Flashmail
To: Rayo
RE: meanS tO aN enD
seeK mE ouT. djinnI iN A bottlE, whaT woulD yoU wisH foR? dO yoU knoW yourselF thaT welL?
Moderator: Nighthand
-
Marionette
- Elevated Player
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:24 pm
-
Nighthand
- Master of Games
- Posts: 1265
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
- Class: Bladesmage
- Location: ...Tracking...please wait...
Nighthand watched the conversation, but didn't really add much to it. He didn't have anything real to add, after all... They seemed to be covering it well enough. Instead, he and Nall stood to the side, having a little chat about the field itself.
"So, what's this place about?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the dungeon seems pretty straightforward so far. Not really like the elites, is it?"
"True, it's not, but then this wasn't necessarily designed by the elites. More likely, they just ordered it created, and had their minions do it."
"Sounds about right. How much work do they even do?"
"Not much. They have their own agendas of course, and they work together to a few common goals... Me for instance, and through me, all of us. They don't like me and want me dead, and more than that, they want the Twilight Items back that I've stolen. So they lay traps for me, and do their best to take me out."
"But they don't bother with the menial labor of creating their organization's infrastructure."
"Nope."
"Well then... so what's this field been so far?"
"The starting point was a battle with normal monsters. The top floor was as empty as you saw it when you arrived, I'm sure. We came down here and there were six doors. Each opens on to a long hallway, lined with spell runes. Try to go down a hall with a party of less than four, and it lets off spells to enough to kill pretty much anyone. So we've been taking them one at a time. Each one has an item in it, a key for this crest here. Each time we beat one, its energy is spread amongst the others. We only have two left, and they'll be the strongest."
"Sounds like fun. Ours was a lot more convoluted, but I suppose you'll see that firsthand when we go there again."
Nall nodded. Hopefully with his vision he'd be able to help them through it easier, but one never can tell. Designing a way around his senses wasn't exactly hard, sometimes...
"Anyways, sounds like we're about ready to head into the second-to-last room on this floor, the Vak room. Any objections?"
There were none, or at least, none voiced. Senna and Phoenix had already gathered by the entrance anyways. Stopping to snag a cookie as he passed the fist fighter, Nighthand examined the hallway. Spell runes usually meant spells, and most of the time he could do fun things with spells. This time, though, it seemed like they were locked out to him. The energy forming the spells was already active, seething behind a thing barrier that would no doubt disappear should too few people attempt to go down the hall. It wasn't actually a spell that hit the hallway, so it wasn't something he could control; more like just a sheer torrent of the element in question.
Shrugging, Nighthand let Nall lead the way down the corridor. The group stuck together, for the most part, enough so that the hallway didn't trigger.
The room they entered was horrible for someone who enjoyed cooler weather. Nall seemed comfortable, but Nighthand, used in real life to a chillier climate, found the heat oppressive. It was sort of like a combination of a sauna, a hot summer day, and a volcano caldera. Steam hung heavy in the air, periodically jetting from small seams in the cracked stone of the ground. The air wavered with heat, making vision beyond a few yards hard. Pools of magma seethed and bubbled here and there, promising an instant death to any unfortunate enough to fall in. The walls were rough stone, and the roof was a high vaulted ceiling, complete with stalagtites. Overall, the place reminded him of the battle with the Shinja, the fearsome snake Royce had conjured up to fight them.
Wondering what reptillian horror would appear this time, Nighthand was not disappointed. Soon a few things faded into view as the group moved further into the room.
First were a series of regularly-shaped rocks, placed in concentric circles and stretching out a dozen yards. Perhaps the size of beach balls, they seemed out of place in the rough walls and floor. Second was the item they were ringed around; a smooth pillar, seemingly untouched by the heat. The pillar was topped with the statue of a dragon, perched and ready to breathe flame over all who approached. Only the creature's tongue was more than stone, however; on it rested the item they were there to get.
Picking his way carefully around, between, and over the stones, Nighthand approached the statue. So this was the item they were supposed to get? It seemed far too easy... especially if what Nall said about the split energies was true, and there was no reason to doubt the blademaster.
Nighthand reached to pick up the item, and jumped back with a pained cry. Holding a burned hand, he watched as the statue's mouth snapped shut on the item. So, there was a trap after all. A quick repth to himself healed the hand, and they were left with the problem of how to open the statue up.
"See anything that could help us, Nall?" Nighthand asked. Or would have asked. He only got to 'that' before a cracking sound began to fill the air.
Looking around them, the group found out the terrible truth about the irregularly regular rocks. Not rocks.
Eggs.
-------------------ooc:
Quota Battle! Since Dien asked for one, and I remembered they were a good idea.
Eggs hatching all around. What emerge are small creatures, maybe three to four feet long and weighing 80-100 pounds. Long flexible tails, wide leathery wings, sharp claws and teeth... Yeah, you guessed it. Dragons.
Appearance: they're mostly reddish in color, though some stray into brown and black, and some into orange and even gold. No difference in stats between the colors, though. They have four legs, fly with an astonishing agility, and can move with unexpected speed if they're caught on the ground.
Stats:
Dragon Hatchling
HP 250
Defense: low
Speed: middling
Attack: middling
Attacks: Claws and teeth are sharp and deadly. They can hit you with their wings, too, but it's less likely. They can breath fire with the equivalent of a Vak Rom spell, without actually casting the spell (sorry no blue magic from it, rayo).
Tactics: They can and will swarm people, but they're not too hard to kill. People Zan's level and up can take them out in a single blow, for the most part. Below that level it'll take two, maybe three. Oddly, water spells do no extra damage to them... but fire spells still hurt them as a normal spell would.
Don't forget to keep your kill-count and count-remaining at the bottom of your posts!
Starting Tally: 2,000
"So, what's this place about?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the dungeon seems pretty straightforward so far. Not really like the elites, is it?"
"True, it's not, but then this wasn't necessarily designed by the elites. More likely, they just ordered it created, and had their minions do it."
"Sounds about right. How much work do they even do?"
"Not much. They have their own agendas of course, and they work together to a few common goals... Me for instance, and through me, all of us. They don't like me and want me dead, and more than that, they want the Twilight Items back that I've stolen. So they lay traps for me, and do their best to take me out."
"But they don't bother with the menial labor of creating their organization's infrastructure."
"Nope."
"Well then... so what's this field been so far?"
"The starting point was a battle with normal monsters. The top floor was as empty as you saw it when you arrived, I'm sure. We came down here and there were six doors. Each opens on to a long hallway, lined with spell runes. Try to go down a hall with a party of less than four, and it lets off spells to enough to kill pretty much anyone. So we've been taking them one at a time. Each one has an item in it, a key for this crest here. Each time we beat one, its energy is spread amongst the others. We only have two left, and they'll be the strongest."
"Sounds like fun. Ours was a lot more convoluted, but I suppose you'll see that firsthand when we go there again."
Nall nodded. Hopefully with his vision he'd be able to help them through it easier, but one never can tell. Designing a way around his senses wasn't exactly hard, sometimes...
"Anyways, sounds like we're about ready to head into the second-to-last room on this floor, the Vak room. Any objections?"
There were none, or at least, none voiced. Senna and Phoenix had already gathered by the entrance anyways. Stopping to snag a cookie as he passed the fist fighter, Nighthand examined the hallway. Spell runes usually meant spells, and most of the time he could do fun things with spells. This time, though, it seemed like they were locked out to him. The energy forming the spells was already active, seething behind a thing barrier that would no doubt disappear should too few people attempt to go down the hall. It wasn't actually a spell that hit the hallway, so it wasn't something he could control; more like just a sheer torrent of the element in question.
Shrugging, Nighthand let Nall lead the way down the corridor. The group stuck together, for the most part, enough so that the hallway didn't trigger.
The room they entered was horrible for someone who enjoyed cooler weather. Nall seemed comfortable, but Nighthand, used in real life to a chillier climate, found the heat oppressive. It was sort of like a combination of a sauna, a hot summer day, and a volcano caldera. Steam hung heavy in the air, periodically jetting from small seams in the cracked stone of the ground. The air wavered with heat, making vision beyond a few yards hard. Pools of magma seethed and bubbled here and there, promising an instant death to any unfortunate enough to fall in. The walls were rough stone, and the roof was a high vaulted ceiling, complete with stalagtites. Overall, the place reminded him of the battle with the Shinja, the fearsome snake Royce had conjured up to fight them.
Wondering what reptillian horror would appear this time, Nighthand was not disappointed. Soon a few things faded into view as the group moved further into the room.
First were a series of regularly-shaped rocks, placed in concentric circles and stretching out a dozen yards. Perhaps the size of beach balls, they seemed out of place in the rough walls and floor. Second was the item they were ringed around; a smooth pillar, seemingly untouched by the heat. The pillar was topped with the statue of a dragon, perched and ready to breathe flame over all who approached. Only the creature's tongue was more than stone, however; on it rested the item they were there to get.
Picking his way carefully around, between, and over the stones, Nighthand approached the statue. So this was the item they were supposed to get? It seemed far too easy... especially if what Nall said about the split energies was true, and there was no reason to doubt the blademaster.
Nighthand reached to pick up the item, and jumped back with a pained cry. Holding a burned hand, he watched as the statue's mouth snapped shut on the item. So, there was a trap after all. A quick repth to himself healed the hand, and they were left with the problem of how to open the statue up.
"See anything that could help us, Nall?" Nighthand asked. Or would have asked. He only got to 'that' before a cracking sound began to fill the air.
Looking around them, the group found out the terrible truth about the irregularly regular rocks. Not rocks.
Eggs.
-------------------ooc:
Quota Battle! Since Dien asked for one, and I remembered they were a good idea.
Eggs hatching all around. What emerge are small creatures, maybe three to four feet long and weighing 80-100 pounds. Long flexible tails, wide leathery wings, sharp claws and teeth... Yeah, you guessed it. Dragons.
Appearance: they're mostly reddish in color, though some stray into brown and black, and some into orange and even gold. No difference in stats between the colors, though. They have four legs, fly with an astonishing agility, and can move with unexpected speed if they're caught on the ground.
Stats:
Dragon Hatchling
HP 250
Defense: low
Speed: middling
Attack: middling
Attacks: Claws and teeth are sharp and deadly. They can hit you with their wings, too, but it's less likely. They can breath fire with the equivalent of a Vak Rom spell, without actually casting the spell (sorry no blue magic from it, rayo).
Tactics: They can and will swarm people, but they're not too hard to kill. People Zan's level and up can take them out in a single blow, for the most part. Below that level it'll take two, maybe three. Oddly, water spells do no extra damage to them... but fire spells still hurt them as a normal spell would.
Don't forget to keep your kill-count and count-remaining at the bottom of your posts!
Starting Tally: 2,000
Wishlist: Any Armor or Weapons under level 50, Any Scrolls (prefer level 2+)
Zan, apart and temporarily isolated from the group as he read his Flashmail, couldn't come to wrap his brain around it immediately. So, wait, someone he already knew was Marionette? Who did he know that could possibly have the agenda to do this? The Lady, the stranger that had sent the Fahmor waves to assault the Shadow? Raine? Sheena? Who, of the last two, would possibly want to mess with them? It didn't make sense. The only other possibility popping into the Heavy Blade's list was Silverblade. It had been forever since he had heard from/of the guy. Woa. How warped would that be? Zan's Siberian Husky blues lofted over to Nighthand. If it was true, did he know that his alternate persona was at the heart of the cryptic messages? It was there that the lycanthrope stopped, finding himself doing exactly what he had requested the others stop. He was over-contemplating, he was formulating, he was getting paranoid. When his head cleared and he was able to focus once more on the dungeon, the group had already begun to enter the Vak archway. A mild jog and he was with them, safe from the looming harshness of atomization at the hands of the runes.
The Vak room was far more interesting than the last, interesting in the way a perfectly crafted sword is before it spills your innards. The first thing to hit him, inevitably, was the sheer weight that the heat held. Unlike most around him who seemed to cringe and be generally bothered by it, Zan took in a humidity-ridden breath and exhaled with a relaxed smile. Being a lycanthrope, heat was therapeutic, be it body heat or something entirely different. It was only then, the smile on his face, that he realized that what helped him could also hurt. Being too relaxed in the second to last elemental room in an Elite crafted edifice and he'd likely go down at the drop of a hat. That aside, his eyes began to take notice of the bubbling magma pools and rising steam from cracks about them with walls of rough stone and a room of hanging, geo-threatening spikes. Still, there was no sign of attack, no sign of any imminent threat. The Heavy Blade had been with the Freedom Fighters long enough to know that that was a very, very bad sign. Cautiously he drew his Horse Killer from his back, holding it before him defensively as he walked (a walk that had started normal and curious and had become a slow-paced, analytical thing). A circle of rocks surrounded a dragon statue-topped pillar, the tongue of the creature possessing the item they sought.
Nighthand, being the newcomer of the dungeon or perhaps simply the more willing to get injured to move things on, reached for the object almost immediately. A snap of jaws and his hand came back bloodied, the statue's trap now apparent. The moment it happened something in the primal part of his mind, in his Instinct, tugged at him, urged his eyes towards the rocks that encircled the pillar. There was life within them, stirring thrashes that weren't readily apparent to the eye. It was half-way through their leader's question that the real threat finally presented itself, squirming monsters bursting through what turned out to be eggs with wings stretching and claws flexing. Hundreds of them burst forth. No, at least a thousand. Maybe two. Maybe three. What had once been a relaxing air of wavering vision and sauna-like heat was now disturbed with the bodies of nearly-countless dragon fledglings. Zan had been at the heart of Mac Anu's insanity like the rest of them and, having experienced that, numbers weren't quite so scary. What did scar him was the fact that their collective mass interrupted him from initially telling where one wing ended and the next claw began. The hovering collection of reds and golds seemed to loom downward...more...and more...until he realized they were but feet from colliding upon him and the rest of the group.
A quick thought and the correct armor was switched. "MeRue Rom!" An air-born shield of spinning ice and jagged tundra protected the group for but a second, Zan attempting to give them time to think before others worked around it and came screeching in from the sides.
When the spell ended a dozen or so fell with lifeless thuds to the ground. No Elemental Criticals had appeared above them so, either they were very lucky, or ice simply wasn't the solution. A gout of fifteen, maybe twenty streams of flame descended upon Dien when Zan had turned to try and shout something at the boy, a quick call of the same ice spell causing the blue rune to appear at a forty-five degree angle before the Blademaster. Not only did it endure most of the flame's torment, but it managed to take down a handful or so of the little rats in the process. The sound of flapping leather behind him caused him to spin around once again, a wide arc of his weapon cleaving down a score of them before more flooded through and whizzed past him with the slice of numerous claws. Riddles with bloody lines now, but still alive, Zan rose weakly to his feet. At least a third of them were sealing up as he gathered himself, all but the deepest following soon after that. With the dragons flying in from about every possible direction, Zan decided it was time to try and mount some sort of plan.
"Everyone! Backs to each other! Magic casters, get in the center and we'll ring around you! Let's do this people! Don't give them any more ground than you have to and give each other enough space to swing freely! Just be close enough so we don't have to worry about back attacks!" His voice boomed with inhuman amplification, his vocal cords shifting back to normality not a moment after.
Backing up towards his comrades, hoping at least some of them would heed his advice, he provided a burst of cover fire with another casting of MeRue Rom. More fell than the two times before, their group tactics both a strength and a weakness. When at least twenty more bodies had dissolved into code and Zan's back bumped against what he hoped was a friend, he held his sword before him once more. The fledglings seemed to consider their next course of action, passive for but a second before they began to descend once again. With the last of his SP, the Heavy Blade added Ap Corv and Ap Do to his arsenal, muscles growing and toning to the assimilation of his Clabro. Going full blown Garou could be a mistake and, not wanting to give the thrashing beasts anything too big as a target and plenty capable of taking them out in one hit, Zan remained as he was. The speed of his heightened physical state and the Ap Do was more than satisfying, his attacks shifting from generally recognizable motions to lagged and twitching maneuvers that became a workout for any human eyes.
A slash here and eight fell, another and dragon blood soaked his weapon and claimed another dozen. Zan continued the general tactic; a cross formed with an upward clash and a horizontal one to top it off. Not necessarily religious but thankful just the same, Zan offered his gratefulness to the 'owner' of the cross' symbol at the fleshy thud of fifteen more. All around him his companions were claiming the lives of the beasts and, all around them, they seemed to be getting their fair share of assault just the same. The time he had wasted getting a quip of the state of the Freedom Fighters amounted to the tear of nails along his skull and his back, the weaker attempts stopped by the thickness of his leather coat. Gritting his teeth, Zan spun around once more and deflated the head of one that had latched onto his shoulder with a collision of the butt of his blade onto the top of its head. Kabobbing another collection of the bastards with a stab forward, he felt his confidence begin to build. This wasn't so bad. An opinion that was quickly changed when a heavenly assault from outside of his view brought a bath of flames to sear through even the protection of his coat. Screaming out, unable not to, Zan sheathed his Horse Killer and replaced it with the cool calm of the Life Sword in his palm. Unable to wait for the pain to subside with the sub-par regeneration of his Clabro form, he let Ol Repth wash over him and heal up what injuries had been induced and what hit points had been lost.
Zan rose with renewed anger, his Beast screaming out with blood-boiling rage at the insult that had been enacted. Keeping the Garou from spilling through, the lycanthrope filtered that anger into focus and kept the Life Sword in hang. It wasn't his strongest, but he didn't need his strongest to take out these things. What he did need was a sword with a healing spell at the ready. The Life Sword proved just as effective as the Horse Killer, chopping down a wave that had sought to do damage from the same local of the fire-breathers. Zan could only do so much, however, hoping against hope that his friends were clearing the numbers as well. Looking to find out had only proved agonizing before so all the lycanthrope could really do was trust in their skill. Oddly enough, Jinx included, he could do just that. It allowed his focus to clarify that much sharper, his senses pouring out to their maximum capacity at the hands of the Clabro and offering him that much more insight. Even then, even with his Instinct pin pointing dangers aimed at him, he was still unable to keep back everything. Most of them seemed to have temporarily learned the lethality of his sword and would retreat instead of mowing him down through their own deaths. It was a bonus and a punishment. Damn it.
Luckily enough, those who were smart and strayed from him were killed by his friends in time, leaving fresh and stupid meat to swarm down. A chunk of his SP back, he fought this tumbling threat with MeRue Rom's assistance, upwards of ten bodies flailing limply through the air until they were either met with the earth or swallowed by magma. Wait. The magma. A pool of it not four feet from him was now a weapon, his eyes darting between it and the continued approach of gnashing dragons. Smiling, he once more coated his blade in the skewered bodies of the creatures, providing a temporary shield for his weapon as he ducked under a swoop of claws and dipped it into the boiling mass. With the bodies rapidly disintegrating beneath the heat, he swiped them off one at a time, turning their husks into cannonballs of liquid flame that ate through rows of his enemies until nothing was left but a gape of stalagmites in front of him and the six or so foot Life Sword and its blood-bathed gleam. Nothing more than a moment of personal celebration was allowed before he swarmed beyond his control, the hole of ceiling filled in with bodies and fledglings that latched onto him as firmly as any over-zealous date.
Ten of them on him, his muscles stiffened from the snapping of their teeth and the digging of their claws, he could only hope for some help or a brilliant plan of his own to form.
-----------------------
OOC:
Fledglings Killed: 204
Fledglings Remaining: 1796
The Vak room was far more interesting than the last, interesting in the way a perfectly crafted sword is before it spills your innards. The first thing to hit him, inevitably, was the sheer weight that the heat held. Unlike most around him who seemed to cringe and be generally bothered by it, Zan took in a humidity-ridden breath and exhaled with a relaxed smile. Being a lycanthrope, heat was therapeutic, be it body heat or something entirely different. It was only then, the smile on his face, that he realized that what helped him could also hurt. Being too relaxed in the second to last elemental room in an Elite crafted edifice and he'd likely go down at the drop of a hat. That aside, his eyes began to take notice of the bubbling magma pools and rising steam from cracks about them with walls of rough stone and a room of hanging, geo-threatening spikes. Still, there was no sign of attack, no sign of any imminent threat. The Heavy Blade had been with the Freedom Fighters long enough to know that that was a very, very bad sign. Cautiously he drew his Horse Killer from his back, holding it before him defensively as he walked (a walk that had started normal and curious and had become a slow-paced, analytical thing). A circle of rocks surrounded a dragon statue-topped pillar, the tongue of the creature possessing the item they sought.
Nighthand, being the newcomer of the dungeon or perhaps simply the more willing to get injured to move things on, reached for the object almost immediately. A snap of jaws and his hand came back bloodied, the statue's trap now apparent. The moment it happened something in the primal part of his mind, in his Instinct, tugged at him, urged his eyes towards the rocks that encircled the pillar. There was life within them, stirring thrashes that weren't readily apparent to the eye. It was half-way through their leader's question that the real threat finally presented itself, squirming monsters bursting through what turned out to be eggs with wings stretching and claws flexing. Hundreds of them burst forth. No, at least a thousand. Maybe two. Maybe three. What had once been a relaxing air of wavering vision and sauna-like heat was now disturbed with the bodies of nearly-countless dragon fledglings. Zan had been at the heart of Mac Anu's insanity like the rest of them and, having experienced that, numbers weren't quite so scary. What did scar him was the fact that their collective mass interrupted him from initially telling where one wing ended and the next claw began. The hovering collection of reds and golds seemed to loom downward...more...and more...until he realized they were but feet from colliding upon him and the rest of the group.
A quick thought and the correct armor was switched. "MeRue Rom!" An air-born shield of spinning ice and jagged tundra protected the group for but a second, Zan attempting to give them time to think before others worked around it and came screeching in from the sides.
When the spell ended a dozen or so fell with lifeless thuds to the ground. No Elemental Criticals had appeared above them so, either they were very lucky, or ice simply wasn't the solution. A gout of fifteen, maybe twenty streams of flame descended upon Dien when Zan had turned to try and shout something at the boy, a quick call of the same ice spell causing the blue rune to appear at a forty-five degree angle before the Blademaster. Not only did it endure most of the flame's torment, but it managed to take down a handful or so of the little rats in the process. The sound of flapping leather behind him caused him to spin around once again, a wide arc of his weapon cleaving down a score of them before more flooded through and whizzed past him with the slice of numerous claws. Riddles with bloody lines now, but still alive, Zan rose weakly to his feet. At least a third of them were sealing up as he gathered himself, all but the deepest following soon after that. With the dragons flying in from about every possible direction, Zan decided it was time to try and mount some sort of plan.
"Everyone! Backs to each other! Magic casters, get in the center and we'll ring around you! Let's do this people! Don't give them any more ground than you have to and give each other enough space to swing freely! Just be close enough so we don't have to worry about back attacks!" His voice boomed with inhuman amplification, his vocal cords shifting back to normality not a moment after.
Backing up towards his comrades, hoping at least some of them would heed his advice, he provided a burst of cover fire with another casting of MeRue Rom. More fell than the two times before, their group tactics both a strength and a weakness. When at least twenty more bodies had dissolved into code and Zan's back bumped against what he hoped was a friend, he held his sword before him once more. The fledglings seemed to consider their next course of action, passive for but a second before they began to descend once again. With the last of his SP, the Heavy Blade added Ap Corv and Ap Do to his arsenal, muscles growing and toning to the assimilation of his Clabro. Going full blown Garou could be a mistake and, not wanting to give the thrashing beasts anything too big as a target and plenty capable of taking them out in one hit, Zan remained as he was. The speed of his heightened physical state and the Ap Do was more than satisfying, his attacks shifting from generally recognizable motions to lagged and twitching maneuvers that became a workout for any human eyes.
A slash here and eight fell, another and dragon blood soaked his weapon and claimed another dozen. Zan continued the general tactic; a cross formed with an upward clash and a horizontal one to top it off. Not necessarily religious but thankful just the same, Zan offered his gratefulness to the 'owner' of the cross' symbol at the fleshy thud of fifteen more. All around him his companions were claiming the lives of the beasts and, all around them, they seemed to be getting their fair share of assault just the same. The time he had wasted getting a quip of the state of the Freedom Fighters amounted to the tear of nails along his skull and his back, the weaker attempts stopped by the thickness of his leather coat. Gritting his teeth, Zan spun around once more and deflated the head of one that had latched onto his shoulder with a collision of the butt of his blade onto the top of its head. Kabobbing another collection of the bastards with a stab forward, he felt his confidence begin to build. This wasn't so bad. An opinion that was quickly changed when a heavenly assault from outside of his view brought a bath of flames to sear through even the protection of his coat. Screaming out, unable not to, Zan sheathed his Horse Killer and replaced it with the cool calm of the Life Sword in his palm. Unable to wait for the pain to subside with the sub-par regeneration of his Clabro form, he let Ol Repth wash over him and heal up what injuries had been induced and what hit points had been lost.
Zan rose with renewed anger, his Beast screaming out with blood-boiling rage at the insult that had been enacted. Keeping the Garou from spilling through, the lycanthrope filtered that anger into focus and kept the Life Sword in hang. It wasn't his strongest, but he didn't need his strongest to take out these things. What he did need was a sword with a healing spell at the ready. The Life Sword proved just as effective as the Horse Killer, chopping down a wave that had sought to do damage from the same local of the fire-breathers. Zan could only do so much, however, hoping against hope that his friends were clearing the numbers as well. Looking to find out had only proved agonizing before so all the lycanthrope could really do was trust in their skill. Oddly enough, Jinx included, he could do just that. It allowed his focus to clarify that much sharper, his senses pouring out to their maximum capacity at the hands of the Clabro and offering him that much more insight. Even then, even with his Instinct pin pointing dangers aimed at him, he was still unable to keep back everything. Most of them seemed to have temporarily learned the lethality of his sword and would retreat instead of mowing him down through their own deaths. It was a bonus and a punishment. Damn it.
Luckily enough, those who were smart and strayed from him were killed by his friends in time, leaving fresh and stupid meat to swarm down. A chunk of his SP back, he fought this tumbling threat with MeRue Rom's assistance, upwards of ten bodies flailing limply through the air until they were either met with the earth or swallowed by magma. Wait. The magma. A pool of it not four feet from him was now a weapon, his eyes darting between it and the continued approach of gnashing dragons. Smiling, he once more coated his blade in the skewered bodies of the creatures, providing a temporary shield for his weapon as he ducked under a swoop of claws and dipped it into the boiling mass. With the bodies rapidly disintegrating beneath the heat, he swiped them off one at a time, turning their husks into cannonballs of liquid flame that ate through rows of his enemies until nothing was left but a gape of stalagmites in front of him and the six or so foot Life Sword and its blood-bathed gleam. Nothing more than a moment of personal celebration was allowed before he swarmed beyond his control, the hole of ceiling filled in with bodies and fledglings that latched onto him as firmly as any over-zealous date.
Ten of them on him, his muscles stiffened from the snapping of their teeth and the digging of their claws, he could only hope for some help or a brilliant plan of his own to form.
-----------------------
OOC:
Fledglings Killed: 204
Fledglings Remaining: 1796
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).
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Lord Canti
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
- Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.
(This was a fine mess they had gotten themselves in. For starters, the conversation about the Marionette led to a slight problem. While it seemed to some, Canti himself included, that the puppet-messenger was some sort of enemy or untrustworthy manipulator, there was Zan's statement to consider. He'd made a fair point on the mailer's behalf, really, having pointed out that Dien could help him with his problem. It wasn't that it was wrong to accept help for a friend. It's just that the whole thing still didn't rub right for the Twin Blade. It was true that this Marionette seemed to be doing nothing more than delving out advice to lead them to a goal - some different than others, it seemed - but then again, Canti had reasonable doubt when it came to hearing words from a detached voice out of nowhere. Ally or enemy? His first thought was enemy, because there were so many ways in which the hackers working for the Elites may operate, even if it involves a double-bluff to pass the time. Did people play such manipulative games for fun? Well...not anyone Canti knew, but he wouldn't eliminate the possibility. There was just too much in his mind that advised caution for him to just immediately take Marionette for granted. But still, he had a moment while the others conversed about the Hubs and such. Time to do a little private investigating, now that the guy had decided to address them all with strange titles that sounded weird even by the standards of his head-trips. This guy knew way too much, or perhaps he knew it all in the same way as him, or similar. Time to see what he really knows...)
TO: Marionette
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: Trust.
I know you're wondering about the trust issue. You're listening in even as we speak. But while we're trying to figure you out, how about you take a point from our perspective? You come in out of the blue during a mission like this and what are we suppose to think? I, personally, don't know what to think, in light of recent events. It's been that way for a number of years now. Can't trust, can't get too close... Everything I touch always turns to dust. The last person I gave the benefit of the doubt to was the man who threw me into this mess. Tell ya what, though. I'll make you a deal: I'll hear you out when we find you, but cool it with the riddles when we do, alright?
(That being taken care of, it appeared that the conversation was over and that the group was now going to move on. This was all alot to take in. In The World, buried up to his neck as he was, it was bad enough that a number of people wanted him and everyone he was with dead as a doornail. Now, there was some kind of referee? That was gonna make this worse than any head-trip thus far. Nall was asking about anyone not wanting to move on and Canti found no issue against it, so he said nothing. Besides, it was the Vak room. If the Twin Blade had learned anything from the Darkness room, he was in for a bit of a shocker upon getting in there. He was the dark and fiery Twin Blade. If the virus was responding somehow to his own perception of himself here, then this would fit the pattern. As he followed the others, chomping a cookie on the way, Canti noticed Nighthand looking over the hallway, as if trying to mess with something. He did nothing to it and moved on, leaving the Twin Blade to wonder what he was up to. Trying to disable the traps? Maybe...)
Canti: Whoa... Hello! Summer time already?
(There was no summer like this, or not quite like this. The ambient heat would cause no sunburn and no tan-line. It was as if it were coming from a furnace. Or rather...as it would seem to be...a volcano. Canti began to have a Tommy Lee Jones flashback, which made this situation somewhat comical. A volcano in The World? A medieval game? This ain't no island! This ain't no Mt. Fuji! But the designers wanted a bloody volcano, so that's what they got. The heat didn't bother Canti all that much. It was just...noticable. Actually, there was a certain funny familiarity with this setting. What this looked like to the dark Twin Blade was...a microcosm of Jealous Bloody Furnace, a red and volcanic area with steam geysers and limited visibility because of all the heat. Very clever...but not clever enough. He knew the type of territory well. Magma here, rock formations there... It was the vision of a brimstone hell. Well, considering how well he and Virage - and man, he wished that guy were here now - did in the other place, which was a higher level of difficulty, Canti felt little fear for this place, even though it may be the worst to come as of right now.)
Canti: The very look of this place should be tearing into me, but I feel right at home. Looks like I was right. This place is my heaven and the water world is hell.
(Coming in closer, there was an area with stones, fashioned things surrounding a pillar with the statue of a dragon upon it. Canti smirked. A dragon? Was that to be their opponent here? Their uber-massive monstrosity was going to be a big lizard? Canti knew nothing about the Freedom Fighter's past exploits, so he couldn't guess at what the others thought of this. But for Canti in particular, a dragon was one of the least-offensive giant monsters you could throw at him, especially after that dragon-killing event from before... Well, the dragon was a statue right now, anyway. It held the item they were looking for. Whether or not it was destined to become their enemy, there was still the matter of fact that they had to deal with it. Nighthand reached out to pickup the item. He had to know it was a trap, but also that the only way to get it later would be to reach for it now. The mouth closed, locking away the burning artifact, which Canti wondered if he could hold...)
CRACK!
Canti: Crack? What the...?
(He looked around, and then grimaced. Those rocks, the ones that looked like they'd been shaped to a smooth round shape? Uhhh...yeah. They be eggs, boss. Lots of them. This was a nest filled to capacity with the things. This wasn't good. Of all the dragon-like scenarios in all The World, why did he have to get this one? The one he'd never encountered before? Canti was getting flashbacks of movies. Aliens, Reign of Fire, Tremors 2, and the Godzilla movie starring Matthew Broderick... They were in some deep shit. The spawnlings attacked almost as soon as they hatched, letting out a small-scale draconic roar. Canti didn't have time to switch out from other weapons and armors to come up with some sort of plan. There were three gunning for him right where he could see 'em as is, and his peripherals were saying that there was a whole lot of flapping going on nearby where his eyes couldn't reach. He stayed with the Bloody Twin as five flyers came in on his six, his four, and his five. If a certain battle instinct hadn't been honed in here, Canti would be dragon food about now. Instead, he knew when to duck and what to do. The dragons came straight overhead and a couple tumbled into the three that were stalking him. He looked around. There were stalagmites and there were lava pools. Four of the beasties were back at him again as Canti applied a deadly sampler of his arts. He leapt at them to close the gap a little early in and bring his feet down upon the closest two, thrusting his daggers into the bodies of the other two before slicing at the first two wildly on the way down. Two dead, two wounded. The other two spat fire at him as he landed. Their flames caressed him, but he did not sizzle as he was suppose to. And they went to the grave wondering why that would be, as the other four tried to pick Canti off as he slashed dragon-faces open.)
Canti: Juk Rom!
(The four from before, plus one other, were caught in a whirlwind of leaves and wood, and scattered a bit. One skidded off into the lava, making five dead now. Another hit a stalagmite, causing serious non-fatal-type harm. The rest regained themselves and seized a momentary opening in Canti's defense as another dragon attacked from behind, scratching him in the shoulders. Seeing the three others out of the corner of his eye, he ducked around the attacker and grabbed its tail. It was pointy... A load of devil dragon spawns in a hellish environment? Go figure. Pulling on it hard, Canti imbalanced it in mid-flight and was able to put it between him and the other three, pounding them all back all of a sudden. The dragon used as a meat shield gurgled as it fell on the Twin Blade's knife. Then, he used Juk Rom again while the other three hatchlings were trying to pin him down under the corpse. That made a total of ni-)
SHNNNK!!
(Make that ten as he dove to finish off the badly-wounded one. More dragons came almost immediately, and Canti got himself an idea. Those tails were long and flexible, and all-important factors in flying. Without them, they were imbalanced, awkward. Canti put away his daggers for a moment, and decided to test the full power of his resolve. He'd noticed it, you see... That same feeling of knowing what had to be down and how to do it. These dragons were deadly, all of them, but they were playing on HIS field, and they didn't even have an edge against fire! Three pairs of leathery wings came at him and he ducked immediately after the first, grabbing the tail and pulling hard. The first one was caught off guard and its groupies bumped into it, getting thrown off balance as well. Tumbling, Canti was on them before they even stopped. In a test of agility, did the lizard boys pan out more? Or the Twin Blade? Then, waiting a second and then swinging his blades out in Twin Darkness, Canti got a number of them that were hitting his blindspot again. He counted...)
Canti: Seven! I got seven in- No, wait... Eight! I got eight of you lousy stinking devil-tailed S.O.B.s with one strike! Well, actually alot, but it was one attack!
(That didn't seem to impress the dragons, who were getting on people by the bushels. They especially didn't like that the Twin Blade's tally was now up to 21. Canti found a dragon biting his leg as he swatted at another in the air all of a sudden. The pack mentality was heating up. The one biting him didn't get away - since it had its head kicked in about a dozen times in the next few seconds - but the flyer zoomed away...and brought three cousins! Gouts of flame from several dragons met with Tiger Claws. Canti added another four to the one other to make a total of 26. This was hard work. He used a Health Drink and kept it up. Bringing out his tri-bladed Phantom Blades...)
Canti: Twin Blade Art-Of-War!
(He was standing awfully close to the lava here, paying close attention to his surroundings...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(The horde commands a sacrifice. It wants the seekers of truth. The fire licks their tendons in anticipation of a meal, but there are none so willing to accept this fate. The fire should be fed, so says the horde, but the bloody crow just smiles. If the fire is hungry, then it shall be fed, as desired. But what shall fill that flame and keep it appeased? Shall the blood of the many who entered unbidden be enough? Nay, says the crow. There are choicier meats to proclaim. The horde cries at the loss of its own as the interlopers cut them down, but they do not give up. The fox smiles, for the crow has a plan...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Several dragon-spawns came for Canti, and those were just the obvious ones. The Twin Blade counted off as they came and he attacked, spinning his wily daggers around like they were buzzsaws. With every zing, dragon scales parted and dragon bodies flew from him. They were repelled or pulled along by him, several sent into the lava to 'dispose' of the evidence. The zinginess cut into some vital spots, injuring out killing many, because it was several quick attacks per spin. The number of dead bodies mounted as Canti was lost in a dance of destruction. Past thirty now... Forty. Forty-two! He backed off, sliding around a stalagmite as the claws were starting to get through enough to warrant healing, which he did by Repth. They were getting too thick. If he'd stayed, a whole gout of them would've pushed him into the lava. He was sending ones intothe lava or against hard ground in order to be finished off seconds later. That's how it went. However, this was all dependent upon disorganization, which was happening less and less at the moment, as several peeked around the stalabmite and force Canti to duck some claws. He donned his Bloody Blades again to stab and twist into dragon bodies, killing three more as he headed towards Nall. During his little ruckus by the lava pool, Zan had called out a little strategy to get these bastards off their backs, literally. Having grown tired of picking claws from his wings, Canti went with this. He chose Nall because he was fairly close and that there was something he had to ask him...)
Canti: Nall, I know this isn't the right time or place, but there's something I need to know.
(Phantom Blades were back in his hands, giving off the buzzsaw routine as he spun 'em maddeningly at the oncoming dragons. Two more went down as they came for him. It was alot easier when someone was watching his six.)
Canti: I just want to know what happened back there, at the tower. Did you kill him or not? You know who I'm talking about.
(It was obvious, wasn't it? Since there was only one fellow that Nall had had to fight to the death in the dark tower, he would know that it was the human lightning-rod, Suraisu, that Canti meant. Of course, while waiting for an answer, the Twin Blade couldn't remain inactive, not when he saw Zan getting dogpiled by dragon-pups. Canti fired a Juk Rom spell to stir up those closely-knitted ten and give Zan a chance to evicerate them all, knowing that the wolf would not be so adversely effected as the lizards.)
OOC: And now, the score according to Canti...
PREVIOUS TALLY - 1796
KILLED - 47
TOTAL TALLY - 1749
TO: Marionette
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: Trust.
I know you're wondering about the trust issue. You're listening in even as we speak. But while we're trying to figure you out, how about you take a point from our perspective? You come in out of the blue during a mission like this and what are we suppose to think? I, personally, don't know what to think, in light of recent events. It's been that way for a number of years now. Can't trust, can't get too close... Everything I touch always turns to dust. The last person I gave the benefit of the doubt to was the man who threw me into this mess. Tell ya what, though. I'll make you a deal: I'll hear you out when we find you, but cool it with the riddles when we do, alright?
(That being taken care of, it appeared that the conversation was over and that the group was now going to move on. This was all alot to take in. In The World, buried up to his neck as he was, it was bad enough that a number of people wanted him and everyone he was with dead as a doornail. Now, there was some kind of referee? That was gonna make this worse than any head-trip thus far. Nall was asking about anyone not wanting to move on and Canti found no issue against it, so he said nothing. Besides, it was the Vak room. If the Twin Blade had learned anything from the Darkness room, he was in for a bit of a shocker upon getting in there. He was the dark and fiery Twin Blade. If the virus was responding somehow to his own perception of himself here, then this would fit the pattern. As he followed the others, chomping a cookie on the way, Canti noticed Nighthand looking over the hallway, as if trying to mess with something. He did nothing to it and moved on, leaving the Twin Blade to wonder what he was up to. Trying to disable the traps? Maybe...)
Canti: Whoa... Hello! Summer time already?
(There was no summer like this, or not quite like this. The ambient heat would cause no sunburn and no tan-line. It was as if it were coming from a furnace. Or rather...as it would seem to be...a volcano. Canti began to have a Tommy Lee Jones flashback, which made this situation somewhat comical. A volcano in The World? A medieval game? This ain't no island! This ain't no Mt. Fuji! But the designers wanted a bloody volcano, so that's what they got. The heat didn't bother Canti all that much. It was just...noticable. Actually, there was a certain funny familiarity with this setting. What this looked like to the dark Twin Blade was...a microcosm of Jealous Bloody Furnace, a red and volcanic area with steam geysers and limited visibility because of all the heat. Very clever...but not clever enough. He knew the type of territory well. Magma here, rock formations there... It was the vision of a brimstone hell. Well, considering how well he and Virage - and man, he wished that guy were here now - did in the other place, which was a higher level of difficulty, Canti felt little fear for this place, even though it may be the worst to come as of right now.)
Canti: The very look of this place should be tearing into me, but I feel right at home. Looks like I was right. This place is my heaven and the water world is hell.
(Coming in closer, there was an area with stones, fashioned things surrounding a pillar with the statue of a dragon upon it. Canti smirked. A dragon? Was that to be their opponent here? Their uber-massive monstrosity was going to be a big lizard? Canti knew nothing about the Freedom Fighter's past exploits, so he couldn't guess at what the others thought of this. But for Canti in particular, a dragon was one of the least-offensive giant monsters you could throw at him, especially after that dragon-killing event from before... Well, the dragon was a statue right now, anyway. It held the item they were looking for. Whether or not it was destined to become their enemy, there was still the matter of fact that they had to deal with it. Nighthand reached out to pickup the item. He had to know it was a trap, but also that the only way to get it later would be to reach for it now. The mouth closed, locking away the burning artifact, which Canti wondered if he could hold...)
CRACK!
Canti: Crack? What the...?
(He looked around, and then grimaced. Those rocks, the ones that looked like they'd been shaped to a smooth round shape? Uhhh...yeah. They be eggs, boss. Lots of them. This was a nest filled to capacity with the things. This wasn't good. Of all the dragon-like scenarios in all The World, why did he have to get this one? The one he'd never encountered before? Canti was getting flashbacks of movies. Aliens, Reign of Fire, Tremors 2, and the Godzilla movie starring Matthew Broderick... They were in some deep shit. The spawnlings attacked almost as soon as they hatched, letting out a small-scale draconic roar. Canti didn't have time to switch out from other weapons and armors to come up with some sort of plan. There were three gunning for him right where he could see 'em as is, and his peripherals were saying that there was a whole lot of flapping going on nearby where his eyes couldn't reach. He stayed with the Bloody Twin as five flyers came in on his six, his four, and his five. If a certain battle instinct hadn't been honed in here, Canti would be dragon food about now. Instead, he knew when to duck and what to do. The dragons came straight overhead and a couple tumbled into the three that were stalking him. He looked around. There were stalagmites and there were lava pools. Four of the beasties were back at him again as Canti applied a deadly sampler of his arts. He leapt at them to close the gap a little early in and bring his feet down upon the closest two, thrusting his daggers into the bodies of the other two before slicing at the first two wildly on the way down. Two dead, two wounded. The other two spat fire at him as he landed. Their flames caressed him, but he did not sizzle as he was suppose to. And they went to the grave wondering why that would be, as the other four tried to pick Canti off as he slashed dragon-faces open.)
Canti: Juk Rom!
(The four from before, plus one other, were caught in a whirlwind of leaves and wood, and scattered a bit. One skidded off into the lava, making five dead now. Another hit a stalagmite, causing serious non-fatal-type harm. The rest regained themselves and seized a momentary opening in Canti's defense as another dragon attacked from behind, scratching him in the shoulders. Seeing the three others out of the corner of his eye, he ducked around the attacker and grabbed its tail. It was pointy... A load of devil dragon spawns in a hellish environment? Go figure. Pulling on it hard, Canti imbalanced it in mid-flight and was able to put it between him and the other three, pounding them all back all of a sudden. The dragon used as a meat shield gurgled as it fell on the Twin Blade's knife. Then, he used Juk Rom again while the other three hatchlings were trying to pin him down under the corpse. That made a total of ni-)
SHNNNK!!
(Make that ten as he dove to finish off the badly-wounded one. More dragons came almost immediately, and Canti got himself an idea. Those tails were long and flexible, and all-important factors in flying. Without them, they were imbalanced, awkward. Canti put away his daggers for a moment, and decided to test the full power of his resolve. He'd noticed it, you see... That same feeling of knowing what had to be down and how to do it. These dragons were deadly, all of them, but they were playing on HIS field, and they didn't even have an edge against fire! Three pairs of leathery wings came at him and he ducked immediately after the first, grabbing the tail and pulling hard. The first one was caught off guard and its groupies bumped into it, getting thrown off balance as well. Tumbling, Canti was on them before they even stopped. In a test of agility, did the lizard boys pan out more? Or the Twin Blade? Then, waiting a second and then swinging his blades out in Twin Darkness, Canti got a number of them that were hitting his blindspot again. He counted...)
Canti: Seven! I got seven in- No, wait... Eight! I got eight of you lousy stinking devil-tailed S.O.B.s with one strike! Well, actually alot, but it was one attack!
(That didn't seem to impress the dragons, who were getting on people by the bushels. They especially didn't like that the Twin Blade's tally was now up to 21. Canti found a dragon biting his leg as he swatted at another in the air all of a sudden. The pack mentality was heating up. The one biting him didn't get away - since it had its head kicked in about a dozen times in the next few seconds - but the flyer zoomed away...and brought three cousins! Gouts of flame from several dragons met with Tiger Claws. Canti added another four to the one other to make a total of 26. This was hard work. He used a Health Drink and kept it up. Bringing out his tri-bladed Phantom Blades...)
Canti: Twin Blade Art-Of-War!
(He was standing awfully close to the lava here, paying close attention to his surroundings...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(The horde commands a sacrifice. It wants the seekers of truth. The fire licks their tendons in anticipation of a meal, but there are none so willing to accept this fate. The fire should be fed, so says the horde, but the bloody crow just smiles. If the fire is hungry, then it shall be fed, as desired. But what shall fill that flame and keep it appeased? Shall the blood of the many who entered unbidden be enough? Nay, says the crow. There are choicier meats to proclaim. The horde cries at the loss of its own as the interlopers cut them down, but they do not give up. The fox smiles, for the crow has a plan...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Several dragon-spawns came for Canti, and those were just the obvious ones. The Twin Blade counted off as they came and he attacked, spinning his wily daggers around like they were buzzsaws. With every zing, dragon scales parted and dragon bodies flew from him. They were repelled or pulled along by him, several sent into the lava to 'dispose' of the evidence. The zinginess cut into some vital spots, injuring out killing many, because it was several quick attacks per spin. The number of dead bodies mounted as Canti was lost in a dance of destruction. Past thirty now... Forty. Forty-two! He backed off, sliding around a stalagmite as the claws were starting to get through enough to warrant healing, which he did by Repth. They were getting too thick. If he'd stayed, a whole gout of them would've pushed him into the lava. He was sending ones intothe lava or against hard ground in order to be finished off seconds later. That's how it went. However, this was all dependent upon disorganization, which was happening less and less at the moment, as several peeked around the stalabmite and force Canti to duck some claws. He donned his Bloody Blades again to stab and twist into dragon bodies, killing three more as he headed towards Nall. During his little ruckus by the lava pool, Zan had called out a little strategy to get these bastards off their backs, literally. Having grown tired of picking claws from his wings, Canti went with this. He chose Nall because he was fairly close and that there was something he had to ask him...)
Canti: Nall, I know this isn't the right time or place, but there's something I need to know.
(Phantom Blades were back in his hands, giving off the buzzsaw routine as he spun 'em maddeningly at the oncoming dragons. Two more went down as they came for him. It was alot easier when someone was watching his six.)
Canti: I just want to know what happened back there, at the tower. Did you kill him or not? You know who I'm talking about.
(It was obvious, wasn't it? Since there was only one fellow that Nall had had to fight to the death in the dark tower, he would know that it was the human lightning-rod, Suraisu, that Canti meant. Of course, while waiting for an answer, the Twin Blade couldn't remain inactive, not when he saw Zan getting dogpiled by dragon-pups. Canti fired a Juk Rom spell to stir up those closely-knitted ten and give Zan a chance to evicerate them all, knowing that the wolf would not be so adversely effected as the lizards.)
OOC: And now, the score according to Canti...
PREVIOUS TALLY - 1796
KILLED - 47
TOTAL TALLY - 1749
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.
Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.
Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.
-
Marionette
- Elevated Player
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:24 pm
Senna hadn’t thought she was particularly on edge. Hyped up for battle, a little tired of waiting around, sure, but not edgy. Not until the unexpected voice came from far closer than she expected to hear. She nearly jumped at the sound.
It was one of the first two who’d appeared in the central room from the other group, though she didn’t have a name to go with the face. Didn’t want one, she realized as he spoke, and didn’t want to give HER name either. It was absurdly like her mother’s admonitions about bringing animals home when she was a child. Things without names were easier to think about as things. And if she was to do as she’d decided –and as he was now advocating – it would be a good deal easier to do the fewer of them she was thinking of in terms of names and personalities – in other words, the fewer who appeared to be actual people to her.
Still, it was rather irksome to be labeled as “mysterious player” by the guy. Hell if she wasn’t the most normal one here, at least to her own estimation. But be that as it may, his points echoed her own, in their way. As he finished, she offered a brief nod, showing her agreement with his directive, and only vocalized one word. “Thanks.” And she meant it. She’d always rather have a redundant warning than an unspoken one.
The rest of the group gathered up, and the travels went forward once more. Marionette was left back in that central room, at least for the Long Arm. What lay ahead was important. What they would or would not deal with in regard to Marionette did not in and of itself affect the Vak room. She did cast Ap Do on herself as they walked, noting with some surprise that there was something, some quality, that reminded her of a drug in that spell. The only thing she’d even been borderline addicted to in her life was caffiene, but she noted the same feeling when her speed was normal as she had when she didn’t get her soda in the afternoon. She noticed the lack. It didn’t just feel normal, it felt subdued, as though she were actually affected by something that sapped her energy.
The hallway was warm, but when they actually exited the hall and stepped into the Vak room proper, the heat was a nearly physical force. Senna couldn’t feel it, not really, but she could see it, and her imagination was affecting her body all on its own. The room wavered before her eyes with the waves of extreme temperatures, and Senna was reminded rather quickly that her current outfit was somewhat water-element-intensive. That, she decided, was something that needed changing. This was not a normal field as she knew such things. Who knew if stepping in one of these lava pools might have dire consequences. No reason to make that easier than it already had to be. The Tranquil Spear, currently her highest-level and least-used weapon, was in her hands. Two types of healing were now available, which couldn’t be a bad thing. Nearby, Zan seemed to be enjoying himself, or at least not as averse to the heat as she personally felt. Some of the others seemed more along her line of reactions.
As she watched another of the newcomers go toward the center of the room, toward an ugly-looking statue, she felt the urge to cough. Between the pools of hot liquid and the strange, rounded rocks that lay all over the place, getting there must have been an adventure in itself.
The rocks reminded her of the field she’d been trying to get to when she first came here, come to think of it, though without the patterns on the side. She prodded one lightly with the non-pointed end of her spear, more out of looking for something to do that out of any thought it might be useful.
The statue in the center of the room did not much like the idea of giving up its prize, apparently. Fire AND a bite of sorts – one protective piece of stone, that. As the person who’d attempted to grab that little icon out of the statue’s mouth backed away, He started to shout something across the room, but his words were lost in the sudden sound of every one of those strange round stones beginning to move, quake, crack. And then, they erupted.
That was the way it looked at least. The stones were really eggs and in a matter of moments, it looked indeed like the floor had begun to spew forth more magma – living, moving magma. A sea of red, shot through with gold and a few other, richer tones, began writhing around their feet, unfolding wings and snapping, even at one another before they found opportunity to focus on the real opponent.
The group.
Senna felt reasonably sure she was now one of the lowest-level people, but instincts were instincts, and hers kicked in now. One member of the group was more separated from the others than any other, she focused around that one. Maybe give him some time. SO she picked one that was nearby and cast. “Rai Rom.” She was careful not to target the person – that would not be a good idea, she had learned from past experience.
As her spell kicked into gear, another did as well. This one was Rue based – which made a good deal of sense since this was the Vak room – but apparently it did nothing more than normal. Considering it was a level 2 rom spell, it was already tossing quite a few of the little winged freaks around, focusing more on the main body of the group.
One of the dragons latched its jaws onto her left leg, while a second raked her from the right. Growling, she stabbed hard at the biter, but it wasn’t quite enough to kill it. AS she made a second stab, she was already casting again. “Ap Corv.”
Now she had the heft to deal with these hatchlings in one swipe, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Crouching a little, she invoked another attack – Double Sweep. An area attack, and with speed, attack up – it was enough, at least momentarily, to keep them off her. She knocked several of them out of the way, clearing a spot, but as the skill faded, something warm – very warm – climbed up her back. She turned and swung hard – they were packed so close, it was like trying to cut down a number of trees with a single swing of the axe. A few more fell as she heard Zan’s shout. Get back together? Yeah, wise idea, and she began following it. Another Rai Rom cleared her path, more or less, and her spear took care of what the spell didn’t as she ran. A few tried for her, but the continuing effects of the Ap Do trailed her, speeding her steps and pulling her luckily out of the reach of most flailing attacks and gouts of flame.
Getting closer to the group – and keeping in mind that everyone would want room to swing – Senna turned back to face out – and nearly lost heart. There were SO many out there – innumerable. So many…
And then she heard Canti to one side, shouting something she could only catch in bits and snatches. She grinned, then laughed as she made another attack, took another two, used a Health Drink. A second use of Double Sweep and another handful of them fell, and then she was laying about left and right, trying to use her weapon’s length to best benefit. The heightened strength in her swings meant that with each sweep, at least one went down. Of course, they were all still trying to get to her, and some got in close enough to do that – her healing had to keep up. She was saving her SP for that now, relying on her physical ability.
Previous: 1749
Killed: 68
Remaining: 1681
It was one of the first two who’d appeared in the central room from the other group, though she didn’t have a name to go with the face. Didn’t want one, she realized as he spoke, and didn’t want to give HER name either. It was absurdly like her mother’s admonitions about bringing animals home when she was a child. Things without names were easier to think about as things. And if she was to do as she’d decided –and as he was now advocating – it would be a good deal easier to do the fewer of them she was thinking of in terms of names and personalities – in other words, the fewer who appeared to be actual people to her.
Still, it was rather irksome to be labeled as “mysterious player” by the guy. Hell if she wasn’t the most normal one here, at least to her own estimation. But be that as it may, his points echoed her own, in their way. As he finished, she offered a brief nod, showing her agreement with his directive, and only vocalized one word. “Thanks.” And she meant it. She’d always rather have a redundant warning than an unspoken one.
The rest of the group gathered up, and the travels went forward once more. Marionette was left back in that central room, at least for the Long Arm. What lay ahead was important. What they would or would not deal with in regard to Marionette did not in and of itself affect the Vak room. She did cast Ap Do on herself as they walked, noting with some surprise that there was something, some quality, that reminded her of a drug in that spell. The only thing she’d even been borderline addicted to in her life was caffiene, but she noted the same feeling when her speed was normal as she had when she didn’t get her soda in the afternoon. She noticed the lack. It didn’t just feel normal, it felt subdued, as though she were actually affected by something that sapped her energy.
The hallway was warm, but when they actually exited the hall and stepped into the Vak room proper, the heat was a nearly physical force. Senna couldn’t feel it, not really, but she could see it, and her imagination was affecting her body all on its own. The room wavered before her eyes with the waves of extreme temperatures, and Senna was reminded rather quickly that her current outfit was somewhat water-element-intensive. That, she decided, was something that needed changing. This was not a normal field as she knew such things. Who knew if stepping in one of these lava pools might have dire consequences. No reason to make that easier than it already had to be. The Tranquil Spear, currently her highest-level and least-used weapon, was in her hands. Two types of healing were now available, which couldn’t be a bad thing. Nearby, Zan seemed to be enjoying himself, or at least not as averse to the heat as she personally felt. Some of the others seemed more along her line of reactions.
As she watched another of the newcomers go toward the center of the room, toward an ugly-looking statue, she felt the urge to cough. Between the pools of hot liquid and the strange, rounded rocks that lay all over the place, getting there must have been an adventure in itself.
The rocks reminded her of the field she’d been trying to get to when she first came here, come to think of it, though without the patterns on the side. She prodded one lightly with the non-pointed end of her spear, more out of looking for something to do that out of any thought it might be useful.
The statue in the center of the room did not much like the idea of giving up its prize, apparently. Fire AND a bite of sorts – one protective piece of stone, that. As the person who’d attempted to grab that little icon out of the statue’s mouth backed away, He started to shout something across the room, but his words were lost in the sudden sound of every one of those strange round stones beginning to move, quake, crack. And then, they erupted.
That was the way it looked at least. The stones were really eggs and in a matter of moments, it looked indeed like the floor had begun to spew forth more magma – living, moving magma. A sea of red, shot through with gold and a few other, richer tones, began writhing around their feet, unfolding wings and snapping, even at one another before they found opportunity to focus on the real opponent.
The group.
Senna felt reasonably sure she was now one of the lowest-level people, but instincts were instincts, and hers kicked in now. One member of the group was more separated from the others than any other, she focused around that one. Maybe give him some time. SO she picked one that was nearby and cast. “Rai Rom.” She was careful not to target the person – that would not be a good idea, she had learned from past experience.
As her spell kicked into gear, another did as well. This one was Rue based – which made a good deal of sense since this was the Vak room – but apparently it did nothing more than normal. Considering it was a level 2 rom spell, it was already tossing quite a few of the little winged freaks around, focusing more on the main body of the group.
One of the dragons latched its jaws onto her left leg, while a second raked her from the right. Growling, she stabbed hard at the biter, but it wasn’t quite enough to kill it. AS she made a second stab, she was already casting again. “Ap Corv.”
Now she had the heft to deal with these hatchlings in one swipe, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Crouching a little, she invoked another attack – Double Sweep. An area attack, and with speed, attack up – it was enough, at least momentarily, to keep them off her. She knocked several of them out of the way, clearing a spot, but as the skill faded, something warm – very warm – climbed up her back. She turned and swung hard – they were packed so close, it was like trying to cut down a number of trees with a single swing of the axe. A few more fell as she heard Zan’s shout. Get back together? Yeah, wise idea, and she began following it. Another Rai Rom cleared her path, more or less, and her spear took care of what the spell didn’t as she ran. A few tried for her, but the continuing effects of the Ap Do trailed her, speeding her steps and pulling her luckily out of the reach of most flailing attacks and gouts of flame.
Getting closer to the group – and keeping in mind that everyone would want room to swing – Senna turned back to face out – and nearly lost heart. There were SO many out there – innumerable. So many…
And then she heard Canti to one side, shouting something she could only catch in bits and snatches. She grinned, then laughed as she made another attack, took another two, used a Health Drink. A second use of Double Sweep and another handful of them fell, and then she was laying about left and right, trying to use her weapon’s length to best benefit. The heightened strength in her swings meant that with each sweep, at least one went down. Of course, they were all still trying to get to her, and some got in close enough to do that – her healing had to keep up. She was saving her SP for that now, relying on her physical ability.
Previous: 1749
Killed: 68
Remaining: 1681
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
-
Nighthand
- Master of Games
- Posts: 1265
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
- Class: Bladesmage
- Location: ...Tracking...please wait...
(ooc: sorry 'bout the late post. Not that I'm holding anyone back. I've been having problems with the forum that no one else seems to be, at least not as consistently as me.)
Nall was spending more effort on dodging than he was on fighting. After all, this battle wasn't for him. If he had wanted to, the majority of the hatchlings would be dead already. So he blurred from place to place, only resting at any point for a matter of moments before he moved again. Only occasionally would he swing his blade, and then only to eliminate monsters appearing directly in his way.
Part of him heard Canti's question, but he was gone before he could answer. The effort of maintaining such an on-and-off use of his power was slowly but surely wearing on him. He was by no means close to wearing out, not yet, but if this kept up for a long time, he could begin to show signs.
Nighthand, however, was taking the exact opposite approach. This was the kind of battle that was fun, to him. Very little peril of mortal danger, a seemingly never-ending supply of monsters, and the ability to use his class the way it was designed to be used. He loved toying with spells, this was true. However, that was turning out to be more trouble that it was worth half the time now. He had a lot of scrolls, yes, but using them up was still something he was hesitant on. So, he fought, with blade and speed.
State Shift, the hack that granted him a balance between speed and power, was put to good use in this battle. He had more than enough strength to kill the creatures in one blow, so he lowered it. A trial blow showed it was still more than enough to kill the creature, so he lowered it yet again. The second attack drove the monster to the ground, but didn't kill it. Good. He raised the strength a little more, finishing off the test monster and cleaving through another. Perfect.
His form now moved with a speed greater than a heavyblade should be capable of; at his level anyways. Where he moved, his blade flashed in an arc of death. Even such a massive piece of metal was feather-light in his grip, as he swung it through monsters one after another. Seven went down before he decided it he preferred the strength over the speed. Cleaving through one was all well and good, but where was the fun if he couldn't destroy the second as well?
Still, there were a lot of the bastards. A lot. Swarms wouldn't kill him very easily, no; the circle would have to be very wide indeed for that many to surround him at once. He was in no danger, but there were others who were. Dien, for instance; the man seemed enthralled with the fire or something. That, or the sheer number of enemies held him dumbfounded. Either way, he wasn't attacking, and that meant he was being attacked.
Nighthand to the rescue again? Nah. He couldn't keep saving them every time. He moved in that direction though, as dragon after dragon joined the fiery barrage striking the blademaster. It wasn't long before he fell, his form ghosting; not long, but long enough for Nighthand to take out another fifteen.
Now was the perfect time to step in. No fewer than 20 of the beasts had surrounded the blademaster as they swarmed, the combinations of dragon's breath, teeth, and claws doing him in. Nighthand joined the clump before they had time to disband in search of other prey. His first swing took out four, his next, five. Eleven left? No problem. His armor came into play then, as he called on the Rai Rom spell it contained. Not as impressive as the assaults Rayo could let loose, it was still more than enough damage to take out the eleven, and a few more besides.
Nighthand grinned down at the ghost of Dien, chuckling a little. "Watch yourself a bit more next time, would ya?" he said, using a resurrect on the man.
He moved off in search of more, which wasn't a hard search. In fact, the search was over nearly the moment it had begun, as a trio of the dragons decided he was a good target. How they got that idea, he'd never know.
Deciding to be a little flashy with his kills, Nighthand allowed the trio to advance on him. Almost in unison, the three opened their jaws and exhaled a searing blast of fire.
Nighthand dashed through the fire, coming out largely unharmed. There wasn't much damage to it if you didn't stay in the blast. His first attack tore the head from the body of the middle dragon. Yanking his arms back, he shoved the pommel of the blade into the skull of the second dragon, which had swiveled to attack him from behind. Continuing the motion, he chopped overhead, destroying the third with more damage than it would have needed.
Already, by his count, he'd killed fifty of the little beasts... and yet the number in the room seemed hardly diminished.
Time to go on a rampage.
The heavyblade lunged forward, not even caring about the tactics of his attacks anymore. Claws raked his flesh, teeth bit through armor, flames seared his skin, and he didn't care. His blade stabbed through bodies, skewering one, two, three at a time. He spun, the sword tearing wings from torsos, limbs from bodies, heads from necks. He jumped, and ducked, and flipped in the air, the sword flashing on all sides, his speed amped up to heighten his perceptions. Each time his feet left the ground, dragons died. Each time he landed, more fell with him. Each time he rose from a crouch, at least one of the beasts died.
Finally finding himself in a momentary patch of clear air, the heavyblade took a moment to breathe. A cast of Ol Repth on himself was sufficient to undo most of the damage he had taken. Perhaps the others would be as effective as he had been? He took stock of the situation. No one else seemed to have died in the time he was fighting, but he couldn't be sure. Too many bodies moving through the air to see all his comrades.
Oh well. Time to go back to killing. Sooner or later there would be no more left.
Previous: 1681
Killed: 163
Remaining: 1518
OOC: Alright... Congratulations to Zan, Canti, and Senna, for being the only ones to post in 8 days. To the rest of you, don't keep up that trend.
Nall was spending more effort on dodging than he was on fighting. After all, this battle wasn't for him. If he had wanted to, the majority of the hatchlings would be dead already. So he blurred from place to place, only resting at any point for a matter of moments before he moved again. Only occasionally would he swing his blade, and then only to eliminate monsters appearing directly in his way.
Part of him heard Canti's question, but he was gone before he could answer. The effort of maintaining such an on-and-off use of his power was slowly but surely wearing on him. He was by no means close to wearing out, not yet, but if this kept up for a long time, he could begin to show signs.
Nighthand, however, was taking the exact opposite approach. This was the kind of battle that was fun, to him. Very little peril of mortal danger, a seemingly never-ending supply of monsters, and the ability to use his class the way it was designed to be used. He loved toying with spells, this was true. However, that was turning out to be more trouble that it was worth half the time now. He had a lot of scrolls, yes, but using them up was still something he was hesitant on. So, he fought, with blade and speed.
State Shift, the hack that granted him a balance between speed and power, was put to good use in this battle. He had more than enough strength to kill the creatures in one blow, so he lowered it. A trial blow showed it was still more than enough to kill the creature, so he lowered it yet again. The second attack drove the monster to the ground, but didn't kill it. Good. He raised the strength a little more, finishing off the test monster and cleaving through another. Perfect.
His form now moved with a speed greater than a heavyblade should be capable of; at his level anyways. Where he moved, his blade flashed in an arc of death. Even such a massive piece of metal was feather-light in his grip, as he swung it through monsters one after another. Seven went down before he decided it he preferred the strength over the speed. Cleaving through one was all well and good, but where was the fun if he couldn't destroy the second as well?
Still, there were a lot of the bastards. A lot. Swarms wouldn't kill him very easily, no; the circle would have to be very wide indeed for that many to surround him at once. He was in no danger, but there were others who were. Dien, for instance; the man seemed enthralled with the fire or something. That, or the sheer number of enemies held him dumbfounded. Either way, he wasn't attacking, and that meant he was being attacked.
Nighthand to the rescue again? Nah. He couldn't keep saving them every time. He moved in that direction though, as dragon after dragon joined the fiery barrage striking the blademaster. It wasn't long before he fell, his form ghosting; not long, but long enough for Nighthand to take out another fifteen.
Now was the perfect time to step in. No fewer than 20 of the beasts had surrounded the blademaster as they swarmed, the combinations of dragon's breath, teeth, and claws doing him in. Nighthand joined the clump before they had time to disband in search of other prey. His first swing took out four, his next, five. Eleven left? No problem. His armor came into play then, as he called on the Rai Rom spell it contained. Not as impressive as the assaults Rayo could let loose, it was still more than enough damage to take out the eleven, and a few more besides.
Nighthand grinned down at the ghost of Dien, chuckling a little. "Watch yourself a bit more next time, would ya?" he said, using a resurrect on the man.
He moved off in search of more, which wasn't a hard search. In fact, the search was over nearly the moment it had begun, as a trio of the dragons decided he was a good target. How they got that idea, he'd never know.
Deciding to be a little flashy with his kills, Nighthand allowed the trio to advance on him. Almost in unison, the three opened their jaws and exhaled a searing blast of fire.
Nighthand dashed through the fire, coming out largely unharmed. There wasn't much damage to it if you didn't stay in the blast. His first attack tore the head from the body of the middle dragon. Yanking his arms back, he shoved the pommel of the blade into the skull of the second dragon, which had swiveled to attack him from behind. Continuing the motion, he chopped overhead, destroying the third with more damage than it would have needed.
Already, by his count, he'd killed fifty of the little beasts... and yet the number in the room seemed hardly diminished.
Time to go on a rampage.
The heavyblade lunged forward, not even caring about the tactics of his attacks anymore. Claws raked his flesh, teeth bit through armor, flames seared his skin, and he didn't care. His blade stabbed through bodies, skewering one, two, three at a time. He spun, the sword tearing wings from torsos, limbs from bodies, heads from necks. He jumped, and ducked, and flipped in the air, the sword flashing on all sides, his speed amped up to heighten his perceptions. Each time his feet left the ground, dragons died. Each time he landed, more fell with him. Each time he rose from a crouch, at least one of the beasts died.
Finally finding himself in a momentary patch of clear air, the heavyblade took a moment to breathe. A cast of Ol Repth on himself was sufficient to undo most of the damage he had taken. Perhaps the others would be as effective as he had been? He took stock of the situation. No one else seemed to have died in the time he was fighting, but he couldn't be sure. Too many bodies moving through the air to see all his comrades.
Oh well. Time to go back to killing. Sooner or later there would be no more left.
Previous: 1681
Killed: 163
Remaining: 1518
OOC: Alright... Congratulations to Zan, Canti, and Senna, for being the only ones to post in 8 days. To the rest of you, don't keep up that trend.
Wishlist: Any Armor or Weapons under level 50, Any Scrolls (prefer level 2+)
-
Phoenix512
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 304
- Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:42 pm
Phoenix entered the Vak room which he immediately hated already. Once again he encounters a room where heat was unbearable to him even though his namesake would say otherwise. He prefer the colder temperatures than the heat He wanted to get out this room and go into the Rue room where he can finally enjoy not being in a sauna. Phoenix noticed the rocks in the room along with a dragon statue in the room. He saw Nighthand going for the item in the statue’s mouth which it was too easy even for the most basic hacker. Usually people would not put their hand into something’s mouth regardless how inanimate it was. He saw the statue’s mouth closed after Nighthand’s hand got burned by the item. Phoenix then heard some cracking from behind which reveal that the rocks in the room were not rocks at all but dragon eggs.
Oh good. I needed something to kill and a bunch of small dragons will have to do. After experiencing the frustration with being useless against the snake in the other field, Phoenix wanted to sink his sword into something which at one point he did not care if it was another Freedom Fighter that his sword stabbed into. He heard Zan about telling everyone to stay together which he did not care at all. He immediately broke off from the others and broke off his necklace. Then Phoenix threw the necklace in the air and became Suzaku, his guardian.
Suzaku, burn the dragons. It seems that water damage does the same amount of damage. I think that fire can affect them like normal. We need all the bodies for this one. So let them burn, Suzaku. The bird understood Phoenix’s command and began to breathe fire on the baby dragons. The fire immediately had an impact on the dragons as they succumbed to the flames. Phoenix took advantage of Suzaku’s attack and began to slash through the hordes of dragons. He took his sword and began to kill the dragons with ease as they fall after one slash. He quickly realized that he could kill multiple dragons with a basic Revolver attack.
Phoenix equipped his Seal Sword and used the spinning attack of the Revolver. The dragons that were immediately near Phoenix were killed. The half gravity state of Phoenix made him move along the hordes of dragons due to the lack of traction that he had. He initialized another Revolver attack which he spun around and his sword cut through some more dragons. Then suddenly after the attack, a group of dragons sprayed fire towards Phoenix. With barely any time to react, he jumped into the air and began to fire some Rue Kruz attacks at the group. The attacks managed to kill the group which contained about nine dragons.
At this point Phoenix was just angry as the dragons were not going down in number and just savagely slashing dragons and said. “Why is it that I get stuck in hot places and face enemies that are numerous, tall, or automatically counterattack when attacked on an eye?” He continued to attack the dragons and moving so the dragons would not have a chance to hit him. Phoenix fire off another Revolver attack while continuing to rant. “I just wished for once that I can use my abilities to the very max and put everyone in surprise.”
Phoenix managed to find a temporary patch without any dragons to take a quick rest before continuing beating up on the dragons. Suzaku flew next to him and said that she took out about hundred dragons with her fire breath. Good job. Keep attacking and rest if you need to. I’ll go back into the front. So far I got about 59 dragons. After talking to his pet, Phoenix went back into the fray and trying to get out of the Vak room quickly so he can enjoy the Rue room.
OOC:
Previous: 1518
Killed: 159
Remaining: 1359
Oh good. I needed something to kill and a bunch of small dragons will have to do. After experiencing the frustration with being useless against the snake in the other field, Phoenix wanted to sink his sword into something which at one point he did not care if it was another Freedom Fighter that his sword stabbed into. He heard Zan about telling everyone to stay together which he did not care at all. He immediately broke off from the others and broke off his necklace. Then Phoenix threw the necklace in the air and became Suzaku, his guardian.
Suzaku, burn the dragons. It seems that water damage does the same amount of damage. I think that fire can affect them like normal. We need all the bodies for this one. So let them burn, Suzaku. The bird understood Phoenix’s command and began to breathe fire on the baby dragons. The fire immediately had an impact on the dragons as they succumbed to the flames. Phoenix took advantage of Suzaku’s attack and began to slash through the hordes of dragons. He took his sword and began to kill the dragons with ease as they fall after one slash. He quickly realized that he could kill multiple dragons with a basic Revolver attack.
Phoenix equipped his Seal Sword and used the spinning attack of the Revolver. The dragons that were immediately near Phoenix were killed. The half gravity state of Phoenix made him move along the hordes of dragons due to the lack of traction that he had. He initialized another Revolver attack which he spun around and his sword cut through some more dragons. Then suddenly after the attack, a group of dragons sprayed fire towards Phoenix. With barely any time to react, he jumped into the air and began to fire some Rue Kruz attacks at the group. The attacks managed to kill the group which contained about nine dragons.
At this point Phoenix was just angry as the dragons were not going down in number and just savagely slashing dragons and said. “Why is it that I get stuck in hot places and face enemies that are numerous, tall, or automatically counterattack when attacked on an eye?” He continued to attack the dragons and moving so the dragons would not have a chance to hit him. Phoenix fire off another Revolver attack while continuing to rant. “I just wished for once that I can use my abilities to the very max and put everyone in surprise.”
Phoenix managed to find a temporary patch without any dragons to take a quick rest before continuing beating up on the dragons. Suzaku flew next to him and said that she took out about hundred dragons with her fire breath. Good job. Keep attacking and rest if you need to. I’ll go back into the front. So far I got about 59 dragons. After talking to his pet, Phoenix went back into the fray and trying to get out of the Vak room quickly so he can enjoy the Rue room.
OOC:
Previous: 1518
Killed: 159
Remaining: 1359
Phoenix
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver
Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver
Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath
One by one, the party waited in front of the door that led to the fire room. Which room they were headed towards was obvious, the Vak symbol made that much clear. What would be on the other side of the door? No doubt something pertaining to the forever singeing flames. However, the wavemaster lacked anything that granted an elemental advantage. There was no Dek Vaks, or any sort of water spells to work with. The Pure Water would grant a group Ap Ruem, but that only mattered when there were plenty of water magic to take advantage of it. Even if his hacked list hadn’t poofed, there weren’t any corresponding spells there either. Water was the one element the caster hadn’t tapped into in the last field, clearly something to fix before too long.
The wavemaster followed the party inside, glancing from side to side, expecting some sort of opposition. Yet there weren’t any trouble makers, just rubble and a column. The pillar gave him a bad vibe, if for no other reason than the fight with the Obelisk earlier the same day. His main concern was the oppressive heat, the lightning mage operated under winter like conditions better than these. His emerald cloak hardly helped, but it would take some motivation to actually remove it. If they had any luck, there would just be some easy to wrap up monster battle and then the Rue room came up. No matter what the design, the temperature there promised to be more moderate.
Then, little monsters began popping up all around the room. Winged lizards…dragons. His first reaction was to kill the ones appearing from the eggs around his own feet. The mage jumped towards the pillar, turning around mid-jump and dropping Rai Kruz around them, instantly slaughtering four of the little devils. Regardless, their deaths didn’t seem to make the bit of difference. More than enough rose in their place to make up for their loss. However many there were, the only obvious fact was that the team was severely outnumbered. Outnumbered, but not outgunned. If one of his weaker spells was enough to kill them however, big spells would simply be a waste of energy.
Following a warning from Zan, the wizard treaded closer to the pillar, and hoped that some of the dragon hatchling would be kept away by those more physically inclined. Tapping his staff , a swirling vortex of electric energy materialized with his border extending as close as a single meter in front of the new long arm. Another eight dropped instantly, vaporized into oblivion faster than the last batch. The spell did have one improvement, it warded another half a dozen from approaching, not wishing to be caught in the blast radius. Unfortunately for those paused lizards, a subsequent Rai Rom eliminated their need to despair about the wait.
A few of the pests decided to focus in the wavemaster by this point, taking the sky path in order to circumvent the lovely positioned potential meat shields in order to have their own undamaged prey. In response, Rayo made a circling motion with his staff, conjuring up some light magic, a Rai Kruz which only took out three of the buzzards making the pass. The magician dropped to the ground when the remaining four went for a head level dive, rolling to the side and then more or else being chased in a circle by them until one decided to be cute. Stopping in front of the caster, it nearly smiled before letting out a puff. Keep in mind, that “puff” included a full fire breathing movie scale dragon. The HP damage wasn’t heavy, but his cloak, and hair, but mostly his cloak, were on fire. Tearing off part of his outfit, the wavemaster stopped trying to escape as he stomped out the mess and tried to do something about his hair.
“Anyone who wants to blast me with water, go right ahead! Rai Rom!”
Zan had called for casters to assemble at the center of this formation. As one might note, there was only one mage amongst the entire group. This meant the back row, which was currently the middle, was shared with no one. Lightning rained from the sky, taking out the surrounding offenders and deducting some hit points from the wizard as well. There were other dragons floating around up above, but pegging any of them with a tornado spell would have a pretty decent chance of dealing a similar blow to the warriors dashing to and fro on the same altitude as the magic user. This was a small exception to his no nuclear spells internal promise…
“Lanceor!”
Charging through the sky as if it was something more tangible and solid, the thunder wolf began to wreak it’s share of devastation up top. Pointing voltage surging spikes puffed out right before the vanishing act part of the show, tagging maybe ten more to add to Lanceor’s count. The beast wasn’t going for the far corners of the room, but had been aimed for those most likely to bother him in the near future. Twenty-eight, thirty corpses from the initial run at most.
Turning his attention back to the main circular front, the wizard tried to examine the party’s overall condition. Yet, all of these demons made it nearly impossible to zoom in and gauge a health bar because of their disturbance. Giving up trying to figure it out, Rayo performed one La Repth before returning to his offense. A pair of Rai Roms took down small squads of the dragons that were clumped together, ready to attempt a break in the party’s front line. Another seventeen destroyed, but nothing seemed to stop the overall assault. What was needed was anything big, something that could take up the most space possible and kill the dragons on contact. The spell caster immediately recalled a certain giant, and that thought prompted his flashmail.
To: Hijinx
How does bringing out a Norse god sound to you? If we pump enough SP into it again, we should be able to give ourselves some breathing room.
From: Rayo
ooc:
Killed: 86
Remaining: 1273
Blue: Rai Rom, La Repth
The wavemaster followed the party inside, glancing from side to side, expecting some sort of opposition. Yet there weren’t any trouble makers, just rubble and a column. The pillar gave him a bad vibe, if for no other reason than the fight with the Obelisk earlier the same day. His main concern was the oppressive heat, the lightning mage operated under winter like conditions better than these. His emerald cloak hardly helped, but it would take some motivation to actually remove it. If they had any luck, there would just be some easy to wrap up monster battle and then the Rue room came up. No matter what the design, the temperature there promised to be more moderate.
Then, little monsters began popping up all around the room. Winged lizards…dragons. His first reaction was to kill the ones appearing from the eggs around his own feet. The mage jumped towards the pillar, turning around mid-jump and dropping Rai Kruz around them, instantly slaughtering four of the little devils. Regardless, their deaths didn’t seem to make the bit of difference. More than enough rose in their place to make up for their loss. However many there were, the only obvious fact was that the team was severely outnumbered. Outnumbered, but not outgunned. If one of his weaker spells was enough to kill them however, big spells would simply be a waste of energy.
Following a warning from Zan, the wizard treaded closer to the pillar, and hoped that some of the dragon hatchling would be kept away by those more physically inclined. Tapping his staff , a swirling vortex of electric energy materialized with his border extending as close as a single meter in front of the new long arm. Another eight dropped instantly, vaporized into oblivion faster than the last batch. The spell did have one improvement, it warded another half a dozen from approaching, not wishing to be caught in the blast radius. Unfortunately for those paused lizards, a subsequent Rai Rom eliminated their need to despair about the wait.
A few of the pests decided to focus in the wavemaster by this point, taking the sky path in order to circumvent the lovely positioned potential meat shields in order to have their own undamaged prey. In response, Rayo made a circling motion with his staff, conjuring up some light magic, a Rai Kruz which only took out three of the buzzards making the pass. The magician dropped to the ground when the remaining four went for a head level dive, rolling to the side and then more or else being chased in a circle by them until one decided to be cute. Stopping in front of the caster, it nearly smiled before letting out a puff. Keep in mind, that “puff” included a full fire breathing movie scale dragon. The HP damage wasn’t heavy, but his cloak, and hair, but mostly his cloak, were on fire. Tearing off part of his outfit, the wavemaster stopped trying to escape as he stomped out the mess and tried to do something about his hair.
“Anyone who wants to blast me with water, go right ahead! Rai Rom!”
Zan had called for casters to assemble at the center of this formation. As one might note, there was only one mage amongst the entire group. This meant the back row, which was currently the middle, was shared with no one. Lightning rained from the sky, taking out the surrounding offenders and deducting some hit points from the wizard as well. There were other dragons floating around up above, but pegging any of them with a tornado spell would have a pretty decent chance of dealing a similar blow to the warriors dashing to and fro on the same altitude as the magic user. This was a small exception to his no nuclear spells internal promise…
“Lanceor!”
Charging through the sky as if it was something more tangible and solid, the thunder wolf began to wreak it’s share of devastation up top. Pointing voltage surging spikes puffed out right before the vanishing act part of the show, tagging maybe ten more to add to Lanceor’s count. The beast wasn’t going for the far corners of the room, but had been aimed for those most likely to bother him in the near future. Twenty-eight, thirty corpses from the initial run at most.
Turning his attention back to the main circular front, the wizard tried to examine the party’s overall condition. Yet, all of these demons made it nearly impossible to zoom in and gauge a health bar because of their disturbance. Giving up trying to figure it out, Rayo performed one La Repth before returning to his offense. A pair of Rai Roms took down small squads of the dragons that were clumped together, ready to attempt a break in the party’s front line. Another seventeen destroyed, but nothing seemed to stop the overall assault. What was needed was anything big, something that could take up the most space possible and kill the dragons on contact. The spell caster immediately recalled a certain giant, and that thought prompted his flashmail.
To: Hijinx
How does bringing out a Norse god sound to you? If we pump enough SP into it again, we should be able to give ourselves some breathing room.
From: Rayo
ooc:
Killed: 86
Remaining: 1273
Blue: Rai Rom, La Repth
Last edited by Rayo on Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty
-
Dien
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 226
- Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 1:59 am
- Class: Blademaster
- Location: The "Who's Online List," Stalking People...
A sudden ping erupted through his ears, rousing the blademaster from his shallow slumber. Flashmail? he asked himself, thinking the concept over in his mind before opening it. His mind was racing, darting from subject to subject while he desperately tried to grasp the reigns. In real life, he’d been cursed with a toned-down form of ADD. Most doctors shrugged it off, figuring that he could “just deal with it.” Dear God, if he’d heard one more doctor say that phrase to him, he would’ve flipped. Finally a doctor had actually recognized the problem just two years prior and given him the proper medication for it. Now that his consciousness was in the world, though, there was nothing to hold his mind back from its random adjuncts and side-trips that it often took. Hell, he was on one now, wasn’t he? Ah well, he’d just have to talk to Raine or Sheena about that later on to see if either of them could help him out. For now, there was a flashmail to be read.
“Stop,” Danielle said, her hand grabbing the blademaster’s wrist, “you’re embarrassing me, and I can’t even be seen!” He merely sighed, the smirk falling off his face and clattering on the floor.
“We don’t know whether or not Marionette can see you,” he replied, his hand going limp in her grasp, “and besides, it’s not like we’re really doing anything it could care about. Sure, we’re going through the dungeon, but so what?” Her glare solidified; odd considering the fragile state she’d exhibited in the previous room.
“Will you be serious for once?” she quipped, causing Dien to double-take. His head turned, casting his gaze upon her. Something was the matter.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking into her eyes, “what are you afraid of?” He’d only once known her to be afraid, and that had been almost utter horror. Now, though, she’d just had her feathers ruffled, and was visibly upset. There was more to it, though. She was acting tense, lashing out in fear and anger when faced with indecision or complacency. It wasn’t normal. She looked away, letting his hand fall to the ground out of her own and closing her eyes to try and hide her emotion from the World at large.
“Marionette,” she said, “it’s been watching us longer than you think.” What, how could she know this? Did she know- “no, I don’t know who or what it is, but I do have something to tell you. Since even before I made myself known to Futune, I could sense something watching us all. That field, the tower that Suraisu used, something’s been tracking our every movement since then.”
“Calm down, Danielle,” Dien replied, “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” It wasn’t enough. He knew it wasn’t enough. He was powerless to protect himself against this, let alone protect her or anyone else. The hacker had just given out an empty promise for the second time in his life, and the feeling sucked his insides out just as hard as it had the first time. He closed his eyes, pulling her close to him. Had she ever been this weak? When had they swapped places of support and need? It was almost like…nevermind.
“Almost like what?” she asked, “what does this remind you of?” Crap. He knew she already knew exactly what he’d been thinking of, and there was no way to hide it. Disgusted, Danielle stood, walking away and fading out of visible existence as she did.
“Danielle!” he called aloud, rising with a start after her and eliciting a few looks from people around the room. Damnit, Danielle, he thought, knowing he’d screwed up, I’m sorry. I… Quiet. His mind went completely blank for the first time in ages. There was no input from his ears or eyes, nothing there at all. No thoughts plagued him, and he just sat in his sorrow, wishing he could go back and take it all back. Could it be taken back at all? No, it had gone too far…
__________
“Jed?” the girl asked, her eyes looking up into his, parting briefly from the fire as she lay against him, “you won’t tell anyone about this, will you?” The boy just smiled, rubbing his thumb against the shoulder it naturally rested on.
“You don’t have to worry,” he said, “what happens in the cabin stays in the cabin.” By now the fire had begun to die down to a few burning coals at the bottom, and a log that lazily let loose its plasma. Lila smiled, wrapping her arms about him again, her hands cold against his chest for the brief moment they were there.
“Good,” she replied, “I don’t know what my mother would think if she found out.” To be honest, the hacker would have rather not had to think about that. Her mother had been the one to let him off of his hacking charges, and if she knew what he’d done then he’d have more than just a slap on the wrist to deal with in terms of hacking. As it stood, he was in good relations with the woman. Hell, she’d been the one to invite him on this ski trip in the first place, but he doubted she’d expect him to fall so quickly for her daughter. He hadn’t even seen that one coming.
“She won’t,” he said, smiling reassured as the last licks of flame tickled the atmosphere, beginning to let cold air seep inward again. It was their only source of light left, that fireplace, and by it the extent of their trespass was made clear. All across the floor, articles of their clothing sat in mixed layers while beneath the cover of a blanket on a couch sat two teenagers drawn together for warmth and the comfort of having each other in their arms. There were no more secrets between them, and for the longest time they just sat there.
“Jed?” Lila finally managed, tenderly opening the silence between them, “can you promise me something?” Jed looked down again, the girl’s eyes glowing brightly as her smile seemed to just melt his figure. Black hair was matted with sweat in a way only describable as exotic, and he couldn’t help but return her smile.
“Sure,” he returned quietly, “what is it?”
“I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine,” she began, and the boy looked up back to the fire. He knew where this was going, even with his lack of experience with women, “promise me that you won’t forget me when this is over, and that you’ll save that place in your heart for me?” There it was, the hardest request any girl could have made of him. A heart was a tender thing, and Jed knew that to devote it to someone he hardly knew so early in life was not a wise choice. There were bound to be times when he’d want another girl, or even times when he’d be able to find the imperfections in this girl who, as he looked at her seemed so perfect and so right. No, he couldn’t do it.
“Of course,” he said, sealing it with a smile, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Had he just done that? Did he just blatantly lie to this fragile thing sitting in his arms? She approached him for a kiss, which he gladly returned as the fire began to die in the night.
__________
Zan was talking again when he came to. He didn’t quite know what had happened, save that he’d been forced to relive one of the dirtiest times in his entire life. The blademaster felt worse than the dust of the earth, and the memory kept playing out over and over again: the shame was unreal. He’d betrayed her trust and her promise. If he ever did manage to break out into the real world, she’d be the first one he’d track down, if only to attempt an apology. It was too late for that, though. It was too late to take back the promise he’d made. Somehow the heat had been turned down between them, but in the back of his mind Dien knew that Lila would hold him to that promise no matter what.
His mind then considered Danielle. Danielle was one of the things that made acknowledging Lila’s promise so hard, especially now. He knew that by making the promise he’d made, he’d essentially given her no chance with him. That was why he hadn’t wanted to give in to temptation so easily. He knew that, in spite of her being artificially created, Danielle was a closer match to him than any girl he’d ever met. A bitter stain still soaked his heart from Amy, but that was naught but memory now. The only thing holding them back was the big “RESERVED” sign he’d put on his heart for one girl who he’d likely never see again. Where was the problem there, then? Twilight exercised a hell of a lot of power taking people from the real world: did it even legitimately nullify his promise? He secretly wished it did, but enough on that for now: his friend had just finished talking again.
One part of Zan’s speech stood out to Dien: when he talked about Marionette instructing the two of them to talk. Wait, what? Dien had been the one to initiate that last round of conversation, not Zan. How then, had that conversation fulfilled the puppet’s expectations? No, it couldn’t have. There was no way that, with the blademaster starting and steering the conversation, Zan could have obeyed Marionette’s queries. What exactly had he been told, though? Occam dictated that the puppet-master had merely told Zan to converse with him, but something told him that there’d been more to the message than the lycanthrope was letting on. Curiosity got the better of him.
“Zan,” Dien said, jogging to catch up to him as the group approached the rune-lined hallway, “got a minute?” The lycanthrope had come to a stop seconds before Dien's approach, the Blademaster's footsteps a distant echo in the hypersensitivity of his ears.
Turning his head a touch, Zan responded. “Sure.”
“It's about Marionette,” he continued, “you said that it actually told you to talk to me?” For a second Zan seemed puzzle before a slow, steady revelation took control of his face.
“Oh, yea. What about it?”
“Well, I was thinking: this guy seems to be talking in riddles and stuff, right?” He paused a moment, but before Zan could respond he went on. “What if in the flashmail you got back it gave a clue to you that only I would know how to interpret?”
Turning the rest of himself towards the kid now, Zan's arms crossed curiously over his chest. “Go on.”
“I'd like you to forward me Marionette's flashmail where it told you to talk to me,” Dien replied, a confident smirk forming on his face, “with any luck, we'll be able to learn a bit more information about this watcher's intents and purposes - or at the very leat quell my growing curiosity.”
Zan's eyes seemed to glaze for a moment before a resident *ding* would find itself with Dien. “Done and done.” Within seconds, an envelope appeared in front of Dien, which he promptly grabbed and opened. It was a printout of the flashmail he'd just received. Quickly his eyes scanned the lines, and all at once his hands began to shake as his face flushed. It saw the fight against Suraisu… “Holy shit...” he mouthed, letting the paper fall from his hand before bringing it up to cover his mouth.
A quirk of his brow and Zan waved his open hand jokingly in front of Dien's face. “Anybody home?” The blademaster turned, obviously shaken by something.
“Dude,” he said, “it's been watching me the whole time.” The whole ordeal with Suraisu came flooding back, and Dien closed his eyes, shuddering. If it could intervene, why hadn't it? A glance at the fading group and Zan turned back to the Blademaster with some shadow of a smile.
“As much as I'd like to continue the discussion, and believe me I would, we're about to get left behind. I don't want to be atomized by the runes. Can we pick this up later?”
“Y-yeah...” Dien nodded, turning, a horrified expression still covering his face, “I just don't think I can agree that this thing's might be out for our benefit anymore.” At that, the two players joined their comrades in moving through the hallway and into the room. Dien wasn’t really paying much attention to his surroundings anyway, just following along with the group as his mind tried to comprehend what he’d just found out. Danielle was right…
Just then, a massive crack resounded throughout the room. Seemingly ordinary rocks all at once shattered, revealing their hazardous contents to the fighters. The blademaster was in too much of a daze to care. In one moment, a canopy of reptilian origin was formed above them, and fire rained down. Maybe it was just that he didn’t care, but for some reason the blademaster had trouble even thinking of what was supposed to happen. He was being burned alive, and he couldn’t even think of anything to do. Marionette was watching, and wasn’t helping at all. HP vanished, and once more Dien was wrought into the realm of the dead.
The sudden shock of it was enough to wake the man from his stupor. He’d just been incinerated for no reason. Zan’s spell had saved him some grief, but he hadn’t even noticed enough to care about it. This was messed up. He couldn’t even function because of a flashmail? No, that was weak - pathetically weak. There was something else in the way; something else wasn’t right. A new message field was opened in his mind. He didn’t actually think it would help at all, but he had some things to vent, and most of them were directed towards this puppet.
“Watch yourself a bit more next time, would ya?” Nighthand said, and once again the blademaster was among the living. A resurrect had been burnt for his expense, and Dien expressed his thanks. Frustration boiled within him, despite the smile that covered his face. If anything, these dragons were about to receive the blunt end of his anger. Nighthand went his own way, reaping more destruction on them, and the ‘circle’ that Zan had called for was beginning to fall apart already. By class, Dien was supposed to be on the outside, but if he was airborne that would change his instructions quite a bit. The damage he could deal from the air was greater anyway. A dragon swooped down, flames beginning to billow out of its mouth.
“Not now,” the blademaster responded, charging forward into the fire and ripping his sword out of its sheath and upward through the thing’s head. The flames ceased, and while the damage did rend pain over his whole form, it was all wiped away by the consumption of a single health drink. One of the dragon’s brothers swooped down, this one intent on biting, clawing, and scratching Dien to death. That made things a bit easier for the blademaster. One slash was parried, and the fighter’s hand grasped the scales of the thing’s neck. It screeched, pulling upward to try and get away. Dien smirked, sliding around and mounting the thing. If things had gone according to plan, he would have been flying on the back of a dragon to do battle against other ones. Instead, the thing merely fell under his weight, unable to support both itself and the blademaster with its measly wings.
He swore, calling repth to mend the break in his legs before rising again. There wasn’t going to be a fast way to kill these things was there? Flames tickled him from behind, and Dien dove to one side, trying desperately to avoid another dose of that brand of pain. Just how the hell was he supposed to fight these things when they were all…airborne? No, they weren’t all airborne. There were the ones that were just hatching, and those would make easy kills. His SP drained once again on an Ap Do before his sword was swapped for one with a slightly stronger skill. The circle was abandoned behind him, but they could handle themselves, right? They all had powers and skills that he didn’t have, so their kill counts would be much higher.
One philosophy Dien had about fighting was making your hits count as opposed to just swinging randomly. Fighting smarter was infinitely more effective than fighting faster. Aim for places like the neck, the head, and other places where the peripheral damage would be greater. Avoid the ribs on dumber animals, because they’re like a natural shield and much harder to cut through. Neck, head, arms, and legs were the best places to try and attack, as they spilt the most blood. It was how he’d managed to be so effective in his fighting. Then again, as he bolted across the field towards one nest that hadn’t quite finished hatching yet, in and out of the dragon’s fire-throwing mouths, he knew that once they were airborne it would be that much harder to hit those vital spots.
A loud crack, and the head of one dragon emerged from its former home of an egg-shell. Its life was short, though, as very soon Dien’s blade had cut it off, leaving a trail of blood to stream out of the hole it had made. One of the other dragons swooped down, and Dien leapt off the egg, intercepting the creature mid-air and driving Glitter through its neck and out the other side. The sword was pulled out of the creature as it fell, the blademaster’s momentum propelling him forward as he used the momentum to complete a front-flip and bring his sword down hard on another hatchling. All around him, the things rose at once and threw their flames inward. The speed charm was still in effect, and he rolled to his right before running full-speed out of the circle. None of the young lizards had seen it, and he smirked as he stood on the outside, prepared to repeat a strategy he’d tried against Suraisu with little success. Here, though it should have worked better.
Using his Ap Do to its fullest, he pulled Glitter down toward the earth before heaving it forward. The blade spun through the air, beheading two of the dragons in one shot before he equipped yet another sword to repeat the process with. That one impaled the head of one dragon whose body then collided with another in such a way that its neck was snapped. A third sword was thrown, taking out three of the densely-distributed things before slipping through the ribs of a fourth and slicing open its heart. The first sword was called back, and Dien flung it again, this time cutting the wings of one dragon mid-swoop and going straight down the throat of another that was about to spit a round of flames toward him. All in all, the blademaster re-equipped each of his swords for flinging a total of ten times, meaning thirty throws total.
By the end of it all, a good multitude of dragons fell to his flying swords. At the end, though, the dragon whose wings he’d severed had made its way to him unnoticed and wrapped him in a bath of flames before he could react. He stumbled backwards, trying to extinguish the flames while the first sword was unleashed into the dealer of this hand, killing him without another thought. It wasn’t until his foot fell a bit too far that Dien realized something had gone wrong. A jet of steam shot up beneath him, throwing him foot-first through the air towards the horde of dragons while in flame. Two more were taken out then by collision with him, but when he fell he landed where none of the fighters would have hoped to have landed: a pit of magma. Death was almost instantaneous, and the pain subsided readily as his ghost took over.
__________
OOC:
Dragon count:
1273 (post start)
- 80 (Dien’s attack & sword-flings)
1193 dragons remaining
Oh great, more improbability. Somehow, every message since the last one had only lined the Freedom Fighters’ world with improbability. There was no telling who this Marionette person was or what his or her agenda was. In all honesty, who cared? Dien sat, his back against the central pillar waiting for his group to advance. Marionette knew this. Marionette probably also knew every word he’d just said regarding this field. Hell, Marionette had probably been watching them since their encounter with the Elites. In all honesty, Dien had nothing to hide, so why care about whether or not he was being watched? With a smirk, he looked up to the non-extant surveillance camera in one of the top corners of the room, waving and raising his eyebrows briefly to acknowledge Marionette’s watch. At least, until a hand grabbed his and stopped it suddenly.Flashmail
To: All Present
From: Marionette
Re: comE whaT maY
Message:
whO iS thE predatoR? whO iS thE preY? dO yoU hunT mE oR dO I hunT yoU? seeK mE ouT, thE waY iS cleaR. througH oppositeS oncE morE, finD aN aspecT. seeK mE anD yE shalL finD whaT yE finD yE seeK. seeK mE, yE oF deepesT nighT. seeK mE yE oF manY faceS. seeK mE yE oF stormS furY. seeK mE yE oF gaiaS attractioN. seeK mE yE oF firE. seeK mE yE oF paiN. seeK mE yE oF psychosiS. seeK mE yE oF twiN mindS. seeK mE yE oF improbabilitY. seeK mE yE oF possibilitY. seeK mE ouT anD alL wilL bE cleaR.
“Stop,” Danielle said, her hand grabbing the blademaster’s wrist, “you’re embarrassing me, and I can’t even be seen!” He merely sighed, the smirk falling off his face and clattering on the floor.
“We don’t know whether or not Marionette can see you,” he replied, his hand going limp in her grasp, “and besides, it’s not like we’re really doing anything it could care about. Sure, we’re going through the dungeon, but so what?” Her glare solidified; odd considering the fragile state she’d exhibited in the previous room.
“Will you be serious for once?” she quipped, causing Dien to double-take. His head turned, casting his gaze upon her. Something was the matter.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking into her eyes, “what are you afraid of?” He’d only once known her to be afraid, and that had been almost utter horror. Now, though, she’d just had her feathers ruffled, and was visibly upset. There was more to it, though. She was acting tense, lashing out in fear and anger when faced with indecision or complacency. It wasn’t normal. She looked away, letting his hand fall to the ground out of her own and closing her eyes to try and hide her emotion from the World at large.
“Marionette,” she said, “it’s been watching us longer than you think.” What, how could she know this? Did she know- “no, I don’t know who or what it is, but I do have something to tell you. Since even before I made myself known to Futune, I could sense something watching us all. That field, the tower that Suraisu used, something’s been tracking our every movement since then.”
“Calm down, Danielle,” Dien replied, “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” It wasn’t enough. He knew it wasn’t enough. He was powerless to protect himself against this, let alone protect her or anyone else. The hacker had just given out an empty promise for the second time in his life, and the feeling sucked his insides out just as hard as it had the first time. He closed his eyes, pulling her close to him. Had she ever been this weak? When had they swapped places of support and need? It was almost like…nevermind.
“Almost like what?” she asked, “what does this remind you of?” Crap. He knew she already knew exactly what he’d been thinking of, and there was no way to hide it. Disgusted, Danielle stood, walking away and fading out of visible existence as she did.
“Danielle!” he called aloud, rising with a start after her and eliciting a few looks from people around the room. Damnit, Danielle, he thought, knowing he’d screwed up, I’m sorry. I… Quiet. His mind went completely blank for the first time in ages. There was no input from his ears or eyes, nothing there at all. No thoughts plagued him, and he just sat in his sorrow, wishing he could go back and take it all back. Could it be taken back at all? No, it had gone too far…
__________
“Jed?” the girl asked, her eyes looking up into his, parting briefly from the fire as she lay against him, “you won’t tell anyone about this, will you?” The boy just smiled, rubbing his thumb against the shoulder it naturally rested on.
“You don’t have to worry,” he said, “what happens in the cabin stays in the cabin.” By now the fire had begun to die down to a few burning coals at the bottom, and a log that lazily let loose its plasma. Lila smiled, wrapping her arms about him again, her hands cold against his chest for the brief moment they were there.
“Good,” she replied, “I don’t know what my mother would think if she found out.” To be honest, the hacker would have rather not had to think about that. Her mother had been the one to let him off of his hacking charges, and if she knew what he’d done then he’d have more than just a slap on the wrist to deal with in terms of hacking. As it stood, he was in good relations with the woman. Hell, she’d been the one to invite him on this ski trip in the first place, but he doubted she’d expect him to fall so quickly for her daughter. He hadn’t even seen that one coming.
“She won’t,” he said, smiling reassured as the last licks of flame tickled the atmosphere, beginning to let cold air seep inward again. It was their only source of light left, that fireplace, and by it the extent of their trespass was made clear. All across the floor, articles of their clothing sat in mixed layers while beneath the cover of a blanket on a couch sat two teenagers drawn together for warmth and the comfort of having each other in their arms. There were no more secrets between them, and for the longest time they just sat there.
“Jed?” Lila finally managed, tenderly opening the silence between them, “can you promise me something?” Jed looked down again, the girl’s eyes glowing brightly as her smile seemed to just melt his figure. Black hair was matted with sweat in a way only describable as exotic, and he couldn’t help but return her smile.
“Sure,” he returned quietly, “what is it?”
“I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine,” she began, and the boy looked up back to the fire. He knew where this was going, even with his lack of experience with women, “promise me that you won’t forget me when this is over, and that you’ll save that place in your heart for me?” There it was, the hardest request any girl could have made of him. A heart was a tender thing, and Jed knew that to devote it to someone he hardly knew so early in life was not a wise choice. There were bound to be times when he’d want another girl, or even times when he’d be able to find the imperfections in this girl who, as he looked at her seemed so perfect and so right. No, he couldn’t do it.
“Of course,” he said, sealing it with a smile, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Had he just done that? Did he just blatantly lie to this fragile thing sitting in his arms? She approached him for a kiss, which he gladly returned as the fire began to die in the night.
__________
Zan was talking again when he came to. He didn’t quite know what had happened, save that he’d been forced to relive one of the dirtiest times in his entire life. The blademaster felt worse than the dust of the earth, and the memory kept playing out over and over again: the shame was unreal. He’d betrayed her trust and her promise. If he ever did manage to break out into the real world, she’d be the first one he’d track down, if only to attempt an apology. It was too late for that, though. It was too late to take back the promise he’d made. Somehow the heat had been turned down between them, but in the back of his mind Dien knew that Lila would hold him to that promise no matter what.
His mind then considered Danielle. Danielle was one of the things that made acknowledging Lila’s promise so hard, especially now. He knew that by making the promise he’d made, he’d essentially given her no chance with him. That was why he hadn’t wanted to give in to temptation so easily. He knew that, in spite of her being artificially created, Danielle was a closer match to him than any girl he’d ever met. A bitter stain still soaked his heart from Amy, but that was naught but memory now. The only thing holding them back was the big “RESERVED” sign he’d put on his heart for one girl who he’d likely never see again. Where was the problem there, then? Twilight exercised a hell of a lot of power taking people from the real world: did it even legitimately nullify his promise? He secretly wished it did, but enough on that for now: his friend had just finished talking again.
One part of Zan’s speech stood out to Dien: when he talked about Marionette instructing the two of them to talk. Wait, what? Dien had been the one to initiate that last round of conversation, not Zan. How then, had that conversation fulfilled the puppet’s expectations? No, it couldn’t have. There was no way that, with the blademaster starting and steering the conversation, Zan could have obeyed Marionette’s queries. What exactly had he been told, though? Occam dictated that the puppet-master had merely told Zan to converse with him, but something told him that there’d been more to the message than the lycanthrope was letting on. Curiosity got the better of him.
“Zan,” Dien said, jogging to catch up to him as the group approached the rune-lined hallway, “got a minute?” The lycanthrope had come to a stop seconds before Dien's approach, the Blademaster's footsteps a distant echo in the hypersensitivity of his ears.
Turning his head a touch, Zan responded. “Sure.”
“It's about Marionette,” he continued, “you said that it actually told you to talk to me?” For a second Zan seemed puzzle before a slow, steady revelation took control of his face.
“Oh, yea. What about it?”
“Well, I was thinking: this guy seems to be talking in riddles and stuff, right?” He paused a moment, but before Zan could respond he went on. “What if in the flashmail you got back it gave a clue to you that only I would know how to interpret?”
Turning the rest of himself towards the kid now, Zan's arms crossed curiously over his chest. “Go on.”
“I'd like you to forward me Marionette's flashmail where it told you to talk to me,” Dien replied, a confident smirk forming on his face, “with any luck, we'll be able to learn a bit more information about this watcher's intents and purposes - or at the very leat quell my growing curiosity.”
Zan's eyes seemed to glaze for a moment before a resident *ding* would find itself with Dien. “Done and done.” Within seconds, an envelope appeared in front of Dien, which he promptly grabbed and opened. It was a printout of the flashmail he'd just received. Quickly his eyes scanned the lines, and all at once his hands began to shake as his face flushed. It saw the fight against Suraisu… “Holy shit...” he mouthed, letting the paper fall from his hand before bringing it up to cover his mouth.
A quirk of his brow and Zan waved his open hand jokingly in front of Dien's face. “Anybody home?” The blademaster turned, obviously shaken by something.
“Dude,” he said, “it's been watching me the whole time.” The whole ordeal with Suraisu came flooding back, and Dien closed his eyes, shuddering. If it could intervene, why hadn't it? A glance at the fading group and Zan turned back to the Blademaster with some shadow of a smile.
“As much as I'd like to continue the discussion, and believe me I would, we're about to get left behind. I don't want to be atomized by the runes. Can we pick this up later?”
“Y-yeah...” Dien nodded, turning, a horrified expression still covering his face, “I just don't think I can agree that this thing's might be out for our benefit anymore.” At that, the two players joined their comrades in moving through the hallway and into the room. Dien wasn’t really paying much attention to his surroundings anyway, just following along with the group as his mind tried to comprehend what he’d just found out. Danielle was right…
Just then, a massive crack resounded throughout the room. Seemingly ordinary rocks all at once shattered, revealing their hazardous contents to the fighters. The blademaster was in too much of a daze to care. In one moment, a canopy of reptilian origin was formed above them, and fire rained down. Maybe it was just that he didn’t care, but for some reason the blademaster had trouble even thinking of what was supposed to happen. He was being burned alive, and he couldn’t even think of anything to do. Marionette was watching, and wasn’t helping at all. HP vanished, and once more Dien was wrought into the realm of the dead.
The sudden shock of it was enough to wake the man from his stupor. He’d just been incinerated for no reason. Zan’s spell had saved him some grief, but he hadn’t even noticed enough to care about it. This was messed up. He couldn’t even function because of a flashmail? No, that was weak - pathetically weak. There was something else in the way; something else wasn’t right. A new message field was opened in his mind. He didn’t actually think it would help at all, but he had some things to vent, and most of them were directed towards this puppet.
Doubtless, the mailer’s reply wouldn’t be satisfactory in the least bit, but it was worth a shot. Powerless to fight, Dien merely watched. How exactly he’d missed the beginning of the fight was beyond him, but as it stood he’d have to reestablish his combat-worth in the fight. Right, then, kill the dragons? It sounded simple enough, and from what he was seeing they fell about as easily as low-level wavemasters. The only thing difficult about them that was their purely massive number. Despite the hundreds that had fallen to the hands of those present, there was seemingly no loss to their fleet.Flashmail
From: Dien
To: Marionette
Re: RE: clues
Message:
Marionette,
I know you’re watching me. I know you know that I just died. I know this flashmail won’t help anything much. What I want to know is why, if you saw our encounter with Suraisu, or “thE bladeS” as you called him, you didn’t intervene? Perhaps it was because we weren’t on your home-ground, or perhaps you were just powerless. I don’t want another riddle: I’m bloody sick of having to think so much just to understand what the hell you’re saying. You’re watching and implying to us that you have some kind of power. I want to know why, if you had that power, you didn’t intervene on behalf of me, Zhao, and Canti. Please be frank.
-Dien
“Watch yourself a bit more next time, would ya?” Nighthand said, and once again the blademaster was among the living. A resurrect had been burnt for his expense, and Dien expressed his thanks. Frustration boiled within him, despite the smile that covered his face. If anything, these dragons were about to receive the blunt end of his anger. Nighthand went his own way, reaping more destruction on them, and the ‘circle’ that Zan had called for was beginning to fall apart already. By class, Dien was supposed to be on the outside, but if he was airborne that would change his instructions quite a bit. The damage he could deal from the air was greater anyway. A dragon swooped down, flames beginning to billow out of its mouth.
“Not now,” the blademaster responded, charging forward into the fire and ripping his sword out of its sheath and upward through the thing’s head. The flames ceased, and while the damage did rend pain over his whole form, it was all wiped away by the consumption of a single health drink. One of the dragon’s brothers swooped down, this one intent on biting, clawing, and scratching Dien to death. That made things a bit easier for the blademaster. One slash was parried, and the fighter’s hand grasped the scales of the thing’s neck. It screeched, pulling upward to try and get away. Dien smirked, sliding around and mounting the thing. If things had gone according to plan, he would have been flying on the back of a dragon to do battle against other ones. Instead, the thing merely fell under his weight, unable to support both itself and the blademaster with its measly wings.
He swore, calling repth to mend the break in his legs before rising again. There wasn’t going to be a fast way to kill these things was there? Flames tickled him from behind, and Dien dove to one side, trying desperately to avoid another dose of that brand of pain. Just how the hell was he supposed to fight these things when they were all…airborne? No, they weren’t all airborne. There were the ones that were just hatching, and those would make easy kills. His SP drained once again on an Ap Do before his sword was swapped for one with a slightly stronger skill. The circle was abandoned behind him, but they could handle themselves, right? They all had powers and skills that he didn’t have, so their kill counts would be much higher.
One philosophy Dien had about fighting was making your hits count as opposed to just swinging randomly. Fighting smarter was infinitely more effective than fighting faster. Aim for places like the neck, the head, and other places where the peripheral damage would be greater. Avoid the ribs on dumber animals, because they’re like a natural shield and much harder to cut through. Neck, head, arms, and legs were the best places to try and attack, as they spilt the most blood. It was how he’d managed to be so effective in his fighting. Then again, as he bolted across the field towards one nest that hadn’t quite finished hatching yet, in and out of the dragon’s fire-throwing mouths, he knew that once they were airborne it would be that much harder to hit those vital spots.
A loud crack, and the head of one dragon emerged from its former home of an egg-shell. Its life was short, though, as very soon Dien’s blade had cut it off, leaving a trail of blood to stream out of the hole it had made. One of the other dragons swooped down, and Dien leapt off the egg, intercepting the creature mid-air and driving Glitter through its neck and out the other side. The sword was pulled out of the creature as it fell, the blademaster’s momentum propelling him forward as he used the momentum to complete a front-flip and bring his sword down hard on another hatchling. All around him, the things rose at once and threw their flames inward. The speed charm was still in effect, and he rolled to his right before running full-speed out of the circle. None of the young lizards had seen it, and he smirked as he stood on the outside, prepared to repeat a strategy he’d tried against Suraisu with little success. Here, though it should have worked better.
Using his Ap Do to its fullest, he pulled Glitter down toward the earth before heaving it forward. The blade spun through the air, beheading two of the dragons in one shot before he equipped yet another sword to repeat the process with. That one impaled the head of one dragon whose body then collided with another in such a way that its neck was snapped. A third sword was thrown, taking out three of the densely-distributed things before slipping through the ribs of a fourth and slicing open its heart. The first sword was called back, and Dien flung it again, this time cutting the wings of one dragon mid-swoop and going straight down the throat of another that was about to spit a round of flames toward him. All in all, the blademaster re-equipped each of his swords for flinging a total of ten times, meaning thirty throws total.
By the end of it all, a good multitude of dragons fell to his flying swords. At the end, though, the dragon whose wings he’d severed had made its way to him unnoticed and wrapped him in a bath of flames before he could react. He stumbled backwards, trying to extinguish the flames while the first sword was unleashed into the dealer of this hand, killing him without another thought. It wasn’t until his foot fell a bit too far that Dien realized something had gone wrong. A jet of steam shot up beneath him, throwing him foot-first through the air towards the horde of dragons while in flame. Two more were taken out then by collision with him, but when he fell he landed where none of the fighters would have hoped to have landed: a pit of magma. Death was almost instantaneous, and the pain subsided readily as his ghost took over.
__________
OOC:
Dragon count:
1273 (post start)
- 80 (Dien’s attack & sword-flings)
1193 dragons remaining
Zan was caught in the haze of Canti's assistance, the creatures that had swarmed him finally dispatched. Only able to give the Twin Blade a nod of thanks before chaos ensued once more, the lycanthrope found himself growing very tired of the situation very, very quickly. Although simply walking along in the heat was a relaxing thing for him, fighting in it was becoming a slow and steady burden. Everyone around the Heavy Blade seemed labored by it in one way or another, be it by troubled breathing or lethargic movements. That said, everyone seemed to be generally handling themselves admirably. Even those he thought might be easily overwhelmed do to their level were holding their own with relative grace and efficiency. Only the sudden gout of flames that ate away at his arm yanked him back into focus and to the legion of baby dragons nose-diving towards him. With most of his SP restored by now and his regenerative powers all but slow in his Clabro form, he called upon an Ol Repth and a MeRue Rom in the span of only a few seconds.
All of his wounds coming to close and heal over, he watched with renewed body as crags of jagged ice eviscerated over a dozen of the approaching fledglings. While it didn't kill all that had begun a rapid decent toward him, it definitely slowed them down enough to allow him some time to think. If the Freedom Fighters didn't mind themselves closely, even people like Nighthand would fall at the sheer swarm of their opposition. Each attack made by the group seemed to be learned by their foes, adjustments made and calculations formed before their pattern of attack would shift. The funny thing was, of course, that Nall could take them all down in a blink and, like always, he simply stayed back and watched. No need to actually get his hands dirty, the damn Blademaster seemed to like to watch them tussle with the things the Elites threw at them. Was this a way to make them stronger, more competent in battle, or was the guy simply too lazy to put in any effort? Zan would have liked to believe in his leadership skills a little more, but it was always Nighthand who seemed to be pulling them out of the real jams and leading them to victory. Nall simply hadn't had his respect in a long while. Hopefully that'd change.
Again he was startled from his trance by fire, a fire that he actually managed to slip away from in time with nothing more than the memory of the fading heat to remind him of his need to concentrate. Getting a tighter grip on the Life Sword, he heaved it in a one hundred and eighty degree arc to clear some forward space, cleaving down another ten or so of the agitating beasts. They were easy to kill, sure, but it was their sheer number that was making this task so God damn daunting. A glance to his fellow companions who, Phoenix especially, seemed to be slowly scrambling around and forgetting the plan that could make this go with a little less death on their side (not that many had died, yet), and he saw an example of why things should have stayed put. Dien, swarmed and overwhelmed, was lost before any of them could even really register it (Nall aside, of course). Tossing up a Resurrect and bringing the pallor ghost back into tangibility, Zan took no time in assuring Dien he'd be fine. There simply wasn't time for combat pleasantries.
Duel castings of his most reliable spell, MeRue Rom, both depleted him of SP once more and took down a rather nice limp mass of bodies. Rom spells seemed the most efficient against the weak fledglings. Weak. That thought turned his head momentarily to the statue that held the item. The lycanthrope wouldn't have been surprised if it came to life sometime after its children were all bloodied and beaten into strings of code. Noting that to prepare himself for a later attack, he swerved on his heal and whipped the Life Sword about to clear away those that had sought a back attack. Again, just another reason why they should have stuck together. Shrugging it off and wishing the others the best, he kicked off the one that had attached itself firmly to his leg and pinned its head to the ground with the blade of his sword. He wouldn't let it be that easy again. Relying on how effective it had been before, Zan brought down a few of the baby dragons as it cleared a path towards a down-falling lot of them. Yes, that was it. Closer...wait for it...and a stab upward coated his weapon in bodies. Like before, he lunged towards the nearest magma pool and coated the bastards in magma.
They were dissolving quicker than before and, not one to waste time, Zan tossed the dragons-turned-flaming-cannonballs out towards various rows of leathery, beating wings that were approaching his comrades. It wasn't much, killing only a few dozen and bringing them down with gaping burns in their sides, but it was something. Each death mattered. Although it was still mildly difficult to see in the haze of clenching claws and gnashing teeth, their numbers were almost half of what they had started with. That alone gave him hope that they could certainly do this without the assistance of Nall. Maybe that too was a lesson he was trying to teach, that every one of them had the potential to fight back the horde of the Elites and make it out alive. Obviously not the Elites themselves, but it was a start. Being able to weed out their lessers, if only monsters, was still better than not being able to fight them at all. A small rise-by-rise of his SP had once again allowed him a singular use of his favorite ice spell and, with another fifteen or so withered down to bloody husks, he was given that much more breathing room. Good. This was going...good.
Like last time, however, multiple angles he was unable to cover became filled with the creatures, creatures that soon took advantage of his inability to be everywhere at once and swarmed him yet again. No. He wouldn't be disabled like this again. He wouldn't be helpless twice in the same fashion. Putting all of his strength into his legs, Zan kicked himself upward and into the air, half of them fading off of him at the shock of the motion. Though five or six of them still remaining on him, it gave him all the room he needed to turn himself just right as he fell back to the earth. The fall, though injuring him, deleted the baby dragons with extreme prejudice. Hurt as he was, his body was taking care of itself and the little collision with the ground had shook free some of his consideration cobwebs. He was focused now, as a warrior always should be, and was soon lost in the agility of his enhanced speed and the Ap Do that stacked to that in turn. Ten fell with a forward arc, another ten with a right of the same, a third set of ten with a left, and finally another ten with a full body swing to clear out the stragglers. Exhausted from the finality of those movements, Zan fell to one knee and used his sword as a sword of tilted crutch. The lycanthrope only had a few moments to recover before they'd close in the gaps, but he savored every second.
------------------------------------
Previous Count: 1193
Killed: 198
Total: 995
All of his wounds coming to close and heal over, he watched with renewed body as crags of jagged ice eviscerated over a dozen of the approaching fledglings. While it didn't kill all that had begun a rapid decent toward him, it definitely slowed them down enough to allow him some time to think. If the Freedom Fighters didn't mind themselves closely, even people like Nighthand would fall at the sheer swarm of their opposition. Each attack made by the group seemed to be learned by their foes, adjustments made and calculations formed before their pattern of attack would shift. The funny thing was, of course, that Nall could take them all down in a blink and, like always, he simply stayed back and watched. No need to actually get his hands dirty, the damn Blademaster seemed to like to watch them tussle with the things the Elites threw at them. Was this a way to make them stronger, more competent in battle, or was the guy simply too lazy to put in any effort? Zan would have liked to believe in his leadership skills a little more, but it was always Nighthand who seemed to be pulling them out of the real jams and leading them to victory. Nall simply hadn't had his respect in a long while. Hopefully that'd change.
Again he was startled from his trance by fire, a fire that he actually managed to slip away from in time with nothing more than the memory of the fading heat to remind him of his need to concentrate. Getting a tighter grip on the Life Sword, he heaved it in a one hundred and eighty degree arc to clear some forward space, cleaving down another ten or so of the agitating beasts. They were easy to kill, sure, but it was their sheer number that was making this task so God damn daunting. A glance to his fellow companions who, Phoenix especially, seemed to be slowly scrambling around and forgetting the plan that could make this go with a little less death on their side (not that many had died, yet), and he saw an example of why things should have stayed put. Dien, swarmed and overwhelmed, was lost before any of them could even really register it (Nall aside, of course). Tossing up a Resurrect and bringing the pallor ghost back into tangibility, Zan took no time in assuring Dien he'd be fine. There simply wasn't time for combat pleasantries.
Duel castings of his most reliable spell, MeRue Rom, both depleted him of SP once more and took down a rather nice limp mass of bodies. Rom spells seemed the most efficient against the weak fledglings. Weak. That thought turned his head momentarily to the statue that held the item. The lycanthrope wouldn't have been surprised if it came to life sometime after its children were all bloodied and beaten into strings of code. Noting that to prepare himself for a later attack, he swerved on his heal and whipped the Life Sword about to clear away those that had sought a back attack. Again, just another reason why they should have stuck together. Shrugging it off and wishing the others the best, he kicked off the one that had attached itself firmly to his leg and pinned its head to the ground with the blade of his sword. He wouldn't let it be that easy again. Relying on how effective it had been before, Zan brought down a few of the baby dragons as it cleared a path towards a down-falling lot of them. Yes, that was it. Closer...wait for it...and a stab upward coated his weapon in bodies. Like before, he lunged towards the nearest magma pool and coated the bastards in magma.
They were dissolving quicker than before and, not one to waste time, Zan tossed the dragons-turned-flaming-cannonballs out towards various rows of leathery, beating wings that were approaching his comrades. It wasn't much, killing only a few dozen and bringing them down with gaping burns in their sides, but it was something. Each death mattered. Although it was still mildly difficult to see in the haze of clenching claws and gnashing teeth, their numbers were almost half of what they had started with. That alone gave him hope that they could certainly do this without the assistance of Nall. Maybe that too was a lesson he was trying to teach, that every one of them had the potential to fight back the horde of the Elites and make it out alive. Obviously not the Elites themselves, but it was a start. Being able to weed out their lessers, if only monsters, was still better than not being able to fight them at all. A small rise-by-rise of his SP had once again allowed him a singular use of his favorite ice spell and, with another fifteen or so withered down to bloody husks, he was given that much more breathing room. Good. This was going...good.
Like last time, however, multiple angles he was unable to cover became filled with the creatures, creatures that soon took advantage of his inability to be everywhere at once and swarmed him yet again. No. He wouldn't be disabled like this again. He wouldn't be helpless twice in the same fashion. Putting all of his strength into his legs, Zan kicked himself upward and into the air, half of them fading off of him at the shock of the motion. Though five or six of them still remaining on him, it gave him all the room he needed to turn himself just right as he fell back to the earth. The fall, though injuring him, deleted the baby dragons with extreme prejudice. Hurt as he was, his body was taking care of itself and the little collision with the ground had shook free some of his consideration cobwebs. He was focused now, as a warrior always should be, and was soon lost in the agility of his enhanced speed and the Ap Do that stacked to that in turn. Ten fell with a forward arc, another ten with a right of the same, a third set of ten with a left, and finally another ten with a full body swing to clear out the stragglers. Exhausted from the finality of those movements, Zan fell to one knee and used his sword as a sword of tilted crutch. The lycanthrope only had a few moments to recover before they'd close in the gaps, but he savored every second.
------------------------------------
Previous Count: 1193
Killed: 198
Total: 995
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).
Senna had given up trying to keep track of how the battle was going. There was too much at once, a sensory overload that drove back her attention at all turns. Spells were going off here and there, the voices of the rest of the group could sometimes be made out intoning attacks or shouting to one another over the din and prevalent everywhere, like blooms in a flower garden, came the fire. While some of it seemed directed at the dragons themselves – friendly fire, she guessed, though with all the brilliance of the spells and the searing smoke she couldn’t actually see most of the sources – most of it gouted from the toothy maws of their innumerable enemies.
Since she didn’t want to focus on the big picture, she kept her attention in tight, designating her area and trying her best to be sure none would pass that line. She wasn’t sure what the use of that was, precisely – Zan’s idea to draw in had been a good one but didn’t seem to necessarily be working out as he might have hoped. At least, it didn’t seem like as many people were taking part in the exercise as could have, instead wandering off to try to get themselves surrounded and, in some cases, killed off.
“Tsch,” she hissed to herself as she swung overhand into the exposed underbelly of a dragon which seemed to forget her weapon gave her a bit more reach than another would have. She hated that she was allowing those negative thoughts. They knew better than she what they were doing and were better equipped to handle themselves out in that sea of scaly bodies. As for her…
Flames burst on her from the left, dropping her HP still further. A quick Repth again nullified a chunk of the effects, and was followed a moment later by an almost casual thrust to the main body of the creature, As the spear entered, tearing flesh, then pulled free again, another dragon fell. This, she supposed, was what people meant by the craziness of war. There was no thought, just action. Just action.
It was not a literary quote but a historical one that she had in mind now, words she thought had been spoken by some Civil War guy or another. War is simple, the person had said (in some approximation – speeches seemed to lack the poeticism of the written word and were therefore, in her mind, difficult to remember in full). In war you just find your enemy, get at him as soon as you can, strike him as hard as you can and keep moving. Good advice.
Her enhanced speed – which had to be boosted by a Speed Charm during her dance-like fighting – proved to both make that general’s words prove true and kept her from being fried a dozen times over. That and the reach of her weapon, which came into play three more times in quick succession, killing one and injuring, then killing, another.
It was getting interesting, seeing how things changed. There didn’t seem to be an end to the creatures, but they did seem to be coming at them – or at least here – a little more slowly. It was almost imperceptible, or maybe just wishful thinking, but it felt like there was just a little more space between one wave of attack and the next. Maybe they were thinning out the creatures. Maybe the creatures were learning some caution. Maybe they were gearing up for some mammoth attack.
Most likely it was her imagination.
Another flurry of movement, another four dragons bit the dust and someone was calling for water. There was a brief hesitation – Canti’s cautionary note about how her spell had managed to hit him despite being friendly fire was still prominent in her mind – then she turned and targeted a spell just to the side of where she thought she’d heard the request from. Hopefully she wouldn’t be causing another bout of damage she didn’t intend with the Rue Rom. A couple of dragons who slipped past while her back was turned or her attention was elsewhere were caught up in it, but it almost felt like a waste of a spell.
Turning back, she was back into the fray. Her SP was beginning to run low, but the dragonlings showed no signs of slowing down. Another swipe, a pivot, a wide swing and another few fell before her. Not using SP in her attacks was severely hampering her ability to do damage. She was forced to rely on her speed and a quick eye to keep the damage levels mounting.
It was weird – these creatures weren’t that strong on their own, fiery breath aside. She could take one down in one hit, thanks to elevated physical abilities from that spell. And when one was taken down, it just faded out, thinning the numbers – no regenerating, no calling something worse into being. While she fully expected these not to be the end of it – heck, part of her expected that stone dragon that had their target in its mouth to come alive once the hatchlings were down – for now it was enough. Bring them down. The future would take care of itself or it would take care of them.
Senna lunched left, stabbing her spear through one approaching dragonling and them pulling it free and taking a swipe at another. As she did, warmth and light flared from the right, and as Senna turned, she caught a second gout of fire full on the face and, when she threw them up to shield herself – arms. As yet another stream of flame added, she forced herself to stop trying to protect herself against them, cast Repth to stem the HP leakage a little, then struck out blindly toward the source. Her sweep cut off all three sets of fire, as their sources keeled over and died.
Another health drink and she was back in fairly good fighting form again, which was for the best. Another sweep and two more fell, while a third tried to flap back, its wing damaged. She let it go for the moment. It had moved out of her area.
While they might be making a dent in the dragons, there were certainly more than enough to keep them all on their toes, and if things didn’t change soon, she was going to be in a tough spot herself – she only had a handful of repths left on her SP bar. Still, she kept doggedly at it, trying to bring the reach of her weapon into play as much as possible, and more fell. None would pass while she was on guard
OOC
Killed: 24
Remaining: 971
Since she didn’t want to focus on the big picture, she kept her attention in tight, designating her area and trying her best to be sure none would pass that line. She wasn’t sure what the use of that was, precisely – Zan’s idea to draw in had been a good one but didn’t seem to necessarily be working out as he might have hoped. At least, it didn’t seem like as many people were taking part in the exercise as could have, instead wandering off to try to get themselves surrounded and, in some cases, killed off.
“Tsch,” she hissed to herself as she swung overhand into the exposed underbelly of a dragon which seemed to forget her weapon gave her a bit more reach than another would have. She hated that she was allowing those negative thoughts. They knew better than she what they were doing and were better equipped to handle themselves out in that sea of scaly bodies. As for her…
Flames burst on her from the left, dropping her HP still further. A quick Repth again nullified a chunk of the effects, and was followed a moment later by an almost casual thrust to the main body of the creature, As the spear entered, tearing flesh, then pulled free again, another dragon fell. This, she supposed, was what people meant by the craziness of war. There was no thought, just action. Just action.
It was not a literary quote but a historical one that she had in mind now, words she thought had been spoken by some Civil War guy or another. War is simple, the person had said (in some approximation – speeches seemed to lack the poeticism of the written word and were therefore, in her mind, difficult to remember in full). In war you just find your enemy, get at him as soon as you can, strike him as hard as you can and keep moving. Good advice.
Her enhanced speed – which had to be boosted by a Speed Charm during her dance-like fighting – proved to both make that general’s words prove true and kept her from being fried a dozen times over. That and the reach of her weapon, which came into play three more times in quick succession, killing one and injuring, then killing, another.
It was getting interesting, seeing how things changed. There didn’t seem to be an end to the creatures, but they did seem to be coming at them – or at least here – a little more slowly. It was almost imperceptible, or maybe just wishful thinking, but it felt like there was just a little more space between one wave of attack and the next. Maybe they were thinning out the creatures. Maybe the creatures were learning some caution. Maybe they were gearing up for some mammoth attack.
Most likely it was her imagination.
Another flurry of movement, another four dragons bit the dust and someone was calling for water. There was a brief hesitation – Canti’s cautionary note about how her spell had managed to hit him despite being friendly fire was still prominent in her mind – then she turned and targeted a spell just to the side of where she thought she’d heard the request from. Hopefully she wouldn’t be causing another bout of damage she didn’t intend with the Rue Rom. A couple of dragons who slipped past while her back was turned or her attention was elsewhere were caught up in it, but it almost felt like a waste of a spell.
Turning back, she was back into the fray. Her SP was beginning to run low, but the dragonlings showed no signs of slowing down. Another swipe, a pivot, a wide swing and another few fell before her. Not using SP in her attacks was severely hampering her ability to do damage. She was forced to rely on her speed and a quick eye to keep the damage levels mounting.
It was weird – these creatures weren’t that strong on their own, fiery breath aside. She could take one down in one hit, thanks to elevated physical abilities from that spell. And when one was taken down, it just faded out, thinning the numbers – no regenerating, no calling something worse into being. While she fully expected these not to be the end of it – heck, part of her expected that stone dragon that had their target in its mouth to come alive once the hatchlings were down – for now it was enough. Bring them down. The future would take care of itself or it would take care of them.
Senna lunched left, stabbing her spear through one approaching dragonling and them pulling it free and taking a swipe at another. As she did, warmth and light flared from the right, and as Senna turned, she caught a second gout of fire full on the face and, when she threw them up to shield herself – arms. As yet another stream of flame added, she forced herself to stop trying to protect herself against them, cast Repth to stem the HP leakage a little, then struck out blindly toward the source. Her sweep cut off all three sets of fire, as their sources keeled over and died.
Another health drink and she was back in fairly good fighting form again, which was for the best. Another sweep and two more fell, while a third tried to flap back, its wing damaged. She let it go for the moment. It had moved out of her area.
While they might be making a dent in the dragons, there were certainly more than enough to keep them all on their toes, and if things didn’t change soon, she was going to be in a tough spot herself – she only had a handful of repths left on her SP bar. Still, she kept doggedly at it, trying to bring the reach of her weapon into play as much as possible, and more fell. None would pass while she was on guard
OOC
Killed: 24
Remaining: 971
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
14300 (1/23)
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Lord Canti
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
- Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.
(The battle was going well, or at least better than to be expected from the last one. This wasn't some kind of harsh debate with the elements, but a simple and easy fight with an oppressive amount of enemies. It was far easier to kill a bulk amount of foes than handle those stupid spheres. And, at least for Canti, things were becoming much easier for him as he killed again and again. Patterns emerged from the chaos of these dragon hordes. From the time he left Nall - too soon to get an answer to his question, dammit! - he'd gotten ten with backstabs after quickly ducking and dodging them, and that was within a couple of minutes while using the Razor-Spin Lacerattou method of his fighting styles. Canti was on fire...literally. It had begun about three minutes ago. That smell of decay and corruption now had a burning brimstone-like addition to it. This place was feeding him, or something. No, that wasn't it. More like it was a reaction to harnessing strength in the other element, the one of fire. As Canti kicked one of the hatchlings into a group of four and followed suit with Staccato, he marvaled at how easy this was becoming. Every time they breathed fire on him, he laughed and slit their throats wide open. Fiftteen... Twenty... He switched to his Fuse Blades and impaled two dragons on his claws.)
Canti: Would you mind trying an experiment for me? No? Excellent!
(WHOMP! THWACK! POW! Canti began to punch out dragon hatchlings with the other dragons on his claws, knocking several to the ground at once. Te bulk of dragon-against-dragon the way HE played this game put them all off balance. And when the wounded foes hit the ground, he surprised them with Juk Rom to finish them off. Twenty-six... Twenty-seven... Thirty... He slammed another into the stalagtites as the impaled dragons expired, tearing up more on the way with Thunder Dragons, an orgy of claw-filled violence taking place. Thirty-five now, and Canti liked it. Blood on the floor and the walls, burning away at the reaction of the steam. It made him fight harder, faster. He began to snicker and laugh as the fool hatchling kept hatching and he kicked their teeth in. He grabbed one by the tail and swung it around like a morningstar, taking out newborns just as they were emerging now, like a maniac after face-hugger aliens. They were scratching him less and less now as he burned brighter. Repth kept him going when his HP got low. Finally, as he tossed the forty-seventh this time around into a stalagtite, the tactics changed. He was carrying his Bloody Twin again and they decided to come in at a whopping twenty at once...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(The horde was upon the crow once more as the blood on its wings began to dry up. The bloody-filled crow was slowly beginning to heal its wings on the deaths of others. The more life it took from the things around it, the sooner it would become a whole being again. But it must be said that one must be careful in the bathing of blood. There lies a danger in it, as blood drives one crazy, and it is known that the crow is already in a fragile state of existence as is. It cries out in sick joy as it plucks the eyes from its victims and eats of their entrails. The horde angers now, rearing its ugly mass upon the crow more readily. But the wings of the crow are healing nicely, and it is soon to becoming a demon. The fox waits and watches, wondering if now is a time to be wary or to be rejoicing. For did she not wish this, that the crows poor broken wings would mend and repair? But at what cost, though? Was it worth it to see its mind change? Well, maybe it would and maybe it wouldn't. The fox waits...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(So...what happened to Canti now, with twenty dragons confronting him at the lava's edge? Simple. He jumped. He leapt straight up as the dragons came at him, stabbing into the first thing, he found, which was eyes. The group snatched and snapped at him in mid-air and he slashed and stabbed right back as they went right over the lava, Canti jumping from group to group in the air, as none could actually hold him up for long. There was discention in the dragon ranks as a demon among them stirred up trouble in the form of daggers. Yes, they clawed at him in the process, but their attacking and bitign at his frame was keeping him aloft, just as he planned. Several wounded dragons fell into the lava at a time, and by the time Canti reached the other edge, there were only a few left as he drank a Health Drink or two. Oh, they wanted him bad enough, but they couldn't handle him like this. Every time they broke out against him as a group, he found a way to ruin their tactics by instinct alone. One beast against another, all influenced by the heat of the demon's wrath. The last few of THIS group were hit with Twin Darkness.)
Canti: Heh heh heh heh...
(Canti's black eyes and smoldering, winged form made him appear almost as an angel of death, a death angel with about seventy kills right about now...and it wasn't going to stop. Canti was in a thoroughly-terrifying kill-mode, one that a man in a lone chair above them all, the man who watched from afar, knew of.)
I neeD noT seE froM youR eyeS, noR dO yoU neeD seE froM minE. yE oF psychosiS, havE youR owN wayS oF seeinG. alL iS iN thE futurE foR yoU.
(Was no secret safe from this man? Canti had not shared this with anyone. His hallucinations were a thing of his own, so how did Marionette even know about it? There was no way to tell, unless these impressions - while inside The World - were readable by others. In any case, he knew and that worried Canti a bit. If he could see the dark side of him... Canti wondered who this man was, for knowing all of them. He wondered about that every so deeply, and the answers he got...he did not like. Canti continued up on the kill-counter, using Juk Rom to stop the oncoming motion of his next intended victims, and then basically gutting them at their leisure. Then, Canti did something absolutely cruel. He took out his Rusty Nails and...)
Canti: Mui Lei.
(One dragon turned on a whole bunch and chaos ensued in a flurry of fire and claws! Oddly enough, this was all pouting Canti in a good mood, as he moved up to eighty-four kills. Then, curiously enough, there was a lull in his combat. What the...? The attacks from everyone else were doing some serious damage here... Well, now was the best time to get some words in, edge-wise.)
FROM: Canti
TO: Dien
SUBJECT: The Puppetmaster
This Marionette guy is in our heads, somehow. He knows things about me that I'm sure I haven't said, or at least not much of. We need to talk about this. I've got a bad feeling about this, and my bad feelings are like disaster in a can.
(Canti sent it out, and then suddenly shouted out in pain as a dragon chomped his ankle. Then, another one went for his other ankle and two went for his arms. It was almost comical, except it also hurt, dammit! So, there he was, thrashing around like mad, beating dragons against anything that was handy, until the four of them were finally dead and he found himself nearby Senna, probably just in view. He Repthed himself and put his knives up again.)
Canti: Hey, Senna. Do you think this guy can hack our brains? I'm getting a Ghost in the Shell flashback here.
OOC: And now, the news...
PREVIOUS TALLY - 971
KILLED - 88
TOTAL TALLY - 883
Canti: Would you mind trying an experiment for me? No? Excellent!
(WHOMP! THWACK! POW! Canti began to punch out dragon hatchlings with the other dragons on his claws, knocking several to the ground at once. Te bulk of dragon-against-dragon the way HE played this game put them all off balance. And when the wounded foes hit the ground, he surprised them with Juk Rom to finish them off. Twenty-six... Twenty-seven... Thirty... He slammed another into the stalagtites as the impaled dragons expired, tearing up more on the way with Thunder Dragons, an orgy of claw-filled violence taking place. Thirty-five now, and Canti liked it. Blood on the floor and the walls, burning away at the reaction of the steam. It made him fight harder, faster. He began to snicker and laugh as the fool hatchling kept hatching and he kicked their teeth in. He grabbed one by the tail and swung it around like a morningstar, taking out newborns just as they were emerging now, like a maniac after face-hugger aliens. They were scratching him less and less now as he burned brighter. Repth kept him going when his HP got low. Finally, as he tossed the forty-seventh this time around into a stalagtite, the tactics changed. He was carrying his Bloody Twin again and they decided to come in at a whopping twenty at once...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(The horde was upon the crow once more as the blood on its wings began to dry up. The bloody-filled crow was slowly beginning to heal its wings on the deaths of others. The more life it took from the things around it, the sooner it would become a whole being again. But it must be said that one must be careful in the bathing of blood. There lies a danger in it, as blood drives one crazy, and it is known that the crow is already in a fragile state of existence as is. It cries out in sick joy as it plucks the eyes from its victims and eats of their entrails. The horde angers now, rearing its ugly mass upon the crow more readily. But the wings of the crow are healing nicely, and it is soon to becoming a demon. The fox waits and watches, wondering if now is a time to be wary or to be rejoicing. For did she not wish this, that the crows poor broken wings would mend and repair? But at what cost, though? Was it worth it to see its mind change? Well, maybe it would and maybe it wouldn't. The fox waits...)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(So...what happened to Canti now, with twenty dragons confronting him at the lava's edge? Simple. He jumped. He leapt straight up as the dragons came at him, stabbing into the first thing, he found, which was eyes. The group snatched and snapped at him in mid-air and he slashed and stabbed right back as they went right over the lava, Canti jumping from group to group in the air, as none could actually hold him up for long. There was discention in the dragon ranks as a demon among them stirred up trouble in the form of daggers. Yes, they clawed at him in the process, but their attacking and bitign at his frame was keeping him aloft, just as he planned. Several wounded dragons fell into the lava at a time, and by the time Canti reached the other edge, there were only a few left as he drank a Health Drink or two. Oh, they wanted him bad enough, but they couldn't handle him like this. Every time they broke out against him as a group, he found a way to ruin their tactics by instinct alone. One beast against another, all influenced by the heat of the demon's wrath. The last few of THIS group were hit with Twin Darkness.)
Canti: Heh heh heh heh...
(Canti's black eyes and smoldering, winged form made him appear almost as an angel of death, a death angel with about seventy kills right about now...and it wasn't going to stop. Canti was in a thoroughly-terrifying kill-mode, one that a man in a lone chair above them all, the man who watched from afar, knew of.)
I neeD noT seE froM youR eyeS, noR dO yoU neeD seE froM minE. yE oF psychosiS, havE youR owN wayS oF seeinG. alL iS iN thE futurE foR yoU.
(Was no secret safe from this man? Canti had not shared this with anyone. His hallucinations were a thing of his own, so how did Marionette even know about it? There was no way to tell, unless these impressions - while inside The World - were readable by others. In any case, he knew and that worried Canti a bit. If he could see the dark side of him... Canti wondered who this man was, for knowing all of them. He wondered about that every so deeply, and the answers he got...he did not like. Canti continued up on the kill-counter, using Juk Rom to stop the oncoming motion of his next intended victims, and then basically gutting them at their leisure. Then, Canti did something absolutely cruel. He took out his Rusty Nails and...)
Canti: Mui Lei.
(One dragon turned on a whole bunch and chaos ensued in a flurry of fire and claws! Oddly enough, this was all pouting Canti in a good mood, as he moved up to eighty-four kills. Then, curiously enough, there was a lull in his combat. What the...? The attacks from everyone else were doing some serious damage here... Well, now was the best time to get some words in, edge-wise.)
FROM: Canti
TO: Dien
SUBJECT: The Puppetmaster
This Marionette guy is in our heads, somehow. He knows things about me that I'm sure I haven't said, or at least not much of. We need to talk about this. I've got a bad feeling about this, and my bad feelings are like disaster in a can.
(Canti sent it out, and then suddenly shouted out in pain as a dragon chomped his ankle. Then, another one went for his other ankle and two went for his arms. It was almost comical, except it also hurt, dammit! So, there he was, thrashing around like mad, beating dragons against anything that was handy, until the four of them were finally dead and he found himself nearby Senna, probably just in view. He Repthed himself and put his knives up again.)
Canti: Hey, Senna. Do you think this guy can hack our brains? I'm getting a Ghost in the Shell flashback here.
OOC: And now, the news...
PREVIOUS TALLY - 971
KILLED - 88
TOTAL TALLY - 883
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.
Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.
Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.
-
Marionette
- Elevated Player
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:24 pm
-
Nighthand
- Master of Games
- Posts: 1265
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
- Class: Bladesmage
- Location: ...Tracking...please wait...
Nighthand, after deciding that the dragons were falling rather quickly enough, headed over to join Nall. The man blurred from place to place, but shifted entirely to speed, Nighthand was able mostly to keep up with him. When Nall noticed the heavyblade tailing him, he slowed, and finally settled into a position near a wall. Nighthand dashed over there as well, shifting back to a more normal orientation of strength and speed as he settled.
"So, anything new and unusual about this field?"
"Not really. There's... something large here. I just don't know what it is. I didn't even sense it myself. Raine caught a movement in the field's data. Like something coming awake at our presence. It happened on your field too, but she told me it settled back down once you all left."
"Interesting. I didn't see anything either."
"I'm not too surprised about that." The blademaster grinned.
A trio of the dragons caught wind of their conversation, wondering why they were unharried, and headed for the pair of players. Big mistake. It was a matter of moments to dispatch them, each player taking one, the third dying by Nall's blade before Nighthand could act against it.
"You've improved."
"I have. Hard not to, hanging around with this group. Would you believe I didn't even realize when I hit level 50?"
"Yeah. I didn't either. I've been up and down in the levels so many times they cease to matter, though."
"True, true. Anyways... Let me know if Raine says anything else, or if you sense anything. Don't leave me in the dark, man."
"He'll still hide something."
Of course he will. That doesn't mean I can't pester him about it. At least this way he feels worse.
"Are you even sure he has emotions? I mean, look at all he's done to everyone..."
God, not you too. Phoenix is bad enough. Don't you understand we have to do some bad things to be able to get through this? Speaking of, where the hell have you been?
Here. You know I can't go anywhere. I've figured out what my data has done, though. I'd show you, but now isn't the time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some memories to catch up on. I'm still marveling at how terrible you all did against that serpent.
Yeah, like you would have done better.
As a matter of fact, I would have. But nevermind that now, you're about to be attacked and Nall's long gone.
Glancing up from his internal reverie, Nighthand spotted the dozen dragons converging on him. Chuckling at the ease of the fight, he tore through them, and a few more besides. Then, he lunged himself back into the fray, knee deep in bodies and blood. This wouldn't last much longer.
Previous: 883
Killed: 20
Total Left: 863
"So, anything new and unusual about this field?"
"Not really. There's... something large here. I just don't know what it is. I didn't even sense it myself. Raine caught a movement in the field's data. Like something coming awake at our presence. It happened on your field too, but she told me it settled back down once you all left."
"Interesting. I didn't see anything either."
"I'm not too surprised about that." The blademaster grinned.
A trio of the dragons caught wind of their conversation, wondering why they were unharried, and headed for the pair of players. Big mistake. It was a matter of moments to dispatch them, each player taking one, the third dying by Nall's blade before Nighthand could act against it.
"You've improved."
"I have. Hard not to, hanging around with this group. Would you believe I didn't even realize when I hit level 50?"
"Yeah. I didn't either. I've been up and down in the levels so many times they cease to matter, though."
"True, true. Anyways... Let me know if Raine says anything else, or if you sense anything. Don't leave me in the dark, man."
"He'll still hide something."
Of course he will. That doesn't mean I can't pester him about it. At least this way he feels worse.
"Are you even sure he has emotions? I mean, look at all he's done to everyone..."
God, not you too. Phoenix is bad enough. Don't you understand we have to do some bad things to be able to get through this? Speaking of, where the hell have you been?
Here. You know I can't go anywhere. I've figured out what my data has done, though. I'd show you, but now isn't the time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some memories to catch up on. I'm still marveling at how terrible you all did against that serpent.
Yeah, like you would have done better.
As a matter of fact, I would have. But nevermind that now, you're about to be attacked and Nall's long gone.
Glancing up from his internal reverie, Nighthand spotted the dozen dragons converging on him. Chuckling at the ease of the fight, he tore through them, and a few more besides. Then, he lunged himself back into the fray, knee deep in bodies and blood. This wouldn't last much longer.
Previous: 883
Killed: 20
Total Left: 863
Wishlist: Any Armor or Weapons under level 50, Any Scrolls (prefer level 2+)