wall? Saying it like that, it almost sounded like he was deserting. Hah, fat chance, there. He looked over at Demorian, noticing that he was not pleased.)

“Another thing that ends up in the Wastes… Failed and discarded puzzles. This wall will stretch into the sky as high as we could fly, and go as far in either direction as we could walk. We have to figure out how to get through it.”

(Not the wall into town, then. Dammit! It was a barrier, completely blocking 'em with dubious code until they figured out a way through. The Elites probably thought it was funny shoving crap like this into their wasteland. Canti sneered for a moment, kind of annoyed, but he got over it when he noticed...that touching the wall produced an interesting effect. A circle appeared whenever he was touching the wall - and nobody else was at the same time - swirling with green and yellow. Hmmm. Now, what did that mean? They weren't exactly his lucky colors or anything. It was only when he noticed others touching the wall while he was thinking that part of the puzzle was put together for him. He went over to where Takua, Talal, and Baron stood, comparing his colors to theirs. It looked...like a pattern was emerging, since they had corrosponding colors. Canti's first thought was that if they pressed the wall in a series - like Simon - going around the spectrum in a circle, that the wall would open somehow. But this was wrong, surely, since Baron's was different and wrong for that. Okay, bad assumption. But then what? Well, he noticed some experimenting with touching the wall. The same-color elements were able to go through... Canti tried one of his own Juk spells and, lo and behold, that did work.)

Canti: Doesn't help me much. I don't have lightning.

(Didn't really help the others either, though. One thing the Twin Blade saw happen was the casting of a Rom spell...and then Baron jamming his face into a wall. Ouch! Yeah, that wasn't working. The basic idea here was that certain elements were going through when the wall was touched, and ONLY when the wall was touched. But how could they make that work? So far, it looked like the obvious task of casting was only getting people to risk broken noses, a thing which was better to be observed than put into practice. Besides, Canti didn't need another blow to the head, certainly not an on-purpose one. it was only when Talal and Baron started talking that Canti really noticed. She'd been Ap'd by the two corrosponding elements to the colors on her ring. It was an experiment to see if it had an effect on the wall, the first casting from Baron having been half-successful. Takua provided Ap #2 and the dark Twin Blade watched as Talal went through the wall!)

Canti: Alright, we've got it! Hold on a minute. Doesn't that mean she's there alone?

(Oh shit. There's no telling what was over there. Canti took out his best blades, touched the wall, and then impulsively tried to damage the wall with Thunder Coil! The result...was actually pretty funny. You know those cartoons where you hit something really hard and the arms vibrate like rubber bands? Same principle. The Twin Blade backed off from that, his arms going numb for a second. Okay...that's when he noticed that Baron had used Dek skills on himself to get through as well. Dek skills work?! Crap, he only had Dek Vakz, no good. He turned to the Wavemaster.)

Canti: Takua, was it? Listen, do you have Dek skills for wood and lightning? I haven't got shit.

(He did.)

Canti: Okay, great. Dek me.

(The next thing the Twin Blade knew, the Wavemaster simply looked at him, shrugged, and popped him one jaw. Canti reeled, more in surprise than in any real pain.)

Canti: I meant CAST the spells!!

(Okay, so NOW Canti had been officially downed in Rai and Juk elements. Good! He pushes against the wall and makes it though, BUT EXPLODES ON THE OTHER SIDE no apparent hassles. Health was at full, as was SP, and he had a pair of Aps on him as well. He was actually surprised by this, and in fact it appeared that he'd gone through rather hurriedly, a bit rushed one might say. What he found out here, aside from Baron, was an exhausted-looking Talal that was apparently glad to see him.)

"Nice of you to drop in."

Canti: Glad to be in. I was a bit worried. It was just suppose to be a test. You needs a heal-up?

(He looked relieved now, having found her in one piece. Perhaps the Aps had gone to Deks out here? Say, it was hotter out here, wasn't it? All fiery and not-really-hurting-him like. Heh heh, cool. Also, his music stopped. Well, go figure. Yeah, apparently, they were in a desert with a number of rolling dunes and plenty of sand, all leading up to another wall, one that was far from nigh-infinite and might've been the RIGHT wall this time, maybe. One thing bothering him, though... Clear sky.)

"Yes, a heal-up would be wonderful, thank you. I would say the test was successful, although I don't think we can get back, so hopefully Takua will get the others going."

Canti: Oh, he can handle it, assuming he doesn't try to punch anyone else out.

(He started using Repth and tried to lighten the mood.)

Canti: All I said was 'Dek me'.

(First her eyes opened wide at the literal meaning of what he just said and then she laughed.)

"You're pulling my leg. There's no way he'd do that...did he?"

Canti: I couldn't believe it myself. Wasn't for keeps, though. He was just messing with me.

(Canti seemed alright in the desert heat, like it was nothing. He discreetly looked around, though, just checking for...anything.)

Canti: Lucky we followed you, huh? This would've been a really bad spot for anyone alone.

(Talal stood up as soon as she'd been restored via Repth to a reasonable point. The way she looked around the desert, it was obvious that the comment he made had struck a chord of some sort within her. Then, out of the blue with no warning at all, Talal reached out and gave him a rather large hug. In a barely audible whisper she said "I'm glad you followed.", though Canti heard quite clearly. As sudden as the hug began, she gasped loudly as if her actions had just sunk in and she released her grasp of him. Her face flushed with embarassment.)

"I...I...aaa....umm yes, very lucky indeed."

(She now tried to look anywhere but directly at him. To say Canti was unaffected would be bullshit. He was just surprised, speechless. Talal could never know, but in his past life...he'd distanced himself from people in the real world. Because he felt he couldn't handle interacting with people after his losses, he gave up school, didn't talk to his friends, and so on. Because of that, you can understand his shocked reaction. That sort of look from his black eyes may've been what triggered Talal to pull back suddenly. We'll never know. There were a number of thoughts going through his head that were keeping him quiet for the moment. As soon as she began to nervously cover that up, he broke his silence, albeit still recovering a bit himself)

Canti: R-right. Er, anyway...Tak'll get the others through...which is good since there's still a problem.

(He pointed to something high up and very tiny-looking that he'd noticed moving. Three guesses who that was.)

(Talal looked up and then heard the screeching sound that Zan had mentioned in his message and she back up to the wall, looking like she was trying to blend in. Canti backed up a little himself, though mostly tried not to make any sudden attention-grabbing movements. Could he even see down here? Maybe, maybe not, but a speck in the sky could possibly see a speck on the ground...)

"How are we supposed to get across this desert without being spotted?"

(Across all that sand, with HIS colors? Hah.)

Canti: I dunno. Under it?

(She looked at the sand and then back at him.)

"Umm...I'm not sure I want to know how that works exactly. I prefer to stay topside and take my chances."

Canti: Er, I was thinking dig and uhhh...swim? It's just sand. I mean, unless something...lives out there."

(Okay, he wasn't liking his own thoughts now. He who controls the spice, controls The World! To become a Dune Man of Arrakis, you must join the Free-Men and tame the wild sandworms. Yeah, not a completely pleasant notion there. Talal looked at him, a little puzzled now, and tilted her head slightly.)

"Exactly just how do you swim in sand and if you did and there was then...at least you would be the first to know?"

Canti: Sorry, my first thought was dive underneath and then fly. It's not the real world, so fly just means will myself to move in a direction and defy gravity. And uhhh, yeah. I'd be the first to know, which...doesn't sound all that good, really. Plus, you can't fly.

(The explanation seemed to ease her mind a little or at least she didn't look so afraid of how it was done, smiling.)

"Very true. Although, if I could fly, I think the underground would be much more appealing than high above in the air. That whole falling thing ya know?"

(True enough, that. She wouldn't want to fly high if she COULD fly, but then flight here sort of eliminates the fear and the hazard of falling, really. Well, no matter. If wishes were gold coins, they'd have more than Mario ever did in his entire career.)

Canti: Yeah, though it's our friend I'm worried about. The desert might be clear, and I could transport people the way I mean. But I dunno if it'd work.

"I'd say we should wait until everyone is through and then offer up all the possibilities. My concern is, if you did take someone across and ran into trouble, you wouldn't have the strength of the group behind you. You and whoever was with you would be alone, not to mention them being alone on the other side until everyone caught up. Just my thoughts."

Canti: I know. That's what's stopping me. I've no intention of doing anything until more of them show up. I'm just here right now to make sure everything's all status quo.

(Yeah, like THAT ever happens.)

"I just meant... I know you wouldn't leave until everyone was here. I'm just concerned is all."

(He looked over at with an understanding smirk.)

Canti: The same.

OOC: Gags and jokes, like exploding, courtesy of the chat where we figured this stuff out.
Last edited by Lord Canti on Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:30 am, edited 3 times in total.
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

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

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Takua » Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:38 pm

So it was back to point with Demorian after the fight was over as an archer wandered over as well. Luckily, the changing weather of the Wastes seemed to still be helping them, as the sky overhead was overcast even as the trees thinned out. That was definitely a good thing, although it limited their ability to find Tritoch as well. Well, unfortunately, right now it was probably better to be safe from the warped and twisted former Admin than to have both parties know where each other were. That said, he was a little sad to leave the cold and the snow behind. He was Rue after all, he liked the damn snow under his feet and the chill in the air. Especially when the chill was cooling him off from the heat of fighting.

“Shocking how long it took for you to kill them all. One might have thought it would have been done earlier, Mhmm? I wonder why?” Sheila's voice directly to his right wasn't a comfort, but he ignored her. God dammit, couldn't they ever shut up? Well...no, and he knew that, but it was still annoying as hell. Even though Lumina was trying to help, he flinched. Ugh, he just wanted to...get the voices out of his head. And if that didn't make him sound completely insane, very little would. “That is a weak argument, it was an army and two of the most powerful people are not fighting. Cease your talk Sheila, he does not need to hear it.” Well that made him feel just oh so better. Guh, he really wasn't in the mood for this right now, especially since his senses felt raw and worn. Everything was...rubbing him wrong, moving towards a breaking point. Even the crunch of his feet on the ground sent a flicker of pain.

So he was slowly working towards the point of overload. He'd heard about this too, not that it made him feel any better. Too much input tended to make the brain feel overwhelmed, and that was what was happening right now.

However, he was forced to put those thoughts on the back stage when they came up to a giant wall. Demorian fiddled with it for a bit, explaining how there were useless puzzles out in the Wasteland that were just chucked here. Well shit, one more thing he kind of wished could be left behind. What drew his attention was the glow of color when the Blademaster touched it...and subsequent people showed that it seemed to be different colors for each people. When Takua moved up and touched it, the wall glowed with blue and yellow light.

He frowned, thinking back to what he had seen. Baron had demonstrated, pretty damn well, that spells of the same element didn't affect the wall, which implied pretty damn strongly that there was an elemental link here. Perhaps one could make the wall translucent by hitting it with a spell? That would hurt, yes, anyone could live through a first level Rom spell cast by themselves. Picking a Rue Rom, he proceeded to nuke the hell out of himself...and tried walking forward into the whirlwind and the wall. It became apparent though, simply from the first push, that the wall hadn't changed at all. It was still very much a wall.

Stepping back, he allowed the rest to do what they wanted to do. There were only a couple other things...and one of them was being tried as he watched. Aps and Deks. Either apparently worked, and the Flashmail that he got from Baron enlightened him about the dangers of using Aps instead of the (usually) more harmful spells. Luckily for the rest of them, he had all but Dek Anid, hopefully they wouldn't run into anyone with that color...or someone else had the spell or the item that did it. He made up his mind quickly though as he saw everyone else standing there. If he had five of those spells and a huge SP reservoir, why couldn't he simply Dek them all and get them to the other side? It wouldn't be hard and his regeneration could keep up with it.

It would also mean that he'd be left alone on this side at the end, but with any luck Tritoch wouldn't swoop down and kill him then.

Of course, that was right when Canti asked for him to Dek the poor guy. So maybe it wasn't the best idea to nail him right in the jaw with all of the weak ferocity of a Wavemaster, but it was amusing as hell all the same. Yay for puns. Once the Twin Blade was safely on the other side, he turned to the other people in the area and spoke. This was going to be his responsibility now, because he had the spells and wanted to feel like he was useful for something.

“Alright everyone. According to Baron, if you go through with Aps you end up with no HP or SP and you can't use items, but if you go through with Deks you're buffed up to full power. I've got five of the six, the last being Dek Anid, so just step on up and I'll take care of the spells.”
Takua - Lvl 57 Wavemaster
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Wishlist: Levels, Stun Rod, Hag's Wand, Wand of Truth, Ex-Level, Ex-Spheres, and Myth: Demiurge, FL Fukuoka

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Zan » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:28 pm

The tiny war against the legion of vicious snowmen had already been waging on for too long. Zan knew there were more important, more pressing things to be taken care of, and the biggest of those things happened to be swooping somewhere overhead. With all of the commotion of their conflict, Tritoch had to notice sometime, right? Of course, that was assuming it wasn’t happening anywhere else, and the Heavy Blade realized such an assumption was probably incorrect. Hopefully they’d snuff the lives of the last of the icy fiends before they were narrowed down. It wasn’t so much that the mildly amnesiac man didn’t believe that the Freedom Fighters could take him down. Rather, from what he had seen, he worried that the former Administrator would be able to tear a few of them down with him in the process. In a way, more likely than not, that they wouldn’t be able to be brought back from. Thinking back on it, Zan wondered if he had made the right move in asking to be brought to them. If he had asked for power like Tritoch, he could have chased the freak down and ended the threat before he had a chance to hurt any of his comrades. But then…wouldn’t he be the same? Wouldn’t the silhouette have turned him into some Frankenstein freak, too?

The sound of the last snowman’s defeat pulled him from his introspection. It was met with an inward, subtle glee. If they were quick enough, maybe they could get out of the Wastes and into a place a little safer from winged UFOs. All of his worry and regret could be for nothing. Demorian’s rallying command was heeded with the rest and not long after they all fall into general order did everything start to change for the umpteenth time. Typical. Snow became a desert of dirt and rock decorated with the occasional dry bush or scattered tree. The Heavy Blade waited for some kind of rock golem army to take their turn, but…nothing. Well, nothing if you ignored the huge wall that jutted into the sky and barred their advancement. Son of a bitch. He indulged himself in a groan. The rest of the party, however, didn’t seem quite so deterred. Baron and Talal went at the construct, trying to break down the secrets of the discarded puzzle. Amazingly enough, it seemed as if not five minutes had passed before the answer was upon their grinning faces. The female Twin Blade was gone first, followed by a rather informative Flashmail. So that was how they did it.

Approaching the wall himself, Zan held up a halting hand towards the zealous Wavemaster. Unless one of his colors popped up black, the Heavy Blade was covered in the Dek department. Being that he relied on his magical capabilities, it seemed reasonable to spare him the unnecessary expenditure. A touch of calloused fingers to the rough wall displayed his respective colors as red and yellow. Score. The necessary equipment swaps for the Dek Vakz and Dek Raio were quickly accomplished and, without further ado, the properly charged player walked effortlessly past the obstacle with a subtle smile of accomplishment on his face. It certainly could have been worse. At least he didn’t have to be the guinea pig. Before Canti’s assistance, after all, Talal looked a little worse for the wear. Whatever she had done different, he wasn’t sure, but it was pretty clear it was something to be avoided. Up above, the cries of the deformed Admin seemed to get louder - closer? - and more menacing. They didn’t have long, not if they kept still like this. Oh, and the whole ‘now a desert’ thing wasn’t exactly helping them take cover either. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Was it too much to ask to hold up on the fighting for just a little while?

Waiting for the rest of his companions, Zan felt himself begin to idle along the floor of dirt and rock. By this point, his body was screaming at him for sleep, for some blessed respite after the insanity he had been through, but he knew it would still be some time before he could be reasonably granted such a thing. After all, the others had been through their own trials in the prison and they weren’t being allowed to catch a few z’s. What would make him so special? So, as per the usual, the Heavy Blade faced the whole thing with an indifferent face and eyes ready for conflict. If he could count on the Elites for one thing, it was a constant stream of just that. Perhaps more than sleep, however, Zan wished he could take Sekai, Dien and Raquar aside and explain away everything he could. Maybe they’d be able to make sense of things where he could not. Maybe they’d be able to crack his bizarre code. He groaned as much to himself as he could manage. He found himself missing the drug-like disorientation of his previous affliction. The lack of coherency kept him from thinking or feeling anything positive, for sure, but it also knocked out the other end of that spectrum.

To boot, Zan couldn’t seem to shake off the feel of distance in the group. Though there was a spark here or there, bonds soft and new, on whole the party seemed so…separate. It wasn’t anything new for the Freedom Fighters, sure, but the Eventide Crescendo had spoiled him. He had felt what it was like to be a part of a team rather than a loose affiliation of equal-goaled individuals. Or maybe he was just being too cynical and too hard on the Freedom Fighters. Gah. Who the hell knew? The only thing he could be absolutely sure of was his desire to stop standing still and get the hell on with it. Just the idea of Tritoch hovering somewhere above them made him ancy. Zan felt like the worm that was waiting for the bird. As long as he was in motion, he’d at least feel like he had done something to try and prevent it. His skin wouldn’t be crawling quite so much. In that moment, he just…laughed. Taking a step back from himself, the player had a moment to take in the kind of person he had become since…since whatever it was. Once stoic and unmoved (if only on the exterior), he was now a jittery, jumpy sort of creature. He felt like an addict going through withdrawals or a paranoiac twitching at his own shadow.

God, what the hell happened?
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).

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Lighteria » Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:45 am

Rip Maen... Repth... Repeat. You know, cleaning up after a hard fight has- become really standard now. I don't know how comfortable I am with having that happen so naturally. We are WAY too used to getting attacked. I guess it comes with the territory though.

With a sigh, Lighteria shakes out a few flakes of snow out of his hair. However, no sooner does he dust off than an ear-splitting shriek sounds out from above. He blinks and looks overhead, Zan's flashmail suddenly coming back to him. It's this point he decides that he's going to invest a little more worry into the matter of this beast. After all, if it's something that the most powerful of the group decided it's best to run away from, the twin blade is pretty damn sure it's best to run away. Still, that doesn't mean Demorian's assumption of leadership isn't annoying. Granted, now's probably not the best time to have words, what with imminent death on their heels.

So the twin blade follows his allies to... a... wall? Yes. A giant wall in the middle of a forest. That wasn't there before.

This is ridiculous... This place makes less sense than a vegan in a bacon hut. We'd better not get thrown in like- a dimension where we have to face our deepest fears or something. ...That would suck.

The twin blade walks slowly forward and places his hand on the wall following the lead of the others. Immediately the circle on the wall forms in front of him and swirls green and brown. The twin blade blinks a few times in confusion and scratches his head.

Huh... well that's peculiar. I wonder what it means.

Inwardly, Lighteria sighs. He'd seen plenty of puzzles before, some of them dangerous and all of them time consuming. There would surely be trial and error, a deluge of flashmails with scattered information, maybe an explosion as punishment for a wrong answer...

“Alright everyone. According to Baron, if you go through with Aps you end up with no HP or SP and you can't use items, but if you go through with Deks you're buffed up to full power. I've got five of the six, the last being Dek Anid, so just step on up and I'll take care of the spells.” Takua suddenly states to the party at large, snapping Lighteria out of his thoughts.

....Oh. Wow... that was easier than I thought. ...Then again, if he knows that going through with an Ap will cause your HP and SP to drop to zip, then someone probably went through and got hurt while I wasn't paying attention. I hope they're ok.... ...
...Weird... If this was the real world, I'd be freaking out about someone I know being critically injured. Here though? It's so commonplace I don't even think about it anymore. Just repth up and you're good to go. This place is so real... if I ever get back home, my first reaction to a knee scrape is going to be casting repth. I'm going to be so screwed up in the head it's not even funny.
...
Oh right, the puzzle. ...Green and brown probably stand for Gan and Juk. ...I THINK I have the proper spell myself...


With most everyone already passed through, thanks to his being stuck in his own head, Lighteria briefly checks through his inventory to find his old ceramic anklet. He briefly muses on his habit of keeping every piece of armor he can if it has a new spell and how very useful it's been... even if it does do a number on his income. Regardless, with the anklet on, the twinblade quickly casts a Dek Ganz on himself. He blinks absently a few times at the sensation.

You know, when you're in battle, you really don't notice the little things like this. I mean, I can actually FEEL something when my earth element is lowered... It's like part of me feels a little withered.
...Then again, maybe it's because I've had to become so deeply in touch with the elements that I can feel this kind of thing. ...GAH!! I need to pay more attention.


With no more thoughts, the twin blade pushes through the wall, walking to the other side no worse for the wear. He looks at the other party members, frowning briefly at Talal who looks just a bit more injured than she should. Wordless, Lighteria scratches the back of his head and looks to the side, his shyness squashing any inquiries into how she feels. Instead, he only looks to the treetops, hopefully whatever this Tritoch thing is is blocked by the wall now and will leave them at least that much safer.
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"

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Senna » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:13 pm

Snowmen fell, and the fight was finished, and the group moved on. Briefly. Until they hit a wall. Literally.

As per the usual, it was rapidly figured out by the creative thinking-around-corners minds of those in the group, which was a relief. Getting out of here quick would be awesome. Getting away from this place couldn’t happen fast enough for her.

She waited a while, hanging back as was her wont. She briefly considered just trying to walk through it the way she had the cell door, but there were a couple reasons not to do that. First, most people were still unaware of hat particular weirdness and she liked it that way. Second, that had completely wiped her out last time. While it might not be as bad this time, who knew, it might be worse.

So she waited her turn, and when she touched the wall the colors brown and green radiated forth. The Wavemaster was kind enough to cast appropriate Deks on her. “Thanks,” she said, inclining her head briefly before stepping through.

Man, the Elites sure liked their weirdness. What was even the POINT of a Dek wall if you weren't assaulting them with elemental damage the moment they were through?

Well, no need to look a gift horse in the mouth.
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
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Dien
Exalted Player
Posts: 226
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Class: Blademaster
Location: The "Who's Online List," Stalking People...

Part 12

Post by Dien » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:08 pm

It had been simple. While a wall that stretched into the sky that had no visible way around seemed daunting enough, knowing that the Elites’ modus operandi for puzzles made it nothing more than a typical elemental puzzle. From what he gathered, it had some really strange effects after going through, especially given the circumstances required for passage. Indeed, it was a very strange mechanism; making deks helpful and aps actually harmful.

In that moment, a shriek pierced through the sky, resounding against the wall and restoring renewed vigor as the few members of the team remaining who hadn’t passed through shuffled anxiously closer. While the wall limited traffic to nothing more than serial output, the blademaster was given an idea. When Talal had gone through the wall with Aps in the colors represented, her HP and SP had been reduced to one apiece (as evidenced by the HP bars in the menu screen he’d been keeping an eye on since the snowman fight). Likely, if anyone went through with Aps in place, they’d share a similar fate—including Tritoch.

“It’s a weapon…” he muttered quietly, his eyes widening as more and more of his teammates passed through. If they could attract Tritoch here and trick him into touching the wall, they’d know exactly which buffs to give him. Then it would simply be a matter of slipping through the wall and getting the man to follow. He’d come through on the other side right into an ambush, where killing him would take only one well-placed hit from anyone higher than level 25. That, and they’d have everyone there waiting for him. All they’d need would be someone quick enough to keep the former admin occupied in close-quarters combat and someone able to cast the appropriate Aps.

Ap Anid would be a problem though, he thought, remembering hearing something about how it wasn’t available on normal weapons or armor until levels in the upper eighties. If anyone had any Cooked Biles, those would probably be their only hope at making this plan work. With half the team already through the wall, though, he’d have to resort to a flashmail to coordinate everyone.

Not that that was too much of a problem—they’d done it that way before.

“Demorian, I have an idea,” Dien said, approaching the high-level fighter as another screech echoed through the clouds.

He looked down from the sky, the wrong way, then spun to find the younger blademaster. “Oh? Do tell.”

“So,” he began, scratching the back of his neck briefly and looking to the wall, “I don’t know if you noticed, but when Talal went through the wall with Aps in her element, it knocked her HP and SP down to 1 apiece. Don’t you think it would be to our advantage to use this against Tritoch?”

“Huh. Well, maybe. If you could get him to go through the wall, sure. Chances are though he’d just fly over it.” He studies the figure in the distance. “That is, if he can’t just break through it.”

“Well here’s the plan I’ve got,” he began, walking up to the wall and putting his hand on it, “we leave either you or Nighthand and Takua on this side of the wall, maybe plus one or two others while the rest of us go through. The ones on the far side stay quiet, while everyone who’s still on this side makes a whole lot of noise to get Tritoch here. Once he shows up, all non-essentials pass through the wall—this lets Tritoch know the trick of the wall. If he’s anything more than a mass of brute strength, and if he’s got any bit of cunning left in him, he’ll sooner pass through than break through. What we do, then, is get him to try and follow through the wall: as soon as he touches it, we hit him with the appropriate Aps and slip through ourselves. He’ll probably try again to get through, only this time it’ll let him. But we’ll be waiting on the other side with swords, bows, spears, and blades all at the ready. There won’t be any room for a fight, if this works.”

Demorian thought for a moment. “Unless he already knows the trick of the wall. Which is unlikely, I suppose. Also assuming our Aps work on him. Or that the wall works on him in the same way; he’s not a player anymore, we don’t know how it’ll work on him. Also…our timing would have to be perfect. If two people touch the wall at the same time, it traps us all on this side, and we’re free to be eaten.”

“Hadn’t thought of that,” the blademaster replied, pulling his hand off the wall and bringing it to his chin, “if it works, though, wouldn’t it be worth it?”

“Well sure. But is it worth the if-train, where any derailment blows our chances?”

“By my guestimate, we have about a 40% chance of beating Tritoch if we meet him in open combat. The plan, if we do it right, will bring that a whole lot closer to 100%. You’re right that it flies on a lot of assumptions, but I’m confident that we could pull it off. Still, as you’re the one leading us right now—and the strongest level-wise, I assume—I think I’ll leave the decision in your hands.”

With that, the blademaster asked Takua for the proper debuffs, and passed through the wall. Even if Demorian did go for his plan, he wouldn’t be any good to them on that side.
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Image|||Level 35 Blademaster (+200 EXP)
Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Sekai » Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:38 am

The neverending snowmen vs Freedom Fighters battle finally came to an end, much to Sekai's relief. It was getting cold and the small girl found herself shivering, not exactly a fan of the cold despite the benefits of having it around seasonally. Wet and cold, however, were not a good combination; she spent more than her fair share of time being sick outside “The World”; she didn't need to be catching a cold within it as well.

That would just be miserable as all get out.

Her eyes narrowed as they approached a wall, listening idly to the discussions taking place and frowned. More puzzles, she really didn't like the puzzles so much but, at least these didn't have a habit of making you insane or getting symbols carved into your body over and over again. She shuddered and pushed that particular series of memories away. Now was not the time to think about such things.

'I wonder what the colors mean?' Sekai thought to herself, watching each person touch the wall and felt herself smiling ever so slightly. Somehow, it was kind of pretty, almost like watching a screen saver on a computer or a stylizer on a music program. Almost soothing in some way as she placed her own hands upon it to see what her own were. Green flared up first, followed by red. A smile broke out across her face as she watched them circle and fade with time.

The next thing she knew, Kira was hysterically laughing, bracing her currently phantom self against the wall with her arms wrapped around her stomach. She blinked in confusion, brown-gold eyes looking around for the source of the laughter and found Canti rubbing his jaw and scowling at Takua for some reason. '...what did I just miss?'

Kira was never allowed to giggle, ever, because it was just some shades of wrong and, well, disturbing, she decided after listening to it for a moment and waited patiently for the AI to hurry up and quit making an idiot out of herself. He asked for it. The kid decked 'im a nice one, for a Wavemaster.

Sekai immediately scowled at the news, sending a dirty look over to the Wavemaster... and another directed towards Dien as well for being reminded of what he'd done to Zan. 'That's terrible! It's no laughing matter if a teammate hits another, Kira, and you know that!'

For some reason, that sent the eccentric AI into another fit of giggles and laughter. She put her hands on her hips and glowered up at the ice affiliated woman, one boot tapping against the rocky ground- thankfully it'd gotten a bit warmer and drier since they'd kept walking and reached the wall- as she waited for an explanation. 'It's not funny, Kira.' Said woman choked, coughing as she tried to catch her breath and calm herself down, ghostly fingers wiping away tears of mirth from her eyes and grinned down at the fuming girl.

Yes, it is. Especially 'cause whats'isname asked him to. At Sekai's disbelieving look, Kira shrugged, raising her hands in a placating gesture and shrugged, watching them go through the wall one by one, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards into a smile. He said, and I quote, “Dek me”. So the kid did just that.

The expression on the young white haired girl's face was practically priceless as she sat there trying to figure out what made it so funny. The longer the moments went by, the stronger the urge to start laughing again welled up within her chest. Realization dawned about a moment later, followed by a long groan of exasperation and disbelief. See? It really is funny! Kira informed her, a chuckle escaping as she shook her head and disappeared from sight, returning to her place within Sekai's data and mind until she was needed.

'A pun, a very, very badly worded pun, at that. It's still not funny.' Sekai scolded her beloved as she felt the bite of the cold a little stronger than she had before and her connection with the nature around her suddenly seem less... solid, as it had been before. Once the circle was swirling, she walked through and blinked, finding herself with full HP, SP and the Deks turned into Aps. What on earth? She wondered, looking back at the wall in confusion.

Shaking her head, she quickly took her place slightly behind Demorian and a little ahead of Takua, making sure she could provide cover fire for the front row fighter while still being able to defend the magic user of the group. A middle row fighter, who would have thought? Sekai mused to herself with a soft smile, wondering if anyone else she knew would find that as funny as she did.

Maybe they need to be pun-ished? Kira offered, still not willing to let her amusement go.

Sekai's palm met her forehead with a rather disturbing and loud smack.
Image

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

Currently Equipped:

Einherjar: Kira, December, Zorya

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

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

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Nighthand » Sat Jul 25, 2009 2:24 am

The puzzle-wall’s answer was swiftly deduced, perhaps an indication of why it was a failed puzzle in the wastes rather than a defiant door in a dungeon somewhere. Talal, the only one unfortunate enough to proceed through the wall with Aps rather than Deks, found herself able to use items again a few minutes later. Chances are, the door was meant to grant access only to weaken, to make them easy prey for what lay on the other side. Unfortunately for the creator in this case, nothing lay on the other side.

Unless they counted Tritoch, that is.

Sheena came up with the idea to get Nall through the door. She leaned him against the wall, both to find his colors and to start the procedure. Then Nighthand, who was already on the other side, moved close. Takua cast the appropriate Deks and, as Nall fell through the now-incorporeal circle, Nighthand caught him on the other side. As soon as he was dragged clear, Sheena repeated the Dek-finding and stepped through herself. Before long, all that was left was Takua, and he stepped through himself.

With everyone on the desert side of the wall, Demorian looked back at the wall. After his brief chat with Dien, he was contemplating the possibility of such a strategy working. He touched the wall, wondering if he would go back through, then realized it would be a bad idea even if he could. The Deks had changed to Aps, and to step back through now would be to reduce himself to one hit point. Not something he wanted to experience. He looked up at the wall, which was solid under his hand. No circle was even present. A sideways glance showed him no one else was touching the wall, either.

“Huh. Well Dien, looks like your plan won’t work anyways.” He said to himself, then shrugged and turned away.

”Hmm? What was that?” Nighthand took a step towards the Blademaster.

“Nothing. Or rather, nothing to you. Just commenting on Dien’s plan. Looks like it won’t work.”

Oh well. So… any bright ideas? You’re the master strategist. Though,” he added with a snarky smile. “Your last one got you square in a cell.”

Demorian returned the smile. “Yes, well. Not everything goes according to plan.” He looked up, scanning the sky, and only barely caught Tritoch. The beast’s cries were growing fainter, and he was far in the distance, to the side, a long way from finding them. As he watched, the winged beast faded from sight. For the moment it appeared they were safe. “I don’t know, really. It seems like we might just have to make for the town.”

”Well, we’d better get walking, hadn’t we?” He paused, then looked towards the town far in the distance. ”You know a lot about me. Perks of being puppetmaster, I suppose. What about you?”

“What is there to say? I am what you see before you.”

”Not much of you.”

“Plenty for everyone, I’d say.”

”And enough wrapping for everyone too.”

“I get that a lot. The belts? Eh. It’s a really solid outfit, actually.”

”I bet. Ever fought an Elite before?”

“My shirt? Nah, it doesn’t do much on its own.”

”You know what I mean.”

“Sure I do, but this is more fun. And yes, I have.”

”Which?”

“At one time or another, all of them. Hell, I even came into conflict with Nall once or twice.”

”Anything you’ve got to add to our knowledge pool?”

“I’m sure a lot, but now isn’t the time. Ever fought the admins before?”

”Plenty of times, but you know that. You dug around in our histories as much as you did our presents.”

“You’re right, but I thought it was nice to ask. Tritoch was the weakest, you know.”

”Most arrogant, too. I wouldn’t say he’s the weakest any longer, though.”

“True. He’s probably quite buffed up. We should be ready for anything.”

”Aren’t we always?”

“No. But you’re ready for this, at least.”

The pair had started walking as they talked, and the rest of the group was trailing, Sheena and Nall bringing up the rear. They were some distance away from the wall when Demorian finally addressed the group.

“Tritoch’s nowhere to be seen at the moment, so we best make all haste to the town. The sooner we get there, the sooner we’ll get out from under Tritoch’s shadow. I’m 90% sure he won’t attack the town, and if he does, there’s more than enough people to fight him off. So, speed charms if you’ve got ‘em!” He pulled one out of his inventory and activated it over himself, paused a second, and glanced at Nighthand.

“Race ya.”

Nighthand smirked. State shift much? ”You’re on.” Rather than even use a charm, he shifted himself to speed, just enough to keep pace with the now-running Blademaster. The rest of the party trailed again, with Takua and Sekai keeping pace with Nighthand and Demorian, and the rest keeping close to Sheena and Nall.

For a long time they ran, and the town was almost in front of them. Tritoch was nowhere to be found. The wall, the actual wall, loomed up ahead of them. A huge gate, open, was ahead of them. The sandy desert had turned into hard-packed clay and rock, flat for miles around, the sky above high and blue and clear. The sun was at their backs, still high, early afternoon. They were running, running, they were almost there. Almost there. They were going to make it.

Tritoch’s shriek echoed in the sky above. They looked up as one. Still too far to make the gate, but still in the open. Tritoch was diving from the sun.

Demorian and Nighthand stopped, Sekai and Takua not far away. They were closest to the town, and the prime target.

Two figures, perched on the gate, leapt into the air. A pair of long cables extended from them, and spread out. A great net, stretched between the two figures caught Tritoch. His momentum yanked the figures from the sky, but his wings were tangled, and all three plowed into the ground.

When the dust cleared, the two figures were brandishing long steel-weave whips at the snapping Tritoch. They whipped, and the cords wrapped around the beast’s wings. They yanked, and Tritoch screeched, his wings severed and dropping from the monster. He roared, and all four arms focused, and four Lanceors appeared. Two blasted into each of the figures, and they flew over the walls and back into the town.

Demorian, watching, drew his sword, and Nighthand followed suit. “He’s grounded, but the gate guardians are out of commission. Now’s our chance!”

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

Boss fight time!

You can script with me, or you can use the current quest thread in GD to come up with plans to then script with me. Or you can post actions and skip the scripting.

Okay, so. First off? You’re going to die. A lot. Your ideas are going to fail. This is a difficult battle; harder than anything most of you have ever fought on Main.

Have fun! =D

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

Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century

Post by Lord Canti » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:11 pm

(For some reason, there was this nagging bit in the back of Canti's brain, like he forgot something important. He couldn't say what, but it was one of his hacked instincts pointing something out to him. It was nothing he could put his finger on, but for reasons he couldn't explain...the notion that he could've been using Cooked Bile for something was in his head. Cooked Bile, that was that stuff you found in eggs, right? In the dungeons that look like a monster's insides? Yeah, that was it. He'd had a few of these in stock for a while, so why would that occur to him now? Hmmm. Standing by the wall in the desert sand, Canti worked his inventory screen as people started popping through it, courtesy of Takua.)

Inventory
. . . . .
10 Ice Storms - Ice-based spell.
2 Wood Sprite - Wood-based summon.
1 Snakey Cactus - Snakey Cactus!
---> 3 Cooked Bile - Darkness Element.
40 Silk Cut - Cheers.
1 Red-Glowing Orb - Glowing Reasonably.
Unknown Chemicals - ???
. . . . .


(Wait a minute... Takua said he had every Dek but Dek Anid, and he didn't have the Ap for that element either. He needed darkness to walk through and there wasn't any to be had. So that was it. Well, he could just go back and help the guy...out? Canti touched the wall and found it doing nothing. It was just a wall. No colors or anything whatsoever, and it was still infinitely tall and wide. Fuck! He punched the wall, gaining only a sore hand. Looks like Tak was on his own, or in someone else's hands. Fortunately, he somehow got through okay in the end, which was good. Despite the face-punching, the Wavemaster was alright. So, they were all through and apparently Dien had this master plan to get Tritoch to go through the wall or something, only it wasn't going to work. The guy was a flyer and WAY above them, so... Hang on, where'd he even go? Oh well. They were heading across the desert sands now in an orderly fashion when Demorian suddenly addressed them.)

"Tritoch’s nowhere to be seen at the moment, so we best make all haste to the town. The sooner we get there, the sooner we’ll get out from under Tritoch’s shadow. I’m 90% sure he won’t attack the town, and if he does, there’s more than enough people to fight him off. So, speed charms if you’ve got ‘em!"

(Well, that was lucky. His music had stopped, but he was still speed-charmed from the last time, as it had not been that long. Someone said "Race ya." and they were off. Ah, wait a second! Nighthand was cheating! Alright then, some racing music and Canti was off like a shot, flying across the sands and whipping aside parts of the dunes like a speedboat in water! The dunes sorta' reformed after that, since The World had only a minor attention to detail out of the range of a character and their WAS a breeze, of course. They ran and ran, Canti more like hover-flying, until the sand started to thin and there was sort of a baked clay under their feet coming up, the gates of Yamiyo's server-town standing before them. The finish line! However...that was when the screech happened. It was like a scratching sound to the music the Twin Blade was playing, making him stop almost immediately like a break in concentration. Tritoch was suddenly upon them, moving past them. Canti remembered Zan's flashmail. A big dragony-thing that's got more limbs than necessary 'cause it's like a weird-ass chimera creature getting in their way. Fortunately, fate had a funny way of working. Before the bastard could descend on the people ahead of the group, a pair of city guardians leapt up from the gates and netted themselves a Tritoch. All three of them went heavy into the ground, but here was the important thing: The guardians then yanked off the monster's wings before he blasted them away.)

Canti: Well, whadya know? Town security actually works.

"He’s grounded, but the gate guardians are out of commission. Now’s our chance!"

(Looks like they were getting into a real Boss Battle! The guy had used four lightning attacks that looked...kinda' like a Thunder summon. Four arms, four attacks at once? Maybe, but hmmm... Canti remembered his comment to Talal about getting under the sand...and this guy would never expect an attack from below like that. However, knocking on the ground, he frowned. Tough stuff, this clay, and he felt that it went deep. Tunneling would be pointless. Damn it all to Belgium! They didn't encounter any sandworms along the way, but the Twin Blade imagined that the clay was a good foundation for the server town, preventing the whole Dune-Man of Arrakis thing if nothing else. So much for Plan A. But...wait a minute. Demorian had spoken of Tritoch before, explaining his alignments and such. Well, he was there, so Canti basically zipped right by Demorian and stopped, talking to him while watching the flailing, distracted beast.)

Canti: Alright, I see he's using lightning and I overheard he probably has two more. Is there any chance that maybe darkness isn't one of 'em and that he's susceptable?

"A chance, but be careful."

(Yeah, he remembered now. The former puppetmaster had said fire, ice, and lightning. And Physical Tolerance. Well, the last one might not have been true, considering the wings, but would you risk that when the obvious course of action was to try what you THINK works first? At least then, you eliminate what's possible from a safer distance. Demorian was observing Tritoch carefully, assessing the creature.)

"He wasn't darkness-aligned before, but anything goes now."

Canti: Flight doesn't, for the moment. Think you can keep his attention a sec? I gotta do my Dragoon thing.

(Meaning lots of 'avanti', because an idea came to him after the first one sort of fizzled.)

"Maybe. If Sekai and Takua support me as they say, at least."

Canti: It'll have to do.

(With that, Canti suddenly tore high up in swift flight, taking advantage of the sky which Tritoch no longer dominated at this time. The chimera had come in on them from above, right? From the sun, a blindspot you could say. Well, the dark Twin Blade decided...why couldn't he do the same, except STAY up there? In short, he flew up towards the sun, way high up, and stayed in the light. Hopefully, this would make it harder for the monster to retaliate, and he would at least get in a surprise attack. Thus, from where he hovered, Canti bombarded Tritoch with explosive bursts of the Darkness Flame. It was easier for him to target the creep, since he wasn't a speck on the ground but a big nasty thing. The blasts struck him - no deflecting 'Pwong!' sound or anything - and the beastie twisted his face up to look, one arm trying to block out the sun to see him properly. Yyyup, he was spotted, alright. The funny thing was...Canti knew he'd hit, but Tritoch wasn't giving off any signs of the amount of damage being done to him. The guy was so hacked that nothing about him was normal. Take his reaction, for instance. This bastard was a monster-turned-Wavemaster, right? His arm-wand-thing pointed up at the Twin Blade now and blasted at him with what looked alot...like PhaRai Don. Since Don spells normally come from the sky, Canti was not flat-footed here. This was a Don spell coming at him from way below, a lightning bolt with about a five-foot diameter. Every instinct in his body said for him to MOVE!!! And he did. Canti dropped, like a stone. Actually, more like a very willfully-plummeting stone, because it's likely that a jet hurtles towards the Earth faster than a stone if the afterburners are pointed skyward.)

Canti: Terminal velocity keeps me from going terminal.

(Faboo. The dark Twin Blade sort of crashed, rolled, did NOT burn, and then ran off to the side to avoid further possible come-uppence from the evil so-and-so. Besides, he didn't want the rest of the team to become collateral. That would've sucked! Thus, supah-fast Canti-man gives off continuous Darkness Flame attacks from his hands in about as high quantities as he can. In the fight-or-flight department, he was doing both at once, moving at top speed. However, with the sun out of his eyes, it wasn't long before Tritoch zeroed in on him properly. He directed ALL FOUR of his arms at the Twin Blade and oh, but there were spells to be cast...)

Canti: Oh, not again. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!

(Remember, this has happened to him before, on several occasions. Times including either traps that were set off or the squid thing from the tenebrous tower or a certain Fist-Fighter going on the offensive entered his mind in a flash. Canti was in luck, though! Instead of being ganked by Level-4 spells, he was le zapped by Level-2s. This meant instead of vaporizing, he was charred and thrown to the ground, smoking dead. It wasn't instantaneous. It was agonizing in the extreme, and then he was cooked meat, dead on the ground. He'll ghost in a second, folks. Dying leaves the nerves a bit frazzled is all. And what did we learn from this encounter? Simple. Tritoch uses lightning. Only...replace "uses" with "spams", and you've pretty much got it. On the plus side, you can tell that the two of them were really getting off well. Thirty seconds of combat and already Tritoch can't stand him.)

OOC: First dead! Whoo! I think I'll keep a tally for this fight.

Number of times killed: 1
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

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

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