2018-11-17: Dispossession
- Log: Dispossession
- Cast: Riesenlied, Alhazred, Leon Albus, Lydia Seren, Noeline, Ethius Hesiod, Dean Stark, Maya Schrodinger, Prissa, Lily Keil, Jacqueline Barber, Avril Vent Fleur, Kahran Ramses
- Where: Northern Steppes
- Date: November 17th, 2018
- Summary: The Wayside Outreach and Caravan Kinship, aided by the Black Wolves, come together to bring a caravan of refugees to New Arctica. But more than one pair of eyes from the heavens are upon them...
============================<* Northern Steppes *>============================ The northern regions of the Elru continent are composed of broken, barren hills, their soil frozen and crusted over with rime. Little grows there, and even less lives. The monsters and wildlife of the region are notoriously fierce; a monster seeing a traveller will chase that person down for weeks if necessary, as that may be the only protein it sees in that time. The Steppes have been the dominion of the military Kingdom of Arctica since before the Day of Collapse, but in recent years their castle has been silent and unresponsive. The walls sit shattered and broken, the gate open and scored with long-dead flame.
DC: Noeline switches forms to The Fereshte Chevalier! DC: Riesenlied switches forms to Novice Heritor of the Fereshte!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The Wayside Outreach has been ardently working in the last few weeks to bring supplies and materials to the beleaguered community of New Arctica. They have dispatched workers and labourers to help construct the now-familiar pre-fabricated buildings with the aid of the Caravan Kinship, as well as undertaking the task of locating displaced refugees and helping bring the disparate little communities that have miraculously survived the multitude of disasters in Elru together.
It has been difficult, with the Tainted abound... but the little seedling of a hope of coexistence was there.
Today, the joint groups, along with members of the Black Wolves -- are escorting a considerably higher-risk caravan: there are refugees onboard, a mixture of the injured and the impoverished.
The day begins with ill portents -- a blizzard that whips arduously over them, biting down on even the thickest and warmest of coats.
The caravan's movements were delayed until the storm died down a little -- and even now, dark clouds continue to trail over them as they crest the cliff overlooking the cove where New Arctica awaited them.
The horses whinny as several of the refugees peek over. Riesenlied is inside, dressed in the traditional garments of the Fereshte; she has been devoting all her time tending to those who require the most care, whether medically or emotionally. Several children are huddled in blankets by her side.
"Just a little further," she reassures them in that empathic voice of hers. "We are nearly at New Arctica. We can take better care of you there..."
But not all eyes have been blinded by the snowy storm. Eyes are cast upon them -- as if silently judging, from the heavens...
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
There was a hint of danger, with the return of their foes to Elru. Danger yes.. but danger also represented opportunity. And new opportunities were something that the most industrious of the Quarter Knights would always exploit when they came along.
The sign of a caravan rolling along the trails towards New Arctica meant that it was time for the latest test. Smaller scale operations had been taking place ever since humanity and their allies had returned to these shores, but the presence of a more substantial force beyond the walls of their outpost meant that it was time to deploy something a bit more substantial. The fact that there were insignificant non-combatants in this caravan should provide additional incentive for increased performance from its guardians.
From inside his mobile command pod, shielded from the hiss of wind driven snow and the constant buffeting of the storm, Alhazred begins rapidly tapping several controls with one tentacle. "Phase one startup... good, good. Phase two initialization... yes, very good. It seems all is in order." The flying platform - not considerably larger than Alhazred himself - was meant more so he could focus on his work without distraction from the elements more than it was to actually protect the Quarter Knight from the cold, and it would take an astute observer to notice as it drifts silently up above the ridgeline overlooking the path the caravan travels.
Indeed, it would take an especially vigilant watcher to catch sight of it, as the side of a nearby hill of snow suddenly bulges upwards in an unnatural manner. First a massive claw erupts from the snow, slamming into the ground and sending dirt and snow flying in all directions. Then a head, heavily clad in metal armor, erupts from the snow. Bladed teeth flash in the dim light of the day, and a trio of baleful glowing eyes shine from under the heavy defensive plates.
And then another head erupts from the snow.
And a third.
Each varies slightly, but all are forged upon a fearsome mien with many similarities to a dragon. But no mighty wings grace the monster that erupts from the snows. Instead it walks upon four legs, a pair of massive claws forming a third pair of limbs that reach out towards the caravan. Its body is squat and heavily covered in armor, and the roar that comes from the twisted creature's throat causes show to fall from stones and dead trees for a fair distance in all directions. A single foot comes down, the weight of its impact causing several of the wagons to rock precariously, jarring them out of their sedate pace and sending beasts of burden rearing in panic. The monster looks down, before gazing at the rest of the caravan in anticipation.
The fused plates across its body, its unnatural twisted gait, and the incoherent, twisted rambling that bubbles from its throat show that while this creature is struck from the same material as the Metal Beasts and Demons, it is not of their ken.
It is an abomination.
Alhazred chortles as it erupts into action, and declares: "Phase three - combat initiation successful. Show me the results of your development, Ialdabaoth."
DC: Alhazred switches forms to Metal Abomination Ialdabaoth! DC: Kahran Ramses switches forms to Gebler Commander Ramses! DC: Leon Albus switches forms to The Black Wolf! DC: Dean Stark switches forms to The Daring Boy!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon is, in fact, with the other members of the Black Wolves here. He is sitting alongside Riesenlied; he is, in many ways, dressed like he often is. A suit vest and shirt, heavy trousers, and a large duster cover him -- but he has gloves, heavier boots, and a scarf wrapped around his neck. Mist hangs before his mouth, as he sits next to Riesenlied. He glances sideways at her, then nods. "Shouldn't be long."
But then there is a crash from the outside. Leon feels the ground shake, stones and dead trees rattling -- and he pokes his head out in time to see the three heads and fierce visage of the Ialdabaoth. His eyes widen, then his jaw sets. He looks back at Riese.
"It's a Metal Beast," he says. "A huge one. We'll need to dispatch it fast."
Leon jumps out of the caravan and hits the ground, then; he looks up, eyes narrowing, and then presses a button on his belt. A trio of flattened triangles fly off -- and panels unfurl, until they form fins, floating in the air next to him. He draws his shotgun from the holster at the same time, then snaps the weapon to the side; the barrels fold back, and the blade telescopes out.
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Leon Albus with Preparations! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Preparations for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
EARLIER TODAY
"ACHOOO!" Hammer sneezes. "BRooooooo!"
Fei looks over. "What's up, man?"
"I think I'm siiiiiick," Hammer says. "Can I get some soup, bro?"
Fei sweats faintly. "Er, well..We were going to be doing a supply run."
"BROOOCHOO!"
Fei sweats more. "Ah, but... you are our technician and Doc is...not around today so...I guess I could...get you some soup? All I'd be doing is lifting stuff anyway--
"Yeah Bro...." Hammer sniffs. "Please take care of me today. ACHOOO! I work so hard I just need to get over this c...c...BROOCHOO!"
NOW
So Lydia is helping out with Wayside Outreach and the like. There's a lot of overlap with the Black Wolves which is a little awkward for Lydia but her background also has a lot of overlap with the Black Wolves so it's nothing really new here. She is pulling one handed a large cart filled with too many supplies for her to be pulling around with one arm but she's still managing to do it thanks to the power of NANOMACHINES which can, of course, do everything except eliminate I-Frames or tell you how to use them properly. Her mind is a little distracted thanks to learning that AVRIL was the QUEEN OF THE VERUNI APPARENTLY and MAY BE WHY HER PEOPLE ARE BEING SENT TO THE SLAVE MINES. She's not entirely sure, because Avril seems a little weird to be a fascist tyrant queen which has, alongside personal growth in not leaping to conclusions quite as hard, encouraged Lydia to not go completely ballistic on her but it's still on her mind.
"Prissa," Lydia says to her cart passenger (likely riding on top of supplies as well for that matter). "Do you ever feel, like, out of your depth." Pause. "I mean like the metaphorical depth of totally being able to handle everything versus kind of drowning in everything. That sort of thing."
And then there's an abomination.
Lydia blinks a few times. "Like that. That's an out of depth thing." Lydia says before placing her hand on her medium and--
--light bends around Prissa, rendering her INVISIBLE?!
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Prissa with Hide and Seek! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Prissa takes a solid hit from Lydia Seren's Hide and Seek for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Prissa!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has taken on much of the work in organizing the Wayside Outreach over the last couple of weeks. Given that she's less recognizable as a Metal Demon than Riesenlied is, she's been taking the opportunity to try to have a greater hand in the helping of New Arctica - not to mention, she's a little more able to put people at ease given her own memories of the place and the nostalgia she can summon up. Not that that counts for a great deal - the people are wounded, their spirits low - but she made a promise to try.
She's bundled up against the snow and wearing a thick coat, having insisted on being one of the people stationed outside the wagon to better keep watch. This is the area in which she 'grew up', after all, and even if she's not as good at navigating around Elru as Riesenlied is, she's more than capable and seasoned enough to act as a guard for the caravan, occasionally ranging ahead a little to watch for anything that might be in front of them.
Besides... it gives her something to do, other than wait. Their return to Elru has meant a great deal - reconnections, resolve, newfound respect - but also a lot of pain, with no end in sight. Between Riesenlied's deterioration and Noeline's own regrets over Arctica, her nerves are feeling significantly frayed as of late, and the chance to burn off some energy on keeping some refugees safe is welcome.
Noeline could normally be described as a 'vigilant watcher', being a Metal Demon made exclusively for that purpose - but her worries are working against her at present, and she's already chalked up the quiet foreboding in the back of her mind to the general atmosphere of Elru and the trials they've gone through. It's only when that sensation abruptly builds to a dangerous certainty that she manages to whirl on her feet - and by then, it's much too late as the roar rips across the open air towards them.
In the back of her mind, something recoils and rebels, and she finds her immense sword already in her hands, gripped so tightly it threatens to draw blood from her palm. The beasts gazing hungrily down at them are twisted and broken in a way that can only mean one thing - Alhazred has found them.
There's no time to dwell on that thought further, for better or worse. "--wagons! Form a defensive circle! Keep the people safe, no matter what! Do not let yourself get separated in the blizzard!" she orders, doing her best to keep her voice sharp and the quaver in it inaudible. For a moment, her free hand steals across, covering a ring that sits on one finger; she concentrates on it as if it might grant her some kind of strength... and perhaps it does, just a little. "Riese," she mumbles to it, then looks sharply upwards at their foe.
Heaving out a breath, she plants the edge of her sword - a white slab of metal more or less her own size - and drags it forwards through the snow, levering it upwards to send a sheet of snow in the direction of the Metal beast. Absolutely harmless - but more to try to get their attention rather than anything.
GS: Noeline has spent 1 Combo on Reload, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Noeline has attacked Riesenlied with When I'm With You...! GS: Noeline has gained 2 Combo! GS: Noeline has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Noeline's When I'm With You... for 0 hit points! GS: Reload! Riesenlied gains 15 extra FP from Noeline!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
SOMEWHERE AMONG THE CARAVANS
Ethius has requested to be part of this particular transfer, after overhearing from Riesenlied about her present activities upon Elru. To him, this was a red flag for prospective problems. Elru is a happening part of the globe for many reasons, and it is not just limited to the struggle to both reach it and find a stable enough place of operation in which to commence the search for the Photosphere.
It is a humanitarian crisis for the number of people that still yet survive against the roving Metal Beast patrols and the possibility of Veruni aggression further breathing down their necks. There is much to be done, and everyone is being pushed to the brink to make everything come together when the environs alone are a challenge that stands to be insurmountable.
"Miss Jay," Ethius speaks in one such cabin with the head of the Caravan Kinship. As always, he sounds and seems detached from much of what's going on, as though he thinks he might be a neutral observer to the totality of existence around him and not a direct participant. "While I have no concerns as regards the present arrangements..."
That's good. He can be kind of fussy about security concerns, but that wording...
"We must discuss Miss Riesenlied herself." Ethius speaks. He believes he is speaking from a place of confidence and security, but unfortunately... he is not aware of a last-minute change in caravan seating. A certain someone might be able to catch wind...
"You have seen the condition she is in, Miss Jay. Her resolve is admirable. Her kindness to others without hesitation or discrimination..." He doesn't finish the sentence. A hand comes up to his forehead. What was he going to finish that sentence with? "...We have borne witness to several challenges resulting from her nature. There is no downplaying the severity of what we will soon encounter. I had to maintain the utmost discretion in her presence for a reason."
...
"...After our present round trip concludes, Miss Jay, I believe it urgent to the success of the operation we see her and her charges safely to Ignas. We cannot afford the same mistakes that saw to the loss of the Schturd--"
He stops talking, looking up sharply. He's only a fraction of a second too late to make good on his well-attuned sense for something being amiss, as snow erupts from his peripheral vision. "We're under at--"
More snow sprays as if to say 'yes, yes, we get it, duhhh.' He ducks his head as the wagons rattle, saving him from bonking his head again (for once) as Noeline's commands for the wagons are rapidly shouted and communicated between the lot of them. Ethius draws his quarterstaff as he sizes up the creature that Should Not Be with more calm than a mortal man should be able to muster given its dimensions and relative proximity.
The Riesenlied situation, as he seems to believe there is one, will have to await further discussion for eventual resolution later.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Yesterday, several Veruni addressed Avril as Her Majesty. At first, Dean had thought that it'd been a mistake, a misunderstanding, or something like that. But then Lydia had asked Avril, 'You're the Veruni Queen?' And then it had struck Dean that this was serious, that everything was serious. Avril had been quite overwhelmed by it all. Honestly, so is Dean. To him, Avril is still Avril, but... a lot of things are starting to make sense? Like why there are people after her, but not in a bad kind of way. But other things totally *don't* make sense, like, Avril... doesn't seem like a Veruni at all?? And those Veruni jerks from Mirapulse didn't seem to recognize her, and Kaguya never said anything about it either. So maybe it *is* a case of mistaken identity after all?
Either way, it's not something that can be resolved just by thinking about it. So Dean's here with the transport, coat and scarf wrapped tight against the blizzard snow and winds, not far from where Riesenlied and the children are, to help defend it against any incoming monster attacks. That means when a giant three-headed Metal Beast emerges from the snow, and Leon calls everyone's attention to it, Dean summons his paired ARMs to hand.
"Yeah, there's no way we can let that thing get close," he says to Leon. While Noeline calls out orders, Dean pulls out his copy Sword Medium and channels a speed-enhancing spell to lighten his body. He'll need that extra speed edge with all this snow in the way.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Dean Stark with Quicken Edge! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Dean Stark takes a solid hit from Dean Stark's Quicken Edge for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Dean Stark!
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The pounding blizzard outside, the bustle of refugees and pack animals inside... there's a lot of noise to filter out while trying to keep a keen watch for trouble. Maya was never a particularly watchful sort. Adding injury to that insult, she has charitably been running at something around 1/2 efficiency ever since getting volleyball-spiked off of a boat into the ocean by one of the so-called Demon King's minions. What I'm getting at here is that she isn't nearly enough of an astute observer to notice the nearly-silent pod hovering somewhere above the cave everyone is sheltering in.
It is the shaking of the ground and the horrendous noise from outside that stirs the Drifter to action. She stands quickly, looking once again like a knight from some fantasy story--or from Lunar, I guess, where such things are still commonplace. "One big one, is it? Let's make sure it doesn't make it back to tell anyone about us."
Bold words quickly fall flat by the time Maya yanks the gleaming blue sword from its place at her side and darts outside, hot on the tails of the other members of the Outreach coming to meet this twisted horror. Maya looks up, lamely, at the multi-headed chimera of metal and materials unknown and then back down at her sword. She pauses, and then immediately baseball-pitches a fistful of blue-white magical force at Ialdabaoth with her free hand. It's more bright and annoying than it is truly dangerous, but then, magic knights -are- splitting their stat growth two ways.
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Alhazred with Luminiera Blessing - Chevalier Oath! GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action. GS: Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Maya Schrodinger's Luminiera Blessing - Chevalier Oath for 23 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Maya Schrodinger has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied doesn't particularly need to see to know something's gone wrong -- her pupils shrink a little at the first noise of the explosive burst of dirt and snow; a child whimpers slowly and curls into her, and she pushes herself to sound strong as she strokes her hair.
She thinks about Lydia outside with Prissa for a moment, but knows she'll be able to take care of herself and the caravan.
"It's okay... it'll be okay," Riesenlied whispers. There's a knot in her stomach. Her throat is burning...
That fear is back again.
She blinks a bit as she hears Ethius speak up. Miss Jay, he speaks up. She tilts her head and hears him speak.
You have seen the condition she is in...
Her face falls, pupils shrinking a little. Was she a...
"You've feared this for a while," Nasrin mutters rather matter-of-factly. She sounds deeply tired. "Falling behind. You were scared when the Black Wolves chose their own ship too. Falling further and further behind... Becoming a..."
She leans against the little Hyadean.
Leon tells her what it is -- a Metal Beast. A pang of anxiety wells further around her. Why was something still bothering her so? She forces herself out, unsteadily, towards the back of the caravan and exits. She doesn't particularly look fit for combat; evident even before the Memorial Sanctuary, the toll of Elru has become extremely visible to her.
She turns to the refugees. "I will not let any harm come to any of you. I promise you that. Upon this Medium that has been left upon me..."
The Medium, again. She's so hung up upon it...
She senses a soft ebbing from those rings that she made for her and Noeline. She hears Noeline's voice. She feels the quaver in it. But she's brave, and leaping to action already. She doesn't want to be a further burden...
She doesn't want to become a...
"Liability."
GS: Riesenlied has spent 1 Combo on Reload, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with ...Do I... Hold You Back?! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa's main contribution to this effort thus far was that she got into a farrier's forge, started it up, and knocked out a baker's dozen of respectable short-swords, which she distributed. She seems a little offbeat from the entire charitable exercise thing, but that might just be "her way."
Prissa is on top of the heap of supplies to keep a lookout, which means she sees -
"What is THAT!!?? Did someone summon it??" Prissa exclaims in dismay, but the shape, no, she thinks, it's wrong, but, IS it? The beasts are rearing and Prissa curls her lip a little at the weakness of what is obviously a meat animal being used to pull carts. But they didn't have anything better to use, so she can't blame them.
She raises a hand to point towards it in case Lydia missed it, because she seems to be talking philosophy, when she is suddenly and abruptly rendered invisible.
There is silence in the space of Prissa for about five seconds.
Then the crates rattle and there is a loud THUMP near Lydia followed by some approximate rustling. Thin air speaks with Prissa's voice: "You are doing this so I can stab its back, aren't you. Eh?" Thin air gently shoves Lydia around the shoulder. "I'll do it, but I get first pick of what's in it. Alright??"
Prissa's voice says about six yards away, "Don't talk to me too much!"
Prissa remains invisible.
Thin air produces a snatch of half-muttered folkish song: "Eh dra settma uv Spira eh dra myht uv Gagazet mejac y pnyja meddma nuhcu frus fa ymm ytsena..."
It takes Prissa some time to screw up her courage, even from the creature's six, enough to dive in and shove a blade similar in pattern but higher in quality than what she'd given to the others. Her aim is the side of the creature's leg - to try and use the bursting shock of a surprise attack to disable the limb.
And then run out into the snow.
GS: Prissa has attacked Alhazred with Xiphos - Coming Ashore With A Crunch! GS: Prissa has completed her action. GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Prissa's Xiphos - Coming Ashore With A Crunch for 63 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Alhazred!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Out here in the cold, Lily is dressed similarly to Leon. ...Save that she seems to pay less attention to the cold. A long, heavy coat over everything, but under that a dress shirt, buttoned most of the way up, long dark trousers, boots underneath. She doesn't have a scarf on; instead, the strange markings she bears are visible at her clavicle, at the base of her neck and disappearing into clothing. ...She doesn't wear gloves for the moment, though her breath, too, mists.
Most of Lily's time in New Arctica--when she can get there, while her plans keep her farther-ranging--has been spent training volunteers in basic medical techniques, increasing the amount of useful hands they have for the inevitable wounded. ...Lily has no illusions that they will be safe indefinitely.
Accordingly, Lily has been near those who need the most care herself, and happens to be checking someone's heartbeat when she hears--
...The sounds of something happening. The roar.
"Whatever you do," Lily says, "Don't go out into the open. Stay here, and stay down until we give you the signal otherwise. No matter what you hear."
That delivered, Lily looks to Riesenlied--and then steps outside. Dog hops down with her, delivering a fierce bark towards the direction of the monster, while the dark-haired sorceress steps forward, making herself an easy target, with no cover.
One hand extends, and her markings gleam violet as power crackles about her hand, forming into a greatsword-shaped rent in existence, black only insofar as it has no color. It hurts the eye to look at.
"...I don't know what you are," she says simply. It might seem that this should come with a followup... But it doesn't.
She just sets the 'sword' before her, holding it with both hands in a ready stance.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Lily Keil with Dark Charge! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Dark Charge for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline had been coordinating with Riesenlied to ensure that the people of New Arctica were well taken care of. They were the most at threat, standing as they were at the enemy's doorstep with Drifters and other such folk flooding in.
She had elected to come with this latest caravan and, as it turns out, someone else had wanted to come along, as well. She had just finished delivering a round of warming draughts, to help keep the refugees safe and warm even in these chilly temperatures, when he decided to speak to her.
Specifically, about Riesenlied, her condition, and the matter of seeing her to Ignas. She's quiet as he speaks, not wanting to interrupt.
"Ethius, I-" She begins, but then the wagon shakes as something erupts from the snows nearby. Jacqueline is jarred from her seated position and sent crashing to the ground. She doesn't stay there long, though - with a wince she hauls herself to her feet and pops her head out briefly. The sight of the monstrosity before them elicits a gasp.
"By the Guardians...what have they been doing...?" She whispers to herself. It was a Metal creature of some capacity, that was obvious by the way it looked...but it had been twisted and corrupted into something unspeakably awful.
"Everyone, stay low and try to stay calm! We will keep you safe!" Jacqueline shouts over the din, after taking a second to recover. She leaps from the wagon and darts to the side, away from it, using a snowbank as cover as she draws a bottle from her bags and hurls it straight toward one of the creature's many mouths.
The lavendar liquid should, in theory, drain some of its strength...
In theory.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Alhazred with Sapping Solution! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Is it a mistake? Or is it real?
Tucked into the back of one of the caravan carts, Avril stares down at the surface of the Sea Medium, as if it could produce some answers for her. As always its surface catchs the light but reveals nothing but the distorted fragmented reflection of her own face.
'Overwhelmed' doesn't even start to cut to the heart of it, after what she had encountered and been forced to face down the other day. Is she truly...?
But actions are better than the psychic equivalent of chasing her own tail. Better she assist than retreat into rumination. So she'd agreed, shortly after their retreat from the temple, to assist in transporting the refugees they'd found back north.
Enough time has been spent chasing after her own quest -- people are in danger.
And the fate of the world, soon, will hang more precariously in the balance than it has thus to date.
Something rumbles, not far from here. She can feel it even where she stands in the caravan.
It's followed by the roar.
And the shouts.
Sliding the Medium into one of her coat pockets -- like Dean, she's bundled up against the weather, her only concession to apparent dress preferences the long loose skirt she wears -- she slips off the back of the cart and runs, at first unsteadily, through the snow.
A burst of magic -- a cousin to Ether, one that Lily in particular might be familiar with by now -- and her passage is eased; she has become one with the drifts, as fleet as the snow in the wind.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Frost Hollow! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Frost Hollow for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Sapping Solution for 22 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Alhazred! GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's ...Do I... Hold You Back? for 0 hit points! GS: Reload! Noeline gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
The howling winds and blowing snows are something of a staple of Elru, and the late autumn storms are some of the worst. The blizzard provides sufficient concealment from visual detection that it is almost impossible to detect an observer from a distance... unless possessing the advanced technology the Quarter Knight Alhazred is employing.
Or something very much like it.
"Heat signals are scattering," Myyah observes, leaning in toward the display in an unconscious attempt to discern the movements of the patterns far below. The woman is seated in the cockpit of the command Gear Wyvern, or more specifically seated upon the lap of her commanding officer, who is seated in the command Gear Wyvern.
Ramses, for his part, is not watching the monitor; he is instead watching the subtle play of the screen's pale green light against the tones of the woman's chin. It is her chin, Ramses thinks, that is the best part of her features. Strong, feminine, wit the graceful slope of a waxing moon. Although her eyes...
"Kahr," Myyah says, snapping the man out of his reverie; he glances at the screen, seeing with the ease of long experience at war. A group spreading out to deal with an attack, shielding those fleeing from assault. Preparing to fight, and battle, against a superior force. The big man's eyes narrow, flickers of memory sifting through his mind's eye. Of standing, helpless, as a creature birthed from the maw of an angry, vengeful god lay waste to those he was sworn to protect. Of a moment not so very long ago, not so very far from here.
"Kahr."
Ramses shifts his position from under Myyah, savouring the feel of her as he slips past her toward the front of the cockpit, as she slides down into the seat beside him. His fingers work against the wall, finding and triggering the forward hatch; a blast of hoary air and frost howl through the opening, and the big man moves to the lip.
Behind him, he hears Myyah sigh; a long-suffering, all-to-knowing sigh. "Just... why," she asks.
He turns and smiles, the wind whipping at his hair. "I changed my mind," he answers. "It's definitely your lips."
'MOMENTS LATER'
Lily and Avril will undoubtedly feel it first - a mounting sense of dread upon their senses, a primal surge of fear that accompanies the sudden arrival of a predator, stalking in the shadows, savouring its hunger. Others may sense it next, a sheer swelling sense of power, approaching from behind the caravan, where the civilians are fleeing. The snows and wind make it difficult to discern, but the implication is clear - another monster soon arriving? It grows steadily closer, and closer, and then a shadow moves forward into the circle of defenders, resolving into a tall man with pale hair, dressed in a fine soldier's uniform that only a few will recognize.
"Hello," Kahran Ramses says, inclining his head politely. He tugs his right glove down with the fingers of his left hand, then folds his arms behind his back. "Is this an inopportune moment?"
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
The metal abomination is something that has not been seen before. It rumbles forward on its four legs, more than eager to come to grips with the creatures that are guarding this caravan. The assessment of it being a Metal Beast might be born out by its general size, shape, and ferocity - but as it lumbers forwards, the thing can be heard TALKING. It is a rambling, senseless stream of words that come from all three heads, unsettling nonsense that might mean something... or nothing. "The second fourth tenth thirteenth prime seventh hello proceed strike five..." "Evaluating drive thirty nine bring begin twice exchange SEETHE...!" "-... .. .-. -.. -.-- ....... -... .. .-. -.. -.-- ....... -.-. --- -- . ....... .... --- -- . ....... - --- ....... -- . ....... -. --- .--"
Many of the Drifters guarding the caravan are taking the brief pause in the creature's activity as an opportunity to prepare themselves for the fight to come. Others are more willing to go on the offensive - as Maya hurls a ball of magic towards the monster, one of the heads comes around, its maw gaping wide as it just EATS the ball in a single gulp. A spark of blue flame puffs out of its maw, and it looks at her for a moment before opening its maw to bellow soundlessly at her. A bellow that gets louder as the head extends outwards, segments expanding from the body as it rushes straight towards Maya to try and bite at her with bone crunching force!
Prissa comes racing in, driving her weapon towards one of the abomination's legs. Ialdabaoth takes the blow without looking - although she can feel her blade penetrating, the armor surrounding the monster is considerable, and resistant to surface impacts. It doesn't even turn around as it lifts the leg she had struck up and kicks backwards, very much like a dog trying to flick away an annoying burr that had stuck to its paw. Jacqueline tosses her concoction onto the armored monster, and it splashes everywhere - the abomination shaking itself in annoyance and trying to cleanse itself of the substance. One of the heads suddenly spins around, rotating about under the other two in a manner that definitely DOES NOT LOOK LIKE IT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE and tries to slam into her with part of its bulk. The three heads rear back, and the creature suddenly begins inhaling.
In fact, several ports along its side snap open, the roar of wind being pulled into them still barely audible over the driving snow. But there is certainly a purpose to this - one that becomes apparent as Ialdabaoth's chest begins to glow, tiny beams of light coming from within the armor on its chest.
And then all three heads come down and unleash a wave of flame as they sweep across the front of the caravan. The wooden wagons are high enough that they are not engulfed, but it is a close thing.
"No sense in harming potential research subjects," Alhazred muses from back in his command pod. "At least not unless we can extract some useful data from such an act."
GS: Alhazred has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Sawtooth Snap! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has attacked Prissa with Kick Off! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Coiled Strike! GS: Alhazred has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Alhazred has attacked Riesenlied with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has attacked Noeline with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has attacked Lydia Seren with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has attacked Leon Albus with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has attacked Kahran Ramses with Look - It Breathes Fire! GS: Alhazred has completed his action. GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Look - It Breathes Fire for 95 hit points! GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Look - It Breathes Fire for 103 hit points! GS: Prissa takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Kick Off for 96 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Look - It Breathes Fire for 57 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Alhazred! GS: Leon Albus critically Guards a hit from Alhazred's Look - It Breathes Fire for 17 hit points! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from Alhazred's Coiled Strike for 21 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo! GS: Noeline has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Noeline completely evades Look - It Breathes Fire from Alhazred!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Look - It Breathes Fire for 85 hit points! GS: Kahran Ramses takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Look - It Breathes Fire for 43 hit points! GS: Maya Schrodinger takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Sawtooth Snap for 114 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Riese! Be careful!" Leon calls out, looking over his shoulder, and back to her as she steps out. "This could be dangerous, and--"
There isn't time to say more. The Ialdabaoth has three heads, and those breathe out a vicious wave of fire. It comes screaming across the ground; a snowbank in front of Leon flash-melts into steam in an instant, but then crashes into a shimmering barrier of green light. The triangle-shaped barrier is suspended between the trio of long, elegantly-shaped fins that hold it at bay.
Leon lets out a nervous breath, as the fire breaks away from the raid funnels' barriers -- and the three drones detach, then fly up. However, a voice catches his ears.
'Is this an inopportune moment?'
It rushes to mind; a memory of Gebler intervention over a year ago, in the war with Kislev. A similar voice, distorted by speaker, heard on the front line -- as a golden Gear rained a few blasts down into fleeing Kislevi infantry. Leon's eyes widen, as he turns to look at the silver-haired soldier in that familiar uniform. His eyes widen.
Then, they narrow. "I'll handle him," he tells them. "Miss Barber, Noeline, please see to it that Riesenlied is safe!"
He turns towards Ramses, then, and swings up the Argent Divider. The blade telescopes back into the weapon, as shotgun barrels snap into place. The square-shaped top barrel glimmers, before a bright teal-white blast of light explodes from the barrel and hurtles for Ramses.
"Terribly so, I'm afraid. You don't take rainchecks, I suspect," he answers.
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Kahran Ramses with Code.17 ZULFIQAR! GS: Leon Albus has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Kahran Ramses has gained 1 Combo! GS: Leon Albus has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Kahran Ramses completely evades Code.17 ZULFIQAR from Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied feels Lily faintly for a moment, and Dog as well; she wants to reach out to them-- then they're gone for a moment, that darkness ebbing for a moment as it bristles against her mind.
She flits towards Jacqueline as she starts calling for calm -- the alchemist can see her shocked expression for a moment. Had she overheard? She-- peels away, as there are more important and pressing things to do.
"Do I have no place here...?" asks the little Hyadean as she pulls her head up.
Riesenlied steps out along with Avril as that burst of energy whelms around her; magic. Medium. The Medium... why--
She can notice something off and unusual from a distance -- that man with the pale hair. The uniform is... faintly familiar... Garlyle...?
A pause, as she yelps for a moment when ports alongisde the creature open and bursts of flame ensconce around them.
Speaking of interesting data, something in Alhazred's sensors read interestingly. That which scans the presence of the Ley is reacting...
... as Riesenlied holds the Medium up and summons a faint veil of the Leyline that surrounds the wagons and helps divert some of the fire. It's not enough -- Ialdabaoth's flames lick away and singe at her capelet, and more than that...
The very Ley she summons appears to be scathing her too.
She pushes forward as she cups her mouth, trembling. She closes her eyes and clutches that Medium closer to her--
And the veil pushes forward; there is, definitively sorcery at work, even as Riesenlied struggles to contain it and stop from being burnt further.
"Noeline... everyone..."
She winces, withering -- and that veil suddenly storms forward as it shapes into something akin to a lance of positive energy.
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Alhazred with Sterling Sea! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Sterling Sea for 134 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Riesenlied. Jacqueline's eyes meet hers for a brief moment, before everything goes wrong...but soon, the creature is upon them.
And
...It talks?? Jacqueline stares blankly at it. Horror is evident on her face. The fact that it is even emotely capable of speech is...disturbing, even if it isn't anything she can understand.
From the way it reacts, Jacqueline has to assume that her potion had some effect. She moves through what she assumes should be a blind spot, trying to reposition herself before it can figure out where she is...when suddenly, the head rotates in a manner that doesn't look...biologically possible, staring right at her.
Jacqueline yelps as it tries to slam into her and brings her left hand up quickly. In response a pillar of earth emerges from the ground, coming up just as it slams down toward her to give it a good, hard, smack on the chin aided by the creature's own momentum.
Still, the sheer shockwave sends her flying back, crashing into the snow. She pulls her ironcloth cloak tightly around her as she hauls herself to her feet.
"What...or who...are you?" She asks, on the off-chance that it can understand and respond to her. It's response, as it happens, is to breath fire all over the field. It doesn't reach her, but for a brief, frightening moment it seems as if the wagons catch.
Fortunately, they don't. But unfortunately, they're not alone - it seems like someone else has arrived with ill intent. Leon tasks her with looking after Riesenlied, and Jacqueline nods.
"I'll try!" She replies, looking back.
"Three heads, capable of rotation and independent speech...the ability to take in air and use it to breathe fire..." She mutters to herself, trying to study the creature. The ports seemed a viable target. She begins to consider a plan of approach.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Alhazred with Pillar Crash! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren's head spins as Ramses appears. She blinks at him in quiet disbelief before she looks towards the uniform. Her fingers curl inward to a fist. "You... You're with Gebler aren't you? Do you...do you know him? The man who did this to--"
She ends up distracted at a terrible moment because fire is unleashed upon her and she is caught by the flame. "Gahhh!!" Lydia says. "Not...again....! Dammit!!!"
Luckily this time she is able to hit the ground and roll it out, standing herself back up. Her arm has been burnt down to the bone, but not just any kind of bone. A silvery metallic sheen surrounds it, signifying that it may be artificial. Her hand seems to be in the process of gradually regenerating itself. "Hate fire..." She exhales, looking one more time at Kahran.
It may be her only chance to finally quiz this guy on who did this to her but--
--but the monster has to come first. It doesn't seem like it intends to harm the caravan directly but she doubts that'll last.
"This first..."
Prissa tells her to not talk to her so Lydia... does not! Instead her arm shifts and twists into several multi pronged drill like shapes which she attempts to stab right into the Metal Demon Beast, even going so far as to run up to do this.
She has to protect what she's got, she reasons, before she can worry about making new acquisitions. Standard mercantile practice. It hasn't failed her yet.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Alhazred with Reshape Riot! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Pillar Crash for 127 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Lydia Seren's Reshape Riot for 26 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean catches sight of Avril as she moves out of the caravan too and gives her a firm nod and friendly smile. "Let's do this like we always do!" he calls to her as she calls upon her own Medium for speed. "This thing won't hurt anyone as long as everyone works together to take it down!"
Another creature approaches from the rear, however. Dean, not as magically keen as some others present, doesn't notice until it's nearly upon them--but then he turns and sees... a regular human? But then Leon, after calling for Jay and Noeline to take care of Riese, attacks him. So... not a regular human?!
Either way, Dean nods to Leon, trusting him to handle this mysterious guy, and starts charging for the Metal Beast, his steps among the snow lightened so that he's practically sliding over it. That helps when the creature breathes fire on everyone in reach; Dean's fast enough to avoid a direct hit, instead just getting struck on one arm. He pats his coat quickly against the snow to put out the flames and prevent the burns from getting worse. Then he brings his Medium up, calling upon the water ley hex beneath his feet.
"How's about you cool off?!" he calls, just before summoning a small iceberg to smash into the massive creature.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Alhazred with Elemental Crush! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius has to take a moment to consider his approach, as Jay all but throws herself off into action. It's when he sees another silhouette leap out into the blinding, blistering blizzard that now also houses a great abomination...
His eyes narrow. A part of him recognizes that in most circumstances... something about this should be left alone, that matters can and will transpire as they will. As it so happens, so deeply intertwined with an urgent matter as regards Filgaia and its...
And its... well, he has no time to consider why the completed sentence seems to ring so strongly, as he disembarks the part of the caravan he rides on. The monstrous, babbling experiment is poised to bathe them all in flame.
Ethius has to get closer, and the way the heads twist and turn in ways they shouldn't, a predicted 'safe' route of approach proves not to be, and he has to hurl himself to the icy snow to avoid being incinerated to ash on the spot. He is subject to excruciatingly hot temperatures from where he lies against the ground until Ialdabaoth's flames pass overhead.
The man with the half-obscured face sucks in breath to fight back against the simultaneous numbing and stinging as the ice and snow around him turns to frigid, muddy water that is its own set of challenges. He fights back the agonizing burning feeling from his back as he watches Riese utilize the Medium that appears to grievously injure her so every time she calls upon it.
He stabs his quarterstaff into the wet, muddy earth that will soon be overtaken by more snow to fill the gap as he fights to stand from being taken unawares by the full range of motion afforded by the abomination's heads - something he recognizes he normally wouldn't be.
"Miss Jay," he says, catching up to her, "what... or who it is..."
He extends his free hand in a flittering of gesticulations as he quietly but hastily chants through the appropriate syllables instead of finishing the sentence, lights casting off of him as he completes the Symbological ritual to fling a volume of fine, choking dust across the air into one of the heads to try and suffocate its ability to breathe any more flame.
"...Is something that does not belong here," okay now he finishes that sentence.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Alhazred with Fine Dust! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Dean Stark's Elemental Crush for 71 hit points! GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Dean Stark! GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Fine Dust for 20 hit points! GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Alhazred! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is not blessed with a particularly empathic nature, nor is she seated inside the wagons - as such, she misses Ethius' discussion with Jacqueline, and perhaps that's for the best given the way in which she would likely to respond to it. What she can pick up, ever so dimly through their link, is Riesenlied's hesitance and fear... and the feel of it turns her stomach just as much as the sight of the Metal Beast in front of her unhinging its jaw.
The exact 'why' of it isn't something she's well equipped enough to pick out from feelings alone - but she can at least respond to it in the only way she knows how, pouring her support into that link. It might be raw affection, but she can at least hope it's a sufficient answer for the time being.
"Watch your backs! Aim for a rout! All we have to do is get clear!" she commands back in the physical world, sucking out a breath as she catches Leon's warning with a glance of recognition. "It is maddened - hopefully, it will still keep its instincts! Sorcery, where possible--" is about as far as she gets before she winces hard at the sudden mess of babbling voices and dialects and languages that emerge from the creature. An angry bile rises in her throat; she can't claim to know anything for sure about the creature in front of her, but she remembers being a terrified neonate - remembers the whispered rumours in the Photosphere corridors. The creature in front of them is patchwork in every way possible.
"You monster," she hisses to herself under her breath. "How many died-- no, I'll bet you kept them alive just for this." That rising anger drives her forwards, aiming to close distance with the creature as soon as possible. The longer she can keep it occupied, the better - and when it turns towards her with the telltale tang of rising energy in the air, she finds herself instinctively driving down to the ground in a long slide, using the snowy ground to her advantage.
That turns out to be wise; she slips straight under the fire, insulated against it, and manages to lever her blade to shove herself back up to a stumbling run in its wake. Behind her she can sense the triggering of the Medium of Life and the searing flame that surely accompanies it. For a moment, she screws her eyes shut - but the most important thing right now seems to be to trust that Riesenlied knows her limits, and Noeline lets the wave of energy pick her up and propel her towards the beast.
Her own sword abruptly flares into life, edged with the sorcery of Duras Drum. Out here in Elru, the spark of power she's learnt to use gutters faintly - but hopefully it might still be enough to dissuade the creature when combined with a rising, crushing blow.
GS: Noeline has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Noeline has attacked Alhazred with Black Velvet! GS: Noeline has gained 1 Combo! GS: Noeline has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
There's an unhealthy, unpleasant pause as realisation dawns on Maya that her borrowed suite of powers are, perhaps, starting to come up short. It's sometime around when Ialdabaoth pre-empts her formless conjuration by chowing down on it before it can strike that the weight in the pit of her stomach grows heavier still. The tip of the girl's sword wavers unsteadily, which is not what I would call a good combat stance. By the time all three of the misshapen creature's heads begin to babble a confusing jumble of words, a dictionary reading in reverse on a stretched casette tape, she has started to move again but it's rather late.
"Miss Barber, Noeline, please see to it that Riesenlied is safe!" yells Leon, from somewhere out of earshot, which causes Maya to turn her head quickly and briefly notice the Black Wolves' leader squaring off against an unfamiliar and devastatingly handsome uniformed newcomer.
In turn, she misses her chance to raise her shield or dive for safety as Ialdabaoth spasms--twists, thrashes, striking out at angles that make one's bones ache to consider. The blonde knight has time only to tuck one arm in such that those slavering, alien jaws sandwich her between her own shield as they close around her. Which is a better fate than getting bitten clean in half, to be fair.
"Might be a good idea to take Riesenlied and get the hell out of here!" Maya yells with what I'm going to call surprising clarity, for someone in such a position. Being hefted between something's mouth like a snack is definitely bad tactics.
On the other hand, it does solve the problem of 'how to approach'. Maya grits her teeth and a spark shines in her eyes, though this is no devil-may-care grin-and-bear-it kind of a moment. "Not sure I'm the one you gotta worry about, sparky, but since you're that keen on playing..."
She brandishes her sword, though there ain't much room to swing it, and lashes out at one of Ialdabaoth's eyes--if it has eyes--with a well-practiced cutting arc.
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Alhazred with Seven Star Sword - Ophan Form! GS: Maya Schrodinger has gained 1 Combo! GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa did not run away far enough but she was facing the right direction to -
Look at it! Look at the cinematic excellence of thin air being kicked! And three seconds later, some snow crunches! A few numbers may have floated in the air - Veruni propaganda no doubt.
This has advantages. She's not ignited. She pushes herself out of the snowbank and looks towards the flame. She cannot take the time to worry too much.
Instead, she...
Well, there was probably some dramatic and stylish action here. Perhaps even sexy action or something like erotic horror action. We will all never know, as a society, because Prissa... is invisible.
Until abruptly someone grasps Lydia's right arm and starts striking and scraping something along her armblade!
"It's me," Prissa reports. "Are you okay? I'm going to get you able to cut the armpit hair of a god, just don't wiggle for - just three more strokes -"
ONE
TWO
THREE!
GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred takes a solid hit from Noeline's Black Velvet for 215 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Noeline! GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Maya Schrodinger's Seven Star Sword - Ophan Form for 125 hit points! GS: Prissa has attacked Lydia Seren with Sharpener Stick! GS: Prissa has gained 2 Combo! GS: Prissa has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily feels the approach of something fearsome, first--stalking, searching, and her gaze shifts from the creature before them towards its source. Only her golden eyes move much first, then she turns towards it. Power, from the rear--with the fleeing. Whatever is there, the shadow approaches, and--
...Lily spots that uniform and goes completely still for an instant, Ether blade still crackling in her hands. She recognizes it, of course. She does not answer, immediately.
Or rather, her answer is a pulse of Ether, a power barely controlled as she has to rein in her anger. ...In the process, the flames rocket behind her, not at her; she doesn't have much more to give to the monster now. The memory comes...
A golden Gear, yes. But a figure at the palace in Bledavik, too. Lily's eyes narrow where Leon's widen.
"...Not alone," Lily tells Leon. "I'm with you."
She calls over her shoulder, "I'll count on you to defend them!"
...At that, Leon shoots, and Lily surges forward, not even drawing her ARM--instead, she brings up her greatsword into a familiar stance and, as she gets closer, bends into a half-crouch that sees her weapon come up diagonally, a straight slash directly at Ramsus's center, the 'weapon' disintegrating snow where it drags along the ground on the way up.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahran Ramses with Break Order! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Break Order for 152 hit points! GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Prissa's Sharpener Stick for 0 hit points! GS: Reload! Lydia Seren gains 15 extra FP from Prissa! GS: Lydia Seren gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Riesenlied-- something's upon us," is what Avril calls back, in those spare moments after she ducks out the back of the cart and unleashes her own innate magic to speed across the snow.
She sees it long before she sees Dean. It's the sort of monstrosity that is extremely hard to miss, even in a driving blizzard.
Slowing her pace some, Avril pauses but a heartbeat, long enough to draw the hilt of her blade and long enough to summon the blade in a shimmer of light.
It's one heartbeat longer that she feels the approach of a presence in the blizzard. Something that hunts in the blizzard, but where--
Is this an inopportune moment?
Whirling in the storm, she sights in that instant a single man, alone. Blue eyes trace his uniform; something's familiar but she can't...
"Who...?" the young woman queries in that next heartbeat's pulse of time alloted to her, before she slowly, slowly turns her head towards monstrosity.
It breathes a rich red flame.
A heartbeat more, and Avril is no longer there, her enchantment speeding her forward across the drifts as the fire licks forth.
"Dean! Look out!"
It's a warning that may come a little too late. Still, she catches up to him as the flames finally flicker out, sword tipped towards the creature as she heaves a breath. "What is this thing? I have not seen its like before," she utters, then narrows her eyes, watching.
Watching, as Dean uses his Medium to lay into the thing with ice.
Like a trigger, she sets off, snapping off towards one of the monster's massive feet with blade.
It is but a cut.
But a but that repositions her, sets her at a perhaps more advantageous position.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
The Gebler commander tilts his head at Leon's statement, the ghost of a grin haunting the corner of his mouth. "Handle me," he says, his urbane baritone amused. "Will you, now." The big man's stance shifts as Leon levels Argent Divider, flames from the Metal Abomination washing over him, shielding him from view for the barest of instants.
And in that moment, Kahran Ramses goes to war.
Argent Divider rips through the empty space the big man vacated a half-heartbeat earlier, a lance of light ripping through the void of his passage. Ramses closes the distance on Leon in three long, rapid strides, the last of which turns into a short shift-slide as the big man twists his body like an ice skater, throwing up a cloud of loose snow between himself and Leon, blocking sightlines again. But this time Ramses tears straight through, his right hand open, palm blazing with a mass of red-hot Ether. The Gebler commander drives it forward toward the centre of Leon's chest, firing the blast a second later. He turns to engage the second opponent--
*thunk*
Lily's sword slams into the big man's side, up into the short ribs; it hits with a shivering impact she can feel go up into her arms. She can hear the soft-twig snap of something inside his body, see pain flicker through his eyes. But then he simply draws in a deep breath, despite the pain it causes him, and stares down into her eyes.
Something dark and angry lives within their depths. Lily may recognize it from mirrors.
Ramses' left hand snakes out to grab at Lily's throat; if he catches hold, rather than squeeze, he simply lifts her, one-armed, and tosses her toward the nearest wagon, staring daggers in her wake. "Hard though it may be for your selfish little minds to reason, I am not here for you," he says, the cultured tones bleeding away into cold chill. "So cease this rudeness. This is your final warning."
His right hand drops down to the hilt of his sword, and rests there.
GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Leon Albus with Etheric Blast! GS: Kahran Ramses has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kahran Ramses has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Alhazred with Misty Soul! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Kahran Ramses enters a Counter stance! GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Lily Keil with Mirror Stance! GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action. GS: Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Misty Soul for 23 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has lost 1 Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Leon Albus guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Etheric Blast for 105 hit points! GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Mirror Stance for 79 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
A magical attack comes racing towards Alhazred's creation - this isn't unexpected, as many Drifters like to launch attacks against his creations with sorceries to exploit the fact that few Metal Demons can do so.
But as the blast of energy slams into the chest of Ialdbaoth, Alhazred's eyes narrow within the shadows of his enveloping cloak. It wasn't the use of the energy - it was WHO was using it. He adjusts the optics as the creature roars in the distance, zooming in as he gazes at the source of that attack.
"Very. Interesting."
He jabs a button, and a small object ejects from his command pod. The Esperanza unfolds its wings, flying off into the storm for a closer look at this new phenomenon.
The pillar surging up from under the creature sends one of the heads flying for a moment, the monster looking dazed from the force of the impact. It shakes back and forth for a moment, the afflicted head growling for a moment as he gazes at Jay with obvious malice. It makes some sort of hissing, babbling noise - impossible to say if it's actually speaking or just being menacing. Lydia comes in with her drill, but one of the claws comes around and catches her strike before it can slam into the main body, and sparks fly as metal shod talons grind against her advancing, spinning attack. A single flick is enough to push her away, but others press the offensive.
"More magic. Time to initialize the barriers," Alhazred muses, one claw reaching out to strike a nearby button. Despite the Metal Demons being unable to USE magic, they could understand it and work to counter it. And within Ialdbaoth's body, a generator spins up, projecting a hexagonal shield which swings around. It fails to fully intercept Dean's iceberg, which slams down into one shoulder and causes the creature to stagger, but it keeps most of the dust from actually reaching the monster. It might be jammed for the moment, but the head tracks Ethius with malevolent (just good old fashioned meanness, not the evil purple kind) intent.
Noeline crashes into the monster, driving her blade home with a considerable amount of force. The blow carves into its side, tearing through plating and causing a gush of black fluid to erupt from the wound. It splatters across the snow, hissing as it dissolves into a yellow-black smoke from the heat contained within. It throws one head down and screams, moving to bite at Noeline - and then a moment later Maya slams her weapon into that head, barely missing the eye as she strikes. Armor plates crack and rupture, falling to the ground with heavy thuds as the abomination rears back, taking a staggering step away as it tries to balance itself. Unfortunately that moves it away from Avril's incoming strike, the weapon barely glancing against the monster as it moves.
"Initial engagement test performing at seventy percent of expected output - not ideal, but within acceptable parameters," Alhazred states, his long range scope picking out the various Drifters defending the caravan as well as pulling in data from his rampaging monstrosity. Claws tap various controls, and the Quarter Knight leans forward as another blow lands against the hardened armor of the abomination. "Well, we didn't expect for it to conquer the entire city on its own, but this initial concept run seems to be working well so far."
He reaches down and hits a large red button. It has to be red, because that way you don't hit it by accident.
"Commence stage four. Begin increasing aggression enhancing agents until the mixture reaches two point five times current levels. Bring reactor core to eighty percent output. Purge outer armor layer."
Ialdabaoth shudders for a moment as the commands from Alhazred's command pod are transmitted to it. The eyes within its heads begin to glow even more fiercely, projecting out across the snow like ominous red lanterns. It pauses for a moment, body heaving... and then the armor covering its body begins to split along the seams. Yellow-brown smoke spews forth from within that armored shell, and one of the abomination's heads is thrown back with a roar... and it shudders once more. The armor creaks and groans, hundreds of rivets popping out and falling into the snow, where they begin to hiss and melt away into tiny puddles which immediately begin to freeze over in the storm.
And then every armor plate on the monster erupts outwards in a spray of metal. Pieces break apart across hidden lines, and there is an expanding ring of metal that goes bouncing off in all directions. Those in the wagons are somewhat protected - the rest of the Drifters had best dodge if they want to avoid being slammed into by a flying chunk of debris.
The abomination stands exposed to the world - a twisting mass of wires and metal veins making up its flesh, vents spread across its body which ripples with thick coiled cables for muscles. Ialdbaoth glows faintly from within, lit by an inner heat which helps to propel it onwards at Alhazred's command.
And then two more heads unfold themselves from the monster's back, rotating forward to join the previous three in gazing down at the Driftrers in front of them. Five mouths open as one, and as one they unleash a deafening scream.
" "
GS: Alhazred enters a Counter stance! GS: Alhazred has attacked Alhazred with Getting ENRAGED! GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Getting ENRAGED for 0 hit points! GS: Alhazred gains Restore, shortening negative statuses by 3 turns each! GS: Alhazred has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Lily Keil with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Kahran Ramses with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Leon Albus with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Lydia Seren with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Noeline with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Riesenlied with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Prissa with Armor Cast Off! GS: Alhazred has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Armor Cast Off! GS: Kahran Ramses takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 51 hit points! GS: Riesenlied critically Guards a hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 19 hit points! GS: Riesenlied enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo! GS: Maya Schrodinger takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 106 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 64 hit points! GS: Lydia Seren takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 55 hit points! GS: Prissa has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Prissa completely evades Armor Cast Off from Alhazred!
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 114 hit points! GS: Leon Albus guards a hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 59 hit points! GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 63 hit points! GS: Ethius Hesiod guards a hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 60 hit points! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 116 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 66 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Alhazred! GS: Dean Stark takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Armor Cast Off for 52 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I thought you might say that," the Black Wolves' captain says, with a glance -- and a smile to Lily. The smile doesn't linger, though.
Leon is surprised when Ramses is able to close the distance so quickly, and moreso that not an ounce of magic seem to lay in that pace. The raid funnels swivel, but they're not able to close the distance in time to cut him off. The snow dust billows up, into Leon's face -- he grunts, sharply, nostrils burning from inhaling the stuff.
The big man's palm slams into his chest, and the point-blank blast of energy pitches Leon off his feet. He flies, through the air, and slams down into a snowbank hard. The blonde-haired man rolls over a couple of times, and comes up in time to see Kahran's hand wrapped around Lily's throat. His eyes narrow.
The armor plate that careens towards him, from the Ialdbaoth, ends its parabolic arc by bouncing off the glowing aquamarine shield between the raid funnels. However, this time, one of the funnels is slammed into the ground -- and rises up with a cracked casing. Leon grits his teeth, and then he storms forward.
He ducks underneath another chunk of armor descending; his hand snaps out, and barrels fold outward, and his sword telescopes back out just as he closes the distance between himself and Ramses.
He slams his blade up, cleaving straight upward -- and tries to chop into Ramses's arm.
GS: Leon Albus enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Leon Albus has attacked Kahran Ramses with Riot Crash! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Riot Crash for 122 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia is seized by an invisible force.
Lydia screams and writhes!
Prissa tells her it's her and Lydia goes quiet, blinking rapidly, and she stops writhing. "Ahaha..." Lydia laughs. "Right."
It feels pretty weird to be sharpened, Lydia thinks, as she hopes that the metal abomination doesn't murder her in this time. Luckily Alhazred is merely shoved away by the foot which isn't really enough to push past Lydia's AC.
What is enough is the large scrap of metal that KERTHUUUNKS into Lydia's head, jerking her back again and--well kind of just embedding itself in there.
"Ghhkkk..." Lydia groans before ... pulling it out. Silver fluid drips from the wound but it seems like it hit something real hard before coming to a stop. Lydia has always been hard headed, but apparently she's VERY hard headed!
Lydia sees Riesenlied channeling the Medium and she frowns, thinking about what Dean had said. Sure, Lydia said 'it's ok she explodes all the time' but this seems to really hurt her.
"Hang in there Riese..." Lydia says as she stacks buffs.
That's right, Prissa used SHARPEN and Lydia uses MAGIC SHARPEN, empowering her arm-blades with the power of THE SUN before she darts in rapidly, leaps into the air, and spins--unleashing several quick and sharp strikes with the heat-edged, Prissa improved blades!
"Why is this even here??? Wait, is Riese in trouble?" She lands, looking towards Maya.
She frowns thoughtfully and then starts running in her direction.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Alhazred with Sunlight Shiv! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Thanks! I'm okay!" Dean calls back to Avril, after her warning from the fire-breath. The next moment, though, the Metal Beast's armor *explodes* off it it, sending not just one but two chunks of debris his way. He does his best to avoid them, and he manages to not get crushed, but the force of their dual impact *does* send him flying. Fortunately, the snow is around to break his fall; unfortunately, it's so deep that he has to flail for a moment before he can get on his feet. That's never minding the impact of the flight and fall in the first place.
"Who do they think they are?! Talking weird nonsense like that!" Dean demands once he's finally upright again, looking around to make sure Avril's all right. "Now that their armor's gone, though, this is our chance!" He aims his pistols for the rawest piece of flesh he can spot and then unleashes a pair of shots with both barrels. Once they've found or created a weak point, then--!
GS: COUNTER! Alhazred strikes at Lydia Seren with a counter attack! GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Lydia Seren's Sunlight Shiv for 157 hit points! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Alhazred with Dual Shooter! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Lydia Seren enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Lydia Seren completely evades Counter Attack from Alhazred!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Lydia? Do you-- Gebler? I--" Riesenlied looks towards the man as Leon engages him and urges Jacqueline and Noeline to protect her and take care of things. Her eyes widen further, in confusion; so many things are going on at once. The fact that the Metal Beast is -talking- just further reminds her of...
Avril snaps her out of her reverie, as she cuts forward with her blade.
"You're right, Dean," Riesenlied calls to the daring boy. When they work together...
"... then the weakest link in the chain is what shall hold the group back," Nasrin murmurs. She doesn't appear to be taking any joy in this.
Ethius moves to incant his spell -- a spell he's seen before, that will choke and suffocate those who it targets. She's seen him utilise it on a fellow Metal Demon before, and it was horrifying. Will it be... her, one day?
Noeline is yelling commands, and being effective; those that are with them and staying back are watching the wagons as they form a defensive circle. She opens her mouth, but finds that she--
"You cannot even perform self-care, let alone care for others," the corpse continues. An evident look of disappointment on her face. Just when she thought things might be moving forward...
--doesn't particularly have much to add or say; her mind continues to stir as she struggles with the pain evident on her already-bandaged arms as it begins to trail upwards towards her shoulders. To channel upon the Ley is taxing. Yet if she cannot even do this much...
Might be a good idea to take Riesenlied and get the hell out of here!
Riesenlied withers for a moment as she watches the blonde knight tuck and weave, clashing with the creature as she brings her shield to bear. On a better day, she'd encourage the gunslinger-turned-knight-- "Be careful, Maya..."
In the most of all this chaos, she also misses the Esperanza deploying to better observe her.
The armor nearly clocks her upside the head as it springs across the lines and strikes her and nearly gets sent hurtling back against one of the wagons. The creature's shriek, then, is what actually does hurtle her back as she withers further against it.
The Esperanza's lenses and sensors pick up on the energy as Riesenlied raises her hand to the air. In many ways, she's merely imitating what she's seen Dean, Rebecca and Avril do; she's focusing on the instructions that Lydia, Catenna and Noeline have provided her.
A point of light looms to life above her--
"I need you... now... I beseech you... Odoryuk..."
Her eyes flash with a note of fear for a moment, but still it is enough for her to strain with the presence of the Ley that she has brought forth.
"A new dawn shall come...!"
The point of light unsteadily expands, the characteristic of one unused and struggling with this new power; but it does so readily, raining forth thin rays of light that cascade down onto the legs and exposed form of Ialdabaoth.
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Alhazred with Eosphoros - The Morning Star! GS: Riesenlied has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Dean Stark's Dual Shooter for 26 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dean Stark has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
There's a figure steering the giant machina, Prissa realizes belatedly. She looks up at Alhazrad in bafflement, her eyes, somehow, catching the light despite her invisibility. Her breath doesn't fog in front of her - Prissa's eyes cross for a moment.
At which point the horrid THING bursts asunder. Armor plating goes flying outwards and Prissa thinks on one level that this is going to be super convenient to scavenge later BUT THAT ASSUMES THERE IS A LATER BECAUSE SHE IS HERE NOW.
Except,
"Now that it's purged its armor," Prissa begins, before that hellacious S H R I E K consumes the back half of the sentence. Prissa recoils, and nobody sees -
Nobody can see me, Prissa thinks. I could die here, nobody would know.
But, she thinks further as she reaches without looking for her knife bandolier, if that's the case... and if not even that man or his stinking, reeking machina can see me...
Prissa takes in a deep breath. Horrid as this creature is, it reminds her a little of home. And it is those memories she reaches for as she suddenly shrieks out at the top of her lungs in the middle of an empty patch of ground, "YOU!! THIS IS MOTHER SPEAKING!! YOU'VE MESSED IT UP!! RETURN TO BASE, AND WALK SLOWLY!!"
It's absolutely not Mother. Prissa realizes belatedly that this may draw fire, and so her plan to carefully withdraw and aim for a spot turns into a mad dash, paradoxically enough CLOSER to the writhing horror of the creature as she pitches her hand forwards and hurls -
Well, it starts getting visible about a meter away from her hand. But it's a tiny steel twinkle aimed at those snaking cables. The blade, though, glints with perfect crystalline innocence, reflecting the gold of Lydia's shiv even as Prissa turns her invisible head towards another light that begins to rise...
GS: Prissa has attacked Alhazred with Heart-of-god Knife Barrage! GS: Prissa has completed her action. GS: Prissa has canceled their attack on Alhazred. GS: Prissa has attacked Alhazred with totally a normal knife but totally click the link for music! GS: Prissa has gained 1 Combo! GS: Prissa has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Eosphoros - The Morning Star for 148 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Riesenlied! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Prissa's attack becomes clear! GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred takes a solid hit from Prissa's My Best Knife Ever for 94 hit points! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Poison! Statuses applied to Alhazred! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Prissa!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's not as advantageous as she would have preferred -- it not only sets her at a position where she ends up merely nicking the thing, as it staggers away, but places her in an inoportune place once the creature very abruptly sheds its armor.
The magic still coursing through her surges. She leaps; the plating comes crashing down.
She's not fast enough. A section of it clips her, and even that, at its mass, is enough to elicit a cry from the young woman and send her spiraling away into a drift close at hand.
A full-on hit would have crushed her outright; as it is it takes her a moment to rise from where she's fallen, one eye half-squinted in pain.
The creature screams. It screams a wordless voiceless scream.
What is this...?
There's no time to think on it. 'This is our chance', Dean says, and it's at that suggestion of strategy that she nods, once, firmly. She knows what she should do.
"Dean! Cover me!" Avril shouts, racing through the snow and back again towards the monstrosity.
"Lucadia--" she whispers then, reaching her left hand into her coat pocket to touch the Medium, to invoke its power.
The power of Jump.
She leaps into the air -- she soars like an avenging angel, blade borne before her.
If she times it right, she'll strike true.
If she times it right, she'll land in just the right place to sink her blade in.
And hold on.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur enters a Counter stance! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Alhazred with Seraphic Soul! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The desperate slash does not bite home where it needed to - Alhazred's fearsome pet has better reactions than that. Maya scowls in that slowed-down moment in time, arcing trails of gold and sunset crackling along the edge of her sword as it scythes into Ialdabaoth's armour plating. It's like trying to chop down a Gear, and the shapeshifting Drifter doesn't quite have the magical gusto to pull that off. "Sounded good when I said it..." she mutters darkly as her own armour threatens to soon implode beneath the force of those jaws like a tin can caught in an industrial shredder.
So that's where things are at when Lydia tries to catch Maya's attention: the blonde lady is hanging onto her own sword, stuck in the metal beast's face, between its' jaws. "Wait, is Riese in trouble?" asks the sprightly Beastgirl. "Yes--" is the strained response from the Schrodinger girl, who evades being crushed through a summoned strength she isn't quite sure she had a few moments ago. "--I'd suggest sticking near to her, Lydie!"
It's good advice, especially since sticking around nearer Ialdabaoth soon becomes more dangerous than it was even previous. The creature slows and seizes, spasmodically, as an as-of-yet-unseen Quarter Knight's command takes control. In this moment, Maya brings her weapon down--wreathed in glowing gold flames--to possibly carve herself entirely free.
But it's a fool's errand, as she soon finds out: the dizzyingly wretched, true form of the metal creature breaks free. A deafening cacophony defying all human comprehension strips all Maya's worldly senses from her skull, and a square-foot or so of ejected metal plating catches her in the chest somewhere. She is freed from Ialdabaoth's jaws, flung into the snow and the side of the mountain to boot, with all the grace of an errant cannon shot. She's certainly carried there by such, anyway.
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Alhazred with Seven Star Sword - Corona Slash! GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Seraphic Soul for 156 hit points! GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Maya Schrodinger's Seven Star Sword - Corona Slash for 154 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is there to work around and with Maya; the knight-for-the-moment does not have to wait long in the maw of the beast before the Hyadean crashes into its side with force enough to distract it. Where once she might have used more finessed weapons, the order of the day appears to be a complete lack of subtlety, and Noeline seems entirely prepared to revel in that. "Look after yourself as well!" she counters, but can at least find it within her to spare the time to combine it with a quietly amused huff of air.
Whoever it is that Leon and Lily are facing off against, that's something she can't spare the time for, not fully. She can only risk enough of a glance to confirm that they're human - in a uniform, even, and given how far they are from Kislev that does at least narrow down the possibilities significantly. Gebler, then, and Noeline finds herself making a rather harsher laugh, part adrenaline and part genuine anger. Trust them to not leave well enough alone.
She focuses forwards again as the creature begins to quail and quiver - and though she manages to realize what must be coming, she can't bring her sword up in time to block the explosion of metal ricocheting through their assorted group, yelping in pain as she finds herself knocked back hard enough she's sent skidding into and rebounding off of a snow-covered tree. Instantly, heedless of the blanket of white her impact knocks loose, she clasps her hands to her ears - just in time to avoid the worst of the creature's terrible cry as it lances through them.
This time, she's absolutely sure of it - wild Metal Beasts don't just purge their outer armor on a whim, not when it pains them that much to do it. Alhazred's always been fond of live tests, and that would mean: "He's watching this!" she realizes with a snarl. "He's directing them! Dean, be careful! Just because the outer layer's gone doesn't mean it's vulnerable!"
She grits her teeth as she pushes herself forwards off the tree and back towards Riesenlied, fuelled by her partner's fears and the worry that spikes through her as she watches the barrage of light pillars fly. "You're not alone in this," she whispers-- and that galvanizes her to sweep her sword back behind her, before planting her feet and using the momentum of her running charge to drive the blade forwards.
As approximations of a Fast Draw go, it's rather a rough one. It has none of the finesse of an Arctican Knight, and though it's based on the archetypal cut, it creates more of a buffeting wall of force than a keen and pinpoint attack. On the other hand, perhaps that's the whole idea; it's something one could only manage with Hyadean strength - and she twists to pair it with a backhand strike, following the same arc to unleash a second wave.
GS: Noeline has attacked Alhazred with Hyades Draw! GS: Noeline has gained 1 Combo! GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
A hexagonal shield appears at various points of impact from assaults identifiable as sorcerous in origin.
"The enemy appears to be protected from sorcery," Ethius notes. This is in the middle of a roaring wintry tempest, so he might not be able to be heard. Eyes that are well-practiced for this sort of thing - for some reason - try to track among the bedlam as to any subtle cues of the armored foe's body as to the origins of the hexagonal projection. This is an issue as pertaining to any such ability to disable its presently observed means of offense as he meets the (garden variety) malevolent stare with his own unwavering level look.
Ethius loses the staring contest when Ialdabaoth shudders and seems to lower their profile. Some well-trained instinct takes over, and the quiet Symbologist bends his free arm inward to the slurring of a small number of syllables.
The armor-shrapnel that cooks off the multi-headed monstrosity moments later has a clear shot at Ethius' self - he is notably not running for cover as he is about to be impaled through by a hunk of armor-shrapnel.
A loud electrical crackle and accompanying flash can be heard from the three points of impact in which such debris shoot into him. Left calf, left hip, right shoulder. All three impacting pieces bounce off of him back into the icing-over mud, but the momentum of those three impacting pieces aren't fully blunted as Ethius takes a good four steps backward in order to stay on his feet. The challenges involved in this for the ground being both muddy and slippery forces him to take a number of precious seconds to re-center his vision and--
The scream. All sound is lost to the obscuring furious screams, displaced snow and air distorting one's view of the true stomach-churning hroror of the hows and whys of this beast's physical make-up. Wires, veins, thick cables, a faint glow-- two new heads...
Ethius jogs three steps forward before breaking out into a run, leaping to a flank as he takes heed of others' movements to jump into the air at them. He has already seen how well this shambling thing can flex and turn its heads. There should be no expectation of a 'safe' approach.
So he doesn't go for a 'safe' approach. He goes for one of the three original heads, swinging the staff out in a wide, sweeping circle that seems oriented to run them through one of the (counting all the heads, ten total) eyes.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Alhazred with One Tenth Of A Blinding Attack! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Noeline's Hyades Draw for 115 hit points! GS: Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's One Tenth Of A Blinding Attack for 22 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Ethius gives her his usual statement. This does not belong here. Normally she'd try to counter him but this thing, well...she's not a fan. Especially with the way it looks at her after crashing into her summoned pillar...
She can't understand the noise that comes out of it. No more speech? Or was it just trying to intimidate her? She'd be lying if she said it wasn't working, at least a little. She backs away, looking to each side - scanning the crowd of defenders for Riesenlied. She spots her and begins to make her way toward her.
She freezes, though, as the creature shudders suddenly. Its eyes glow...and then its armor begins to split as smoke spews. Jacqueline winces as it roars, and then, with a gasp, draws her cloak around herself as the armor erupts outward.
Jacqueline shuts her eyes tight, bracing herself as she's pelted by shrapnel and debris. Her cloak protects her from being cut to ribbons, but she can still feel the force of the impact against it.
"Is everyone alright?" Jacqueline calls out...and emits a choked gasp as she spots the creature's grotesque form.
"...What did they do to you...?" She whispers, horrified. She recoils back as two more heads emerge, and the five mouths together emit a cacophonous scream. She claps her hands over her ears...then draws something from one of her bags - a bottle of bright orange liquid. Her Haywire Draught - a liquid designed to seep into the internals of ARMs and jam them up.
It won't have quite the same effect here...but with its internals exposed, she feels as if it might be able to affect something.
She then gets moving, continuing her attempt to rejoin Riesenlied.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Alhazred with Persisting Potion! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Persisting Potion for 109 hit points! GS: Alhazred suffers Infect, extending negative statuses by 1 turn each!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Trust Lily not to leave well enough alone. That's true.
Kahran is fast, Lily finds, before anything else. War is brought; as Leon's shot rips through, Lily is still rushing forward, right through the snow. As she feels the Ether, she keeps swinging--
Her magical blade impacts hard, and she grits her teeth suddenly, already starting to move to prepare for her next strike--
But for an instant, their eyes lock, and Lily knows the look in those eyes for the same in her own. Only briefly does it still--Only briefly, and then his hand snaps out to grip her throat.
She's stuck still for an instant, but the hatred in her expression is palpable. Her sword dissipates with her focus in an instant, black sparks crackling all around her without intention. "Gh--"
Lily hits the wagon hard, thrown one-handed by a man with more muscle power than is reasonable for a single combatant. She hits the wagon and there's a crack of something breaking, as a piece of armor thunks against her shoulder and takes her to the ground for an instant. It might seem that that's that--except that the metal explodes off of her next, before she pulls herself back up to her feet. "I don't care why you're here," Lily answers, 'culture' the farthest thing from her voice--the smooth, dark tones have an edge to them, a barely-suppressed fury.
"And you haven't seen rude yet, Solarian." She practically spits the word, before she narrows her eyes. "Dog. Go to Riesenlied."
Dog whines, but does--as Lily starts forward again, sprinting, but she shifts to the side just before entering melee, lifting both of her hands. Her markings gleam blue as the air turns to mist, and that mist turns to furrows along the snowy ground that erupt into a brace of frigid ice spears, the cold set to linger, to hurt by presence as much as sharp approach.
Her throat is red, bruising already. But her eyes latch onto him; she doesn't even look at the battle nearby.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahran Ramses with Ether Impact! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Kahran Ramses takes a glancing hit from Lily Keil's Ether Impact for 58 hit points! GS: Break! Statuses applied to Kahran Ramses! GS: Kahran Ramses enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
Lydia comes rushing in towards the abomination, and her blow strikes true - backed with a considerable amount of magic, it cuts through the strange metallic flesh of the monster and unleashes another spray of that black blood that is flowing through its body. That is enough to get one of the heads to roar, and it whirls around to look at her for a moment before spewing out some utter nonsense. ".. ....... .-- .. .-.. .-.. ....... . .- - ....... -.-- --- ..- .-. ....... ... --- .-.. . ... ....... .-- .. - .... ....... .- ....... ... .. -.. . ....... --- ..-. ....... .... . .- .-.. ....... -... . .-. .-. .. . ..." The bullets from Dean's weapon slam into the body of the beast, but even without the armor it seems the flesh is still unusually hard - the bullets go flying off in other directions, not leaving much of a mark on the beast.
And then Riesenlied calls down the heavens upon the abomination, using her medium to unleash a steady stream of energy towards Ialdbaoth. The magic streams down from above, blasting into the back and heads of the monster - and it roars in protest, staggering under the repeated impacts. It is an attack that does not go unnoticed - the Esperanza hovers neaby, red jeweled eyes taking in the act of a Metal Demon unleashing the power of the Guardians.
As it reels from the repeated magical imparts, its simple enough for Prissa to hurl the knife into the creature. The weapon stabs into its body, tearing and slashing at the abomination and doing all sorts of damage inside. Avril manages to avoid the flailing heads and claws, and lands on the back of the monster without too much trouble. Lashing out, her blade digs in - the creature is large enough that reaching anything vital is going to be difficult however, although she is rewarded with a geyser of black fluid erupting from around her blade.
Maya manages to do quite a bit more damage as she hacks at the creature, but being thrown away by the armor purge means that it steps past her - ignoring the strange magic knight for the moment as it proceeds on towards what it might consider to be tastier prey. That gives her an opening.. provided she can avoid whatever it is that the monster has in store for them next. A glittering line traces itself through the air a moment later, and then that line resolves itself in a spray of sparks and black fluid as Noeline's lightning fast blow slashes across the side of the monster. It screams in pain for a moment, but even despite this strike it does not blindly lash out - showing how much control Alhazred has over his creation, even now.
Ethius rushing forward is a brave enough attack, but one of the new heads comes around and knocks him backwards before he can attempt to strike home. It's not a blow meant to damage, but more to push him back towards the caravan. Another growl, more of irritation than actual pain follows as Jay throws another vial into the creature. It certainly seems to doing some damage, but the abomination simply braces itself, spreading all legs on the ground as it prepares for... something.
"Hmmm, I was hoping for a better performance... although it seems the ability to reconfigure on the fly is certainly living up to expectations." Alhazred taps one finger on the control panel for a moment, although his eyes are glued to a side feed. The pleasure of being a scientist was based around these situations where things did not proceed according to plan. Certainly verifying your results was important... but there was nothing so thrilling as the unexpected. "So little Tainted, what HAVE you been up to all this time? This is quite interesting..."
He would have to shake things up a bit more, and see what came of them.
"Activate material acquisition orifice," Alhazred mutters, pushing another button. Halfway up the back of the abomination, the metal 'flesh' of the creature splits apart as another head emerges. Instead of the usual design of the others, this one merely looks like a large drill. Up until the point that it looks down at Lydia and splits open. The eyes are on the INSIDE, with the drill splitting in half to look like a pair of mandibles. It slams down into the ground, aiming at Lydia... but continues into the ground, additional segments emerging from the Ialdbaoth's body as it tunnels down into the ground. And then it starts pulsing as the head begins to grind rock into powder, drawing it back upwards into the body. Some engine within the monster begins to grind, and heat rises from its body as it processes the ground up earth into... something.
Part of its torso opens... and a pair of baleful red eyes gaze out from just under its five heads. Hydras of legend are said to have seven heads, and the final one becomes obvious as a toothless maw opens from the lower torso of the abomination, just under those eyes. Material can be seen surging through the necks of its heads, which begin to glow with some terrible inner heat...
...and Ialdbaoth begins to vomit out streams of lava *everywhere*. Each head unleashes blazing projectiles, sending them in all directions like some crazed storm of hot meteors. The large head on its torso opens wide, and begins to vomit a stream of lava out onto the ground. Snow vanishes almost instantly, melting and turning into steam as it touches the molten rock. The streams begin oozing towards the wagons, presenting a terrible choice - find a way to cool or divert the lava, or watch it roll over the wagons and set them aflame fairly soon. The heat itself is massive oppressive - even those who are not struck by a ball of molten rock must content with the burning hot waves radiating from them.
GS: Alhazred has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Lydia Seren with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Noeline with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Riesenlied with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Prissa with Molten Landscape! GS: Alhazred has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Molten Landscape! GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 115 hit points! GS: Prissa takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 141 hit points! GS: Maya Schrodinger takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 112 hit points! GS: Maya Schrodinger enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 154 hit points! GS: Noeline enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 124 hit points! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Lydia Seren completely evades Molten Landscape from Alhazred!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Neither Lily nor Leon show any signs of withdrawing, and so the Gebler commander resolves himself to a breakdown of diplomacy. It's what he would have expected from -Lambs-, but... "Persistent, at least," Ramses remarks, half to himself, tilting his head slightly. He chuckles mirthlessly as he draws his sword, shifting into a single-handed grip similar to, but subtly different from, court fencing; the influences of Jugend can be seen in every movement, for those who know what to look for.
Leon comes in, fast and furious, Argent Divider resolving itself into a blade once more. A neat trick, Ramses thinks. And the ease with which Leon wields such a strange weapon speaks to skill and dedication both... and yet. Ramses shifts his body as Leon comes in, twisting downward and bringing his hand-and-a-half blade around, intending to skewer his attacker on his own momentum.
But then a scrap of armour plate clips the big man's shoulder, knocking Ramses' attack out of line - Leon carries through, slashing hard in the man's forearm, drawing a line of crimson across the Gebler uniform. Ramses hisses an angry, pained breath out from between his teeth, his breath pluming out into the cold; he turns his body and launches a sweeping kick toward Leon's side, trying to drive the other man away from him. Before he can profit from that time, however, he can sense a surge of Ether power, presaging Lily's arctic blast. Snarling, Ramses meets force with force, gathering heat with a sudden rush and then flinging fire into Lily's ice. The two connect, burst, and the big man is peppered with chunks of broken, steaming ice.
The big Solarian stands there for a moment, breathing deeply, his eyes sweeping between Lily and Leon. He's read reports, of course, engaged from a distance back during their rescue of the Adlehyde girl, but there's something different, something elemental about the truths gained from dancing along the edge of a blade. He's skilled. She's powerful - that blast was as good as the upper tier of Jugend, perhaps even Element level. And the coordination with which they move; they've obviously fought together, and often, covering each other's weakness. For a moment, he finds himself missing My---
"Ah," Ramses says suddenly, a rough and honest smile spreading across his face. "So that's it, of course - an explanation so obvious, so subtle, so profound." A few crimson lines leak down from Ramses's left nostril; he flicks them away with his left thumb, blood bouncing off the snow, crystallizing into tiny ruby beads. "A force more formidable than any other - invisible, unseen, unmeasurable. Yet powerful enough to shape or shatter the world." He chuckles, shaking his head, then looks between Lily and Leon. "My compliments, and congratulations, to you both." The soft smile lingers for a moment, then vanishes behind an arctic gale.
A sudden surge of energy ripples out from the Gebler Commander, as raw Ether power begins gathering within his body - the ripple flattens snow a dozen feet out from around him, with the dull crunch of good, new snow clashing discordantly with the raging Abomination in the background. The Ether pressure emanating from the Gebler commander lessens for a moment, then intensifies once more as he lets out a long, slow, steadying breath. He inhales deeply, drawing the frigid air of winter into his body, and the pressure abates once more; it is at this moment that it becomes clear that the ebb and flow of power is not the result of any particular effort, or act of will.
It is simply an effect of his being, echoing out into the world with each breath.
"Very well, lovers," he says, lifting the bastard sword into a two-handed guard; the Ether waves swell, crest, and subside as steam boils out with the big man's words. "You have my attention."
GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Leon Albus with Skill of the Wind Element! GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Lily Keil with Enter The Dragon! GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus critically Guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Skill of the Wind Element for 21 hit points! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Kahran Ramses! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kahran Ramses has lost 1 Combo! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Dean Stark completely evades Molten Landscape from Alhazred!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 124 hit points! GS: Dean Stark enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Dean Stark completely evades Molten Landscape from Alhazred!
GS: COUNTER! Avril Vent Fleur strikes at Alhazred with a counter attack! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Molten Landscape for 153 hit points! GS: Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Counter Attack for 44 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has lost 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Kahran Ramses's Enter The Dragon for 92 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied purses her lips as she observes Lydia and Prissa's teamwork, then glances towards Avril as she ascends to the air. The power of the Medium, once more...
She does not notice that the piece of Ialdabaoth's armour have scattered about her. That the Esperanza continues to observe her, even as her vision starts to muddy and she can hardly tell snow from creature. One knee threatens to buckle gently, but she strains and digs that scaled, Draconic feet deeper into the snow. She can't... not now.
"They wouldn't forgive you if you fell now," points Nasrin out. Her teeth clench for a moment through her rotted lips.
She's not alone... but she has known, time and time again, that one can feel alone in a crowd. She observes as Noeline sweeps her sword forward in a manner that she can observe as one of the tenets of an Arctican Fast Draw -- but done with the hewn strength of a Hyadean.
"Do you see the difference?" queries Nasrin, amidst a hesitant pause as the little Hyadean writhes further in confusion. "She has her identity. She spent decades cultivating it, exploring it," Her gaze is withering... and hurt. Stop this now...
But she pays the price for channeling the Guardian's power -- and as she struggles and withers further, the creature's torso opens. Yet another head emerges out, toothless and terrifying...
And lava streams out everywhere, hissing against the snow and suddenly transforming the sheer icy landscape of New Arctica's cliff to that of summer. Riesenlied finds herself caught within it, burning and sweltering underneath the heat as she gasps to call out, "The wagons...! I--"
She hears a loyal bark -- and sees Dog hurrying to her side. Her eyes widen further; her heart's pounding so hard that she can sense it, sense those closest to her...
"M--Mah..."
The Ley begins to erupt once more.
"Mahtt...er--"
Lydia and Noeline has seen the struggled, pained call as Riesenlied visibly chokes--
"Materia...l...!"
The battlefield is momentarily subsumed to a genteel lake of crystalline clearness. A stillness that seems to grab hold of the incoming, molten lava and still it cold.
A droplet of water descends softly within the centre of the water's surface, rippling outwards.
And with each ripple--
Leon's desperate struggle against the mysterious Geblerite...
Lily's thrush as she impacts against a wagon and keeps going...
Jacqueline's horrific shock over what the creature's endured...
Maya's devoted and loyal attention befitting that of her knightly guise...
Avril, enduring under the weight of a royal revelation...
Dean, ever so indefatigable and daring in the most trying of times...
Prissa, as she ever strives for the perfect blade with the perfect story...
Ethius, ever so unflappable and determined in his drive...
Lydia's energy, even in the face of her people's oppression...
And Noeline...
--the verve of each Drifter's life is reflected...
...upon the eyes of Odoryuk, the Guardian of Life. Descending, towards the apex of that droplet, is a unicorn with weaved blue and white butterfly patterns upon its legs.
Odoryuk lifts its head up genteely, the horn cascading with a soothing veil of light that surrounds each of the Drifters with the very power of life. Life incandescent, energising...
And then Odoryuk turns towards Rieiln??=-. T.e igame st??t= to di=-srt unc-aelly, a.d t-- vga..e of t=- batifelt=-------
GS: Riesenlied has spent 1 Combo on Reload, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Leon Albus with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lily Keil with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Dean Stark with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Prissa with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lydia Seren with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with Material - Seek the New World! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied has attacked Riesenlied with Materi?- ? Seek te? ?Pp .....! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Materi?- ? Seek te? ?Pp ..... for 133 hit points! GS: Riesenlied heals Lydia Seren! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Lydia Seren gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Riesenlied heals Leon Albus! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Leon Albus gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Prissa gains Restore, shortening negative statuses by 3 turns each! GS: Riesenlied heals Prissa! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Prissa gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Riesenlied heals Lily Keil! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Reload! Lily Keil gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Riesenlied heals Ethius Hesiod! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Ethius Hesiod gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Jacqueline Barber gains Restore, shortening negative statuses by 3 turns each! GS: Riesenlied heals Jacqueline Barber! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Jacqueline Barber gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Noeline gains Restore, shortening negative statuses by 3 turns each! GS: Riesenlied heals Noeline! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Noeline gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The M??-rial e-fect winks out with that distortion field--
and Riesenlied is visibly hurtled to the ground underneath an -explosion- of Ley energy.
GS: Dean Stark gains Restore, shortening negative statuses by 3 turns each! GS: Riesenlied heals Dean Stark! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Dean Stark gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"HYAAAH!" Lydia shouts as she manages to strike the beast, she feels that it's a palpable hit. She opens her own mouth and says, ".. / .-- --- -. .----. - / .-.. . - / -.-- --- ..- / .... ..- .-. - / -- --- -- .-.-.-" Of course in practice she's going like beepbeep beepBEEEPBEEEEP BEEEPbeep beepBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPbeep and so on and she's just yelling it rather than making some strange computery sounding noises, but nevertheless she's a smart gal. She say what she want.
Nevertheless, she's starting to pull back towards Riesenlied, fully intent on protecting her.
It gives her enough space to backflip out of the way, even avoiding losing a limb as a free action and she places a hand down on the floor in the superheroine action pose that is on a lot I mean a lot of posters and mangas.
"Why do you need eyes inside the drill, why do you need eyes inside the drill, I don't even get it, that makes no sense!"
Oh no it's about to spew fire. No! Even worse! Lava! Lydia's feet grow wheels under the heel and she skates backwards to avoid the encroaching lava. She's pretty quick. Maybe not Harken quick (who is really?) but her speed is still incredible. Despite being nearly on top of the beast, she's managed with largely quiet motions to avoid the danger. Which is good. Fire doesn't seem to work well with her.
Riesenlied asks an important question as she gets near her. "Gebler is related to the guy who worked on me. I wanted to see if he knew something but... the kids first, right?" She smiles. "You first too. I can harass a Gebler any day."
She plays it off as 'whatever' but she's actually worried she won't get another opportunity. She risks another glance back.
"I know it's been tough but...you can lean on us more too." She says. "You don't have to take all the pain, okay?"
She rests a hand on Riesenlied's shoulder, channeling Rigdobrite once more, even as the power of, well, Life enthuses her with power. Lydia can do similar with Rigdobrite, but unlike Riesenlied...
Lydia likes explosions.
"MATERIAL!" Lydia shouts in conjunction with Riesenlied.
And there it is, Rigdobrite shimmering into being out of nowhere. It's gaze turns towards the Metal Abomination and stares at it.
It's as if it's thinking 'Oh no, this won't do. This is too much.'
And then the world grows darker as lights shimmer around the battlefield, twinkling like little stars--
--before each star unleashes a hefty beam of light crashing down at the Metal Abomination from all directions.
And then Riesenlied crashes into her and she goes sailing.
GS: Lydia Seren has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Alhazred with One Billion Trillion Stars! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon knows the style of Jugend only from having faced it. He couldn't put a name to it; he couldn't even describe it beyond the basics of its use. All he can do is try to keep up -- and he does, raising his off-hand to catch the kick on his forearm. His bones ache with the impact, and he knows it will leave a bruise later. Still, he feels the hair on his neck raise with cold--
And Leon knows what that means, and knows to step back, quickly, as Lily's ice spell rushes in, and strikes at the large Solarian officer. His eyes remain locked on the large man, and they both narrow as he watches Ramses work through it. He glances sideways at Lily, and then back to Ramses.
His lips curl downward, into a scowl, at the compliment that is anything but. He watches the Ether ripple around him. Leon commands none of the stuff; he knows it, though, from years of practicing with Lily.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken," Leon says, his Kislevi accent thicker than usual, as he breathes harder. "Not that we're lovers--that's obvious, I should think. But love has nothing to do with why we work together so well. I think of it as a lovely part of a splendid working relationship."
He feels the ripple, as Riesenlied -- impossibly, he thinks -- summons the power of a Guardian. The Guardian of Life instills his blessing into Leon; it rolls through him, and he pushes himself to his feet. He makes himself stand taller. His teeth grit, as he glances sideways -- back at Riesenlied, as she falls. Then, he turns his head, to look back at Ramses.
"Come, Gebler soldier," he says. "I don't know why you're here, but I don't mean to let you have the run of the place. It's lasted far too long."
He rushes -- and leaps. Leon jumps into the air, with a loud 'hrunh!' as he comes crashing down. Leon's sword slashes down, chopping across Ramses as he lands. His boots crunh down into the snow.
GS: Leon Albus enters a Counter stance! GS: Leon Albus has attacked Kahran Ramses with Hazard Break! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Hazard Break for 82 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Lydia Seren's One Billion Trillion Stars for 54 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Lydia Seren! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has lost 1 Combo! GS: Riesenlied heals Maya Schrodinger! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Maya Schrodinger gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied! GS: Avril Vent Fleur gains Restore, shortening negative statuses by 3 turns each! GS: Riesenlied heals Avril Vent Fleur! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Reload! Avril Vent Fleur gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Foolish.
Maya sits with her back to the mountain, snow quickly gathering in her hair and between the cracked plates of her armour. She hangs between dreams and waking, a sort of please-wait-while-loading state brought about by repeated concussions.
We always aimed high, but this one's the end of the line.
There's a kind of peace, there, a fatalism that accepts the end because higher-order thoughts are all scrambled and the logical outcome of facing down a metal hydra crafted by a scientific genius from a spacefaring civilization is death.
Just--really, foolish.
The boiling rush of heat and the sizzle of snow melting on her cheeks slaps Maya back to consciousness with a rushed intake of breath. Sure, her pupils won't focus and her shield-hand is a bloody mess, but it's not over yet. The knight comes to on a tiny island of land amidst a sea of flowing lava, her scarlet armour already starting to cook from the heat. Panic sets in.
There is precious little time for it, however. The hellish, scarlet pulse of molten earth is soon softened by a beautiful azure light that seems to come from the very Heavens itself. Maya casts her gaze upwards, dumbfounded. She knows not the significance that Odoryuk truly portends--having missed whose call, precisely, the Guardian of Life has come to answer. Only that a miracle has spared her once more, as her senses slowly gather.
It's all she can do to scramble across the hardened lava in this moment Riesenlied has granted her, to at least be closer to her allies instead of thrown halfway across the damn pass. "That's a good start, I'll take it from here...!" she grits her teeth, preparing to toss away her guise as the Knight and don the Sorcerer's mantle.
So there's a stunned look of surprise on Maya's face when something in her head *click*s and she finds she cannot shift.
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Synchronization Error! GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action. GS: Maya Schrodinger takes a solid hit from Maya Schrodinger's Synchronization Error for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"That is Alhazred's work, Miss Barber," calls Noeline. Her usual upbeat nature is completely absent, and though the words are probably meant to be solemn she makes the proclamation in a tone brimming with anger. "He does not care about life, human or demon. All he cares about is assuaging his own personal brand of curiosity. How things tick - and how well they tick after you break and reform them."
"... this poor creature," she mutters under her breath, her eyes alight. "Make no mistake. He might be a Quarter Knight - he may be a Metal Demon - but I will be damned before I'll ever call him Hyadean."
She winces as the creature brays once more, feeling her eardrums rattle with the sheer volume of it. Rather than focus on what Alhazred did to create the beast - a question Noeline would really prefer not to dwell on in any way whatoever - her focus is instead on how it is still managing to move - and the way it is reacting to their attacks suggests that the poor collection of parts does not have any of its own will in this.
That realization sticks in her mind like a jagged splinter; it leaves her reeling in anger as the sudden wave of lava tears across the landscape, and it's only with a sudden and abortive leap to one side followed by an awkward pogo-stick of a maneuver that she's able to avoid the worst of it.
That jagged splinter is as nothing to the stab of pain and fear that spikes through her link at the sight of Riesenlied lifted by the power of Odoryuk, by the rattling choking noise that the other woman makes immediately before attempting the Material summon. "--Riese!" she calls - or tries, but it comes out as a rasp. Her mouth suddenly feels both thick and hoarse with terror all at once, not to mention an edge of sheer, pent-up frustration. "It's too dangerous! You--"
She can't get any further before the world suddenly, impossibly slows to a crawl. Odoryuk hangs over them all. It is magnificent and peaceful; it suffuses them all with life, its light duplicated by Rigdobrite... ...and yet, in the moment, Noeline can only grimace in barely controlled anger. It isn't anything she can help - unbidden, her mind replays every single attempt to summon up the Guardian's power in the last few weeks. Time and time again, Riesenlied yelping at the flames, shivering in lonely fear, curling up alone and terrified. "She has done everything for you. So why is nothing ever goddamn enough? What more is there to do? When does it fucking end?!" she snarls--
-- but it's all too late as the world suddenly reasserts itself around her, and the only thing to greet her words are the cold winds and Alhazred's fearsome beast - not to mention the sight of Riesenlied, falling with a terrifying finality. Making a choked noise of her own, Noeline just runs full-tilt towards her stricken partner.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Alhazred...that was the Metal Demon at Adlehyde, wasn't it. That awful, awful thing..." Jacqueline says. There's a tenseness to her voice, even an anger, that rarely creeps into Jacqueline's tone as Noeline explains exactly what kind of demon he is. "So. This is his doing."
Jacqueline's potion seems to have some effect. But...it also seems to cause it to prepare something. This 'something' becomes clear as another head emerges. At least, she assumes it's a head - in looks much like a large drill. It gets worse when it opens, revealing...eyes?
Oh, that's unpleasant.
And then it begins to tunnel. Digging down, down, down, as a final pair of eyes appears, opens a mouth...and emits lava everywhere. With a cry of surprise Jacqueline gestures with her left hand, creating a pillar of earth underneath herself in hopes of protecting herself. The lava licks at the sides of her pillar, and she can feel the immense heat even from here. It hurts, but...
She hears Riesenlied's voice. Feels Riesenlied's struggle, as she endeavors to call upon Odoryuk. And she feels the cascading power as the Guardian emerges, instilling them all with the power of life.
"R-Riesenlied!" Jacqueline calls out in shock, as she spots Riesenlied hurtled to the ground. She wishes she could help her, but Noeline is by her side.
And...there's another issue. The wagons. The lava has cooled for now, but...it still poses a risk. Jacqueline rests a hand over her heart, and whispers a silent plea to the Guardian who's Medium she holds.
"I...can't allow you to hurt these people, no matter what you're going through." She mutters, looking up at the abomination before them.
If the Guardian appears, it is translucent - difficult, if not impossible to see with how busy everything is. She does not have the long, strengthened connections that the Shamans do. But even so, his power is still felt as the earth rises behind her, forming a protective shell around the caravan in hopes of diverting the lava flow and shielding it from further home.
Afterwards, Jacqueline falters, gasping for breath as she drops to one knee. This was the first time she'd called for the Guardian since returning to Filgaia. With the connection strained, it took more out of her than she was used to.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Material - Titanic Upheaval! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Material - Titanic Upheaval for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The bodily deflection of the Symbologist proves doubly effective when he is hurled towards the caravans. He might have--
--yes, he absolutely did take a knock on the noggin as he rolls against mud that has hardened under the unrelenting cold of the elements. He clutches his head, as sight and sound swim into a shimmering slurry for a short stack of seconds.
Only the actions of the creature ahead sharpen whatever senses dictate this man's often over-readiness for being beseiged by any sort of technological terror. Whatever mechanisms' various tells indicate what's about to happen, Ethius understands that something is being accumulated above and beyond the head-pounding drilling.
Soon... lava, and meteors. The huge, molten, reddish-orange blobs of color are readable as 'this is wicked hot' and the rest of Ethius moves even when he struggles to re-center his senses.
He finds some elevated ground that is not far enough away from the streams of lava to avoid the scalding of bone-charring heat entirely - only enough so much as to say that it is a level of exposure the human body might survive and live to tell the tale of, maybe, an experience that can be abstracted as 'glancing' when it remains 'agonizing.'
Meteors continue to rain down, and Ethius keeps running along the length of this newfound higher ground to avoid them while steam threatens to obscure the finer details that would be visible to him from all of these open mouths shooting off hot rocks (plus that one situated much lower on its body that is spitting up lava).
It does not register that the encroaching lava will consume the wagons. He has either forgotten, resigned to it, or... in so far as this man cares, fixates upon whatever compels him to want to completely destroy and annihilate whatever entities or individuals seem to violate whatever crazed 'ethics' define him.
That does seem to come down to it in the end, isn't it?
All of a sudden, a lake breaks into reality, a moment of... clarity? Ethius stares into Ialdbaoth even before all that is transpiring, flowing with coincidental timing to the ripple that reflects his determination, unflappable to whatever it is that allows him to cast so many truly important things aside just for the sake of doing what it is he is setting out to do. He neither embraces or denies what courses through, it just... does.
Just as he just... does. Only one thing matters to him within this specific moment.
He slams the butt of the quarterstaff into the earth. It is like a crack of thunder, as he stands straighter with an extended hand fluttering fingers. More Symbological casting. There is a noted lack of heightened emotion even with the intensity of the gesture, as though there is a perfect clarity of what it is he's doing in that moment.
Sizing up and calculating what is visible inside the mouths of the beast even as they are rapidly shooting detritus, his gesticulations and chants get more complex, drawing upon obscure Symbological 'cheats' to adjust a spell's magnitude and spacing.
"...Grave Dust." Ethius finishes the spellcast, and goes through with that spell that has earned so much pause every time he's cast it. The space that the latest experiment occupies is quickly filling with far, far more coarse dust particles than usual, attempting to spontaneously generate them within the beast as if to create a blockage.
What Ialdbaoth is spitting out might be so white hot that whatever sort of foreign matter Ethius tries to introduce may amount to little more than just trace amounts of additional lava being spewed out, or more pieces of ejected glass-rock. His primary contribution - his only shot to 'helping' this situation, is to attempt to set off a catastrophic failure from just clogging the thing so full of matter as if to induce a meltdown.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Noeline shouts a warning to the group and to Dean in particular. "What?!" he shouts, looking over at her, then up at the skies over the Metal Beast. Only then does he notice that there's some kind of pod or platform floating overhead. He can't see Alhazred from down here, but the platform alone makes Noeline's meaning clear. "Gotcha!" he's in the process of saying--but then Avril asks Dean to cover her, and then uses the power of Lucadia to leap into the heavens.
There's no time to be careful, then. Sorry, Noeline, but Dean's going to act in favor of keeping Avril from getting squished by a massive Metal Beast. As she soars down and sinks her blade into its flesh, Dean unleashes his bullets across the creature's chest. Maybe it's not as vulnerable as he at first though, but even a big ugly three-headed monster is gonna have trouble dealing with attacks from two different directions, right?! ...Not so much. The bullets scatter in either direction from the astoundingly hard flesh. But his purpose was to cover Avril, so--!
But that's the moment Ialdabaoth just up and belches lava, LITERAL LAVA. A particular massive lump of it streams in Dean's direction, but lucky for him, the speed spell he cast on himself is still in effect. He leaps not away from the stream of molten rock but *towards* it, aiming to jump up onto a rocky outcrop nearby that juts high over the earth and allows him to evade the twin streams. Avril's not nearly so capable of evading with her sword ARM thrust deep into the creature's thick skin, and when she's struck in turn, Dean bellows, "AVRIL!!"
From there, he leaps forward to catch her as she falls, as if to say he's here and it's all over now. Except, while they may land together in the snow, it's not over just yet, and won't be for a while longer if this beast's stamina has anything to say about it.
"This thing's even tougher than it looks, huh?" he tells her, face scrunched up with concern for her terrible injuries. "If you need to fall back to heal yourself, I'll cover you again. But after that, we're gonna need to hit this thing as hard as we can if we wanna take it down." But even as he says that, the world shimmers into a lake of perfect blue. Dean turns, amazed by the vision of the butterfly-footed unicorn, and feels its power wash over him and Avril, knitting their earlier wounds and energizing them with the light of life. "Riese--she figured it out after all!" he says, smiling in pride for his friend and her Material summoning.
This pride is short-lived when Riesenlied explodes again. (She REALLY needs to stop doing that.)
"RIESE!" he calls--but Lydia's already there, catching/cushioning Riese as she completes her own Material summoning and bringing down the lasers of judgment. He'll have to trust that she's got her covered. Instead, he faces Avril with a look of determination. She's been healed, so it's time to bring out the big guns. "Ready to do this together? I've got your back!"
Teeth grit, eyes narrowed, Dean braces himself as he faces Ialdobaoth, then fires two large energy bolts from each of his ARMs, shells flying from Twin Fenrir's cartridges. "Y'like that?!" he shouts. When Avril leaps out and joins her attack with his, creating a massive single bolt that surges forward towards the Metal Beast, he adds, "GO!!"
Ffom there, the Javelin Bullet has but to strike the creature with all the might it can muster against its nigh-impregnable hide.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Alhazred with Grave Dust! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Grave Dust for 84 hit points! GS: Alhazred has been weakened by Disease! They take 0 damage, and burn off all temporary hit points! GS: Disease! Statuses applied to Alhazred!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
She lands safely.
So to speak.
Gripping the hilt of Absolute Zero tight, Avril hangs on to her only point of leverage here atop the beast, kicking out with a booted foot lest she continue to cling/dangle off the side of the creature.
Black tarry blood oozes from the rent she's made, her positioning jostled as the beast lumbers along. With a grimace, she reaches up, grabbing onto its hide; finding purchase there, she hauls herself upwards and only draws her blade to follow once she's attained a reasonably secure position.
The keyword here being 'reasonably secure'. She's still perched atop the back of a monster, and up here there isn't much room to run or hide.
Particularly not when the beast belches up molten rock. Meteoric fireballs rain down everywhere--
Including the beast itself. It naturally is resilient; Avril is not.
There's no 'safe' place in this rain of fire. Even throwing up an arm would be a useless gesture. Instead, Avril's reply to its onslaught is to crouch atop its back and once again slam her blade into its hide; it may be too thick to allow her to reach anything vital, but it is at least better than simply surrendering herself to the storm.
There is nowhere to run. Struck countless times by the bolides, Avril stumbles, slips, and plummets from the monstrosity's back.
Only to be caught. Staring up into Dean's eyes, she stares through him for a moment, as if she could see what lies in his heart. Avril blinks, refocusing. "Thank you," she murmurs. A shimmering veil caresses the sky, soothing her wounds with its soft touch. It's Riesenlied. It's the Life Medium, she realizes, recognizing the touch of the power with a start.
Riese--she figured it out after all!
In spite of their situation, she smiles, at least for the moment. "I'm glad..."
Alongside them, Absolute Zero catches up, landing blade-down in a melting snowdrift with a decided thunk.
She stands, sliding from his grasp, and reclaims her blade. Sidelong, her gaze turns towards the encroaching pools of lava oozing towards the wagons, and something in her chest catches. --But, it's impossible to reach them from here. "...This must end here," she informs her friend, her gaze hardening into an expression akin to a sheet of ice as she regards the creature. She might be mistaken for someone else entire, in this moment. ...Save for that familiar way she glances at him, as he tenders his suggestion.
"Yes. Together."
Taking a step back, she directs the blade towards the monster, and with a twist of the wrist, the blade vanishes altogether. Her finger eases over the trigger, watching, waiting for the moment in which Dean opens fire.
"Are you prepared for this?" she asks of the creature, as she pulls at last the trigger, squeezing it twice to release the ARM's usual beam in a single concentrated shot.
GS: Dean Stark has activated a Force Action! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has activated a Force Action! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Alhazred with Absolute Zero - Plasma Arc! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Absolute Zero - Plasma Arc for 109 hit points! GS: Break! Statuses applied to Alhazred! GS: Dean Stark has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Alhazred with Twin Fenrir - Sonic Vision! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred takes a solid hit from Dean Stark's Twin Fenrir - Sonic Vision for 339 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Dean Stark! GS: Dean Stark enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Alhazred takes 10 damage from Poison! GS: Alhazred has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily, too, faces broken and steaming ice as heat and cold mix explosively--she throws up her hand and a barrier of darkness curls over her face, but the ice still cuts a gouge across her arm. The black curve before her disappears an instant later, and Lily watches Kahran warily, beginning to step, to circle. Back at Adelhyde, she was half-dead, but empowered by stolen Drive, responsible for a host of deaths simply leaving. ...But Leon had come for her.
Here, she is watching Kahran carefully, suspicious when he suddenly smiles. ...But he's proven too strong to attack heedlessly, and so she waits for an opening as he speaks. ...As he declares something.
"...?" She doesn't answer so quickly as Leon does, wary. And a reason to be wary quickly shows.
Lily feels the Ether gathering, feels the pull and push of the invisible power in the air. ...She doesn't so much as look at the terrible creature behind, as if her world doesn't include it now. But she feels the cold as it begins. The pressure--
...He has enough power that it's that obvious. Lily sets her jaw. The wind crashes towards her, however--the aura alone so different from hers is like an assault, and she is forced back a few steps by it, head turning as she keeps her silence by effort, as her awareness wavers for a moment. Whatever that was...
Whatever it was, the power that floods into her that is so familiar--such light--helps her stand a moment later. Life... It does not match her magic, precisely. But--
"...We work together because we know one another," Lily says in addition to Leon. "Because we trained together. What we have, we've fought for."
Leon jumps, and Lily throws out her hands; feeling the sheer power of Ether, she uses a spell that builds on it, a sharp wave of her own building, hanging in the air, invisible, tense like a coiled snake--
Until it hits the air and starts exploding, golden nuclear fire erupting in all directions but the one Leon stands in, weakening, undoing.
"And I'm not finished yet!"
As Riesenlied falls, though... Far from Lily now, Dog barks again, and moves over her, setting fierce guard over anyone who would come close.
GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahran Ramses with Crash Pulse! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Crash Pulse for 117 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Kahran Ramses!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
"I came here to offer my assistance, actually," Ramses answers Leon. He suspects he won't be believed - Keil will undoubtedly have told him enough of Solaris to know what their usual play is. But in moments such as these, with blade against blade and will against will, Karhan Ramses generally prefers to cleave to the truth. "But I am not one to turn the other cheek, little -Lamb-."
The Gebler commander sets himself as the Kislevi soldier leaps into the air. If he was fighting Leon alone, Kahran would respond by spear the man out of the air on lances of lightning... but with Lily circling the fray, he needs to keep his attention divided, ready to respond to her Ether attacks with some of his own. Instead, he raises his sword in a fourth-position guard, bracing himself for the impact. Argent Divider smashes into Ramses' guard; the Solarian steel quivers but holds, for now, against the might of the excavated ARM. The force of the blow drives Ramses' body downward, bowing but not broken, his knees flexing to absorb the impact. From the lowered position, Ramses can do little more than shoulder-check into Leon's centre mass - hard enough to stumble, but not enough to harm - in order to buy himself space to employ his longer blade once more.
Except Lily ruins that plan by bathing the area in nuclear fire, carving lines through the snow and stone alike; Ramses rolls away from one such blast, his uniform pants scorched and smoking, an ugly burn along the lower part of his left leg. He grits his teeth and ignores it, stoically accepting the pain as the price of doing business. It so often is.
By the time he comes to his feet, Ramses is channeling his Ether, a whirling storm of wind and blown snow encircling him rapidly, whipping his hair and the torn pieces of his uniform into a frenzy. The Gebler commander grips his blade with both hands and focuses; lines of light almost like microchip circuits flicker along the edge of the blade as the Ether gathers, and grows, and grows. "Indeed - love is friendship caught fire!" Ramses roars, lifting his sword overhead. "Let us see if your flame can weather the storm!"
The sword comes down, twists, then cuts across.
And a pair of brilliant white-green beams arc toward Lily and Leon, tearing furrows from the earth as they go, shredding the air itself into a keening squeal as they pass.
GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Leon Albus with Silence of the Lambs! GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Lily Keil with Silence of the Lambs! GS: Kahran Ramses has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Surely their heroic attack will have -
Prissa leans forwards slightly -
No it didn't. "Lewd!" Prissa calls when Alhazrad says 'orifice.' Her impertinence is swiftly punished when the lava comes, and when the flames lick up along her trews she realizes: she's visible again! And as she leaps once more for the snow, she thinks: OH NO!
She emerges from it as she realizes that that woman, that kind metal woman, is doing something. She barely understands it beyond being some kind of analogy to summoning, and yet, of course, this sparks other thoughts and references. She sucks in her breath through her teeth and looks up at -
The machina! For if Prissa has one advantage here, it is that the howling terror of this monster is at least not a complete novelty to her. The carriages, though. The carriages are in peril and if those are burned then all of this is for naught.
And what really burns her biscuits is... she's probably not getting back that knife she threw. SHE LIKED THAT KNIFE.
But what can she do?!
Prissa reaches for the blade on her back, which she has not drawn yet in anger. What comes out looks like steel but in the cooling cherry glow of lava, it has a certain snarl in the alloy's decorative finish. The weapon comes out and she grasps it with both hands, staring ahead at the creature.
Because for all of her thrashing... she's still on its flank, relatively speaking.
Prissa thinks she can hear the blade growling, though this is probably artistic. She sees Avril threatening to tumble, Dean catching her. I should say something here, but what, Prissa thinks, finding she is already running forwards. She mutters, mumbles, pants for breath, and finally shouts, "PSYCHES!" as she slings the blade -
A blade forged from memory and determination, from the remnants of a courageous hound of another world mingled with fine steel alloy -
At the exact same ankle she was worrying at before!
GS: Prissa has activated a Force Action! GS: Prissa has activated a Force Action! GS: Prissa has attacked Alhazred with Stiletto - Pendrago Tragique! GS: Prissa has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Prissa's Stiletto - Pendrago Tragique for 94 hit points! GS: Lily Keil critically Guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Silence of the Lambs for 53 hit points! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kahran Ramses has lost 1 Combo! GS: COUNTER! Leon Albus strikes at Kahran Ramses with a counter attack! GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Kahran Ramses's Silence of the Lambs for 119 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
So this performance was unexpected - it was clear however that the data that he was gathering was extremely valuable here. He taps one claw on the control panel, watching the screen with intent interest. "This certainly exceeds my calculations. An outcome I did not expect. But how to proceed..." he muses. He can detect signs of some other observing sensors in the area, but that isn't unexpected. Not unexpected in the least.
Ialdabaoth reacts to the sudden appearance of a Guardian, unleashed by a Material, by raising a defensive field. But it is a preprogrammed response that expects an attack - and Riese's invocation of the Guardian of light is not anything that the abomination's countermeasures can predict. But instead it leaves it in a position that is well prepared for the incoming invocation of Lydia's own Guardian, and the beams of light slam into the shield. The pierce through it, blasting into the monster's body - but the power is badly reduced, only a fraction of what it was. But the threat that it poses to the caravan is something that must be honored, and the fact that the snowy fields have been transformed into a dry hellscape in a short period of time merely shows what the power of the heat the creature has created is able to accomplish.
Barriers are thrown up. Defenses are prepared. And the caravan is spared the immediate ravages of the molten wrath that has been unleashed by Ialdbaoth - the lava is pushed back, and while its intense heat causes the winds to rage above the battlefield, it will not engulf the innocents that are being transported to safety. For the moment at least - because the monster is continuing to rampage. Ethius launches more debris into the monster, trying to clog up the works - but Avril and Dean launch a more concentrated offensive. First Avril's beam slams into the abomination, rocking it backwards- and a moment later, Dean's blast slams into it at the base of one of its necks. There is a loud explosion, the sound of metal tearing apart, and one of the heads flies off in a shower of metal parts and molten rock, crashing to the ground nearby with a calamitous THUD.
Ialdbaoth shrieks, and immediately the stump where the head was blasted off begins to seal itself over, grey material bubbling up from inside to cover the gaping hole. In a few moments it has sealed over, preventing any more of the black fluid from spewing out. Prissa lashes out to strike it in the foot once again, and enraged by the pain, it reads up and tries to stomp on her. Several times. Times several.
As Riesenlied collapses to the ground, the Esperanza drops down from the sky. It gives the Dog a look - when it's probably twice the dog's size, it does not seem too concerned with the interference of a canine. Instead it extends its proboscis and lightly pokes the fallen Metal Demon with it, perhaps trying to take a small sample for Alhazred's analysis.
The Abomination is MAD however, and it rumbles forwards - its four remaining heads focusing themselves on the two Drifters who had so cruelly wounded it. Three of the heads gather themselves together, exhaling flame into what appears to be a single mass that it gathers for a moment... and sends HURLING into Avril. The massive mouth in its torso, on the other hand, goes for a far less direct approach when dealing with Dean. It opens wide and vents its rage in the form of a boiling stream of the molten hot fluid that the creature seems to use in lieu of blood. And it vents it ALL OVER Dean's general direction.
There was something to be said for the unexpected, however- and Alhazred was willing to put the occasional 'off the wall' device into his inventions. The fact that he considers Ialdbaoth to be an invention rather than a living thing is, of course, a sign of how twisted the Quarter Knight's main scientist is. But in this case, he had an unexpected amount of extra space inside of the creature when he had completed the conversion process. And so he had packed in some additional weapons, just to provide a surprise if he needed it.
This seemed like as good an occasion as any.
"Deploy tertiary armaments!"
And all across the back of the abomination, metallic flesh is pushed aside as cone shaped points suddenly push themselves to the surface. But rather than being spines or any sort of other close in attack... these prove to be something a bit more dynamic.
Because with a ripple of fire that spreads across the back of the beast, a barrage of missiles is launched forth! The weapons jump into the sky, climbing on red cinder trails into the heavens before they pause at a predetermined apex.
And then they flip over and come racing back down, causing a rain of explosions to erupt on the ground below. The blasts are designed to add to the confusion, striking randomly and seemingly without pattern or purpose. Only those closer to the monster are spared.
GS: Kahran Ramses takes a glancing hit from Leon Albus's Counter Attack for 81 hit points! GS: Alhazred has attacked Alhazred with Self Repair Sequence! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: DISEASE! Alhazred tries to heal Alhazred, but it doesn't work! GS: Alhazred has attacked Lydia Seren with Spare Space Filling Missiles! GS: Alhazred has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Spare Space Filling Missiles! GS: Alhazred has attacked Noeline with Spare Space Filling Missiles! GS: Alhazred has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Spare Space Filling Missiles! GS: Alhazred has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Hydra Flame Cannon! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Venting ANGRY Plasma! GS: Alhazred has attacked Prissa with Mighty Stomp! GS: Alhazred has attacked Riesenlied with Poke! GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Poke for 0 hit points! GS: Alhazred takes 8 damage from Poison! GS: Alhazred has completed his action. GS: Lydia Seren takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Spare Space Filling Missiles for 50 hit points! GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Spare Space Filling Missiles for 100 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Alhazred's Spare Space Filling Missiles for 63 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has activated a Force Action! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Hydra Flame Cannon for 88 hit points! GS: Prissa takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Mighty Stomp for 71 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Prissa! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Spare Space Filling Missiles for 96 hit points! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Alhazred's Venting ANGRY Plasma for 97 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"K-Kids... kids first," Riesenlied whispers to Lydia, still dizzy from their crash. Lean on her more... but-- but has she done nothing but lean on people, all this while?
The thoughts are coming out incoherently. Logic isn't quite connecting.
Somehow, with some immeasurable will that she didn't know was there, Riesenlied isn't quite unconscious -- but she understands that she's not going to particularly get back up and continue fighting. There's a withered look as she gazes over towards Maya as she calls towards her--
Her voice murky, her ears ringing... "Maya-- please--"
Something thrums within her. She can instinctually tell that it is the ring; with Noeline's anger pent up and feeling as if she's yelling directly at her. "Don't-- don't blame them... no... it's not Odoryuk's fault."
It is intermixed with Jacqueline's anger as she scant hears them relay on Alhazred's horrific deeds. There is another upswell, and she can feel the presence of yet another Guardian-- alongside Odoryuk and Rigdobrite, she can sense an elemental presence as the earth shifts and appeases the soil to stop the flow of the lava in its wake.
Dean pleads with her to stop exploding, on some level -- on some other day, in some other time, she may have more readily agreed. Just don't use it. The Medium isn't all that she can do... she was utilising her empathic powers just fine before--
But...
As he calls for their attack -- as he and Avril join in tandem and assault the creature together...
As Prissa continues onward and believes in her psyche (as much as she knows, she doesn't know the Psyches are a sports team and probably will get ruined by that knowledge)...
"Lydia... if I lean on you more... on everyone's efforts more..."
She lowers her head. The fear and anxiety has finally surfaced in a way that's frankly unbecoming; she's trembling, as she gazes towards her daughter. Towards Noeline, as she chases towards her in the near distance.
"Do I even deserve to be here...? What am I doing, if all I am doing is casting suspicion from others...?"
She yelps for a moment as the Esperanza finally brings itself to bear; Dog starts to bark, and she reaches towards Dog as if to protect her, though it actually passes through and probes her.
"Ah--!"
The Esperanza draws blood, as she flinches as blood -- red, Tainted blood as Alhazred knows them to have -- flows free. The shape of the drone is faint familiar to her, but little does she know what awaits her...
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I doubt that very much," Leon answers, with a scowl.
Argent Divider slams into Solarian steel, both blades ringing, and the impact of Rmases's shoulder slams Leon backward a couple of inches. He still feels a sting in his chest -- where he was hit earlier. He quickly darts away, then, as that strange fire that Lily can summon begins blasting here and there. He stays put for a moment -- knowing well enough that Lily will weave it around him.
As the fires clear, he sees that Ramses is already weaving together a spell with his Ether. The beam fires, air parting and rushing around it. Leon rushes right at the beam, and it clips him in the side. Some of his sleeve burns away, wisping into ash -- and there is an ugly burn on his arm, as he rushes at Ramses. He slashes once, blade biting for the Gebler officer's side. But, he also rushes past.
He skids to a stop. Silver eyes dart, noting where Riesenlied fell -- and where that probe has landed. His breath catches, but his eyes are shortly directed back at Ramses. Then, he swings his sword back up. Light glimmers up the length of Argent Divider's blade; then, complementing the thinner blade, a shimmering silver blade of light erupts. The edge dances and flickers, like a flame.
Leon rushes again.
"I've every reason to think your help temporary and inconveniently conditional!" he adds, spitting the words out. His blade held to the side, gripped in two hands, Leon charges with a quick set of strides. Then, he pivots on a foot -- and swings it around with a diagonal slash. The energy blade on it crackles, then explodes with silver fire onto Ramses as the strike comes to its conclusion.
GS: Leon Albus has activated a Force Action! GS: Leon Albus enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Leon Albus has attacked Kahran Ramses with Code.26 CLARENT! GS: Leon Albus has gained 2 Combo! GS: Leon Albus has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Code.26 CLARENT for 167 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline exhales. Good...the civilians were protected from the lava, at least, but there's still the matter of this creature to deal with. It could undoubtedly break through the earthen walls, given enough time. Its power was that immense.
She winces slightly as one of the heads is cleaved right from the neck. Well...it needed to be done, she supposed.
Just as Jacqueline's about to recover, however, the back of the beast opens up. Cone-shaped points emerge and fire off - missiles. Jacqueline brings her cloak up to defend against the barrage, but it's impossible to predict where they'll land. The hammer into the side of her pillar, sending her crashing down to the - thankfully now cooled - ground with a wince, her glasses clattering away from her. She lays there for a moment, stunned, before forcing herself to her feet.
Grasping hands catch her glasses, sliding them back on as she uses the remains of her pillar to support herself.
"...Alright." She says simply. She thrusts her left hand out, and energy tears at the ground beneath the abomination's feet. Earth and stone is hurled upward...and then, with a downward gesture of her right hand, lightning crashes down repeatedly onto the beast, sending the lifted rubble down with it as well.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip! GS: Jacqueline Barber has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Alhazred with Dualcast - Voltaic Quake! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Tertiary armaments are deployed.
Ethius' eyes widen, a break in the reverie of murderous intent and action. The Technology Hunter often boasts an incredible understanding aobut the range of motion and capabilities of many things he sees. Sight, sound... whatever governs his instincts, he can usually read the level of threat presented by something like this down to a fine detail - not out of specific familiarity of a singular entity but as though drawing from a whole he does not fathom.
This one takes him by complete surprise.
Had he known such a thing lurked under the surface of the husk, he'd have already known what was the safest range to be in which to avoid being targeted. He is much too far out of this safe range, by being too far out. He staggers to close the gap, sliding down the higher ground into still-cooling ground that is boiling hot to touch but won't melt him into goo. He swings his arm inward again to the same chant of syllables that governs his Symbological shielding spell, and even that doesn't seem like it does much to stop the rain of explosions from the chaotic fire.
It is only the grace of Odoryuk, by proxy of the struggling Riesenlied.
She might see Ethius run by. He doesn't pay her heed. He doesn't stop to say 'thank you, you have assisted me' or 'thank you for saving their lives.'
Wait, has he ever - to most peoples' recollections - honestly showed much care for any large number of people? All he ever seems to do is melt architecture, destroy priceless relics, kill people, make threatening overtones, talk about in a roundabout way, and hit his head a lot.
Heedless of his near brush with death, he closes the gap towards the abomination as he attempts to thrust the quarterstaff into the temporary opening made by one of the emerging missiles, to try and wedge it in there before the 'hatch' is scabbed back over by its flesh. It's an awkward angle, owing to leverage and height differences...
"Stinger," says the man much too calmly for someone who has been subject to both frostbite-inducing cold and soul-melting heat to the degree that nerve damage seems a certainty, thrusting the staff with both hands as he tries to flick the staff upward to excaberate a prospective wound, to create a new opening.
GS: Alhazred has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred critically Guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Dualcast - Voltaic Quake for 65 hit points! GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has lost 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Alhazred with Stinger! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Stinger for 79 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia is not knocked out, though she is a little swirley-eyed. She can hear them, all these people calling out Riesenlied's name, rushing towards her. She is beloved by all and for good reason. She is kind, thoughtful, and always looking out for others. Doubt is a little monster that lives in everyone and she's seen it lurking within Riese for a while since coming to Elru.
And it lives in Lydia too. It tells her that these relationships are all temporary. They'll tire of you eventually, or just throw you away when you're inconvenient, or even just factors beyond anybody's control will seperate you entirely.
It's happened with Kaguya hasn't it? Won't it happen with Talia? Rebecca? Riese and Noeline?
Janey...Mikaia?
But Lydia recognizes it's the little monster inside of her for the moment. Her Guardian barely punched through that barrier at max power, but maybe there's something else she can try. She is confused at Riesenlied's question. Is this what has been bugging her all this time? Is that her monster?
"Mom...Whatcha mean? We've been leaning on you too." She is not a Nisanite so this is purely coincidence. "The Guardians put their faith in you, hell they talk to you more than they do me. I know they haven't made it easy, but that's never been what they did. They're hard on us too. You think we like living in a desert?"
She takes in a deep, ragged breath. "You signed up for a hard life. The hardest life. But you always have done the max difficulty, the max effort. That's why we--"
Her words are cut short when the Esperanza attacks.
The Guardian Rigdobrite is still hanging in the air, it throws itself down at the Metal Abomination. Perhaps crashing into it directly will manage to push past its barrier.
But Lydia isn't even looking at it, she skates towards the Esparanza, lashing out with her blades to try and slice it apart before it can hurt Riesenlied further. Her movements slower, her strikes weaker due to injury and the sudden dawning horror of just what this might all be about. She screams wordlessly in desperation.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Alhazred with Material - Rigdobrite! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Alhazred has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Alhazred completely evades Material - Rigdobrite from Lydia Seren!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
One, two.
Together they strike. And for that, they're rewarded with the satisfaction -- and the hideous crash, the shuddering of the earth that follows -- of decapitating one of the monster's heads.
They are also rewarded with the monster's fury. Her eyes widen. "Dean -- look out!" Avril calls, reaching over to push him sidelong--
An action that is pointless, as that particular gathered flame, she soon realizes, is focused upon a single person.
Herself.
There's no time to reach for the Medium, no time for anything except to dig deep into her slowly developing power and unleash it in a wall of ice about herself.
The ice sublimates immediately. It's an explosion to be more specific, one that does not leave even her unscathed in the backwash.
And it's in the next moment as she falls back behind a rapidly melting snowy hillside, that Dean is not as free of the monster's attentions as she had first thought.
Her cry dies in her throat.
Hardens into a hot iron of purpose.
And she races across the melting drifts, Absolute Zero out
blade materializing, now out at her side like a wing
and closes towards Ialdbaoth.
No fencer's thrust is this: she barely even stops in her run, throwing further momentum into the swing, itself an overhead chopping blow for the first leg she can reach.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Alhazred with Spirit Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Spirit Saber for 127 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I can think of a way you could assist," Lily retorts darkly as Leon expresses his skepticism. But there's the term again--, that -Lamb- that she's heard used before. ...If she were alone, Lily might not even bother with aiming at this point. But then, she can't afford to throw her energy out that way; it's a good way to ensure they won't prevail. What she can do, however--
Lily has a startling amount of control over her abilities, despite her apparent lack of training. The strange force she uses doesn't so much as touch Leon; stone melts before it disappears, but Lily spots that her foe has largely evaded the blast. "Leon--"
She sees the motion of the blade, but sight does not tell her what to do. She feels it, instead, growing Ether that roars as loudly to her as the Commander's voice, moreso. Even as the blade cuts across and the beam crashes towards Lily, she draws in a quick breath, and lets go her restraint an instant.
Just before the beam impacts her, flames erupt all around her, from her. Her whole form is obscured by the sudden conflagration, and in this way she is able to leech away some of its force, absorb strength to keep her going. ...When the flames disappear in an instant though, there are still terrible burns where the beam impacted her.
"...I don't need to withstand the flame," Lily answers, voice edged, still laced with fury. "I am the flame."
In the midst of this, Dog rushes the robot trying to probe Riesenlied, and while she can't stop it, she can try to batter it. Even with Riesenlied trying to protect her, Dog does her best for Riesenlied.
Lily, instead, lifts her left hand, and the circuit markings on her skin gleam suddenly crimson. Red light shines around herself and Leon, before it suddenly winks out. "I'd rather see these plains burn than accept your help."
The only sense at first that there is something unusual is a sudden sense of nothing--of the absence of effect, somehow. The disturbance in the air becomes clear as the power builds, though--Lily's form distorts, as if from a gravitational disturbance, and a black aura begins to spread around her. Her eyes, gold, begin to fill entirely with blackness, no difference between sclera, iris, or pupil.
With a thunderous crash, a rift opens in the air, a tiny point of shadow that erupts into an explosion that begins to disintegrate stone and snow outright, leaving nothing in their place but strange photonegative colors. Magic, matter; the blast hungrily devours whatever it can.
GS: Lily Keil used Mystic on Leon Albus! Status effect durations increased by 2! Temporary HP duration increased by 2! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil used Mystic on Lily Keil! Status effect durations increased by 2! Temporary HP duration increased by 2! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahran Ramses with Annihilation Signal! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Annihilation Signal for 203 hit points! GS: Lily Keil has lost 0 Combo! GS: Kahran Ramses has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Javelin Bullet strikes true and hard--so hard that it RIPS one of those heads off with a shriek of metal, sending it flying in a shower of metal and molten rock. The crash of its landing is enough to send Dean an inch into the air, absolutely not of his own volition. But he keeps his balance when he lands and pumps a fist even as the hole where its head was bubbles over and seals itself. "YEAH!! We did it!" he cheers. "Let's keep this pace up, Avril!"
But first they'll have to avoid its counterattacks. Quite understandably, having one of its several heads seared off has gotten it rather upset. Three heads exhale a maassive gout of flame at Avril; the other just throws up the BIGGEST hot lava loogie there ever was, right at Dean. Avril cries out and pushes him out of the way, apparently not realizing that the creature is equally angry at both of them--and while this does keep Dean from getting hit directly by that molten blood attack, the steam it sends up still scorches him badly, even as he attempts to protect his face with his arms. "Ugh...! Avril, you gotta watch out for yourself, too!!" he calls back.
But she's already taking action. She flies forward, Absolute Zero in hand, to strike the blade deep into the creature. Dean's eyes narrow as he half-turns towards her. If she's going to charge in with everything she's got, then he'll use everything *he's* got to support her. Drawing Twin Fenrir around to make a bead on Ialdobaoth, he unleashes several more searing bolts of energy, which this time spiral around and attempt to strike where Avril has aimed in order to aggravate whatever wounds she inflicts.
GS: Dean Stark has activated a Force Action! GS: Dean Stark has activated a Force Action! GS: Dean Stark has spent 4 Combo on Gatling, including 3 on Gatling! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Alhazred with Violence Vice! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is not at Riesenlied's side, not yet - having been separated from her by the beast's attacks and pressed in by Alhazred's terrible pet, the distance between them feels much, much too far. All the moreso as Riesenlied plummets out of the sky; Lydia manages to more or less catch her mother, which is a distinct relief, but at the distance she's at Noeline can see the Esperanza sweep down towards them, and feel a terrible wave of sick fear blossom in her gut.
She can also see the barrage of missiles launch forth from the creature's back - but that is a purely secondary concern compared to the enormously overriding sight of Alhazred's probe reaching for her partner. In the face of that, there is no time to dodge or weave - she simply forces her legs to keep pumping. "--Lydia! Riese!" she yells just before her position is consumed in white-grey, the first explosion throwing up a mass of soil and snow that obscures the air around her. More of them follow, bombarding the area around her.
There is a flicker of sorcery amongst the smoke, however, and as if reforming herself from it Noeline reappears at the same dead-set run she entered the cloud. Her coat is ragged and burnt along her back and one shoulder, and she is streaked with mud and snow and silvery blood, but she's still moving.
Somehow, their link shining, she can pick up on Riesenlied's words - but they're a terribly cold comfort as Riesenlied lies there in front of her, bleeding and shattered. "Who says I'm only angry at them?" she grimaces, muttering the words under her breath. Whether they will reach Riese, she cannot say, but it's all she's got. "How can you possibly think you do nothing? How can you possibly not realize how much you mean to the Outreach? You think we want - let alone demand - you tear yourself apart to a bitter end? We made a promise - together!"
Her head swims with dizziness for a moment, and she nearly stumbles; too much fatigue built up, too much stress. They've all pushed themselves much too hard. Somehow, though, she manages to keep her feet - and launches herself at the Esperanza and its probe. What begins as a leaping strike becomes a visibly confusing mess, as Noeline's blade abruptly melts away into a string of lacerating metal whips, lashing at the craft and its arm in an much too similar manner to Lydia's attack.
Each tendril suddenly and abruptly blazes with energy - and with her eyes alight with fire and sorcery and her arms shaking with the effort of it, Noeline does her best to simply tear the probe apart piece by piece. She doesn't offer any further bravado, or any further words. This is no time to be glib, not with what is at stake. Besides, her expression says it all: that to get Riese, Alhazred will have to go through her.
GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action! GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action! GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action! GS: Noeline has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Noeline has attacked Alhazred with The Errant Blade! GS: Noeline has gained 1 Combo! GS: Noeline has completed her action. GS: Alhazred guards a hit from Dean Stark's Violence Vice for 99 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Alhazred takes a solid hit from Noeline's The Errant Blade for 304 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Noeline!
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
More blows continue to rain down on the Metal Abomination, but the number of people who are focusing on it has greatly decreased. Avril manages to land a brutal blow with her sword, tearing a large gash into the creature and leaving it open for Dean to launch his own followup attack into the fray. The creature staggers, roaring in pain and anger as it tries to focus itself - but the damage is piling up, and it is clear that the monster's integrity is failing.
Lydia lashes out at the Esperanza, but it flits out of the way with a casual grace that might seem mocking if it was programmed for such things. It is far less able to escape from Noeline, who splits it in half with a single blow. The two parts of the drone fall to the side, crashing to the ground in a shower of sparks. But its data is added to the flow, transmitting upwards to Alhazred's command pod.
Watching the data flow over his screen, Alhazred can see that there is definitely something here. Something important. "Clever little thing. Trying to discover another path - certainly not the one I had sought, but a good scientist must ascertain all other options before excluding them from the procedure." He reaches out, pushing the control stick forward and sending his command pod flying forward towards the battlefield. This was unprecedented, something that he needed to ensure he could study for himself. To understand it. To grasp the ramifications.
It was important enough that he was willing to sacrifice his current project for the sake of these new possibilities.
He did not enjoy losing progress, but this was the way of things. Reaching out, the Quarter Knight strikes a series of keys with his claw, each of them making a low, dull tone. "Alas, Ialdbaoth. While your performance was just on the proper side of acceptable, I fear that sacrifices must be made. For the greater good.
"For SCIENCE."
The command pod comes to a stop above the battlefield, and Alhazred can use the Esperanza as a way of targeting where Riesenlied has fallen below. As he comes to a half, the Quarter Knight rapidly begins striking keys in the pod, sending a series of commands. For this to work, he'll need to exploit their better natures... and his own ruthlessness.
The Metal Abomination suddenly comes to a halt as a new command comes from on high, slamming into its body with the irresistible force of a commandment of god. Ialdbaoth throws its head back and shrieks - and then begins to walk towards the caravan. And from part of the creature's body, Alhazred's voice crackles out over some sort of remote speaker. " This has been an interesting test thus far, but I fear our time is at an end. Please help provide me with a final evaluation - I am curious if you can prevent Ialdbaoth from completing its final sequence. Good luck..." the Quarter Knight concludes with an amused chuckle.
With each step, a terrible glow begins to burn within its body. Light escapes from every crack and seam in its metal flesh, and from deep within it becomes clear that vast, terrible amounts of heat are gathering. It lumbers forward, little more than a ticking time bomb that closes on the innocents in the caravan with merciless finality.
Alhazred has transformed it into a bomb. Part of its body begins to melt away, sending gouts of flame erupting over the field as it continues its advance. Enough damage will bring it to a halt, leaving it to melt down into the ground in a bubbling crater of burned earth and magma... but there is the caravan to consider, and the city beyond if this walking meltdown is not stopped.
But in the end, it is all a distraction from his real goal.
The poke from the Esperanza was not an attempt to gather samples - instead it was merely to attach a small device to her. As Lydia comes in from the side, lashing out at the flying dragonfly drone, it weaves away for the moment as Alhazred reaches for another button in his command pod. In response, the bottom of the pod unfolds, allowing an array to extend downwards - pointed at Riesenlied who is directly below.
And suddenly the armor plating, ejected earlier on the battlefield, begin to move. They shudder for a moment, quivering where they had fallen before standing upright. The entire dispersed capture array, deployed to allow him to collect samples of the fallen after the battle, is instead aimed at a singular target. And the first piece jumps forward and attaches itself to Riesenlied like a piece of chest armor, pulling her up into the air slightly. And then a second attaches to her from behind, lifting her more. A third. Fourth. And more - pieces flying in from all over to plaster themselves around the Metal Demon like a cocoon, shrouding her from sight and surrounding her in a shroud of armor that begins to lift up into the sky.
Alhazred pulls a lever, employing the magnetic array on the bottom of his command pod to increase the rate of ascent considerably - if he is going to sacrifice this much work for an opportunity, he is damned if he is going to lose it. But knowing that her friends are unlikely to abandon her, he instead directs his creation to rampage right under the rising armored cocoon - Risenlied is protected from the incredible heat, but those who might think of saving her will be... less fortunate.
GS: Alhazred has activated a Force Action! GS: Alhazred has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Lydia Seren with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Dean Stark with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Noeline with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Alhazred has attacked Prissa with Foreboding Ominous Glow! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 122 hit points! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 103 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Kahran Ramses doesn't try to deny the value of Leon Albus's argument - indeed, even he must concede the -Lamb-'s logic to be sound. How to explain the whim of a moment, driven by the ghosts of the past, spurred by the lips of a lover? The big man simply shrugs his shoulders and braces himself for Leon's assault. When it comes, the Black Wolf pulls yet another surprise out of Ardent Divider's seemingly endless bag of tricks; Ramses makes a perfect second-position parry, but the energy discharge catches the Gebler commander full in the face, sending him staggering backward, blinking tears and the acrid tang of scorched hair from his eyes.
He should really pull back. He knows it, knows Myyah is undoubtedly cursing his name from her position above the battlefield. But foolish as it may be... not here. He has run enough from this godforsaken place.
And so as Lily fires a ball of void energy forward, hurling all-consuming power toward the Gebler commander, Ramses squares his shoulders and extends his left hand. Brilliant white Ether lances out from the big man's hand, his fingers flickering in a rapid dance, forming a pattern of power in the air. He slams his palm into it and the ball suddenly stops moving forward, surrounded by a sphere of scintillating white. Light and shadow crash and crackle against each other, Ramses' fingers twitching as he starts to force his hand closed; as he does so, the void ball shrinks, compressing, collapsing inward, concentrating its power. The twin spheres shudder and splinter, Ramses' voice rising in a wordless cry of effort.
And then they explode; raw Ether bursts outward, light and dark washing over the battlefield.
Both fade in moments, revealing Kahran Ramses - his body steaming in the howling storm, a dozen wounds covering his torso - standing upright, arm outstretched. The big man sucks in a shuddering breath and lets it slowly out... then clenches his shaking fist closed, leather creaking with the pressure. His other hand tightens on the hilt of his sword, and he starts walking forward, eyes blazing as he moves toward his targets.
And then a Golden Gear drops out from the heavens, landing between the combatants, shaking the earth a dozen yards distant. Wyvern remains fixed forward, and a pair of Aerods detach from the back of the machine, hovering into the air, beginning to glow with a shimmering light.
"No."
Ramses' voice cuts through the storm, full of authority, and while the Gear does not return the Aerods, it twists slightly in the direction of the battered commander. "No," he repeats himself, moving to sheathe his blade... only to realize he's lost the scabbard at some point during the fight. The big man shrugs and moves forward, reaching out a hand to grip the command Gear's rear leg. "I came in peace, offering words, and I will depart the same." Ramses pauses, then shifts his gaze to Lily. "So - you'd rather see these -Lambs- burn than accept my help? Very well," he growls. "May you get your wish."
Myyah rolls her eyes. "Always with the dramatic lines," she sighs as she engages Wyvern's thrusters.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Dean Stark takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 207 hit points! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Dean Stark critically Guards a hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 41 hit points! GS: Dean Stark enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 189 hit points! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 207 hit points! GS: Noeline has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Prissa takes a solid hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 213 hit points! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Alhazred's attack becomes clear! GS: Ethius Hesiod critically Guards a hit from Alhazred's Core Rupture for 39 hit points! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Alhazred has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon lowers Argent Divider, slowly, even as he watches Kahran take the blast from Lily. His eyes are wide with concern. For him to survive that, even harmed, and look ready to keep going... Leon is not so certain that he still has enough fight in him. He glances at Lily; a single, brief glance communicating that concern, before he raises Argent Divider.
The last of the silver flame on it crackles, then fades away into a few lingering particles of silvery light. His mouth forms a tight line, as he readies himself.
Then the golden Gear slams into the ground, shaking the earth. The deployment of the Aerods draws a brief glance; most of his stare is reserved for Wyvern, and he takes a step backward.
"I wouldn't trust your words for a moment," he answers. "After all... you're here to call us lambs. I'm not sure which slaughter you meant to ready us for, but I'll pass on the lot of them."
He spits blood on the ground. Then, Leon turns his head -- and his eyes widen with flickering realization, as he sees Riesenlied hefted upward. "What--"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"--NO!" roars Noeline again, her voice cracking from the force of her yell. It is not the sight of the gestalt beast priming itself to explode that causes her to panic - she has no eyes for that, not at this juncture. Instead, it is the first of the capturing pieces of metal that clamp around Riesenlied's body and begin to lift her into the air, and the sheer terror of the ramifications that all spread out from three simple words: "Alhazred has Riesenlied."
She leaps for it, rearing her weapon back - but there's no way to cut Riesenlied free without cutting into her, and she hesitates out of fear of further hurting the battered Hyadean being taken hostage. That moment of indecision costs her - it isn't the creature that catches her but one of the armored plates crashing into her, knocking her aside and down into the immense heat below.
She lands too heavily, feeling something shift unpleasantly within her with a sick wet crunch - and she barely has time to try flinging her blade upwards in a wild swing before she's forced to yelp and shield herself from the flames.
The surprise of the fall and the winded cough that accompanies it only last a moment before she grits her teeth and pushes herself into a roll, trying to get clear. "NO! ALHAZRED! I'll kill you, gods damn it!" she yells, the words lost in the crackle of heat and the press of battle around her; she tries to lever herself up, but her body is too sluggish and too tired, and it's all she can do to realize the beast is baring down on her in time to shield her face as a battering blow knocks her around the battlefield once more.
This time, she can't even summon the strength to lift herself - the only thing she can do is let out a hoarse, wordless scream.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Doubt is absolutely the monster that's been wreaking havoc within. Even as Leon and Lily continue to fight for every inch of their lives, she's withered with her limbs screaming at her as she's coming down hard from the backlash of the Guardian summon.
Lydia asks her what she means, and all she can do is look at Ethius run by. Does he have something to do with it...?
Maybe it is just a coincidence.
Riesenlied grapples with her head for a moment, her daughter's words feeling faint; she's not in a deeply coherent condition right now. It's a terrible time to be in such a state, given the field of battle isn't clear.
You signed up for a hard life. The hardest life...
"You -made- me play the role of doubt," Nasrin wearily speaks as she kneels in front of the little Hyadean's chair. She gazes towards her.
Something horrible wrenches in her as she sees the missiles fly, and her eyes water further as she sees Noeline succumb into that cloud-- yet she keeps running, charred and battered as she is; their link shining, her words picked up--
And she flinches a little as Noeline barks out her confident words. How can she think she's done nothing? How can she possibly not realise...
"Everything about you has been so comprised of 'Nasrin' that when that fact was ever questioned...." the corpse that can only bear the memory of Nasrin ardently pushes in tandem with Noeline's words, on the outside.
"I'm sorry. I'm-- sorry, I'm sorry..." comes the emotionally rote answer, words being flung out without thought, as she continues to clutch at her head. It's too much.
As much as she believes herself to be powered by her desire to help others... she faces it for how fragile it is when it is questioned so directly. Whether in the words of some, or in the strange actions of a Medium that seems so unfeelingly alienating to her.
"MOM!"
A voice suddenly cuts through the distance-- coming from the caravans. Janey grimaces as she pulls out and exclaims, "You can't... you can't give up now! Come on!"
Mikaia surfaces beside her, nodding as she looks to Lydia, to Noeline. "Everyone's evacuating! It'll be all right! It's all thanks to all your efforts, don't forget that!"
She gazes towards the Metal Abomination -- the way it comes to a halt, her eyes widening. She hears his voice.
It causes her to tremble, imminently.
It becomes ever clearer what's happening. It's going to explode; Mikaia's words of how the refugees have been fleeing are a small relief, but she stammers softly as she whispers, "We-- we should evacuate--"
She does not detect that the Esperanza has planted a device on her.
She does not detect the Quarter Knight's intention until it's too late.
The armor plates rattle, and her eyes glance towards what's left of the snow from the wake of all the lava, from all the disheveled earth by Grudiev--
And her spine straightens as she lets out an uncomfortable, choked sound; the first piece lifts her, the second braces her in as she suddenly realises she's being entombed.
"L--Lydia-- Noe-- Noeline...! Noeline!!!"
Each piece flying onto her feels like a sharp and thunderous clash, like being battered by an iron mallet. She rasps deeply, and does the final thing she can do:
She rips the Dragon's Tear free of her necklet, and throws it.
Time seems to slow as the necklace containing the teardrop-shaped jewel flies through the air.
Incandescently, it flows with a radiant sensation of love, from someone who's snapped out of it far too late now.
"Noe...lin...e..."
A resounding iron sound hammers against her as her neck is encased, then her cheek-- and a muffled cry is the last thing heard of the cocooned Hyadean. Janey and Mikaia's screams of disbelief are scarce heard to her.
She is lifted to the air in her iron prison...
Everything's turning dark...
"I took them in," answers the little Hyadean, finally snapped out of her reverie by the sight of her children as she looks to Nasrin in turn. "I chose that responsibility... because I..."
Is this how everything will end?
The little faceless Hyadean shivers faintly.
"I never want anyone to ever have to feel the same way again.... ever..."
She looks up to her. Her gaping lack of a face gleams with the colour of sorrow.
"The way I felt... when you left me..."
...
...
...
GS: Riesenlied has... been forcibly removed from the party...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
It comes to her, as surely as if it had a will of its own. Perhaps it's guided by the piece of the Tear that Noeline possesses - perhaps it's guided by Riesenlied's power, carried on the last photons that escape the Hyadean before her capture. Perhaps it's the way that Noeline is desperately reaching out, still screaming with fear and sorrow as she watches her beloved taken from her--
--but in a tiny moment of serendipity, her outstretched hand catches the Dragon's Tear by the last bit of its cord. It glimmers for just a moment, and then lies still, clutched to Noeline's chest as she rocks against it and grits her teeth against the tears, hard enough to draw blood. "Riese! Riese--!!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The beast...stops? She winces as it shrieks but recovers in enough time to watch it begin to walk toward the caravan, ignoring them completely.
"Is this all just a test to you!? You absolute madman!" Jacqueline shouts as the Quarter Knight's voice issues forth from within the beast. She grits her teeth, her hands curled into fists. It was rare to find someone she absolutely hated, but Alhazred was at the top of the list.
But no matter how much hate she directed toward the Quarter Knight, his creation continues to march on, its body melting and flame erupting from it. She can feel the scorching heat from here.
But...at the same time, she can also see the armor plating begin to converge on Riesenlied, attaching to her and lifting her into the sky. For a moment, Jacqueline is frozen in place.
What could she do...?
This battle was draining. She only had the time, and perhaps even the energy, for one final spell. She could try to help Riesenlied, or she could attack the beast.
If the beast reached the caravans, the civilians would be unable to protect themselves. But...there was no telling what would happen to Riesenlied. She had to make a choice.
"Riesenlied..." Jacqueline says, extending a hand. She brings it down in one swift motion." "...I'm sorry!!"
Energy crackles as power builds in the air, Jacqueline putting all of her energy into one final spell. A single massive bolt of lightning falls, like a blade falling from the sky...
...Straight at Ialdbaoth's core, with the goal of halting its inexorable charge once and for all.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip! GS: The Force Action Full Clip is already active! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Alhazred with Lightning Strike! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Of all the things that Lily expected in return to her attack--a deft dodge, a magical shield, a counterattack as she was focusing--what actually happens is not one. The sorceress watches as white Ether meets her black, as she feels a strange construct in the air, a pattern that she doesn't know. Abrubtly, her magic is caught--she can feel it, eyes widening though their details are obscured by shadow. She doesn't even speak aloud as she suddenly starts to try to channel more power into it--
...But the barrier, the light prevents her reaching her projectile entirely, leaving only its unnatural force. ....But it does not destroy anything else outright; it shrinks, shrinks, collapses, and Lily matches Ramses's voice with a cry of surprise as the explosion slams her back, nearly knocking her from her feet.
...She put all she was able into that blast, into weaving protection and destruction at the same time, and her breathing is heavy as she looks at Kahran with his hilt on his sword. "You--" She speaks like a woman wounded because she is, though her eyes don't return to normal. She looks up sharply as the Gear approaches--
...So that's it, then. As he moves, as he pauses, Lily looks at him again with hate in her eyes and in her heart, wordless until, "You're damned right I would. I--"
He's going... and Lily feels, rather than sees, Riesenlied. The movement, the pain--"No--"
Dog whines as her efforts to tug Riesenlied back fail. Lily whirls in place to see Riesenlied disappearing, another gone. The coming explosion can't even get her attention as Lily sees her mirror disappearing, taken by... That thing. "Riesen--"
The name passes her lips, but doesn't finish as she falls to one knee. "Again--I can't--"
Unfocused Ether crackles around her in the moment, darkness turning to flame turning to ice turning to darkness, a whirl that scythes through snow--and makes Lily shake with the effort of suppressing it. But after that battle, this is too much. It surges for an instant--and then Lily crumples onto her side.
...She won't be much help against the coming explosion.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius holds where he does as others pile onto the Metal Abomination. He considers it paramount to keep the staff dug in as far as he can, as muscles strain and cramp with how much the monstrosity wriggles... and then it stops.
There is a shriek that Ethius weathers as he narrows his eyes further. It seems impossible within the limitations of the human eardrums, but somehow, even as the deafening noise washes over, he can make out the unmistakable feedback of a speaker, by proxy. Ethius cranes his gaze in its vague direction of origin.
'An interesting test thus far,' etc, etc, up until the most poignant words that explain why the abomination is now moving slowly towards the caravan. 'I am curious if you can prevent Ialdbaoth from completing its final sequence.'
A hand goes to Ethius' head. Yes. Considering the nature of the creature's assaults, apparent origin points, where it all must connect... where the mechanisms are that dictate the origin point of its firepower, the limitations inherent one would have to work with in arranging this body just so.
They are all educated guesses - at best.
Incredible heat builds, gouts of light and flame from where it is already wounded. Each burst of fire that may erupt from its body is enough to disintegrate a human body in close contact.
Tragedy erupts. Riesenlied has been ensanred by a specialized cage meant for her, once wrapped around this thing. Noeline has been overcome by the dying creature's combusting internals. Lydia is powerless to stop it. Ethius does not stop to scream their names, to turn and realize what is about to be lost - what is already lost.
...SOME INDISTINCT TIME...
Crimson and ash fill the air. There may not even be any breathable air in this space left. Only fire and smoke are there to greet the man as he walks.
He keeps moving.
Eyes are dried, irritated. It is agonizing to keep them open, but there are no tears shed.
He keeps moving.
Several bodies lie sprawled across the ground. Lithe, chartreuse-hued people in simple dress as though such a commodity were scarce - maybe by intent - lie prone. Dark green stains mar the sight of where they are.
He keeps moving.
His footsteps are a steady rhythm, as though he is in zero hurry. He should be in mortal danger.
He keeps moving.
One of the chartreuse-hued people reach out from a side room. The architecture is orderly, sleek, of a sensibility that respects function over form, devoid of artistry. Cold, unfeeling. A place not befitting of these occupants he's walking by.
With a sudden flick of his left hand, a door slams closed. He keeps moving without a second thought.
Ahead, a mass of square-shaped lights, flickering colors before one more that glows ever brighter. Text blinks out, an unpleasant flickering as though the environs are pushing its continued operation to the limit. It's so hot.
He lays a hand on it, with far too much leisure, as he looks into his own reflection.
The same stare, unwavering. The smoky haze casts a silhouette of himself - Ethius - dressed in more layered, complex variations of the same clothes of those he has just passed by. The reflection does not show a concerned man, does not show a wounded man, does not show a man who may succumb to heat or asphyxiation at any moment.
They show a man who only cares to do... something... with this. Nothing else matters.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
...NOW
Without drama or hesitation, Ethius takes hold of the quarterstaff lodged into the beast... and rests a gloved hand into one of the openings that has previously expelled heat. More continues to belch out around him. He is not bowed by this. He ascends at his own pace, unblinking, as the creature continues to erupt and explode. Any second, he could be rendered unto atoms on top of it.
He navigates the vulgar displays of power and other desperation without missing a beat, but...
It's not clear where he's going, to an outside observer. He actually goes over the top of its back and continues, until as such he is hanging down the opposite side. Another gout of flame-light erupts much too close, from his right flank. He shuts his right eye from the residual wash of heat, but that is as much mind as he pays it as he grips onto that opening, suspended upside down.
There. Something tells him, right there.
With his free hand, he gesticulates his fingers in sharp, painful flexes to the untrained hand. An electrical spell. The creature has many barriers and protections against sorcery. That's fine. It might even work if this were flitered down - no, it must.
"Surge Bolt." That is the closing name to the chanting that accompanies it. The spark of electricity that jumps out of his free hand into that flank of the exploding abomination will go unseen. It doesn't need to be seen. It just needs to pierce the creature's safeguards and travel, exactly, to where he believes the mechanism that governs its self-destruct lies.
To quietly shut it down, as though it never were.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has spent 2 Combo on Smite, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Alhazred with Surge Bolt! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Yes..!" Lydia says as Noeline cleaves the the drone in two. "Nice mom!"
Riesenlied seems to be having trouble. If only Lydia had some kind of empathic pact with Riesenlied this would be so much easier, but all that's on Lydia's face is confusion. Gotta figure it out the hard way.
She hears Mikaia and Janey's shouts, that gives her enough MORALE to keep going. "That's right! Think of all the people you've saved before now!"
And for a moment, it seems like everything is going to be okay.
And then that moment ends. Stars fall, light fades, darkness reigns.
The heat comes like the final nail of a coffin and the Metal Abomination is still a problem and waaaaaaaaaaaay weirder than Lydia ever expected. Lydia has melted so often and so horrifically that it's hard to imagine her slowing down no matter how hot it is. Her armoring melts away as does her flesh, leaving a molten skeletal figure lambering across the field. She leaps into the air, not to catch the Dragon Tear meant for Noeline, but to try and reach that absconding metal coccoon.
She almost touches it. But her body is too heavy and she finds herself falling to the ground, tears flying up as she realizes she has failed. She smashes against the floor in cracking heap. Limbs twist around in ways they're definitely not supposed to, leaving Lydia looking more like a broken marionette than a person when all is said and done.
Lydia stares at the ground. The Rigdobrite crashing towards the Metal Beast blinks its glowing yellow eyes.
It must have been so hard to leave your people. Not like Lydia here.
Lydia punches the ground.
Then she punches it again. Then she howls in rage and pain, tears flowing freely from her eyes. It's not fair that she said that. It's everybody always leaving her. She's not sure if the idea that she'll simply be dissected and discarded is worse than the idea that there might be an experiment in store for her that she'll get to live through.
Lydia, I only ask you follow what you think is right--not what your anger, however justified it is, tells you to do.
Lydia's body gradually reconfigures itself into a quasi standing position, still hunched ove.
Lydia, I only ask you follow what you think is right
She walks towards the monster that stole Riesenlied away. The pawn that stole Riesenlied away, perhaps, but it's the closest thing she can blame.
Not what your anger
Lydia's body starts glowing with a vibrant light. It glows like a burning star, right here on Earth, that has fallen quite a far way.
Your anger
"Material....Rigdobrite." Lydia whispers.
Rigdobrite vanishes from sight. Cyre can do this, she knows, Cyre has done similar things such as this. She can do it too. They said she was a prodigy when it came to being a shaman, so she can do it.
No. She's not just a prodigy.
<Project Krelian.> Lydia says. <Summoning Weapon...> Solarian? Her words are awkward, like she doesn't know the language, but they are words she's heard before. Words that she has memorized since years ago, keeping them lodged in her skull for a moment liek this.
Her form further erupts into light, the direct visage of her body impossible to look at, two blazing yellow eyes appearing roughly where they ought to be.
Lydia's hand reaches for her OTHER Medium. Solais Emsu. Energy crackles around her hand as she whispers, "Material... Solais Emsu..."
The Guardian of the Sky appears, hovering in the sky. A series of magical circles crackles around him as he gestures towards the exploding Metal Abomination, sending a wave of crackling light for the creature.
And Lydia, who in this moment has become as Guardian, throws herself like a blazing laser blast at the beast from the other side.
Two summons, one shaman.
That blaze of light doesn't stop with one strike. It keeps crashing into the beast repeatedly until well after it's gone. That's just how Lydia is going to behave right now. You stole her mom. It's inevitable.
Wisps of smoke drift away from those yellow eyes.
DC: Lydia Seren switches forms to Stardust Sequence!
GS: Lydia Seren has activated a Force Action! GS: Lydia Seren has activated a Force Action! GS: Lydia Seren has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Alhazred with X-Summon! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 184 hit points! GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Surge Bolt for 123 hit points! GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Lydia Seren's X-Summon for 224 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
You gotta watch out for yourself, too!!
I should, Avril thinks fleetingly. I should. But--
If something happened to him, she couldn't bear it. To him, or to Rebecca, or to any of the people she's come to call her friend.
So she plunges onwards. She is a blade -- as always in these moments. Absolute Zero again strikes true. Avril moves back, raising the sword in a shoulder-to-hip guard, wading through the slush. Undoubtedly, it will strike in kind--
She has known for a while the nature of the person she had been. Still, to think--
No, she cannot think of it now. She breathes out, reclaiming her warrior's equilibrium.
I am a blade. I wield my sword gladly.
Dean draws in alongside her; she spares him one glance.
Just one, for that's all the time appointed to her before Alhazred deploys his ace in the hole:
Ialdabaoth becomes a walking meltdown.
"No! You cannot--"
But he has.
Dean had said before that she should watch out for herself. As the abomination begins to become unglued, leaking fire and burning into the earth, she has no choice. Even her flight isn't enough to spare her from the licking flame and erupting lava; she's forced to shed her coat in desperation once it catches alight, plucking the Medium from her pocket as she releases it to catch in the steamy haze. There amidst boiling snow, Avril stares up at the monstrosity and knows one fact:
It. Will. Not. Stop.
Not until it comes entirely to pieces.
Not unless it is stopped first.
The scream draws her attention first. Turning sharply, for the moment disregarding the present threat of Ialdabaoth, she stares in absolute shock at Riesenlied, entombed--
At the sparkling jewel -- life, love itself --that spirals through the air, a horrible juxtaposition to the woman locked away into the coffin-like apparatus.
"--Riesenlied--"
The woman who had come to rescue her, in spite of not knowing who she was, just because she was in danger.
Now locked away, now borne into the sky. Avril stumbles forward, as if staggering under the weight of the knowledge that...
...that...
That there's nothing she can do.
Nothing except enforce what she knows Riesenlied would have wanted, had she the choice.
She turns on her heel and stares, furiously angry, up at the abomination.
"Begone," she utters, finding the fulcrum for all her fury.
Cold and merciless as the heart of winter.
It surges upwards in a horrible crackling roar, all folding in as if to there spear Ialdabaoth, in defiance of its unbearable heat.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Alhazred with Courant Glaciaire! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Alhazred takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Courant Glaciaire for 162 hit points! GS: Alhazred has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa, for her part -
Well, Prissa exhausted most of her stores of both bravery and ability when she attempted to harry the thing's foot. The first stomp sent her flying away and at this point she began to do the thing you're drilled to do around rampaging machina, which is to move away and not hold your breath in case of an explosion.
The rupturing core, thus, throws her ass-over-teakettle, further. She is not ending up in the snow; she is actually rolling up a small ridge and is being encased, lightly, in mud. Prissa turns her head to look in case something is coming right towards her, which means she can see the abduction of Riesenlied.
As a survivor type, Prissa feels the world narrow down. There is grief here but she will sing the song later. It is going bad, and fast, especially when the Gear arrives. The wise thing for her to do is to be a corpse and hope that they leave before it gets cold enough to kill her. She can make a fire; reclaim the Drum; from there... there are places, right? They had a whole force here. Cross the sea if she has to.
Run, but to where? Maybe I should have made up with mother and father, Prissa thinks. She looks down to Ethius and then her exposed eye widens as he does - does something, she can't make out what - and then a near-palpable WALL of electrical force crackles downwards! Through the great machine! Her mouth hangs slightly open. Perhaps she underestimated him. She resolves to not speak ill of him in the -
Lydia, dammit, she thinks, pop your footwheels out and run away! Someone has to live, she thinks: Don't any of you fools have any awareness of how to run a -
She shifts her form. Prissa's brow furrows.
Lydia erupts in light - and Prissa looks upwards. Then down. The roaring yellow and the sudden rising of cold, the thermodynamic tension it entails - "Rumo cred," Prissa says.
She finds the courage to sit bolt upright in the mud puddle. "SCORE!" she shouts at them, pumping one fist in the air. "GO!!"
<Pose Tracker> Alhazred has posed.
The attacks slam into the advancing abomination, and the damage it has already suffered results in the creature to stagger and begin to implode on itself. The fury that would have washed out over the caravan is instead directed inwards and downwards, plasma and heat tearing into the ground below. It's death does not take all that long - the core collapses in on itself, melting down completely and causing molten metal to spill out onto the ground. The intense heat rapidly causes the stone beneath to melt, the twitching necks and body slowly melting into the massive puddles of molten slag. It gives some sort of last, rattling sigh before it finally expires, leaving nothing more than a twisted wreck to slowly sink down into the ground as its energy continues to radiate out from its body. By the time its safe enough to approach, there will be nothing left but molten metal fused with strange, twisted rock crystals.
But hate, rage, despair - Alhazred is deaf to any of the emotions that come from those below. Instead he simply looks at the status screen in front of him, where a pair of large pads have descended to lock onto the ball containing Riesenlied. With the words TARGET SECURED burning on the screen of his command pod, he spins around and takes off for the Photosphere.
The fact that people are suffering is of no concern. The possibilities for advancement have spread out before him - the wide vista of a new future for the Metal Demons. All contained within the frail body of this one Tainted.
What need is there of hatred, when there is an investigation to be handled?
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Fury is brought down upon Ialdbaoth, and it is, finally, disabled. Maybe now there'll be peace for it. But Jacqueline...she stands there quietly, the heat reflecting in the lenses of her glasses. Behind her, Grudiev's earthen wall crumbles back into the ground.
The beast was disabled. The caravan was safe. But Riesenlied was...
Gone.
What would happen to her...? They could do nothing. In days to come she'll reflect on Lydia's fantastic display of power, and what happened here today, but now...
Now, she shuts her eyes tight and exhales. She would cry about this later, undoubtedly, but for now...
"We...we need to get the caravan moving again. There might be...might be more of them." She says, her voice tired and hollow, turning back and heading back to the wagons. Some of them may have already evacuated, but there were others there in no condition to do so. And they had wounded here as well, that needed to be taken care of.
There was so much that needed to be taken care of.
And so little time.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
When Ethius delivers his singular piece of the whole final puzzle in taking the rampaging thing down, he seems to have an impeccable knack for knowing - exactly - a proper 'safe' distance to be to maintain a proper suspension of disbelief as to why he is not part of the metal-crystal slurry that forms in its wake.
He does find it in him to run to get to this distance once he gets that shock in...
...only to walk back as its self-contained destruction cools enough to allow people to approach. For all the stresses, all the incredible things that have just happened - above, below, ahead, behind.
The man is of a single-minded thought to start casting again and just continue liberally applying Symbology-based heat which may be entirely out of amusement as far as one cares. No gestures are yet made on his part to move to console or to reassure upon a devastating loss for many of the gathered.
Because apparently he just doesn't want to say that it's fun watching that one crystal bubble and burble in ways that light turns it funny colors as it spins around the metal primordial soup of what this once was.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Eventually Lydia stops pummeling the thing. The magma now encasing her body shatters around her and she hears something. It's Al Bhed.
Lydia looks down at her hands for a moment, her body spasming strangely--if it is a body--before Lydia slumps to her knees and the light fades. As does the Guardian--leaving only the girl in Baskar Leathers behind.
She's no longer crying. She's just crouched on the ground, staring listlessly in the distance where Riesenlied was taken. In the magma.
She's not going to move for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril lingers just long enough to watch the thing crumble, collapse. Melt.
And after that, she turns, racing back towards the caravan.
Later, she can cry. Later, she can do whatever she needs to do.
Right now, what she must do is see to the refugees.
I am a blade, she reflects again.