2020-07-09: The Lonely Tower
- Log: The Lonely Tower
- Cast: Kaguya, Seraph Harmaus, Clarissa Arwin, Seraph Clarine, Rebecca Streisand, Ethius Hesiod, Ashley Winchester, Marivel Armitage
- Where: The Cape of Breath
- Date: July 09, 2020
- Summary: Kaguya draws out ARMS and friends to an isolated guard tower, apparently planning to test them with her ally Harmaus. Explosions ensue.
===========================<* The Cape of Breath *>=========================== Stretching from the edge of the slowly-spreading northern desert, the Cape of Breath is the lush southern region of Meria Boule. Farmland and livestock take up much of the hilly region, dotted with the estates and castles of Merian nobles, often at the height of elevation, but across temperate land to the west great forests begin, still part of the great resources of the Merian nation. In places the badlands of the north find mirrors here, hotter regions with accordingly sparser populations... where people could move. To the farthest south and east are the wide coastlines, each marked with large cities. Only the fortress nature of many estates at the hearts of settlements recalls much of Meria's more warlike history, after the great efforts of the late Queen to ensure peace for all Meria Boule, and the spread of knowledge. Nevertheless, the increasing spread of monsters can make travel without caravan or guards a perilous undertaking indeed.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
EARLIER:
"A--waaaaaah--!"
Another soldier is hurled out the front door of the small guard tower, joining three of his companions as the top of a pile of others in the same uniform. There are four of them in total, and all of them are dazed and only just starting to stir.
"So that's Meria's finest, huh?" A young woman's voice calls from the doorway, where Kaguya dusts her hands and looks out over her work. The pile of Merian army uniformed men is next to a pile of broken weapons which is in rather worse shape than they are, bruised and battered as the soldiers are. A dusty wind blows over the plains, as Kaguya starts to turn and walk back into the guard tower.
It stretches up, just a small outpost in the Merian wilderness, used to boredom and the occasional traveler lost, with its gray stone.
"I thought it might be a little harder," Kaguya says to someone with her as she walks back inside, stepping over to the wall and flipping the switch that controls the distress signal. To 'on', naturally.
"And now, we wait."
NOW:
This morning, a guard tower out in the Merian wilderness began to transmit its distress signal over standard communication lines. As is standard practice, a neighboring tower sent a patrol to check in...
That group was also routed. By this point news is spreading that things are a little weird. In fact...
When the group met up with the fleeing soldiers, those soldiers looked worse for wear, an entire squad overcome from the tower with the distress signal. They were hoping to gt some help in retaking their post, but when pressed as to what was waiting...
They couldn't agree on a description save for 'blonde' and 'like some kind of demon.' She wore fine clothes, but defeated them all with her bare hands. She had sharp teeth, and pointed ears, and they couldn't get in to find the soldiers who were there already. Which leads us to...
A gray stone tower rises from the rocky ground, red not with blood but with the usual red dirt. It stretches up two stories, nothing but a minor outpost used for messages and the occasional traveller in need of assistance or perhaps monster in need of destroying. The gates are sealed.
Up at the top is a blonde girl familiar to some, her breathing mask down. Kaguya does not look terribly threatening at first glance--loose boyish clothes, thin features, small size, particularly from a couple of stories up. But there's a confidence in her bearing, and the fact that she's here on the tower when it's apparently been taken over by some kind of demon. "Hmmmm," she remarks as she sees people approaching.
To sum: there is a tower, some prisoners, and a Kaguya present, as well as an accomplice, to be described.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
THEN
"Yes, yes. We waits and we sees," says Kaguya's accomplice.
NOW
Kaguya isn't alone. Perched atop the tower -- in fact, quite literally perched on the edge, is a particular man.
If there was ever a Platonic ideal of the middle-aged male Drifter, this would be it. Average height, weatherworn, with the sort of clothing that would let a person just vanish into a large crowd, this is the sort of person who could be anyone.
There is a particular reason the Seraph Harmaus selected this body as his own.
"We has a crowd, seems like," murmurs the Seraph, leaning forward as if to get a better look.
"Ah. Not long now."
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa, naive little one that she is, trots after Marivel with the urgency of someone who fully believes they're coming to rescue some innocent people. It never even occurs to her that they might be walking into a trap.
When the group does approach the tower, the blonde girl - the one who is not Kaguya - has Strahl Gewehr at the ready, held in both hands but with the barrel aimed at the ground. It's a singularly unmenacing stance, passing up the opportunity to open fire as she just looks up at the tower towards where the small figure perches.
As far as she can recall, Clarissa's only met Kaguya in passing. She doesn't recognize her immediately. The man with her doesn't ring any bells, either, but vaguely reminds her of Rupert Dandridge in an odd way.
The sight sets her on edge. She presses her lips together before drawing up briefly short.
Then she resumes her stride, letting any thoughts of something truly amiss slide off her. She simply takes the situation at face value as she strolls towards the tower, shifting her ARM into her right hand so that she can wave with her left.
"Excuse me!" she calls up to Kaguya and her friend, polite as ever. "We'd heard someone had come in here and been pretty unpleasant to the guards! If it was you, could you please tell us why you'd do that to them?"
Clarissa Arwin is much too nice to be a good soldier.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
There was a distress signal from one of Meria Boule's guard towers. Naturally, this was a cause for concern, and as a result, ARMS is on the job! This means that Clarine, too, is present. She'd done a lot of relaxing lately, but now it's time to get back to doing her job.
This still a rather unfamiliar concept for the Seraphim. She's not quite sure she's used to it, but sometimes it takes practice!
And so, she and other ARMS friends arrive on the scene to the tower in question, standing next to Clarissa. Standing at the top of the tower is a blonde girl that Clarine doesn't recognize... and, someone she does, perched on the edge.
"...Ah! Harmaus, what are you doing...? Are you a part of this, too...?" Clarine calls up, concerned. She recognizes him less for so his outward physical appearance and more the general sense of his being. She remembers their last conversation. It had left her with some concerns about his intentions.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
After the incident at the harbor, Rebecca has the Eurydice's radio band tuned in for Meria's distress calls. It's not that she's a joined up with ARMs or anything, it's just if they happen to want a hand...
...she wouldn't say no.
-=-=-
"A blonde demon?" Rebecca questions, with an arched brow of skepticism. Until they gave her the rest of the details.
With an exasperated look, the girl puts two fingers to her forehead, and gives a simple headshake.
"That really narrows it down. You're just lucky she didn't decide to pile you up after for fun."
-=-=-
Rebecca enters the tower late, glimpsing up at Harmaus, "Ah. Figures." Nodding Clarine's way as she does so.
She's not too surprised to see the Seraph here given the vibe Eleanor and her got from him. Before her expression sweeps over to Clarissa and, suddenly she puts two fingers to her forehead and shakes her head. "... seriously? Are you going to give her a harsh scolding after?"
Instead Rebecca hovers her hand over her ARM's stock, like she's readying herself for the firefight that's about to break out. "Kaguya why are you causing trouble here and now? Is this some sort of distraction for some bigger plan of yours?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius just happens to be nearby.
As far as mortal men go, he generally passes the creepiness threshold enough that it is scientifically possible or him to be an event that 'just happens' spontaneously, sometimes. That would be a humorous way to handwave his presence and shoo away further delving into his sometimes bizarre behavioral patterns. For the purpose of the scenario, 'just happens' is going to be as good as it gets... this time.
Physically speaking, he's coming from another direction, separate from ARMS. For whatever his business was in the region, he heard the rumors about a mysterious assailant having dealt with the most recent patrol. 'Blonde,' 'like some kind of demon.' 'Sharp teeth, pointed ears.' He doesn't come from the road, but from the nearby brush, staring out to see two figures atop the tower. A confirmation that one of them's who he thought it was... and he peers out to the gathered ARMS folks, of whom he is in danger of being identified by. From within the brush, he brings out the Spectral Lens and does the usual quick casting ritual for the tiny spark of electricity to empower it, the faintest little cyan glow as he monitors the surrounding environs for any buried traps or surprises that might have been placed.
His position is not nearly as stealthy as he thinks it is. After all, an activated Spectral Lens, however soft a change in ambient lighting there is, is a change in light - and Kaguya has an accomplice in an elemental spirit of the light itself, unbeknownst to him.
He starts to work out the logistics of his approach.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
'Blonde demon with pointy ears and pointy teeth' is maybe a LITTLE too general of a description for Ashley to immediately become concerned that Marivel Armitage has decided to fulfill her dark destiny and declare herself vampire overlady of all of Filgaia.
...But, you know, can you really blame him for maybe keeping the thought in his back pocket?
Ashley may have missed the last engagement threatening Meria, but THIS time he's not currently stranded out in the middle of the desert having his mind blown by an extrafilgaian spaceship. Instead, he is here right now coming right up to the front door of the tower outpost... In the middle of a hostage situation...
...With a cloth-covered cart that smells absolutely delicious with freshly baked pastries.
"Knock-knock," Ashley says, rapping his fist against the front gate. "I've got a delivery here for one..." He... reaches into his Bakery Uniform (which is really just his usual outfit, but with the addition of a fine dusting of flour) and squints at a little piece of paper he pulls out of some hidden pocket. "Miss... blonde... devil?"
Beat.
"Is there a blonde demon here somewhere? I've got a delivery."
What... What is he doing, exactly?
(Don't worry about it)
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage's plan today was to sit back, relax, and see how ARMS handles a crisis on its own--specifically Clarissa, whom she has high hopes for, and Ashley Winchester, whom she has a DARK PACT with that Ashley doesn't know about yet but kind of knows about but he doesn't know it.
So she was sort of hiding in a nearby shadow, crouching behind some bushes to see how things shook out.
She is charmed, of course, by the friendly chatter and she covers her face so she doesn't 'awww!' out loud and ruin her dark scheme!
Unfortunately, Ashley Winchester arrives.
With a cloth-covered cart filled with freshly baked pastries.
Marivel wipes some droll from her chin, fails her will save intentionally, and promptly appears in a flash of light next to Ashley.
"Yes! That's right! I ordered those! Thank you!!"
SHE DID NOT ORDER THEM.
But she is a blonde demon.
"In fact, I think I can take all of those off your hands for you!"
MARIVEL WEAKNESS #4: SHE REALLY LIKES DONUTS.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ashley looks from the door to the flash of light, to the cart and back to the the flash of light, he looks to the tower again, then shrugs and fishes out another scrap of paper.
It's a receipt...!?
"Please sign here," he says, handing the scrap over to this MYSTERIOUS BLONDE DEMON. Does she dare sign to pay for this DELIVERY OF TASTY BAKED GOODS!?
Or perhaps... perhaps another blonde demon will appear to contest the delivery at the last moment...!?
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Aren't you polite?" Kaguya asks of Clarissa. "I like this one. She's nice," Kaguya comments over to Harmaus. Then she looks down, "Yep, that was me!" She grins--it's not entirely pleasant, but there's definite humor in it even so. She looks over each arrival--Clarine, who she's only heard of, for instance. Rebecca, who she knows rather better, gets a grin too.
Ethius checks for traps and surprises, and indeed there are a few places of disturbed earth that look to be traps, though they look more like snares than landmines to his expert eye. Ethius's look with the Spectral Lens also sees what Kaguya throws for what it is before it becomes obvious--a bomb. But that comes in a moment. First there's talking.
Talking... and also, peering down at Ashley and his... cart. She hmms. "Okay so bribes do work," Kaguya says, "--Hey, Marivel, I wanted those!!! Uuuugh, fine, I wanted to call you guys out anyway. Consider this a test run for a later plan, Rebecca." She explains, "The missing soldiers are inside the tower, a little banged up and probably hungry but otherwise fine. If you want to rescue them...."
"You'll have to fight us!" Kaguya puts a hand up on the edge of the railing, and... Twitches her fingers. A shield of icy power radiates from beneath Ashley's cart. "Just in case!!" she calls. "Though if it were me I'd have put a bomb in there..." She reaches out to Harmaus, and leaf-laden winds swirl about him, making him lighter, faster. "Speaking of bombs..."
Kaguya throws one. It saaails down from the top, and explodes in a blast of green beside Clarissa and Rebecca and to a lesser extent Marivel and Ashley, who are closer to the outskirts of the blast.
She's over the railing in an instant, and the smoke will clear with the thunderous impact of her boots into solid ground.
GS: Kaguya has attacked Marivel Armitage with Bomb Splash! GS: Kaguya has attacked Ashley Winchester with Bomb Splash! GS: Kaguya has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Harmonic Impulse Bomb! GS: Kaguya has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Harmonic Impulse Bomb! GS: Kaguya has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Bloom Wind! GS: Kaguya has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Rebecca Streisand takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Harmonic Impulse Bomb for 116 hit points! GS: Ashley Winchester guards a hit from Kaguya's Bomb Splash for 48 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: CRITICAL! Clarissa Arwin takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Harmonic Impulse Bomb for 108 hit points! GS: Marivel Armitage takes a glancing hit from Kaguya's Bomb Splash for 43 hit points! DC: Clarissa Arwin switches forms to Dandelion Shot Clarissa!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa cants her head back to blink twice at Rebecca. "What do you want me to do, run in and shoot her? That'd be pretty dishonourable, wouldn't it? A fair person would give them a chance to tell their side of what happened!"
Kaguya's answer is far more cynical than she might've hoped. Puffing her cheeks out a little, Clarissa rests one hand at the arch of her hip, the other twirling Strahl Gewehr slowly. It is a singularly unthreatening look. "Look, I really don't want to be rude, but if you're going around attacking people, it's not very just. Please stop."
The fact that she is no longer twirling Strahl Gewehr is the only sign that Clarissa is much more serious about this than her kindness indicates.
When Kaguya starts throwing bombs, though, the girl can only gasp - surprised not by the attack, but by the form it takes. The blast strikes a few feet in front of her and throws her to the ground. She squeaks in pain as she hits the turf, rolling a couple of times. Soft blonde hair billows around her as she rolls to one knee, sweeping her ARM into a ready position.
She could hear those boots hitting the ground, and she can see the smoke billowing. "What's the point of this, anyway!" she shouts as she swings Strahl Gewehr forward. The mysterious ARM pulses before she unleashes a blast at Kaguya, brilliant light slashing through the smoke and dust. "Why are you so eager to pick a fight?!"
GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Kaguya with Dandelion Shot! GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"It knows manners, yes?" remarks Harmaus, shifting atop the ledge as if he were merely making himself more comfortable in a more normal seat than the one he currently claims. He clucks his tongue. "Ah, too bad, too bad. Will be interesting test."
Kaguya had mentioned that ARMS had a 'pet' Seraph or two. So when ARMS (allegedly?) comes calling, and he spots a familiar face among the crowd...
"Clarine! So good to see again!" calls out the other light Seraph. Bracing himself on one arm, he pops up onto his feet, still only inches from a short straight drop to the ground below.
"Should have realized. Should have thought! But is no matter. It has come here, and we shall sees how strong it is, yes?"
His gaze flits outwards, lingering on the form of the sorceror, Ethius. He glances sidelong at Kaguya and Harmaus nods, shallowly.
The first warning Ethius receives comes in the form of a snap of the fingers.
A threadlike javelin of photonic fire rips through the air for the Symbologist.
"Ah, ah. It is a sneaky one, we thinks!" scolds the Seraph.
Before Kaguya names the terms.
Before green-rich winds spin about him.
Before Harmaus simply steps over the ledge and drops those storeys to the ground, photonic force joining Kaguya's enchantment to slow his drop.
He spins as he falls, drawing out the ARM at his hip.
And taking one shot for Clarine.
Like a cat he lands on his feet.
"Let us see, then, Clarine! Let us see its strength!"
GS: Seraph Harmaus takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Bloom Wind for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Quick! applied to Seraph Harmaus! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Plasma String! GS: Seraph Harmaus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Seraph Clarine with En Pressant! GS: Seraph Harmaus assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Seraph Harmaus has completed his action. GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Seraph Harmaus's En Pressant for 78 hit points! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Seraph Harmaus's Plasma String for 120 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "I'm sorry, I need to inspect them." on the matter of the donuts. "For safety purposes."
Wait is she signing Kaguya's name on the slip?! In cursive, even! She kind of reaches in and draws out two random donuts. THE TWO DONUTS: Strawberry Glazed annd a Bearclaw. Marivel takes in a deep, hesitant breath--
--Kaguya unleashes a bomb! It unleashes a green pulse of EXPLOSION and Marivel draws out HOB and uses him to block the bront of the explosion. Hob's eye makes an X expression as Marivel admits, "That was close...!"
--But then tosses Kaguya the bearclaw...! It smells really good!
And it tastes even better...but if Kaguya starts eating that bearclaw... she might fid that her mouth is so full that it will have trouble enunciating properly because her mouth will be full of pastry!!
And everybody knows that proper enunciation is really important for sorcery...!? A TRICK?! Well no, Marivel has managed to resist just diving in and spending the whole scene eating donuts for today so she's being nice enough to offer Kaguya one.
She b ites into her own donut though which prevents her from acting any more offensively than this.
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Kaguya with Magic Seal! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca arches an eyebrow at Clarissa, "That's your concern? That girl over there is Veruni! Her hands are deadlier weapons than most ARMs! By standing up here after beating up your people she's basically daring you to shoot her."
Rebecca then puzzles over the arrival of a deliveryperson. She's never met Ashley before so she doesn't know he's a member of ARMs and assumes something different. Then back at Kaguya, "Seriously!? You ordered pastries during a hostage situation?" Rebecca then gives Ashley a sympathetic look, "Hey uh..." She somehow manages to pull off a look that's both grave and
awkward, "... I don't know what kind of professional standards you have, but you should just run. Write this one off as a loss."
Then Marivel claims them. "You're-!? REALLY Marivel!?" Rebecca suddenly just tosses him a few gella, "Here's your tip! Now just get out of here fast before that girl over there opens fire!"
"What - why here though!? Why not just do training exercises like every other military force out there?"
Rebecca suddenly grips her stock and spins her Revolver up into her hand, aiming at the bomb in mid-air.
Only for it to detonate early in a flash of green.
Sending her careening against the wall. With an impact. With a groan, she tries to slide herself up against the wall, keeping her back to it. "... y-you improved your bomb's range after all."
And that's when she snaps up her Revolver, firing two shots. One at Kaguya's holstered ARM and another at one of her bombs. If she gives her a small scare, she'll count it as scoring some points in their rivalry.
"Hypothetically speaking - if you did set a bomb - how long would we have to beat you?"
GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Kaguya with Swift Revolver! GS: Rebecca Streisand assumes the Stoic stance! GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Clarissa Arwin's Dandelion Shot for 152 hit points! GS: Kaguya guards a hit from Marivel Armitage's Magic Seal for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute! applied to Kaguya! GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Swift Revolver for 112 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jam! applied to Kaguya!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius takes mental inventory of the ground before him. Snares - this was set up. An invitation - a probable trap for the intended responders, of which he would assume given the geographical location to be that of ARMS. He starts to sweep up the tower to better get a look at what's going on there... an explosive. A rush of emotion underneath the stoic exterior, remembering full well that flash of green that signified Kaguya's primary contribution to turning the continent of Glenwood into some of her political playthings.
He does not get the opportunity to call out, because there is a blindingly bright thin light whose luminosity gets intensified through the Spectral Lens as if he were foolhardy enough to stare into the sun (he isn't, but if he did, it'd be a lot like that).
One eye shuts closed from the blinding sting of it. He knows he's been discovered, but in that moment he misinterprets the nature of the light as he dives out of the way of the photonic javelin that strikes a branch overhead, catches it on fire, and...
Drops it right on top of him. Bludgeoning, burning, and adrenaline takes over. It would be one thing, indeed, better for his person if he just threw it behind him.
Some presence of mind dictates to Ethius not to do that - letting fire spread up his sleeve as he tries to muscle the fallen branch ahead out into the field as to try and contain the potential forest fire then and there. Precious moments are wasted beating the fire off his sleeve that he misses a lot of the signs and theatrics of Harmaus' host's catlike grace in landing from the height they descend from. The words, he catches. The drawn ARM, he gives more overt attention to.
'Let us see, then, Clarine!' Ethius sucks in a breath underneath his facial cover as that shot goes off. 'Let us see its strength!'
After taking notice of his relative position from where he is versus where he noticed the buried snares (the displaced earth is a good visual cue if his mental picture ever gets foggy), he picks himself up and goes through motions rote and familiar. An expert Symbologist such as himself stands ready to flutter his fingers and chant the preceding syllables as light builds from what of his sleeve has been burnt away, revealing the Symbological tattoos in question and being an unfortunate tell that gives his opponent that reactionary advantage.
"Fine Dust!" Ethius calls the name of the spell at its tail end, flinging the casting hand outward as a stream of clogging, fine particulate matter tries to shower the (seeming) middle-aged Drifter and attack their ability to operate that ARM.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Fine Dust! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Unlike Marivel 'donut-thief' Armitage, Ashley doesn't have a convenient minion to absorb the blastwave! Fortunately it's just blowback from a much more spectacular explosion a little ways out. What he does have, however, is something perhaps even more important than explosive cover...!
He has... a delivery tip!
Ashley snatches the gella pieces out of the air with the practiced skill of someone who has made far too many deliveries to multi-floor tenament houses. "Don't worry, miss!" This unusually dedicated bluenette says, stuffing both his delivery receipt and tip back into the safe keeping of his hidden breast pocket. Kaguya's bomb cooks off, crashing into Ashley from behind... And tussling his hair (and ascot!?) majestically. "This is my last delivery of the day. Now I get to go to my other job...!"
Ashley turns to the cart. It doesn't have bombs inside, but it does have...
An extraordinarily large bayonetted rifle... Hidden under the cart. Not in the cart. Ashley would never contaminate his pastries with gun-germs. "I'm glad the soldiers are still alright. If you enjoy your pastry, please feel free to drop by the Irington Bakery in Meria! Please be aware that no violence is permitted on the premises-- oh hold on, bearclaws are best eaten when they're warmed up a little. Here you go! On the house!"
There's a click-clack as Ashley takes aim...
And fires... a canister full of ACTUAL NAPALM.
...
He doesn't actually aim for the pastry. Just... For the area around Kaguya, because he's not a monster.
(Yet.)
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Kaguya with Canister - Incendiary Round! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
It looks like there are others who've caught the distress signal, too. Clarine offers Rebecca a polite nod and smile of greeting as she arrives before turning her attention back up to the figures atop the towers.
"...Why?" Clarine questions, baffled, as the blonde girl declares they'll have to fight to rescue the missing soldiers. "Why are you doing this?"
Harmaus calls out to her then, and so she turns her attention toward him.
"Indeed... I am... glad to see you in good health." She replies hesitantly, then frowns. He wants to see how strong she is... and then he attacks Ethius with a spell, causing Clarine's attention to turn toward him for a moment. It's enough of a distraction that she doesn't notice Harmaus stepping off the tower until it's too late. He aims an ARM her way...
...and in one swift motion, a series of mirrors slide out of Clarine's sleeves, floating about her protectively. One moves to intercept Harmaus's shot. Clarine winces at the impact.
"You wish to see my strength... very well." Clarine replies. She gestures toward the sky, and at this a quick beam of light fires down from the heavens toward Harmaus.
After that, her attention turns toward Ethius. She offers him a polite nod of greeting.
"It appears we will be working together... I shall do my best to support you..." She says.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Limited Ray! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Kaguya completely evades a hit from Ashley Winchester's Canister - Incendiary Round! GS: Kaguya's Force Evade activates! GS: Seraph Harmaus critically Guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Fine Dust for 24 hit points! GS: Seraph Harmaus's Force Guard activates! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Seraph Harmaus takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 154 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Harmaus gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shield! applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Yes!" Kaguya answers Harmaus brightly. "Won't it? Guess the Seraph's yours!"
"My goal isn't 'justice'!" Kaguya calls to Clarissa once the roar of her bomb is done with. "Only those with 'power' can shape the world!" Clarissa's shot rings out, and a strange energy fires at Kaguya--this gets her attention. Not just because it impacts her solidly in the side, burning through her shirt to reveal green armor beneath, but, "So you've got a cool ARM," Kaguya comments to her. "Fascinating."
To Rebecca, "I didn't actually order them!" Kaguya says, "But I should've! I--" Kaguya reaches up quickly and catches DONUT with her free hand and chomps into it. Worst case it's poisoned. "Mhanks Marivel! Sec--"
Rebecca fires, and knocks off one of Kaguya's bags of tricks with her trick shot, grazing her ARM in the process. Whatever was in that, Kaguya won't get to use it immediately--and it did sure surprise her to judge from her eyes. But, "Mm!" she tells Ashley, her eyes brightening with something like glee as she sees his rifle come out--but she ducks under the napalm shot as only a very short person can, letting it sail past her and explode into dusty earth. "Mmph mmph--"
She's still a little sticky, but, "You'd have about five minutes!" Kaguya answers Rebecca once she can speak up. Her voice is still a little muffled, but she's understandable anyway. The bear claw's sweetness may have dulled her magic a little anyway...
"It was pretty good!" she tells Ashley. "I'll keep that in mind!" She doesn't comment further on the soldiers, having already given their condition, save to say, "Bottom floor even. But I don't advise trying just to run past."
"What do you call that weapon?" Kaguya asks Clarissa, pulling her own ARM and opening the chamber. With a noisy cla-CLACK she loads up a gleaming green cartridge, and fires the shotgun-like ARM for Clarissa. The slug is hardened light, shining in prismatic colors, poisonous each. "To gain 'power' requires testing! And 'exercises' would just see you all holding back to keep it safe and honorable! This way, I get to see what you're like under pressure, and push myself the same way!"
To Rebecca, "No need to hold back the praise on my account, though. I am very strong and cool. Hey--try on this one--" Kaguya pulls something from her hip, and throws it at Rebecca. It bursts when it's near her into bladed vines, all growing in an instant to try to enwrap and slow her.
She grins over at Marivel next, and loads up her weapon again. Firing the ARM this time results in a beam, not just a slug of light, and its strange silvery touch tricks the eye as it moves like moonlight. But that's not why she's grinning.
She's grinning because she charges abrubtly, changing direction and putting her ARM behind her as she moves up into Ashley's personal space, swinging her fist to backhand his ARM out of the way in order to let her snap off a too-quick punch meant to knock him further back still.
"Careful of the mage!" Kaguya calls to Harmaus. "He's a tricky one. And kind of an asshole. Which coming from me..."
Kaguya's now in the middle of the battlefield, out in front of the tower.
GS: Kaguya spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Kaguya has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Prism Canister! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Kaguya has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Bladevine Orb! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Kaguya has attacked Marivel Armitage with Moonbeam! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya has attacked Ashley Winchester with Satellite Break! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Clarissa Arwin completely evades a hit from Kaguya's Prism Canister! GS: Cover! applied to Kaguya! GS: Rebecca Streisand guards a hit from Kaguya's Bladevine Orb for 29 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rebecca Streisand gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Entangle and Poison! applied to Rebecca Streisand! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Ashley Winchester takes a glancing hit from Kaguya's Satellite Break for 68 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: CRITICAL! Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Moonbeam for 219 hit points! GS: Cripple and Jam! applied to Marivel Armitage!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Yes," is Harmaus' to-the-point response, on the subject of Clarine.
His attention is on Clarine as he lands. Taking but a moment to dust off his coat, he advances on her, ARM in hand.
"It understands, yes? We must grow stronger yet. And so, we must understand its strength," he informs her, approaching her as if he were enjoying a mere stroll in the park.
Don't normal people do training, or explore digs?
But she would know that he hasn't found what he's been seeking through digs. Must not have, because he's still himself.
...Right?
"Health? Ah, ah, it means 'this body's', yes?" he says to her, pausing mid-stride for a bare heartbeat of a moment.
As he snaps out a hand in Ethius' direction and a blazing milky white-purple-green smear of brilliance bursts into existance as the sorceror invokes his spell.
Harmaus turns his head to regard Ethius.
"Ah? It is a tricky one. Interrupting us! And with no warning!" he seemingly scolds, shaking his head.
Into this moment, Clarine beseeches the heavens, and down comes its judgement.
He glances up with a start. It's too late to escape, though he tries.
"Tcha," he hisses out, clapping a hand to his injured arm, still smoldering from where he was so smote. "Was a trick shot. Naughty, naughty, Clarine! But never it minds. Now, the games begins!"
Releasing his arm, he holsters his ARM, drawing instead a pair of knives, which he twirls in hand in an display best subtitled 'gratuitous'.
Before he flips one of the blades about in his grip and cuts a line through the air.
A line that, a moment later, slices across the ground in a burning smear of white-gold light, lancing straight from Ethius to Clarine.
"So we sees!" he calls back to Kaguya. "No matter. We ready enough for it!"
GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Capriccioso! GS: Seraph Harmaus has gained 3 Combo! GS: Seraph Harmaus takes a solid hit from Seraph Harmaus's Capriccioso for 0 hit points! GS: Burst! applied to Seraph Harmaus! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Radiant Line! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Seraph Clarine with Radiant Line! GS: Seraph Harmaus has completed his action. GS: Seraph Clarine completely evades a hit from Seraph Harmaus's Radiant Line! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"A lot of people's hands are deadlier than most weapons!" Clarissa fires back at Rebecca with a huff. "That doesn't mean I run in shooting or talking down to them just because of their race! It's their intentions that matter!"
Evidently these intentions warrant shooting. She's maneuvering to fire another blast. But Kaguya's reaction to her shot surprises her, and she blinks twice, staring up at her for a couple of seconds. Then she squares her jaw and lets out a soft puff of breath. "It's a shame that you think that." Her voice is quieter. "Power doesn't have to mean violence or force."
She does, at least, answer the question: "It's called Strahl Gewehr. And--"
The rest of her sentence dies on her tongue as Kaguya draws her own ARM, the prismatic blast hurtling towards her like the deadliest of rainbows. Clarissa squeaks in surprise and dives for the deck. Hitting the ground, she tumbles forward - and there's a heavy thud in the turf where she was just standing as the prismatic buckshot slams into the ground.
The distance between her and impact was far smaller than she would've liked. Breathing heavily, she rolls back to her feet and begins running, her eyes wide even as she brings her weapon to bear. "So you're saying you need to fight us so you can gain more power?!" she calls out, swinging her ARM towards Kaguya as if to track her for another shot. "You went out of your way to hurt the innocent just so you could train?! Well, in that case--"
Suddenly, Clarissa grinds to a halt. She plants her hand at her hip again and gestures at Kaguya with a wave of Strahl Gewehr.
But she doesn't fire. She just stands there.
"You wouldn't get much out of this if we just decided not to fight you, would you?" Clarissa points out. "The honest truth is, I don't really want to give you the satisfaction! The more we do this, the more we encourage you to try and bait people by abusing the innocent. I don't think we should reward bad behaviour on your part! Besides, if you need to fight us to get power, then aren't we just playing your game right now? Honestly--"
She goes on like this as long as Kaguya allows her to filibuster the entire fight.
GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Kaguya with Rob Turn! GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Seraph Harmaus's Radiant Line for 83 hit points! GS: Kaguya guards a hit from Clarissa Arwin's Rob Turn for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt and Entangle! applied to Kaguya!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Concentrated UV is going to always be rough for Marivel, even if it's MOONlight that sort of concentration manages to punch past Marivel's defenses and FWOOMPH! There goes Marivel's head, leaving a skull in its place.
"Already!" Marivel says, waving a hand in front of her face, the construct of a head reforming into the usual fangy marivel lady, though the effort winds her, beads of sweat trickling down her face. "Woof... I thought I'd go a little easy... But if you insist...! I'll go to MEDIUM!"
She cackles maniacally as a red aura spins around her, seemingly just for show as her doofy hat and oversized coat appears on her body. "Now your UV strikes won't stand a chance, fu fu fu...!! FU FU FU!"
She then promptly SNAPS A FINGER and sends a pail tumbling down for Kaguya's head. "Face my ultimate technique...! In advance!"
She turns back to the cart to try and reach for the donuts again but the shield slows her down enough that she doesn't get one immediately.
She gives Ashley a thumbsup with her free hand though, approving of his use of napalm for non-pastry related devastation.
"What?" She asks of Rebecca, either feigning obliviousness or being actual oblivious.
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Kaguya with Augmented Aport! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Augmented Aport for 120 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Marivel Armitage!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I understand... but I must again warn you off the path you have chosen." Clarine replies, shaking her head. She frowns, then, and nods. "...Yes. I cannot say I approve, but..."
Harmaus is attacked, then, and then he... scolds her?? Clarine frowns.
"It would be a rather poor test if I simply held back and waited for you to get ready, would it not?" She replies with a bit of an offended huff. Harmaus draws out a pair of knives, then. She doesn't recognize the arte, but she gets a sense of what's about to happen before it does and gasps in surprise.
"Ah, be careful...!" Clarine warns Ethius. She glides out of the way just in time as a line of white-gold light slices through air that she had been inhabitating just a moment ago. Had she taken that head on, it would've been dangerous... even like this, Harmaus is certainly a threat.
Clarine retaliates almost immediately, swinging both hands together in Harmaus's direction. Two of her mirrors move as if extensions of her own arms, striking at Harmaus from both sides.
"If you find yourself in need of healing, please inform me right away..." Clarine says, with a sideglance toward Ethius.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Dancing Glass! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"Wh--" Kaguya just shoves the bearclaw right into her face! A bearclaw is not meant to go right into the face like that! It's meant to be savored! AND ALSO! "You were supposed to warm it up a little on the napalm! Ugh, what a waste..."
Somehow, he looks more perturbed about that than Marivel getting flash-fried by moon magic, or even getting punched! That might just be because he's actually pretty decent at this CQC thing. Kaguya slams a fist into the Bayonet to knock it aside, only... for Ashley's INCREDIBLE PHYSIQUE (claimed in an effort to get Brad-senpai to notice him) to hold the weapon steady! It allows him the leeway to interpose the weapon in front of Kaguya's follow-up strike. He still slides back a ways, but notably absent of a cratered ribcage...!
Also, she's in mid-to-close range, which is actually just perfect.
"I'll just have to keep slinging culinary tips until something sticks, I guess... So...!" Ashley aims, loosely. Really he's focusing more on bracing his weapon and steadying his stance. "For your next course... Lead!"
Lead?
Yes! Ashley pulls the trigger, firing a four-part burst of buckshot out of the business end of his heavy rifle. Blam-blam-blam-blam!
GS: Ashley Winchester spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Kaguya with Multiblast! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action. GS: Kaguya takes a glancing hit from Ashley Winchester's Multiblast for 79 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Where Clarine finds the time to be cordial to Ethius' presence, he does not hold much capacity to return this in kind as he speaks from the tail end of his spellcast. He is overly confident in what he is going to do to the weapon Harmaus' host wields.
"This is a trap." Ethius remarks, plainly. "There are buried sn--"
There's that blazing milky white-purple-green smear of brilliance, as if the hue of the light a mortal tends to see when they close their eyes in brief. The one that sticks in his left eye at present because it still hasn't overcome being nearly blinded just yet, his sorcerous interruptions interrupted in turn as Kaguya shouts down her warning about 'the mage' being 'a tricky one, and kind of an asshole.' (At least one of these things, for the historical record, is being understated. Which one it is is an exercise for the reader.)
"I will not permit her to do as she pleases." Ethius responds flatly to Harmaus' scoldings. "The right to shape the world does not belong to her, or her kind." As if a delayed retort. He sees Harmaus holster the ARM and draw a pair of knives, and he has expectations as to what he might do with them. An ARM is 'better' as a ranged weapon, and he himself is at range. He assumes it is going to be thrown instead, as there are declarations of the 'games' beginning. Then he cuts at the air - a cue that is obvious as to be elementary to a fellow light spirit is not the case for the mortal man, who finds a lancing, burning smear of white-gold running across his hip and up his chest in a burning, slicing motion that is mitigated ever the slightest by Ethius stumbling back...
And thrusting the tip of a drawn quarterstaff just shy of coming down upon where a buried snare is, to catch himself from the worst part of a one-two punch.
"I do not do games," Ethius flatly replies, while simultaneously doing Kaguya's descriptor of him far less justice. He's too distant from Harmaus for actual physical striking range. He has to chance the strange middle-aged man(?)'s sorcerous defenses again as he approaches. Contorting and flexing his fingers the way they do while at a jogging pace is a difficult feat, but he finds his center to do that, chant, and move at the same time, slowing as he comes towards one of the more difficult slurrings of syllables as he extends a hand outward to another tell-tale flash of light from the burnt-away sleeve.
"Recurrent Current!" He calls as he shoots out an electrical burst that tries to leap towards Harmaus and shock them, over and over.
"...The concern is appreciated," says Ethius after the fact as Clarine offers healing. He got momentarily blinded in one eye, bludgeoned by a burning branch, has some minor burns visible up his arm, and across his torso from the slit of visibility afforded from failing to gauge the purpose of that knife sweeping gesture, but he seems remarkably centered for this degree of injury.
GS: Ethius Hesiod spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Recurrent Current! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Seraph Harmaus guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Dancing Glass for 68 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Harmaus gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover! applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Seraph Harmaus takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Recurrent Current for 147 hit points! GS: Poison! applied to Seraph Harmaus! GS: Seraph Harmaus enters CONDITION GREEN!! ===== +attacks: Seraph Clarine Form 1: The Guiding Star ======================== _ Name/Flags (Combo) |___________________________| Tier/Stat/PL |_____| Min/Cst _ _ Acuteness Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Area and Hyper _ _ Blinding Flash Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Cripple, Efficient, and Jam _ _ Dancing Glass Db TEC 5 15 / 10 _ _ - Cover _ _ Dispersion Feint Db SOR 5 15 / 5 _ _ - Riposte _ _ Enduring Shine Db SOR 0 30 / 20 _ _ - Area and Lock State _ _ Enhance Cast Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Hyper, Refined, and Surge _ _ Field Barrier Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Area and Shield _ _ Nurse Db SOR 0 10 / 0 _ _ - Area and Heal _ _ Photon Db SOR 3 30 / 25 _ _ - Entangle _ _ Limited Ray F SOR 6 30 / 0 _ _ - Strike _ _ Prism Sword Sig SOR 8 75 / 55 _ _ - Headshot (2) and Pierce _ _ Radiant Cannonade Sig SOR 7 60 / 40 _ _ - Accurate and Gatling (0-3) _ _ Radiant Horizon Sig SOR 0 0 / 30 _ _ - Area, Follow, Quick, and Shield _ _ Revitalize Sig SOR 0 30 / 20 _ _ - Area, Hi-Heal, and Restore _ _ Solar Ascent Sig TEC 7 60 / 40 _ _ - Headshot (2) and Link (1) _ _ FP: 91/150 +attack +15 / +guard/+evade +15 / +charge +20 / +accept +5 _
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca replies to Clarissa in a way that feels like she's trying to deescalate someone who's upset, "I understand your point, but it feels like you've never heard of the things that happen to people who live under their rule inside of a Veruni Control Zone."
And in that sense, she returns her focus on Kaguya.
"Five huh? I can work with five. Especially on account of you not taking this too seriously yet."
Suddenly picking herself up fully, she spins her Revolver in her hand, in a rhythm of up and down - like she's varying it just to keep her guessing about when she's going to switch into aiming and firing. Or maybe she just likes to show off her gunslinging in a fight.
As Kaguya telegraphs that she's trying something new, Rebecca suddenly whips up her ARM and as Kaguya tosses it at her, she hop-steps up to it, and pistol whips the flying object a half pace in front of her. Knocking it away. It bursts into bladed vines that suddenly encircle her Revolver, the thorns pricking into her hands and around her wrists.
"Tck." She says as she bites down to avoid the grimace of pain as she feels the subtle sting of poison.
Trying not to get distracted by the pain girl concentrates on her medium, focusing as Geo energy rises up around her as a hexagonal aura.
"Pretty impressive... not life-changing though. It's not like I felt-"
Suddenly rocks erupt around Kaguya, as jagged stonework bursts out of the tower floor, and bursts apart in a sudden blast of earthen power.
"-the earth move or anything."
And then Marivel offers up a preemptive 'what'. Rebecca stares at her as if obliging her, as if trying to ignore the pail and instead move to the donuts, "Don't you dare touch that donut until she's beaten and the hostages are saved! If Dean hears his fellow Golem lover took a pastry break in the middle of a fire fight then he'll start to take after your example."
Rebecca just imagines Dean fighting Lord Volsung, then running off to a cafe for fried noodles because he was so famished that he was hangry.
GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Kaguya with Ley Blast! GS: Rebecca Streisand has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rebecca Streisand takes 21 damage from Poison! GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Ley Blast for 107 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty! applied to Rebecca Streisand!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"You're not wrong," Kaguya says to Clarissa in a moment of calm, after that stare. "But this 'power' is what I have." Then after her shot, "Strahwl Gewer. Noted. And eh--the soldiers will be fine. They'll go home heroes for surviving the dread Veruni."
"Such power!" Kaguya answers Marivel as she reforms her face and shines a red aura to make her hat and coat appear. "The power of wardrobe change...! Man actually that's so thick it might just stop shots. Uh?"
A pail!! BONK. It hits Kaguya on the head and bounces. "Oww," she vocalizes, frowning. "That's a heavy bucket..." She shakes her head, and regrets it mildly. But then she's up in melee with Ashley.
"Not bad," she comments as he holds his weapon steady after all, "And it probably would've been better if I'd done that, huh? Still pretty good though." But he interposes the weapon and... Next course:
Kaguya whirls to the side to make herself a smaller target, and the shot slams into her arm and armor with a loud clang that forces her back a pace on immediate impact with its power. Only some of the wide shot hits her, but it's clear that even her armor can't absorb all its force.
"Delicious," she answers with slightly gritted teeth. "You can try not fighting if you want," she offers Clarissa. Marivel gets a quick burst of blaster fire from the TK-38K, blam blam, as Kaguya now in melee can't laze about and take her time attacking--she has to move back to find an opening on Ashley. This time, instead of moving forward into his guard, she moves backward, pulling back her fist. It glows white before she slams the ki blast forward, a pale column of power crashing towards Lord Blazer's chosen baker. "Ha--!"
She lets the impact roll her back a little as... As Clarissa is still talking. Kaguya turns for an instant to stare at her, before Rebecca chimes in. "Hey--if you want the earth to move we'd have to have a very different kind of relationship," Kaguya answers Rebecca, though she pays a little for her cheek because she speaks instead of dodging out of the way and takes a blast of Geo-power to the same arm that absorbed Ashley's shot a few seconds ago. Kaguya might say something... but...
Clarissa keeps going. And going. And going. The whole time she's been distracting Kaguya, preventing her from concentrating fully on defense, and it's had impacts for sure. Eventually Kaguya's eye twitches, "Okay I like a robust debate as much as any scientist but you are DRIVING ME NUTS. Maybe I should blow something up!! You sound like my MOTHER. Look I'm not into justice! I do bad things! I have personally caused the downfall of at least two major population centers! Fight me already!!"
Kaguya throws out her hand and there is a brief scent of sharp pine, of the non-scent that is cold and snow--before ice erupts from the ground in curving blades that crash towards Clarissa, expand, and burst.
She doesn't have time to chat with Harmaus this time. She's a little busy ranting.
GS: Kaguya has attacked Marivel Armitage with Riot Burst! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya has attacked Ashley Winchester with Reaper's Toll! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Embarrassing Sass! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Frost Lacuna! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Rebecca Streisand takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Embarrassing Sass for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Weaken! applied to Rebecca Streisand! GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Riot Burst for 99 hit points! GS: Riposte! applied to Kaguya! GS: Infect!! All debuffs' duration extended by 2 rounds!! GS: Ashley Winchester guards a hit from Kaguya's Reaper's Toll for 78 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute! applied to Ashley Winchester! GS: Clarissa Arwin takes a glancing hit from Kaguya's Frost Lacuna for 83 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! applied to Clarissa Arwin! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Ultimate technique, very useful especially after a night out drinking!" She crosses her arms and cackles villainously only to get shot by a TK-38K which sends Marivel crashing to the ground. She's a NERD CASTER and as such is, well, as susceptible as one is--her ridiculous vampiric nature helps considerably but she's already winded from that first strike.
Marivel gets up more slowly this time, "Does she really sound like your mother? Does she actually talk about justice a lot?" She sounds kind of horrified but also kind of intrigued???
She is a little concerned by Clarissa here--but maybe she has some WICKED COOL PLAN? She doesn't interfere.
Instead she takes in a deep breath.
Points to Kaguya--and snaps her fingers!
A series of thick black tendrils burst out of the ground aiming to wrap around Kaguya and pin her tightly into place. "Face the power of ESC DOWN! But don't ask me what it means. Just know that your chance of escape...is ... down."
Marivel lowers her hand as if even she realizes that could use some work.
She looks to Rebecca.
She looks right at Rebecca.
And she reaches again into the donut cart.
"I accept his noble sacrifice." She says.
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Kaguya with Escape Down! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"Can we have a conversation about this later?" Clarissa calls back to Rebecca. "I think we're coming at this from entirely different perspectives and I don't want you to feel like I'm disrespecting you!"
She pivots almost immediately back to nattering at Kaguya - at least until the other woman cuts her off. Her reaction is surprisingly subdued.
It's a sad shake of her head. "You need that, don't you? Does our hatred make you feel validated?"
The scent of pine fills her senses, inexplicably. Clarissa widens her eyes as ice and snow begin to burst forth at Kaguya's bidding. Arcing blades slash around her. She lets out a choked gasp as an icy edge slashes along the outside of her thigh, cutting through her stocking and drawing blood. Darting away instinctively, she whips herself over a blade at the very last second. Her eyes are wide as she goes sailing over, entirely too close for comfort. Mere inches separate the ice blade from her face.
Then the blades explode.
Shards of ice pelt her as she sprints away, covering her head with both hands and ducking it down to try and shield her face. The shrapnel peppers her back, staggering her, but she manages to burst out of the shattering lacuna with a last lunge. She's breathing heavily, her cheeks flushed as she looks up towards Kaguya again.
There's no hate there. Sadness is written all over her face, in blue-green eyes so expressive that she is unable to lie even with a look. It's a clear, honest emotion that she levels at Kaguya silently.
Pity.
"I'm sorry for you, Miss Kaguya." She levels Strahl Gewehr forward, looking down the barrel with a faint smile - sad, but almost tender, in a way. "I wish I could've known you before whatever made you so full of hate. But...."
The sentence needs no answer - only the energetic screech of Strahl Gewehr's firing. The light swells and brightens as she opens up on the Veruni woman with a wide beam.
GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Kaguya with Strahl Gewehr! GS: Clarissa Arwin has gained 1 Combo! GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Escape Down for 0 hit points! GS: Disease, Entangle, and Shieldbreak! applied to Kaguya! GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Clarissa Arwin's Strahl Gewehr for 139 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"It is late for that," he remarks to Ethius, as the mage insists he won't let Kaguya have her way. "We has 'its way' already!" His mouth curves into an off-kilter grin.
"It seeks warn us?"
If anything, Harmaus sounds a little offended. "It speaks of matters it knows not. We will show it, someday. It will understand! But, ah, not quiet yet. Today, a different matter."
But if anything, her attack -- however he might scold her for it -- seems to only mollify his earlier irritation expressed her way. "Yes, yes, that we did! Next time, we makes rules, first! But no matter--"
He doesn't even seem the slightest bit annoyed as she dodges his chasing line of light. "Is a quick one, Clarine! Was swift once, too. But, ah--"
He crosses his blades as her mirrors swing for him, a half-dome of milky-purple light snapping out from the point where they join as if there was their origin.
"--the body lets us do other things!"
Ethius, on the other hand, is hit.
"Jaeja," is Harmaus' rumbled response to Ethius' claim of 'not playing games'. "It always this boring? Or it becomes boring?" he asks, cocking his head to one side inquisitively, nearly, and gesturing at Ethius curiously with a bladed knife. The mage approaches, and, at first, seems to have but a melee attack in mind--
Until lightning rolls from his grasp instead. Light floods through the air, but it's a fraction too late. Lightning moves faster, tastes the tip of Harmaus' dagger.
And the Seraph is reminded of another limitation of a body, as he's blown backwards from the blast and convulses as it continues.
"Tcha," groans the embodied Seraph, as he pulls himself to his feet. A few stray sparks dance over his flesh. "We sees what it means! A tricky one!"
And he suddenly breaks into an all-out dash for Ethius, curving his leading dagger in an upward strike as he closes.
"But it still bleeds, yes?" he asks the mage.
But he doesn't stop there. Whether or not his attack connects, he leaves the mage behind and gestures, once, towards Clarine. "Clarine! Can it withstand this?!"
The fire that suddenly surrounds her is white. It dances and stretches its arms for the sky above, but it does not touch her.
"It feels the breath of the sun!"
Not yet. Several spinning currents of plasma spiral their way out of the circle and converge towards her, roping about as if to catch her and weave her into their web of solar flame.
"Coronal Third!"
GS: Seraph Harmaus enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Cesura! GS: Seraph Harmaus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Harmaus's Avenger stance ends. GS: Seraph Harmaus has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Harmaus has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Seraph Clarine with Coronal Third! GS: Seraph Harmaus takes 26 damage from Poison! GS: Seraph Harmaus has completed his action. GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Seraph Harmaus's Coronal Third for 95 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine's Force Guard activates! ===== +attacks: Seraph Clarine Form 1: The Guiding Star ======================== _ Name/Flags (Combo) |___________________________| Tier/Stat/PL |_____| Min/Cst _ _ Acuteness Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Area and Hyper _ _ Blinding Flash Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Cripple, Efficient, and Jam _ _ Dancing Glass Db TEC 5 15 / 10 _ _ - Cover _ _ Dispersion Feint Db SOR 5 15 / 5 _ _ - Riposte _ _ Enduring Shine Db SOR 0 30 / 20 _ _ - Area and Lock State _ _ Enhance Cast Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Hyper, Refined, and Surge _ _ Field Barrier Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Area and Shield _ _ Nurse Db SOR 0 10 / 0 _ _ - Area and Heal _ _ Photon Db SOR 3 30 / 25 _ _ - Entangle _ _ Limited Ray F SOR 6 30 / 0 _ _ - Strike _ _ Prism Sword Sig SOR 8 75 / 55 _ _ - Headshot (2) and Pierce _ _ Radiant Cannonade Sig SOR 7 60 / 40 _ _ - Accurate and Gatling (0-3) _ _ Radiant Horizon Sig SOR 0 0 / 30 _ _ - Area, Follow, Quick, and Shield _ _ Revitalize Sig SOR 0 30 / 20 _ _ - Area, Hi-Heal, and Restore _ _ Solar Ascent Sig TEC 7 60 / 40 _ _ - Headshot (2) and Link (1) _ _ FP: 112/150 +attack +15 / +guard/+evade +15 / +charge +20 / +accept +5 _
GS: Ethius Hesiod guards a hit from Seraph Harmaus's Cesura for 42 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ashley actually looks aghast... at Rebecca, because he knows that removing Marivel's head is just step one of killing her properly. "You can't fight on an empty stomach! That's a sure way of running out of stamina at a crucial moment!" Of course the baker is all for applying tasty treats to combat. Why wouldn't he? It's in his financial best interests to make sure everyone is filled to the brim with delicious pastries!!
He does not comment on the application of ~justice~ to Kaguya-shaped problems. However, this may be entirely due to being faced with the prospect of KI BLAST from far outside of counterpunching range. Ashley clicks his teeth and...
Braces to have his ass KI...cked.
A wave of spirit-light washes into his cross-armed guard. Being struck by a ki-blast is a strange and unusual experience at the best of times, but Ashley's spirit isn't exactly in the best state of balance...! Could this inoccuous strike be what finally tilts the scales decisively in favor of destruction...!?
No, it just knocks him on his butt with a solid 'oofdah.'
Is he down for the count...!?
Or is he... firing a rocket engine-like plume from the barrel of his rifle!?
It's that one, because Ashley is launching himself into a sliding tackle-kick right into Kaguya's ankles!
"Next course," Ashley declares, "Eat dirt!!"
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Kaguya with Shockslide! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action. GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Shockslide for 114 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple! applied to Kaguya!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Sure! But you don't take snack while you're fighting! That's a good way to give yourself a stomach cramp!" Rebecca retorts to the baker. "Or lose all of it if they punch you in the gut too hard! And believe me, Kaguya has a mean right hook!"
Then Clarissa... "That'd be preferable. Sure." Rebecca says with a certain awkwardness.
As Kaguya replies to her battle banter, Rebecca looks at her stunned for a moment. Then goes red in the face. "H-Hey don't say that like you're offering! What would your girlfriend think!?" Suddenly feeling too flustered to move as she wants, or to even aim, the Acrobat from Capo Bronco simply tries to rip her hands away from the grasping vines, successfully managing with a tug.
Her face is still flushed as she fumbles for the thoughts that will properly invoke her Medium. "You shouldn't be so shameless-"
Power rises up to seep out of her and sink deep beneath the tower, shifting around the passing ley lines and manipulating their conjunctions.
Suddenly beneath Rebecca's feet. Geo becomes Fray
At the same time though, in the shuffle of ley energy, Kaguya might notice that the Fray she'd been standing upon suddenly becomes Muse as if it'd been nudged away from her, and something came in to fill the gap.
Energy like flames licks off of her as she suddenly invokes the Sky Medium anew.
On the spot where Kaguya stands, a tiny speck of flame suddenly erupts outwards into a hemispherical inferno that spreads rapidly over her space, before vanishing.
"-about trying to set people's hearts on fire."
Feeling a certain amount of second hand embarrassment as Kaguya upbraids Clarissa, Rebecca doesn't answer on why she's 'so full of hate' even though she knows it. It's not her place to perhaps.
And then Marivel. Marivel looks her in the eye and reaches for the donut cart, and Rebecca just sounds exasperated, "His noble sacrifice wasn't on the table! That's the whole point! How are people supposed to take ARMs seriously as professionals when you keep acting like disobedient cats whenever someone asks you to be responsible role models!?"
Bigger Question: Where's a spray bottle of holy water when you need one?
GS: Rebecca Streisand spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Ley Manipulation! GS: Rebecca Streisand has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rebecca Streisand has launched an attack Link! GS: Rebecca Streisand's Stoic stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance! GS: Rebecca Streisand takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Ley Manipulation for 0 hit points! GS: Surge! applied to Rebecca Streisand! GS: Rebecca Streisand spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Kaguya with Ley Eruption! GS: Rebecca Streisand takes 21 damage from Poison! GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Ley Eruption for 166 hit points! GS: Kaguya enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jam and Mute expired!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius' face, being hidden from below the eyes, does not show a return smile to that off-kilter grin as he insists it is late for that, in that approaching sequence on his part (this can be attributed to how he is, at the time of it being spoken, being sliced by a light ray and gearing up to cover his appraoch with an electrical spell).
As Ethius stands with that arm outstretched after Harmaus' body gets the shock treatment, he drops his stance for stability as he gets his staff held in both hands in a defensive posture. It's not an identifiable one for any local school here, there's something sort of... basic, washed free of any cultural ceremonial attachment. Clinical.
"What you define it as is up to you," he remarks as he shows caution in approaching because he isn't certain in full of the range of Harmaus' movements and abilities with the knives, and inwardly wondering how anyone can speak so cryptically and unclearly - a silent question he himself should ask the next time he sees his look-alike in a mirror.
'But it still bleeds, yes?' Harmaus asks as said body rushes him and swings that knife upwards. Ethius is taken aback by the way the body moves, so decisively, certain, and almost playfully with a field full of snares, and Ethius consciously has to step to the left so that Harmaus' body's weight won't push him back into one with the amount of inertia they have going behind them.
The parry itself is reasonably clean, in that it doesn't get past the shaft of the wooden staff. The jumping, surging electricity does not stand to transfer to Ethius through it, but the level of committal Harmaus puts behind it puts Ethius in a spot where his right ankle slides against slicker dirt than he anticipates with a painful sting going up that, and his left thigh as he's put to a kneel.
He exhales. He chooses not to waste the opportunity that Harmaus gives as they focus upon Clarine. He hears the word 'Coronal' in whatever spell he's casting, and a blast of light from that direction sees him shut his other eye. Momentarily, both eyes are out of commission.
Calmly, eerily so, Ethius flutters the fingers from the grip of his right hand on the quarterstaff's shaft as he mutters the syllables with a precision his present stresses (positioning and current blindness) fail to detract from, ending in a coherent two words.
"Coronal Shell." A building, dangerous heat surrounds him in the form of something resembling the corona of the sun. It burns and it hurts, sure, on that level, as Ethius further gestures to fire it off towards Harmaus where they are, close to point blank. It might do a number on any delicate ARM devices, maybe, but...
The part where it is blindingly, distractingly bright... the part that Ethius might be banking on...
There appears to be a failure to understand a critical flaw in this plan, on his part.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Seraph Harmaus with A Failure To Comprehend The Nature Of One's Opponent! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Harmaus critically Guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's A Failure To Comprehend The Nature Of One's Opponent for 20 hit points! GS: Seraph Harmaus's Force Guard activates!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"...Ah?" Clarine's head tilts to the side in confusion, as Ethius says that he won't permit Kaguya to do as she pleases. ...She hasn't actually been briefed on Veruni yet, she doesn't know what he means by that. She does nod, though, when he expresses appreciation for the concern. Her attention soon returns to Harmaus.
"I know more than perhaps you realise I do... but yes, for now, let us set this conversation aside." Clarine replies. On the matter of making rules, she nods. "See that you do."
She notes the way he defends himself, the blades seeming to project a barrier of light. It's interesting, but she doesn't let it distract her. Is that a benefit of that body...?
And then he issues a challenge to her. Suddenly, she's surrounded by white fire, dancing around her. And then, at his willing, the flames converge upon her. Clarine's mirrors move to intercept... but while they can absorb some of it, they can't intercept it all. For a moment, she appears consumed by solar flame.
Where she a flesh and blood mortal, it's questionable that she'd be able to survive. Even as a Seraph, the fire burns, painful and intense.
"I-I will... not concede." She says, with some effort. And then, Clarine rushes through the fire, flames still clinging to her body and to her mirrors. Much like before, Clarine gestures with her hands and her mirrors follow her movements obediently. But this time, it's a flurry that are liable to knock Harmaus off of his feet if he isn't careful - and as she attacks, Clarine rises into the air.
And as her mirrors return to her side once more Clarine casts her arms out, her body emitting calming, protective light. Her mirrors catch it and reflect it across the battlefield.
Distracted as they are, it might be nothing more than an encouragement to the rest of her friends who are otherwise engaged with Kaguya, and it avoids Marivel entirely for obvious reasons, but it will impart some of its protection to Ethius.
GS: Seraph Clarine spends 3 Combo on Headshot and Link! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Solar Ascent! GS: Seraph Clarine has launched an attack Link! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Radiant Horizon! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 2 Combo! GS: You have finished a Link/Follow chain. Remember to +round! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Radiant Horizon for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield! applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Harmaus critically Guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Solar Ascent for 44 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield! applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Seraph Harmaus enters Critical health and gains 25 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Heheheh," Kaguya ansers Rebecca. "I dunno! But your face is pretty hilarious." Kaguya considers that one an absolute hit. ...And doesn't worry about Rebecca for a moment. This is a surprise tool that will help the party later.
"Nah, 'justice' was for soldiers, I was supposed to stay away from that kind of dangerous thing. Mostly the nagging!" But Kaguya frowns then. There are abrubtly black tendrils, and they snap out of nowhere to entrap Kaguya's legs, making a significant effort on her arms while they're at it. And then it's--
"...Okay, cool move," Kaguya says, "But yeah, you know already."
"Who are YOU to decide who gets to do anything!?" Kaguya snaps over at Ethius mid-battle, having been too distracted before for his words to fully register. She starts to get annoyed--not just by him, but--
"I don't care how you feel about me," Kaguya says to Clarissa, "But sure! If you hate me that at least makes sense!"
Clear, honest emotion--it cuts through a lot of Kaguya's bluster and she frowns at Clarissa, mid-pulling of one of the wriggling darknesses off of her. "...You're sorry for the wrong thing," Kaguya answers seriously, a dull quality in her voice. The shot hits her in the shoulder, blasting into her armor with enough force that the green beneath her shredded sleeve is blackened by it, the flesh within burned, clearly a serious blow. "Tch."
"You're about a hundred and twenty years too late for that."
Ashley comes right rolling back in with a shockwave of something like a rocket engine and Kaguya would stop to appreciate that it was pretty cool, if not for the fact that she can't get out of the way on account of Marivel's work. So he hits her in the ankles and the only bright side is that she doesn't weigh enough to hit the ground as hard as she could. She totally hits the dirt and then rises to spit. "Ugh! I don't even mind decent dirt but this dirt sucks, you can't grow anything in it!"
Set peoples' hearts on fire--Kaguya abrubtly is engulfed in flames, not long enough for horrific terror burns but more than long enough for the pressure to knock her free of the ground, darkness still enwrapping her but no longer holding her down. It's a solid hit, and Kaguya still smoulders as she lands seated on the ground a little while later. "...Not bad," she says, pushing herself up and looking carefully at the assembled group. "Hey!" Kaguya calls to Harmaus as she stands. "Lot of interesting data over here."
But as she speaks, she's focusing, her hands beginning to glow green. "Hey, Marivel," Kaguya calls. "Heads up!" Yeah. She went there.
She swings out, and a razor-sharp gust of wind, afloat with petals of an unfamiliar look and scent to any Filgaian flower, crashes towards Marivel. However...
It's a feint--the wind rolls in from the other direction immediately, Kaguya glowing with power as a great whirlwind appears in front of the tower, razor-sharp leaves rushing through with the air at such speed that it emits a deafening roar.
GS: Kaguya has attacked Marivel Armitage with Ill Wind! GS: Kaguya has canceled their attack on Marivel Armitage. GS: Kaguya has attacked Marivel Armitage with Ill Wind! GS: Kaguya has attacked Ashley Winchester with Bloom Howl! GS: Kaguya has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Bloom Howl! GS: Kaguya has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Bloom Howl! GS: Disrupt expired! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Ill Wind for 45 hit points! GS: Rebecca Streisand takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Bloom Howl for 180 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rebecca Streisand gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Clarissa Arwin completely evades a hit from Kaguya's Bloom Howl! GS: Clarissa Arwin enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Ashley Winchester takes a glancing hit from Kaguya's Bloom Howl for 143 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Ashley Winchester enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Clarissa Arwin has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"It's never too late to stop hating, you know."
For all that Clarissa has every right to hate Kaguya - luring them out here, preying on the innocent, and everything else Rebecca has attested to - the blonde girl can't find it within herself to do it. The lifelessness in the Veruni woman's voice tells her what she needs to know. Something scarred her a long time ago and there's not much she can do to change the past.
Only to hope she finds a better future. The smile Clarissa offers Kaguya is less sad this time - still tender, but with a hopefulness to it. She begins to hold one hand out.
She receives only the whirlwind. Clarissa snaps her hand back and pivots away. Razor-sharp leaves rip towards her, slashing elegant patterns through the air as they're driven by the winds of raw power. All Clarissa can do to keep ahead of them is one thing.
Run.
She rockets into motion. Scrambling across the turf, she makes a beeline for the base of the tower. Inch by inch, the ill wind pushes the deadly fusillade of bladed leaves closer. At the last second, the girl dives - and with a smack, she hits the side of the tower, rolling with the impact to tumble into its shadow. Leaves slash into the stonework, scarring and battering it - but the mass of the tower spares her the brutality of Kaguya's assault.
A blessing. One she'll have to make the most of. Swallowing hard, she looks out from behind the tower, getting a bead on Kaguya again.
With a sweep of Strahl Gewehr, Clarissa steps out into the open. The strange ARM trains on Kaguya, a glow building at its mouth. "The truth is, I don't hate you at all," she calls out to her. "But it sounds like you really want me to. And I won't do that. I won't pretend to hate you.
"Filgaia is already full of so much hate. I don't want to add any more."
Her words are kind - but when Clarissa opens fire, the earth itself rumbles subtly, almost lost in the deafening howl of Strahl Gewehr's unleashing. A vast blue-white beam roars across the open air, threatening to swallow Kaguya up and blow her away with an energy more magical than technological - as if poured from Clarissa's heart.
"All I can do is hope you think," she murmurs, voice too small to be heard over the thunderous din.
GS: Clarissa Arwin spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Clarissa Arwin enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Courageous Heart! GS: Clarissa Arwin has gained 2 Combo! GS: Clarissa Arwin has launched an attack Link! GS: Clarissa Arwin takes a solid hit from Clarissa Arwin's Courageous Heart for 0 hit points! GS: Surge! applied to Clarissa Arwin! GS: Mighty and Riposte! applied to Clarissa Arwin! GS: Clarissa Arwin spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Clarissa Arwin enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Kaguya with Soul Survivor! GS: Shieldbreak expired! GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Then we," he says to Clarine, "will see, yes? Once it sees the truth, it will understand." He lowers his voice. "What it really is."
While he may have some general idea of what Clarine is capable -- simply because they are both Seraphs, simply because they share a general nature -- Ethius remains the unknown unknown.
And if there's anything the Seraph detests, it's a secret.
"Jaeja," Harmaus in fact mutters, shaking his head as if put upon. "It wonders me. It not plays games, it not much talk. What is it? Is a 'human', yes?" He moves as if this is a game--
As if, in fact, he already knows where all the traps are laid.
Perhaps the strike was one other way to test that thought, though--
The blade is turned aside by the staff, and Harmaus, pushing off Ethius, does not trouble himself with him long. Indeed, his focus is on Clarine.
As she does, then, withstand his spell.
"Good! As we thinks it was, a strong one! Now, it shows me--"
The mirrors come in as a storm. But this time, he is prepared, bringing up both blades in a guard -- joined by that shimmering veil of washed-out green-purple light -- as the torrent comes. He's still standing, when she emits that wave of colored light.
He's still standing, but he grimaces, heaving out a breath. "Tcha," he hisses, if to himself.
Kaguya calls out to him. "Almost enough, now. But more, yet!"
And then, Ethius reintroduces himself as a problem.
"Ah?" Harmaus vocalizes, then glances over at the mage.
Then takes one step, dropping one of his knives in the process, and reaches over across that distance -- turning 'nearly point blank into exactly that -- and claps a hand over the end of the staff. Light steams upwards between the embodied Seraph's fingers. When he lets go, there's nothing left of the spell, seemingly diverted by Harmaus. "Doplich," he remarks to Ethius, shaking his head.
And then reaches over to clap that same hand on the sorceror's shoulder.
"Here is the birth of light," he intones. "Dynamic Flare!"
The heart of the star that is birthed here on the field, just before Ethius, is red.
It pulses once.
And then he and Clarine are subjected to the wave of white solar fire that erupts from it once it cracks up like an egg.
GS: Seraph Harmaus has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Harmaus spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Dynamic Flare! GS: Seraph Harmaus has attacked Seraph Clarine with Dynamic Flare! GS: Seraph Harmaus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Harmaus takes 27 damage from Poison! GS: Poison and Quick expired! GS: Seraph Harmaus has completed his action. GS: Seraph Clarine completely evades a hit from Seraph Harmaus's Dynamic Flare! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Ethius Hesiod completely evades a hit from Seraph Harmaus's Dynamic Flare! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod enters CONDITION GREEN!! ===== +attacks: Seraph Clarine Form 1: The Guiding Star ======================== _ Name/Flags (Combo) |___________________________| Tier/Stat/PL |_____| Min/Cst _ _ Acuteness Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Area and Hyper _ _ Blinding Flash Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Cripple, Efficient, and Jam _ _ Dancing Glass Db TEC 5 15 / 10 _ _ - Cover _ _ Dispersion Feint Db SOR 5 15 / 5 _ _ - Riposte _ _ Enduring Shine Db SOR 0 30 / 20 _ _ - Area and Lock State _ _ Enhance Cast Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Hyper, Refined, and Surge _ _ Field Barrier Db SOR 0 0 / 10 _ _ - Area and Shield _ _ Nurse Db SOR 0 10 / 0 _ _ - Area and Heal _ _ Photon Db SOR 3 30 / 25 _ _ - Entangle _ _ Limited Ray F SOR 6 30 / 0 _ _ - Strike _ _ Prism Sword Sig SOR 8 75 / 55 _ _ - Headshot (2) and Pierce _ _ Radiant Cannonade Sig SOR 7 60 / 40 _ _ - Accurate and Gatling (0-3) _ _ Radiant Horizon Sig SOR 0 0 / 30 _ _ - Area, Follow, Quick, and Shield _ _ Revitalize Sig SOR 0 30 / 20 _ _ - Area, Hi-Heal, and Restore _ _ Solar Ascent Sig TEC 7 60 / 40 _ _ - Headshot (2) and Link (1) _ _ FP: 105/150 +attack +15 / +guard/+evade +15 / +charge +20 / +accept +5 _
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ashley has no words of kindness to give today. He doesn't know Kaguya, after all. Anything that might come out of his mouth would just sound empty and hollow. He needs to get to know her a little more first, have a few coffees, maybe a couple of long walks on the beach, before he's willing to do anything on an emotional level.
So what is a man bereft of the ultimate weapon 'Sincerity' to do...?
Well, for one, he can be quietly confused and yet approving of Clarissa's attempts to find Kaguya's (shriveled, gremlin-shaped) heart with her words. It takes a real special kind of person to do something like that. For two, he can bleed. Quite profusely, in fact! Ashley can see the shrieking vortex of flaying wind coming, but that only adds to the sense of forboding and helplessness. How do you dodge the wind? How do you defend against a storm of razors? Ashley...
Decides to lay down and take it.
Actually, he drops to his belly and sets his rifle on his back like a turtle's shell. He tucks in, brings his arms close around his head and neck, and... sits there, waiting for the pain to stop showing up in new places and for the noise to be a little less overwhelming. When he unfolds, his shoulders and sides are torn raw. Blood flows thick from ravaged flesh as he laboriously hefts his weapon from his shoulder. "Don't... insult Merian dirt," Ashley Winchester grunts as he slams a strange crystalline cylinder into his weapon's chamber. "We work this land as best we can. It's a hard life, it's so hard to get anything to grow... But we try anyway...! That bearclaw you ate-- it was made from grain grown and milled not far from here. That's the real taste... Of Meria-Boule! Earth and sweat, blood and toil! This, too..."
Ashley takes aim. "Last course...!" The Bayonet's barrel begins to shine, filling with a light that was made in Meria-Boule, too. Not just literally, in that they are in Meria-Boule and the light is presently being produced, but also because of the people responsible for building that crystalline cylinder. The wonders of technology, both new and old, translated into an amazing capacitor of destructive energy. White-blue light accumulates in the Bayonet's barrel, shining like the a young sun. Ashley pulls the trigger, firing a column of plasma with a sound like a thunderclap. "Open wide! It's your just desserts!"
GS: Ashley Winchester has activated a Force Action! GS: Ashley Winchester has activated a Force Action! GS: Ashley Winchester spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Kaguya with Rising Nova! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo! GS: Mute expired! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "Thanks." to Marivel, too wounded to get too sassy in just this second.
She glances to Ethius. She thinks of the line 'I will not permit her to do as she pleases'. She quirks her head because it's such a strange way of putting it. She does not comment, though. Ethius's situation with Kaguya is not really her business. Not unless it gets in the way, but Marivel is in fact betting on Kaguya's grit, to an extent. And not just her grit but on certain elements that she certainly isn't showing in just this moment--but it would defeat the purpose if she was, no?
Heads Up!
"Rude." Marivel says. A swirl of petals and wind tears through her body. She brings her arms forward to minimize the surface area that she can be torn apart by the petals. She slinks backwards, enduring it, and gritting her teeth.
She opens up one of her hand, revealing--Another donut! This one is a JELLY DONUT. She opens up her mouth and sticks her two fangs into it and then pulls her hand back, holding it into the air with her fangs--
--and ferociously devouring the SECOND donut.
Striking Kaguya hard with her own power would be DEFEAATING THE PURPOSE of why she is here. So instead she draws out a--a swarm of donut holes!
And she throws them at Kaguya! They're delicious...but having to catch all those donut holes to properly enjoy them might mean some difficulty in striking with her FULL POWER!
"You think this is enough training?" She asks.
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Kaguya with Power Seal! GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 1 Combo! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Expertly, Harmaus weathers her storm. She lowers back to the ground - though still hovering just above it - to see him still standing there. She knew he was strong, but he's durable, too. She wonders how much of it is his own stubbornness, and how much of it is a benefit of his physical form.
It is certainly a good part the former, though - just having a body wouldn't let him resist Ethius's spell like that. And then, Harmaus has a spell of her own. Clarine gasps in surprise. Quickly, her mirrors form up in front of her as a red star burst into being before her.
Her mirrors form a network of golden light just in time as the star detonates in a great plume of white solar flame. It washes over her barrier, consuming her surroundings. Mirrors crack and dissipate into motes of light, one by one, as the spell's sheer power begins to overwhelm them.
But, when the flames finally clear, Clarine is still there... albeit collapsed to her knees and visibly exhausted from the effort of withstanding the power of his Dynamic Flare. Though there is a circle of clear ground behind her from where her barrier was formed, everything else is charred into unrecognizability.
If this fight doesn't conclude quickly, she's unsure she'll be able to withstand another spell of that magnitude... And so, one way or another, she aims to bring this fight to a close.
"O seven brilliant blades, I call upon you to descend and loose your shining might..." A Seraphic glyph erupts into being beneath her feet as she begins the incantation, lighting up her surroundings. In the sky above, seven swords, each forged of shimmering, prismatic crystal, hang. And then, the first six fall, falling around Harmaus's position with the aim of surrounding him and forming another light glyph.
"Prism Sword!" With the conclusion of the incantation the seventh sword descends down toward Harmaus and when it connects - either with the embodied Seraph or the ground - the seven swords detonate in a dazzling, yet dangerous, explosion of rainbow light and crystal shards.
GS: Seraph Clarine spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Prism Sword! GS: Cover expired! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"No it's not!" Rebecca retorts to Kaguya, with the maturity of a mature adult and definitely not a six year old having a playground fight.
And as Rebecca compliments her flames, Rebecca grimaces at her, "And yet all it did was make you sit down. I can see why they called you a Blonde Demon, not that I didn't already know that." She squares up her stance warily.
Though Rebecca starts to gets disquieted about the exchange between Clarissa and Kaguya. And Rebecca actually makes a plea. "Kaguya maybe lay off of her? She doesn't know what kind of ground she's treading on when she says those kinds of things to you." Perhaps she's feeling slightly protective?
It's too late though, because a wind roils in howling with a force of razor petals. And Rebecca finds herself getting snagged by the vines as she tries to pull herself away.
Taking numerous cuts, she tries to ball herself up on the ground to hide anything vital, but it still messes her up - leaving numerous bloody scratches all over her that sliced her up with the force of a hurricane.
Then suddenly, she lifts her bloodied brow. And suddenly, electricity crackles off of her as she invokes another medium. "Data..." She rasps, "...always with the data. Enough that you're putting all these people's lives at risk. Well let's just give you some more to work with. Material..."
It's a calculated move, as she doubts that Kaguya will do the same thing she did last time during their duel to defend against it.
Out of the electrical burst descends the horned effigy of an Armored Beast, with manacles on each of its legs, and a large gleaming green gem like a third eye adorning adorning his head. The representation of Noua Shax, Guardian of Thunder and Lightning, instantly arcs down with a roar - each hoofbeat upon the air detonating like a thunderclap, twin corridors of lightning erupting around him as he charges at Kaguya, tearing up the ground in his wake as he tries to careen right into her - and more through her.
"...FLASH CORRIDA!"
Perhaps she put all of her donut related Marivel being a bad example frustration into that.
GS: Rebecca Streisand has activated a Force Action! GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Kaguya with Material - Flash Corrida! GS: Rebecca Streisand takes 27 damage from Poison! GS: Entangle, Mighty, and Poison expired! GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Harmaus guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Prism Sword for 171 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield! applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Seraph Harmaus has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Kaguya guards a hit from Clarissa Arwin's Soul Survivor for 91 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Kaguya's Force Guard activates! GS: CRITICAL! Kaguya guards a hit from Ashley Winchester's Rising Nova for 154 hit points! GS: Kaguya's Force Guard activates! GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Power Seal for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple! applied to Kaguya! GS: Kaguya guards a hit from Rebecca Streisand's Material - Flash Corrida for 100 hit points! GS: Kaguya's Force Guard activates! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Kaguya has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Kaguya shouts down in anger to Ethius, the pointedness of her words somehow able to be heard above all the chaos as Ethius completes the spellcast. Who is HE to decide who gets to do anything - a question that is one worth asking, for how often the man skirts around lawful behavior as if so much of what should bind his behavior... doesn't. Plain, simple hypocritical behavior by any terrestrial standard. The sort of thing that could easily make a Hellion if one were to stop and ponder this in an appropriately Malevolent place, but no. Not even the slightest hint he would acknowledge the issue in it.
"Who were you to decide for the people o--" There's a pressure on the tip of his staff. The ambient lighting around him changes for the softer, easier on the eyes, and both of them open up. The tears on them seem utterly foreign because the gaze that looks out is remorseless. The sight of a spell fizzling to the middle-aged Drifter's hands.
They blink once. A dereliction of all good sense for what can happen in a blink, for Ethius is dumbstruck enough. There is a hanging answer as to whether or not 'it' is human. By all signs, visually, yes - but their body language is so safeguarded as if to sometimes seem statuesque. On a good day he can suppress even the slightest movement of his chest from breathing.
This is not a good day, as Harmaus puts a hand on his shoulder.
'Here is the birth of light.' Ethius finds it a bit tough to escape Harmaus' grasp, as a building red light forms between the two. The residual heat... it stings.
'Dynamic Flare!'
Ethius' eyes widen. Yes. That is a very human-looking reaction of fear. Emotion. The grace and precision in the way he engaged gives way to full-on panic as he runs, runs, runs, tumbling forward instead when he realizes he's about to run atop a snare. Stabbing the tip of his staff into the ground for balance to pick himself up and run, run, as the birth of light explodes into white solar fires.
As if he were intimately /accustomed/ to the use of solar fire for some very specific, destructive purposes. It's blinding around him. Scalding, burning. He is clear of the epicenter and avoids disintegration and/or lasting harm, in the cosmic sense. A miss.
It is only through Clarine's blessing of light that the absolute, debilitating worst of just being in its proximity is headed off, bending and redirecting it in a shining halo of rainbow colors as it is dispersed. The residual heat still scalds, bringing previous wounds to ache anew from the spiking temperature but no new, further ones are inflicted.
A hand goes to his forehead as he gathers himself as the light fades. "...The spellcasting style... it does not reflect Crest Sorcery," he reasons. "That was not Symbological." He would know!
...
He takes notice of Clarine's own spellcasting style, and it starts to click about the ways both have been attacking. The use of light. He knows Clarine is a Seraph attributed to light, therefore...
He doesn't have time to further retort against Kaguya's protests, feelings as they are, as he stands up with a leg whose shakes fade. What do you do with... light?
What do you do with the flame that... ...what did the rest of it go?
"...I am not of the mind to relent." That's not a satisfactory answer to 'are you a thing, yes/no,' but that is Ethius' answer as he flutters his fingers again, though the Symbological tattoos flaring up where visible is the more damning tell of a spellcast as he chants the syllables together. With all the free-floating dirt from all the chaos and explosions everywhere, all he has to do is focus them on one point -
The strange middle-aged Drifter.
"Dust Compress." When the spell goes off, all free-floating dust, dirt, ash, or what-have you rush from the air to try and coalesce upon the point Harmaus stands upon, as if to try and smother them.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Seraph Harmaus with Dust Compress! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Seraph Harmaus takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Dust Compress for 155 hit points! GS: Seraph Harmaus enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Harmaus has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"For you, maybe." Kaguya is casual this time towards Clarissa, or perhaps 'disaffected' is a better term. She smirks at Rebecca anyway over her retort--and sitting down? "Heh. Some would say 'knocked me on my ass', but I'll take the good PR version of it."
She watches Clarissa make it to the tower, hitting it. The small Veruni looks on her movement with a mix of approval and irritation that could be confusing, brought by conflicting impulses as the two feelings are. "Hmmm, you don't?" Kaguya asks. "You know--I could change that." A dangerous note enters her voice as she turns towards her--but Rebecca's words reach her before she says more than that. "..." Regardless, she can see Clarissa aiming now--the ground itself shakes, and Kaguya crosses her arms in an 'X' in front of herself, preparing to guard through it. She doesn't count on the strange nature of the attack to partially get through her guard all the same. She feels something, through it--not just power, but...
"You really mean it, huh," Kaguya murmurs as the blast pushes her backwards, feet digging trails in the dirt. The very same dirt that Ashley means to defend, in fact--as he gets down, and slams a cartridge into his weapon's chamber. Kaguya looks to him, still defensive, and seems to see something in his words. "...Heh." The white-blue light fires at her, and once again she disappears into the light. Her silhouette in the plasma shows parts of her shirt over her armor burning away, revealing when the light passes Kaguya down on one knee, arms still out--and stange green armor exposed, a bodysuit that covers her neck to wrist to waist. "...All right," Kaguya says, smoke rising from her. "I accept that, about the dirt. I can respect that."
She looks up at Rebecca working her magic, and nods. "Yep. All that."
The power of a Guardian slams into and through her--she can only defend so well against it, knocked from her feet backward again, nearly into the tower itself this time, which is untouched by Rebecca's Guardian smmoning. She smokes further as a result, electricity crackling around her; there's a few cracks visible in the plating she wears.
She doesn't pull the same trick she used before, not this time. Instead, she looks to the others, as Marivel comments.
Kaguya snaps up the arm that hasn't been battered and catches a few donut holes, but her other arm is a little slower than her mind wants it to be, thanks to her injuries. Some of them hit the Merian ground, instead. "...Heh. Yeah..." Kaguya puts them away in one of her pouches for now, and pulls out a different, smaller device, without rising more than to one knee. "You remind me of someone," Kaguya says to Clarissa. "But that's fine. I hope you can hold onto that innocence. This world isn't very kind to people like you. Believe me."
Voice rough, she sets her jaw, looking over at Ethius, but doesn't give him a retort. Instead she focuses on Marivel. "I think that's enough. For now." She raises her voice, "Hey, Harmaus! Remember that transmitter I gave you?" A beat, "Hope you didn't lose it, or that won't be all."
"...Heh. Bet you thought I'd have some kind of cool farewell, huh?"
Kaguya presses a button, and there's a flash of brilliant green light at her and Harmaus's positions.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Ethius struggles against his grip. For a long series of moments, Harmaus' grip remains steady, but ultimately--
Ultimately, he lets go. Like a cat, almost, playing with a mouse...?
Like he wants to see how Ethius will escape. If he'll escape.
Is the same true of Clarine? In the end--
Is it true what they say about a broken mirror bringing about seven years of bad luck?
How many of Clarine's mirrors does Harmaus break? Seven by seven by seven...
--But in the end, there is Clarine. She may be on her knees, exhausted from the exertion of deflecting his spell, but she has still survived it unscatched. Harmaus plants his one empty hand on his hip.
"Ah, as expected! If it fell, we would washes our hands of it! But it has promise yet!" the Seraph utters, of all things a smile on his lips. "Much we has learned today. Will it shows another trick?" he asks, stooping a moment to retrieve his fallen knife, which he tosses into the air to catch with a flourish.
"Ah? It thought this Symbology? Is not. It guesses again!" he says, nearly flippant, to Ethius.
And pairs blade across blade as Clarine begins her incantation. Like a smear of an aurora -- light in a dark sky, light seen only by the eye, white light with but the hints of color -- his barrier begins to spill out about him as the swords begin to fall.
As the seventh descends.
As it hits.
As his knives shatter into sparkling shards of metal and are caught up, swallowed in the explosion of prismatic light.
As Harmaus is, too.
The wave of dust that follows shortly after merely catches those particles -- and all the other fragments of dust -- and converges upon the point where the Seraph stands.
There's a problem with bodies. It's one that Harmaus is given room to reflect upon, as he bursts from his shallow grave and shakes off the dust, only to fall to a knee.
The problem with bodies is that they have their limits. That they're just so much flesh and bone. That while they can withstand much, too far, and a body could be pushed well past its breaking point.
"Kaguya! It is all!"
He pauses a moment at Kaguya's response, then tilts his head as if puzzled by something she said. Then, he shrugs.
"Yah, well," he remarks, reaching for the device clipped onto his belt and pushing a button.
He, too, soon vanishes in a flash of green light.
+VOTE: Seraph Harmaus has voted for you.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Harmaus disappears in a flash of green light... and so too, Clarine notes, does the one named Kaguya. She sighs, and sinks down a little. That was... exhausting.
"Ah... thank you. I am uncertain that I could have faced him alone..." She says, offering Ethius a nod of genuine thanks. She then drifts over to the rest of her friends.
"Is everyone alright...?" She asks with concern, looking them over. She has to consider, though.
"...Was that... really just a test...?" She frowns. "Whatever it was, I suppose we should see to the health and safety of the soldiers..."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius watches as the strangely... detached-seeming middle-aged Drifter rises up from the shallow grave. He holds out his hand again in that sorcerous equivalent of a drawn firearm, silently repeating two syllables over and over as he bends his pointer and pinky fingers in a painful-looking repeated gesture, as if to cut off the early stages of another spell once a threat reveals itself further. His eyesight calms from the blinding intensity of the lightshows he had been witness to.
'Kaguya! It is all!'
Ethius' gaze is up and away from Harmaus as she mentions that taunting, 'bet you thought I'd have some kind of cool farewell, huh.'
A button is pushed on Harmaus' part. A flash of brilliant green beneath where Harmaus stands, before they disappear.
There is no ceremony. Just as he ran for his life before, he's running right the hell back there. His handiwork from before betrays him, because there is a layer of dirt and dust atop where Harmaus was. That was his doing. That adds an additional fraction of a second of work he surmises no one here has.
"GET DOWN!" Ethius calls. Emphasis. He does not usually... shout, like that. He stabs the quarterstaff straight down to try and get a clearer opening from where the light is, already calculating in his mind the exact depth 'it' must be buried. His mind is a flurry of what-ifs, narrowing down possibilities with frightening speed as if it were a grade beyond life and death. A familiarity with what he's doing, impressing experiences and knowledges of a context and origin he simply does not have a grasp of, because he doesn't have the time to ask 'why' or 'how.'
He flexes his fingers again as he goes through the incantation. Every syllable is agony, for that's another unit of precious time lost by need for the action. It is a lengthy, difficult spell he is putting together, and by the time he brings two fingers down to the part he unearthed...
"Short!" He calls the spell's name. (The name of it is unabashed irony.) An electrical surge escapes down to... whatever light source below.
...
...
...
...
...
If only Kaguya could see the look on his face, when it appears nothing ultimately happens.
"Stay." He snaps to Clarine as she starts to drift over. "No one sets foot here," never mind that Clarine can float, "until I can secure the area."
He becomes enormously possessive of the location of this outpost and possibly the entire area for at least two miles until his hobby-slash-obsession-behavior is satisfied, until he is certain that he unearths, disarms, and removes all the buried traps in the area.