2018-04-21: Hunters and Hellfire
- Log: Hunters and Hellfire
- Cast: Sheriff Star, Lunata Croze, Shalune Amira, Jacqueline Barber, Matilda Whitehead, John Dee, Ge Ramtos
- Where: Aifread's Hunting Ground
- Date: April 21st, 2018
- Summary: After discovering the Bloody Vale hidden deep within Aifread's Hunting Grounds, Jacqueline, Matilda, Lunata, and Shalune venture within to find the source of the carnage. They find more than they bargained for, and come face to face with a terrible beast...
========================<* Aifread's Hunting Ground *>======================== Aifread's Hunting Ground is named after the pirate Aifread, who terrorized these coastlands a thousand years ago. The landscape here is among the most dangerous fields in the world, but also among the most rewarding: very large monsters roam here, which were hunted by Aifread in ages past and by adventurers today. The beasts here include ferocious landstalker cats, enormous boars and buffalo, and land squid the size of a house. The creatures here are dangerous, but the sport is both difficult and pays well. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQK2PufIbzI
<Pose Tracker> Sheriff Star has posed.
Aifread's Hunting Ground.
The Bloody Vale is a rarely explored part. The hunting grounds of the madman that left the bloody writings across the countryside are forboding; animal corpses litter the ground. None have been hacked apart, save for the purposes of butchery. None have been harvested or buried. It is a charnel house -- a place where a monster in human shape prowls, and many of the creatures here behave as they do when an aberrant hunter appears:
They stay hidden.
It takes bravery to come here. It takes more to find the winding, terrible path through the bloody valley. It is this task, though, that Jay, Matilda, and the two Lunies have done: followed a hunting trail to its bloody source. They come, now, to a natural depression in the earth.
When they look down into the shadowed vale, where rocks and trees obscure, they can see a rough wooden hut. Here, there are broken pieces of clockwork technology gone to rust -- and horribly torn off hides, left to dry on lines. Some are festering and rotting. There are, also, scorched patches of ground.
The wooden door to the hut creaks and moans, as wind seems to knock it open, before something makes it close again with a loud groan.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata wasn't going to miss this for the world if Jay and Matilda and Shalune were going to go down and explore the Bloody Vale. She's been having problems lately, but...
She did make a vow to protect them. And protect them she shall.
The white-haired ex-waitress grimaces as she stpes down towards the vale, glancing around as she says, "Why are there... machines here?" She stares towards the hut, wondering what kind of monster will await them at the end.
Would it be the one that carved the message in blood on the rock?
The bandages around her are starting to -- seep, with an inky black smoke that was coming out of her arms. Ge Ramtos is positively howling here, even as far as she was from Filgaia.
It's a bad sign.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Honestly, Shalune would just as rather not be here at all, and that much is made clear by the expression on her face as she looks down into the Vale, having ridden much of the way here on the back of the Little Dipper. Even after facing down Veruni and Metal Demons, the sheer raw intensity of the sight below them makes her knuckles white on the grip of her craft's handlebars, and she's shaking ever so slightly as she chews at her lip.
But they can't just leave something like this alone, either, and she knows it. Jacqueline wouldn't forgive herself were something to happen; Matilda would probably comment that it's better if they handle this on their terms, rather than just waiting for the killer to jump out at them. As for Lunata--
--Shalune isn't a shaman. She's terrible at speaking to the Guardians and summoning them. But she's spent long enough in Rujm el-Hiri to pick up at least a little in the way of insight into Ge Ramda and Ge Ramtos, and has been watching the lich's strange behaviour ever since coming to Lunar.
So as she nudges the craft out over the crest of the hill that leads down into the vale, she looks to Lunata with a sympathetic concern. "... is it going to be okay?" she asks, not specifying the 'it'.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline was...terrified, when she first set eyes upon the Bloody Vale. It had put in her a fear of the Hunting Ground that had never really faded. The last time she went there for a purpose other than simply passing through, she felt that her fear had hindered the efforts of her allies...
She didn't want to be afraid anymore. She didn't want to bring everyone down. She had to face her fears, and determine the truth...and, if possible, put a stop to this butchery.
There was no telling when the one responsible might move on to human victims.
She steeled herself, and headed out alongside the others. ...Truthfully, she didn't know if she would be capable of it, if she didn't have those three by her side. But with them behind her, she was able to find the courage to move forward, to find the trail in the Vale and follow it to its destination.
It's...a disturbing sight. Something happened here. Jacqueline fights back a shiver, and glances toward Lunata.
"Hm...they look like... It's possible they may have come from the Weylish Ruins..." Jacqueline considers. Her eyes momentarily drift worriedly toward the bandages around Lunata's arms, before the hut catches her attention as the door closes with a groan.
"...I suppose we should start our search there..." She murmurs. She was reluctant, but...it seemed the most likely location.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda just has a hard time leaving things be, if they feel dangerous. Sure, for the moment, this particular threat is confined-ish to a tiny corner of Aifread's Hunting Grounds -- but what if that stops? Now that she's taken on the responsibility of operating a company of men, well -- they hunt here a lot, as it happens.
She's wearing her Lunarian gear again, with only Freischütz to render her noticeable as a possible foreigner. She looks first to the technology -- and then to Lunata, seeping with the energy of death.
"... Are you going to be okay?" she asks, softly, as she looks the white-haired ex-waitress over. She doesn't let her gaze linger, though -- instead, she gives Shalune a slightly awkward look (same concern! same concern!!) and then turns her attention forward, drawing her silver blade.
She nods to Jay, saying, "I'd surmise the same... perhaps the two are -- linked, somehow...?" It's just speculation at this point, though.
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
Jay names the hut as the likely place to start. There is nothing to greet their suppositions and estimations. There is only the abiding silence, punctuated by those terrible mechanical squeaks of metal-on-metal.
Nothing stirs, immediately, from within.
But Matilda, as she looks down, catches sight of something. When the door opens, there is a hook inside. Wet, fresh blood drips down from it.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata truthfully doesn't know, to Shalune, Jacqueline and Matilda's concerns. "Death is dominant here. It's probably why this is... happening," Lunata murmurs with concern, but looks adamant and resolute as she stares towards the hook with fresh blood on it. She casts her gaze around.
"Careful... whoever used this hook for its grisly purpose is still around here." A pause. "Maybe even within..."
Her hand rests on Orochi-Agito's hilt.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Maybe...I'm sure we'll find out more soon enough." Jacqueline says with a nod toward Matilda. Maybe sooner than they would hope.
She looks toward Lunata once again as she speaks. That was...the best guess any of them could have, as to what was happening to Lunata at the moment. Jacqueline moves into the hut, and when Matilda spots the hook she whirls around to take a look.
Jacqueline looks momentarily ill, and tries very hard not to think about what it was used for.
"Right..." She replies with a nod toward Lunata. She slips her Crests out of her sleeves and shuffles through them to make sure they're all there and in order before returning them to where they were. This may come down to a fight, though a part of her hoped it wouldn't.
There seemed little chance of that, though.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda spots the hook, her gaze fixing on it for just a moment. She quickly closes her eyes and shakes her head, saying, "Ah -- look there." When Jay looks, sure enough, she gives her a nod. "... I think we're very close. That's fresh -- that amount of blood can't have been there more than an hour, at the far outside... it'd be dry."
She continues to advance -- even more slowly, shifting from a neutral stance to shield-forward. Her eyes turn toward Lunata again, concern still present... but she doesn't say anything else about it for now.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune winces at Lunata's statement, but-- takes some strength from it as well, sitting up a little higher on the Dipper as she, well, dips it down into the vale. "... okay," she simply accepts after a moment, doing her best to put on a brave face. "Just-- remember we're not being forced into this or anything. If it gets too much, let us know and we can regroup, yeah?" she suggests, ever the voice of mild common sense at times like these.
If she's honest, saying that out loud is as much a reminder to herself as it is Lunata; it helps galvanize her, and she sucks in a deep breath as Matilda carefully nudges the dooor open. The sight of the hook nearly makes her shrink back, but she manages to keep her gaze on it, half expecting it to turn Malevolent and leap off the door to attack them.
"... kinda wanna blow the whole shack up," she mutters half to herself, bringing her staff up to her hips; she's not exactly the sort to shoot from there, but better to be at least half-ready to go on the offensive. "Or burn it. Burning'd be more respectful," she adds in a lower mumble.
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
Creak. Crrrreak.
The wind that comes down from the sides of the Bloody Vale is a fierce one, and it continually blows the door open. Shalune and Lunata, with their mechanical expertise, may be the first to realize that something is amiss. The door always nearly closes -- a mechanical doorstopper, evident in copper plating around the hinges, which adds weight, and also gives the springs a little more to push on.
It is a consistent pattern. The door swings shut--and then open again. There are eyes, then; two stormy grey eyes, above a bushy black-and-grey peppered beard that is spattered red. The man in the doorway is in his late forties, with a wild look and wilder grin, wearing battered and pieced together plate-and-mail. He has a shield over one arm -- though, mounted on his wrist is a strange device. They don't get a good look, before it fires.
Rapidly.
Four crossbow bolts scream across the countryside and to them. Then, the door closes again.
John Dee's sickened, maddened grin is lost behind the sudden closing of the door. But, his voice calls out: "More skins! More skins to hang up! So many hunts... but none of them satisfy!"
DC: John Dee switches forms to Savage Hunter John Dee!
GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Mysterious Crossbow Bolt! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Mysterious Crossbow Bolt! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Mysterious Crossbow Bolt! GS: John Dee has attacked Lunata Croze with Mysterious Crossbow Bolt! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from John Dee's Mysterious Crossbow Bolt for 18 hit points! GS: Lunata Croze takes a solid hit from John Dee's Mysterious Crossbow Bolt for 90 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Mysterious Crossbow Bolt for 49 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to John Dee! GS: CRITICAL! Shalune Amira guards a hit from John Dee's Mysterious Crossbow Bolt for 108 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to John Dee!
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The crossbow bolt whizzes across too late, and Lunata exclaims, "Duck!" a second after she should've; the quill strikes her arm, and more of that inky blackness erupts out as she lets out a pained little hiss. She whips up towards that middle-aged man, eyes filled with hatred and his beard splattered red with blood.
Lunata's own eyes flash as she shoves herself forward and bashes against the doorstopper, in the meantime accelerating herself as she lets some of Ge Ramda's powers ensconce her blade to empower it for the battle immediately to come.
"I think fire wouldn't be a bad plan, Lunie!"
GS: Lunata Croze has attacked Lunata Croze with Prostasia! GS: Lunata Croze has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Lunata Croze has completed her action. GS: Lunata Croze takes a solid hit from Lunata Croze's Prostasia for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
The haggard-looking man has Matilda's attention immediately -- and she wastes no time considering who he might be, or what he might want. Right now, he's a madman who wants to kill them; anything else would be overcomplication.
The crossbow bolt is a little wide, but slides right over Matilda's shield; the blow is a surprise, more than anything else, and leaves her defense unsteady. "Ngh -- damn," she hisses.
Matilda takes quick stock -- he's a crossbow hunter. That suggests a limitation on ammunition -- and a moment where he'll either have to switch weapons or reload. Either way, a moment that she can use to make an opportunity... if she stays in close.
Moving forward shield-first, Matilda shoves that sagging arm forward, introducing shield to face before getting into a solid defensive position. ... Given the circumstances, the compounder thinks she might have to bear the brunt of the offense... it's honestly a little surreal to her, to think about how much things have changed in the last year, that that'd be the case...
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Tilling! GS: Matilda Whitehead has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Maybe Shalune is getting a little better at this whole fighting thing; she tenses a moment before the attack comes, as if her instincts were guiding her to be careful - but her body still isn't up to the point of being able to handle reactions quite that quickly, and she's caught mostly unawares as the bolt rams home into her shoulder.
Her whimper is caught behind her gritted teeth as her body wrenches backwards; she spins with the force of it, forced to as her shoulder snaps backwards, but manages to keep her balance even as she feels pain blossom along her arm. The bolt didn't cut too deep, thankfully - the heavy combination of dress and poncho and shawl took care of that much - but she still feels sluggish in the wake of the attack, shaking her head as she tries to get up to speed.
"--we-- need to get him out into the open!" she calls as she wills herself to one side, juking out of the direct line of the sight of the door; even then she moves warily, automatically assuming the rather unhinged man will happily fire straight through the rickety walls of his shack to tag them.
Her mind latches onto that thought - he's the one in a defensive position here. He's likely to be much stronger than they are, so if any of them come through the door they're just asking to be ambushed. That's the advantage they need to rip away if they're going to have a chance, right? She's no tactician, but she can tell that much.
Fortunately, when it comes to demolition-- "Big Shal!" she calls to the open air. The landscape of the Hunting Grounds meant leaving the golem behind, but Shalune's got enough faith in her companion to know that Big Shal is still looking out for her. Sure enough, there's a low but rising whistle in answer...
... and Big Shal's disembodied arm, apparently ripped from the rest of the golem's body and hurled across the intervening distance, suddenly impacts into the shack with the force of a wrecking ball, seeking to simply tear away as much of the structure as it can.
GS: Shalune Amira has attacked John Dee with Big Shal - It's Showtime!! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline reacts quickly to Lunata's warning. She whirls around, and with a gesture of her left hand, a strong gust of wind shoots out, knocking the bolt off course. It still manages to clip the side of one shoulder, but the armor underneath her surcoat prevents it from piercing through.
She'd have to thank Carina for that later.
With that, she gets an opportunity to view her attacker. An older man, in battered armor and with a shield - that's all she sees before the door shuts again.
"Is everyone alright?" Jacqueline asks, backing away from the door and glancing around at the others. And then, she turns her attention back to the hut.
"Who are you? I must ask that you cease this butchery!" She calls out as she rummages through her bags for a potion. The next time that door opens or that she catches sight of him, the man behind it will find a bottle filled with a strength-sapping liquid hurled through it.
"I would rather not fight you, if at all possible!" She says...but from the sounds of him, he might not exactly be...
...Entirely in his right mind...
Fortunately, they have Matilda for defense and it looks like Shalune has decided to take care of the 'hut' problem.
It...does kind of make her comment feel a little hollow, but at the same time she doesn't find herself caring that much about that.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked John Dee with Sapping Salve! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: John Dee guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Tilling for 112 hit points! GS: John Dee takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Big Shal - It's Showtime! for 139 hit points! GS: John Dee takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Sapping Salve for 18 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to John Dee!
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
The door keeps opening and closing, with those jerking motions that make it hard to predict. Matilda moves forward and takes point. This places Dee's attention squarely on Matilda, and she sees his grin as the door opens for a moment -- and lets her confirm that he does, in fact, need to reload. She can also see his surprised expression, as the the disembodied, robotic fist of Big Shal slams into the hut.
The hut is not a sturdy thing. Broken, shattered pieces of wood explode outward, erupting into the air, and the entire thing comes collapsing down. In one terrifying moment, the four of them discover that it was more like a construction of matchsticks and driftwood. It collapses, and from the rubble, John Dee rises. He comes up, and the grin has never left his face.
Jay calls out to him. It never stops him. The liquid splashes over him... and he keeps grinning. "I am John Dee. I am the hunter. I have killed, and killed, and killed. I came from far off lands to find an answer... but only killing. More and more killing! IT IS ALL WE ARE!"
He rushes forward. He swings up his wrist crossbow -- and fires a bolt straight towards Jay. Then, he swings his sword out -- and slashes through a rope that had been in the shack. There is a loud ka-chuck and two rusted cylinders shudder, before firing terrible spikes through the air, which hurtle off towards Shalune and Lunata alike. At the same time, Dee rushes at Matilda. He slams his sword down, his blade hacking and chopping down furiously at Matilda's shield with a crazed, battering motion -- and a sword style utterly unlike any others she has seen on Lunar.
GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Wrist Crossbow! GS: John Dee has attacked Lunata Croze with Spike Launcher! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Spike Launcher! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Riot Blade! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: Lunata Croze takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Spike Launcher for 69 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from John Dee's Wrist Crossbow for 80 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Matilda's got the crazed creature's attention... she should capitalise on it.
The hut crumbles down due to Big Shal's fist, easily enough -- and that is giving Lunata more time to manuever around, a knowing glint on her eyes. The more agile, but less guarded of the two melee fighters zips behind the enormous hunter as he exclaims what he is--
"What are you...?!"
She doesn't let that question hang in the air -- when Dee charges for Matilda, she charges for Dee, katana flashing out in one floral motion that echoes with the ring of death in the air.
GS: Lunata Croze has attacked John Dee with Papillon Reel! GS: Lunata Croze has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! John Dee takes a solid hit from Lunata Croze's Papillon Reel for 128 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Lunata Croze! GS: John Dee enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from John Dee's Spike Launcher for 146 hit points! GS: Matilda Whitehead guards a hit from John Dee's Riot Blade for 81 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline raises an arm to shield herself from the debris as Big Shal's arm slams into the hut. It shatters to pieces, about as Jacqueline expected. It hadn't looked particularly sturdy, she would have been surprised if it had been able to withstand the brunt of Big Shal's assault. She sends an approving nod to Shalune before looking back into the rubble...
He arises from it with a wild grin, and what he has to say causes her to recoil. Was killing all this man knew...? What happened to him? The intensity of his assertion was frightening. She finds another bolt firing straight at her, and she reacts a bit more slowly than before. She dodges to the side, wincing as it passes.
"There's more to life than killing! That's not the answer...it can't be the answer you were seeking." She says, shaking her head. As she continues to backpedal she rummages through her bags and draws out some light blue potions, tossing them to Shalune, Lunata, and Matilda.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Shalune Amira with Distribution Theory! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Lunata Croze with Distribution Theory! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Distribution Theory! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Shalune Amira! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune throws up her arms with a yelp, expecting the impact of the golem's arm; she shields her face from the chips of wood and stone and other contents of the shack she'd rather not think too hard about, registering the man's words as he rises from the ruin with an almost demonic sort of energy and strength.
"H-he's gotta be some kind of Hellion, right? Right?!" she blurts out in astonishment as the man's roars reach a fever pitch of energy; she jolts for an instant, registering the impact of the spike more than the pain it brings and the way it nearly bears her to the ground, lodged firmly into one of her legs. She bites back another cry of pain, but grits her teeth again as she pushes past it.
"--even then, we can do this-- we can do this!" she growls, her spirit rising despite her wounds; she tests her foot, and while she can't really run, she can at least stand, hopping up onto the Little Dipper to rely on its speed more than her hampered agility. "Don't let him get to you! I'll try to stop any other gadgets in his shack!" There's belief and trust in her voice, and a great deal of conviction as well.
GS: Shalune Amira has activated a Force Action! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Shalune Amira with Back to Back! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Lunata Croze with Back to Back! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Back to Back! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Back to Back! GS: Shalune Amira has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Back to Back for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Please react using the attack number in +queue. GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Back to Back for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Back to Back for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda keeps her shield up, even as she's battered back, back, back; her shield holds, but her arm has a slightly harder time doing so. She needs to take the pressure off her shield arm for at least a few seconds, and she knows it -- but how?
... Fortunately, Big Shal's presence makes that obvious. There is, indeed, at least one better person -- or, well, golem -- to hopefully hold the man's attention here, now. Conveniently, it's ripping up his house!
"... You don't fight like you're from around here," Matilda murmurs. That's all the time she really has for reflection, though; she takes a quick step forward, hooks her leg around behind his, and then swings her shield forcefully forward again, this time for the face. It's a bit of an awkward attack, but she's hoping to trip him and start to build herself an opportunity.
Jay gets a brief glance as she tries to treat with the hunter, and Matilda does accept the potion... but she no comments. Matilda starts to shift her stance backward, looking to Shalune briefly as she zips around playing saboteur.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Planting! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: John Dee guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Planting for 92 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
"I hunted Fiends... and I wanted to stop... and then I found Hellions here! And I realized, it didn't matter--all the pretty lies! NONE OF IT MATTERED! Lies like family... all that exists is blood to be spilled!" John Dee screams in Lunata's direction, even as her katana bites deep into his side. What comes out is her answer: human blood, plain and simple, spilling out all over the ground.
"The answer I found!" he bellows back at Jay. "What we seek doesn't matter! We won't find it! The only meaning is in how flesh rips! How it tears! How the beasts scream and beg--but beasts' cries don't reach their ears. No, no... mercy isn't on any land...!"
Matilda steps forward, and then her leg catches his. He lets out a surprised grunt -- and slams down at the ground, as her shield slams into his face. His nose breaks, pushing to the side, but he rubs his nose over the shield's edge on his way away. There is a sickening crack as he moves it back into place.
And then his grin, as he slams his shield at Matilda -- tries to push her away -- and then a brilliant, bright, flash of golden light explodes out from him in a ring.
GS: John Dee has attacked John Dee with Flight or Fight! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: John Dee takes a solid hit from John Dee's Flight or Fight for 0 hit points! GS: Lock and State! Statuses applied to John Dee! GS: John Dee enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Flash! GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Flash! GS: John Dee has attacked Lunata Croze with Flash! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Flash! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: Lunata Croze takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Lunata Croze enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lunata Croze loses a Combo from Interrupt! GS: Lunata Croze takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Back to Back for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Lunata Croze! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Lunata Croze! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from John Dee's Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to John Dee! GS: Jacqueline Barber loses a Combo from Interrupt! GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from John Dee's Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Shalune Amira loses a Combo from Interrupt! GS: Lunata Croze has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Fiends...?" Lunata asks as John Dee keeps screaming -- Orochi-Agito's blade finds blood... human blood, which begins to hiss against it as it seeks more death in its wake.
"How pitiable... you were once a hunter, but you have become what you seem to have hunted..." she shakes her head. "Fiends, Hellions... you've become no better than one yourself."
But there's a grin -- and a bright flash erupts around his form, and she suddenly finds him at the top of her aggro table--
--er, losing a Combo point, sorry.
She looks towards Shalune with a nod as she moves to stop his machinations, and Jacqueline aids them with a potion which she quaffs quickly. She looks to Matilda. "Let's do this."
She... doesn't actually draw forth with her katana-- rather, she starts chanting, as the familiar glyph of darkness erupts at her feet. Lines of darkness begin to rise as she speaks, voice echoing--
"Oh twisted door of distortion, come forth and crush the foe before me! Negative Gate!"
She raises her hand forth, and an opening maw of darkness begins to pull and rip away at John Dee, claws of inky blackness slashing away at him.
GS: Lunata Croze enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lunata Croze has attacked John Dee with Negative Gate! GS: Lunata Croze has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Lunata Croze's attack becomes clear! GS: John Dee takes a solid hit from Lunata Croze's Negative Gate for 222 hit points! GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Matilda Whitehead loses a Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Ducking her head down, Shalune winces against the sudden burst of light; she squints past it as best she can, shaking away the last vestiges of the pulsing brightness. Swinging the Little Dipper around the periphery of the battle is more a matter of instinct than skill - it doesn't require much in the way of effort, given how used to flying she is at this point.
"--so-- so what!? Sure the world hurts! Sure the world sucks sometimes! But that's no reason to just-- go around butchering people however you like!" she feels an unfamiliar anger rise in the back of her throat, getting stuck unpleasantly in her throat. "Just 'cause we're stuck on Lunar, we didn't treat that as a licence to go nuts! Just 'cause Lunie's stuck in her deal, she didn't turn into a nightmare!"
That part may be debatable given the howling gate that opens at John Dee's feet, but Shalune looks like she's sticking with it. Her vision is a little blurred from pain, but the irritating and annoyance helps sharpen her mind instead as she hauls her shotstaff up to her shoulder, a viewfinder hinging out from the side of the shaft; the head of her weapon starts to thrum and glow as it powers up.
"--I won't agree with that sort of thinking! Not now and not ever!" she adds, pulling the trigger to send a lancing bolt of white light across the intervening space.
GS: Shalune Amira has attacked John Dee with Emission Line! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: John Dee critically Guards a hit from Shalune Amira's Emission Line for 23 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"... That's -- bizarre. To be this incoherent, but simply a normal human...?" Matilda's eyebrow raises a little as she steps back from the hunter a little further, trying to steady herself --
-- and then there's that bright flash of light. Matilda reels a bit, but turns it into a practical moment, sheathing her sword and drawing her ARM. She's pre-loaded it with the basics today, of course -- it's something she's gotten better about doing in general, on Lunar, now that some loads just... aren't working as well.
Taking a breath, Matilda aims for the center of the flash, firing some loose gravel in John Dee's general direction. He's put her substantially on the back foot. "Shalune has it right," she says. "Don't turn your misery into someone else's problem."
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Gravel Bullet! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: John Dee guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Gravel Bullet for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I'm counting on you, Shalune." Jacqueline says, sending her pink-haired friend a smile. She knew she could trust her - knew she had her back.
Lunata's blade cuts into John Dee, and he bleeds.
He was human.
Just an ordinary human. And yet, the depth of his pain...it was immense.
"I see... I'm sorry...I can't possibly imagine what you've been through..." She replies, shaking her head. "But if all you know is bloodshed, then..."
Before she can finish her sentence, however, a brilliant light erupts from him. Jacqueline shrieks and stumbles backward as she finds herself blinded. She shuts her eyes tight, rubbing at them, but it does nothing to clear her vision.
This...is a problem.
In the end, she has to hone in on Lunata's sorcery - a familiar sensation, though not quite in that form. She uses it as a beacon to aim, and with a gesture of her right hand the air around John Dee will begin to crackle before a bolt of lightning drops from the sky right toward him.
GS: Please provide a more specific attack name. [Lightning] GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked John Dee with Lightning Strike! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: John Dee critically Guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 26 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed. <SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMLl98A0v8k
Darkness opens and roars below John Dee. He looks straight down, and for a moment, Dee's wild, manic grin fades -- as darkness shreds down at him. Claws tear at his armor, leaving cracks in it, and reveal it to be little more than the pitted, battered stuff of a veteran warrior who hasn't maintained his arms and accouterments as well as he should have. But, they are not without use -- and he slams his shield 'round, in time to catch Shalune's lance of white light.
It burns black on the shield, but does not pierce through -- and the maddened grin is back, then. "No... no, it is all a nightmare! A nightmare where all we love is wrenched from our grasp! And this girl--this girl is the same as me! Isn't she! ISN'T SHE! A slave to FALSE GODS!"
He laughs, then. It isn't at Shalune, but it is with something. The laughing is interrupted, though, when the bullet from Matilda fires, and catches him in the shoulder. He turns, the force of the gravel sending him into a spin anyways.
Lightning slams down into him -- but he raises his shield, and then his feet dig into the ground. There is something telling about his boots: thick rubber soles, though the rubber looks positively ancient and holed through. He stands against it, and then he throws his shield to the side. "Ha... ha ha... good," he says. "Good! Nothing's given me a work out like this. But..."
He looks back up. The grin remains. "...Let me show you your future. Let me show you what we do with the false gods that fail us! We break them!" he screams. "Come on, you filthy mutt! Harken to my will--to the dreams that became a nightmare! The summoner's pact is invoked!"
He screams as smoke billows and rages about him, then explodes up into the air. "IFRIT!"
They may see how John Dee's silhouette vanishes in the billowing smoke. Instead, a new form appears: a hunched over, humanoid creature of mottled red and brown skin; eyes like smoldering embers, and a mane of long black hair. It drops down from the heavens, and a shockwave of fire explodes out from it in a circle. It threatens to blow back Matilda and Lunata both, being closed.
Its two hands swing out. The left one hurls a piece of rock towards Shalune. It ignites, halfway through, and then explodes in a shockwave meant to rip through her defenses in an instanct. The right one swirls with fire, which rages about its hand. Then, a blast of fire explodes underneath Jay's feet. It appears as a pillar.
Which is when Ifrit snaps his fingers, and then a massive fireball explodes right above her head. It blasts a crater into the ground, and throws burning debris every which way.
DC: John Dee switches forms to Blaze Aeon Ifrit!
GS: John Dee has attacked Lunata Croze with Radiant Plume! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Radiant Plume! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Meteorstrike! GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Chaincast Firaga! GS: John Dee has canceled their attack on Jacqueline Barber. GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!!
DC: MISS! Matilda Whitehead completely evades Radiant Plume from John Dee!
GS: Lunata Croze takes a solid hit from John Dee's Radiant Plume for 119 hit points! GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Firaja! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from John Dee's Firaja for 97 hit points! GS: Shalune Amira guards a hit from John Dee's Meteorstrike for 62 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira! GS: Shalune Amira enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
A slave to false Gods.
Lunata might not be equipped to comment on whether Ge Ramtos is a false or true God -- he certainly is a being of higher power, but exactly how the divine cosmology and hierarchy shakes out is... unknown to her, at the very least. Her eyes flare open, however, as she exclaims, "Summoner...? Like a--"
She cups her mouth as the enormous creature emerges out from within the smoke, out from the heavens, a shockwave of flame knocking her back and setting her bandages on fire.
She flails and struggles with her burns for a moment, wincing as it spreads over towards her flesh and singes it.
"Is that a Guardian...?!" Lunata exclaims, "No, it's..."
There's no time to theorise, however, because it's slamming burning rocks and fireballs to everyone. "I'm--"
Can she do it? Can she risk it?
"I'm going to do it... I don't think we can outrun this thing... it's-- our only chance..."
That glyph is still present within her feet as she closes her eyes, and raises her hand towards the heavens.
"Awaken from within thine frozen coffin...
Time is to thee as a ship whose masts are forfeit...
Perish, into the clutches of Death itself!
Come forth--"
Her arms -- her hair -- her legs are burning, with that same inky blackness that has erupted to full flame as she starts to feel her body ripping.
"Come-- come forth..."
The strain is immeasurable. She howls in pain as she feels that same smoke erupt from the corners of her eyeballs.
"Ge--Ge...Ge Ramtosss!!"
The rest of Lunata seems consumed as she Materialises her own summon -- and what was once a small girl standing there has been replaced by... the Guardian of Death, or rather, an instantiated, localised presence of it, brought forth by Lunata's power, so far away from its source within Filgaia.
Billowing with a cloak of darkness, studded with gilded, ancient regalia draped upon its neck and shoulders... and wielding a gnarled staff made of ivory-white bone.
It hoarsely howls -- and thrusts the staff forward, erupting with a blaze of darkness that rains down upon the summoned Aeon.
GS: Ge Ramtos has attacked John Dee with Evil Sphere! GS: Ge Ramtos has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Ge Ramtos's attack becomes clear! GS: John Dee guards a hit from Ge Ramtos's Negative Gate for 108 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda goes into a low, powerful backward leap, shield up, as that beast appears before her. It's automatic -- a year of Drifting has done wonders for her combat reflexes... and truthfully, she'd observed enough of it to have the theory down beforehand, anyway.
Only once she lands does she have a moment to take in the enormity of what she's facing, and subsequently to see --
"... Lunata...!"
Matilda's left to grimace a bit and consider her options -- can she really stand up to... is that a Guardian? Lunata says no, and while she's the expert, part of Matilda still wonders... whatever it is, it's an immensely powerful creature.
... but then -- is it truly so different from Lady Harken, on that front? Maybe Matilda needs to believe in herself a little more. Her first attack remains fairly cautious -- she switches to her sword again after driving it a little deeper into its sheath (... was that the sound of glass?) before going for a single hesitant stab amid the darkness Ge Ramtos brings to bear.
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Riposte and Twist! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Matilda Whitehead's attack becomes clear! GS: John Dee critically Guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Harvest for 13 hit points! GS: Ge Ramtos has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Lunata...she's nothing like you! She's..." Jacqueline calls out. She's still blinded, but his voice gives her something to focus on. And then she hears him say something.
'Summoner's Pact'...
Jacqueline's vision clears just in time to John Dee vanish in billowing smoke, replaced by...something else entirely. Jacqueline recoils backward.
"Wh...what is that!?" She says, overwhelmed. Lunata asks the same question that had occurred to her. Before she can wonder any more as to the nature of the beast - Ifrit, he called it - before her, the ground beneath her begins to heat up rapidly. She jumps back just as a pillar of flame erupts from beneath where she was standing just a moment ago...but it instead serves as a distraction, as she finds a ball of flame erupting above her, pelting her with burning debris.
Jacqueline lets out a cry of pain and raises her arms to shield herself. Without her Earth Pillar, she doesn't have an effective method of defending herself from an assault like this...
Jacqueline backpedals, small flames still dancing over her body. ...And then Lunata says something that takes her mind off of her own pain.
"L-Lunata? What're you..." She starts, and watches as her friend invokes Ge Ramtos. Where Lunata once stood, the Guardian of Death appears, in all its macabre glory.
"Ge Ramtos...oh, Lunata..." Jacqueline murmurs. She had no idea what this would do to her in the end, but...it was too late. It was already done, and...she might have a point that this was their only hope.
"...I'll support you!" She calls out. She reaches into her bags, drawing out several bright red bottles and hurls them out. One for herself, one to Matilda, one to Shalune, and one to Lunata - or rather, the spectre of Ge Ramtos that has taken her place.
She doesn't know if that'll actually work, but...maybe the gesture will be appreciated, at least??
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ge Ramtos with Boosting Brew! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Shalune Amira with Boosting Brew! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Boosting Brew! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Boosting Brew! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Please react using the attack number in +queue. GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Boosting Brew for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Boosting Brew for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Ge Ramtos takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Boosting Brew for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Ge Ramtos! GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Boosting Brew for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"--Jay!" Shalune yelps in fear, the world around them suddenly burning with flame and smoke, the air hot enough to singer her eyebrows even without it touching her; she's dimly aware that the man's performed something like a Materialization, but she's too busy trying to defend against the tearing shockwave that's been sent in her direction to really do much to help the alchemist.
That doesn't stop her from trying to play leader, or perhaps just the moral support. "Atida! Cover your eyes! If you get blinded that's gonna be the end--" and she's barely managed to tug her knitted hat down to cover her own before a vivid sensation rockets across the battlefield, forming a pit of dread in the bottom of her stomach.
She's joked before that she's practically a priestess of Ge Ramda, but this is something else entirely; feeling the Guardian of Death evoked right in front of her pulls her up short, leaving her wide-eyed with fear and confusion. For a moment, it isn't certain if Lunata even exists anymore, or whether she's burnt herself entirely away in summoning Ge Ramda forth; dimly, she can feel this isn't any typical summoning, not with her having given away her body to the Guardian to some extent.
It's enough to hold her still for a long moment, her hands tight and her knuckles white enough on the handlebars that she's almost drawing blood from her palms.
And yet--
And yet... somehow, she manages to choke the feeling back down, swallow the lump in her throat. Lunata made a vow - chose to make a vow - and Shalune knows that she can't quail about that forever, especially not when that means distrusting the resolve and feelings of her childhood friend. She accepted that much, and knows she's got to back it up now.
"--Lunie! Ge Ramtos! We're with you! I'll blow back the fire as best I can! Everyone together!" she yells, swinging the Little Dipper around once more as she almost tries to protectively corral the group.
GS: Shalune Amira has activated a Force Action! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Shalune Amira with Step by Step! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Ge Ramtos with Step by Step! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Step by Step! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Step by Step! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: Shalune Amira heals Shalune Amira! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Shalune Amira's Reload flag cannot target herself! GS: Shalune Amira heals Ge Ramtos! She gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Ge Ramtos gains 15 extra FP from Shalune Amira! GS: Shalune Amira heals Jacqueline Barber! She gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Jacqueline Barber gains 15 extra FP from Shalune Amira! GS: Shalune Amira heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Matilda Whitehead gains 15 extra FP from Shalune Amira!
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
When Ifrit turns to look at Ge Ramtos, there is little to give away the thoughts in the Aeon's mind. It is, however, a reflection of its master in other ways. The way it snarls -- the way that Ifrit lacks the certain bestial elegance that others that they have never met, many miles away, might find. There is bloodlust and hatred in its eyes, even as shadowy darkness comes roaring down from the heavens, and pours down onto Ifrit.
Its powerful hide is battered. Weird, undulating tears of black across it. It throws a clawed hand out towards Ge Ramtos. A ball of flame hurtles off it, snaking through the air, before it explodes in a mighty shockwave. Then, Ifrit slams its clawed hand downward. A column of fire swirls over -- and a second spell follows, in the blink of an eye. It explodes down for the top of Ge Ramtos's head witha powerful shockwave upon impact.
Ifrit proves to not be too distracted. It swings a might claw up, catching Matilda's blade. Sparks explode and fly, and the sword digs into into the mottled flesh of the Aeon's forearm. Ifrit roars, then rakes those claws down across the front of Matilda. The clawed hand then swings to the side, and slams into the ground.
A pulse of fire shoots out -- a shockwave, that hurtles towards Shalune and Jay, and tries to bowl them over.
GS: John Dee has attacked Ge Ramtos with Chargecast Fira! GS: John Dee has launched an attack Link! GS: John Dee has attacked Ge Ramtos with Chaincast Firaga! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Fiery Claws! GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Vulcan Burst! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Vulcan Burst! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Fiery Claws for 81 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from John Dee's Vulcan Burst for 80 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Ge Ramtos critically Guards a hit from John Dee's Chargecast Fira for 27 hit points! GS: Ge Ramtos critically Guards a hit from John Dee's Chaincast Firaga for 34 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Shalune Amira guards a hit from John Dee's Vulcan Burst for 67 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira!
<Pose Tracker> Ge Ramtos has posed.
Ifrit is not a Guardian -- Lunata confirmed this much; while she can't be a hundred percent certain, she does know that whatever this 'summoner's pact' has many reflections to the relationship between a Shaman and the Materialised Guardian they conjure.
Such as how its master is reflected upon it.
Bloodlust and hatred pours into its eyes, as Ge Ramtos howls with a sensation of desperation and protection reverberating from the magical fibres of its very being.
Jacqueline's potion washes over it, and the liquid burns in its stead, shielding it in a protective sheen that helps it endure the sheer explosion of fire aimed its way.
Shalune is playing defense, and her presence helps it raise its massive, deformed claw and parry the first ball of flame. Bone shines through, singed and burnt but holding firm -- and as it follows with a second spell, it takes it head on--
The blast consuming its cloak and shredding what is essentially a representation of its manifestation away.
It looks towards Matilda, as she dances about and gives her own riposte in. It looks to Shalune, as she keeps at it with Little Dipper. And it looks towards Jacqueline, as she keeps up the pressure with her spells and potions...
It won't let them come to harm.
It raises its cane again, and thrusts it upon the ground -- a wellspring of darkness erupts from the murky morass of blood, battered corpses and shredded machines that John Dee has cleaved upon the ground.
And from within it, a sword of darkness bursts out to meet the Aeon.
GS: Ge Ramtos has attacked John Dee with Majin Messatsuen! GS: Ge Ramtos has completed her action. GS: John Dee has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee takes a solid hit from Ge Ramtos's Majin Messatsuen for 193 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline doesn't know what to make of this creature...she sees only bloodlust and hatred in its eyes. It doesn't seem like something that can be reasoned with...and its power is beyond anything she's seen in recent times. And then it slams a hand into the ground, sending out a shockwave of flame that strikes her solidly, sending her to the ground.
This foe might be beyond them, but...she wasn't without help of her own. A hand goes to her chest - to the Medium she kept on her at all times, close to her heart - as she tries to force herself to stand once more.
She had not called upon Grudiev since arriving on Lunar. Would her prayer reach him, even this far away? She knew that the two planets were connected, and that the Guardian's presence reached even here...but she still can't help but doubt and worry.
And yet, she calls upon him anyway.
"G-Grudiev...please! If you can hear me..." She murmurs...and the Guardian answers her call. The visage of the Guardian of Earth appears behind her, looking over the battlefield...and then it begins to draw air, earth, and debris into the vents on its back, extinguishing some of the flames around the battlefield and on the combatants.
And then it is all released, coating Jacqueline and her allies in a fine earthen barrier as Grudiev lends his support before disappearing once more.
GS: That attack doesn't exist. [Earthen Embrace] GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Material - Earthly Embrace! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ge Ramtos with Material - Earthly Embrace! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Shalune Amira with Material - Earthly Embrace! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Material - Earthly Embrace! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Jacqueline Barber! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Shalune Amira! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Ge Ramtos! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Ge Ramtos! She gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda had had a plan for this -- but she ends up backing off from it as those claws come in. Pressing through such an offensive doesn't seem so wise, especially since the creature hadn't seemed bothered by her initial strike at all. Instead, she backpedals, claw scraping against armor and digging, at a point or two, into flesh.
Staggering even further away again, Matilda switches back to her ARM -- she doesn't want to drop her shield to load something better than gravel, but she needs the distance and she needs the chance to think.
There's definite concern, still, as she glances to Ge Ramtos again. ... but she needs to turn her attention forward or they're all going to die. She settles, for now, for what she has to settle for -- a few quick bursts from Freischütz and taking advantage of that earthen barrier.
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
If Rujm el-Hiri and her introduction to Ge Ramda taught Shalune anything at all, it was to not judge by appearances. It's a lesson she's still having to learn, again and again, and it's often difficult to truly take it to heart. Case in point - when she first saw Ge Ramtos, she was terrified. Even now, the sensation of the Guardian's sheer presence is difficult for her to handle, the pervasive feeling of Death clinging in the air around her.
But-- she knows how protective Lunata can be. She knows how protective Ge Ramda can be. And she can feel that same conviction rolling off of the Guardian in waves, carried forward by their friend's spirit. Even as the darkness showers around them all, Shalune meets the Guardian's glance with a furrowed brow-- and just about manages to put the thought of a ticking clock out of her mind.
Instead, she revs the Little Dipper once more, planting her feet as she gets herself more stable on the back of the craft. "... okay. But-- we're gonna chip in as well, you know," she whispers back to it, more to herself than anyone else, then holds her knitted hat down with one hand as she pushes the craft faster around its wide circle.
The outer hull of the Dipper shines with a sudden light, as Grudiev's power is also called down from Filgaia to the far reaches of Lunar; Shalune sets her jaw, thankful for that much as she suddenly stamps down on the back of her scooter, abruptly sending it sky-high - and then rocking forward to pitch it downwards, the now-reinforced point at its prow aimed towards the summoned creature below.
"--don't count the rest of us out--!!" she adds with a cry, as she simply ploughs the scooter down into Ifrit's face.
GS: Shalune Amira has attacked John Dee with Soaring Clouds! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: Matilda Whitehead has activated a Force Action! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Gravel Bullet! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! John Dee guards a hit from Shalune Amira's Soaring Clouds for 115 hit points! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Mute! Statuses applied to John Dee! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira! GS: John Dee critically Guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Gravel Bullet for 22 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
--and even Shalune yelps as she's thrown clear from the abrupt explosion that occurs when a Guardian's protection meets Ifrit's chaotic energy. She manages to land in a rolling skid, grimacing as her boots go slick from whatever she's sliding back on - eugh - but jolts up as the Little Dipper lands nearby, apparently intact but with Grudiev's barrier shorn away.
"--wah--!? What the--"
At least she seems as surprised as anyone else.
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
A sword of darkness swings up, and Ifrit's sharp, flaming claws are not enough to stop it. The mighty blade of shadowstuff rips into the midsection of the Aeon and through the back of it. Ifrit arches its head back and screams, fire and smoke roiling from its mouth. But, it reaches down with its claws and grasps onto the blade of darkness--
--and then yanks, tearing it from its side. Fire and smoke waft away, onto the ground, as the Aeon looks directly at Ge Ramtos, and lets out a fearsome roar. He turns, and then powerful winds kick up, swirling around him -- and flame rages through them, in a firestorm. Ifrit surges forward, bursting at Ge Ramtos like a freight train wreathed in fire.
It tries to tear through the simulacrum of the Guardian's very form, and then come down, crouching. Freischutz opens fire, rounds pounding into it. Its hide proves breakable -- but smoke, fire, and motes of light come out instead of blood. The Aeon, it seems, is a creature of more than flesh. It turns, then, and stares at the scooter with Shalune on it. It surprises the Aeon, smoldering ember eyes wide as saucers, before she slams the Little Dipper into his face.
And sends him flat on his back for just a second. The ground rumbles and blackens all at once. Then, Ifrit surges back up to its feet. It throws a hand out -- and the air around Matilda superheats, even through Grudiev's barrier. Fire billows -- and collapses down like a star ready to go supernova, before exploding in a titanic column of flame. As this fireball erupts, Ifrit leaps into the air, gazing down where Grudiev stood.
The Aeon opens its mouth and roars, before it slams down into the middle of where the shack stood. It is fortunate, truly, that Grudiev's barrier stands--
--for a massive shockwave of fire rolls out, blasting the valley black, and sending a storm composed of hell's very fires for Jay and Shalune!
GS: John Dee has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee has attacked Ge Ramtos with Crimson Cyclone! GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Hellfire! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Hellfire! GS: Ge Ramtos has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Firaja! GS: Ge Ramtos takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Crimson Cyclone for 127 hit points! GS: Ge Ramtos enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from John Dee's Hellfire for 35 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from John Dee's Hellfire for 188 hit points! GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from John Dee's Firaja for 167 hit points! GS: Matilda Whitehead has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ge Ramtos has posed.
It was said earlier that a Summon manifests the characteristics of their Master.
And perhaps nothing could be more true as when the Aeon garners winds forward -- setting the very air on flame in a terrible conflagration that could very well easily spread from here. The errant motes of blood from John Dee's victim are all flame, seemingly staining the cyclone further and further crimson.
Ge Ramtos is consumed, and the lich claws and screeches in pain--
--but the earthly embrace of a fellow Guardian is there to shield it from the worst, as Grudiev emerges within with a barrier as hard as any diamond, as firm as any rock.
It is wordless, but there is a look of respect and dignity as it raises its bony claw up to the air...
And where it holds its cane, it protrudes outwards -- the joint of the femur-like bone locking against a knee. A burial blade erupts out of it, mottled with the thin weave of a rot-like substance.
The very picturesque form of the reaper's own weapon: the scythe.
Lunie... Jay... Atida...
Ge Ramtos rears back as it grips its two-handed weapon, one hand on the handle and the other on the haft.
If I don't make it out of this...
The Guardian of Death's glimmer is certain as it stalks forward, indefatigable even as flames blaze on the ground past where it goes.
... thanks for everything... okay?
Sensing its Master's closing words, Ge Ramtos finally chooses to stride forth-- disappearing into a hazy, miserable mist that flows into flame...
... I had... I had a lot of fun.
...to emerge on the other side. With a singular howl, the blade's ice-cold edge...
Thank you.
...is lowered upon the Aeon of flame.
GS: Ge Ramtos has attacked John Dee with Midare Setsugekka -Yomotsu-! GS: Ge Ramtos has completed her action. GS: John Dee has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee takes a solid hit from Ge Ramtos's Midare Setsugekka -Yomotsu- for 258 hit points! GS: John Dee enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
At least, for a moment the Little Dipper looks alright-- and then the frame breaks neatly in two, the control column shorn off from the rest. With a slow whine, the craft powers down, and Shalune whines softly in sympathy, the battle momentarily forgotten as the warrior-spirit of the craft rests for a while.
Or-- something like that. Shalune is not big on mysticism.
A howl pulls her back up to the melee, and it's only now that Shalune realizes she's pretty much right underneath Ifrit as the melee continues to rage. Even with the creature not focusing on her, the heat rolling off of it is palpable, and when its fist impacts with Ge Ramtos, the shockwave is enough to blow her firmly backwards and off her feet, rolling through muck and slime as she instinctively drops and rolls to put out the fires flickering on her back and burning away her poncho.
Her hands hit the floor, pushing her upwards; she twists into an awkward roll, but it's enough to let her pull herself up to her feet, her shotstaff swept upwards as she does her best to dizzily sight along it. "That's still an 'if'," she growls to herself, not really consciously aware of what she's responding to - it's more a feeling than anything else, a vision that she fervently hopes isn't a premonition. Her sight wavers, and she's not sure if it's the fatigue from her crash or the tears in her eyes. She doesn't stand a hope of matching Ifrit like this--
--and perhaps that's okay, because that's when a similarly sized figure, missing one arm, suddenly taps the creature of fire on the shoulder. And, when it turns around, sucker punches it in the face with a wrecking-ball fist.
GS: Shalune Amira has attacked John Dee with Big Shal - It's Showtime!! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: John Dee guards a hit from Shalune Amira's Big Shal - It's Showtime! for 80 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
So, this 'Ifrit' wasn't a creature of flesh and blood. Jacqueline observes Freischutz's stone bullets piercing through it, drawing out smoke, fire, and light. She frowns, trying to consider the ramifications of this. ...But she doesn't have much time for that, as Shalune rams into the beast, causing a worrisome explosion.
"Sh-Shalune...!" Jacqueline calls out...but, fortunately, her friend lands nearby unharmed. She supposed she should have expected that - she always was remarkably durable.
The beast's next action proves worrisome, however - it lashes out with heat, flame. Intense, so intense...the sheer heat would be enough to drop most normal humans. And then, once more a shockwave of flame comes toward her, this one far more intense than the last. The blowback forces her to her knees, and the entire valley is scorched black as the flames consume her...
It's all rather overwhelming. But from deep within, she feels...something. Feelings resonating with her own.
"Oh, Lunata..." Jacqueline murmurs, shutting her eyes tight as flames dance and rage around her.
...She couldn't give up yet. Not after the sacrifices Lunata had made. She had to keep going.
When the flames clear, she is still there. Grudiev's barrier shines strong, though super-heated by Ifrit's flames. It was admittedly getting a little difficult to breathe...but she was not down yet.
"I-I don't know what you are...or why you're helping that man...but I won't stand for it!" Jacqueline calls out, forcing herself to stand once more. She then draws two bottles from her bags - one of them filled with a bright yellow liquid, and the other...
...Shalune, Matilda, and perhaps Lunata, if she is capable to see this, might recognize it as a bottle of the fluid used to turn Jacqueline's lightning sorcery into power for the Carakin.
She mixes the two bottles together...and energy begins to pulse from the bottle. It's only barely contained.
"Look out!" She calls out to her allies, and hurls the bottle toward Ifrit's head. It erupts with the sheer force of a lightning storm, spewing electricity everywhere. Hopefully this was primarily directed toward the beast itself.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked John Dee with Apothecary's Lightning! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: John Dee critically Guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Apothecary's Lightning for 36 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Lunata's words, hazy... actually put Matilda on the forward foot in a big way, even as she continues to totally fail to find purchase on the monster before her. This whole expedition feels like her responsibility -- and if Lunata meets her end here, then...
... then...
... Matilda lets out a long, slow breath, steadying herself. This beast isn't going to give her an opening. She knows that. ... She's going to have to make one for herself, then -- for Lunata's sake. Even if she hasn't been the closest with her CaraKin friends, even if she has the sense that their roads will eventually diverge...
She tosses the ARM aside, favoring her silver sword again. Something that's been behaving badly since she came to Lunar has no place here. She moves onto the wreckage of the hut, Ifrit's flames still enveloping her, eating through Grudiev's barrier.
She has to time this just right, she realizes, as the flames continue to envelop her -- she has to use every last second Jay's given her to get just the right angle. She springs from wreckage to wreckage, and then takes to the skies one final time.
Her bright silver blade aims square for the top of Ifrit's head. The barrier's essentially gone by this point, the flames starting to lick at Matilda's body -- but at this point, she's committed to the maneuver. She already has the momentum -- it'd be hard for the pain to actually stop her, now.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has activated a Force Action! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Iron in the Garden! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Matilda Whitehead's attack becomes clear! GS: CRITICAL! John Dee critically Guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Iron in the Garden for 30 hit points! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Poison! Statuses applied to John Dee! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Matilda Whitehead!
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
The terrible blade of Ge Ramtos slams down into the Aeon. It bites deep into Ifrit's shoulder and drags lower. The otherworldly nature of the Aeon's body is clear, then; no bone breaks, no blood spills forth. However, the rime and frost of the grave rise up around it, along with the darkness of the fell Guardian's power. It rises up, and ice and shadow obscure Ifrit for a moment. The Aeon howls, with the rage and pain of its temporary master.
Suffice to say, Ifrit is quite surprised when it is tapped on the shoulder. Which is why Big Shall gets quite the hit in, and is sent flying backward. Feet stumble across the ground; the Aeon turns, roaring defiance back at Big Shak.
The bottle goes flying -- and Ifrit catches it, but doesn't grip. Instead, the Aeon bats the thing to the ground, and the bottle shatters there. A few forks of lightning reach it, but most shudders and dies on the now scorched ground. Which is when Matilda comes in, and she slashes down. Her silver sword cuts into the Aeon's head, a long and jagged slash down its face.
It screams.
Then, it rises into the air again -- bolting past Matilda, only to crash down. Another massive firestorm explodes from it -- and this time, fuses some of the ground under its impact into glass. The flame rages out for Matilda and Jay and Shalune, even as the Aeon turns, and thrusts a hand out towards Ge Ramtos, open-palmed.
The air shimmers like a mirage.
Then, a white-hot blast of light explodes outward, tinged red and gold at the edges, and tries to sear the Guardian of Death's form away.
GS: John Dee has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee has activated a Force Action! GS: John Dee has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Hellfire! GS: John Dee has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Hellfire! GS: John Dee has attacked Shalune Amira with Hellfire! GS: John Dee has attacked Ge Ramtos with Incinerate! GS: John Dee takes 7 damage from Poison! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: John Dee takes 6 damage from Poison! GS: John Dee has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from John Dee's Hellfire for 35 hit points! GS: Ge Ramtos takes a glancing hit from John Dee's Incinerate for 327 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Shalune Amira guards a hit from John Dee's Hellfire for 114 hit points! GS: Shalune Amira enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!!
DC: MISS! Matilda Whitehead completely evades Hellfire from John Dee!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
This time, at least, Shalune is ready for it. Big Shal's intervention gives her a chance to wipe at her eyes, catch her breath, and stand a little faster against the rolling fire. It gives her body a chance to catch up - and her mind and heart, as well. "--okay--" she mutters as she stands up, as she watches Ifrit hang in the sky and crash downwards with the force of an earthquake and a tornado both.
Rather than dodge backward, she grits her teeth - and pushes forwards instead, her arms up as she races forwards through the fire. "--okay, I've had it! Lunie's not the only one who's risking herself! We're here with her, and Ge Ramtos as well!" she mutters angrily, feeling her blood heat almost as much as the flames. When she meets the wave it's with her hands up, her hair feeling like it's going to ignite just from the sheer force of the fire she's having to push through.
For a moment, she can't even see, forced to shut her eyes and hide in the midst of her poncho and cloak as she struggles forwards; the fact that she's wearing multiple layers as if they were fire blankets, now caked with mud and blood, is probably what saves her and allows her to do something so purely foolish.
The presence of Ifrit is like a weight on her mind, and she doesn't need to see to know it's right in front of her. "Jay! Atida! Lunie! Now! I'm throwing everything I've got at him!" she calls over the inferno, unhooking her bag from her shoulder. In the end, the motion is almost ridiculous; she hefts the backpack in her hand, keeps one arm over her eyes, and simply spins with the other held outwards, throwing her bag into the midst of Ifrit's form and flame.
But it was never about her bag, more her bag's contents - and there's a sudden plume of multicoloured smoke and firework-like explosions as the sum total of whatever she had packed in there goes off all at once in a riotous cacophony.
GS: Shalune Amira has activated a Force Action! GS: Shalune Amira has activated a Force Action! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked John Dee with Glorious Sunset! GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Shalune Amira with Glorious Sunset! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! John Dee guards a hit from Shalune Amira's Glorious Sunset for 19 hit points! GS: Break, Cripple, Disrupt, Jam, Mute, and Slow! Statuses applied to John Dee! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira! GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Glorious Sunset for 68 hit points! GS: Break, Disrupt, and Slow! Statuses applied to Shalune Amira! GS: Shalune Amira has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ge Ramtos has posed.
The blast is not unlike the colossal heat of a supernova, as if such a hellish conflagration had just been invited upon the Guardian of Death. Lunata can feel it inside of herself-- her time...
Her time is running out...
Flame spreads ever which way as grass, bone, blood and metal all turn into cinders -- and the big form of Ge Ramtos gives way as it's eclipsed, a black silhouette that slowly crumbles into nothingness...
And when that Incineration fades--
A figure that is mildly Lunata-like is stood there, looking shocked and disbelieving it herself. She's... still there...?
The twinkle of the Original Artificial Medium shimmers faintly within the heat mirage. The Ice Queen has considered all contingencies...
It's not quite done -- the creature still has more... and despite the fact that, within this heat, the corpse which in life was known as Lunata Croze can't help but... laugh.
Her lips slowly melt as she winks with her one functioning eye, as she raises her arm-- bits of flesh melting off against her ephemerally enhanced bones. She realises she's barely got two legs to stand on.
"You and I are... pretty alike after all... huh? Your time's come..."
She wills it, with her last bit of power--
--and the arm holding Orochi-Agito actually just FLIES OFF, bone and all, like a...
...um, a zombie-powered rocket punch carrying a screaming-mad katana aimed straight towards the Aeon's chest.
What remains of Lunata collapses. "... time for us to pay our dues..."
GS: Ge Ramtos has attacked John Dee with Midare Setsugekka -Yomotsu-! GS: Ge Ramtos has completed her action. GS: John Dee critically Guards a hit from Ge Ramtos's Midare Setsugekka -Yomotsu- for 47 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
--and Shalune is thrown away from Ifrit once more. This time, it isn't nearly so lucky or smooth; her clothes are charred and smoking, and rather than a controlled skid she just rolls through the mud and muck to a stop.
Immediately, her hands move, trying to ball into fists. She's clearly alive, but-- there's no more strength in her.
GS: Jacqueline Barber used Mystic on Jacqueline Barber! Status effect durations increased by 2! GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline's bottle falls short of its target. She frowns slightly and backs away, trying to think of what she could do next. She had been banking on that being effective, but...it looked as if lightning was out of the question. Fire, too, would likely not be very effective...
What could she do?
As she considers this, Ifrit rises into the air once more...only to crash down with heat enough to turn the ground itself into glass. The flames erupt around her. She can feel herself slipping, as the very heat tries to claim her.
Jacqueline shuts her eyes tight.
"Grudiev, please...J-just a little longer...hold strong...!" She urges. Her barrier shimmers slightly, as it absorbs the heat. It'll last a little longer, but she's not sure how much longer she has...
They're still standing, but...she's treated to a front row view of Lunata and Shalune's sacrifices.
"Shalune...LUNATA!!" Jacqueline calls out, horrified. Shalune looks...okay. She looks alive, but she isn't moving very much, but Lunata...
...Oh Guardians, Lunata...
Jacqueline fights back tears. This was her fault. She hadn't been able to do anything to help. If she could only do more, maybe this wouldn't have had to happen...but, the fight isn't over.
She whirls on Ifrit, bringing a hand in front of her.
"I-I won't...I won't let you hurt them anymore!" She cries out, and with a gesture of her left hand, the air around Ifrit begins to rapidly cool. There's not really much liquid in the air, what with all the heat...but even so, ice begins to form. Ordinarily, this was meant merely to slow, but to a being of fire, having the air around itself solidified might be a bit more of a threat...
Assuming it can't reheat itself before that happens.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked John Dee with Solidify! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda sees that firestorm and knows there's no way she's getting out of it. Instead, she ducks low, totally behind her shield; the combination of her small frame, surprisingly thick armor, and comparatively large shield allow her to come out of it just about unscathed -- though the instant the flames cease, she lets go of the shield. The heat was getting intense, to put it lightly -- another moment and it probably would've carried all the way through her gauntlet.
Once she stands, she looks toward Lunata with what might be extremely mildly put as extreme distress. No, no -- she's not losing someone, not again... she hasn't come this far, hasn't seen this much -- not every world needs to be full of Filgaia's heartbreak and sorrow --
She dispenses with the effort to try to create openings, at this point; with a snarl, she springs forward again, bright arming sword still in hand. She sees Shalune hit the ground, and that snarl turns into a small, strangled noise --
-- but she's committed. She just keeps slashing now, just shouldering in behind that 'rocket punch' and trying to bully her way through the massive creature's guard, as futile as it feels with it so much larger and her so... small. The Lunies have given her an opportunity -- and she refuses to let it go unused.
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked John Dee with Iron in the Garden! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: John Dee guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Solidify for 67 hit points! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Matilda Whitehead's attack becomes clear! GS: John Dee guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Iron in the Garden for 90 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Lunata collapses right in the path of Ifrit - but she's barely even hit the floor before rock suddenly sprouts from the blighted earth, shaping around her protectively.
Sprawled on the ground, Shalune grits her teeth. Her head is pounding, her body just about spent - but she can still focus on the stone tablet held against her stomach, its light glowing just enough to offer that much protection.
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
There are ways in which Ifrit is a reflection of his summoner. There are also, however, ways in which Ifrit is the spirit buried deep down. The one that seems so utterly surprised, when Lunata's arm comes flying off -- and surprised she lived. The creature swings its right clawed hand, the Aeon striking it out of the air. The blade still runs, deep and jagged across its flesh -- and the thing comes stumbling, but it roars defiance.
It is not, it seems, ready to pay its dues.
It watches as Lunata falls down, her body spent and broken. Which is why, when Shalune's bag flies in and explodes, the Aeon's head snaps back. Shalune wipes out behind it, and it turns. It stalks forward, stomping over the ground. Its wounds are intense; it doesn't move with that lupine grace it had before, but slowly. Hlatingly. Ice freezes over the Aeon -- and it shatters it, even as shards of it fall away and whisk into light.
Ifrit opens its mouth, and roars as Matilda barrels through -- and her blade slashes down. Again, and again, and again -- each blow slashing and cleaving. The Aeon's body starts to shudder. It gives way -- and the final slash ends up striking through something massless. That silvery blade plunges down, hard, and then finds purchase--
--shattering a breastplate, and poking out the other side. There is a gurgle in John Dee's throat, and a wild grin, as he meets Matilda's eyes.
His are dimming.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda presses clean through. There's a split second where she glances back -- maybe even a split second where she recoils, as if genuinely... worried, nervous about what she's about to do, or who she's about to do it in front of. In that split second, though, she sees Lunata, wounded almost beyond recognition... Shalune, spent and hurt after a final assault...
She pulls her blade back through the man with a final twist, looking down at the blood. For an instant, she seems to be considering letting that stand. "... I -- feel you may well be right, about -- the nature, of these worlds," she murmurs, a little softly.
"... But I'm going to make a world in which I know you're wrong, and there's no place for you in it." She takes her cloak in hand, for lack of a cloth, and wipes her blade clean before sheathing it and looking away -- and then moving toward Shalune. She thinks Jay is more likely to be able to provide meaningful help for Lunata -- she wouldn't even know where to begin with a situation like hers.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline readies herself to continue fighting, watch the creature before her carefully. ...But, as it freezes, and as Matilda makes her opening and cuts into it...the creature slowly begins to shatter and fall away into light before her blade strikes at the summoner at its core...
In horror, Jacqueline clasps her hands over her mouth.
John Dee might have been capable of invoking that creature he called 'Ifrit', but he was just an ordinary man beneath it all.
Could he survive that?
Jacqueline did not think so. She hadn't wanted him dead, but...it was possible this was the only possible end there could be.
The end he wanted.
"M-Matilda..." Jacqueline murmurs. It's not scolding, for possibly having killed him. Moreso...concern for what this might do to her. But she does not linger long. Instead, she runs for Lunata, collapsing to her knees at her side. She's unable to hold back the tears.
"L-Lunata, please be alright..." She urges.
What could she possibly do for her...? Those wounds...it'd take more than a potion to fix this. Could she do nothing?
It's only her knowledge that it would only cause more harm that prevents her from cradling Lunata's burnt, damaged form in her arms.
As it is she rummages through her bags looking for something - anything - that might be even remotely be able to help. She'd even give the bit of soul Lunata had given her, if it would help...but she was as of yet unaware of that, and even moreso how she could do that even if she did.
"Lunata, please.. We...we can't lose you...!" She whispers.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
--Shalune is trying to sit up, but it's obviously a little hard; her head is still on fire, though thankfully only in the figurative sense. Still, whenever she tries, there's a wave of nauseous vertigo and she feels the muscles in her legs give in, and it takes her a moment to hiss in surprise as the wounds left by John Doe's spears and spikes make themselves significantly known.
"--Lunie," she blurts up to Matilda, though only once she's managed to get enough werewithal to realize the mercenary captain is still on her feet as well. "Is she okay? Lunie?"
Even as she says that, she continues to cradle Dinoginos' Medium, channeling power into it in much the same was as she would her pot, or Big Shal. That much is instinctive, even if it's probably most of the cause of her fatigue right at this moment.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
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A new world in which John Dee was wrong...
That doesn't sound so bad. Everyone's voices sound very faint and almost floating, like she's got wool stuck in her ears. Lunata-- does look every bit like she'd spent it all; she can't feel the call of the Wheel anymore, and Orochi-Agito felt like it was just a useless hunk of metal as it lays by the side of the dead hunter.
"... aah..."
She holds up her arm -- half of one, given the other's flown clean off. There's... no bleeding, though. Blood doesn't course through her body anymore. In every way, the functions of life had long left her--
--and perhaps that was the saving grace as she stares towards Jacqueline and Shalune as they scoop her up.
"Sorry... I really thought... that was the end for us there..." she manages to rasp out. Speaking hurts. It doesn't feel like she's... all there...
<Pose Tracker> John Dee has posed.
John Dee crumples over. There is a dying, gasping rasp from him. He hits the ground as the blade comes free. His eyes meet Matilda's. "They all... they all end up like... like..." His lips work; they move, chapped and bloodied, trying to form the word 'me.' But the sound never escapes his lips; only a death rattle. As Matilda turns, his body falls over.
Still.
***
"Well, well, WELL."
The elf's voice is far too distant to be heard, as he stands atop the side of one of the high hills over the Bloody Vale. Ghaleon extends his hand outward, lightning crackling over it -- readying his intervention -- but then he lets the electricity crackle away to nothing. His lips curl into a smirk, that all too graceful smile that could fairly be called beautiful -- though, the deadened, purple scales that mar his face change that.
"Aren't you a surprise, hm? I haven't seen something like you before." He sighs. "Good thing that these interlopers handled it. Yes... I think... I'll pay them a visit soon."
He turns, then. They might see him from below -- a distant, dark cloaked shape on the mountainside. Before he vanishes, as if he was never there.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Even though it still feels a little out of her depth to even... look, at the issues Lunata's having, Matilda still looks when Shalune blurts out Lunie's name -- at the point at which even the one she wants to help is pointing that way, well... it feels a little ridiculous not to.
She does move toward Lunata, wincing. "I'm -- not sure it... wasn't, for you," Matilda says, quitely. Her gaze turns down toward that arm -- or, well, that lack of an arm.
She winces. She opens her mouth to speak again, trying to find something to say -- but comes up empty, moving to support Jay as Jay moves to help Lunata, even though amid the power of the Guardians she feels so lost...
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I-It's okay, Lunata, don't try to talk..." Jacqueline murmurs. "We made it...everything's fine now...E-everyone's okay..."
She isn't sure what she can do...so for now, she decides just to reassure her.
Eventually, however, her eyes drift over to John Dee. She contemplates him quietly, before glancing back to the others.
"Should we...bury him...?" She asks. No matter what he did, it didn't seem right to just...leave him here like that.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
With an effort, Shalune winces and picks herself up to her feet. That's the plan, at least, but she only manages to make it up to her knees. Still, that's enough to start 'walking' over to where Lunata awaits. It hurts to look at the waitress for a moment, her arm missing - perhaps even gone entirely, burnt up in Ifrit's flames - but then the pink-haired alchemist swallows the lump in her throat yet again, and reaches down to hug onto the girl cradled in Jacqueline's arms.
"... you did good," she mumbles. Tearstreaked, dirty, burnt and singed, her new clothes in tatters and not nearly as wearing as her old coat, she still leans down to hug onto the girl. "You did-- really good. We're all still here... we're all still safe," she adds quietly, looking to Jay and then Matilda for confirmation before she draws in a terribly shaky breath, trying to beat the rest of her tears back.
"I'm-- I'm gonna seriously pull some 'older' rank on you for a long, long time for this..." she burbles, her voice getting less distinct. Perhaps she's more ready to accept Lunata's unusual vitality, out of all of them, more able to take it in stride - or maybe she's just too tired to really think on it too strongly. "You're resting up, you hear me...?"
Jacqueline's question makes her stiffen, then look over her shoulder, lips thin. "... ... 'm still goin' for burning it all," she mumbles.