2018-01-27: Enough to Shine Through the Darkness
- Log: Enough to Shine Through the Darkness
- Cast: Siegfried, Talise Gianfair, Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong, Layna Manydays, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: Marze
- Date: January 27th 2018
- Summary: Word spreads of a statue discovered on an island by a steam cargo ship, which consequently finds port in Marze. A small group heads in to check it out -- and seal the statue if true -- only to find that belowdecks something terrible has already happened. A fight ensues in the ship's hold, but...
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Word travels quick through Drifter communities. And, of course, through pirate communities. Storms on the open seas aren't unheard of, and the climate patterns of Filgaia sometimes lead to strong ones. While tropical cyclones never really hit the shores of Ignas, they plague Aquvy, and sometimes a ship's crew is forced to stop at an island and weather one out.
The crew of the Kalbara, one of the steam cargo ships that makes way between Marze and Meria Boule, is one such crew.
On that island, they found a statue. It was said to be in the shape of a Guardian, and word got around. The exact statue was unknown, but the Kalbara was docked in Marze for only two days. It was a chance to get to the bottom of it.
And thus, it is a dark and stormy night. Drifters making their way to the Kalbara will find that wind and rain drives down on the piers and the deck, splashing madly; a gaslit lamp shines in the darkness, while the winds howl. The Kalbara is a wood hull ship, but with two smoke stacks rising up from it. Neither belches coal-fueled smoke, though, and it rocks slightly in its mooring.
There is no sign of anyone on the docks. Weather like this keeps them away.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
It has been far too long since Talise has been aboard a ship.
If only it were under better circumstances, she reflects as she tugs down the black toque she's worn along with her heavy seafarer's coat, which she's buttoned up to keep her mail from jingling beneath it. The rain pelts against both hat and coat, but she ignores it save to occasionally shake her head and flick a few drops away from the point of her nose. The wind tugs at her coat; she lets the trail of it crackle behind her as she moves along the docks at a quiet pace.
The fact that there's only the one lamp shining from the ship tweaks her suspicions more than a little. Usually there are more. The crew usually takes shelter below decks on these voyages; paying for an inn would cut into their margins, and margins tend to mean everything to shippers, fishermen and others who venture out onto the water.
Always too narrow. Never enough room for error.
Talise squints across the bow of the ship in search of others out and about in this weather. Then, with a shrug, she steps from the dock and up onto the deck. It rolls and rocks beneath her with the swell and receding of each wave that crests beneath the Kalbara.
Talise, who was born on a ship, takes it in stride. She begins to move along the deck, surefooted but as quiet as she can manage, a hand near her belt in case she needs to knife someone.
That's the last resort, she reminds herself. Best bet is to see if the crew is here. See if we can get down there and see the Statue.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
EARLIER
"I don't know if either of you get sea sick," Elly says to her two compatriots after the pre-gaming snack and glass of weak ale in the village inn, "but if you do, take one of these little tablets. Just put them under your tongue."
FEI FONG WONG and also JOSEPHINE LOVELACE are equipped with small brown glass vials. "They'll dissolve... they don't taste very good but they'll ease things. Try not to take them all at once, of course, you might have a reaction."
Elly smiles, a little wanly. "My - mother, always made me carry things like this..."
* Get 5x S.Dramamine!
* Don't worry; Elly will automatically [Use] it herself.
NOW
Elly is wearing a loose oilskin poncho over her habitual attire of 'denim peasant dress with short hem, stockings, boots, discreet side purse'. The hood is up.
"Are they really going to cross the ocean in THAT? In THIS weather?" Elly says, in disbelief. She looks to the others near her, Fei first. "... This is suicide. I wouldn't fly a - a cucco in this weather."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
EARLIER
Fei meanwhile looks kind of green just at the thought of being on a boat in this kind of weather. He takes a vial. "Thanks, I'll keep it...ready." He is not sure if he's more worried about boat safety or getting ill at an unopportune time.
"W..well it probably couldn't hurt." Fei says.
NOW
FEI FONG WONG is wearing his gi and some loose pants and loose case. "Well, if we can seal it before it leaves, we don't gotta, right?"
He steps onto the docks. It creeks as he makes its way towards it. "Are docks usually this quiet, Josie? Even in this weather?" Actually he thought of asking Elly but it might be an unusual experience for her too.
He wonders briefly if you can be born 'seasick' on a flying city. That sounds terrible.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Word reached Layna pretty quickly. With all the kuriosities in Krosse lately, she had her crew report every rumor to her directly, no matter how strange. And so when word reached her ears of a ship carrying a statue, she decided it was time to drop everything and go check it out.
Though of course she wasn't about to approach it alone, so she's accompanying good friend(and fellow pirate) Talise in this endeavor.
She's no stranger to dark and stormy nights. To her, this was as natural as anything else. This is, in fact, not her first time spying on a ship from this distance, in these conditions. Her first time with a ship of this particular variety, certainly, but other that that, this was nothing special to her. She may even be inwardly debating the logistics of commandeering it for themselves, should they need to.
So, with her coat protecting her from the elements and her hat funneling rain away from her face, she looks completely natural as she stands there on the deck with Talise. She's quiet. This was unusual for Layna, but usual for this kind of mission. She does stop however and gestures to Talise, before subtly pointing out to the docks where she sees several figures approaching.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie is probably going to kill Lily for this. Eventually.
EARLIER
It's just a good thing they arrived in town late. As it is, there's one key thing that Fei and Elly would have learned about Ms. Lovelace--
She was born here.
As such, people remember her, even if it's apparently been some time since she was last in Marze.
Someone even strongly hinted she should go visit her father. He's apparently important here.
Consequently, Josie was in a foul mood by the time Elly handed over a strange vial, midway herself through downing a mug. She nearly chokes on it. With a cough she then barks out a, "What? Sea-sick?"
Before taking a moment to eye the little glass containers. "...Oh. Huh. Your mother, eh, kiddo? She do a lot of traveling?"
Her mood is perhaps slightly improved by the time they leave, thanks to the alcohol.
At least, until one of the late-nighters -- also leaving -- asks her, "You ever hear from that sister of yours?"
JOSIE'S MOOD: -5
NOW
"Rain, huh..."
'Rain' is putting it mildly. This is a seastorm.
"Maybe they're going to wait for it to die down first. Though, there's something to be said for putting out in this weather, right?" She smiles, a little too widely, as if amused at her own choice of words. "Anyway, it's risk-reward. Take a risk, you might get a reward... or die, dashed on the rocks." She glances between Fei and Elly. "I've known a few sailors. The sea's unforgiving, so they say..."
That smile takes on a slightly darker cast. "Though, I can't blame her."
She pauses there, rain slicking off her coat and dripping from her hair as they regard the ship. "At this time of night? Depends. In this weather? ...Probably can't blame 'em. If they're thinking of putting sail soon, though..." She touches a hand to her rifle, safely stowed in a weatherproofed bag. "Not usual at all. You'd think someone'd be aboard..."
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
They arrive at the docks and the Kalbara, separately and together.
There is nothing to obstruct them from arriving on the ship. Talise and Layna get to the deck first; Josie, Fei, and Elly are still on the docks. When the first two set foot on the deck, rain splashes off and wahses through small holes cut into the railing at foot-level. Despite the fact that the ship seems abandoned, there is some sign of life. The hatches are battened down, sealed against the rain.
The ship rocks, slightly.
But two things happen. First, as Fei, Elly, and Josie approach, they can see the portholes. There is a flash from inside of one; bright and blue, enough to shine through the darkness.
And, on the deck, there is a loud CLANG as one of the hatches proves less sealed than it looks. It bounces, loudly, and the whole thing rattles.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The docks creak in a way that's not in synch with the rise and fall of the waves. Talise frowns a little; the gesture from Layna further alerts her to the fact that something dire may be afoot. The half-Beastwoman nods to her fellow seadog grimly. Hand on her knife, Talise lowers her shoulders and looks back toward the pier.
The tension in her shoulders and neck melts away as she realizes who's coming. "Oh, it's you guys," she says with a dull blink back at Fei and his friends.
He's not someone in Talise's normal friend circle; she knows him mainly as that guy she manhandled out of an Avehan prison once.
Talise straightens up, letting the others get a better look to see who she is; she recognizes Elly and Josephine just enough that she's fairly sure thw two women won't immediately decide she's a Metal Demon or something. But the thud of the hatch startles her slightly, and she tenses, then lets it out with a short hiss of breath, turning towards the sound. "...That's interesting. You'd think they'd have closed that soundly," she murmurs, gesturing towards Layna and beginning to move towards the hatch.
She gives the other pirate a look, her shoulders coming up a bit beneath her coat. "...I've got a pretty bad feeling, Layna. Even on a rainy night, there should be a night watch. Or they'd have heard the boots on the deck and sent someone up by now."
With a look back towards the other three, she nods simply. "...If you're looking for what I think you are, maybe we ought to stick close."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"No," Elly had said to Josie, quietly. "She was just worried about me."
BUT THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW
The sight of a blue glow in the portholes on the side of the ship makes Elly exhale. Her eyes return to her compatriots and she says, "I don't know what's going on in there. Is it possible the sailors went ashore in this storm?"
She approaches nonetheless, even as she observes the pouring rain sluicing out through the gunwales, as she watches the motion of the other two up top. In the rain she can't make them out but she does call ahead, "Hellooooo!"
Back to the other two, Elly asks, "Um, though - do either of you have one of those sealing rods with you?" She has a completely unrelated rod herself, of course. But whacking a statue with that would be neutral at best.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei frowns. A blue flash... Certainly, it could be more than one thing, but Fei's instincts tell him to assume the worst. He looks to Talise and Layna and gives them a brief nod.
"We gotta hurry." He tells them. "I have a bad feeling about this. We probably should try to be as quiet as we can without losing speed."
Fei does have a sealing rod with him so he nods to Elly. "I got one." Of course there may be others who brought their own, but Fei has learned to be ready to do this yourself if you gotta. A lesson from Kent, perhaps.
He squints at the port hole slapping loose before he picks up speed.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna raises a hand in a lazy wave of greeting toward the others, now that she's sure they're not going to be a problem. She'd heard rumors that there were even humans that had it out for the Statues, so she couldn't be too careful. With that done, she moves to study the ship.
There were definitely some signs of life around, even if they seemed to be the only ones out and about... The hatches were sealed, after all, so someone had to be responsible.
Someone who maybe should have checked their work, as one of them soon opens with a loud sound. Layna whirls on it, somewhat tensed...and then relaxes.
"...Aye. A shoddy job like that in weather like this'd get you a week of cleaning duties." Layna comments with a smirk, and then a shrug.
"Maybe night watch just had themselves a lil' too much to drink? Or maybe Filgaian sailors just can't handle a bit o' shoddy weather, and decided to all huddle up around their engine." She comments with a shrug and a grin...but her expression soon goes serious.
"...Or maybe we ain't the first ones here. Careful now, me hearties." Layna comments, then nods toward Talise in agreement. She doesn't equip her gauntlets right away...but she doesn't necessarily need them to handle
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Back in Marze, under the safe confines of a rooftop, Penelope snuggles in on her perch. A warm fire crackles in the hearth below.
You would have to be an idiot to go out into that. The pigeon is, apparently, not an idiot.
BACK OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN
"Is that... huh. Well, as they say," Josie comments, lowering her hand as she spots Talise and Layna, "The enemy of my enemy... oh, hm, that's not applicable here, is it? Well, carry on! Maybe in this weather they'll be in a sharing mood, eh?" she comments in passing to Layna. "Just a bunch of old sailors swapping stories--"
The cheer -- caked on at that -- lasts for all of five seconds.
A blue flash ensues from within the ship.
Josie moves after that, drawing the -- still weather-wrapped -- firearm from its holster and heading on up deckside. She does not explain herself or her intentions, but she probably doesn't have to.
"Hope one of you two has one, kiddo," she comments. "I'm just here because of a Tiger."
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
The only way through is down.
The hatch opens, leading into the below decks area. A cargo ship like the Kalbara is mostly a cargo hold on the inside, and thus, the stairway is a long path downward, to the hold. The hold itself is full of boxes: crates, wooden and metal, some of which nearly reach the ceiling. This makes a maze-like pathway.
They can see another flash of blue light from ahead, and then another. There is a gasp, too. Then, there is a thump, and another. It sounds wet and heavy.
A sailor comes around the corner, stumbling. He falls into a crate, using it to prop himself up. Blood runs down his side, slick, and there is a ghastly, massive rend in his flesh. It is the sort of thing that one doesn't survive without immense healing magic.
"He... he took on all of us, all of the crew, and the marines," the sailor gasps. "God help us, there was only one of him!"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I borrowed someone's," Talise says as she briefly opens her coat to reveal the wand hanging at her hip. When she closes it again, she shrugs back at Josephine. "Well, considering I don't hate you, I don't think we're really enemies? But."
They move on. The ship is like more than a few ships Talise has seen before, though the machinery's new. But she has no time to dwell on it.
Instead there's a flash. A thumb.
A man. Widening her eyes, Talise darts forward towards the gruesomely-injured man, kneeling to check out his wound. She begins to reach out, but stops halfway there as a horrible realization dawns on him: There's nothing she can do for him.
Damn it, if only Althena had given me the power to heal, she reflects bitterly. Not like she's given me any blessings lately....
Aloud, she brings her hand instead to the man's shoulder. "Easy," she murmurs. "Easy. Don't try to force yourself." Not that it'll do any good even if he takes it easy, but she has no idea what else to say.
All she can do is reach into her coat and offer up a bottle to the man. "This might help," she says.
Old Man Ettlesbury's Olde-Fashioned Heal Berry Liqueur
Maybe it'll keep him alive until the group can figure out what's going on, Talise reflects bitterly as she eases back. Her eyes harden as she reaches back, drawing Rastaban with a rasp of sharp steel. "Whoever it is up there has a lot to answer for," she growls. "Especially if they're after the Statue. We need to hurry."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly smiles a little under her poncho at being called a hearty. (Heartie? It's unclear.) The name appeals to her even if it may be a little less appealing after she finds out about all its idiosyncracies.
But she has little else to say. Not in this rain. Soon enough they go down.
LOADING...
Flash - thump - "That noise," Elly says as her eyes snap back to Fei. "Oh no."
Her fears are validated when the man staggers towards them. Elly can see mortal injury clearly enough, along with a significant portion of the interior organs of the man. When you look like a processed field meat ready for the stew pot, you are not likely to be there for much longer. Elly has seen people die, of course, but
It's never easy, is it?
Elly hastens forwards nonetheless. The butcher-floor sea smell is ignored. She tries to grasp the man's uninjured side - to bear him up even as Talise offers him the surcease of liquor. "We'll stop him," she tells him, "Just... Just tell us what you can, alright?"
Without thinking she says, "I won't leave you."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I doubt it," Josie comments to Talise, coupling it with a smile and a shrug. "There might be a better idiom, but I'll be damned if I can think of it right now!"
BELOW DECKS
She loosens the tie on her rifle, abandoning the waterproofing wrap here without further consideration. One quick check later, she's moving--
Particularly when there's a thud and when there's a sailor who has seen far far better days comes limping in.
Josie takes a look at the sailor. Her gaze lingers on the gaping rend in his side. And she shakes her head.
Some things, a person can't survive.
One second's pause. That's it. As she sees it, they don't have the indulgence of time.
"...Come on. And keep your voices down. Someone's trying to beat us to the party..."
Josie heads for the doorway he came in without another look, her gaze intent as she passes on by. She pauses before crossing the threshold.
Only one of them, and they're all dead...
The first likely-looking cover she can see on the other side of the door, she's using. Whoever's here can't be far. The man couldn't have gotten far with a wound like that.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Aye, maybe." Layna responds, putting that grin back on for Josie. But it disappears once more as she starts to head down through the hatch and into the decks below. It's a pretty simple ship, all things considered, but the cargo made getting through a little difficult. Their only guidance is the periodic lights ahead of them.
And then... a man. Layna joins Talise in kneeling by his side.
"Who? Talk to us, lad. Who is it?" Layna says. She glances toward Elly then with a nod and stands up, moving aside to let her through. Layna stands up fully, cracking her knuckles and glancing once more in the direction of the lights before slipping her gauntlets onto her hands.
"If any of you want to back out, now's your chance. If not, we should probably all go in at once. Whoever this is, it's not gonna be an easy fight." She says.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Did Layna just call him a heartie, Fei thinks to himself distantly. "I hope it's not who I think it is." He tells Layna, hiding the sealing rod in his gi. He has a feeling it'll be in danger if it's easily seen.
He frowns as a sailor stumbles towards the group, already dying. He can't do anything for that man, he realizes quickly. If only he knew how to do more than fight, he thinks. Like surgery. If he could perform that--
--but the fact is, he can't. Elly says she won't leave him but the longer they wait here...
...but being kind is important too. That's what they're fighting for, isn't it?
"Elly." He says, resting a hand on one of her shoulders. "I'll help the other sailors. Look after him."
And then he rushes off, no longer being quiet at all, just bounding forward in large strides, gritting his teeth. It has to be him, he thinks. Of course, it's possible as Josie suggests--that he's already killed everyone, but there may be other people hiding about too. If he draws HIS attention--and who else could it be really--then if nothing else it'll let the others approach more cautiously.
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
"Nnh--my thanks," the sailor says. He takes the whiskey, and a sip from it. His eyes close for a moment, and his breath escapes shuddering. He opens them, then, and meets Elly's eyes. It is some effort for him to do that. He grits his teeth, then he nods. "Sweet of you, but... he's--he's after that statue we found. He's..."
'Who is it?'
"A man in armor. Huge. Has... has a blade with an eye. He's making for it now." He looks up, shakily. He looks at Fei, and watches as Fei leaves. Fei finds what he feared. The sailors are, in fact, dead. They lie scattered and strewn -- huge gashes torn through them, in heaps. Blood has made the floor slick in places, and he can also spot where the guards were. Men who were armored, with clubs, cudgels, a couple of swords, and even one rifle-like ARM lay about. The last sailor stands in front of the one who did this, and rams a knife down. The blade strikes into azure armor, with a shower of sparks, and then the knife's blade cracks in two.
Siegfried looks down at the man, before he pushes him headfirst into a crate. There is a loud, sickening crack -- and a dark, bloody smear left in his wake. Siegfried pulls his hand back, armor covered in blood, and turns his head slowly. His eyes meet Fei's. In the thin, dim light, they shine with something metallic.
Something monstrous.
Something hateful.
Riesenlied betrayed him and his mercy is at an end.
The Quarter Knight says nothing, as he stares at Fei. The Statue stands behind him, of Stare Roe. The chiseled stone is covered in shadow, from the dim lighting here -- mostly from the flashes of lightning from outside -- and Glumzambor swings up, one-handed, to point towards the lot of them.
The ship shakes, slightly. Along the walls, a few cracks can be seen, where Siegfried had smashed a now-dead crew member.
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 95%
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
See, there, Josie is one smart lady, Talise reflects at the sight of the silver-haired woman jumping towards cover. She knows there's a danger and she's taking the appropriate precautions. She more than any of us will probably live.
Of course, Talise has another inner voice and it's repeating just one thing: Dragonmaster Chloe wouldn't hide behind a box.
Shouldering ahead, Talise wraps both hands tightly around Rastaban's hilt, her knuckles whitening within her gauntlets. Her grip only tightens at the sight of that immense shape looming ahead.
A dull ache races from just above her hipbone to a spot below her ear, following a single, defined line. The line that this bloodied, azure-armoured man cut into her that horrible day in Adlehyde, when the city burned and too many good people lost their lives.
Shaking her coat open with a jingle of mail, Talise takes one slow, step, another, then one more. "I owe you one for last time," she says, her voice low and matter-of-fact. "But we'll be throwing in a few extra for all the people you killed here today."
"And for Ida," Talise finishes with a grim scowl. Rastaban slowly weaves as she begins to move to circle Siegfried like a wolf getting ready to strike. A standard move in the Thousand Stormless Tides style - a style adhered to by one person in both the worlds, truth be told.
Please let what I've learned be enough, she prays internally, though her expression remains stony and focused. Not that praying will mean much, truthfully.
Althena hasn't been much help to her lately. She's on her own, save for Layna and the others.
The slight tensing of Talise's left thigh may give Siegfried a heartbeat's warning before the tall woman launches herself forward. Eyes hard with focus, Talise barrels towards the huge Quarter Knight. Bunching her shoulders, she comes in swinging with a hard slash aimed to force Siegfried to parry -
At which point she'll pop her hips and attempt to just thrust-kick him in the chest as hard as she goddamned can, because Talise fights dirty sometimes.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Can a Faithless Heart Roar Like a Lion! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Can a Faithless Heart Roar Like a Lion for 54 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong comes to a stop. suddenly as he sees so many corpses. His eyes go wide with fear, horror, pain, and nostalgia.
FEI PSYCHO 35
Fei can't stop looking into Siegfried's eyes. These people weren't soldiers, they were civilians. Is this how he imagined Siegfried to be, in truth? Or was this Siegfried all along? This is his devotion to Mother, isn't it? It looks like in this moment that Siegfried already struck a critical blow against Fei just from all these murders.
Maybe he's just a guy who wants to satisfy his bloodlust, kid
Fei curls his fingers inward, turns his hand around outward, palm facing the ceiling, then curling them inward again.
"Is Mother worth all this?" He asks. "Is her power going to give you what you want?"
This keeps him from being the first to strike but he darts forward and throws several quick strikes. Unlike before, he realizes--
--simply stalling him won't be enough. Not unless they can pin him down long enough for him to finish the work on the statue and even then...
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Siegfried with Hoten! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Siegfried takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hoten for 126 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
A man in armor, with a blade bearing an eye...
That description could fit only one man. None of them need to say his name for Layna to realise who he's talking about.
"We'll do what we can. As for you..." Layna hesitates, folding her arms in front of her. "From one sailor to another... Rest well, lad."
It was all she could offer him.
And then she moves forward, toward where the armored man - the Quarter Knight - stands. She stares at him, cracking her neck. He doesn't offer a word to any of them, merely pointing at them with his terrible blade. The threat is clear.
She had no words to offer him, either. What she can offer him, however, is a quick rush forward, interlocking the shields on her gauntlets as she moves and pushing roughly at him before retreating back into a defensive position.
She eyes him carefully in her stance, studying him to see how he'd react.
...She couldn't deny that a part of her had been waiting eagerly for this fight, after having fought Berserk and Lady Harken before.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Siegfried with Bash and Buckle! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Bash and Buckle for 22 hit points! GS: Poison, Cripple, Jam, and Mute! Statuses applied to Siegfried! GS: Layna Manydays takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks to Fei for a moment, nods once, and still doesn't leave the man immediately. Even as he explains. She guides him to the ground and says to him, softly, "I understand." Her hand seeks the sailor's and she squeezes it once.
"I wish I could help you more," Elly says, distantly. "I..."
She is silent for long seconds, before she moves away from the man.
Inside of her there is a sense of dizzy turmoil that is not entirely from the quaking, rocking motion of the ship. He's here, isn't he? The man who wields Glumzambor. The man who she remembers seeing in her dreams, sometimes. The creature from beyond the stars who nearly killed Fei.
And Siegfried, who, Elly knows - Riesenlied told her as much -
-=-=-=-
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Elly says, as she comes in. Her head is tilted forward, eyes turned down.
"To be alone. To be cut off from the person who you love... a gulf you can't cross." Elly reaches up with one hand to flip back the still rain-wet hood of her poncho, looking upwards and making herself MAKING HERSELF look dead at that man and the dread weapon in his hand because, she tells herself, BECAUSE: He is hurting.
"... Now there are more people, who are going to have that feeling... maybe some of them will lash out, too," Elly says. She makes her eyes focused on the brandished blade even as the others dash in to strike. Elly doesn't get any closer. She simply focuses out. come on, she tells herself, you're element class, but he's going to expect the flame --
Elly's hands tighten. "Does it feel any better to know what you've done?"
Thunder crashes!
No, it actually crashes. Straight in through a porthole aimed towards Siegfried. The thunder probably does the ship no favors, or anyone's hearing. That was too easy, Elly thinks - I forgot about the storm--!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Siegfried with Anemo Bolt! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Anemo Bolt for 18 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Hey. Hey, kid-- wait--"
Fei is not waiting. Josie stares after him a moment before she shakes her head in disbelief and rushes in after him. Damn, damn, damn--
Such thoughts are cut off entirely once she breaks into the hold beyond. She's seen her stock of the aftermath of bloody battles, but...
This wasn't a battle as much as it was a massacre.
Even someone like her winces as the man's head terminally meets the crate.
"...Kid," she says to Fei, lifting her rifle. "...Kiddo," she says, looking Elly's way as she arrives and speaks. "I don't think he's gonna listen to you."
"Something about all this makes me think he's not exactly in a listenin' mood."
And something isn't right about this, runs the thought, as she takes in the sight of the statue -- still standing -- with the Quarter Knight before it.
But she hadn't gotten where she's going in life by thinking before she leaps.
Lifting the rifle -- as Fei, Layna, and Talise dart in for quicker strikes in closer quarters -- Josie spares the leader of the Quarter Knights her narrow-eyed gaze before glancing into the rifle sights.
One good shot, just to slow him down, that's all she needs. Play it easy and slow, just this once. Something about this one says she'll need whatever edge she can get.
She pulls the trigger.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Siegfried with An Arm and a Leg! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Siegfried takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's An Arm and a Leg for 49 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
"My... my thanks," the sailor says. He slumps further. His eyes are on Layna and Elly, but he spares a final glance for all of them as they pass. He bows his head, then. He hears the crash behind him. He hears the ring of steel on steel. His eyes close -- and he slumps down, blood pooling underneath him.
He does not rise.
"If you think their names matter to me, then you have learned nothing!" the Quarter Knight snarls at Talise. She rushes forward and they meet in a clash. Blades strike together, Rastaban dwarfed by the sheer size of Glumzambor. The swords send sparks up into the air, as his feet turn to put more of his greater weight into the blow. Talise surprises him, though, with that well-placed kick. It strikes his armored chest and knocks him backward sharply.
His reach is still prodigious, however. Glumzambor sweeps outward, slashing at Talise in a wide arc. He cannot bring the full length of the blade to bear upon her; he has to settle for a faster slash, meant to test her defenses. Which is for the best, because he doesn't keep both hands on the sword. Fei comes rushing at him, speaking, and then slams several quick strikes into his armored chest. He had stumbled, already, thanks to Talise.
The last blow smashes him backward, into the wall of the ship. The hull buckles, slightly, where he hits it. "Is Mother worth this? Of course she is, Fei Fong Wong. She is our goddess, our leader, our SALVATION! And your--" He starts screaming. He hasn't ever screamed before. "And your human lies and trickery have lured her away! Made her create a village! A VILLAGE!"
He swings up his left arm. The forearm plate raises, and then two pulses of light explode from it, screaming off towards Fei. He starts forward, then, and Layna swings out her gauntlets -- pushing at him roughly. He stumbles; he spits, once, and then as she pulls back, he hurtles himself for her. He swings back a huge fist, punching it down at her head. Then, he slams his spear down in one hand, trying to impale Layna through the midsection with the enormous two-handed blade.
He turns, then, and raises his left arm. The gun has retracted inside -- and the lightning bolt smashes through a nearby porthole and strikes into the armored gauntlet, just in time to go flashing off it. His head turns, looking at Elly, and his teeth are bared. "Be silent! For you humans to lose those you care about... it is what you deserve!"
His left arm, still flashing with sparks, is directed back towards Elly. The plate rises -- and another blast fires, this one a longer lance of white light that shoots off towards Elly. Water splashes down, mixing with the pooled blood on the floor. The shot slams into the armored plate before it retracts, bouncing off it. Siegfried turns, slate grey eyes looking at Josie -- and reflecting red, like metal, again.
Then he leaps, lunging forward, and he swings his foot down in a massive kick, aimed at slamming Josie back into the nearby crates.
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 90%
GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Shadow Slash! GS: Siegfried has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Arm Cannon! GS: Siegfried has attacked Layna Manydays with Dark Spear! GS: Siegfried has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Ion Pulse! GS: Siegfried has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Hyadean Martial Arts! GS: Siegfried takes 6 damage from Poison! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Shadow Slash for 106 hit points! DC: MISS! Layna Manydays completely evades Dark Spear from Siegfried! GS: Fei Fong Wong critically Guards a hit from Siegfried's Arm Cannon for 22 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Hyadean Martial Arts for 53 hit points! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Ion Pulse for 137 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The hairs on the back of Talise's neck rise perceptibly - someone's aiming a gun behind her. Josephine, she realizes. It's a nervous feeling but she forces herself to think about the weight of her sword in her hands. Trust her aim. She knows what she's doing.
Rastaban's not small, as swords go - it's a two-handed broadsword - but even it is dwarfed by the goliath Glumzambor. As Siegfried hurtles backwards, Talise launches after him, intent on not letting him off the hook just yet.
That quick swing surprises her, though. With a hiss of breath, Talise whips Rastaban up into a defensive position. Again steel rasps across steel, sparks showering from the bladelock, but the massive size of the Dark Sword is too much even with less momentum than usual behind it. The impact hurls Talise backwards several metres; her back slams into a bulkhead, a board splintering beneath her weight.
Althena damn it, Talise berates herself internally. What the hell is wrong with me?
Giving herself a shake, Talise begins to circle again, waiting for an opening. It gives her a second to listen to Siegfried rant.
The screaming surprises her. Narrowing her eyes, she lowers her shoulders and upper body, and waits for a moment. "It's a pretty nice village," she opines, more to needle Siegfried than anything else. "But you might want to be careful. Sometimes you can put a lot of faith in a goddess who turns out to not give a damn about you."
Once again, Talise bulls forward, breaking into a short sprint across what distance Siegfried had put between the two of them. She times it for that moment when Siegfried moves his leg to kick Josephine.
Once he does, Talise descends on him. Her leg sweeps out, aiming to catch Siegfried's and jar it to try and throw him off balance, and she follows up with a hard, horizontal blow from her sword - then another, then another, then one more. She unleashes slash after slash with machine-gun quickness, taking advantage of both her own prodigious strength and Rastaban's comparatively smaller size next to Glumzambor to try and overwhelm Siegfried's defenses with a barrage of short, stinging cuts across his shoulders and limbs.
"Their names do mean something to me!" she roars as she swings. "Their lives matter!!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Infinitely Rippling Stream! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Infinitely Rippling Stream for 78 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"You might be right," Elly tells Josie. "But I have to at least - try -"
Siegfried speaks. Screams is more accurate. One aspect sticks in Elly's mind, the aspect of - her? She made a village? But that was Riesenlied, Elly thinks. Then there is a titanic streak of white and cruel words come from the Quarter Knight. Did she expect less? No, not really.
But what he said...
The ionic lance of shrieking force smashes against her. Elly's error and perhaps a flaw in her understanding of what Captain Yugh taught her are made manifest simultaneously when the same flow of potential that let her call the lightning leads to that force arcing into her. She thrashes once, slamming to the side against a dead man. She struggles to breathe and for a moment it is hard -
Just a moment, though. Coughing, she doesn't answer Siegfried as he moves to smash into Josie.
"..."
Then the energy flows again. Elly does not move towards the storm this time. She is, at least, alive to learn that much. Instead her attention flows down into the surging water that's pouring in through the cracks and mingling with blood. Hold it. Feel it. There's a point where it becomes something else. Elly's hand, shaking slightly, reaches out towards -- something.
"... If they really meant nothing to you," Elly says, "you wouldn't say anything."
Her fingers curl and the ice forms, blossoming like stalagmites from the water and shedding flakes of salt as it tries to engulf and encompass and pierce Siegfried. The stabs are real attempts but the money action, as far as Elly is concerned, is at his ankles and his feet. She expects he could burst loose, but it would slow him down. She expects. She hopes.
"Does it help? Does it help to kill these people? Does it do a single thing to ease you?" Elly asks, even as the stalagmites keep sprouting out, like an overcranked zoetrope. "Or..."
Elly isn't sure what the 'or' is. The phrase hangs, pregnant, in the air. Along with the water vapor. From the ice.
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Siegfried with Aqua Ice! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Aqua Ice for 91 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna notes the slight buckling of the ship's hull as Siegfried is slammed backward against. That...could be a problem. If it were to rupture... She pauses in her thoughts. Well, it could be both a blessing and a curse, now that she thought about it. She stows this thought away as Siegfried comes rushing at her, not allowing her to retreat.
Layna brings her shields up, the sheer force of his punch forcing her backward several steps. He does not seem interested in giving her time to recover, as she soon hears the sound of Glumzambor screaming downward toward her. It's a narrow escape - she dodges just as the Dark Spear enters the space she once was, barely avoiding a gruesome fate.
...A village? What was that about a village? Something was off about him. He was different than the last time she had seen him. He was...enraged.
Talise takes some of the heat off of her, entering with a flurry of swings. Layna aims to take advantage of this by quickly reciting an incantation. Blades of wind start to form in the air before rushing toward Siegfried to slice at him with deadly precision.
"We 'deserve' it, aye? And who decides that, you? Sorry to say, I've a bad habit o' not gettin' what people think I 'deserve'..." She comments. "And what do you think you deserve?"
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Siegfried with Cutlass Gale! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Cutlass Gale for 142 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei grimaces as he accidentally sends Siegfried crashing into the hull. Great. A fight where he has to ... be careful of his own strength ... and not do more damage than he needs to ... while fighting someone who clearly doesn't care how much damage he does to the ship and is also significnatly stronger than him.
Good Grief.
Also holy shit did Elly just divert the lightning?
Elly's always been the better at talking, he thinks. He always feels like he's trying to say things as she does and doesn't quite manage it.
So instead Fei brings up his arms, exhaling as he tries to let the light pulses from Siegfried's forearm pulse around him, absorbing some of their impact to minimize the damage to the ship while letting the rest flow around him. Hopefully it'll work that well when Siegfried brings out the big guns so he doesn't fall over with numerous impaling wounds.
"I told Riesenlied that her village had almost no chance to work out and that both humans and metal demons would probably try to destroy it. We've been fighting for millenia. I have no illusions about her chances. Riesenlied's just a kinder individual than either of us wanted to be." He looks towards Elly for a moment--but just a moment. That's all he has.
Already, he thinks, Elly is right. There's already humans who want to strike back. Jack is just one of them and it's hard to blame him and there's no way he's alone.
He exhales and throws several quicks at Siegfried this time, trying to get closer to the statue. What does he have to say again? If it's quick maybe he can--
"We don't need gods to save our people." Our people Fei? "No god will care more about your people than you do."
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Siegfried with Quick Kick Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Quick Kick Combo for 88 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The thought is a brief one:
How many of these sailors were from here? If she turns any over, will she recognize faces?
And, the thought that comes speeding as if to attempt to overtake the first: if she does, then what?
She had never intended to come back.
"Trying, huh... well, suit yourself, kiddo. Just get ready for the next part," Josie comments, her own gaze resting on Siegfried.
"For you humans to lose those you care about..."
Red eyes.
It's as much of a warning as Josie is going to get. He vaults, lunging for her. A hair's width of time is alloted--
She leaps sidelong, burnt and torn coat fluttering.
--And even that's only good and not good enough. He's fast, she thinks -- or as much 'think' as 'acknowledge' -- as even the clipped edge of that kick sends her careening into some of the piled cargo crates with but a shout for its passage.
Someone packed these with care in some port. It's for naught, now.
She rises to her feet, brushing the shards of pottery and wood from her jacket.
"It is what you deserve!"
"Is it?"
It may be, for a moment, as if something in Josephine Lovelace has skipped a beat only to stop dead. The words weren't meant for her, but they cut to the quick anyway.
She's not laughing or smiling now. "Is it, now? You know, I don't think that's true," says Miss Lovelace, as she takes a step forward and with perhaps startling speed shoulders and fires the ARM she bears, in exactly the same way someone might dash a plate against the wall in a pique of fury.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Siegfried with Dead-On! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Dead-On for 100 hit points! GS: Cripple and Jam! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Talise kicks for his leg, but the Quarter Knight is skilled indeed -- so he steps to the side, swinging his foot down, and smashes it into the ground. He turns, though, in time for Rastaban to slam into his chest a few times. The armor is scratched and carved, and he stumbles backward, slamming back into the wall again. Siegfried's teeth grit together for a moment, and he shakes his head sharply once.
His teeth are curled back into a snarl, ready to shout more invective at Talise. And, yet, Elly's words cut through -- even as he swings an arm out, smashing and battering the ice stalagmites away before they could rip into his joints. Ice chips shatter and fly across the floor. "Be silent!"
Perhaps she has struck close to the mark.
Layna's blades of wind come in, as he proves to have limited magical defenses. They slam and strike, leaving more dents into his thick armor. "It is not about what I deserve! It is about what I will claim from this world!" the Quarter Knight bellows, even as he is smashed backward again. "And I claim it for Mother! I--"
Fei strikes into him. "It is heresy!" he screams into Fei's face. "A betrayal unlike any our race has known! A people without a god--where would they be, Fei!? You humans--we call you weak, but the truth is that you seek a strength that you have no right to! Riesenlied was more than a fool, she has been tempted into falling in with those would kill Filgaia!"
The rapid shots from Josie slam into him. One after another, they smash repeatedly into his frame, and leave bullet holes. He turns, teeth bared angrily. "Words I will not take back," he says. "Your betrayal, your excess, your weakness... I will purge it!"
He swings Glumzambor up with both hands, and then slams it down into the deck. The deck, mercifully, holds. But light crackles and distorts around the Quarter Knight. Then, arcs of light -- some colored white, some grey, some blue, some gold, and some green, rip and slash at those nearby. They twist, turn, and move in strange arcs before they come closing in!
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 65%
GS: Siegfried has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Layna Manydays with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried takes 5 damage from Poison! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: Layna Manydays takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 95 hit points! GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 110 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 183 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong used the Force Action Protect! He takes Siegfried's attack on Elhaym van Houten on himself! GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 115 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 102 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
A part of Talise profoundly wishes she had more at her disposal than a sword and a shotgun.
Because Siegfried knows how to duel. He knows how to win a gunfight. But she's never seen him cast a spell. Layna weighs in with one and a corner of Talise's mind pops a few thoughts to the surface:
I'm the only Lunarian who can't do that, because Althena has forsaken me.
...So be it, then. I'll have to avenge these people with nothing but my skill.
Against an ancient, frightfully skilled Quarter Knight, those skills feel awfully inadequate in Talise's heart.
Perhaps even moreso when that shattering rainbow goes exploding through the deck and rips towards her. Dropping to one knee, Talise swings Rastaban up into a defensive stance, hunching her shoulders and rolling one forward.
It's virtually the only thing that saves her from the raw, unfettered power of that arcing light. Thunderous arcs of it lash across her, pounding at her shoulders and chest. Deck plating buckles and smashes around her, the ship groaning dangerously beneath the sheer force of the assault. Blood runs from a corner of Talise's mouth, then down a slash along her cheeks as one of those shining arcs cuts close. More rip into her coat, shredding a few rings from her mailshirt into the air and biting into skin beneath -- yet still more reflect from the blade of her weapon and scatter away, tearing crates into splinters and shrapnel.
She clicks her teeth together. "Heresy! Bullshit! Riese saw a better way," she fires back. "And I can't blame her! A year ago I thought Filgaia was already dead - just a lifeless Blue Star from a legend! But it's not! Riese sees something in Filgaia that's worth saving...."
Whipping Rastaban forward, Talise whirls it once, surging to her feet and shouldering through the worst of the firepower. "...and so do I," she growls.
The swordswoman levels the point of her weapon at Siegfried for a moment, her eyes hardening. "...More than that," she growls, her voice lower, "I'll never forgive the suffering you and your goons have put my friends through. The hell you've made Ida suffer...."
Leg muscles tense beneath Talise's trousers, compressing almost like springs. Decking rocks beneath her as she launches herself forward again. For all that she's fighting Siegfried on his terms, she doesn't care; she hurls herself into his teeth with a brazen rush, swinging once, twice, then attempting to check him with her shoulder.
"--I'll show you your own hell!!" Talise roars as she pours her strength into a massive, ascending swing, aimed to carve through Siegfried's armour. "HOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHT!!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Tidal Blow! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Tidal Blow for 70 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Do you now? Then we're going to have some problems..." Layna replies. She studies him carefully, and when he slams Glumzambor into the deck, she leaps back. The attack that comes is not one she expected - bizarrely colored lights shoot out, ripping and slashing at those nearby. She has to quickly correct her course as they come for her, spilling blood on the deck below.
Layna backpedals, a deep slash across her front...but looks up, grinning darkly at at Siegfried.
"...Because I already have my eyes set on this world." She replies. The seas, specifically. She didn't care too much about the rest.
That was an interesting comment, though - those that would kill Filgaia? Who were they? Did he just mean humans, or...?
...Well, it didn't really matter much to her. It wasn't like she knew Riesenlied all that much, she didn't really care who she was hanging out with.
Layna charges in, her lips moving subtly...and as she approaches him, she shifts to the side suddenly with a gust of wind and interlocks her shields. Rather than pushing him like before, she slams them both downward to him.
It's a little reckless, considering the situation...but her usual way of executing this attack would be way worse.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Siegfried with Swab the Decks! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Swab the Decks for 111 hit points! GS: Poison, Cripple, Jam, and Mute! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong had been focusedon the fight but he does glance over to Josephine now to say, "I..." Still trying. Why is he still trying? He knows why he's still trying. But...That doesn't mean he thinks he can justify it to Josephine whose sister lives here. "I..." He says to her. "I don't know." He doesn't know why he is such a swirl of emotions around this guy. Unfortunately words won't cut it with Siegfried, at least...not those words. But Fei hates seeing him so enraged. No...in so much pain. The people he killed today are hardly the first humans he's slain but it feels like an old wound that never quite healed was gouged open.
Fei swears, "Watch out!" He tells, well, everybody as he steps between Elly and the strange lights. One he manages to catch into his guard which still sucks to be clear, but not so much that he can't stomach it. He sinks to one knee only for another line to rip under his guard and into his chest. You can't dodge this, Fei, you have a similar technique of your own.
Wait, no he doesn't.
No. NO. IT KILLED MOM!
It's you.
Fei screams in agony as he bleeds into the ship. Did it miss his organs, he thinks dimly.
Heresy, he remembers. He has been accused of it so many times. Has he? No. No he has. No.
"There is..." He manages. "No Guardian of Wisdom..." He coughs up blood against the floor. "Nor God. Haha..." He struggles to stand but its hard. "You lead an army of children, Siegfried. It's not too late. Because I know we've earned your hate." He doesn't know how but its hard to imagine the alternative. "She loves you so much...don't you see it? She still hopes you can fight for your people together, for your people instead of whatever it takes..."
Fei slaps his knees once and stands. "To fight ours!"
He charges forward and leaps at the last minute, trying to kick down rapidly on Siegfried's head. He's gotten a little stronger this time, he thinks, before that would've taken him out.
"What are we without god?? Responsible for what we do, that's what!" Fei shouts.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Siegfried with Tenbu! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Tenbu for 31 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly struggles over the shrieks of metal. At least it isn't accompanied with the screams of the dying. No - not yet, they're already dead!
But what Siegfried is saying -
"None of this makes sense!" Elly cries. "You condemn us for betrayal but hardly anyone yet lives! Our lives are shorter than yours! You condemn us for being weak, for reaching for strength... For -- Fei!!"
Unfortunate timing aside, the sudden leap of Fei to put himself between her body, relatively frail and perhaps vulnerable to such strikes, shocks Elly. She loses her train of thought, her hands raising up. There is Etheric outreach, an attempt to absorb some of that atrocious force, to do SOMETHING - maybe it helped, maybe it did nothing at all. Fei lives and after a staggering kip back up, he leaps back into action.
"Some things," Elly says, as she struggles to push away this sudden prickling tension, this looming forboding, a feeling of some part of her turning over, "Some things can only be felt when you're weak. You're so strong -- there must have, have been no obstacle you couldn't defeat, before you came to Filgaia..."
"Do you think she only loves you for your strength?!"
This impertinent if heartfelt plea is accompanied by the shocking return of the ice that Siegfried broke asunder with such brutal ease. Each of those chunks fell into the sloshing bilgewater that's filling the area, and if people were not in the heat of battle it would likely be quite unpleasant indeed. (Even Elly is shipping water in her discreet Gebler issue boots, now.)
But the water level declines perceptibly because vast quantities of it is drawn upwards, the shards of ice erupting in fractal jaggeries that reach like clutching avatars of Winter and Death towards the back of the Metal Demon.
If he has to dodge, he can't rip Fei apart like a wish bone, or so Elly thinks - if not in quite those words. Her eyes cut towards Layna, towards Talise, towards the well-ARMed Josie. Are they just a chaotic pandemonium?
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Siegfried with Aqua Ice! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Siegfried takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Aqua Ice for 134 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Don't know? Well, that's fine, too," Josie says to Fei, in those few moments before her end of this fight shifts rather dramatically, "Just as long as you're doing what you're meaning to do."
A somewhat less agitated Josie would have had different things to say. Perhaps some comment on the subject of Riesenlied and Siegfried's plain fury towards his kin. Perhaps something on the topic of his feeling humans will end Filgaia.
But these potential conversational paths are lost to this Josie as a single press of the button, so to speak, catapults her to some far furious point. A rifle's not meant for this sort of unloading of shells -- they dance briefly on the floor as she advances -- and it doesn't take long before an empty-sounding 'click' resounds through the hold instead.
There, standing before Siegfried with an empty rifle, Josie has the time to take one breath.
Before he brings down the great spear and the whole room explodes into distorted rays of colored light. She darts back, ducking low, in immediate search of the point in here that's free of the unworldly colors than the others. There's only one problem with that:
It doesn't exist. There are merely places that have less of it.
She plants one hand with a splash of bilge the wooden floor of the hold where she crouches and blood drips in a pattering raid to swirl away, quickly lost in the mess. When she stands, it's shaky.
But stand she does. Wheeling back, one step after the other in the growing water-sodden hold, she passes the rifle from one hand to the other and reaches into a pocket in the depths of her jacket. Briefly her head lifts, as if to take in however fleetingly the condition of her allies for this fight. Fei, taking a hit for his girl, Elly unscathed (from this strike), Talise and Layna both bleeding from serious wounds...
No one looks dead, not yet. The bullets, she slots in as if in a trance, one after the other.
"So you're not gonna take it back. That's good."
It might be possible to assume that getting struck by such power calmed Josie down a little bit.
Well.
"I don't intend on taking it back, either. My 'excess', or whatever you wanna call it -- heh," and this sound she makes is more of a cut-off breath than a huff of a laugh, "So how about it, mister? You want some more?!"
She's slipped past a certain point it seems, and she has no intent on going back just yet. Reloaded, the rifle dips upwards and she discharges another round with barely a glance down the scope to show for it.
How long will the ship hold?
She's not thinking of such things just now.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Siegfried with Have a Blast! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Have a Blast for 102 hit points! GS: Cripple and Jam! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
"Mother is the only way forward for Filgaia. That she would turn to those creatures you call the Guardians...!" Siegfried snarls.
But, he has a problem, he realizes, as Talise comes crashing down for him. Rastaban swings in, slashing once -- which he blocks on his arm -- and then twice. The second strike, as it comes in, proves far more of a problem... because Glumzambor is wedged into the floor. He cannot lift it in time. He sees the sword coming in, and there is the cold clarity of experience to wash away his rage for a moment.
He knows what he has to do. Something utterly impossible for most swordsmen, but Siegfried has had a thousand years to practice this technique. Rastaban swings down, right for his face, until it -- CLAP! -- stops mere centimeters from it. Siegfried's hands clap together on the blade. Then, he lunges forward, and slams his head down for Talise, trying to hurl her back across the ship's cargo bay.
Layna smashes down into him from above, though. The shields ram into Siegfried, pushing the Quarter Knight down. The wooden deck under him cracks -- and his weight breaks through. He slams into the wooden hull of the ship, before he jumps out. One hand grabs Glumzambor, and he swings the sword upward with an immense chop. The blade leaves a glow of blue light in its wake as he tries to carve through the pirate.
And then he turns, quickly, to face Fei. His eyes narrow at those words. No Guardian of Wisdom...
Fei comes kicking downward, and he raises his left arm, intercepting the blow. He holds him at bay, before he wheels around. His cloak flutters after, before he swings the Dark Spear up with a single, wicked, and massive slash across Fei's midsection. "Without Mother's guidance, our race has nothing! NOTHING! Riesenlied throws our entire history away, for a dream of peace!"
He turns to look at Elly, his eyes narrowing. "If she would claim to care for me, then she has made a mstake. I am what my people require -- a blade, to cut down everything and everyone that stands in the way of their future!"
Ice spikes slam into his back, smashing him forward. Siegfried stumbles. His eyes turn towards the Statue for a moment, and then to Elly. He needs to be done with her. The Metal Demon's chestplate splits open; a large nozzle is within, and motes of white light are dragged down into it. Then, it explodes outward, a massive beam of light that shoots through a crate in the way. It burns away, before it comes crashing down upon Elly.
When the beam fades, there are afterimages left in the air. Until Josie's shot cuts through it. It shoots past his armor, and strikes him in the neck. There is a splash of a viscous, dark blue fluid that sprays out. Siegfried makes a 'hrk' sound, then looks at Josephine. Some of the fluid drips down his armor; more is leaking out, from his mouth, between his teeth.
Then, he rushes. He leaps into the air -- and comes crashing down. Glumzambor swings back over his shoulder.
He chops down, trying to rip through her with a single, perfect blow.
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 30%
The starboard side of the hull, closest to where Siegfried had been fighting, suddenly buckles. A chunk of it bursts in, and a gout of water explodes inward. Water begins to fill the floor. Slowly, but surely.
GS: Siegfried has activated a Force Action! GS: Siegfried has activated a Force Action! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Hyadean Martial Arts! GS: Siegfried has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Proton Beam! GS: Siegfried has attacked Layna Manydays with Azure Cleave! GS: Siegfried has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Blue Destiny! GS: Siegfried has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Dark Spear! GS: Siegfried takes 8 damage from Poison! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Siegfried's Hyadean Martial Arts for 68 hit points! DC: MISS! Layna Manydays completely evades Azure Cleave from Siegfried! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Proton Beam for 216 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Siegfried's Dark Spear for 95 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Blue Destiny for 93 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
What are we without god? Responsible for what we do.
She can't spare a look, but Talise tenses a little as Fei Fong Wong says his piece. Yeah, Fei. If Althena's going to forsake me, then I'm responsible for helping to protect Filgaia.
As Siegfried declares Mother the only way forward, Talise opens her mouth to say something - until Siegfried does something unbelievable and outright grabs her by the sword. Talise widens her eyes in surprise.
But she also stands her ground. As Siegfried attempts to headbutt her, she draws on the power stored in her gauntlets. Siegfried will find himself fighting to hold that sword against a significantly greater physical strength than he was before. Talise jerks her sword back and rolls her shoulder forward. Mail jingles beneath her coat and tunic as Siegfried's helmeted head hits her just above the collarbone. Something snaps internally; she gags a little and staggers backwards, pain blasting through her like lightning as she tries to move that arm.
She fights through it. Gritting her teeth, she whirls away and gains a bit of distance, giving the others room to swing and fire.
I am what my people require -- a blade, to cut down everything and everyone that stands in the way of their future!
As Siegfried shouts that, Talise presses her lips together for a moment. That's the sad thing, isn't it. I'm no different than him, in that way... I'm just a blade to cut down everything that stands in the way.
The only difference is that he has an abiding faith in his cause. But I don't know what to believe anymore. Am I just a blade that cuts everything for nothing...?
Talise exhales and drops down to one knee, her eyes closing as she tries to focus again. Centres her mind with what matters. She can see Ida lying in a bed, bandaged and wounded.
Is getting revenge for my friends really all that I am...?
"There's a part of me that admires your conviction. But there's a lot of people who don't want your kind of world. That's enough for me," Talise says as she sweeps Rastaban out to her side, remaining in that crouched stance. "Maybe I'm not a blade that does much more than cutting bastards who want to mess with my friends and screw up the world. But I'm a damned sharp blade, Quarter Knight."
With a surge of movement, Talise hurls herself off the deck and dashes towards Siegfried again. She sweeps forward -
At the last second, she goes low, rolling past him. When she comes out of the roll, she wheels and rears up, leading in with a high, rising arc of a slash. Rastaban's blade gleams dangerously.
"--And I won't give up the Statue to you!" she roars as she swings - then presses forward with a series of brilliantly quick, flowing strokes.
Talise has spent years learning how to fight through sheer hardship, through defeat after defeat, through drubbing after drubbing by countless superior enemies. Countless members of Althena's Guard. The Trial Knight. Siegfried himself. Every defeat taught her a different lesson.
She unloads them. Rastaban hums in the air, slicing so finely that it divides air particles before it. Talise handles the weapon as if it's weightless, practically drawing designs across Siegfried with the blade as she seeks to simply overwhelm him with slash after slash after slash.
Perhaps it will be of no moment to one as veteran as the Quarter Knight. But then, all Talise is is a blade.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Savior's Storm! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Talise Gianfair has activated a Force Action! GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Savior's Storm for 34 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Is that all your Mother is, all that your people are, to you?! Cutting and murdering!? I know nothing about you but the few words Riesenlied shared," Elly cries out as Glumzabor is swung with efficient brutality into those brave women. "You've lived a thousand years and this is all you've learned?!"
Her cheeks are wet. She doesn't even know when she started crying. Her face is already red. This grief-stricken, imploring look changes in a moment, and perhaps Siegfried will get the satisfaction of a look of startled horror. Then he fires.
The crate vaporizes as the light flies towards her. There is no escape. There was an impression of Elly throwing up her hands as if in futile defense. Guarding her face won't accomplish much in the face of this, will it?
As Siegfried turns towards Josephine the light fades. The water slops in and lands on a near-dry floor. Soon enough, of course, the water resumes its previous level, but where did most of it go?
Layers of interlocking chevrons of ice collapse with wet cracks around Elly. She pants for breath and lets out a pitiful wail as one of those extruded layers of salt crystals falls onto the red, blistered palm of her hand. The oilcloth poncho is smouldering with an evil scent; her forearms are rods of agony, even if curling her fingers produces more pain. (That's good, Elly thinks abstractly, her mind feeling like a shattered mirror. If it hurts that means it's not dead or charred.)
Talise speaks as Elly struggles for breath.
But she reaches it.
"... I've seen you kill so many people," Elly finally says, her voice rasping a little. "All of them with hopes and dreams. I don't want to fight you. I don't want any of you to suffer or to die, I never wanted to be a, a soldier, but if you're just going to make yourself into an axe to chop up the bodies of the helpless--"
"I'll stop you!!"
Elly seems out of words. Maybe pleading this all is useless, she thinks. Maybe everything was predetermined aeons ago. At least I tried, she thinks. I can tell Riesenlied I stopped him, if I make it out. Elly's right hand comes backwards, fingers splaying apart as she breathes out. "Don't hold your breath!" Elly calls, which may make no sense to Siegfried, or may be a chilling moment of anticipation. But this is a confined space.
Elly pushes her hand forwards as Ether coalesces around it. The same cubic shape that she used on Siegfried once before appears, but she pushes into it and it spills outwards around her forearm, the energy structure only a frame, a plasma that doesn't have time to leak into the patch of air that is anomalously bone dry. She twists herself around with a "hhhHAAAH" and pushes -
The light is almost as bright as Siegfried's own. Then it curls forwards, succumbing to Filgaia's gravity. A misfire?
It falls... into the water, curling upwards with the unnatural and anomalous force, serpentining upward on a gout of titanically flash-heated steam, aimed towards the Quarter Knight; it dips once more and rises, and that eruption may hide the EXACT route it takes.
Touching it is still like touching a star, of course.
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Siegfried with Thermo Dragon! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Someone else might have noticed that the pitched battle in the depths of the ship was having an untoward effect on its overall integrity and readjusted accordingly.
Hell, even about five-minutes-ago Josie might have noticed this and taken a precaution.
But that ship has sailed, so to speak. Even if they're still all in the port of Marze.
Marze, and the encounters with old familiar faces thereon, which might be yet another piece of the (crumbling) foundation for the archaeologist's current mood.
In a way, she and Siegfried are not much different: each may be using the battle as away of venting some emotions more properly directed at someone (or someones?) else.
"Is that why you're doing this? 'Cause you can't think of what to do otherwise? Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?" she snaps hotly in response, her ire continuing to rise. "If you think for a second we're going to lose to the likes of you lot-- call us 'weak'? I'll show you 'weak'--"
Blue blood? And here, she thought Sunshine had bled red--
(Speaking of 'Sunshine', she'll have a few questions for her after this is all over and through.)
Josie barely has time to lift an eyebrow.
There's a horrible light.
There, in the midst of it, Siegfried's blade arcs heavily. She can see, in a way, where it's going to go. Is going. Is.
She catapults backwards, curving her body out of the way of the strike that should have rent her in two.
That, it doesn't accomplish. But neither is she unscathed; a burst of red floats in the air for a few glittering seconds, and as she lands and rights herself the angry line of red welling up against her torn shirt and vest and coat speaks to the ferocity of the strike. All the way across, from left to right and downwards. "Sh... it," she gasps. With an injury like that, lifting her arm to fire a rifle will prove difficult.
So she doesn't. There's a glance, off to her left, then over to Siegfried. Above him. Back down. Watches a moment as Talise closes, taking stock of where she is and how she moves.
Josie exhales a breath, swings the rifle to the left and -- hand shaking -- pulls the trigger. An absolute cacophany of a ricocheting bullet follows -- from nail to stud, across the interior of the hold, but to what end?
Particularly in a ship that's already pitching and leaning.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Siegfried with Dead-On! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Dragon for 103 hit points! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear! GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Ace in the Hole for 44 hit points! GS: Cripple and Jam! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna backs up, readying herself to go in again. She pauses, though, noting the damage they'd done to the ship so far. It was intense. It probably couldn't take much more of this. That was the problem with fighting belowdecks like this - it was pretty easy to destroy the only thing standing between you and the fury of the sea itself.
...The fury of the sea, huh...
Layna looks at Siegfried, then glances toward Talise as she makes her declaration. Layna shuts her eyes and recites a quiet incantation.
"You know, I can respect that - standing by your people, your crew. But what do you do when you're the one standing in their way?" Layna asks. The Dark Spear, Glumzambor, goes to cleave through her, and she seems to dissipate into wind. But not quickly enough - it leaves a crescent of blood on the ground, behind where she stood.
"I knew a man once, thought like that. Thought the only way forward was fight, fight, fight, destroy, destroy, destroy... Hell, that can be fine, up to a point. 'Specially for someone in my trade, aye? I enjoy a good scrap everynow and then, m'self. But he took it too far. Wanna know what I did?" Layna's voice seems to be coming from all around, like a whisper on the wind.
And there she is, suddenly right in front of him. Her expression is serious, a marked change from the look on her face up to this point.
"I killed him." She charges him forcefully with a bladed gauntlet, attempting to push him back into the buckled hull beyond. And through, if it comes to that, with her right there along with him if necessary.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Siegfried with Dead Men Tell No Tales! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Dead Men Tell No Tales for 93 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Agghh!!" Fei shouts, partly in frustration because Siegfried saw his strike coming and all Fei can do is slam his feet into that arm in the hopes that someone else takes advantage, but also in frustration that he can't figure this out with Siegfried. Maybe this is why he couldn't believe in Riese's dream, no matter how strongly she seems to make it happen. If Siegfried sees this as the path to saving Filgaia...
"This isn't a future, Siegfried! You've already summoned Mother before! The only thing you're doing is repeating the past and I know you know that!"
Fei's eyes widen as Siegfried swings at him. He hops backwards, bringing his arm up but the force of the blow still sends him crashing to the ground. Christ (who?) he thinks, if Siegfried's this tough he hates to imagine what even a one broken statue Mother would be let alone four. He struggles to sit up, he listens to Elly's words and as they often do, they return hope into his cynical heart. How does she do it, he wonders, how does she say it in just the way that makes him feel like it might be possible? How does she make him believe?
Seeing Elly cry makes him cry. Why is he so determined to form a comradery with Siegfried once again? Does he...miss it?
He sees the beam flying for Elly and he stares in horror and grabs at his head tightly. He can't look, he can't look. He looks like he wants to curl up into a ball in that moment. He can't make it in time.
But she's speaking. It's not broken words. It's steady words. Raspy, but nonetheless strong.
Fei forces himself to stand once again. "It's just...it's just the same, man." He says. "I don't know if it's our ancestors or..or what but... I've already seen how that battle plays out Siegfried. I'll forgive as many of your killings as I gotta just to not see it again. I'm not a guy with any right to blame others like that anyway."
He lowers his head as he channels his chi into his body. Did he figure out how Fargo does it properly yet? He's been able to do it unconciously, but can he do it...for real real?
He reaches for that power. No, not all of it, he reminds himself. Try to keep it contained. Try to focus it. If you're not careful you'll accomplish his mission for him.
"Aren't you tired of it?" He asks. "Elly!"
He tosses the sealing rod towards her as he charges Siegfried, trying to tackle him away from the statue even as he glows white hot.
He bursts into flames, though the fire doesn't seem to hurt HIM as he punches an eruption of fire towards Siegfried. "I AM! I'M TIRED OF IT!" He shouts. "Our sins, our so-called gods failing us, our slaughter! I'm tired of it all!!"
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Siegfried with Kakei! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Kakei for 25 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
In the end, Siegfried is forced to release Rastaban. He still manages to send Talise backward, though -- and then face her again, as she proves more than capable of getting back up. She comes at him -- and rolls past. He turns, surprise registering on his face, as she comes in. He may be surprised, but he is well-trained. The Quarter Knight swings Glumzambor around, and the upward strike is met with a parry. Steel sings; sparks fly.
And he swings his blade repeatedly. Talise strikes with expertise, and he matches her stroke for stroke, until their blades clash again at the end. Rastaban slips by, and then slashes into his armored shoulder -- leaving a gouge in the pauldron.
Siegfried nods. It is a gesture of respect.
But respect for prowess is not value for life. He looks towards Elly, his eyes hardening. "I've heard what you humans say! And in a thousand years, I have only seen you break every promise! I will not be fooled a second time!"
She summons up a huge gout of steam, which rises and scorches over his armor. Some of it blackens and chars -- and he grits his teeth against it, even as he finds it blinding. The water around his feet is suddenly gone, thanks to the rush of steam. He can't see,in that, the way Josie fires. He wouldn't know better, besides. The bullet ricochets off the wall.
Sparks fly, and then it slashes into his side. Siegfried stumbles, more blue fluid coming out of the bullet hole -- and the exit wound, as it tears through the other side.
Which lets Layna come in. She slams into him, and he looks up -- the bladed gauntlet punching into his stomach. He looks up at Layna, his eyes enraged. "So you did," he spits. "But you will find, human, that I am not this man you killed."
He punches -- and sends her flying back from him.
Which is when Fei calls out. His eyes look up, and he meets Fei's. He grits his teeth, something filling him with a rage that defies reason.
Lacan... Siegfried thinks.
"The only thing I tire of... is a world that is not as it should be," Siegfried spits. "A world where an ungrateful race worships monsters, who would kill my god and leave my people to die. And I will kill whoever I must, no matter the cost, until the world is the ONE I DESIRE!"
He unleashes another blast of light. The arcs of twisted, multi-color lightsrip out again. Crates are shredded. They crash down upon all of them. Several slam at Fei -- but he rams into Siegfried a moment later. The Quarter Knight braces himself, scraping across the floor, and slams back into the hull, even as his energy arcs slash at all of those facing him.
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 20%
GS: Siegfried has activated a Force Action! GS: Siegfried has activated a Force Action! GS: Siegfried has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Layna Manydays with Negative Rainbow! GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 115 hit points! GS: Layna Manydays has activated a Force Action! GS: Layna Manydays takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 97 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 187 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Elhaym van Houten guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 118 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 5%
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 197 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
The Negative Rainbow fires and tears through the ship. One of the arcs of energy hits a clips the statue, a few chunks of stone flying away. That, however, does not damage it. Instead, it is the way the blades of light strike into parts of the ship. They rip through chunks of hull weakened earlier. They slash into pieces of bulkhead, which buckle, and then bend inward. They shoot up, to the deck above.
And then the ship begins to collapse. A huge gout of water explodes through the starboard hull, this one sending a wave at all of them. Fei and Siegfried are hurled apart from one another. Siegfried cries out, in surprise, and turns in time to see the front half of the ship begin to list forward.
And then it crumples, the deck above slamming down into the floor of the cargo hold. Wood planks splinter and shatter outward. And, in the midst of it, beams of shattering wood come crashing down with the deck above. One slams into the Statue of Stare Roe -- and it's shattered apart, stone limbs flying each way, and joining the rubble.
Kalbara Hull Integrity: 0%
The ship quakes. Water begins to fill it, as the hatch above distends -- and then the back half of the ship begins to tilt, upward, as the ship begins to sink. The floor is at a steadily rising angle.
From outside, screams and cries can be heard. It seems that people in Marze have noticed that the Kalbara is about to go under the waves.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Perhaps Talise is just a blade which cuts for no reason. But she's a damned competent blade which cuts for no reason. Steel clashing madly against steel, she goes toe to toe with the strongest of the Quarter Knights - and that flicker of respect from the monstrous warrior across for her is met with a small nod in return even as she lunges backward to make way for the others to say their piece and unleash their fury.
Wait, he called Mother before? I hope this isn't one of those things where I'm the last one to know again....
...Who'm I kidding, of course it is.
Another blast of light slams into her, and Talise throws her sword across her body with a growl of pain. The light slashes violently across her; crates and bulkheads shatter around her. Water gushes through the deck plating, swirling around her feet. Staggering backwards, she falls into the crates.
The deck falls from above and smashes through the statue. A few chunks of stone bounce off Talise's face as she stares at it in quiet horror. Damn it! I failed. I failed! It's... it's because I'm not good enough. I'm not GOOD enough!!
Water gushes into the ship as it begins to fall apart. Talise doesn't move for several seconds. When she does, it's to pull herself out of the crates, unsteadily steering herself to one knee. The swirl and rush of water around her jerks her thoughts elsewhere.
...Because I have nothing to fight for, Talise reflects bitterly. Siegfried... he believes so strongly in his goddess. He has so much faith that what he's doing is right. That's why he makes it reality, and why I don't.
Talise lets her knee sink to what's left of the flooring. She drops to her other knee. Bowing her head, she reverses Rastaban, then rests the tip against the deck. Clasping both hands atop it, she closes her eyes and simply kneels there. Water and debris whirl around her, rising by the moment.
All I am is a blade that cuts for no reason. But that's not enough to save Filgaia, or stop the Metal Demons. Or save the Statues. I can't even save Ida and Rosaline from themselves.
The Blue Star doesn't need a blade without a purpose.
As the ship continues to sink, Talise doesn't move. The sound of rushing water and screaming people fills her ears. She accepts them with a touch of bitter, fatal humour as she closes her eyes and waits for the sea to swallow her up.
I'll see you soon, mom and dad.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei sees the negative rainbow coming. This time it's heading for him. Fear fills him.
Use it. Use it!! USE IT OR YOU'LL DIE!
???
I know you. You killed her.
Her?
A cross is lying on the ground. Blood is on his face!
No! It wasn't! Not me! I...
A projector screen turns on but it keeps skipping.
8
7
4
4
4
4
Energy swirls through the sky, twisting and turning. The blood's on his face. It's his! He did it! It was him! It was HIM! No!!
The blood is on his face.
guh...! Coward!!!
Is it NOW?
Fei just takes it. The negative rainbow rips thorugh him a second time. He barely survived the first sets. It pushes through his body in several points. Thick blood is punched out of him and he is pushed away from Siegfried as the ship falls apart. Even as the statue is shattered. He collapses forward, his blood oozing out of him. He is critically wounded.
???
He chases them. He's chasing after them. But they won't stop! They won't stop!! He doesn't want to be alone! He reaches out desperately.
Heresy.
It's all a lie. Everything on this rotten world.
Is it the present?
Fei struggles to keep his eyes open. He doesn't want to dream again. When he dreams, he dreams such awful things. When he's awake, he can see her. When he's awake, he can see his friends. He's so tired of seeing friends die in his dreams. He's so tired of seeing friends die in reality. It's never a long life. It's always cut so short.
An eternal punishment of dying young. A fitting fate for his innocent sin.
He can't keep his eyes open. Elly, he thinks, Live.
His body goes limp.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Never said you were. Just trying to let you know what happens." Layna says with a dismissive shrug. He releases another wave of Negative Rainbow. Layna dodges backward, receiving cuts from several of them, and then prepares to charge in again...
But then, before she can move, the ship seems to buckle and break, more intensely than before. Layna swears through her teeth as the ship shatrer, falling and crushing the very thing they came here to save.
It was too late. The ship was falling apart, and they might very well meet the same fate as the statue if they stayed here any longer.
But...Fei is knocked down. She doesn't know if he's dead or merely unconscious. Nearby, she sees Talise fall to her knees in despair. Layna grits her teeth and rushes over to her, kneeling by her side and resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on, Talise, lass, stay with me here! We have to go!" Layna says...but it looks like she's given up. She'd have to be carried, but...everyone's hurt. Between the three of them, would they be able to get everyone out safely in time? There's only one thing for it, then. She reaches into her coat for the Medium she kept close by.
She'd never invoked it before. She'd spoken to the Guardian, a one-sided conversation. She didn't even know its name until she heard it from the tides on the beach one day.
She was usually the type to seize her own future. She let herself be helped by others, but it was mostly to make things easier. But now, when there was something to be done that she couldn't do alone?
There was no room for her stubborn pride.
"I've never asked for you help before, but now seems a pretty good time, aye? Help us out here, Lucadia!" Layna calls out, gripping the Sea Medium tightly.
The silhouette of the Sea Guardian does not appear inside the Kalbara, however. No, the Guardian's silhouette instead coils around the outside of the ship, and lets out a cry before vanishing. Water starts to rush in, even faster than before.
"You. Mark my words, Quarter Knight. We'll meet again, if the Locker doesn't take you first." Layna stares directly at Siegfried, and then...she and the others are carried away by a wave. And yet, it is not cold and crushing as one might expect - it's like there's a protective barrier around them, seeking to carry them along and away from danger.
Siegfried would not be offered the same kindness.
And finally, when they arrive, deposited on the nearest safe shore...Layna lets go and collapses backward, unconscious, her energy spent.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
When Fei tosses her the rod, Elly snaps her hand out without thinking. A blister on her palm quietly tears and she regrets this, but it's a transient thing. When her fingers curl around the wood she knows what she has to do -
The light changes.
Everything screams. Elly is among them. She throws herself forwards. Her hands are screaming. The water's pouring in. It's surging. Elly gets a hand on Fei's shoulder -
The water is friendly, for once.
-=-=-=-
Elly does not, exactly, remember doing it. When they wash up on shore, she is half conscious herself. Anyone who looks, at least, will see that Elly stretches Fei out, rolls him to the side, feels at his neck with her red and blistered hand, and after a cough, a splutter, and a steady rhythm of breath, Elly says something incomprehensible.
After this she drags him a yard or two up the shore, straightens herself upright, looks round at the darkling sky, has a moment that will linger with her of seeing the night-time storm-lashed horizon...
And then she, herself, gently falls to the rain-lashed sand with a wettish splat.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"You go ahead," a bloodied Talise answers Layna, her voice very low and very distant. "This is where I belong."
At the bottom of the sea, dying in a shipwreck in a place she doesn't know, for a cause she understands only in the most surface, mercenary way. Going down with the ship. Just like mom and dad nine years ago.
I should've died with them.
The Guardian of the Sea comes forth. Gushing water sweeps the group away like so much flotsam, yet it guards them all even as that wave surges to shore. A protective, loving wave, sparing them all from danger.
Robbing Talise of the chance to die like she deserves. She squeezes her eyes closed and lets the bitterness sink back into her as that loving water carries her towards salvation. She'll get to live another day, after all - another empty, meaningless day of a life forsaken by the goddess she loves more than her own life, shambling along without meaning, purpose or consequence. The life of an aimless vagabond on a world she will never be strong enough to protect.
When the group finally washes up on the shore, Talise lifts her head to look up towards the sky. She doesn't get up.
All she does is roll over, back onto her knees, and drive Rastaban's point into the ground again. She drapes her arms over the hilt and crosspiece, lowering her head and burying her face in the crook of her arm.
She won't be responding to much for a little while. Not while she's otherwise occupied flogging herself internally.
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Siegfried sinks, but not because he cannot swim. Instead, he finds himself falling to the bottom. His head looks up, slowly, to meet Layna's eyes -- and then peer, briefly, at Fei and Elly. He watches the others swept away. His expression hardens for a moment, before he shakes head. "Even now, you summon them..."
He scowls. "So be it, human. We may well meet again. You will not be the last human that I strike down. Give my regards to Hell."
He sinks down into the water. The armored form of the Quarter Knight drifts lower -- eyes shifting to the side, where a piece of the Statue sinks. A victory, he thinks. And yet, why does each victory feeling increasingly hollow?
Light begins to surround him. There is a warm, white glow that engulfs the lord of the Quarter Knights -- and then he vanishes in a burst of light. He reappears in the depths of the Photosphere, already on a knee.
The water drips from his body, down to the floor.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"And I will kill whoever I must, no matter the cost, until the world is the ONE I DESIRE!"
Josie lowers her firearm, the end of the rifle impacting the water with a light slosh of bilge as the ship tips perilously. "Stop talking," she says, starting more quietly this time (though it doesn't last), "like you know how it's going to end--"
Whatever she was going to say, whatever she was going to do, it's lost, swallowed up in a torrent of anti-color. The light's everywhere, looking as if it's cutting through everything. There's no sight of safe harbor here in the maelstrom.
Nevertheless, Josie closes her eyes against the onslaught (to shut it out, block it away) and leaps.
No safe havens. The light burns, the light shreds through her.
"Look, look, I did it! Isn't it pretty?"
"Y... yeah. It is."
"Show me your spell too! C'mon! I bet it's reaaaaally pretty!"
"I..."
It's as if she had been staked out before the sun. No, worse than that. Sunlight doesn't make you bleed, Josie thinks as she lifts a blood-stained gloved hand from her midsection where she lies sprawled amidst the stinging bilge. The ship's coming apart; right now she can hear the wood giving way.
Went too far in the end, huh?
Her gaze lifts a few centimeters from there, rising to the point where she can see the statue from her vantage point. Where she can watch as the beam comes crashing down upon it and sends chunks of stone scattering to join the rubble.
Frustration arises in an angry hiss of a sound. Then the ship pitches.
Josie -- with effort, with pain -- rises to her feet as quickly as she can, snatching up the rifle as she goes. For one long moment -- wherein she's aware how badly off the others are, wherein she's aware, fully, how bad her situation is, wherein she hears screams from outside as the whole town arises in a panic -- she trains the ARM on Siegfried.
Then she snaps the "Gawain" rifle up, soon after sliding it into its holster.
"Not here," she exhales, some of whatever was riding her slipping its leash at last and replacing itself with exhaustion. "And not you. But if we meet again..." She narrows her eyes and jerks her head hard to the right, as if to speak with the eyes alone what lips otherwise might. As much a cessation of hostilities as one can expect, given the circumstances: coupled with a threat.
Another breath further and she turns towards her allies.
"--Kiddo! Can you lift him?" she shouts to Elly, before noticing Talise. "--Oh, Fengalon's teeth-- C'mon, this is gonna come down around our ears and I've only got one good hand--"
Layna. Layna has her back.
And how.
"Wait, did you just..."
She's aware of a presence. Of the ship cracking open like an egg.
Oh yes, and the part with the friendly wave.
~*~
"Fengalon, save me from your fellows," Josie mutters, closing her eyes as she finishes binding the last of her wounds. She drops onto the shore alongside the two collapsed youngsters and closes her eyes. "Even my flask's full of seawater, and I'm stuck here babysitting," she mock-complains, turning her gaze up towards the sky. "Just for this, you two owe me a smoke and a drink when we get outta here," she continues, dropping a hand to loosely pat the fallen Fei on the head. But for all her light chatter, the expression on her face is anything but.
Ugh. Light. It had to be light that broke...
"...Damn it," is her final, more serious comment on the situation.