Moderator: Nighthand
-
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
- Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
(Not long after he died, he was resurrected by Demorian...which was a surprise. However, shortly after that, Canti began to wish the former Puppetmaster were a little more of a bastard by letting him stay dead a while. And why? Well...because of Tritoch. A number of the attacks done against him had thrown the monster into a rage, and his chimeric self began to activate the doomsday weapon. You know... That one thing that every bastard saves back to use for when he's REALLY ticked off. This was one of those cases. Several blades and rings formed when Tritoch took a particular stance. Were they data? Were they energy? He didn't know, and it didn't matter. They completed a circuit, so to speak, to unleash a power that Canti...sort of recognized. The whine, the look of the energy, the terrible sense he was getting off of it... It was like that special gun, that Vegas Vindicator which had been regrettably destroyed when they were captured. Most of them were in range when the thing went off, scattering data shards everywhere. Canti did not have even the time to curse. The World went black. It is unknown how long this remained for him. The Twin Blade had been Data Drained, like everyone else, by the equivalent of a double-barreled data-shotgun. Since he was already in a coma, there wasn't as much that could be done to him...right?)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(The patient's heart-rate went up.)
"Shit... Get me a doctor in here!"
(There'd been no contact for a while now, nothing at all. He lay in the coma, silent to even her own attempts to reach him, as though blocked. Her best hacks weren't operating as they should, and they hadn't since his disappearance. Somewhere in The World, he was still walking around with the contents of his head, but off of her radar, which should've been impossible unless it was less accessable than the tower where they'd originally met. That's why she wrote the program, released the hound. Canti - Damon - was missing, and needed to be found. Now, as the doctor was looking over him, he was stabilizing, but he was still...nowhere.)
"Dammit, Shadow. Hurry up."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Awareness for Canti had been nullified because of his bad status. Poisoned, paralyzed, asleep, Dek'd out the wazoo, and so on. Not that he noticed, since he was also confused and charmed at once somehow, despite the contradiction. That's Data Drain for you. It can bring out the worst and break all the rules. So, Canti was motionless until such time as someone brought him out of it. Great to be alive, huh? Eventually, he was pulled out of it, a bit at a time. And by the time he was fully in control of himself, and apparently back to normal, things had gone on that the Twin Blade did not understand. Somehow, a white dome and four spire-pillars conducting lightning had replaced Tritoch. No, covered him. He was in there, and then the ground rumbled and the beastie-boy emerged...different. He was smaller, and not as developed, like he shrank in the wash.)
Canti: Wait, no... That's not it. It was a cocoon. His wings are back, but he looks incomplete.
(He was something like a big naga-man right now, still looking freakishly chimeric. No snake head, but a symbol. His face was there and he had different arms, smaller ones... He took off again, circling. Just circling... Why? Was he thinking of what to do next? Interesting reprieve. The Twin Blade wondered what made that guy tick anymore. He was a freakin' infected mutant, far worse than even that guy from the research center. The real Tritoch was probably dead somewhere...so what was left? Two guards stepped out of the city, and Canti noticed a sudden lack of Sheena and Nall. Good. Oh, and Nighthand was down. Nighthand was down? Hmmm. Well, it's not like Canti didn't have any sympathy. He just didn't like him. If the recently departed leader-man had a problem with that, he could go haunting him later. There was also a message from Sekai about that, and about plans to disable Tritoch's wands. Not a bad idea. Hard to manage since he's doing his vulture routine. Also, there was a thing about those guards... Should they talk to 'em? No, maybe not. They seemed to be out for Tritoch anyway, but perhaps later, he could... Hmmm. Wait a sec. Disable Tritoch...)
Canti: He's smaller now, but still dangerous. The first and foremost thing to do is bring him down, then those guard guys are of use. The thing is...how? He's up there and he'll know what to do once I'm up there. Maybe if I could just shoot him from here, but my shots won't be fast enough to...wait.
(He held up a hand, creating a flicker of the Darkness Flame.)
Canti: This power of mine allows me to project darkness in fire-form, moving at that speed. I've controlled the amount, the spread, the density... Can I make it go faster? Can I change the way it moves? Let's see...
(From where he stood, the Twin Blade took his hand and pointed the index finger up at Tritoch, like a gun. Careful aim, steady hand, keeping him in his sights...the little fleck of darkness then swirled and condensed in energy, a dense black fire in the shape of some kind of compact blast-shot. In a way, Canti was doing his Yusuke Urameshi thing, and this was the spirit gun...'cept not really. Just a variation on a theme, a dense blast of darkness, designed to act as a high-velocity sniper shot. He wanted it to be some kind of penetrating shot, like a shaped charge or something, and it felt like he could do that, or make it explode. So saying...)
Canti: Bang.
(The blast fired off, and man was it fast! Canti decided to be fast as well, 'cause he knew what was coming next. Someone had Ap Do'd him, and he was gonna use it. The Twin Blade darted immediately left after he shot up, heading in a particular direction. There was a plan here, but god help you if you know what it is. Tritoch saw the blast and twisted out of the way to dodge the shot. Hmmm... Not quite fast enough. It felt like it slowed up a bit, the farther it went out. Now, Tritoch was diving down towards him on an attack run. Canti didn't even need to turn to know that, but turned around anyway, flying backwards. That much alone would be dangerous if he didn't know where he was going. Fortunately, he was more than aware that he was heading straight for the city wall. Aiming again, the Twin Blade fired off another dense shot, this one set to explode. It blasted off towards the creature's head, and Canti set his legs back to meet the wall. When the shot exploded, Tritoch had mostly gotten out of the way, but got enough on him to lose the trail as Canti used the wall to spring up above his position. Tritoch had lost him, but knew where everyone else was. He made for the others at all speed, which in turn gave the Twin Blade his only chance at a surprise attack. Focusing for another of those sniper shots, he swooped down lower to close some distance between the two, improving accuracy. He fired, and then fired again with something else, something with no charge-time. The penetration shot hit Tritoch square in the back, only it wasn't strong enough to pierce his flesh. It DID drop him closer to the ground, which was a good prelude for the Darkness Flame carpet bombing that followed, explosions getting the bastard off of everyone else's case. Tritoch turned and angled himself to face Canti again, flying up and firing a series of spells. Powerful Vak Kruz-ish spells. They went out from his wands and converged on him. The dark Twin Blade dropped like a 16-ton weight, hurtling towards the monster at maximum speed. Through the fire and the flames that managed to hit him, Canti appeared before the bastard with knives raised high!)
Canti: I'LL SPOIL THOSE GOOD LOOKS!!!
(Tritoch was slashed right in the face with both knives in an X pattern, the results of such remaining visible for all to see. His reaction was not a human one, roaring at Canti and striking him suddenly with one of his wands and sending electricity through his body. An elemental critical ends the Twin Blade and he falls to the ground, again.)
OOC: Doing!
Number of times dead: 3
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(The patient's heart-rate went up.)
"Shit... Get me a doctor in here!"
(There'd been no contact for a while now, nothing at all. He lay in the coma, silent to even her own attempts to reach him, as though blocked. Her best hacks weren't operating as they should, and they hadn't since his disappearance. Somewhere in The World, he was still walking around with the contents of his head, but off of her radar, which should've been impossible unless it was less accessable than the tower where they'd originally met. That's why she wrote the program, released the hound. Canti - Damon - was missing, and needed to be found. Now, as the doctor was looking over him, he was stabilizing, but he was still...nowhere.)
"Dammit, Shadow. Hurry up."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(Awareness for Canti had been nullified because of his bad status. Poisoned, paralyzed, asleep, Dek'd out the wazoo, and so on. Not that he noticed, since he was also confused and charmed at once somehow, despite the contradiction. That's Data Drain for you. It can bring out the worst and break all the rules. So, Canti was motionless until such time as someone brought him out of it. Great to be alive, huh? Eventually, he was pulled out of it, a bit at a time. And by the time he was fully in control of himself, and apparently back to normal, things had gone on that the Twin Blade did not understand. Somehow, a white dome and four spire-pillars conducting lightning had replaced Tritoch. No, covered him. He was in there, and then the ground rumbled and the beastie-boy emerged...different. He was smaller, and not as developed, like he shrank in the wash.)
Canti: Wait, no... That's not it. It was a cocoon. His wings are back, but he looks incomplete.
(He was something like a big naga-man right now, still looking freakishly chimeric. No snake head, but a symbol. His face was there and he had different arms, smaller ones... He took off again, circling. Just circling... Why? Was he thinking of what to do next? Interesting reprieve. The Twin Blade wondered what made that guy tick anymore. He was a freakin' infected mutant, far worse than even that guy from the research center. The real Tritoch was probably dead somewhere...so what was left? Two guards stepped out of the city, and Canti noticed a sudden lack of Sheena and Nall. Good. Oh, and Nighthand was down. Nighthand was down? Hmmm. Well, it's not like Canti didn't have any sympathy. He just didn't like him. If the recently departed leader-man had a problem with that, he could go haunting him later. There was also a message from Sekai about that, and about plans to disable Tritoch's wands. Not a bad idea. Hard to manage since he's doing his vulture routine. Also, there was a thing about those guards... Should they talk to 'em? No, maybe not. They seemed to be out for Tritoch anyway, but perhaps later, he could... Hmmm. Wait a sec. Disable Tritoch...)
Canti: He's smaller now, but still dangerous. The first and foremost thing to do is bring him down, then those guard guys are of use. The thing is...how? He's up there and he'll know what to do once I'm up there. Maybe if I could just shoot him from here, but my shots won't be fast enough to...wait.
(He held up a hand, creating a flicker of the Darkness Flame.)
Canti: This power of mine allows me to project darkness in fire-form, moving at that speed. I've controlled the amount, the spread, the density... Can I make it go faster? Can I change the way it moves? Let's see...
(From where he stood, the Twin Blade took his hand and pointed the index finger up at Tritoch, like a gun. Careful aim, steady hand, keeping him in his sights...the little fleck of darkness then swirled and condensed in energy, a dense black fire in the shape of some kind of compact blast-shot. In a way, Canti was doing his Yusuke Urameshi thing, and this was the spirit gun...'cept not really. Just a variation on a theme, a dense blast of darkness, designed to act as a high-velocity sniper shot. He wanted it to be some kind of penetrating shot, like a shaped charge or something, and it felt like he could do that, or make it explode. So saying...)
Canti: Bang.
(The blast fired off, and man was it fast! Canti decided to be fast as well, 'cause he knew what was coming next. Someone had Ap Do'd him, and he was gonna use it. The Twin Blade darted immediately left after he shot up, heading in a particular direction. There was a plan here, but god help you if you know what it is. Tritoch saw the blast and twisted out of the way to dodge the shot. Hmmm... Not quite fast enough. It felt like it slowed up a bit, the farther it went out. Now, Tritoch was diving down towards him on an attack run. Canti didn't even need to turn to know that, but turned around anyway, flying backwards. That much alone would be dangerous if he didn't know where he was going. Fortunately, he was more than aware that he was heading straight for the city wall. Aiming again, the Twin Blade fired off another dense shot, this one set to explode. It blasted off towards the creature's head, and Canti set his legs back to meet the wall. When the shot exploded, Tritoch had mostly gotten out of the way, but got enough on him to lose the trail as Canti used the wall to spring up above his position. Tritoch had lost him, but knew where everyone else was. He made for the others at all speed, which in turn gave the Twin Blade his only chance at a surprise attack. Focusing for another of those sniper shots, he swooped down lower to close some distance between the two, improving accuracy. He fired, and then fired again with something else, something with no charge-time. The penetration shot hit Tritoch square in the back, only it wasn't strong enough to pierce his flesh. It DID drop him closer to the ground, which was a good prelude for the Darkness Flame carpet bombing that followed, explosions getting the bastard off of everyone else's case. Tritoch turned and angled himself to face Canti again, flying up and firing a series of spells. Powerful Vak Kruz-ish spells. They went out from his wands and converged on him. The dark Twin Blade dropped like a 16-ton weight, hurtling towards the monster at maximum speed. Through the fire and the flames that managed to hit him, Canti appeared before the bastard with knives raised high!)
Canti: I'LL SPOIL THOSE GOOD LOOKS!!!
(Tritoch was slashed right in the face with both knives in an X pattern, the results of such remaining visible for all to see. His reaction was not a human one, roaring at Canti and striking him suddenly with one of his wands and sending electricity through his body. An elemental critical ends the Twin Blade and he falls to the ground, again.)
OOC: Doing!
Number of times dead: 3
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.
- Takua
- Ikkitousen
- Posts: 115
- Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:19 am
- Class: Wavemaster
- Location: Walking the line of madness
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Amazingly, the Wavemaster wasn't dead the second that Tritoch came back out of the white dome that he had enclosed himself with. That was a bit of a surprise. The second, and much more unpleasant of the two, was that he had wings again. Suddenly, he noticed two figures coming out of the city...and immediately put them out of his head. He wouldn't confirm that they were even there until he saw them a bit closer up, for all he knew, they were just more figments of his imagination. He was a bit perplexed that the towers were still in place though, and wasn't entirely sure that was such a good thing until he saw that Tritoch's wands were no longer grafted to his hands and were smaller. Maybe that meant his spells were a bit less powerful?
Plus, he no longer had that head. Just a rather incomprehensible and complex magical symbol there. Whether that was an intended part of his transformation or not remained to be seen. For the moment though, he watched Dien kill himself and Canti attempt to beat Tritoch in the air after going up close and personal. As expected, that didn't go over very well at all. More specifically, there was a very quick and horrible death. What did happen was that Canti had proved that it was possible to knock him down a bit closer to the ground...and closer to the guardsmen who had proven so handy at taking out those wings before.
That explained why Canti had done what he had done, and Takua hoped that he could do very much the same. His wings made of water and ice began to beat more frequently and more strongly, and the Wavemaster lofted towards the once-Wavemaster Admin who had gone crazed and been turned into a monster. Half of him wondered just how much use all of this was. He hadn't seemed to have taken any damage at all, just taking spell physics into account and getting bounced around a lot. So...nothing like wasting a bit more SP. Buffing himself with Ap Do before he went off the deep end and prepared to charge, he took out his Tenami and readied the Gaia Staff. Concentrating, he whispered the words to the spell before switching out to the other weapon. As the whirlwind of rock and dust formed around Tritoch, the triple rocks fell from above...right as the chimera-ish being dropped like a stone, diving out of the tornado and easily outspeeding the OrGan Don before skimming the ground, coming to rest at a distance from the party.
Well, that wouldn't do very well. He was also far away from the Guards, way to far for them to make a move for his wings again. That...didn't set well with the Wavemaster at all. Another OrGan Rom, and Takua began to fly upwards, attempting to get between Tritoch and the sun for a moment before he stopped. While making sure that Tritoch couldn't see him was a good idea if he wanted to survive, it was also a bad idea if he wanted to get the asshole over to the guards.
So he got a little closer, and a single MeJuk Kruz was used to grab his attention. As bramble smashed against skin, the monster launched straight at the boy at top speed. Eyes widening as he realized just how fast it was, and launched off four MeGan Roms to either force the beast to dodge and waste time, or go through and take the damage. A moment later, the flying Wavemaster dove for the ground with all the speed that he had. The Chimera shot right over him, and the boy cast again, using an OrGan Don to attempt to bring him lower down even as he angled towards the guards. Come on, show that rage he thought to himself even as his rocks hit and missed...but then the end of Tritoch's wand crackled with electricity and the Wavemaster shot upwards and out of his dive as quickly as he could make the turn even as the bolt of power blasted underneath him.
Okay, this just went from bad to worse.
Still, he had to get the bastard closer to the ground. Swallowing a Mage's Soul, Takua cast another OrGan Rom and then coupled it with an OrGan Don to screw up his aim. Then he was ducking and weaving as more of the bolts slashed through the air, chasing and missing him as he continued to fly in an utterly random direction. Finally, when they were barely missing him at all and he knew that he was about to get screwed, the flying boy folded his wings into his body and dropped like a stone for several seconds before spreading them back out, darting directly towards the guards by this point.
But Tritoch wasn't having any of it. He was just...flying in a single place even as the two Yamiyo guards approached. No matter what spells Takua shot at it, it simply didn't budge at all. Not even when he summoned a Yarthkins Ch and attempted to use the massive spiked club of the troll to destroy a wing did anything happen. Well shit. If his summon couldn't do it, there was nothing that he could do at all to get the monster down except delay his own death...and flying around a lot was tiring him out significantly.
That was when an idea struck him. Perhaps he could either hide or cause some sort of reaction by getting Tritoch to shoot one of the gems on his own. Instead, as he flew farther and farther away in an erratic pattern, the shots suddenly became area of affect blasts...and fried him almost instantly, long before he could get anywhere near the towers. His muscles locked in pain as his body dove towards the ground, lightning crackling around his flesh...and then the impact erased that pain and transferred him to a ghost. Wincing, he waiting for someone to revive him with the typical sickness that occurred while dead.
Plus, he no longer had that head. Just a rather incomprehensible and complex magical symbol there. Whether that was an intended part of his transformation or not remained to be seen. For the moment though, he watched Dien kill himself and Canti attempt to beat Tritoch in the air after going up close and personal. As expected, that didn't go over very well at all. More specifically, there was a very quick and horrible death. What did happen was that Canti had proved that it was possible to knock him down a bit closer to the ground...and closer to the guardsmen who had proven so handy at taking out those wings before.
That explained why Canti had done what he had done, and Takua hoped that he could do very much the same. His wings made of water and ice began to beat more frequently and more strongly, and the Wavemaster lofted towards the once-Wavemaster Admin who had gone crazed and been turned into a monster. Half of him wondered just how much use all of this was. He hadn't seemed to have taken any damage at all, just taking spell physics into account and getting bounced around a lot. So...nothing like wasting a bit more SP. Buffing himself with Ap Do before he went off the deep end and prepared to charge, he took out his Tenami and readied the Gaia Staff. Concentrating, he whispered the words to the spell before switching out to the other weapon. As the whirlwind of rock and dust formed around Tritoch, the triple rocks fell from above...right as the chimera-ish being dropped like a stone, diving out of the tornado and easily outspeeding the OrGan Don before skimming the ground, coming to rest at a distance from the party.
Well, that wouldn't do very well. He was also far away from the Guards, way to far for them to make a move for his wings again. That...didn't set well with the Wavemaster at all. Another OrGan Rom, and Takua began to fly upwards, attempting to get between Tritoch and the sun for a moment before he stopped. While making sure that Tritoch couldn't see him was a good idea if he wanted to survive, it was also a bad idea if he wanted to get the asshole over to the guards.
So he got a little closer, and a single MeJuk Kruz was used to grab his attention. As bramble smashed against skin, the monster launched straight at the boy at top speed. Eyes widening as he realized just how fast it was, and launched off four MeGan Roms to either force the beast to dodge and waste time, or go through and take the damage. A moment later, the flying Wavemaster dove for the ground with all the speed that he had. The Chimera shot right over him, and the boy cast again, using an OrGan Don to attempt to bring him lower down even as he angled towards the guards. Come on, show that rage he thought to himself even as his rocks hit and missed...but then the end of Tritoch's wand crackled with electricity and the Wavemaster shot upwards and out of his dive as quickly as he could make the turn even as the bolt of power blasted underneath him.
Okay, this just went from bad to worse.
Still, he had to get the bastard closer to the ground. Swallowing a Mage's Soul, Takua cast another OrGan Rom and then coupled it with an OrGan Don to screw up his aim. Then he was ducking and weaving as more of the bolts slashed through the air, chasing and missing him as he continued to fly in an utterly random direction. Finally, when they were barely missing him at all and he knew that he was about to get screwed, the flying boy folded his wings into his body and dropped like a stone for several seconds before spreading them back out, darting directly towards the guards by this point.
But Tritoch wasn't having any of it. He was just...flying in a single place even as the two Yamiyo guards approached. No matter what spells Takua shot at it, it simply didn't budge at all. Not even when he summoned a Yarthkins Ch and attempted to use the massive spiked club of the troll to destroy a wing did anything happen. Well shit. If his summon couldn't do it, there was nothing that he could do at all to get the monster down except delay his own death...and flying around a lot was tiring him out significantly.
That was when an idea struck him. Perhaps he could either hide or cause some sort of reaction by getting Tritoch to shoot one of the gems on his own. Instead, as he flew farther and farther away in an erratic pattern, the shots suddenly became area of affect blasts...and fried him almost instantly, long before he could get anywhere near the towers. His muscles locked in pain as his body dove towards the ground, lightning crackling around his flesh...and then the impact erased that pain and transferred him to a ghost. Wincing, he waiting for someone to revive him with the typical sickness that occurred while dead.
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Death wasn’t an interesting experience for Baron. Rather, it was something quite the opposite; the whole sickness-and-despair feeling had kinda passed like a phase. Naturally the feeling of death was still pretty rotten, but it didn’t quite have the demoralizing effect that it had in the past. Repeated shocks really just kind of caused him to adjust to it. Of course, it didn’t help that he had also been killed twice in quick succession in this last assault alone. The spikes through the chest had probably been his least favorite way to die; nothing especially vital had been pierced at first, and he had been hurting quite a bit before the wave came that finished him off. Oddly, death had actually been a relief that time. How was that for irony? Maybe that was how a terminal patient felt. Death was preferred to suffering, or something like that. Baron gave the thought a moment of his time before he pushed it aside. There were better things to focus on, like what was going on with Tritoch and his bubble of doom.
Being fried certainly isn’t a fun memory, Baron couldn’t help but think as he watched Takua flying around. The four who had been toasted by the Wavemaster’s “genius” plan had all been revived by now, but Takua was already off, trying to find a way to break the barrier that Tritoch had erected after being knocked around a good deal. Leaving the man to his work, Baron instead focused on recovering, preparing for the fight ahead. In the event that the shield was broken, Tritoch would be right back in the fray. Therefore it was better to have everyone else conserving their energy for now, so that they’d be ready. After all, there was no telling what the former Admin would pull once he was out of his-
“Agh!”
Baron clutched at his shoulder again, the burning feeling returning. It was stronger than before too, much more pronounced and definite. Falling to one knee, the Twin Blade clenched his teeth and wondered what the hell was going on with his arm. Peeling off his jacket and pushing the sleeve of his undershirt back enough to view the tattoo now visible on his arm. Gemini’s symbol was still the same jet-black color, unlike the burning red it had been upon its discovery, but it still hurt like crazy. Pressing his hand to it once more, Baron took a deep breath, wishing that it was something he could explain. It wasn’t a game-based effect that could be cured with an item or a spell, just some other phenomenon. As his hand touched it though, something strange happened.
Goddammit Baron, are you listening to us? We’re sick of being ignored!
Baron’s eyes widened as he heard the voice, his fingers moving from the mark on his shoulder. The burning sensation was gone without a trace, leaving him rubbing at the spot in confusion. What had just happened? The Gemini were back suddenly, and very clearly heard. It was as if they had been blocked somehow, though Baron couldn’t imagine how… until he noticed the mark on his shoulder. It had been prickling on and off for a bit, but only now it had hurt, and when he touched it the feeling had gone away completely. Had the mark been a sign of sorts? Maybe it had enabled the twins to talk to him again, where they had been blocked otherwise. Baron reached up to touch the mark again, to contact them and see what was going on.
Don’t touch the mark again!
Baron’s hand froze. Phew… good. About time you restored our communications, we were wondering if you had simply shut us away and left us to rot here.
No, I had no idea that the mark on my shoulder did that… I thought something had happened to you guys and Libra.
We’ve been trying to get a hold of you since you passed out on the stairway back at the prison, but you were ignoring us. Apparently that mark establishes or halts all communication between you and us, so try not to touch it again for now if you would.
Baron started to reply, but then he realized something else: maybe that’s why he couldn’t talk to Libra! He quickly reached up to touch the mark on his shirt, pressing his fingers to Libra’s mark, and sent out another mental query to the AI, hoping for a response. He was disappointed again by silence, and the boy let his hand drop in frustration. The Twin Blade had managed to reestablish communication with the Gemini, but they weren’t the ones he wanted to talk with. Baron was starting to truly become concerned that Libra was gone.
He’s not gone, you know.
Baron had forgotten that the Gemini could hear most of his thoughts, though it was probably limited to when the communication lines were open. Really then, where is he? His tone was sharp as he snapped at them.
Geez, you don’t have to snap at us… anyway, Libra’s still out cold. He was very badly damaged in that fight back there, and hasn’t regained consciousness. We’re wondering if perhaps his data was damaged, so that he has been unable to recover. We’d need someone much more skilled with data to check him over.
Baron was about to reply, but at that moment a loud sound went up, drawing his attention from his internal dialogue. Looking up, the Twin Blade was surprised to see Tritoch rising into the air again. It seemed that Takua had dealt with the barrier that the Admin had put up, leaving the monster exposed. Things had changed while Tritoch had trapped himself within the dome, and Baron was sure that they weren’t for the better. The monster’s wings were back, giving it access to the air again. That alone was trouble, since the ability of flight had been the one advantage the Freedom Fighters had on their side before. One of the heads had been replaced by an arcane symbol of some sort. The wands were no longer fused to the hands, but instead were clutched in clawed hands. Overall, he wasn’t much better to look at than before.
“Y’know, all of these transformations really aren’t doing much for your looks…”
Baron’s blades were quickly drawn as everyone else returned to the fray, and he decided that he should join in the battle too. Now that he had fully recovered, the Twin Blade let his white-feathered wings flutter for a moment before pushing off with one strong updraft, climbing straight up beneath Tritoch. Immediately a Vulcan spell erupted in front of him, the burning phoenix streaking upwards to strike at the monster’s belly. Baron didn’t pause to see the effects of his spell, though, and continued to fly straight up past the former Admin. A Merrows from above complimented the Vulcan spell, striking a few seconds after. Tritoch, unfortunately, decided to finally take notice. Wheeling about in midair, the great beast turned to make its way towards the Twin Blade.
Baron, seeing the monster coming his way, naturally turned and flew away, trying to keep his distance as best as he could. His spells hadn’t seemed to have any effect on Tritoch other than to draw his attention, and that was certainly something the Twin Blade didn’t want. He twisted and turned, trying to keep his flight path unpredictable as he tried to get away. Going in a straight line was simply asking to be nuked, and that certainly wouldn’t be pleasant. Tritoch didn’t like that though, and an explosion of pure Vak energy exploded in front of Baron, forcing the boy to change his direction immediately or be fried. A GiRai Don exploded atop Tritoch in retaliation, and surprisingly the monster worked on avoiding it. Half of the spell still connected, but now he was in hot pursuit. Baron continued to fly straight ahead, hoping to pull ahead in terms of speed, though it seemed futile. Tritoch was slowly gaining.
Let’s try this then…
Rather than continue forward, Baron dropped down before spreading his wings back and braking suddenly. Tritoch passed above him, and the Twin Blade started to come up behind the monster, maybe get a surprise attack from behind. However, he hadn’t expected on Tritoch stopping so suddenly like he did, and his head collided with the monster’s scaled torso. The miscalculation was less than pleasant, and the collision caused a headache, but Baron suddenly found a big opening that had suddenly been allowed to him. He stabbed his blades upward, stabbing at Tritoch’s body, and his blades sank in fairly deep. Tritoch didn’t seem too happy with the action and caught the Twin Blade with one large hand, the vise-like grip catching him by surprise. Naturally Baron reacted with a stab to the hand, trying to free himself. That worked well, causing the scaly claws to release him… until the other hand caught him just as readily.
Baron definitely did not like the grip on his arm, and he tried to break free again. A stab had worked before, but maybe something stronger would discourage it. A bit of his SP had regenerated in the time since his last couple of barrages, so he used all of it to send a freezing Merrows spell at the limb holding him. Tritoch brushed the spell off (man, Baron would kill for that sort of magical resistance…) and immediately took one of his wands to Baron’s head. The weapon smashed into the Twin Blade, bruising him and hurting a fair deal with each attack. Grimacing, he stabbed his blades into the new hand holding him, hoping to free himself. At very least he was coming out of this close encounter with a concussion; he didn’t want it to advance to a crushed skull. Fortunately, Tritoch released him this time, letting the Twin Blade drop out of his grasp, but another wand came around, glowing with a faint blue-white color as it swung through the air. Baron dodged aside as best as he can, but his right shoulder was brushed (that is to say, it was still hit pretty hard considering the size difference) by the weapon, and suddenly frigid ice started forming. The Twin Blade shivered as the creeping frost moved along his arm and right wing until they were literally buried in ice, all feeling gone in an instant.
Then something clicked. Oh crap. Need both wings for flight.
Baron tried his hardest to remain aloft with one wing, but the additional weight of the ice made it impossible and he sound found himself plummeting and unable to do anything about it. All he could try to do was melt the ice off of his wings and perhaps pull out of his nosedive before he met the ground in a very unpleasant way. A Vak Rom exploded beneath him as he fell, his body wrapped in the searing heat as he passed through. Unfortunately, he was falling so fast that the ice didn’t have time to properly melt, and in a few seconds his face met the dirt with a sickening crack that probably indicated his spine getting bent in about ten different directions. Oddly enough the fall hadn’t been fatal, and for a moment Baron wanted to get up and give a comical “I’m okay!”
Just the thought alone seemed to jinx things though. As he was pushing himself off of the ground, a powerful Vak Don rained down on him, the fireballs slamming him right back to the ground before char-broiling him. It wasn’t particularly fun being burned alive, but it wasn’t as bad as many made it out to be. Of course, having his head crushed by one of the falling fireballs and ending things rather quickly probably added to his outlook on things. It was a possibility, of course. The good news? Hey, he was no longer frozen. A Rip Maen from Takua came quickly enough though, and Baron was back on his feet and fully thawed. Totally win-win minus the death a few seconds back.
Baron wasn’t done with his offensive though; he had noticed that his weapons had actually done some damage to the gigantic monster. He wanted to take advantage of a surprise attack while Tritoch was busy elsewhere. Spreading his wings again, the Twin Blade quickly took off and headed straight up towards Tritoch. Rather than attack the former Admin from below though, he shot up past the creature and rose higher and higher in the sky before he was a good hundred or so feet above his target. He knew what he was attempting was probably fairly stupid and would likely break a good number of bones, but if he was right he could do some serious damage to Tritoch. It was worth a try, right?
You’re going to get us all killed for real…
Shut up.
Baron folded his wings inward to allow for a straight dive, his body pointed straight down and diving faster and faster by the second. A moment before he made impact, the Twin Blade slammed both of his Rashou directly into Tritoch’s back, the weapons piercing deep and holding fast. Baron grinned, realizing that he had actually been able to do some damage… right before Tritoch started bucking up and down. The boy barely had time to cling to his weapons, the shock from before still leaving his body numb. However, he still held tightly to the two handholds he had on the gigantic beast as he bucked and rolled, knowing that if he let go he was as good as dead. Quickly making use of some regenerated SP, the Twin Blade let lightning flare down the length of his weapons, the Thunder Dance skill activating without actually making use of the normal slashing movements. Rather, lightning just tore through Tritoch from the inside since his skin had already been pierced.
Tritoch reacted unpredictably this time, rolling quickly and smashing into the ground — right with Baron on his back. The Twin Blade was crushed beneath the mass in an instant, ghosted again and left looking at his failure to do any serious damage. Maybe now that Tritoch was on the ground, his wings could be dealt with again… who knew. What Baron did know was that there was plenty more fighting left to come.
((OOC: That's four deaths. HA, TAKE THAT CANTI WITH YOUR THREE.))
Being fried certainly isn’t a fun memory, Baron couldn’t help but think as he watched Takua flying around. The four who had been toasted by the Wavemaster’s “genius” plan had all been revived by now, but Takua was already off, trying to find a way to break the barrier that Tritoch had erected after being knocked around a good deal. Leaving the man to his work, Baron instead focused on recovering, preparing for the fight ahead. In the event that the shield was broken, Tritoch would be right back in the fray. Therefore it was better to have everyone else conserving their energy for now, so that they’d be ready. After all, there was no telling what the former Admin would pull once he was out of his-
“Agh!”
Baron clutched at his shoulder again, the burning feeling returning. It was stronger than before too, much more pronounced and definite. Falling to one knee, the Twin Blade clenched his teeth and wondered what the hell was going on with his arm. Peeling off his jacket and pushing the sleeve of his undershirt back enough to view the tattoo now visible on his arm. Gemini’s symbol was still the same jet-black color, unlike the burning red it had been upon its discovery, but it still hurt like crazy. Pressing his hand to it once more, Baron took a deep breath, wishing that it was something he could explain. It wasn’t a game-based effect that could be cured with an item or a spell, just some other phenomenon. As his hand touched it though, something strange happened.
Goddammit Baron, are you listening to us? We’re sick of being ignored!
Baron’s eyes widened as he heard the voice, his fingers moving from the mark on his shoulder. The burning sensation was gone without a trace, leaving him rubbing at the spot in confusion. What had just happened? The Gemini were back suddenly, and very clearly heard. It was as if they had been blocked somehow, though Baron couldn’t imagine how… until he noticed the mark on his shoulder. It had been prickling on and off for a bit, but only now it had hurt, and when he touched it the feeling had gone away completely. Had the mark been a sign of sorts? Maybe it had enabled the twins to talk to him again, where they had been blocked otherwise. Baron reached up to touch the mark again, to contact them and see what was going on.
Don’t touch the mark again!
Baron’s hand froze. Phew… good. About time you restored our communications, we were wondering if you had simply shut us away and left us to rot here.
No, I had no idea that the mark on my shoulder did that… I thought something had happened to you guys and Libra.
We’ve been trying to get a hold of you since you passed out on the stairway back at the prison, but you were ignoring us. Apparently that mark establishes or halts all communication between you and us, so try not to touch it again for now if you would.
Baron started to reply, but then he realized something else: maybe that’s why he couldn’t talk to Libra! He quickly reached up to touch the mark on his shirt, pressing his fingers to Libra’s mark, and sent out another mental query to the AI, hoping for a response. He was disappointed again by silence, and the boy let his hand drop in frustration. The Twin Blade had managed to reestablish communication with the Gemini, but they weren’t the ones he wanted to talk with. Baron was starting to truly become concerned that Libra was gone.
He’s not gone, you know.
Baron had forgotten that the Gemini could hear most of his thoughts, though it was probably limited to when the communication lines were open. Really then, where is he? His tone was sharp as he snapped at them.
Geez, you don’t have to snap at us… anyway, Libra’s still out cold. He was very badly damaged in that fight back there, and hasn’t regained consciousness. We’re wondering if perhaps his data was damaged, so that he has been unable to recover. We’d need someone much more skilled with data to check him over.
Baron was about to reply, but at that moment a loud sound went up, drawing his attention from his internal dialogue. Looking up, the Twin Blade was surprised to see Tritoch rising into the air again. It seemed that Takua had dealt with the barrier that the Admin had put up, leaving the monster exposed. Things had changed while Tritoch had trapped himself within the dome, and Baron was sure that they weren’t for the better. The monster’s wings were back, giving it access to the air again. That alone was trouble, since the ability of flight had been the one advantage the Freedom Fighters had on their side before. One of the heads had been replaced by an arcane symbol of some sort. The wands were no longer fused to the hands, but instead were clutched in clawed hands. Overall, he wasn’t much better to look at than before.
“Y’know, all of these transformations really aren’t doing much for your looks…”
Baron’s blades were quickly drawn as everyone else returned to the fray, and he decided that he should join in the battle too. Now that he had fully recovered, the Twin Blade let his white-feathered wings flutter for a moment before pushing off with one strong updraft, climbing straight up beneath Tritoch. Immediately a Vulcan spell erupted in front of him, the burning phoenix streaking upwards to strike at the monster’s belly. Baron didn’t pause to see the effects of his spell, though, and continued to fly straight up past the former Admin. A Merrows from above complimented the Vulcan spell, striking a few seconds after. Tritoch, unfortunately, decided to finally take notice. Wheeling about in midair, the great beast turned to make its way towards the Twin Blade.
Baron, seeing the monster coming his way, naturally turned and flew away, trying to keep his distance as best as he could. His spells hadn’t seemed to have any effect on Tritoch other than to draw his attention, and that was certainly something the Twin Blade didn’t want. He twisted and turned, trying to keep his flight path unpredictable as he tried to get away. Going in a straight line was simply asking to be nuked, and that certainly wouldn’t be pleasant. Tritoch didn’t like that though, and an explosion of pure Vak energy exploded in front of Baron, forcing the boy to change his direction immediately or be fried. A GiRai Don exploded atop Tritoch in retaliation, and surprisingly the monster worked on avoiding it. Half of the spell still connected, but now he was in hot pursuit. Baron continued to fly straight ahead, hoping to pull ahead in terms of speed, though it seemed futile. Tritoch was slowly gaining.
Let’s try this then…
Rather than continue forward, Baron dropped down before spreading his wings back and braking suddenly. Tritoch passed above him, and the Twin Blade started to come up behind the monster, maybe get a surprise attack from behind. However, he hadn’t expected on Tritoch stopping so suddenly like he did, and his head collided with the monster’s scaled torso. The miscalculation was less than pleasant, and the collision caused a headache, but Baron suddenly found a big opening that had suddenly been allowed to him. He stabbed his blades upward, stabbing at Tritoch’s body, and his blades sank in fairly deep. Tritoch didn’t seem too happy with the action and caught the Twin Blade with one large hand, the vise-like grip catching him by surprise. Naturally Baron reacted with a stab to the hand, trying to free himself. That worked well, causing the scaly claws to release him… until the other hand caught him just as readily.
Baron definitely did not like the grip on his arm, and he tried to break free again. A stab had worked before, but maybe something stronger would discourage it. A bit of his SP had regenerated in the time since his last couple of barrages, so he used all of it to send a freezing Merrows spell at the limb holding him. Tritoch brushed the spell off (man, Baron would kill for that sort of magical resistance…) and immediately took one of his wands to Baron’s head. The weapon smashed into the Twin Blade, bruising him and hurting a fair deal with each attack. Grimacing, he stabbed his blades into the new hand holding him, hoping to free himself. At very least he was coming out of this close encounter with a concussion; he didn’t want it to advance to a crushed skull. Fortunately, Tritoch released him this time, letting the Twin Blade drop out of his grasp, but another wand came around, glowing with a faint blue-white color as it swung through the air. Baron dodged aside as best as he can, but his right shoulder was brushed (that is to say, it was still hit pretty hard considering the size difference) by the weapon, and suddenly frigid ice started forming. The Twin Blade shivered as the creeping frost moved along his arm and right wing until they were literally buried in ice, all feeling gone in an instant.
Then something clicked. Oh crap. Need both wings for flight.
Baron tried his hardest to remain aloft with one wing, but the additional weight of the ice made it impossible and he sound found himself plummeting and unable to do anything about it. All he could try to do was melt the ice off of his wings and perhaps pull out of his nosedive before he met the ground in a very unpleasant way. A Vak Rom exploded beneath him as he fell, his body wrapped in the searing heat as he passed through. Unfortunately, he was falling so fast that the ice didn’t have time to properly melt, and in a few seconds his face met the dirt with a sickening crack that probably indicated his spine getting bent in about ten different directions. Oddly enough the fall hadn’t been fatal, and for a moment Baron wanted to get up and give a comical “I’m okay!”
Just the thought alone seemed to jinx things though. As he was pushing himself off of the ground, a powerful Vak Don rained down on him, the fireballs slamming him right back to the ground before char-broiling him. It wasn’t particularly fun being burned alive, but it wasn’t as bad as many made it out to be. Of course, having his head crushed by one of the falling fireballs and ending things rather quickly probably added to his outlook on things. It was a possibility, of course. The good news? Hey, he was no longer frozen. A Rip Maen from Takua came quickly enough though, and Baron was back on his feet and fully thawed. Totally win-win minus the death a few seconds back.
Baron wasn’t done with his offensive though; he had noticed that his weapons had actually done some damage to the gigantic monster. He wanted to take advantage of a surprise attack while Tritoch was busy elsewhere. Spreading his wings again, the Twin Blade quickly took off and headed straight up towards Tritoch. Rather than attack the former Admin from below though, he shot up past the creature and rose higher and higher in the sky before he was a good hundred or so feet above his target. He knew what he was attempting was probably fairly stupid and would likely break a good number of bones, but if he was right he could do some serious damage to Tritoch. It was worth a try, right?
You’re going to get us all killed for real…
Shut up.
Baron folded his wings inward to allow for a straight dive, his body pointed straight down and diving faster and faster by the second. A moment before he made impact, the Twin Blade slammed both of his Rashou directly into Tritoch’s back, the weapons piercing deep and holding fast. Baron grinned, realizing that he had actually been able to do some damage… right before Tritoch started bucking up and down. The boy barely had time to cling to his weapons, the shock from before still leaving his body numb. However, he still held tightly to the two handholds he had on the gigantic beast as he bucked and rolled, knowing that if he let go he was as good as dead. Quickly making use of some regenerated SP, the Twin Blade let lightning flare down the length of his weapons, the Thunder Dance skill activating without actually making use of the normal slashing movements. Rather, lightning just tore through Tritoch from the inside since his skin had already been pierced.
Tritoch reacted unpredictably this time, rolling quickly and smashing into the ground — right with Baron on his back. The Twin Blade was crushed beneath the mass in an instant, ghosted again and left looking at his failure to do any serious damage. Maybe now that Tritoch was on the ground, his wings could be dealt with again… who knew. What Baron did know was that there was plenty more fighting left to come.
((OOC: That's four deaths. HA, TAKE THAT CANTI WITH YOUR THREE.))
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
The battlefield had gone insane, and Senna wasn’t sure whether or not she was doing the same. She did know that she hated grinding in games, and the addition of their *actual* lives being on the line if they failed wasn’t doing much to improve her opinion.
It also hadn’t done jack to her battle senses. There were a lot of things going on – spells, attacks, shouting. That last big one had completely paralyzed her, and she wasn’t even sure who’d pulled her out of it. But being able to move and moving weren’t the same thing, as she was proving fairly well at the moment. She wanted to do something, but wasn’t really clear on what. Her HP and SP were staying completely flatline, a curious and irritating fact.
Fairly far off, she watched as Canti took aim with his finger like a gun and sent off a shot of that dark flame of his before taking to the air. No chatter. Tuco would have been proud. Perhaps the less so because of the final result, but it seemed to spark an idea in another of the winged group members, who also took to the sky in an effort to bring their enemy down where the rest of them could get some spells and weapons on him. And he succeeded through almost surgical use of his spells to goad their enemy something like a cowherd prodding cattle – until the cattle decided to go at it. If she cared much for battle, this would be interesting to watch. As it was, she targeted Canti with a Resurrect (she was starting to run seriously low on those, she noted in irritation) and looked up just in time to see the current flier come out of the air and ANOTHER take up the fight. It was almost comical.
Setting to her heels, she got close enough to raise the Wavemaster as well (last one – just great), then switched to her Ichigou and started trying to really work out what was going on, downing three potions as she did – Mage Soul, Knight Blood, Hunter Blood. She wasn’t sure how much good the second one would do, but it never hurt to have a bit of accuracy and some SP.
The fight was still in the air, but there was something else, something closer to the ground. Four pillars. Colored gems sparkled at their tips. She’d seen Dien try them earlier, and die for the attempt. But maybe… maybe he just hadn’t gotten his strike in quite the right place.
Her eyes widened a little at an idea taking shape. Maybe…
She started toward them, and focused on someone who was standing there, partway between herself and her target. A fellow Long Arm, who didn’t seem to be Running up, she said, "Hey Raquar? Got a sec?"
The other Freedom Fighter looked around, slightly dazed. "Hmm?! Oh, yeah sure."
She pulled to a stop and nodded once in acknowledgment of his answer. "Wanna try to break that." She gestured toward the pillars with their gem toppings. "Need a boost. We'll probably get fried. You game?"
She had no illusions about the probable outcome of their ground battle, but there was something about the possibility that was becoming far less frightening as well. She wondered if that was unhealthy.
For his part, Raquar shuddered slightly at the possibility of getting fried, but at this point that might be better than feeling guilty about his inaction. "Yeah sure, why not."
Senna paused and peered at him at the somewhat ambivalent response. She had no idea the reason for that slight tremor, but didn’t want to be pushing people around. But then again, he’d agreed – and who was she to turn him down after he’d agreed to her direct question? In the end, she just said, "All right, let's go." As they started toward the quartet of monoliths, she added, "This fight? Insane..."
"Insane . . . Yeah definitely wacked out. I feel bad for the people who've had to deal with this nutjob before," he replied.
"I feel bad he found us," she replied, her words somewhat broken up as she was slightly out of breath. She knew it sounded completely selfish, but at the moment, what those others had gone through, regrettable though it was, just didn’t concern her. "But if we down him... can't get worse."
He nodded. "At least not at the moment. I must admit, a bit of a breather would be nice."
For some reason, that struck Senna as funny. She laughed a brief, humorless laugh limited by her shortness of breath. "We're in a game, right? Breather comes after the boss battle?"
He let out a brief smirk. "Yeah something along those lines."
As they reached the tower and slowed, Senna said, "Hope this is a good idea." She laced her fingers together into a sling as a visual request of the aid she was seeking as she asked, "You set?"
The boy figured any idea was good at this point, no matter how the consequences turned out in the end. Dipping his right knee slightly and bracing his should against the cool slick surface of the obelisk the boy laced his fingers and set them gently on his knee. "Aye aye cap'n."
Senna retreated a few paces for a running start, but offered a brief salute with her spear just beforehand. "Thanks," she said. He nodded, and then there was no more time for stalling, despite a growing thought that this was really not a good idea. She pelted forward and stepped into the cradle of Raquar’s hands. The push he added to her own leap was surprising even though she’d thought was ready for it – having the “ground” move when jumping was never comfortable.
That being said, the rush of that aided jump was wild.
As she neared the apex of the leap, she brought her spear around with both hands, putting what momentum and strength she could mid-air into the swing. The sizeable reach of her spear gave her a good margin of error, but she didn’t need it. Her enhanced accuracy was definitely in play, as the blade contacted the gem nearly dead center.
At the attack, the gem let out a flash of red. Senna winced away, expecting flashy lightning-based death, but all that happened was that her HP cut in half and the air around her was suddenly dimmer. Then she was falling, angling herself to land on her feet (for once). The fall was long enough that even after landing, she stumbled four steps back to catch her balance, then sucked in a deep breath. Her heart was racing. Another breath, then she was grinning at Raquar.
“That was a rush,” she commented. But there wasn’t too much time to enjoy it.
There were others to shut off still after all.
((OOC: Rezzed Canti, Takua, then Raquar and I shut off tower the first))
It also hadn’t done jack to her battle senses. There were a lot of things going on – spells, attacks, shouting. That last big one had completely paralyzed her, and she wasn’t even sure who’d pulled her out of it. But being able to move and moving weren’t the same thing, as she was proving fairly well at the moment. She wanted to do something, but wasn’t really clear on what. Her HP and SP were staying completely flatline, a curious and irritating fact.
Fairly far off, she watched as Canti took aim with his finger like a gun and sent off a shot of that dark flame of his before taking to the air. No chatter. Tuco would have been proud. Perhaps the less so because of the final result, but it seemed to spark an idea in another of the winged group members, who also took to the sky in an effort to bring their enemy down where the rest of them could get some spells and weapons on him. And he succeeded through almost surgical use of his spells to goad their enemy something like a cowherd prodding cattle – until the cattle decided to go at it. If she cared much for battle, this would be interesting to watch. As it was, she targeted Canti with a Resurrect (she was starting to run seriously low on those, she noted in irritation) and looked up just in time to see the current flier come out of the air and ANOTHER take up the fight. It was almost comical.
Setting to her heels, she got close enough to raise the Wavemaster as well (last one – just great), then switched to her Ichigou and started trying to really work out what was going on, downing three potions as she did – Mage Soul, Knight Blood, Hunter Blood. She wasn’t sure how much good the second one would do, but it never hurt to have a bit of accuracy and some SP.
The fight was still in the air, but there was something else, something closer to the ground. Four pillars. Colored gems sparkled at their tips. She’d seen Dien try them earlier, and die for the attempt. But maybe… maybe he just hadn’t gotten his strike in quite the right place.
Her eyes widened a little at an idea taking shape. Maybe…
She started toward them, and focused on someone who was standing there, partway between herself and her target. A fellow Long Arm, who didn’t seem to be Running up, she said, "Hey Raquar? Got a sec?"
The other Freedom Fighter looked around, slightly dazed. "Hmm?! Oh, yeah sure."
She pulled to a stop and nodded once in acknowledgment of his answer. "Wanna try to break that." She gestured toward the pillars with their gem toppings. "Need a boost. We'll probably get fried. You game?"
She had no illusions about the probable outcome of their ground battle, but there was something about the possibility that was becoming far less frightening as well. She wondered if that was unhealthy.
For his part, Raquar shuddered slightly at the possibility of getting fried, but at this point that might be better than feeling guilty about his inaction. "Yeah sure, why not."
Senna paused and peered at him at the somewhat ambivalent response. She had no idea the reason for that slight tremor, but didn’t want to be pushing people around. But then again, he’d agreed – and who was she to turn him down after he’d agreed to her direct question? In the end, she just said, "All right, let's go." As they started toward the quartet of monoliths, she added, "This fight? Insane..."
"Insane . . . Yeah definitely wacked out. I feel bad for the people who've had to deal with this nutjob before," he replied.
"I feel bad he found us," she replied, her words somewhat broken up as she was slightly out of breath. She knew it sounded completely selfish, but at the moment, what those others had gone through, regrettable though it was, just didn’t concern her. "But if we down him... can't get worse."
He nodded. "At least not at the moment. I must admit, a bit of a breather would be nice."
For some reason, that struck Senna as funny. She laughed a brief, humorless laugh limited by her shortness of breath. "We're in a game, right? Breather comes after the boss battle?"
He let out a brief smirk. "Yeah something along those lines."
As they reached the tower and slowed, Senna said, "Hope this is a good idea." She laced her fingers together into a sling as a visual request of the aid she was seeking as she asked, "You set?"
The boy figured any idea was good at this point, no matter how the consequences turned out in the end. Dipping his right knee slightly and bracing his should against the cool slick surface of the obelisk the boy laced his fingers and set them gently on his knee. "Aye aye cap'n."
Senna retreated a few paces for a running start, but offered a brief salute with her spear just beforehand. "Thanks," she said. He nodded, and then there was no more time for stalling, despite a growing thought that this was really not a good idea. She pelted forward and stepped into the cradle of Raquar’s hands. The push he added to her own leap was surprising even though she’d thought was ready for it – having the “ground” move when jumping was never comfortable.
That being said, the rush of that aided jump was wild.
As she neared the apex of the leap, she brought her spear around with both hands, putting what momentum and strength she could mid-air into the swing. The sizeable reach of her spear gave her a good margin of error, but she didn’t need it. Her enhanced accuracy was definitely in play, as the blade contacted the gem nearly dead center.
At the attack, the gem let out a flash of red. Senna winced away, expecting flashy lightning-based death, but all that happened was that her HP cut in half and the air around her was suddenly dimmer. Then she was falling, angling herself to land on her feet (for once). The fall was long enough that even after landing, she stumbled four steps back to catch her balance, then sucked in a deep breath. Her heart was racing. Another breath, then she was grinning at Raquar.
“That was a rush,” she commented. But there wasn’t too much time to enjoy it.
There were others to shut off still after all.
((OOC: Rezzed Canti, Takua, then Raquar and I shut off tower the first))
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)
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
He looked up to the flash of red light and then down to the nearby landing Senna. The lightning had completely ceased to flow to the gem she had managed to strike leaving only half a square left of the fiendish cackling energy. That meant that if he could strike the joint gem diagonal from their current position, the square should theoretically be neutralized it couldn’t hurt. He turned toward his fellow spear-wielding compatriot and shot her a grin back. “Nice call. You up for breaking that one diagonal from us? I’ll shut this one off so you don’t get too much of a beating.”
She nodded once, still grinning. "You got it."
He took off, she following close behind him until they reached the obelisk in question. He looked at Senna before turning to judge the height of the pillar before speaking again. “Hmmm. I’m a heavy guy so I want to try something that’ll hopefully make it easier to get up there.” Walking a couple paces to the side and forward he shoved his spear into the ground point first. Pushing on it a bit to make sure it was steady he turned back to her. “This should do it.”
She glanced at the setup, then said, her voice betraying that she wasn’t completely sure of the plan, "All right, what'cha need me to do?"
"Just the same as I did, a bit of a brace should be just fine."
Senna took up much the same pose as he had, immediately to the side of the planted spear, fingers laced, legs slightly bent. "Good luck."
He grinned at her. “Much appreciated.” Backing up a couple steps he turned taking a zig-zagging running start toward the girl. He jumped, his left foot planted squarely on the girl’s brace before pushing off, hopefully not too hard, upward at an angle. Just enough of an angle that the center of his right foot landed on the top of his planted spear and served as another push off point that propelled him up to the top of the tower. He landed crouched on the corner of the obelisk, barely enough room to maneuver about. Peering over the edge he found Senna, “Mind tossing that ol’ spear of mine up here for me?”
Instead of answering in words, she wedged it out of the ground with a jerk, then turned and threw it javelin-style upward toward him.
He caught the shaft midway through its flight and altered direction, bringing it down squarely onto the gem in question. His world flashed red and magically half his health was gone but his mission was accomplished. The accursed lightning had ceased to flow from gem to gem atop the obelisks and now they simply sat there doing whatever it was they did in their own little world. Still crouching he dropped onto the ground below, landing with a thud before promptly falling over onto his side. He righted himself and stood up, brushing himself off as he shot one final grin to his fellow Long Arm. “Jolly good idea, jolly good.”
She nodded once, still grinning. "You got it."
He took off, she following close behind him until they reached the obelisk in question. He looked at Senna before turning to judge the height of the pillar before speaking again. “Hmmm. I’m a heavy guy so I want to try something that’ll hopefully make it easier to get up there.” Walking a couple paces to the side and forward he shoved his spear into the ground point first. Pushing on it a bit to make sure it was steady he turned back to her. “This should do it.”
She glanced at the setup, then said, her voice betraying that she wasn’t completely sure of the plan, "All right, what'cha need me to do?"
"Just the same as I did, a bit of a brace should be just fine."
Senna took up much the same pose as he had, immediately to the side of the planted spear, fingers laced, legs slightly bent. "Good luck."
He grinned at her. “Much appreciated.” Backing up a couple steps he turned taking a zig-zagging running start toward the girl. He jumped, his left foot planted squarely on the girl’s brace before pushing off, hopefully not too hard, upward at an angle. Just enough of an angle that the center of his right foot landed on the top of his planted spear and served as another push off point that propelled him up to the top of the tower. He landed crouched on the corner of the obelisk, barely enough room to maneuver about. Peering over the edge he found Senna, “Mind tossing that ol’ spear of mine up here for me?”
Instead of answering in words, she wedged it out of the ground with a jerk, then turned and threw it javelin-style upward toward him.
He caught the shaft midway through its flight and altered direction, bringing it down squarely onto the gem in question. His world flashed red and magically half his health was gone but his mission was accomplished. The accursed lightning had ceased to flow from gem to gem atop the obelisks and now they simply sat there doing whatever it was they did in their own little world. Still crouching he dropped onto the ground below, landing with a thud before promptly falling over onto his side. He righted himself and stood up, brushing himself off as he shot one final grin to his fellow Long Arm. “Jolly good idea, jolly good.”
Level 28 Long Arm
Archspear, Newt Necklace, Smith's Gloves, Wyrm Scale, Kuja's Thong Dress
EXP: [700/1000]
WISHLIST
Levels
Weapons: - All
Armor: Head - Scarab Earring
Body - Nothing until Mid 30's. Ninja Garb Hand - Nothing until Mid 30's. Leg - Nothing until Mid 30's.
Items: Cooked Biles, Darkness Scrolls (Any and All)
Archspear, Newt Necklace, Smith's Gloves, Wyrm Scale, Kuja's Thong Dress
EXP: [700/1000]
WISHLIST
Levels
Weapons: - All
Armor: Head - Scarab Earring
Body - Nothing until Mid 30's. Ninja Garb Hand - Nothing until Mid 30's. Leg - Nothing until Mid 30's.
Items: Cooked Biles, Darkness Scrolls (Any and All)
- Nighthand
- Master of Games
- Posts: 1265
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
- Class: Bladesmage
- Location: ...Tracking...please wait...
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Grounded as he was Tritoch squirmed and thrashed, his tail kicking up a cloud of dust and slamming thin craters in the ground. While it seemed most of his human mind was gone, he had enough memory to remember the beating he had taken on the ground. The air was more comfortable, easier to kill from, and he wanted back. He kicked and bucked and rolled, his wings flapping and his legs pumping to rush himself back into the air.
The twinned ceramic warriors finally entered the stage. Each clicked open the side panels on their armor, from which long cables uncoiled. They wielded them like whips, striking at Tritoch and leaving long gashes in his flesh. He roared and reared back, his wings open wide, and that was all the chance they needed. They drove the tips of their whips into the ground and jumped, catching the beast by his arms and vaulted onto his back, then down, then forward and crossed in front of him. Tritoch, oblivious, vaulted forward and screamed.
His own forward momentum had pulled the warriors from their feet, but it also pulled the cables tight, and his wings dropped into the dirt, severed for a second time. Each of them burst into flame, reduced to dust in moments.
The warriors ripped their whips from the ground and they quickly retracted into their suits. One of them drew a pair of metal chunks from hip-space pockets, snapping them together into a Blademaster sword. The other drew the same two, but snapped out small handles, wielding them as a twin blade might.
Tritoch, meanwhile, seemed to regain his focus. Rather than thrash wildly, he remembered he had spells at his disposal, and began blasting fireballs around him. They weren’t aimed, but they exploded large enough to make it not matter. The ceramic warriors dashed away, out of the range of the spells, and hovered around the edges of the group.
Meanwhile, on the fringe, Senna and Raquar were toying with the gems on top of the towers. A few experimental whacks later, and the gems were extinguished. The towers still stood, but to what end?
After a few more minutes of fruitless explosions, dust and smoke filling the air, all sound stopped. Tritoch ceased his spells, his screams, even his thrashing. For a minute, all was silent, as the dust began to clear. A low wind picked up, blowing the smoke away, and Tritoch was still, watching.
”Why? Why won’t you wretches die?” Tritoch’s voice was low, scratchy, as if unused to speaking. He wasn’t shouting, and somehow, it was that much more sinister.
”I was granted far more power than I’ve ever seen you wield. Yet you keep. Coming. Back. WHY WON’T YOU DIE?” He shouted, and the symbol on his lower abdomen flared. Sheets of multicolored light flooded from it’s edges, obscuring and wrapping around the rest of his body.
Near Lighteria, Nighthand stirred. His HP was still 0, his SP non-existant, his body not a ghost. He made no sounds, his eye opened barely a slit, yet he climbed to his feet. His sword was gripped loosely in his hand, the Nightblade whip coiled around his arm up to his shoulder so he could hold it without holding it. He dragged the blade in the dirt, and walked towards the light-wrapped Tritoch. Placing himself before the beast, a mere dozen yards away, he stopped and stood.
Demorian watched, grimly, as the zombie heavy blade positioned himself. Then he walked forward, taking up position next to the man. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, or with him, or really anything right now. But we’re close, don’t you think? Close to defeating him and moving on.” Demorian rested a hand on Nighthand’s shoulder, but the Nightblade tightened and the tip of the whip shrugged off Demorian’s hand. “Okay then, well.” Demorian let his arm fall to his side, and held his own blade ready.
Whatever Tritoch was doing, it wasn’t likely to be good. Either way, they would see in a moment, as the light was slowly fading. Not around the glowing crest, but around the whole of the beast.
What was left was Tritoch, wingless, surrounded by a glassy bubble. He faced down the pair before him and growled. Neither side attacked, just yet. Who knew what Tritoch’s bubble did? And what was the deal with Nighthand?
The twinned ceramic warriors finally entered the stage. Each clicked open the side panels on their armor, from which long cables uncoiled. They wielded them like whips, striking at Tritoch and leaving long gashes in his flesh. He roared and reared back, his wings open wide, and that was all the chance they needed. They drove the tips of their whips into the ground and jumped, catching the beast by his arms and vaulted onto his back, then down, then forward and crossed in front of him. Tritoch, oblivious, vaulted forward and screamed.
His own forward momentum had pulled the warriors from their feet, but it also pulled the cables tight, and his wings dropped into the dirt, severed for a second time. Each of them burst into flame, reduced to dust in moments.
The warriors ripped their whips from the ground and they quickly retracted into their suits. One of them drew a pair of metal chunks from hip-space pockets, snapping them together into a Blademaster sword. The other drew the same two, but snapped out small handles, wielding them as a twin blade might.
Tritoch, meanwhile, seemed to regain his focus. Rather than thrash wildly, he remembered he had spells at his disposal, and began blasting fireballs around him. They weren’t aimed, but they exploded large enough to make it not matter. The ceramic warriors dashed away, out of the range of the spells, and hovered around the edges of the group.
Meanwhile, on the fringe, Senna and Raquar were toying with the gems on top of the towers. A few experimental whacks later, and the gems were extinguished. The towers still stood, but to what end?
After a few more minutes of fruitless explosions, dust and smoke filling the air, all sound stopped. Tritoch ceased his spells, his screams, even his thrashing. For a minute, all was silent, as the dust began to clear. A low wind picked up, blowing the smoke away, and Tritoch was still, watching.
”Why? Why won’t you wretches die?” Tritoch’s voice was low, scratchy, as if unused to speaking. He wasn’t shouting, and somehow, it was that much more sinister.
”I was granted far more power than I’ve ever seen you wield. Yet you keep. Coming. Back. WHY WON’T YOU DIE?” He shouted, and the symbol on his lower abdomen flared. Sheets of multicolored light flooded from it’s edges, obscuring and wrapping around the rest of his body.
Near Lighteria, Nighthand stirred. His HP was still 0, his SP non-existant, his body not a ghost. He made no sounds, his eye opened barely a slit, yet he climbed to his feet. His sword was gripped loosely in his hand, the Nightblade whip coiled around his arm up to his shoulder so he could hold it without holding it. He dragged the blade in the dirt, and walked towards the light-wrapped Tritoch. Placing himself before the beast, a mere dozen yards away, he stopped and stood.
Demorian watched, grimly, as the zombie heavy blade positioned himself. Then he walked forward, taking up position next to the man. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, or with him, or really anything right now. But we’re close, don’t you think? Close to defeating him and moving on.” Demorian rested a hand on Nighthand’s shoulder, but the Nightblade tightened and the tip of the whip shrugged off Demorian’s hand. “Okay then, well.” Demorian let his arm fall to his side, and held his own blade ready.
Whatever Tritoch was doing, it wasn’t likely to be good. Either way, they would see in a moment, as the light was slowly fading. Not around the glowing crest, but around the whole of the beast.
What was left was Tritoch, wingless, surrounded by a glassy bubble. He faced down the pair before him and growled. Neither side attacked, just yet. Who knew what Tritoch’s bubble did? And what was the deal with Nighthand?
![Image](http://static.flickr.com/48/185807763_8ac187a5da_o.jpg)
Wishlist: Any Armor or Weapons under level 50, Any Scrolls (prefer level 2+)
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Baron felt a swell of pride as he watched Tritoch fall from his attack, even though he had been crushed subsequently. Having one’s bones ground into dust by something much more massive than you really wasn’t as painful as one thought; there was more of that tingly feeling of numbness undercutting the pain from all the nerves that had been crushed as well. Naturally, it still hurt like anything and left the Twin Blade in agony for the few seconds before he had been ghosted, but it was still an odd, detached observation from the edge of his mind. Certainly it was better than thinking about just how much it had hurt; something about comparing it something worse seemed to dull the memory to some extent.
I swear that I’ll never understand your thought patterns…
I’m human, get used to it. If you don’t stop nagging I’m going to shut you guys up manually.
That was enough to quiet the two Gemini as Baron sat, waiting for a Resurrect to get him back on his feet. In the meantime, he watched the results of his attack unfold. Tritoch had been taken back down to the ground by the Twin Blade’s attacks, though it was an unintentional benefit. In all honesty Baron had simply been aiming to do as much damage as he could, regardless of the effect. His brain had accepted the idea of brute force over some cleverly convoluted way to defeat Tritoch; this wasn’t some simple in-game boss battle that could be beaten by doing something out of the box. In the case, the only answer Baron could see was hitting the monster as hard as possible and sending him packing. Of course, the gigantic beast hit much harder than they did… was it even possible to win this fight?
Nah, there was no point in negative thinking. Baron hoped more than anything that there was a way. The Freedom Fighters had been doing some damage after all, judging by the amount of pain they had caused Tritoch so far. Even now the former Admin was on the ground, dragged down through his own rage. He had been consumed by the monster he had become, no longer human beneath his bestial form. Even now, he thrashed about blindly, surprised by his sudden descent to the ground. But wait; a hint of his old intelligence shone through as he calmed long enough to spread his wings, trying to take to the sky where he was more powerful. Baron knew they couldn’t allow him to do that, not if they wanted to defeat him. They needed him grounded, where they were more effective.
Suddenly, two men came from the Root Town that Sheena had escaped to with Nall. Scratch that; they had been there a few minutes, waiting for a moment to strike. Baron hadn’t noticed them consciously, but realized that they had been there for a good deal of time. Now that Tritoch was finally on the ground, they acted, drawing whips like the guards on the walls had done. Said weapons were launched quickly, wrapping around the chimera-like beast that they faced. His wings were quickly bound, at risk of being ripped off again, and that point was emphasized as he charged at the two warriors who had come to assist them. In doing so he pulled on the whips binding his wings, drawing them taunt before letting out a roar of pain. Both of his wings were dropped to the ground again, severed by his savage, inhuman mind’s rage. Once more Tritoch was grounded, and once more he was left open for a more direct assault.
Unfortunately, something about his rage triggered memories of his other abilities, allowing him to recall spells that he had not been drawing on since he had emerged from his earlier dome. Explosions of flame rocketed out in all directions with no focus or aim, fire covering a wide range around him.
Baron backed up, the heat of the flames washing over him in a rush. He backed up, trying to think of something he could do, anything. Was there anything he could do? The Twin Blade was only a casual player character regardless of his comatose status. Unlike the others, he didn’t have their powerful “hacks” and abilities that defined their place in the Freedom Fighters. No, he was limited to the game’s rules and abilities, making him next to useless in a battle that surpassed the system. Sure, he had found a way to ground Tritoch, but in the end he hadn’t done anything; the guards from the city had been the ones to actually damage and disable him by ripping off his wings with their whips. Baron had merely been enough of an annoyance to get Tritoch to slam him into the ground. Only the monster’s lack of wit had been of any use; he could have simply fried him with a spell.
So what use was he?
You really look down on yourself far too much.
It’s true though, isn’t it? Until my supposedly latent powers “develop” as a part of the Twilight that traps me in the game, I’m just a distraction and a target.
You have something that’s more potent than any “power,” you know. You have your wits, something that power can’t match. Look at how you figured out the way through the wall, something everyone else was fumbling around in the dark on. You had it in an instant and got everyone through. Can you say you’re truly useless?
Baron paused, considering. A wry smile flickered across his lips as he remembered how things had been in his “real life.” He had been considered an overly bright child, a prodigy of sorts bordering on pure genius. That was true and all when it came to the basics of schoolwork; numbers, grammar, and simple memorization all came easily to him. But when it came to creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and intuitive leaps, the boy had been found lacking. It didn’t matter in the “real world,” where all of these facts and letters and calculations all put him in a good position. But here in the game, where those fundamentals of knowledge were nothing, he was left with nothing.
Or so he had thought. Since joining the Eventide Crescendo, something had changed. The Twin Blade had found himself making a great contribution to the group without anything special but his wits. He had solved several of the puzzles that had blocked their way, enabling the group to move forward with their mission. Though the mission itself had been a failure, it hadn’t been a result of Baron’s lack of creativity. He had proven to himself that he could think his way through these situations. The Twin Blade hadn’t thought about things that way, and suddenly it occurred to him that he wasn’t completely useless.
Alright, you win. I’m not a total lost cause.
Now that that had been established, Baron turned his attention back to the battle. He blinked as he saw Nighthand standing before Tritoch, a strange weapon in his hands that the Twin Blade had not seen before. He was still at 0 HP, non-ghosted, and was acting weird. What was going on with the man, what had the attack from before done to him? Baron tried to see if he could cast a Repth spell on the now-standing Nighthand, hoping to get him up past the zero mark, but once more his spell wouldn’t target the man. It seemed he would have to be left alone for now. As for Tritoch himself, the giant beast was suddenly surrounded by another shield, this one transparent but still very visible.
What was with this guy and shields? If he was afraid of getting injured he shouldn’t have attacked them in the first place. However, it was a mark of how much damage they had done if he was trying to block their attacks now. Something about that shield unnerved Baron, though, and he wondered what its function was. He doubted it was a simple barrier; that would be too easy. The last one had restored Tritoch’s wings to him and caused the most recent transformation- what would this one do? Only one way to find out, really, and that was to just sit and wait, not something that Baron figured would be very beneficial to a long life. So rather than wait and see, the Twin Blade decided that it was time for the wall to come down, figuratively speaking. It was a bubble, after all, not a wall.
With a wave of his hand and a bit of gear swapping, Baron sent a Vak Don spell to crash atop the barrier. The fiery offensive didn’t leave a scratch upon impact; the attack simply vanished as it hit the bubble. Grimacing, the Twin Blade opted for something with a bit more oomph to it, a Merrows summon appearing as his Fishskin blades were switched into his main equipment. The watery summon slammed into the bubble with a fair deal of power… but with no more effect than the former spell. A Dek Raio followed, and as it failed as well Baron began to wonder if the shield granted a Magical Tolerance effect. He also noticed that the bubble extended slightly below the ground, as if something could attack from below… that was worth trying. An attempt at a Gan Zot starting inside the shield failed, though, with the ground staying perfectly flat. It seemed that magic didn’t work in the least here.
Well then, it was time for the physical portion of things. Baron dashed forward, his blades ready as he closed the gap in a burst of speed. The knives were drawn across the bubble in a flurry of motion, their edges slammed into Tritoch’s shield. Surprisingly, the barrier actually wavered for a second, and Baron thought that he had done something right. Unfortunately, all that happened was a smaller sphere forming inside the larger one. It was about the size of a basketball, and constantly in contact with the shield as it rotated in circles around it. The Twin Blade was left a bit surprised. What was up with the bubble? Another slash, another attempt to pierce the shield, provided a second sphere.
Suddenly it occurred to Baron that he might be giving Tritoch a weapon of sorts with his weapon strikes. He was curious about something else though, now: the shield had wavered with the initial strike, so did that mean it was weakened? A Vak Don came down in an experiment, the fire raining down upon the shield. Expecting another resistance, Baron was surprised when the shield wavered again, forming another sphere to add to the first two. Oh damn, so now all attacks seemed to be giving him more of those spheres… what did they do?
Well, it was time to try something unorthodox. Though people would probably give him a look that said he was an idiot, Baron tossed a Repth spell at Tritoch to see if it would act any differently from the rest of his magic. He was mildly surprised as it went through… before wondering if he could use that to his advantage. A Gan Rom and a Repth went off fairly close together, the Twin Blade hoping that whatever let the Repth spell through would also take in his offensive spell. Unfortunately, Tritoch got healed and the barrier absorbed another blow, creating a fourth sphere. So much for that. One last attempt tried to get a Vak Kruz inside the barrier, as there was enough room if Tritoch was targeted, but the balls of flame still appeared outside before crashing into the shield and creating a fifth sphere. All the while Tritoch was watching him with an evil, nasty grin, and Baron was starting to worry. One last attempt with a Twin Darkness failed as much as the rest, and a sixth sphere appeared.
It was time to give it a rest. Baron backed away carefully, expecting to be attacked, but nothing happened as he rejoined the group. He just hoped he hadn’t screwed things up badly.
((OOC: The sphere count is important in some way, so I’m keeping track of it at the end. If you guys could do the same just in case to make life easier if the number matters, it’d be appreciated.
Sphere Count: 6))
I swear that I’ll never understand your thought patterns…
I’m human, get used to it. If you don’t stop nagging I’m going to shut you guys up manually.
That was enough to quiet the two Gemini as Baron sat, waiting for a Resurrect to get him back on his feet. In the meantime, he watched the results of his attack unfold. Tritoch had been taken back down to the ground by the Twin Blade’s attacks, though it was an unintentional benefit. In all honesty Baron had simply been aiming to do as much damage as he could, regardless of the effect. His brain had accepted the idea of brute force over some cleverly convoluted way to defeat Tritoch; this wasn’t some simple in-game boss battle that could be beaten by doing something out of the box. In the case, the only answer Baron could see was hitting the monster as hard as possible and sending him packing. Of course, the gigantic beast hit much harder than they did… was it even possible to win this fight?
Nah, there was no point in negative thinking. Baron hoped more than anything that there was a way. The Freedom Fighters had been doing some damage after all, judging by the amount of pain they had caused Tritoch so far. Even now the former Admin was on the ground, dragged down through his own rage. He had been consumed by the monster he had become, no longer human beneath his bestial form. Even now, he thrashed about blindly, surprised by his sudden descent to the ground. But wait; a hint of his old intelligence shone through as he calmed long enough to spread his wings, trying to take to the sky where he was more powerful. Baron knew they couldn’t allow him to do that, not if they wanted to defeat him. They needed him grounded, where they were more effective.
Suddenly, two men came from the Root Town that Sheena had escaped to with Nall. Scratch that; they had been there a few minutes, waiting for a moment to strike. Baron hadn’t noticed them consciously, but realized that they had been there for a good deal of time. Now that Tritoch was finally on the ground, they acted, drawing whips like the guards on the walls had done. Said weapons were launched quickly, wrapping around the chimera-like beast that they faced. His wings were quickly bound, at risk of being ripped off again, and that point was emphasized as he charged at the two warriors who had come to assist them. In doing so he pulled on the whips binding his wings, drawing them taunt before letting out a roar of pain. Both of his wings were dropped to the ground again, severed by his savage, inhuman mind’s rage. Once more Tritoch was grounded, and once more he was left open for a more direct assault.
Unfortunately, something about his rage triggered memories of his other abilities, allowing him to recall spells that he had not been drawing on since he had emerged from his earlier dome. Explosions of flame rocketed out in all directions with no focus or aim, fire covering a wide range around him.
Baron backed up, the heat of the flames washing over him in a rush. He backed up, trying to think of something he could do, anything. Was there anything he could do? The Twin Blade was only a casual player character regardless of his comatose status. Unlike the others, he didn’t have their powerful “hacks” and abilities that defined their place in the Freedom Fighters. No, he was limited to the game’s rules and abilities, making him next to useless in a battle that surpassed the system. Sure, he had found a way to ground Tritoch, but in the end he hadn’t done anything; the guards from the city had been the ones to actually damage and disable him by ripping off his wings with their whips. Baron had merely been enough of an annoyance to get Tritoch to slam him into the ground. Only the monster’s lack of wit had been of any use; he could have simply fried him with a spell.
So what use was he?
You really look down on yourself far too much.
It’s true though, isn’t it? Until my supposedly latent powers “develop” as a part of the Twilight that traps me in the game, I’m just a distraction and a target.
You have something that’s more potent than any “power,” you know. You have your wits, something that power can’t match. Look at how you figured out the way through the wall, something everyone else was fumbling around in the dark on. You had it in an instant and got everyone through. Can you say you’re truly useless?
Baron paused, considering. A wry smile flickered across his lips as he remembered how things had been in his “real life.” He had been considered an overly bright child, a prodigy of sorts bordering on pure genius. That was true and all when it came to the basics of schoolwork; numbers, grammar, and simple memorization all came easily to him. But when it came to creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and intuitive leaps, the boy had been found lacking. It didn’t matter in the “real world,” where all of these facts and letters and calculations all put him in a good position. But here in the game, where those fundamentals of knowledge were nothing, he was left with nothing.
Or so he had thought. Since joining the Eventide Crescendo, something had changed. The Twin Blade had found himself making a great contribution to the group without anything special but his wits. He had solved several of the puzzles that had blocked their way, enabling the group to move forward with their mission. Though the mission itself had been a failure, it hadn’t been a result of Baron’s lack of creativity. He had proven to himself that he could think his way through these situations. The Twin Blade hadn’t thought about things that way, and suddenly it occurred to him that he wasn’t completely useless.
Alright, you win. I’m not a total lost cause.
Now that that had been established, Baron turned his attention back to the battle. He blinked as he saw Nighthand standing before Tritoch, a strange weapon in his hands that the Twin Blade had not seen before. He was still at 0 HP, non-ghosted, and was acting weird. What was going on with the man, what had the attack from before done to him? Baron tried to see if he could cast a Repth spell on the now-standing Nighthand, hoping to get him up past the zero mark, but once more his spell wouldn’t target the man. It seemed he would have to be left alone for now. As for Tritoch himself, the giant beast was suddenly surrounded by another shield, this one transparent but still very visible.
What was with this guy and shields? If he was afraid of getting injured he shouldn’t have attacked them in the first place. However, it was a mark of how much damage they had done if he was trying to block their attacks now. Something about that shield unnerved Baron, though, and he wondered what its function was. He doubted it was a simple barrier; that would be too easy. The last one had restored Tritoch’s wings to him and caused the most recent transformation- what would this one do? Only one way to find out, really, and that was to just sit and wait, not something that Baron figured would be very beneficial to a long life. So rather than wait and see, the Twin Blade decided that it was time for the wall to come down, figuratively speaking. It was a bubble, after all, not a wall.
With a wave of his hand and a bit of gear swapping, Baron sent a Vak Don spell to crash atop the barrier. The fiery offensive didn’t leave a scratch upon impact; the attack simply vanished as it hit the bubble. Grimacing, the Twin Blade opted for something with a bit more oomph to it, a Merrows summon appearing as his Fishskin blades were switched into his main equipment. The watery summon slammed into the bubble with a fair deal of power… but with no more effect than the former spell. A Dek Raio followed, and as it failed as well Baron began to wonder if the shield granted a Magical Tolerance effect. He also noticed that the bubble extended slightly below the ground, as if something could attack from below… that was worth trying. An attempt at a Gan Zot starting inside the shield failed, though, with the ground staying perfectly flat. It seemed that magic didn’t work in the least here.
Well then, it was time for the physical portion of things. Baron dashed forward, his blades ready as he closed the gap in a burst of speed. The knives were drawn across the bubble in a flurry of motion, their edges slammed into Tritoch’s shield. Surprisingly, the barrier actually wavered for a second, and Baron thought that he had done something right. Unfortunately, all that happened was a smaller sphere forming inside the larger one. It was about the size of a basketball, and constantly in contact with the shield as it rotated in circles around it. The Twin Blade was left a bit surprised. What was up with the bubble? Another slash, another attempt to pierce the shield, provided a second sphere.
Suddenly it occurred to Baron that he might be giving Tritoch a weapon of sorts with his weapon strikes. He was curious about something else though, now: the shield had wavered with the initial strike, so did that mean it was weakened? A Vak Don came down in an experiment, the fire raining down upon the shield. Expecting another resistance, Baron was surprised when the shield wavered again, forming another sphere to add to the first two. Oh damn, so now all attacks seemed to be giving him more of those spheres… what did they do?
Well, it was time to try something unorthodox. Though people would probably give him a look that said he was an idiot, Baron tossed a Repth spell at Tritoch to see if it would act any differently from the rest of his magic. He was mildly surprised as it went through… before wondering if he could use that to his advantage. A Gan Rom and a Repth went off fairly close together, the Twin Blade hoping that whatever let the Repth spell through would also take in his offensive spell. Unfortunately, Tritoch got healed and the barrier absorbed another blow, creating a fourth sphere. So much for that. One last attempt tried to get a Vak Kruz inside the barrier, as there was enough room if Tritoch was targeted, but the balls of flame still appeared outside before crashing into the shield and creating a fifth sphere. All the while Tritoch was watching him with an evil, nasty grin, and Baron was starting to worry. One last attempt with a Twin Darkness failed as much as the rest, and a sixth sphere appeared.
It was time to give it a rest. Baron backed away carefully, expecting to be attacked, but nothing happened as he rejoined the group. He just hoped he hadn’t screwed things up badly.
((OOC: The sphere count is important in some way, so I’m keeping track of it at the end. If you guys could do the same just in case to make life easier if the number matters, it’d be appreciated.
Sphere Count: 6))
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)
- Takua
- Ikkitousen
- Posts: 115
- Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:19 am
- Class: Wavemaster
- Location: Walking the line of madness
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Takua muttered something pithy and to the point after his last death and what had happened next. This fight, as closely as it resembled a boss battle, was either just as annoying or far more than one. Without the added option that, if they really fucked up, they could always just hit reset. In this case, failure meant death, and not in the resurrectable kind of way. Still...for what it was worth, it looked like Senna and Raquar had done something good in turning off the lightning bolts between the towers. So they were ready to shoot again but not under Tritoch's command? Perhaps they could use the tower to zap the man later when he didn't expect to be shot in the ass by his own power.
...maybe.
For now though, they had a few other things to worry about. Like the bubble around his body that, as Baron proceeded to demonstrate, was very good at absorbing attacks and, from the looks of it, putting them to use for Tritoch. He wasn't sure what the six spheres meandering around inside of the bubble were good for, but the smile on their enemy's face was a sure indication that, whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good. The Wavemaster wasn't so sure about trying to destroy the bubble though. From what he had seen, however temporary, it looked like all attacks, spell or otherwise, were sucked on up and converted into the spheres on the inside of the bubble.
There were a few lines of thought that could thus be reasonably inferred. One, the spheres would be used in some kind of attack against them. That was not only logical but likely, considering the smile that just kept on growing. Second, just throwing themselves against the bubble would only heighten the effectiveness of the attack unless they could stop it cold, something that Takua wasn't sure that they could do. A shield-counter shouldn't have weaknesses by its very design, and the fight so far had been lacking...something. A sense of urgency that Tritoch could really wipe them all out faster than they could resurrect each other and keep on beating the shit out of him. A countering shield, on the other hand, would put a halt to that in a way. Simply, they couldn't hit him without causing more damage to themselves...at least until the shield went away.
Hopefully.
Maybe they would have to pop the shield or else Tritoch would just keep attacking them. Either way, it was time to experiment a little without giving Tritoch too much ammunition. Walking so that the towers were between him and Tritoch, Takua let a Rue Rom lightly touch down on a tower gem. The bolt of lightning slammed into the bubble and vanished, a bright afterimage playing on his eyes; but when he could finally see again it was yet another sphere floating on the inside of the bubble. Muttering to himself about irony and wishing that he hadn't increased the smile on Tritoch's face, he began to consider other options. Not that he could see many. There was always the vague possibility that the absorption of spells wouldn't work if there was already a sphere under it, or would pop the underlying sphere. Maybe. But when he tried it with a Vak Don, all he did was make another sphere. Hardly the desired outcome that he'd been looking for in the least.
Well...there really much more that he could think of, sadly enough. Just attacking willy-nilly didn't really seem to be conducive to their survival. Which meant that attacking idly without actually thinking about what they were doing was wrong. Just on the off chance that it would give him some information, the boy went up and touched the bubble shield. For all that it looked like a fragile bubble, it was hard as glass under his fingers. So, that wouldn't work then would it? The only thing that he could think of was attacking at the same time, although that didn't seem like it would work terribly well either. But it was worth a shot, just to rule it out of future consideration. So, of course, he asked Demorian.
"Hey Demorian. This might seem counterproductive, but could you throw out a spell, any kind, at the same time that I do?"
"Sure, why not?"
The spells went off at the same time the moment that Takua motioned for the man to cast. Demorian had cast a Rue Rom, the Wavemaster an OrRue Rom to test out how third level spells might react. Unfortunately, and more or less as expected, all that happened was the addition of two new spheres on the inside of the bubble. Muttering to himself about how things weren't going as planned, he took a few steps back and looked around. Nighthand's new condition spoke worlds about what that Data Drain could have done to them all, and not something that he was happy about. The guy looked zombified.
((10 Spheres))
...maybe.
For now though, they had a few other things to worry about. Like the bubble around his body that, as Baron proceeded to demonstrate, was very good at absorbing attacks and, from the looks of it, putting them to use for Tritoch. He wasn't sure what the six spheres meandering around inside of the bubble were good for, but the smile on their enemy's face was a sure indication that, whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good. The Wavemaster wasn't so sure about trying to destroy the bubble though. From what he had seen, however temporary, it looked like all attacks, spell or otherwise, were sucked on up and converted into the spheres on the inside of the bubble.
There were a few lines of thought that could thus be reasonably inferred. One, the spheres would be used in some kind of attack against them. That was not only logical but likely, considering the smile that just kept on growing. Second, just throwing themselves against the bubble would only heighten the effectiveness of the attack unless they could stop it cold, something that Takua wasn't sure that they could do. A shield-counter shouldn't have weaknesses by its very design, and the fight so far had been lacking...something. A sense of urgency that Tritoch could really wipe them all out faster than they could resurrect each other and keep on beating the shit out of him. A countering shield, on the other hand, would put a halt to that in a way. Simply, they couldn't hit him without causing more damage to themselves...at least until the shield went away.
Hopefully.
Maybe they would have to pop the shield or else Tritoch would just keep attacking them. Either way, it was time to experiment a little without giving Tritoch too much ammunition. Walking so that the towers were between him and Tritoch, Takua let a Rue Rom lightly touch down on a tower gem. The bolt of lightning slammed into the bubble and vanished, a bright afterimage playing on his eyes; but when he could finally see again it was yet another sphere floating on the inside of the bubble. Muttering to himself about irony and wishing that he hadn't increased the smile on Tritoch's face, he began to consider other options. Not that he could see many. There was always the vague possibility that the absorption of spells wouldn't work if there was already a sphere under it, or would pop the underlying sphere. Maybe. But when he tried it with a Vak Don, all he did was make another sphere. Hardly the desired outcome that he'd been looking for in the least.
Well...there really much more that he could think of, sadly enough. Just attacking willy-nilly didn't really seem to be conducive to their survival. Which meant that attacking idly without actually thinking about what they were doing was wrong. Just on the off chance that it would give him some information, the boy went up and touched the bubble shield. For all that it looked like a fragile bubble, it was hard as glass under his fingers. So, that wouldn't work then would it? The only thing that he could think of was attacking at the same time, although that didn't seem like it would work terribly well either. But it was worth a shot, just to rule it out of future consideration. So, of course, he asked Demorian.
"Hey Demorian. This might seem counterproductive, but could you throw out a spell, any kind, at the same time that I do?"
"Sure, why not?"
The spells went off at the same time the moment that Takua motioned for the man to cast. Demorian had cast a Rue Rom, the Wavemaster an OrRue Rom to test out how third level spells might react. Unfortunately, and more or less as expected, all that happened was the addition of two new spheres on the inside of the bubble. Muttering to himself about how things weren't going as planned, he took a few steps back and looked around. Nighthand's new condition spoke worlds about what that Data Drain could have done to them all, and not something that he was happy about. The guy looked zombified.
((10 Spheres))
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
As the second gem was tapped, it lost its zappity power, much to Senna’s relief. However, once the zappitys stopped… that was it. Loathe though she’d be to admitting to getting her hopes up, she had been expecting something more… something.
As Raquar returned to the ground level, she said, “Nice. Now wha-” but her attention was drawn away from that conversation. Tritoch was loudly and with gusto throwing a temper tantrum that would do any two-year-old proud. However, it seemed he had some abilities they should all be thankful typical two-year-olds lacked, including wrapping himself in some sort of shell, as well as seemingly taking over their de facto leader’s body.
Well, wasn’t that a bitch, she thought with a sinking feeling. She didn’t really get what he could *do* but she did know he was powerful, vastly more powerful than them. And now he was standing in front of Tritoch like a glass-eyed golem. Their unwelcome add-on tried to talk to him (maybe to break him out of the stupor – how ironic would THAT be? – but she half expected some treachery in the act) then retreated again, and the next round was on.
“Gonna try something,” she muttered to the other Long Arm, circling wide to try to come in from the side of Tritoch NOT being guarded by an insanely powerful player. She had no real desire to die in a horribly painful way, and attacking from the back, while considered unsportsmanlike, DID offer the best opportunity. Perhaps attacking from multiple angles would split his attention, weaken his resolve and bring down the shield faster? Lord knew she’d rather try to take down the towers now that their zappitys were off (if for no other reason than personal pride) but this seemed a more immediate concern, and-
As she circled around, she saw others were keeping the thing busy – Both Takua and the new Twin Blade guy were both attacking, but the result was… odd. The shield seemed to pull the spells in, as though it were a particularly durable soap bubble, and all attacks were encapsulated in their individual containers in there with Tritoch. The attacks were getting in, they just weren’t being effective. So they needed another angle, somehow.
The answer was so simple she almost thought right past it. If attacking from the outside didn’t help, maybe attacking from the *inside* would. And she could unfortunately – maybe – do that. However, her piddling spells and skills wouldn’t do much in this case. She needed the biggest gun she had. There would likely be only time for one shot before a spectacular and hopefully quick death. Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out the Summon Wood scroll she’d been hanging on to and unfurled it against the haft of her spear, ready for use. Then she was running up behind, closing, hoping to God she would be able to repeat her earlier performance, which had been through a much thicker barrier but which she’d had time to prepare for, to go slow through. Now, as she reached it, she could only imagine where the wall was, to will it to pass through her without touching her, and then she was through, inside the shield.
Any sense of victory was tempered by the realization she’d just placed herself *inside* essentially a room with something as angry, unstable and powerful as this guy. Also, the weariness that had hit her after the first time she tried this slammed back with a vengeance.
In perhaps an instant of divine intervention, it seemed the angle she’d chosen – or perhaps just her ability – had caught the guy unawares and for the space of a breath, they just stared at one another. Then she invoked the spell and everything inside went blindingly crazy green. Summon spells were *not* meant to be caged, and this one was stuck within the shield.
The spell seemed to last forever when she was stuck in the middle of it, but when it finally faded away, she found that the only thing that had changed was the lack of the scroll in her inventory. Tritoch didn’t look particularly pleased, but he wasn’t injured in any way. Once he could see her clearly, he took a swipe with one of his wands.
She couldn’t move nearly fast enough to mitigate part of the attack, though it seemed that he wasn’t really putting his all into it. She felt leaden, she had just made an absolute fool of herself on top of showing everyone the weirdness she could do now, and her thoughts turned to just one – get outside, get out to help before he killed her in here and precluded her being resurrected in any semblance of safety. She didn’t turn, just ran forward, to get to the other side, trying to focus on that physical shifting. It wasn’t until she was nearly there she realized she was heading somewhat for Nighthand – not directly, but enough that, if circumstances were normal, they would have bumped shoulders. Did she was to draw his attention? No, but she wasn’t sure she could go through *people.* She hadn’t tried. Ugh…
She reached the barrier, but the mental image, her focus, was shot. Come on, just go, just go! she thought as she started through.
And then everything went silent.
She stumbled forward a few steps more, camke to a stop and planted her spear to help support her literally trembling body, then looked up to see all color had gone. It was like she’d died, but there was no memory of the death, no pain, no plummeting HP bar beyond that first hit. She thought back to the other time it had been like this – exhausted, harried, then suddenly over here.
She lit into a string of curses then, all vehement despite the lacking tone that tiredness lent them. Of all the times. This was the price of lacking control, this was the price of using that stupid, cowardly power too much. And now, she had to try to remember how it was she could get *back.*
((OOC: Still 10 spheres – I didn’t make one. No damage to our buddy the baddie. For all intents and purposes, Senna has disappeared from the field))
As Raquar returned to the ground level, she said, “Nice. Now wha-” but her attention was drawn away from that conversation. Tritoch was loudly and with gusto throwing a temper tantrum that would do any two-year-old proud. However, it seemed he had some abilities they should all be thankful typical two-year-olds lacked, including wrapping himself in some sort of shell, as well as seemingly taking over their de facto leader’s body.
Well, wasn’t that a bitch, she thought with a sinking feeling. She didn’t really get what he could *do* but she did know he was powerful, vastly more powerful than them. And now he was standing in front of Tritoch like a glass-eyed golem. Their unwelcome add-on tried to talk to him (maybe to break him out of the stupor – how ironic would THAT be? – but she half expected some treachery in the act) then retreated again, and the next round was on.
“Gonna try something,” she muttered to the other Long Arm, circling wide to try to come in from the side of Tritoch NOT being guarded by an insanely powerful player. She had no real desire to die in a horribly painful way, and attacking from the back, while considered unsportsmanlike, DID offer the best opportunity. Perhaps attacking from multiple angles would split his attention, weaken his resolve and bring down the shield faster? Lord knew she’d rather try to take down the towers now that their zappitys were off (if for no other reason than personal pride) but this seemed a more immediate concern, and-
As she circled around, she saw others were keeping the thing busy – Both Takua and the new Twin Blade guy were both attacking, but the result was… odd. The shield seemed to pull the spells in, as though it were a particularly durable soap bubble, and all attacks were encapsulated in their individual containers in there with Tritoch. The attacks were getting in, they just weren’t being effective. So they needed another angle, somehow.
The answer was so simple she almost thought right past it. If attacking from the outside didn’t help, maybe attacking from the *inside* would. And she could unfortunately – maybe – do that. However, her piddling spells and skills wouldn’t do much in this case. She needed the biggest gun she had. There would likely be only time for one shot before a spectacular and hopefully quick death. Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out the Summon Wood scroll she’d been hanging on to and unfurled it against the haft of her spear, ready for use. Then she was running up behind, closing, hoping to God she would be able to repeat her earlier performance, which had been through a much thicker barrier but which she’d had time to prepare for, to go slow through. Now, as she reached it, she could only imagine where the wall was, to will it to pass through her without touching her, and then she was through, inside the shield.
Any sense of victory was tempered by the realization she’d just placed herself *inside* essentially a room with something as angry, unstable and powerful as this guy. Also, the weariness that had hit her after the first time she tried this slammed back with a vengeance.
In perhaps an instant of divine intervention, it seemed the angle she’d chosen – or perhaps just her ability – had caught the guy unawares and for the space of a breath, they just stared at one another. Then she invoked the spell and everything inside went blindingly crazy green. Summon spells were *not* meant to be caged, and this one was stuck within the shield.
The spell seemed to last forever when she was stuck in the middle of it, but when it finally faded away, she found that the only thing that had changed was the lack of the scroll in her inventory. Tritoch didn’t look particularly pleased, but he wasn’t injured in any way. Once he could see her clearly, he took a swipe with one of his wands.
She couldn’t move nearly fast enough to mitigate part of the attack, though it seemed that he wasn’t really putting his all into it. She felt leaden, she had just made an absolute fool of herself on top of showing everyone the weirdness she could do now, and her thoughts turned to just one – get outside, get out to help before he killed her in here and precluded her being resurrected in any semblance of safety. She didn’t turn, just ran forward, to get to the other side, trying to focus on that physical shifting. It wasn’t until she was nearly there she realized she was heading somewhat for Nighthand – not directly, but enough that, if circumstances were normal, they would have bumped shoulders. Did she was to draw his attention? No, but she wasn’t sure she could go through *people.* She hadn’t tried. Ugh…
She reached the barrier, but the mental image, her focus, was shot. Come on, just go, just go! she thought as she started through.
And then everything went silent.
She stumbled forward a few steps more, camke to a stop and planted her spear to help support her literally trembling body, then looked up to see all color had gone. It was like she’d died, but there was no memory of the death, no pain, no plummeting HP bar beyond that first hit. She thought back to the other time it had been like this – exhausted, harried, then suddenly over here.
She lit into a string of curses then, all vehement despite the lacking tone that tiredness lent them. Of all the times. This was the price of lacking control, this was the price of using that stupid, cowardly power too much. And now, she had to try to remember how it was she could get *back.*
((OOC: Still 10 spheres – I didn’t make one. No damage to our buddy the baddie. For all intents and purposes, Senna has disappeared from the field))
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...
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Somewhere amidst the twists and turns of Yamiyo, a deal was being made. All for the future of Nall. The power Sheena had to gift, to allow to be copied, was formidable. Yet that was the price she must pay to heal the broken man. For once, his injuries were far beyond her ability to patch up. Of all the times… She was agonized to have to be still at a time like this. The freedom fighters were out there, fighting Tritoch, and they could use her power. Still, she couldn’t leave Nall with her price unpaid. Too much was at stake.
Meanwhile, on the field of battle, the order of the day was near misses. Dien’s attempt at an Ap Vakz and a Vak Don brought an eleventh sphere into play, but the closest they had come was Senna’s apparently suicidal attempt to let off a summon inside the bubble. Tritoch had no idea how she managed to get inside, and his anger was building once again. Just now, however, he couldn’t do a thing about it.
Nighthand, his head drooping as if asleep, took a step.
Demorian was circling Tritoch, looking for a weakness, anywhere he could stab. He had seen physical attacks cause the same sphere-forming as magical attacks, and so he refrained from hacking away in an attempt to burst the bubble, but he did note a slight wavering to the bubble itself. He called out to the group.
“Hey guys! I dunno if it’s connected, but it looks like the more spheres Tritoch has, the thinner his outer bubble is.” He grinned when Tritoch whirled on him.
“GRAH, YOU! WHO EVEN ARE YOU? The trash around you doesn’t pick up pieces like you.” He growled, but he stood still. Either he didn’t want to move with the bubble, or the bubble wouldn’t move with him.
Demorian smiled, eyeing the symbol on the bestial chest that had lit up to summon the bubble. If only he could poke it, see what it meant. “Me? I’ve been around a lot longer than you have, buddy.”
Tritoch roared, a duller and less threatening sound than when he still had his draconic head to roar with him. Demorian chuckled.
Nighthand, his custom blade outstretched and unwavering, took a step.
Demorian continued to circle the beast, looking for anything he could find, but now Tritoch had his eye on him. The Blademaster found the ex-admin turning to follow. So he shrugged and went to stand with the Blademaster guardian.
“Good of you two to show up. I don’t suppose you’ve seen this sort of barrier before?” As a familiar resident of Yamiyo, he knew to not underestimate the history of the Guardians.
In a slightly sandy voice, the knight replied. “Nothing quite like it. There was one, absorbed all attacks and shot them back, but it didn’t look like this. It didn’t work on physical attacks either; with no weapon, the attack just poofed when it was released. That’s how we killed it, overloading it with attacks it couldn’t reflect.” The knight kept an eye to the monster, even while talking. “Nothing like this, though.”
Demorian shrugged. “Oh well. Guess we’ll find out.” He started flipping through his inventory, but nothing he saw seemed like it would help. His item collection had dropped low with his Marionette persona, and he hadn’t had a chance to restock.
Nighthand, his cloak heavy and unmoving in the slight breeze, stepped forward. The tip of his blade pressed against the bubble, and he leaned, putting as much force into it as he could. It was eerie, the silence in which this happened. Nighthand didn’t make a sound, and Tritoch stood silent watching. His bubble didn’t react; this was no attack, or rather, if it was it wasn’t one that had completed and thus wouldn’t form a sphere.
Demorian watched, curious, wondering what would happen. Nighthand’s sword was steady, all the force he could muster pushing it towards the heard of Tritoch, towards that strange glowing symbol. If there was any concern that Nighthand was a puppet of the beasts, this would rule that out. Still, what was happening? The answer, so far, appeared to be “nothing.”
(11 spheres, counting the one that will be at the start of Dien's post.)
Meanwhile, on the field of battle, the order of the day was near misses. Dien’s attempt at an Ap Vakz and a Vak Don brought an eleventh sphere into play, but the closest they had come was Senna’s apparently suicidal attempt to let off a summon inside the bubble. Tritoch had no idea how she managed to get inside, and his anger was building once again. Just now, however, he couldn’t do a thing about it.
Nighthand, his head drooping as if asleep, took a step.
Demorian was circling Tritoch, looking for a weakness, anywhere he could stab. He had seen physical attacks cause the same sphere-forming as magical attacks, and so he refrained from hacking away in an attempt to burst the bubble, but he did note a slight wavering to the bubble itself. He called out to the group.
“Hey guys! I dunno if it’s connected, but it looks like the more spheres Tritoch has, the thinner his outer bubble is.” He grinned when Tritoch whirled on him.
“GRAH, YOU! WHO EVEN ARE YOU? The trash around you doesn’t pick up pieces like you.” He growled, but he stood still. Either he didn’t want to move with the bubble, or the bubble wouldn’t move with him.
Demorian smiled, eyeing the symbol on the bestial chest that had lit up to summon the bubble. If only he could poke it, see what it meant. “Me? I’ve been around a lot longer than you have, buddy.”
Tritoch roared, a duller and less threatening sound than when he still had his draconic head to roar with him. Demorian chuckled.
Nighthand, his custom blade outstretched and unwavering, took a step.
Demorian continued to circle the beast, looking for anything he could find, but now Tritoch had his eye on him. The Blademaster found the ex-admin turning to follow. So he shrugged and went to stand with the Blademaster guardian.
“Good of you two to show up. I don’t suppose you’ve seen this sort of barrier before?” As a familiar resident of Yamiyo, he knew to not underestimate the history of the Guardians.
In a slightly sandy voice, the knight replied. “Nothing quite like it. There was one, absorbed all attacks and shot them back, but it didn’t look like this. It didn’t work on physical attacks either; with no weapon, the attack just poofed when it was released. That’s how we killed it, overloading it with attacks it couldn’t reflect.” The knight kept an eye to the monster, even while talking. “Nothing like this, though.”
Demorian shrugged. “Oh well. Guess we’ll find out.” He started flipping through his inventory, but nothing he saw seemed like it would help. His item collection had dropped low with his Marionette persona, and he hadn’t had a chance to restock.
Nighthand, his cloak heavy and unmoving in the slight breeze, stepped forward. The tip of his blade pressed against the bubble, and he leaned, putting as much force into it as he could. It was eerie, the silence in which this happened. Nighthand didn’t make a sound, and Tritoch stood silent watching. His bubble didn’t react; this was no attack, or rather, if it was it wasn’t one that had completed and thus wouldn’t form a sphere.
Demorian watched, curious, wondering what would happen. Nighthand’s sword was steady, all the force he could muster pushing it towards the heard of Tritoch, towards that strange glowing symbol. If there was any concern that Nighthand was a puppet of the beasts, this would rule that out. Still, what was happening? The answer, so far, appeared to be “nothing.”
(11 spheres, counting the one that will be at the start of Dien's post.)
![Image](http://static.flickr.com/48/185807763_8ac187a5da_o.jpg)
Wishlist: Any Armor or Weapons under level 50, Any Scrolls (prefer level 2+)
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Watching the battle unfold, Baron felt a tinge of relief. It seemed he hadn’t messed up after all, since everyone’s actions seemed to be producing results similar to his own. More spheres appeared within the giant shield that Tritoch had produced, numbering a full eleven by now. The Twin Blade had no idea what the point of the spheres was, but he had an odd feeling that he’d find out all too soon. In the meantime, he knew he had to try and figure out a way to break through, to get to the Admin inside. If the Freedom Fighters couldn’t hit Tritoch, they couldn’t very well beat him, now could they? The only problem was that everything Baron had thrown at it, literally everything that he had thrown at it, had been converted into those spheres.
The answer came a few minutes later as Demorian made one of his usual witty remarks, his cocky attitude showing itself like it always seemed to. He mentioned that as more bubbles formed, the shield got thinner. Baron took a closer look and realized that he was right- where there had been a much more solid shield before, it was more transparent and ephemeral. The Twin Blade considered what that meant; if more spheres weakened the shield, then they should simply keep creating more until the barrier simply shattered under the pressure, right? On the other hand, there was also the worry that the spheres were weapons; if more and more would form, wouldn’t Tritoch suddenly have something infinitely more powerful at his disposal? That alone was something to warrant worry.
I thought you humans lived to gamble. Your only possible chance right now is the weakening of the shield. If you give him a weapon and most of your group gets wiped out? Well then, you’ll find a way to keep going. I’m sure the Puppetmaster over there can bring everyone back or something.
They were right. Anything worth trying that could defeat this massive monster was something worth dying over. Baron took a deep breath, checking his SP reserves as he put together a plan. He only had about twenty SP, since his regeneration rate was anything but fast. A quick Mage’s Soul patched that up, giving him a good amount of his SP back. Now the question was how to begin the assault: should he simply bombard it with magic from a distance, or conserve his SP while using his blades to weaken the shield? The latter seemed somewhat foolish, since his spells had very little effect on Tritoch before. Plus, attacking from a distance with magic gave him the advantage of more reaction time in case a counterattack came. Baron was sick and tired of getting fried over and over, and this was the best way to avoid a repeat performance.
With his plan in mind, Baron starting switching out his gear, adding as much to his magical strength as he could. Sure, there was no sign that stronger attacks would reduce the shield faster, but anything was worth a try. Once he was set, a hand was raised to the heavens, glowing with an eldritch yellow light that shone even in the sunlit daytime. A Rai Don was quickly called down, striking at Tritoch’s shield with a clap of thunder. The ground shook from the force, but Baron didn’t let up on his assault. Bolt after bolt struck, lightning defying its own physics as it struck the same spot over and over, charging the air with static electricity around the bubble. The Twin Blade could almost feel his hair lifting away from his face as it built up, and more spheres were formed from the spellcasting. He only relaxed when his SP ran dry, lowering his hand back to his side.
Another twelve bubbles had formed within the sphere, and Baron started to let out a sigh of frustration. Had all of that been for nothing? No. Looking closer, the Twin Blade could see that the shield was much thinner than before, with the number of spheres inside it numbering a full twenty-three. It wouldn’t be much longer, by the looks of things. His supplies were starting to run low in the SP department, though, and they didn’t have any guarantee that the town would be safe; it was best to conserve what little he had until they were really secure.
There was always another option though. Baron pulled out his blades with a grin, knowing that he’d likely end up getting himself killed like he always did. But he wasn’t a Wavemaster; he couldn’t just sit back and throw spell after spell. Plus, even if he did stay at a distance, he was going to get hit, maimed and/or killed at some point or another. There was no complete avoidance of the reality that they were trapped in the game, much as Baron wanted to pretend that it wasn’t real. No, he had finally come to accept that this was how it was, and that this was how it had to be. There was no denying the feeling of the nearly-calm breeze on his skin, the dust choking in his throat, the cold steel held in his hands; it was real.
Alright, have your dramatic acceptance moment later, champ. You’ve got other things to worry about at the moment, don’t you?
…And right on cue, the moment was ruined. Baron chuckled, the first time in the long while since he had last done so. The Twin Blade shook his head in amusement at his own antics before suddenly charging forward towards Tritoch. His wings vanished as he recalled them, having no more use for them while Tritoch was on the ground. He could recall them in an instant if needed, but for now they were just in the way. Dust was stirred up with each step as he closed the distance between himself and his opponent, silver eyes narrowing in concentration. He drew closer and closer, only feet away…
Suddenly Tritoch loomed right in Baron’s face, his shield within easy reach. Metal flashed in the sunlight as the Twin Blade slashed twice with his weapons, almost like an X across the surface of the sphere. The shield wavered again, more visibly than before, and two more spheres formed. There were more than two dozen of them floating inside, but Baron didn’t care. He spun on his heel, the weapons striking again in parallel slashes across the shield. Two more bubbles formed, and two more after that with another quick pair of attacks. Another cut left a grand total of thirty bubbles within the shield that Tritoch had put up. The Twin Blade grimaced as he looked at his work, realizing that he had just added a full nineteen bubbles to the barrier in the short time he had been attacking. But he had to keep it up, the shield protecting Tritoch looked like it could go down any time. One more strike could do it…
That strike, a stab from his blades, did bring about an effect, though not the one he had anticipated. As he hit the shield, one of the smaller spheres removed itself from its confines and floated lazily toward Baron. The Twin Blade reacted automatically, expecting to be some kind of powerful attack, and a Rai Don shot down from the sky to strike at the floating bubble. It popped easily, struck down by the spell… instants before an explosion of flame caught him off-guard and charbroiled him. There wasn’t really time to react, but he knew one thing for certain- he had been one-shot by the attack. Ow.
That’s what you get for attacking without thinking… your team has been feeding spells and abilities into that shield, forming those bubbles; you’d think it would have a counterattack if you destroyed one.
Do you two exist only to lecture me? Because if so, I liked you better when you were quiet.
A Resurrect of some sort came quickly, leaving the Twin Blade without his SP but back to life. A Mage’s Soul was downed to counteract that, but now Baron knew what was going on. It seemed that the bubbles were set to be released from the shield every time the barrier was hit, sort of a last-resort counter method in case the shield was weakened enough. The bubble had lingered around the shield, so it was assumed that it would absorb an attack sent at the barrier, destroying any and all opposition. Certainly it was working; the last attack had literally incinerated Baron from full HP to none in a single hit. The best way to deal with this countermeasure would be to get rid of all of the bubbles at once. It would require one of them to be sacrificed, and likely be excruciatingly painful but… Baron figured that he wasn’t doing much to Tritoch himself anyway. It would be best if he was the target for the hell that would develop once the defenses reacted to an attack. Steeling himself, he looked over his spell set once again, and decided that another spray of Rai Dons would do the trick. They were the cheapest, after all.
A single gloved hand was raised in the air as Baron closed his eyes, praying that it wouldn’t hurt too much.
The first strike that came down from the sky was immediately followed by another, and another, until it seemed like a steady rain of lightning was coming down atop the barrier. As his SP was starting to run low, Baron found it upped again by a Mage’s Soul from an unknown source, and then another as that ran dry. After a total of twenty-nine strikes from his Rai Dons, the bubbles had all left the barrier, leaving it to fall as the last emerged from the shell. The Twin Blade was left surprised at the result; he had only expected to get rid of the defenses, not the shield itself as well. That was an unexpected bonus, but that also meant that Tritoch was bound to be very, very mad. There was also the problem of the bubbles hanging close around him, like the shield had been before. Only unlike the shield, these would pop like the soap bubbles they resembled. So naturally Baron threw out a Rai Rom spell, hoping to pop a large number of them with a single strike, even if it would cost him his current life. Better him than one of the more useful members, right?
As he braced himself for multiple gouts of flame, Baron was actually surprised to find a much different result; he was instead paralyzed, unable to move. Worse off was that the bubbles themselves seemed unaffected by the Rai rom. No wait, there was one less. So his big, area-of-effect tornado of lightning had popped one of the bubbles. Talk about underwhelming. It was probably just another feature of the defense; this thing could absorb a ton of attacks and seriously disrupt any opposition.
Well, until he could move, he was done, though Tritoch certainly didn’t seem pleased with the results…
((OOC: Okay, bubbles count-down now! Remaining: 28))
The answer came a few minutes later as Demorian made one of his usual witty remarks, his cocky attitude showing itself like it always seemed to. He mentioned that as more bubbles formed, the shield got thinner. Baron took a closer look and realized that he was right- where there had been a much more solid shield before, it was more transparent and ephemeral. The Twin Blade considered what that meant; if more spheres weakened the shield, then they should simply keep creating more until the barrier simply shattered under the pressure, right? On the other hand, there was also the worry that the spheres were weapons; if more and more would form, wouldn’t Tritoch suddenly have something infinitely more powerful at his disposal? That alone was something to warrant worry.
I thought you humans lived to gamble. Your only possible chance right now is the weakening of the shield. If you give him a weapon and most of your group gets wiped out? Well then, you’ll find a way to keep going. I’m sure the Puppetmaster over there can bring everyone back or something.
They were right. Anything worth trying that could defeat this massive monster was something worth dying over. Baron took a deep breath, checking his SP reserves as he put together a plan. He only had about twenty SP, since his regeneration rate was anything but fast. A quick Mage’s Soul patched that up, giving him a good amount of his SP back. Now the question was how to begin the assault: should he simply bombard it with magic from a distance, or conserve his SP while using his blades to weaken the shield? The latter seemed somewhat foolish, since his spells had very little effect on Tritoch before. Plus, attacking from a distance with magic gave him the advantage of more reaction time in case a counterattack came. Baron was sick and tired of getting fried over and over, and this was the best way to avoid a repeat performance.
With his plan in mind, Baron starting switching out his gear, adding as much to his magical strength as he could. Sure, there was no sign that stronger attacks would reduce the shield faster, but anything was worth a try. Once he was set, a hand was raised to the heavens, glowing with an eldritch yellow light that shone even in the sunlit daytime. A Rai Don was quickly called down, striking at Tritoch’s shield with a clap of thunder. The ground shook from the force, but Baron didn’t let up on his assault. Bolt after bolt struck, lightning defying its own physics as it struck the same spot over and over, charging the air with static electricity around the bubble. The Twin Blade could almost feel his hair lifting away from his face as it built up, and more spheres were formed from the spellcasting. He only relaxed when his SP ran dry, lowering his hand back to his side.
Another twelve bubbles had formed within the sphere, and Baron started to let out a sigh of frustration. Had all of that been for nothing? No. Looking closer, the Twin Blade could see that the shield was much thinner than before, with the number of spheres inside it numbering a full twenty-three. It wouldn’t be much longer, by the looks of things. His supplies were starting to run low in the SP department, though, and they didn’t have any guarantee that the town would be safe; it was best to conserve what little he had until they were really secure.
There was always another option though. Baron pulled out his blades with a grin, knowing that he’d likely end up getting himself killed like he always did. But he wasn’t a Wavemaster; he couldn’t just sit back and throw spell after spell. Plus, even if he did stay at a distance, he was going to get hit, maimed and/or killed at some point or another. There was no complete avoidance of the reality that they were trapped in the game, much as Baron wanted to pretend that it wasn’t real. No, he had finally come to accept that this was how it was, and that this was how it had to be. There was no denying the feeling of the nearly-calm breeze on his skin, the dust choking in his throat, the cold steel held in his hands; it was real.
Alright, have your dramatic acceptance moment later, champ. You’ve got other things to worry about at the moment, don’t you?
…And right on cue, the moment was ruined. Baron chuckled, the first time in the long while since he had last done so. The Twin Blade shook his head in amusement at his own antics before suddenly charging forward towards Tritoch. His wings vanished as he recalled them, having no more use for them while Tritoch was on the ground. He could recall them in an instant if needed, but for now they were just in the way. Dust was stirred up with each step as he closed the distance between himself and his opponent, silver eyes narrowing in concentration. He drew closer and closer, only feet away…
Suddenly Tritoch loomed right in Baron’s face, his shield within easy reach. Metal flashed in the sunlight as the Twin Blade slashed twice with his weapons, almost like an X across the surface of the sphere. The shield wavered again, more visibly than before, and two more spheres formed. There were more than two dozen of them floating inside, but Baron didn’t care. He spun on his heel, the weapons striking again in parallel slashes across the shield. Two more bubbles formed, and two more after that with another quick pair of attacks. Another cut left a grand total of thirty bubbles within the shield that Tritoch had put up. The Twin Blade grimaced as he looked at his work, realizing that he had just added a full nineteen bubbles to the barrier in the short time he had been attacking. But he had to keep it up, the shield protecting Tritoch looked like it could go down any time. One more strike could do it…
That strike, a stab from his blades, did bring about an effect, though not the one he had anticipated. As he hit the shield, one of the smaller spheres removed itself from its confines and floated lazily toward Baron. The Twin Blade reacted automatically, expecting to be some kind of powerful attack, and a Rai Don shot down from the sky to strike at the floating bubble. It popped easily, struck down by the spell… instants before an explosion of flame caught him off-guard and charbroiled him. There wasn’t really time to react, but he knew one thing for certain- he had been one-shot by the attack. Ow.
That’s what you get for attacking without thinking… your team has been feeding spells and abilities into that shield, forming those bubbles; you’d think it would have a counterattack if you destroyed one.
Do you two exist only to lecture me? Because if so, I liked you better when you were quiet.
A Resurrect of some sort came quickly, leaving the Twin Blade without his SP but back to life. A Mage’s Soul was downed to counteract that, but now Baron knew what was going on. It seemed that the bubbles were set to be released from the shield every time the barrier was hit, sort of a last-resort counter method in case the shield was weakened enough. The bubble had lingered around the shield, so it was assumed that it would absorb an attack sent at the barrier, destroying any and all opposition. Certainly it was working; the last attack had literally incinerated Baron from full HP to none in a single hit. The best way to deal with this countermeasure would be to get rid of all of the bubbles at once. It would require one of them to be sacrificed, and likely be excruciatingly painful but… Baron figured that he wasn’t doing much to Tritoch himself anyway. It would be best if he was the target for the hell that would develop once the defenses reacted to an attack. Steeling himself, he looked over his spell set once again, and decided that another spray of Rai Dons would do the trick. They were the cheapest, after all.
A single gloved hand was raised in the air as Baron closed his eyes, praying that it wouldn’t hurt too much.
The first strike that came down from the sky was immediately followed by another, and another, until it seemed like a steady rain of lightning was coming down atop the barrier. As his SP was starting to run low, Baron found it upped again by a Mage’s Soul from an unknown source, and then another as that ran dry. After a total of twenty-nine strikes from his Rai Dons, the bubbles had all left the barrier, leaving it to fall as the last emerged from the shell. The Twin Blade was left surprised at the result; he had only expected to get rid of the defenses, not the shield itself as well. That was an unexpected bonus, but that also meant that Tritoch was bound to be very, very mad. There was also the problem of the bubbles hanging close around him, like the shield had been before. Only unlike the shield, these would pop like the soap bubbles they resembled. So naturally Baron threw out a Rai Rom spell, hoping to pop a large number of them with a single strike, even if it would cost him his current life. Better him than one of the more useful members, right?
As he braced himself for multiple gouts of flame, Baron was actually surprised to find a much different result; he was instead paralyzed, unable to move. Worse off was that the bubbles themselves seemed unaffected by the Rai rom. No wait, there was one less. So his big, area-of-effect tornado of lightning had popped one of the bubbles. Talk about underwhelming. It was probably just another feature of the defense; this thing could absorb a ton of attacks and seriously disrupt any opposition.
Well, until he could move, he was done, though Tritoch certainly didn’t seem pleased with the results…
((OOC: Okay, bubbles count-down now! Remaining: 28))
Character Information
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)
Baron | Level 47 Twin Blade [100/1000 EXP] | 891 HP / 265 SP
Weapon: Fishskin
Armor: Emperor's Crown/Bone Armor/Thunder Gloves/Ninja Anklet
Accessories/Books: Ethereal Angel Wings, Silver Grunty
Skills: Thunder Coil, Gale of Swords
Spells: Merrows, GiRai Don, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot, Rai Don, Ani Don, Duk Lei
GP: 750 (As of 8/2/15)
Wishlist: Nny Scales, Lucky Shoes, Saint Cross, Greave Sticker, Pet EX-Levels/Spheres(!)
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
The fit of anger Tritoch went into made the boy think that they were doing well, people usually didn’t get angry when they were winning. After spouting about in a voice the Long Arm was sure they heard back in Mac Anu, the chimera-esque creature huffed and went into a bubble to pout. The boy was incredulous. Seriously? A bubble? Here was this supposed ex-admin babbling about how much power he had and how the Fighters should be crushed and the best he could do was a bubble? Sure the bubble was all prismatic-y and luminescent and rainbow and colors seemed to shift along in at will, but it in the end what it boiled down to was that it was still just a bubble. He was slightly put off by the lack of grandeur of it all, he found himself looking forward to something more complex, a geometric shape, or perhaps something of a trigonal biplanar design with Tritoch in the center; but instead he got a bubble.
So, in the case that he got a bubble, it was of no surprise to him that people immediately tried to pop it; what else was a bubble good for? They just floated along and sat there and it was not until they were popped that little children would shout and wiggle with glee and happiness. The thought briefly brought a grin to his face, in some twisted way it showed that children reveled in breaking things and destruction. He recalled the grin when he realized that there was no real reason why that should make him grin. He must be going crazy. He turned his attention back to the bubble and was surprised to see that there were more, smaller bubbles inside. This thought intrigued him as he briefly imagined them all popping at once, like a chain reaction. It would be like the crescendo of a symphony, a rising, sweeping sensation that would wash over you in a trance until at the flick of a wrist, it ceased. It was an interesting thought and he briefly began wondering if there was a way to make them explode. Popping was good and all, but exploding would be just that much better.
His eyes wandered again to where he noticed the party’s only other Long Arm approaching the bubble from the back. He eyed the scene with curiosity and to his slight surprise, caution. He supposed it could be the fact that she was a Long Arm too, or that she had had a brilliant idea and seemed intelligent, or that she had actually approached him of all people when she wanted assistance but the boy felt an unusual sense of camaraderie toward his stick-wielding compatriot and he found himself hoping that she didn’t do anything too stupid or risky, or rather, that she wouldn’t do something he would do that would normally fall under the stupid or risky category, and in some cases both.
He watched as she slipped into the bubble and then watched everything explode into foliage. He had the sudden burning desire to order someone to bring him a shrubbery or to start chopping at the bubble with a herring but nobody around was quite within earshot and he didn’t currently feel the need to shout so he let the thought pass. Idly he wondered if Senna would release some flames inside the bubble too; it was entirely possible that the greenery would burn and in the event that she used some weaker water first, it would produce smoke. Burning wet wood always produced smoke. The boy reasoned that if the entire bubble filled with smoke it might cause some discomfort to Tritoch and that if it caused enough he might release the bubble. Granted he was assuming the super powerful almighty beastly thing would be affected by something as measly as smoke, but it was sure a comical picture in his mind to picture something of his stature crying as he clawed at the smoke in his eyes. When the boy returned his focus to the bubble he was slightly alarmed to find Senna not within it, and as he scanned around not in the near vicinity either. Frowning he started whittling away at a flashmail.
Well he had to put that thought out of his mind for now, if they found her later he could always ask where she went. Doesn’t mean he would necessarily get an answer but he could always ask. Right?
He flinched suddenly when a bolt of lightning struck the bubble accompanied by a piercing clap of thunder. His jaw dropped and his face transfixed with horror as a certain Twin Blade called down bolt after bolt of lightning with only momentary pauses, presumably to down a Mage’s Soul or something of the like. He made a couple quick mental notes. Baron like lightning. Lightning bad. Raquar stay fuck away from Baron. Nodding at his completed list he closed his eyes and began to hum to drown out the sound of the thunder. It wasn’t any old humming, it was the humming that the shadows of the field presented to his brain. It brought with it feelings of acceptance, feelings of comfort, and feelings of power. He drank it in, absorbed it; it was sweet, intoxicatingly so and he found himself almost lulled into a place that where before beckoned bright and cheerful when the humming stopped loomed foreboding and fearful. Slightly startled he pushed away the wisps that had formed unbidden and reappraised the situation.
The big bubble had been popped, probably by lightning storm created by Baron and in the meantime there were quite a few handfuls of what appeared to be the smaller inner bubbles floating around. Grinning almost as a child might, he took that as his cue to get to work. Setting a good pace he encountered the first bubble and without braking pace, he stabbed at it forcefully with his pointy. The bubble popped with a thud, at least the popping lived up to his expectations, but what he didn’t expect was the rush of icy coldness that blasted him off his feet and his spirit from his body. If anybody could see his ghost they would see a sort of crooked smile plastered on his face. The bubbles lived up to much more than their expectations that made up for some of the lack of grandeur that the original big bubble had.
He didn’t have much time to ponder as his spirit was soon joined to his body, which after a quick assessment yielding an archer who flashed him a small grin, was presumably her work. He would have to thank her for that later. In the meantime he threaded his way through the battlefield trying to avoid popping any more bubbles . . . for now. That was when his attention fixated on Nighthand, in a dead but still walking state, somehow the lack of a shotgun seemed highly inappropriate, Nightblade drawn and headed surely for Tritoch’s glowing rune . . . thing. Well that wasn’t fair one bit the boy pouted to himself, why did the big guy who wasn’t even alive get to have all the fun. Sure he didn’t have something as amazingly awesome as the Nightblade, and sure he wasn’t a high-leveled tank who had survived for who knew how long in this trapped god-forsaken wilderness of a game but that didn’t mean he should have all the fun. The boy flashed a mischievous grin as he realized his next plan would fall under both the stupid and risky categories.
Breaking into a full spring bobbing and weaving around any passing bubbles the Long Arm skidded to a halt in front of the Heavyblade and attempted to push the tip of his Archspear through the magical rune thingy first. Tritoch did not like that. Before he could get within a few inches of the run the beast brought one of his wands in a small concise arc crashing into the boy’s ribs. He flew backward and crashed into another bubble, this one thankfully not killing him but simply cursing him*, he could deal with that for now. He was surprised about the lack of force from the blow, it hadn’t been nearly as powerful as the one before and he was curious as to why. It had to have been the shortened and halted attacking motion he made, Raquar reasoned, that was the only thing that made sense. But why intentionally shorten and weaken your attack? And then it hit him. Tritoch was avoiding bubbles too. So not only did they affect the Fighters, there was a high probability that they affected him too. The boy was in high hopes as he muttered something about an attack that could harm you too didn’t seem a very intelligent thing to do.
((OOC: Bubble Count – 26
* Everyone on the battlefield is cursed but Raquar didn’t actually notice that. Just a heads up.))
So, in the case that he got a bubble, it was of no surprise to him that people immediately tried to pop it; what else was a bubble good for? They just floated along and sat there and it was not until they were popped that little children would shout and wiggle with glee and happiness. The thought briefly brought a grin to his face, in some twisted way it showed that children reveled in breaking things and destruction. He recalled the grin when he realized that there was no real reason why that should make him grin. He must be going crazy. He turned his attention back to the bubble and was surprised to see that there were more, smaller bubbles inside. This thought intrigued him as he briefly imagined them all popping at once, like a chain reaction. It would be like the crescendo of a symphony, a rising, sweeping sensation that would wash over you in a trance until at the flick of a wrist, it ceased. It was an interesting thought and he briefly began wondering if there was a way to make them explode. Popping was good and all, but exploding would be just that much better.
His eyes wandered again to where he noticed the party’s only other Long Arm approaching the bubble from the back. He eyed the scene with curiosity and to his slight surprise, caution. He supposed it could be the fact that she was a Long Arm too, or that she had had a brilliant idea and seemed intelligent, or that she had actually approached him of all people when she wanted assistance but the boy felt an unusual sense of camaraderie toward his stick-wielding compatriot and he found himself hoping that she didn’t do anything too stupid or risky, or rather, that she wouldn’t do something he would do that would normally fall under the stupid or risky category, and in some cases both.
He watched as she slipped into the bubble and then watched everything explode into foliage. He had the sudden burning desire to order someone to bring him a shrubbery or to start chopping at the bubble with a herring but nobody around was quite within earshot and he didn’t currently feel the need to shout so he let the thought pass. Idly he wondered if Senna would release some flames inside the bubble too; it was entirely possible that the greenery would burn and in the event that she used some weaker water first, it would produce smoke. Burning wet wood always produced smoke. The boy reasoned that if the entire bubble filled with smoke it might cause some discomfort to Tritoch and that if it caused enough he might release the bubble. Granted he was assuming the super powerful almighty beastly thing would be affected by something as measly as smoke, but it was sure a comical picture in his mind to picture something of his stature crying as he clawed at the smoke in his eyes. When the boy returned his focus to the bubble he was slightly alarmed to find Senna not within it, and as he scanned around not in the near vicinity either. Frowning he started whittling away at a flashmail.
To: Senna
From: Raquar
Subject:
Message: Where did you go? You suddenly vanished from the field and I don’t see you anywhere. And now that it occurs to me if something bad happened you might not get this at all but since I’ve already taken the time to compose most of it I’m too stubborn to watch it clear it all out now. And too lazy as well.
Well he had to put that thought out of his mind for now, if they found her later he could always ask where she went. Doesn’t mean he would necessarily get an answer but he could always ask. Right?
He flinched suddenly when a bolt of lightning struck the bubble accompanied by a piercing clap of thunder. His jaw dropped and his face transfixed with horror as a certain Twin Blade called down bolt after bolt of lightning with only momentary pauses, presumably to down a Mage’s Soul or something of the like. He made a couple quick mental notes. Baron like lightning. Lightning bad. Raquar stay fuck away from Baron. Nodding at his completed list he closed his eyes and began to hum to drown out the sound of the thunder. It wasn’t any old humming, it was the humming that the shadows of the field presented to his brain. It brought with it feelings of acceptance, feelings of comfort, and feelings of power. He drank it in, absorbed it; it was sweet, intoxicatingly so and he found himself almost lulled into a place that where before beckoned bright and cheerful when the humming stopped loomed foreboding and fearful. Slightly startled he pushed away the wisps that had formed unbidden and reappraised the situation.
The big bubble had been popped, probably by lightning storm created by Baron and in the meantime there were quite a few handfuls of what appeared to be the smaller inner bubbles floating around. Grinning almost as a child might, he took that as his cue to get to work. Setting a good pace he encountered the first bubble and without braking pace, he stabbed at it forcefully with his pointy. The bubble popped with a thud, at least the popping lived up to his expectations, but what he didn’t expect was the rush of icy coldness that blasted him off his feet and his spirit from his body. If anybody could see his ghost they would see a sort of crooked smile plastered on his face. The bubbles lived up to much more than their expectations that made up for some of the lack of grandeur that the original big bubble had.
He didn’t have much time to ponder as his spirit was soon joined to his body, which after a quick assessment yielding an archer who flashed him a small grin, was presumably her work. He would have to thank her for that later. In the meantime he threaded his way through the battlefield trying to avoid popping any more bubbles . . . for now. That was when his attention fixated on Nighthand, in a dead but still walking state, somehow the lack of a shotgun seemed highly inappropriate, Nightblade drawn and headed surely for Tritoch’s glowing rune . . . thing. Well that wasn’t fair one bit the boy pouted to himself, why did the big guy who wasn’t even alive get to have all the fun. Sure he didn’t have something as amazingly awesome as the Nightblade, and sure he wasn’t a high-leveled tank who had survived for who knew how long in this trapped god-forsaken wilderness of a game but that didn’t mean he should have all the fun. The boy flashed a mischievous grin as he realized his next plan would fall under both the stupid and risky categories.
Breaking into a full spring bobbing and weaving around any passing bubbles the Long Arm skidded to a halt in front of the Heavyblade and attempted to push the tip of his Archspear through the magical rune thingy first. Tritoch did not like that. Before he could get within a few inches of the run the beast brought one of his wands in a small concise arc crashing into the boy’s ribs. He flew backward and crashed into another bubble, this one thankfully not killing him but simply cursing him*, he could deal with that for now. He was surprised about the lack of force from the blow, it hadn’t been nearly as powerful as the one before and he was curious as to why. It had to have been the shortened and halted attacking motion he made, Raquar reasoned, that was the only thing that made sense. But why intentionally shorten and weaken your attack? And then it hit him. Tritoch was avoiding bubbles too. So not only did they affect the Fighters, there was a high probability that they affected him too. The boy was in high hopes as he muttered something about an attack that could harm you too didn’t seem a very intelligent thing to do.
To: Party – All
From: Raquar
Subject: Planneriffic
Message: I have an idea. Tritoch seems to really not like people going after his magical glowing rune thingy. He also seems to try to be avoiding the bubbles. So, I think two things are in order. We should try to poke his glowing rune thingy and/or see if we can drive him into some bubbles or vice versa. It may not work exactly the way it seems to be now but it should be fun at least. I haven’t met anybody yet who has never liked popping bubbles.
((OOC: Bubble Count – 26
* Everyone on the battlefield is cursed but Raquar didn’t actually notice that. Just a heads up.))
Level 28 Long Arm
Archspear, Newt Necklace, Smith's Gloves, Wyrm Scale, Kuja's Thong Dress
EXP: [700/1000]
WISHLIST
Levels
Weapons: - All
Armor: Head - Scarab Earring
Body - Nothing until Mid 30's. Ninja Garb Hand - Nothing until Mid 30's. Leg - Nothing until Mid 30's.
Items: Cooked Biles, Darkness Scrolls (Any and All)
Archspear, Newt Necklace, Smith's Gloves, Wyrm Scale, Kuja's Thong Dress
EXP: [700/1000]
WISHLIST
Levels
Weapons: - All
Armor: Head - Scarab Earring
Body - Nothing until Mid 30's. Ninja Garb Hand - Nothing until Mid 30's. Leg - Nothing until Mid 30's.
Items: Cooked Biles, Darkness Scrolls (Any and All)
-
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
- Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
(This was becoming habit-forming, but hey...didn't we see this coming? So, there was Canti in ghost-form, doing his best impression of Beetle Bailey crumpled on the ground while watching the battle carry on against the demon chimera-whatsit. Now granted, he hadn't exactly succeeded himself. Tritoch had only been damaged and inconvenienced by him, leaving the Twin Blade to conclude that the guy really hated him. Well, to be fair, he really hated everyone, but our dark and winged Twin Blade certainly did a few things to Mr. Scarface over there, no doubt. Ah well, may as well take a break while dead for the moment. Except that he couldn't do that. What he had to do was get up and do something. But what? What could he- And that was when Senna tossed a Resurrect at him. Canti shouted a "Thank you" at her, and then proceeded to get up and- CRAMP!!!!!)
Canti: God dammit, why do my nerves only work when I'm not dead?!
(Of course, while he wasn't paying attention, someone had grounded Tritoch...again! The big monstrosity was on the ground and thrashing about in a pissed off manner - Wonder why? Heh. - and trying to get airborne again when...the warrior guys from the city took action! Go city! By use of their wire attacks, Tritoch's wings were sheared off for a second time, making the battle slightly easier in the sense that he wasn't going anywhere. Instead, he surrounded himself in explosions that drew everyone away - if they didn't want to be dead again, that is - and allowed the beast some breathing room. Unfortunately, breathing room meant trouble in the sense of getting protection, by means of a bubble-shield somehow connected with the glowing symbol on his chest. What was that symbol for, exactly? Another thing... Nighthand was up, and Nighthand was...dead? No, wait... That's not right. He was at 0, nothing left, a zombie-man. How in the hell did that happen? Even with Data Drain involved, how?! Canti...sat down for a sec, crossing his arms.)
Canti: Sorry folks, but I'm stumped now. Tritoch in a bubble and Nighthand caught between life and death just makes me go "Huh?".
(So confusing... And as people began to create spheres, it was only getting worse. Being a mechanic, the workings of a Data Draining chimera-mage-beast were more than a little foreign to him. What the hell was going on? He waited and he watched, noticing Senna go through the shield and deliver a summon attack...and then suddenly vanish from the field. That got Canti to stand, looking around. What happened to her? Knocked clear while phasing? No idea... The bubble-shield with the spheres had a logic, though, and Demorian found it. Wait, that was brilliant! Wasn't it? After some effort, the main shield popped and they were left with bubble-sphere-thingies, bubble-spheres that could explode in your face or deliver paralysis. Well, Canti was nowhere close enough, if you'll recall, to the chimera's stationary position. He'd been downed while Tritoch had been mobile. So, no explodiness or anything for Canti. The AoE wasn't close enough to him. Then...)
(Having made a recovery SP-wise from the wait, Canti now went into action. Doing the finger-gun thing again, the Twin Blade took careful aim at the symbol on Tritoch's chest. He was gonna fire a penetrating sniper-ball through a gap in the defenses. These were all just floating bubbles around him now, numbering somewhere above twenty. Seeing a gap, Canti fired, with the plan being to use the attack to hit the symbol hard and precisely, but while also trying to shove Tritoch into the bubbles...as the attack had moved him before. The only problem with this was...that at long-range, the gap he was firing through disappeared.)
*Pop!*
Canti: Wah?
*CRUNCH!!!*
(Here's what happened. The shot hit a bubble, popping it, and then a giant boulder crashed down on Canti, killing him. Specifically, he had triggered a massive and instantly-KOing-him Ganz-variety attack, Donning him to death. He held up a small sign in his ghost-form that said "Ouch", a la Wile E. Coyote. Shortly thereafter, Canti went to the first member of his team that he could find - Sekai - and asked for a quick resurrection. Sekai threw him the appropriate item and the Twin Blade was alive again, though dizzy for a second. Thanking her, he got back in the game. Canti was fortunate in one singular aspect. By being dead, the Curse that had been on him - he hadn't noticed until after he fired the shot before - was gone. Well, hooray for that. Now then...Tritoch was pretty well surrounded, but there were still gaps in the bubble parade. If he could...oh yes...YES! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha haaa!!! Replenishing his SP and sneaking around towards the monster's back area, the winged Twin Blade spread those wings, then contracted them a bit, in order to fly very carefully among the bubble brigade and insert himself on the inside of their radius. It was best this way because he had thus done it without a sound or a footstep, nothing to get Tritoch's attention. And all the while, Canti had been charging a blast, a powerful high-explosive pinpoint shot aimed at the small of his back. Everything released in a second, to move that sucker into his bubbles, damage him, or blow away all the bubbles entirely! OR ALL OF THE ABOVE! He released the shot, and watched. Tritoch was struck square in the back. There was no dodging because, curiously, he was using his feet to root himself firmly to the ground. But consequentally, he did little more than rock forward at the waist...maybe brushing up against a bubble. Canti couldn't really tell because of the expanding blackness of his own attack. All he knew was that Tritoch wasn't happy. In fact, he was growling. The Darkness Flame exploded outward and then...)
*Pop!*
*SMASH!!!*
(...Canti was struck dead by a number of falling trees, equivalent to a large blast of Juka power. The trees didn't do anything to the bubbles or Tritoch, of course. They were just part of a retalitory spell directed at HIM in particular. The Twin Blade's ghost-form floated up, looking around. As a ghost, he could see all without fail, or should have anyway. After all, he needed to see how many bubbles he got.)
Canti: .....ONE?!?!?!
(Okay, not so helpful there. Canti didn't shout, but he was mentally raging at this. It should've hit them all simultaneously and BOOM, he becomes a lightning rod of hate to take the fall for all. Oh well... So, taking out his FM screen, he composed a message to Raquar, asking him if he would please try and target him for resurrection while he was still inside Tritoch's defenses. If it was possible to smuggle dead men inside, they could simplify combat here to a great degree. Raquar signified his agreement by giving it a try and...holy crap, it worked! I'm a real boy!! Whoo! Canti gave himself a Mage's Soul and prepared to act. There was enough room in here to get around Tritoch and hit that symbol with something...but which way? Hmmm... Under the armpit is a bad idea. He could get CAUGHT that way, so no... Okay, over the shoulder, then. Spreading his wings, the Twin Blade went over Tritoch's right shoulder to get down to the symbol on his chest, upside-down. Once there...)
Canti: Dark D-
*POW!!!*
*Pop!*
(...he wasn't sure what happened exactly. The next thing he knew, Canti was picking gravel out of his teeth somewhere outside of the bubble-shield radius. Apparently, Tritoch had wand-slammed him hard, knocking him through a bubble and out of his little private domain. Then wait. Why wasn't he dead? Ah, of course. He was Poisoned, and so was everyone else in the vicinity. Well, he hadn't died, and the SP wasn't wasted, at least. So...what now? He needed to get back in there, to find a quicker way at that symbol so he could... Wait. No. This was wrong. This was all fucking wrong. Canti facepalmed. Why didn't he do this earlier?! The Twin Blade feigned a retreat to head for the city, getting out of the chimera's immediate sight. Then...chuckling...he formed a ball of Darkness Flame and chucked it at Tritoch's blindspot. You see, that bastard was rooted to the ground, so he wasn't going ANYWHERE for the moment. But that symbol, see... Canti REALLY wanted to know what it was for, so he concentrated on that ball of flame...and moved it according to his own will. He found that he could do that, as much as he could make it go faster or compress the flame. This one used up his SP, but it was clever. In order to direct it, it would have to slow down, but getting through the shield-gaps required a slow and steady pace. So, like a match made in heaven, it got through! Sneaking it then around Tritoch's left side, Canti willed the blast to hit the chest-symbol and explode! The detonation caused a monstrous roar and growl, catching the beast off guard. The symbol itself was distorted, like it was slightly warped, and a little dimmer. It was still there, but Canti had definitely done something to it, which...of course led to what inevitably happened next. Tritoch wrapped his tail around the symbol and tossed a spell over at the dark Twin Blade.)
Canti: Oh no...
*ZAP!!!*
*Sizzle...*
(So, in the end, what did we learn? Well, PhaRai Don still hurts, for one. Canti was back in a comical smashy position as a ghost, typing at his FM screen with one hand and looking a little dazed from the whole encounter.)
Canti being dead count - 6
The fun I had making this post - Priceless.
Canti: God dammit, why do my nerves only work when I'm not dead?!
(Of course, while he wasn't paying attention, someone had grounded Tritoch...again! The big monstrosity was on the ground and thrashing about in a pissed off manner - Wonder why? Heh. - and trying to get airborne again when...the warrior guys from the city took action! Go city! By use of their wire attacks, Tritoch's wings were sheared off for a second time, making the battle slightly easier in the sense that he wasn't going anywhere. Instead, he surrounded himself in explosions that drew everyone away - if they didn't want to be dead again, that is - and allowed the beast some breathing room. Unfortunately, breathing room meant trouble in the sense of getting protection, by means of a bubble-shield somehow connected with the glowing symbol on his chest. What was that symbol for, exactly? Another thing... Nighthand was up, and Nighthand was...dead? No, wait... That's not right. He was at 0, nothing left, a zombie-man. How in the hell did that happen? Even with Data Drain involved, how?! Canti...sat down for a sec, crossing his arms.)
Canti: Sorry folks, but I'm stumped now. Tritoch in a bubble and Nighthand caught between life and death just makes me go "Huh?".
(So confusing... And as people began to create spheres, it was only getting worse. Being a mechanic, the workings of a Data Draining chimera-mage-beast were more than a little foreign to him. What the hell was going on? He waited and he watched, noticing Senna go through the shield and deliver a summon attack...and then suddenly vanish from the field. That got Canti to stand, looking around. What happened to her? Knocked clear while phasing? No idea... The bubble-shield with the spheres had a logic, though, and Demorian found it. Wait, that was brilliant! Wasn't it? After some effort, the main shield popped and they were left with bubble-sphere-thingies, bubble-spheres that could explode in your face or deliver paralysis. Well, Canti was nowhere close enough, if you'll recall, to the chimera's stationary position. He'd been downed while Tritoch had been mobile. So, no explodiness or anything for Canti. The AoE wasn't close enough to him. Then...)
Canti: I like this plan! I’m excited to be a part of it!To: Party – All
From: Raquar
Subject: Planneriffic
Message: I have an idea. Tritoch seems to really not like people going after his magical glowing rune thingy. He also seems to try to be avoiding the bubbles. So, I think two things are in order. We should try to poke his glowing rune thingy and/or see if we can drive him into some bubbles or vice versa. It may not work exactly the way it seems to be now but it should be fun at least. I haven’t met anybody yet who has never liked popping bubbles.
(Having made a recovery SP-wise from the wait, Canti now went into action. Doing the finger-gun thing again, the Twin Blade took careful aim at the symbol on Tritoch's chest. He was gonna fire a penetrating sniper-ball through a gap in the defenses. These were all just floating bubbles around him now, numbering somewhere above twenty. Seeing a gap, Canti fired, with the plan being to use the attack to hit the symbol hard and precisely, but while also trying to shove Tritoch into the bubbles...as the attack had moved him before. The only problem with this was...that at long-range, the gap he was firing through disappeared.)
*Pop!*
Canti: Wah?
*CRUNCH!!!*
(Here's what happened. The shot hit a bubble, popping it, and then a giant boulder crashed down on Canti, killing him. Specifically, he had triggered a massive and instantly-KOing-him Ganz-variety attack, Donning him to death. He held up a small sign in his ghost-form that said "Ouch", a la Wile E. Coyote. Shortly thereafter, Canti went to the first member of his team that he could find - Sekai - and asked for a quick resurrection. Sekai threw him the appropriate item and the Twin Blade was alive again, though dizzy for a second. Thanking her, he got back in the game. Canti was fortunate in one singular aspect. By being dead, the Curse that had been on him - he hadn't noticed until after he fired the shot before - was gone. Well, hooray for that. Now then...Tritoch was pretty well surrounded, but there were still gaps in the bubble parade. If he could...oh yes...YES! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha haaa!!! Replenishing his SP and sneaking around towards the monster's back area, the winged Twin Blade spread those wings, then contracted them a bit, in order to fly very carefully among the bubble brigade and insert himself on the inside of their radius. It was best this way because he had thus done it without a sound or a footstep, nothing to get Tritoch's attention. And all the while, Canti had been charging a blast, a powerful high-explosive pinpoint shot aimed at the small of his back. Everything released in a second, to move that sucker into his bubbles, damage him, or blow away all the bubbles entirely! OR ALL OF THE ABOVE! He released the shot, and watched. Tritoch was struck square in the back. There was no dodging because, curiously, he was using his feet to root himself firmly to the ground. But consequentally, he did little more than rock forward at the waist...maybe brushing up against a bubble. Canti couldn't really tell because of the expanding blackness of his own attack. All he knew was that Tritoch wasn't happy. In fact, he was growling. The Darkness Flame exploded outward and then...)
*Pop!*
*SMASH!!!*
(...Canti was struck dead by a number of falling trees, equivalent to a large blast of Juka power. The trees didn't do anything to the bubbles or Tritoch, of course. They were just part of a retalitory spell directed at HIM in particular. The Twin Blade's ghost-form floated up, looking around. As a ghost, he could see all without fail, or should have anyway. After all, he needed to see how many bubbles he got.)
Canti: .....ONE?!?!?!
(Okay, not so helpful there. Canti didn't shout, but he was mentally raging at this. It should've hit them all simultaneously and BOOM, he becomes a lightning rod of hate to take the fall for all. Oh well... So, taking out his FM screen, he composed a message to Raquar, asking him if he would please try and target him for resurrection while he was still inside Tritoch's defenses. If it was possible to smuggle dead men inside, they could simplify combat here to a great degree. Raquar signified his agreement by giving it a try and...holy crap, it worked! I'm a real boy!! Whoo! Canti gave himself a Mage's Soul and prepared to act. There was enough room in here to get around Tritoch and hit that symbol with something...but which way? Hmmm... Under the armpit is a bad idea. He could get CAUGHT that way, so no... Okay, over the shoulder, then. Spreading his wings, the Twin Blade went over Tritoch's right shoulder to get down to the symbol on his chest, upside-down. Once there...)
Canti: Dark D-
*POW!!!*
*Pop!*
(...he wasn't sure what happened exactly. The next thing he knew, Canti was picking gravel out of his teeth somewhere outside of the bubble-shield radius. Apparently, Tritoch had wand-slammed him hard, knocking him through a bubble and out of his little private domain. Then wait. Why wasn't he dead? Ah, of course. He was Poisoned, and so was everyone else in the vicinity. Well, he hadn't died, and the SP wasn't wasted, at least. So...what now? He needed to get back in there, to find a quicker way at that symbol so he could... Wait. No. This was wrong. This was all fucking wrong. Canti facepalmed. Why didn't he do this earlier?! The Twin Blade feigned a retreat to head for the city, getting out of the chimera's immediate sight. Then...chuckling...he formed a ball of Darkness Flame and chucked it at Tritoch's blindspot. You see, that bastard was rooted to the ground, so he wasn't going ANYWHERE for the moment. But that symbol, see... Canti REALLY wanted to know what it was for, so he concentrated on that ball of flame...and moved it according to his own will. He found that he could do that, as much as he could make it go faster or compress the flame. This one used up his SP, but it was clever. In order to direct it, it would have to slow down, but getting through the shield-gaps required a slow and steady pace. So, like a match made in heaven, it got through! Sneaking it then around Tritoch's left side, Canti willed the blast to hit the chest-symbol and explode! The detonation caused a monstrous roar and growl, catching the beast off guard. The symbol itself was distorted, like it was slightly warped, and a little dimmer. It was still there, but Canti had definitely done something to it, which...of course led to what inevitably happened next. Tritoch wrapped his tail around the symbol and tossed a spell over at the dark Twin Blade.)
Canti: Oh no...
*ZAP!!!*
*Sizzle...*
(So, in the end, what did we learn? Well, PhaRai Don still hurts, for one. Canti was back in a comical smashy position as a ghost, typing at his FM screen with one hand and looking a little dazed from the whole encounter.)
OOC: Bubble count - 23TO: The Party
FROM: Canti
SUBJECT: Raquar plan good.
It's just incredibly dangerous is all. I feel like Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, and the Pink Panther. Nevertheless, I think we can safely say that Tritoch really doesn't want to hit any of his bubbles or get his symbol damaged. I just did and now he's coiled to prevent it happening again. He's rooted to the spot with his feet, though, so I actually have an idea. When he was on the ground before, I casted a Juk spell and he was affected physically by the tree riding up into him from below. Similar effects might work on Gan and such...in order to knock him loose and make him fall over. If we topple him while his tail is like that, we might get him to pop his own bubbles. Suggest sneaking in the way I did for best possible success in targeting.
Oh, and everyone I was near when I fell out? Sorry 'bout the poison.
Canti being dead count - 6
The fun I had making this post - Priceless.
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.
- Dien
- Exalted Player
- Posts: 226
- Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 1:59 am
- Class: Blademaster
- Location: The "Who's Online List," Stalking People...
Part 15
It was the first thought Dien had. After watching countless attempts at breaking through the barrier with spells fail, he had one more thing to attempt. Buff spells seemed to have no difficulty making it through, and so the blademaster considered that it was possible enough to try using the tolerance provided by such a spell to get the barrier to let the now slightly-less-harmful spell past. The only result was another bubble within the bubbled barrier.
He was starting to pick up on a trend: every spell they launched at Tritoch (or at the barrier) wound up being absorbed and contained within it. To Dien, it looked like he was gathering ammunition, like each and every spell contained within one of the bubbles was being held in preparation to be released. By his reckoning, it would be a single massive attack by the beast, annihilating the team with some unholy conglomeration of what they’d thrown at him. Demorian made some comment about the membrane being thinner as a result of their spells, and as the blademaster watched, the zombified Nighthand pushed his demonic sword against its quivering surface.
A sudden clap of thunder caught Dien unawares, followed by another and then another. Frantically he looked around, trying to find the source of the attacks. There, some thirty feet to his right, was Baron, casting away. As more and more spells fired, the blademaster’s eyes grew only wider. If his guess was right, then the instant that membrane broke, every spell he was throwing at the thing would be released in a sudden surge of static shock to destroy them all. He turned, about to charge and tackle the twinblade for his folly when everything seemed to go dark.
Vague shadows replaced friends and foe, and the flat desert was covered in a static-ridden haze. Above, the blue sky was tinted towards black. Dien glanced to and fro, quickly losing orientation in the haze that pulled him to wander from the battlefield. The only focus came when he looked far away, finding the wall they had passed through looming what seemed impossibly far away, and to the other side the gate to Luchairt Cradh: an equally impossible distance to traverse. What the hell?!
There, in the midst of the darkness and static, a flash of light caught his vision. His whole body twirled to face the direction it came in, only to find it disappeared just as quickly. Another flash, and the boy turned, again finding nothing. Then another and another, until a crackling sound began to fill his ears. Slowly cracks that seemed to run through his entire field of vision faded into being, expanding slowly and letting light shine through the darkness before giving way. With it, the ground collapsed beneath him, and he looked down, panic gripping him fast as he began to fall. Fragments of darkness became broken specks of noise in an endless expanse of white—the world was falling around him.
“I fInAlLy FoUnD yOuNaLlY fOuNd YoU!!” It was Leek. Dien’s senses sharpened, and he reached for his sword. Why he was surprised when it was missing was beyond him; the minute he recognized the homicidal jealous freak’s voice, he recognized the whole thing as a trick. Granted, it was a very elaborate trick, and the fact that he was no longer evidently safe was something to be worried about, but it was all just a trick. Why was he still so freaked out, then?
“Show yourself, Leek,” the blademaster said, weightless in his freefall, “I’m not afraid of you.”
“LiArIaR!!” the voice said, and just as quickly as the world had fallen apart, the black static grew together and clamped around him, jerking him upward and nearly snapping every bone in his body. It squeezed, and waves of pain washed out from where it gripped him. One rib gave way, then another, and another, and with each one the blademaster let out a cry. Tears were streaming out of his eyes beyond his control as he struggled in vain to loosen the remnants of the world that gripped at him. More static was growing before him, coming together and melting into itself as it began to grow larger and larger, taking the form of a massive, sinister face.
“YOU’RE MINEINE” It shouted, looming over Dien and squeezing harder. Another rib give way, pushing its fractured remnant through skin—not that it made any difference. One more squeeze, and he felt his back break, cutting off all feeling to the rest of his body. Or rather, that’s what he would have felt, were this normal. Instead of the nerve endings being cut off, they were all ignited, each one firing off in full reception of the pain they thought they felt. It was an experience in pain that was only bested by his initial integration with Twilight. Try as he might to scream, there was no air for his lungs to push out, nothing to drive his voice to more than a trepid squeal.
All at once, the blackness closed in on him, concealing light and recognition from his eyes and landing him hard on the ground. He’d been broken, and there was no reality that made sense to him. Sounds echoed in without meaning, and figures danced before his eyes to no end. It was terrifying—petrifying in the truest sense of the word. He could move, but to what end? Eyes quivered, and he could only whimper ever so slightly.
The world seemed to shake, and for an instant the boy was touched. He rolled, afraid of what he might find, only to find something familiar. Instinct took over, and he wrapped his arms around the girl, clasping desperately to her, the first bit of reality he found in what felt like forever. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, doubtless staining whatever she was wearing as his breath quickened, the adrenaline finally setting in and causing his grip to tighten. It was baseless fear, but that is often the worst kind of fear there can be. In an instant, she became his anchor, and he wasn’t about to let go.
Slowly, reality began to settle back in, Sekai’s hand placed comfortingly on his back. Fear drained away like syrup out of a bottle, lingering far longer than its intended welcome. Reason took unnaturally long to overcome this particular horror, and it felt like an eternity that he sat, awkwardly clinging to the small girl before finally coming to his senses.
“…Sekai?” he asked timidly, trying to process what had just happened and remember what was going on. God, why did it feel like he’d just been hit in the head?
It felt longer than it likely had been before Dien finally spoke to her, relief flooding through her system as she nodded and replied in turn. “Yes, I’m here.” She asked softly, though she remained where she knelt and didn't make any effort to move away. An awkward silence followed her response as she shook her head, as if clearing something from her thoughts before speaking again. “Was this the first time this kind of thing has happened?”
“Y- yes,” he replied quietly, exhaling slowly and letting his grip ease up. He wasn’t actually sure, his brain still numb to actual reality as it cycled through the degrading stages of fear. “What happened to me?” he asked, pulling away and finally supporting himself on his own weight, not having the presence of mind to wipe the tears from his cheeks yet.
“I…I don’t know,” She confessed ruefully after a moment’s thought. Her eyes searched the older man's face a moment before dropping back somewhere off to the right. “I found you huddled on the ground as if someone were hurting you, but you have no wounds.” Another awkward silence before she shook her head. “Do you…not remember anything that happened?”
“It’s…foggy,” he replied, closing his eyes and raising his hand to pressure the lingering headache. The sounds of battle, oddly enough, seemed to draw him back to reality, “I saw Baron starting a string of spells—I think—and then everything went dark. I-” he opened his eyes and gazed in the direction where the first fleck of light had come from, “the world shattered, and I fell, but then I was caught up in it, and I heard a voice. It was…distorted, overwhelming, overpowering. I recognized it as my enemy, but if he was controlling this—I don’t know where he could have learned to do it. It seized me, crushed me, and ruined me. I…” his voice trailed off as he looked around, “…you pulled me back…”
Sekai frowned, concerned contemplation in her expression as she took a moment to ponder over what he’d said. “Maybe your mind was pulled somewhere else for a moment,” She said slowly, biting her lower lip in thought. “I’ve…um, I’ve had it happen before, and have seen it as well.”
She followed his gaze, looking for whatever it was that might have pulled him in, and found nothing out of the ordinary. “It…sounds like a mind-trick, a strong one, but a trick all the same.” Tawny eyes narrowed slightly as she shook her head again. “As real as it may have felt, may have seen or sounded; it didn’t happen. Difficult though it may to believe.”
At the last statement, she immediately grew flustered, shaking her head in a hurry from one side to another. “N-No, nothing like that. You pulled yourself out of it in time, I didn’t really do anything.”
“You were my anchor, though,” he replied, brow furrowing in thought as he finally wiped the water from his face, “when nothing else made sense or mattered, you gave me something to grab hold of,” he paused, smiling and looking to her, “quite literally, too.”
“Anchor?” Sekai repeated, obviously puzzled and not quite understanding what he meant by the term. When the mention of being held on to came up, the young girl’s face exploded into a rather fantastic shade of pink-red and her hands flew up to hide her face for a moment, a muffled sound of embarrassed protest her only reply before she peered between her fingers. “I-I didn’t do anything, I asked if you were okay and then you just kind of, um, on your own and…” She couldn’t seem to string together a proper sentence due to being flustered, nothing unusual for the obviously sheltered Japanese girl.
Of course Dien could barely help but laugh at the spectacle before him. Granted, the pressure from laughter on his lungs and diaphragm built up and added to the strain, and it all began to ache. He winced slightly, probably unnoticeable to the girl who was turning a very unique shade of pink at the moment, and resigned his bottled laughter into a smile. “You’re the one who shook me awake, right?” he asked, scooting over and throwing his arm around her in a not-awkward-at-all side-hug. “Without that shaking, I doubt I would’ve snapped out of it. But hey, it’s no big deal,” he gave a little squeeze before ruffling her hair with his hand, the muscles complaining from the rapid use, “I’m sure you would’ve done it for anyone.”
She made another face at the mentioning of her hand in trying to help him out, the arm around her shoulder causing her to stiffen a little once more- despite her attempt to hide or disguise the reaction. “I-It would have run its course,” Sekai insisted. “Something similar happens to me sometimes, if no one’s around, it’ll simply run its course and end on its own.” The ruffling of her hair earned Dien an odd look, as if she were remembering someone else who had done the same…and promptly made another face and flailed ever so slightly, trying to stop him from mussing the white locks any further. “Am I really that predictable?” A minor note of exasperation entered her voice as she asked the question.
“Nothing bad with predictability,” the blademaster replied, letting out a massive yawn and stretching to try and relieve the sore muscles—to absolutely no effect, “especially not when it pertains to good character.” His attention was shifting to the battlefield, his sitting on the ground and watching with Sekai as everyone else fought giving him an innate sense of un-productivity.
“…what happened while I was out?” he asked, taking inventory of the fact that he was now cursed, and that there were dozens of doom-bubbles floating around. Did they seriously play right into Tritoch’s hand? His headache amplified for a moment as the exasperation took effect.
“But it means an enemy could read my moves and defeat me easily,” Sekai complained, muttering under her breath and returned to looking back at the battle with a serious expression. “As for what happened…” She trailed off, a shake of her head as she gestured at Tritoch. “Nighthand-san popped the barrier, and the bubbles came out.” A helpless shrug followed up the use of a couple items to disperse the Curse effect. “Other than the bubbles having some nasty effect or another, I don’t know what to say about them. Tritoch-san is angrier than he was before though, so we should be careful.”
Dien glanced to the semi-conscious heavyblade in his semi-stand, the task of holding the shadow of a weapon semi-delegated to his semi-capable right arm. For a moment, the blademaster wished he still had his hacking widgets so he could repair whatever damage had been done—or at least figure out how to fix it. Somehow, though, he didn’t seem capable of conjuring the force that would have been necessary to break through the barrier. Or maybe ‘force’ wasn’t quite the best way to put it…bah, what did it matter? It was no use looking back at what had happened to get them into their current situation. A loud crack from nearby caught his attention, and Dien watched as Sekai almost instinctively healed the man. He was still going at it with that black fire stuff—reminded him of one of Sasuke’s attacks out of the old anime Naruto. One sneaky attack to the glowing rune on the thing’s chest later, and Canti was down for the count.
Almost immediately a flashmail went out, and Dien could barely help from smirking as he read it. Well, if they were going to be playing Tritoch’s games, at least it was good to do the “for dummies” version of the rules. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t fair, but at the very least the blademaster could be sure that he’d have to take part in undoing this mess. It couldn’t be too much longer, he reasoned at least, before this fight was over. Respite was just a few short lifespans away.
“Hey Sekai, I’m gonna see if I can go bowl that guy over into one of his own bubbles,” Dien finally said, standing to his feet, “think you can get your strongest arrow ready for when I send you a flashmail?”
Sekai looked surprised, a contemplative, yet calculating expression appearing on her young face as tawny eyes studied Tritoch’s position and that of the several bubbles floating about. “…Which element would be best, do you think?” She asked after a moment, taking a moment to use Rip Maen on Canti’s charred form.
For a moment, the blademaster just stared at her, devoid of expression so as to say, ‘…you really have to ask?’ Not a word was uttered, though the odd smirk and raised eyebrow were probably enough to tip her off. After a few seconds, though, the stare dissolved into a smile. “Vakz, if you please,” he said, going off to coordinate one more piece of the attack.
“Takua,” he called, “when you get a flashmail from me, hit Tritoch with another Vulcan Ch, okay?” The man nodded, and Dien applied the proper buffs to himself: Rig Geam; Rig Seam; Ap Do; and Ap Vakz, namely. No matter how he spun this, he was all in. Drawing his sword, the blademaster took off in a charge towards the beast. Close-quarters combat might not have been the best idea, but he didn’t need to last long in the fight. At least, he was charging, until he saw the bubbles moving in awkward random orbits around his target. Slowing down was definitely the best idea for getting past unscathed, but even so, it was going to make combat that much more difficult. Hell, even getting there was a challenge now.
It took a great deal of precision to get through the bubbles, and more time than the blademaster would have liked, but now he was in the shell with the beast. Were he three times his height, he would have been face to face with the thing, but as it stood, he came up to his scaly thighs. Dien’s senses were on edge. He needed to avoid any major hits from the beast just long enough to trip him up. Ideally, he’d be using his weight against him, and timing that attack was going to be a pain in the neck. Strategies played out in his mind, and the best ones had him charging forward, diving out of the way of whatever attack came next (hopefully an overhead smash with two hands), slipping under the thing’s legs, and launching his attack to get the guy off-balance while his weight was off-center. He’d never taken any martial arts training, but the premise of judo was simple enough.
In theory.
Nothing happened at first. The two players stood and stared, one practically mortified at the concept of fighting the other, and the other not too worried about the overbuffed speck in his eye. Well screw that crap. Dien’s sword was drawn, and with the Ap Do still holding fast, he opened into a charge. Tritoch’s tail was wrapped over his front glowy symbol of weakness, and his wands were held at the ready. If there was no prevention, he was going for the thing’s legs.
It was interesting that there was no reaction from the beast during his charge other than the fact that his rear legs dug in to the ground. So, Dien started the show. A diagonal slash was given to the beast’s right front leg. Tritoch recoiled slightly, pulling the leg out before playing it off with a kick. Dien parried, pushing himself off of the kick to slice at the shin of the other front leg. The other foot landed just as this one was picked up, and the return was the beast swiping one of his arms down towards the blademaster in an attempt to rend him with his wand.
Not that the blademaster would have any of that. Vak Revolver was called into effect, simultaneously parrying the wand and delivering a slice into both of the front legs. Tritoch reared, uncoiling his tail and batting the pesky pest away. He would have landed in one of the bubbles, but for the flashmail sent and quick responses by Takua and Sekai. All at once, a fiery arrow and a Vulcan Ch blasted inward, and Dien absorbed the power, taking the force and driving straight towards his target with all the force he could muster.
Fire raged against the crossed wands of Tritoch, driving him back to stay on his rears. “COME ON!!!” Dien raged, pushing harder against the blockade until a step was conceded. A sudden burst of Rai energy confirmed his success, before the Vulcanized Missile™ was redirected skyward, colliding with another bubble and being destroyed in the subsequent enveloping darkness.
Not bad, the blademaster thought as his ghost appeared on the ground, not bad at all.
__________
OOC:
21 Bubbles Remaining
Sekai and Takua have the Sleep status effect.
Canti is resurrected.
Dien is dead.
Fun, neh?
He was starting to pick up on a trend: every spell they launched at Tritoch (or at the barrier) wound up being absorbed and contained within it. To Dien, it looked like he was gathering ammunition, like each and every spell contained within one of the bubbles was being held in preparation to be released. By his reckoning, it would be a single massive attack by the beast, annihilating the team with some unholy conglomeration of what they’d thrown at him. Demorian made some comment about the membrane being thinner as a result of their spells, and as the blademaster watched, the zombified Nighthand pushed his demonic sword against its quivering surface.
A sudden clap of thunder caught Dien unawares, followed by another and then another. Frantically he looked around, trying to find the source of the attacks. There, some thirty feet to his right, was Baron, casting away. As more and more spells fired, the blademaster’s eyes grew only wider. If his guess was right, then the instant that membrane broke, every spell he was throwing at the thing would be released in a sudden surge of static shock to destroy them all. He turned, about to charge and tackle the twinblade for his folly when everything seemed to go dark.
Vague shadows replaced friends and foe, and the flat desert was covered in a static-ridden haze. Above, the blue sky was tinted towards black. Dien glanced to and fro, quickly losing orientation in the haze that pulled him to wander from the battlefield. The only focus came when he looked far away, finding the wall they had passed through looming what seemed impossibly far away, and to the other side the gate to Luchairt Cradh: an equally impossible distance to traverse. What the hell?!
There, in the midst of the darkness and static, a flash of light caught his vision. His whole body twirled to face the direction it came in, only to find it disappeared just as quickly. Another flash, and the boy turned, again finding nothing. Then another and another, until a crackling sound began to fill his ears. Slowly cracks that seemed to run through his entire field of vision faded into being, expanding slowly and letting light shine through the darkness before giving way. With it, the ground collapsed beneath him, and he looked down, panic gripping him fast as he began to fall. Fragments of darkness became broken specks of noise in an endless expanse of white—the world was falling around him.
“I fInAlLy FoUnD yOuNaLlY fOuNd YoU!!” It was Leek. Dien’s senses sharpened, and he reached for his sword. Why he was surprised when it was missing was beyond him; the minute he recognized the homicidal jealous freak’s voice, he recognized the whole thing as a trick. Granted, it was a very elaborate trick, and the fact that he was no longer evidently safe was something to be worried about, but it was all just a trick. Why was he still so freaked out, then?
“Show yourself, Leek,” the blademaster said, weightless in his freefall, “I’m not afraid of you.”
“LiArIaR!!” the voice said, and just as quickly as the world had fallen apart, the black static grew together and clamped around him, jerking him upward and nearly snapping every bone in his body. It squeezed, and waves of pain washed out from where it gripped him. One rib gave way, then another, and another, and with each one the blademaster let out a cry. Tears were streaming out of his eyes beyond his control as he struggled in vain to loosen the remnants of the world that gripped at him. More static was growing before him, coming together and melting into itself as it began to grow larger and larger, taking the form of a massive, sinister face.
“YOU’RE MINEINE” It shouted, looming over Dien and squeezing harder. Another rib give way, pushing its fractured remnant through skin—not that it made any difference. One more squeeze, and he felt his back break, cutting off all feeling to the rest of his body. Or rather, that’s what he would have felt, were this normal. Instead of the nerve endings being cut off, they were all ignited, each one firing off in full reception of the pain they thought they felt. It was an experience in pain that was only bested by his initial integration with Twilight. Try as he might to scream, there was no air for his lungs to push out, nothing to drive his voice to more than a trepid squeal.
All at once, the blackness closed in on him, concealing light and recognition from his eyes and landing him hard on the ground. He’d been broken, and there was no reality that made sense to him. Sounds echoed in without meaning, and figures danced before his eyes to no end. It was terrifying—petrifying in the truest sense of the word. He could move, but to what end? Eyes quivered, and he could only whimper ever so slightly.
The world seemed to shake, and for an instant the boy was touched. He rolled, afraid of what he might find, only to find something familiar. Instinct took over, and he wrapped his arms around the girl, clasping desperately to her, the first bit of reality he found in what felt like forever. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, doubtless staining whatever she was wearing as his breath quickened, the adrenaline finally setting in and causing his grip to tighten. It was baseless fear, but that is often the worst kind of fear there can be. In an instant, she became his anchor, and he wasn’t about to let go.
Slowly, reality began to settle back in, Sekai’s hand placed comfortingly on his back. Fear drained away like syrup out of a bottle, lingering far longer than its intended welcome. Reason took unnaturally long to overcome this particular horror, and it felt like an eternity that he sat, awkwardly clinging to the small girl before finally coming to his senses.
“…Sekai?” he asked timidly, trying to process what had just happened and remember what was going on. God, why did it feel like he’d just been hit in the head?
It felt longer than it likely had been before Dien finally spoke to her, relief flooding through her system as she nodded and replied in turn. “Yes, I’m here.” She asked softly, though she remained where she knelt and didn't make any effort to move away. An awkward silence followed her response as she shook her head, as if clearing something from her thoughts before speaking again. “Was this the first time this kind of thing has happened?”
“Y- yes,” he replied quietly, exhaling slowly and letting his grip ease up. He wasn’t actually sure, his brain still numb to actual reality as it cycled through the degrading stages of fear. “What happened to me?” he asked, pulling away and finally supporting himself on his own weight, not having the presence of mind to wipe the tears from his cheeks yet.
“I…I don’t know,” She confessed ruefully after a moment’s thought. Her eyes searched the older man's face a moment before dropping back somewhere off to the right. “I found you huddled on the ground as if someone were hurting you, but you have no wounds.” Another awkward silence before she shook her head. “Do you…not remember anything that happened?”
“It’s…foggy,” he replied, closing his eyes and raising his hand to pressure the lingering headache. The sounds of battle, oddly enough, seemed to draw him back to reality, “I saw Baron starting a string of spells—I think—and then everything went dark. I-” he opened his eyes and gazed in the direction where the first fleck of light had come from, “the world shattered, and I fell, but then I was caught up in it, and I heard a voice. It was…distorted, overwhelming, overpowering. I recognized it as my enemy, but if he was controlling this—I don’t know where he could have learned to do it. It seized me, crushed me, and ruined me. I…” his voice trailed off as he looked around, “…you pulled me back…”
Sekai frowned, concerned contemplation in her expression as she took a moment to ponder over what he’d said. “Maybe your mind was pulled somewhere else for a moment,” She said slowly, biting her lower lip in thought. “I’ve…um, I’ve had it happen before, and have seen it as well.”
She followed his gaze, looking for whatever it was that might have pulled him in, and found nothing out of the ordinary. “It…sounds like a mind-trick, a strong one, but a trick all the same.” Tawny eyes narrowed slightly as she shook her head again. “As real as it may have felt, may have seen or sounded; it didn’t happen. Difficult though it may to believe.”
At the last statement, she immediately grew flustered, shaking her head in a hurry from one side to another. “N-No, nothing like that. You pulled yourself out of it in time, I didn’t really do anything.”
“You were my anchor, though,” he replied, brow furrowing in thought as he finally wiped the water from his face, “when nothing else made sense or mattered, you gave me something to grab hold of,” he paused, smiling and looking to her, “quite literally, too.”
“Anchor?” Sekai repeated, obviously puzzled and not quite understanding what he meant by the term. When the mention of being held on to came up, the young girl’s face exploded into a rather fantastic shade of pink-red and her hands flew up to hide her face for a moment, a muffled sound of embarrassed protest her only reply before she peered between her fingers. “I-I didn’t do anything, I asked if you were okay and then you just kind of, um, on your own and…” She couldn’t seem to string together a proper sentence due to being flustered, nothing unusual for the obviously sheltered Japanese girl.
Of course Dien could barely help but laugh at the spectacle before him. Granted, the pressure from laughter on his lungs and diaphragm built up and added to the strain, and it all began to ache. He winced slightly, probably unnoticeable to the girl who was turning a very unique shade of pink at the moment, and resigned his bottled laughter into a smile. “You’re the one who shook me awake, right?” he asked, scooting over and throwing his arm around her in a not-awkward-at-all side-hug. “Without that shaking, I doubt I would’ve snapped out of it. But hey, it’s no big deal,” he gave a little squeeze before ruffling her hair with his hand, the muscles complaining from the rapid use, “I’m sure you would’ve done it for anyone.”
She made another face at the mentioning of her hand in trying to help him out, the arm around her shoulder causing her to stiffen a little once more- despite her attempt to hide or disguise the reaction. “I-It would have run its course,” Sekai insisted. “Something similar happens to me sometimes, if no one’s around, it’ll simply run its course and end on its own.” The ruffling of her hair earned Dien an odd look, as if she were remembering someone else who had done the same…and promptly made another face and flailed ever so slightly, trying to stop him from mussing the white locks any further. “Am I really that predictable?” A minor note of exasperation entered her voice as she asked the question.
“Nothing bad with predictability,” the blademaster replied, letting out a massive yawn and stretching to try and relieve the sore muscles—to absolutely no effect, “especially not when it pertains to good character.” His attention was shifting to the battlefield, his sitting on the ground and watching with Sekai as everyone else fought giving him an innate sense of un-productivity.
“…what happened while I was out?” he asked, taking inventory of the fact that he was now cursed, and that there were dozens of doom-bubbles floating around. Did they seriously play right into Tritoch’s hand? His headache amplified for a moment as the exasperation took effect.
“But it means an enemy could read my moves and defeat me easily,” Sekai complained, muttering under her breath and returned to looking back at the battle with a serious expression. “As for what happened…” She trailed off, a shake of her head as she gestured at Tritoch. “Nighthand-san popped the barrier, and the bubbles came out.” A helpless shrug followed up the use of a couple items to disperse the Curse effect. “Other than the bubbles having some nasty effect or another, I don’t know what to say about them. Tritoch-san is angrier than he was before though, so we should be careful.”
Dien glanced to the semi-conscious heavyblade in his semi-stand, the task of holding the shadow of a weapon semi-delegated to his semi-capable right arm. For a moment, the blademaster wished he still had his hacking widgets so he could repair whatever damage had been done—or at least figure out how to fix it. Somehow, though, he didn’t seem capable of conjuring the force that would have been necessary to break through the barrier. Or maybe ‘force’ wasn’t quite the best way to put it…bah, what did it matter? It was no use looking back at what had happened to get them into their current situation. A loud crack from nearby caught his attention, and Dien watched as Sekai almost instinctively healed the man. He was still going at it with that black fire stuff—reminded him of one of Sasuke’s attacks out of the old anime Naruto. One sneaky attack to the glowing rune on the thing’s chest later, and Canti was down for the count.
Almost immediately a flashmail went out, and Dien could barely help from smirking as he read it. Well, if they were going to be playing Tritoch’s games, at least it was good to do the “for dummies” version of the rules. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t fair, but at the very least the blademaster could be sure that he’d have to take part in undoing this mess. It couldn’t be too much longer, he reasoned at least, before this fight was over. Respite was just a few short lifespans away.
“Hey Sekai, I’m gonna see if I can go bowl that guy over into one of his own bubbles,” Dien finally said, standing to his feet, “think you can get your strongest arrow ready for when I send you a flashmail?”
Sekai looked surprised, a contemplative, yet calculating expression appearing on her young face as tawny eyes studied Tritoch’s position and that of the several bubbles floating about. “…Which element would be best, do you think?” She asked after a moment, taking a moment to use Rip Maen on Canti’s charred form.
For a moment, the blademaster just stared at her, devoid of expression so as to say, ‘…you really have to ask?’ Not a word was uttered, though the odd smirk and raised eyebrow were probably enough to tip her off. After a few seconds, though, the stare dissolved into a smile. “Vakz, if you please,” he said, going off to coordinate one more piece of the attack.
“Takua,” he called, “when you get a flashmail from me, hit Tritoch with another Vulcan Ch, okay?” The man nodded, and Dien applied the proper buffs to himself: Rig Geam; Rig Seam; Ap Do; and Ap Vakz, namely. No matter how he spun this, he was all in. Drawing his sword, the blademaster took off in a charge towards the beast. Close-quarters combat might not have been the best idea, but he didn’t need to last long in the fight. At least, he was charging, until he saw the bubbles moving in awkward random orbits around his target. Slowing down was definitely the best idea for getting past unscathed, but even so, it was going to make combat that much more difficult. Hell, even getting there was a challenge now.
It took a great deal of precision to get through the bubbles, and more time than the blademaster would have liked, but now he was in the shell with the beast. Were he three times his height, he would have been face to face with the thing, but as it stood, he came up to his scaly thighs. Dien’s senses were on edge. He needed to avoid any major hits from the beast just long enough to trip him up. Ideally, he’d be using his weight against him, and timing that attack was going to be a pain in the neck. Strategies played out in his mind, and the best ones had him charging forward, diving out of the way of whatever attack came next (hopefully an overhead smash with two hands), slipping under the thing’s legs, and launching his attack to get the guy off-balance while his weight was off-center. He’d never taken any martial arts training, but the premise of judo was simple enough.
In theory.
Nothing happened at first. The two players stood and stared, one practically mortified at the concept of fighting the other, and the other not too worried about the overbuffed speck in his eye. Well screw that crap. Dien’s sword was drawn, and with the Ap Do still holding fast, he opened into a charge. Tritoch’s tail was wrapped over his front glowy symbol of weakness, and his wands were held at the ready. If there was no prevention, he was going for the thing’s legs.
It was interesting that there was no reaction from the beast during his charge other than the fact that his rear legs dug in to the ground. So, Dien started the show. A diagonal slash was given to the beast’s right front leg. Tritoch recoiled slightly, pulling the leg out before playing it off with a kick. Dien parried, pushing himself off of the kick to slice at the shin of the other front leg. The other foot landed just as this one was picked up, and the return was the beast swiping one of his arms down towards the blademaster in an attempt to rend him with his wand.
Not that the blademaster would have any of that. Vak Revolver was called into effect, simultaneously parrying the wand and delivering a slice into both of the front legs. Tritoch reared, uncoiling his tail and batting the pesky pest away. He would have landed in one of the bubbles, but for the flashmail sent and quick responses by Takua and Sekai. All at once, a fiery arrow and a Vulcan Ch blasted inward, and Dien absorbed the power, taking the force and driving straight towards his target with all the force he could muster.
Fire raged against the crossed wands of Tritoch, driving him back to stay on his rears. “COME ON!!!” Dien raged, pushing harder against the blockade until a step was conceded. A sudden burst of Rai energy confirmed his success, before the Vulcanized Missile™ was redirected skyward, colliding with another bubble and being destroyed in the subsequent enveloping darkness.
Not bad, the blademaster thought as his ghost appeared on the ground, not bad at all.
__________
OOC:
21 Bubbles Remaining
Sekai and Takua have the Sleep status effect.
Canti is resurrected.
Dien is dead.
Fun, neh?
Re: Captured! Jailbreak of the Century
Several of the guys were working on Tritoch’s defenses, casting out Dek’s like they were candy. Every once in a while it paid off and the used to be Admin became more vulnerable. The other thing noted was that said Admin was also responding just like any cornered and wounded animal…with a very short temper and a lot of built up rage. The rage part didn’t really show except in the gruesomeness and precise shots that Tritoch took against his oppossers.
It was funny how simple everything seemed when one was floating around as a ghost. The enemy was no longer interested in you, there was no more duck and cover, no more hurry up and throw a fireball tactic to worry about and the best part was she didn’t have to be scared of anything. No fear in the world could touch her as a ghost, well maybe just one, the fear that no one would be around to de-ghost her but with such a big group, that fear was nicely buried for the time being.
She watched on as her black winged fellow Twin Blade soared rather effortlessly around the sky throwing things at Tritoch before floating downward and tossing a resurrect her direction. Tiny pin pricks filled her body as the resurrect did its job restoring her back to solidness. It was going to take her awhile to get used to that. Before she could say or do anything, her arms were full of about a dozen scrolls. She looked up at him in wonderment and thanks both. She had to admit her supplies were low on those kind of things but that still didn’t answer the begging question of why he did it. Looking at them briefly before placing them in her inventory she noted they appeared to be Ani based scrolls. What each of them did, she’d have to find out later, possibly by shear dumb luck if she got in a bind.
The sky between Tritoch and Canti went crazy with spells so Talal decided to run off to the outskirts of the battle to regroup and watched the chaos unfold as it shifted into high gear. Nighthand brought out some weird weapon with whip like tendrils that left an eery trail behind them as they moved through the air. Whatever that weapon did, it didn’t look pleasant.
It was very…educational for the Twin Blade to watch the Freedom Fighters fight. They had more experience and more abilities and skills available to them and she did her best to make mental notes of the ones that were especially powerful or particularly odd looking. Tritoch himself had some interesting tricks and when Talal saw the wands raise and even the highest leveled players running for cover, she immediately joined suit. Problem was, where exactly do you run to in a desert?
There was a loud hum that accompanied the light of spells coming at the group. The hum turned into a high pitched whine that made her ears feel like someone had just stabbed a small metal spike into them. Between wincing slits for eyes, she looked around and it was apparent that no one else was having a problem with the sound or they were hiding it well. She ran clapping her hands over her ears and eventually the high pitched whine dissipated just as the girl was hit with a volley of Deks for every element under the sun, along with several other less nice things. Her senses were in overload not to mention how everything hurt badly. Finally, a sleep spell was the last thing to hit sending her dazed and confused mind into a sleepy darkness.
The black haired girl awoke to yet another fury of spells going off in the distance. Groggy eyes tried to focus and managed to figure out that at least the fight was back against Tritoch instead of the other way around. Still, she couldn’t seem to get herself to move. Everything had been debuffed or reversed and at some point even her health had been healed, but this beast they were fighting was like none other than she had seen so far, even what she had seen with the Eventide Crescendo couldn’t compare and the Twin Blade found herself frozen in place; a product of her own mental fears overwhelming her.
She just stood there and watched her teammates fight bravely and take the hits as well. Talal knew she should be out there with them but for every bit of effort to get herself to move, her feet stayed in place. Soon stone piers rose from the ground topped with gems of some kind and more spells erupted between the players and Tritoch along with their arrival. Everyone seemed to be in high gear and the Twin Blade was overwhelmed and could barely find a stable piece of thought to try and ground herself to. She wasn’t ready for this kind of fight. She needed time to process and weigh options; luxuries that this battle was not affording anyone right now.
Three of the Eventides along with Demorian suddenly attacked the piers at once and were immediately given thanks in the way of a ghosting. Her heart sank at the instant outcome and tried to will herself into entering the battlefield to help restore her friends from their ghosthood, but her paralyzing fear kept a strong hold. Thankfully, Lighteria jumped into action but missed Demorian. Maybe he didn’t have enough items. Whatever the case, she was glad to see them restored.
Talal watched onward through the various morphisms of Tritoch from once again flying to having his wings ripped from his back for the second time, onto living in a lovely glass bubble to finally being back on solid ground with the rest of the group. Throughout, several people just kept up the battering and the dying, getting resurrected and then back into the fray. Technically it was a rather poetic thing to watch the coordinated attacks and how everyone watched out for everyone else and sent healing and such when needed. They may all have their differences but when it came right down to it…they were a team when it counted.
Things had calmed a little and they were now working on popping the smaller bubbles that were released when the grand glass bubble that went away. Bubbles didn’t seem to be too awfully horrible and the paralyzing fear finally left the Twin Blade’s extremities. Before taking herself into the bubble fun that had already poisoned everyone again, she took a look around to make sure no one needed anything, noting that not only had Senna vanished after trying to invade Tritoch’s bubble, but Nall and Sheena were also gone. Hopefully, they escaped to the town during the chaos. No time to worry about them right now though. In their stead however, the group seemed to have gained back 2 helpers from the city. Were those the guards that got tossed like catapults earlier?
Canti was a ghost and Demorian still need to be de-poisoned, which reminded her that so did she. Quickly she took out an Antidote from her pouch and drank it, once again making a nasty face from the taste. Perhaps someday she would write a strongly worded letter to CC Corp about adding some flavor…errr…maybe that wasn’t such a great idea.
Random thoughts aside, she headed first for Demorian and dodged her way around a couple of bubbles in the process. Granted it looked fun to go on a popping spree but these bubbles weren’t handing out soap suds as rewards. Tossing an Antidote at Demorain she turned and headed towards Canti. His along with Raquar’s flashmail seemed to be good ideas if they could somehow put them together for one big showdown of sorts which, in the end, is what mostly kept her from joining in the bubble fun that some of the others felt necessary; a few of which she caught out of the corner of her eye.
Apparently Takua, Sekai, Dien and Baron had all managed to find a sleep bubble so a quick turn of the heel and her direction changed from Canti to the others. She dug into her pouch of items and tossed the Restoratives at Sekai, Dien and Baron. Takua had a strange peaceful look on his face when asleep. One that almost made her rethink sending the Restorative at him that had also just left her hand. A small sigh escaped before she turned again towards Canti, practically running herself right into a bubble.
”AAACCK!”
The close bubble encounter had startled her so badly that she almost lost her balance which would have sent her to the ground to land on her rump. Thankfully, her Twin Blade agility kicked in on automatic pilot and she was able to avoid the simple yet most likely deadly hovering object of doom.
Finally, she reached her black clad fellow Twin Blade and tossed a Mage’s Soul figuring he could use it since Dien had already beat her to resurrecting him. His flashmail was still fresh in her mind and she wanted to make sure he knew she was up for it.
”That should get you back up and running. I have Gan at my disposal, just say the word.”
“So do I, actually, and the Juk I want. We’ll topple that bastard even if it kills me. Again.”
The girl scowled at him slightly. Even though resurrection was available and would be gladly given should he be killed off again, Talal didn’t cherish the thought of it happening to any of them. Especially now that all of the feelings came with it thanks to being stuck in the game like they were. When it was just a game, sure, die all you like but now that it wasn’t, it seemed rather suicidal at times. Made her wonder what kind of wheels were spinning on the inside and how long he’d been away from reality. Just a few more things to chalk up on her list of questions for later.
”I’d say be careful but…just do what you gotta do. I have plenty more where that came from.”
“Hey, c’mon. I do a lot over here. The more errors I make, the less you guys have to.”
His joking tone was evident and so she put on a smile and just shook her head slowly back and forth at him before turning to find her next rescue mission already at hand. Takua apparently didn’t know how to leave the bubbles alone and had gotten himself ghosted this time. Another scowl and a bigger shake of her head happened before she opted to go help him out. A quick Resurrect was tossed and quickly followed with a Mage’s Soul as well. She knew they only boosted the SP so far and as a Wavemaster, Takua would definitely need it to add to probably one of his own to get back up to full speed. Part of her was extremely happy. She didn’t have to fight. Healing was a full time job, at least in this battle. But her item stores weren’t going to last for much longer so hopefully this would all be over soon.
Anyone else?
((OOC: Dien, I couldn’t tell exactly from your post but Locke said you guys were all asleep so hopefully I didn’t double up on waking anyone. If I did, at least your awake now? XD
Status:
21 Bubbles still remaining
Sekai, Dien, Takua and Baron all have been awoken
Demorian has been cured of poison
Takua has been resurrected for the second time
Takua and Canti got Mage’s Souls
Dien is still dead…but not for long…I think))
It was funny how simple everything seemed when one was floating around as a ghost. The enemy was no longer interested in you, there was no more duck and cover, no more hurry up and throw a fireball tactic to worry about and the best part was she didn’t have to be scared of anything. No fear in the world could touch her as a ghost, well maybe just one, the fear that no one would be around to de-ghost her but with such a big group, that fear was nicely buried for the time being.
She watched on as her black winged fellow Twin Blade soared rather effortlessly around the sky throwing things at Tritoch before floating downward and tossing a resurrect her direction. Tiny pin pricks filled her body as the resurrect did its job restoring her back to solidness. It was going to take her awhile to get used to that. Before she could say or do anything, her arms were full of about a dozen scrolls. She looked up at him in wonderment and thanks both. She had to admit her supplies were low on those kind of things but that still didn’t answer the begging question of why he did it. Looking at them briefly before placing them in her inventory she noted they appeared to be Ani based scrolls. What each of them did, she’d have to find out later, possibly by shear dumb luck if she got in a bind.
The sky between Tritoch and Canti went crazy with spells so Talal decided to run off to the outskirts of the battle to regroup and watched the chaos unfold as it shifted into high gear. Nighthand brought out some weird weapon with whip like tendrils that left an eery trail behind them as they moved through the air. Whatever that weapon did, it didn’t look pleasant.
It was very…educational for the Twin Blade to watch the Freedom Fighters fight. They had more experience and more abilities and skills available to them and she did her best to make mental notes of the ones that were especially powerful or particularly odd looking. Tritoch himself had some interesting tricks and when Talal saw the wands raise and even the highest leveled players running for cover, she immediately joined suit. Problem was, where exactly do you run to in a desert?
There was a loud hum that accompanied the light of spells coming at the group. The hum turned into a high pitched whine that made her ears feel like someone had just stabbed a small metal spike into them. Between wincing slits for eyes, she looked around and it was apparent that no one else was having a problem with the sound or they were hiding it well. She ran clapping her hands over her ears and eventually the high pitched whine dissipated just as the girl was hit with a volley of Deks for every element under the sun, along with several other less nice things. Her senses were in overload not to mention how everything hurt badly. Finally, a sleep spell was the last thing to hit sending her dazed and confused mind into a sleepy darkness.
The black haired girl awoke to yet another fury of spells going off in the distance. Groggy eyes tried to focus and managed to figure out that at least the fight was back against Tritoch instead of the other way around. Still, she couldn’t seem to get herself to move. Everything had been debuffed or reversed and at some point even her health had been healed, but this beast they were fighting was like none other than she had seen so far, even what she had seen with the Eventide Crescendo couldn’t compare and the Twin Blade found herself frozen in place; a product of her own mental fears overwhelming her.
She just stood there and watched her teammates fight bravely and take the hits as well. Talal knew she should be out there with them but for every bit of effort to get herself to move, her feet stayed in place. Soon stone piers rose from the ground topped with gems of some kind and more spells erupted between the players and Tritoch along with their arrival. Everyone seemed to be in high gear and the Twin Blade was overwhelmed and could barely find a stable piece of thought to try and ground herself to. She wasn’t ready for this kind of fight. She needed time to process and weigh options; luxuries that this battle was not affording anyone right now.
Three of the Eventides along with Demorian suddenly attacked the piers at once and were immediately given thanks in the way of a ghosting. Her heart sank at the instant outcome and tried to will herself into entering the battlefield to help restore her friends from their ghosthood, but her paralyzing fear kept a strong hold. Thankfully, Lighteria jumped into action but missed Demorian. Maybe he didn’t have enough items. Whatever the case, she was glad to see them restored.
Talal watched onward through the various morphisms of Tritoch from once again flying to having his wings ripped from his back for the second time, onto living in a lovely glass bubble to finally being back on solid ground with the rest of the group. Throughout, several people just kept up the battering and the dying, getting resurrected and then back into the fray. Technically it was a rather poetic thing to watch the coordinated attacks and how everyone watched out for everyone else and sent healing and such when needed. They may all have their differences but when it came right down to it…they were a team when it counted.
Things had calmed a little and they were now working on popping the smaller bubbles that were released when the grand glass bubble that went away. Bubbles didn’t seem to be too awfully horrible and the paralyzing fear finally left the Twin Blade’s extremities. Before taking herself into the bubble fun that had already poisoned everyone again, she took a look around to make sure no one needed anything, noting that not only had Senna vanished after trying to invade Tritoch’s bubble, but Nall and Sheena were also gone. Hopefully, they escaped to the town during the chaos. No time to worry about them right now though. In their stead however, the group seemed to have gained back 2 helpers from the city. Were those the guards that got tossed like catapults earlier?
Canti was a ghost and Demorian still need to be de-poisoned, which reminded her that so did she. Quickly she took out an Antidote from her pouch and drank it, once again making a nasty face from the taste. Perhaps someday she would write a strongly worded letter to CC Corp about adding some flavor…errr…maybe that wasn’t such a great idea.
Random thoughts aside, she headed first for Demorian and dodged her way around a couple of bubbles in the process. Granted it looked fun to go on a popping spree but these bubbles weren’t handing out soap suds as rewards. Tossing an Antidote at Demorain she turned and headed towards Canti. His along with Raquar’s flashmail seemed to be good ideas if they could somehow put them together for one big showdown of sorts which, in the end, is what mostly kept her from joining in the bubble fun that some of the others felt necessary; a few of which she caught out of the corner of her eye.
Apparently Takua, Sekai, Dien and Baron had all managed to find a sleep bubble so a quick turn of the heel and her direction changed from Canti to the others. She dug into her pouch of items and tossed the Restoratives at Sekai, Dien and Baron. Takua had a strange peaceful look on his face when asleep. One that almost made her rethink sending the Restorative at him that had also just left her hand. A small sigh escaped before she turned again towards Canti, practically running herself right into a bubble.
”AAACCK!”
The close bubble encounter had startled her so badly that she almost lost her balance which would have sent her to the ground to land on her rump. Thankfully, her Twin Blade agility kicked in on automatic pilot and she was able to avoid the simple yet most likely deadly hovering object of doom.
Finally, she reached her black clad fellow Twin Blade and tossed a Mage’s Soul figuring he could use it since Dien had already beat her to resurrecting him. His flashmail was still fresh in her mind and she wanted to make sure he knew she was up for it.
”That should get you back up and running. I have Gan at my disposal, just say the word.”
“So do I, actually, and the Juk I want. We’ll topple that bastard even if it kills me. Again.”
The girl scowled at him slightly. Even though resurrection was available and would be gladly given should he be killed off again, Talal didn’t cherish the thought of it happening to any of them. Especially now that all of the feelings came with it thanks to being stuck in the game like they were. When it was just a game, sure, die all you like but now that it wasn’t, it seemed rather suicidal at times. Made her wonder what kind of wheels were spinning on the inside and how long he’d been away from reality. Just a few more things to chalk up on her list of questions for later.
”I’d say be careful but…just do what you gotta do. I have plenty more where that came from.”
“Hey, c’mon. I do a lot over here. The more errors I make, the less you guys have to.”
His joking tone was evident and so she put on a smile and just shook her head slowly back and forth at him before turning to find her next rescue mission already at hand. Takua apparently didn’t know how to leave the bubbles alone and had gotten himself ghosted this time. Another scowl and a bigger shake of her head happened before she opted to go help him out. A quick Resurrect was tossed and quickly followed with a Mage’s Soul as well. She knew they only boosted the SP so far and as a Wavemaster, Takua would definitely need it to add to probably one of his own to get back up to full speed. Part of her was extremely happy. She didn’t have to fight. Healing was a full time job, at least in this battle. But her item stores weren’t going to last for much longer so hopefully this would all be over soon.
Anyone else?
((OOC: Dien, I couldn’t tell exactly from your post but Locke said you guys were all asleep so hopefully I didn’t double up on waking anyone. If I did, at least your awake now? XD
Status:
21 Bubbles still remaining
Sekai, Dien, Takua and Baron all have been awoken
Demorian has been cured of poison
Takua has been resurrected for the second time
Takua and Canti got Mage’s Souls
Dien is still dead…but not for long…I think))
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Walk beside me that we may be as one.
***************************************
Talal
![Image](http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk195/SemLovari/Talal/Talal.jpg)
Level 39 (0/1000 EXP) Twin Blade
Weapons/Armor: Mukuro (Swirling Dark, Dark Dance), Ice Hunter Cap (Repth), Wristbands (Juk Rom), Fishing Gloves (Rue Kruz), Wyrm Hide (Gan Don), Snow Panther (Ap Vorv)
Wish List: Scrolls, Tarot Cards, and Armor higher than level 30.
***************************************
Talal
![Image](http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk195/SemLovari/Talal/Talal.jpg)
Level 39 (0/1000 EXP) Twin Blade
Weapons/Armor: Mukuro (Swirling Dark, Dark Dance), Ice Hunter Cap (Repth), Wristbands (Juk Rom), Fishing Gloves (Rue Kruz), Wyrm Hide (Gan Don), Snow Panther (Ap Vorv)
Wish List: Scrolls, Tarot Cards, and Armor higher than level 30.