2021-03-24: Helpful Friends
- Log: Helpful Friends
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Seraph Lanval, Layna Manydays, Seraph Amaranth, Dean Stark, Azoth, Ivan, Marivel Armitage, Josephine Lovelace, Monster Mash, The Drake, The Rosenwache, Ruth Pauling
- Where: Celesti Wastelands
- Date: March 24, 2021
- Summary: At an attempt to purify the Drake, someone interferes.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Who would have thought that a giant Malevolent menace would be so hard to find?
Having gotten some crucial personal business out of the way, Ida has joined in the hunt for the Dragon of Celesti once again. This time, though, she hasn't taken her own personal vehicle--she's borrowed a more rugged motor-coach, one designed to traverse the badlands. It seats at least eight with a little squishing, and the heavy-duty suspension turns the bumpy, hazardous ride into something more tolerable. Still, it's a whole lot of nothing for a long, long while. The plains of Celesti stretch out beyond the beaten, crater-studded road. There's little to do beyond make conversation, or eat snacks. And then, suddenly...
"There," says Ida, straightening up in the driver's seat. "Did you feel that?" Malevolence. Familiar Malevolence. Ida turns the car right, taking it offroad as gently as she can. She shifts gears, speeding up--and it isn't too long before a familiar entity appears in the sky ahead. "There," she says. "There he is. Azoth, get your shield ready--the last time, he tried to charge the car. We'll have to disembark in a hurry if he sees us..."
Ida tilts her head to the side, and speaks into the ARMS-issue Empathite radio attached to her armored trenchcoat's collar. "Boudicca, this is Ida. We've found him. The wind is blowing..." Ida cranks the window down, sticks a hand out of the armored vehicle to test. "Southeast." She hopes the radio's got enough juice to get the message there. She'll feel much better about their odds if the other search team is here.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Ya don't even have ta ashk!" Lanval says from within a bottle, allowing some extra leg room and almost justifying having eaten all of a choice snack - only for Ida to beat him in vocalizing the truth that almost everyone here would be able to voice within a second of someone bringing it up anyway.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY: YOU CAN NEVER JUSTIFY EATING ALL OF THE CHOICE TASTY SNACK. THAT ONE CHOICE TASTY SNACK. HE ATE IT.
"Mmmm... goin' by the color, 'n what'sh been shaid... they're a Fire Seraph, right?" Speaks the bottle GUILTY OF HOGGING AN ENTIRE SNACK TO THEMSELVES. "If they come in blowin' fire, I got ya all covered."
(this will still not make up for the snack hogging)
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
While Layna wasn't around for the previous attacks, she's since been caught up on the situation. A Seraph in the grips of Malevolence, on the verge of becoming a dragon... Well, as a Seer, it's her job to do something about that.
And so, she joins Ida and her search party in the vehicle on the trail of the Drake. She isn't sitting idle, though - she has her telescope out, using it to scan the horizon for sign of their target. But this time, signs of it reach her before she sees it directly in the form of a wave of Malevolence.
"Aye. Aye, that I did. There can be no mistaking that much Malevolence." Layna says with a grim nod.
And, indeed - as Ida points out, their target is visible in the sky. Layna rolls her neck, taking a second to loosen herself up.
"I'll keep an' eye on him. You ready, Lanval?" Layna asks, looking toward a certain bottle. From the sounds of it, he is indeed. With that said, she focuses her camera on the Drake again - if he makes a move toward them, she'll be ready to give the warning.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Katherine Weaver is with the group this time, because she promised her sister she wouldn't meander out to a place as dangerous as the Wastelands of Celesti alone. Even if that's kind of the impetus the Drake is giving her. Perhaps former Drakes just attract each other.
"... yes," Amaranth answers quietly to Lanval. "His name is Ywain. He was a good friend of ours."
She clutches the flute, which she's polished and cleaned in the interim, in her hand.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Ragnell is off with Boudicca on the search and not on this motor-coach! That's Dean who's there instead, squished in a middle seat in the back because he's short. It's not super great.
"Oh, great! Does that mean we get to get out of here?" he asks, squirming. The feeling of Malevolence is always unpleasant, especially in a big wave like this, but he prefers being also able to feel his legs. When Lanval and Layna weigh in, he nods. "We'll leave the opener to you guys, then!"
And hopefully it'll be a fast one.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth grips his wrist, flexing his fingers open and closed a few times. There's the slightest hint of a whir and click in mechanics inside him, but it may well be drowned out by the sound of the vehicle. Light shines even through the black of the bodysuit covering his arms like fingerless gloves.
"I'll have us covered," he says with confidence in spite of it. "I can calculate for energy exiting the protective field, so return fire will be possible even inside it."
He glances back to the Seraphim in the vehicle. "If the Malevolence is ever too much, please don't hesitate to get behind me."
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan is here to do what he can, and for now what he can do is be a little squished amongst the group while they survey the skies for the Drake.
He squints as Ida points out the wave of Malevolence, taking a moment to try to detect it for himself. It seems like he's always the last to notice these things? But yes, there it is. It's not a great feeling; maybe he tends to miss it since he's often ill at ease to begin with.
"Please let me know at any point if it would helpful for something to be on fire," he requests.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "You feeling any better, Azoth?"
She's already behind Azoth. Well, sitting behind him.
"Don't worry, I intend to take it easy today. If I always go all out, what kind of work would everyone else have left to do? I'd be doing them a disservice. Luckily I am a much better friend than that."
She looks to Dean and winks once to him.
"Of course, I have to look after dear Boud's interests too. Tah tah tah... life is so hard when you have so many cute friends you have to look after."
She looks to Ammy. "You're all very close knit aren't you."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's a fact -- though unknown to many -- that Odessa has a safe house in this very region.
As a result, the presence of so many in recently this area hasn't gone without notice. ...Or, for that matter, the matter of the dragon.
Josie remains crouched within the ruins of what was once a home, tuned in to a particular signal on her own device. She moves slowly as she approaches the edges of the foundation, keeping low against the ground as she keeps her target in her sights.
"Got a good view of it now," she murmurs, low into the receiver. "Good a time as any, yeah?"
DC: Monster Mash switches forms to Rosenwache!
<Pose Tracker> Monster Mash has posed.
There is more than one source of Malevolence here, though that may not be obvious with the overwhelming aura of the Drake nearby.
The spears that land before the group as warning proves otherwise.
"You will go no further."
Those are the words that come from above, as insectile constructions, made of polished stone and gilded with fine gold, buzz from somewhere over the group, amassing in a group. Their size is far larger than a normal, about the height of a human, and their body is shield-shaped, golden antennae. From their appendages (or 'arms'?) are a a shining spear, each as uniform as the next.
That voice cannot be produced from these insects. There's no mouth to speak, the closest any of them having being a 'beak' of sorts, razor sharp.
But still, the voice, young and regal, comes from them.
"The Dragon of Celesti shall not be purged from this world for the false crime of simply 'existing'. Who declared any of you the judge of what is allowed to exist?"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Hold it? You sure 'bout that?"
The other end of the communications buzzes softly with the response. "...Wait a sec. We've got interference. Some kinda... bug? Talking bug? --Listen, I tell you what, I take the shot while I got one, and--"
And the receiver is practically alive with visibly vibrating sound waves as Josie angles her head away, wincing. She then pauses just long enough to peel it off and toss it across the house ruins. It continues to squawk from afar.
"'Hold your fire', yourself, lousy..." Josie mutters, dropping low into position with the sniper rifle.
Moments later, a bullet flies across the distance, at speed for the Drake.
<Pose Tracker> The Drake has posed.
Through the telescope, the Drake can be seen flying through the air, going in a very, very wide circle, notable mostly by the gentle curve in his path. There may be a sense that he's patrolling his territory, though one wonders if a Fell Drake thinks in those terms. It's a question, anyway. For now, he soars gracefully.
Or, well, he did. A shot impacts his hide just after the small group shows up to protest this entire endeavor, and the Drake roars loudly enough that it can be heard in the distance--and seen approaching first by telescope, and then by the naked eye. The red, spiky monster folds his wings to barrel down straight towards the group.
There are now the strange insectile constructions and a Drake rushing down, ready to battle. He will be here in seconds.
Three, two, one...
CRASH! The Drake that the group now knows as once 'Yvain' slams into the ground and sends shockwaves rattling all over the battlefield--because now it is a battlefield, whether anyone likes it or not.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
A fresh wave of Malevolence washes through the air. Ida almost misses the telltale differences--the Drake's own Domain is, of course, quite strong--but when she breathes in and tastes it, her heart leaps against her ribs.
Not a moment later, three of the spears rip into the car. One of them glances off the machine's side, and one embeds itself in the driver's-side door with a low, metallic crunch. The third slams into the right front tire, and there's a sound like a grenade going off. The car lurches to that side, forcing Ida to brake, hard, lest the vehicle be riddled with more spines.
"Bloody hell!" she roars, as she throws down the parking brake. "Out! Out, out!" As Ida kicks the door open, the sound of a rifle bullet penetrates the din. She looks up, and sees the drake change course. Her heart leaps into her throat.
"Layna! Azoth! See to the intruders!" Ida throws herself to the ground with mere seconds to spare; the Drake that was once Yvain slams into the earth, kicking up dust and sending rocks tumbling over her. Ida shoves herself upright, and charges. "Over here! Yvain! Yvain!" Will he recognize his own name? It's anyone's guess. But Ida doesn't just leap into the fray this time--as soon as she's within range she steps into an intricate, twisting stance, laying into the Fell Drake with light, testing strikes. More importantly, she starts to gauge how he moves in response, and flows away from impending violence before it happens.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked The Drake with Water Dragon Form - Wave and Ripple Stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Stoic stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean makes a face when Marivel winks at him. "Is that just an excuse to hang back and let everyone else do all the hard work?" he asks suspiciously. Looks like the little beanbrain is learning...!
But all of a sudden, some weird bug lady flies up to the car, punctures a tire with one of her spears, and yells at them for trying to (as Dean interprets it) kill the Drake. After Dean finishes getting crushed by inertia and people's weight when the car screeches to a halt, he wriggles towards one of the windows. "H-hey, hold it! You've got it all wrong! We don't want to kill him, we want to heal him!" he shouts up at her, too surprised by her appearance and too caught up in the crowd, as it were, to immediately realize that the sudden increase of Malevolence is coming from her, too.
Of course then someone shoots the Drake and the Drake responds by stomping the ground real real hard, so getting crushed might be the least of his problems in a second or two. Everybody out!! ...but until that happens, he'll pop a gun out a window and fire a couple shots at the Drake. It might be awkward, and it won't be a *great* shot, but hey, at least he's got some cover...?
GS: Dean Stark has attacked The Drake with Dual Shooter! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> The Rosenwache has posed.
The Rosenwache :)
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Amaranth nods quietly at Marivel. "More than that. He saved me, once. I plan to pay that back as much as I can... even if I won't be lifting a blade today."
There's a quiet nod of affirmation to Azoth, and then... her eyes widen as another source of Malevolence disturbs her. Who are these insectoid creatures, and that voice...?
The Drake slams down before long, which rattles her; it wouldn't be safe to stay in the vehicle for much longer, with the spears ripping into the car. There's a faint grimace from the Seamstress as she calls out to the horde:
"I understand. I understand what it feels like... to think the world is against you. But that is not the case... but the whispers make it so much harder to see clearly."
She tumbles out quietly out of the car, and looks towards the Drake in turn.
She remembers that day, when everyone called her name.
"Yvain..." Amaranth speaks. She doesn't shout, but she speaks with purpose. "Do you remember me? It has been so long..."
A pause. "I pushed you away. I could not deal with what I had done, what you had to do for me. But... no longer."
Her head lowers. "I will not rest until I see you returned to us."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Ngh..." Marivel says at being called out by Dean. "Out little Deansprout is growing up so fast...!"
But then folks start calling out the group for...things that as far as Marivel is aware, aren't actually part of their goal. "We're trying to save the Dragon of Celesti, not judge them." Marivel says, raising their hand into the air passively. "I swear, like half the battles I'm pulled into when I'd rather be playing video games is because a bunch of people are making presumptions about my goals.
There's the faint sound of beeps and boops and musical notation coming from Marivel. And then there's a gunshot.
Marivel exhales faintly and lowers down her legally distinct Mimtemdo Gaming Peripheral, hitting the pause button.
She steps out of the coach, looking rather sour. "I don't suppose you're gonna believe that we're not actually here to harm The Drake here now that some idiot opened fire preemptively huh?"
She rubs at her neck lightly and then says, "Look I already 'captured' three of the four main targets in the dating sim I was working on and, yes, the game has been out for thousands of years but the point is is that I kept putting it off because real life kept getting in the way and I thought, well, today I can mostly sit back and let the Seraphs do most of the work probably so I'm sort of in the middle of the fourth route but it's one of those meta 'Oh you've been dating all these people, I'm into YOU not the video game character you were playing as' type deals and if I keep her waiting I'm getting ending 4B not 4A and I'm really going for 4A first. Yeah, it has an internal clock. It's an impressive piece of hardware and now that I'm actually playing it I'm finding the characters kind of charming even though I initially found them so annoying I had to put the game down before I got anywhere? So..."
She trails off.
"Well anyway," Her gaze slants towards Amaranth. "Our friend here wants to save them. So maybe we should be teaming up rather than fighting. That would be the logical course of action. Of course, we don't expect it to be as simple as saying a few nice words here or there, but there's really no need to have violence on this route just because there happens to be a misunderstanding."
Though just to be safe, she stealthily slaps Azoth in the back with a W-Tank.
"Isn't that right, Azoth? You can tell them that we don't have any ulterior motives right?"
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Azoth with Booster! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action. GS: Azoth accepts Marivel Armitage's Booster for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield applied to Azoth!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Well," Josie says to herself, gazing a moment at the space the rampaging dragon had been in through her sight. "That didn't work." She sits upright for a moment on her haunches, head inclined slightly to her left. If there had been any doubt about it in the first place--
"Heh. Just what them lot said it was."
--there's certainly none remaining now.
Decisions, decisions. The fingers of her left hand drum against her right upper arm. But in the end the wayward archaeologist reaches for the black shotgun and, rising to her feet, vaults over the crumbling masonry.
"Well, let's go huntin'."
The ground rattles with the impact of the dragon further way. Scrambling up the remnants of a bridge (shattered, half-slumped into the dry bed of what had been a river before the calamity) she stands atop a crumbling post for a long moment as the dragon rages, waiting for the chance. Her gaze falls on the group that's gathered here to also handle the dragon and beneath her mask, Josie purses her lips.
One, two
She braces herself for the kick of the ARM and fires upon the Drake.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked The Drake with Figure of Eight! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Suddenly, spears crash down in front of the vehicle - one of them puncturing a tire! Focused on the Drake as she is, Layna doesn't spot them until it's too late.
"The hell!?" She spurts out, lowering her telescope just as a series of insectoid, gilded stone constructs descend in a group.
...And if that weren't bad enough, there's a loud sound of an ARM going off, headed right for Yvain! Layna curses loudly.
"Damn, looks like we're doin' this already!" She hisses, then looks toward Ida with a nod. "Aye! Keep 'em safe, Lanval!"
With that she hurls the door open and leaps from the car in an unnecessarily dramatic fashion, rolling as she does into a standing position. She faces the army of stone insects eying them down and, subtly, looking for any potential weakspots.
They don't have mouths... but there is a voice, coming from all of them. Layna isn't sure if it's just one person speaking through all of them, or if they're just acting as a single mind.
"So, I think we've got ourselves a bit of a misunderstanding, pal. We ain't here to kill him, we're here to help him, aye?" Layna explains. "You're in the presence of some of the few people here who actually know what's going on with him."
She glances toward Marivel briefly as she speaks, an eyebrow raised curiously.
"Uh... what she said. But yeah, anyway - buzz off or help us out, aye? ...That said, pal, if you still wanna throw down..." Layna says, cracking her knuckles. "Then I'd be glad to oblige!!"
And with that said she rushes down the nearest insect. Her right hand glows red as she thrusts it forward - not inflicting any physical harm, but instead trying to drain it of strength and energy and add it to her own reserves.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked The Rosenwache with Plunder Power! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth gives Marivel a bright smile and a couple cheerful beeps. "Yes, thank you."
But any further conversation is interrupted by Malevolence spiking in his sensors. He lets out a warning beep of distress. Still holding his wrist, he snaps his fingers. Electricity arcs across his arm, eyes flickering, but barrier swelling out from around his body in a veil of hexagonal light to protect the car.
It's a moment too slow. He didn't sense the other source of Malevolence quickly enough. Spears pierce into the car before his protections are fully up. "Where -- ?!" It might be enough to catch a few others, but there isn't time to confirm that before they need to scramble from the vehicle.
At Ida's command, Azoth gives an affirmative beep -- he's trying to make sure, more than usual, the others are aware of what he is, and what he is is someone who they don't need to risk themselves protecting from Malevolence the way they might need to protect themselves. Or each other.
"W-Wait, this is a misunderstanding!" Azoth calls to the group of stone constructions. They may not be the ones speaking, but there is a voice here somewhere. Somewhere in all of Marivel's words -- a lot of it he's not sure he understands -- she gives him a slap in the back with something that makes his circuits surge. Much as he'd like to shoot her a questioning look, he doesn't. He knows when there's an effort to be discreet afoot.
He launches forward, trying to place himself between this new set of enemies and the others as they deal with the Drake. A burst of light explodes from him as he flashes out with a set of energy swords. With a snap of his fingers, he converges them down in an explosion before the swarm, trying desperately to impede any advance on the purifiers.
"That's right! There's nothing wrong with him existing, but he's in pain. We've brought people who can relieve that...! So please -- !"
GS: Azoth has attacked The Rosenwache with Hello World! GS: Azoth has gained 2 Combo! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The bottle tilts in the direction of a fresh, new wave of Malevolence. "...There'sh more than one He--"
Spears rip into the car, and when the car lurches and Ida forces the brake, Lanval's bottle flips right the hell out of where it is seated, missing the protection of Azoth's barrier but also being airborne when the Drake - no, Seraph Yvain - slams the ground and rattles the ground. Seraph Lanval is, if nothing else, exceptionally good at performing pratfalls under pressure.
In mid-spin, a ball of light appears from the bottle and drops down to the ground in the form of a fully upright, well-balanced Seraph Lanval who is there to deftly catch his own vessel and stash it... somewhere. His drinking gourd is held in his left arm like he were an American football player ready to run the field.
"All right." His eyes slowly open. He looks to the raging, angry Yvain with a cat-like smile. "I know there'sh shtill a bit of ya in there, 'n I'm tellin' ya - it'sh great ya got good company." Something... he didn't really get to have for hundreds of years, barring the odd visitor here and there among his own kind. If there's any joy left in the Hellionized Seraph by being able to see their old friends again, he can magnify that.
His own emotional distance from Yvain may well be his armor. Water is infamously vulnerable to corruption by Malevolence - it speaks to his own innate spiritual strength that he holds up as well against it as he does, having a vessel aside as he starts walking forward. Not even a parody of walking, like he usually does.
Seraph Lanval may be a drunken layabout who, unchecked, will consume drink and snacks like nobody's business. Temperance is not one of his virtues. As Layna deals with the unwanted guests, Lanval steps up to live up to what he says he's here to do.
He takes his drinking gourd in both hands and heaves a large wave of water towards the maw of Yvain. The water is about as cold as he can make it, for added shock - because let it not be said that Lanval ever fails to take his true duties seriously.
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked The Drake with Like A Cold Bucket Of Water! GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
A swarm of insect constructs descends, speaking with one voice. Who declared any of you the judge of what is allowed to exist?
The spears strike out at the vehicle, causing Ida to slam the brakes and order them all out. That seems easier said than done with the Drake shaking the earth, but Ivan leaps out as the shockwave passes, sweeping his arms around to conjure flames in his hands, and then unleashing a trio of rocky-cored fireballs. As several others have pointed out, the whole thing is probably a misunderstanding, but they do need to buy the time for the others to subdue and purify the Drake, which means drawing the attention of these entities or ...entity.
"Uh, who exactly are you?" he puts out there.
GS: Ivan has attacked The Rosenwache with Fire Swarm! GS: Ivan has completed his action. GS: The Drake critically guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Water Dragon Form - Wave and Ripple Stance for 18 hit points! GS: The Drake activates Power Burst! GS: The Drake critically guards Dean Stark's Dual Shooter for 21 hit points! GS: Cover applied to Dean Stark! GS: The Drake takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Figure of Eight for 157 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Drake gains 1 additional Combo! GS: The Drake takes a glancing hit from Seraph Lanval's Like A Cold Bucket Of Water for 69 hit points! GS: The Rosenwache guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Plunder Power for 0 hit points! GS: Weaken applied to The Rosenwache! GS: Mighty applied to Layna Manydays! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache critically guards Ivan's Fire Swarm for 31 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Rosenwache gains 1 additional Combo! GS: The Rosenwache activates Arcane Font and Sufferer! GS: Gamble: Moderate! The Rosenwache critically guards Azoth's Hello World for 23 hit points! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> The Drake has posed.
It's impossible to tell at first whether the Fell Drake recognizes the name of the Seraph he was, or if he just responds to shouting. The car is left behind and forgotten this time, already established by now as Insufficiently Nutritious or something because it's not very interesting now. Not while all these people are running around. Not while...
Amaranth is around. The Drake steps forward towards her as she moves out of the car, and roars at her, a terribly loud noise that crashes through the air hard enough that it's possible to feel the vibration.
And then Dean fires to give people a chance to get away and to give himself some cover. Indeed, the shot deflects almost harmlessly against the Drake's scales, but it does draw his attention for long enough for more people to move.
Josie's approach is more effective this time; the shotgun's spread shot doesn't just waste itself on its scales but find softer flesh about the wings, though not soft enough to puncture. In fury, the Drake belches forth a hot ball of purple-black flame, edged with green.
Ida in the meantime gets up close with testing strikes, and the Drake moves quickly--in fact, too quickly at first to get much of a feel for how he moves. There is none of the sluggishness that his great form might suggest; his claws move like hands, his arms powerfully muscled. His powerful talons slam into the ground next, cracking the earth before her, and providing a potential opportunity.
But before he can immediately follow up, Lanval sneds the great wave of water forward, and indeed--it's shocking. The Drake roars again and shifts away, but even a glancing hit is more than enough to get his attention.
Lanval's cat-like smile meets a bestial expression of rage--if there is someone in there... he's buried pretty deep. The whispers, Amaranth calls it.
...And they're in its territory.
The Drake then picks up and rushes forward, taking wing partway to slam past Lanval and then Dean, though his cover may protect him from the wing snap along the way. A claw comes down, this time for Amaranth--
...If the Drake has noticed his new 'saviors', he does not seem to say so.
GS: The Drake has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Wyrm Shot! GS: The Drake assumes the Avenger stance! GS: The Drake has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Earthbreaker! GS: The Drake has attacked Dean Stark with Flyby! GS: The Drake has attacked Seraph Lanval with Flyby! GS: The Drake has gained 1 Combo! GS: The Drake has attacked Seraph Amaranth with Spinning Claw! GS: The Drake has gained 1 Combo! GS: The Drake has adjusted their boss level for 4 opponents! GS: Gamble: High! Seraph Lanval fully evades The Drake's Flyby for 0 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards The Drake's Wyrm Shot for 29 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Guard bonus! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey used Defend! She takes The Drake's Spinning Claw attack on Seraph Amaranth on herself! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey fully evades The Drake's Earthbreaker for 0 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Evade bonus and Power Burst! GS: Gamble: Low! Dean Stark guards a hit from The Drake's Flyby for 37 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from The Drake's Spinning Claw for 130 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> The Rosenwache has posed.
When the Drake comes crashing in, the Rosenwache move as a legion, unaffected by the beast as it rushes in. They assemble themselves in a round circle formation, their hunched forms seeming to double as defense.
"You wish to heal him? Change him to be other than what he is? Boy, could you even protect whatever creature would emerge from the grand shell such as this? You couldn't even protect the remains of a snail devoid of its shell, much less a dragon." The insects move in formation, ready to strike, but Layna interfenes, distracing the Rosenwache. Energy passes from the nearest insect into Layna's hand, the surface of the bug cool and hard as any polished statue, rather than stiffly pliant like an insect's exoskeleton. It dips slightly, weakened, but still moves as one with the other insects, throwing itself at the pirate with a rough jolt of motion before flipping back to rejoin its brethern.
Shots fly and seem to rile the insects further, their wings beginning to noisily jostle. "You understand nothing," the voice bluntly says to Amaranth. "Not as long as you insist on 'saving' this dragon."
The insects are many, enough to taken on the entire group, but there is one disadvantage: they do not move as individual minds, but as appendages to the same body, like a flock of starlings operating under the same hive mind in flight.
"You think this is a game, then," is the Rosenwache's reply to Marivel. "You clearly have no degree of sympathy for this being, to dismiss everything so blantantly. But... your struggle cannot be dismissed entirely." Neither can Azoth, who fires a blast of light that draws the nearest bugs to form a wall against it, bunching up as one to absorb the attack. Ivan's attack is responded to in much the same manner, its force combined with Azoth's causing one insect clattering into inert dust in the aftermath.
"This is my loyal guard, the Rosenwache. I am the Rose Queen, and I am here to offer sanctuary for those who are deemed unfit by society. Whether this dragon is of Celesti or not, he is welcome in my kingdom..." A spear fires by one insect, for Ivan and Azoth, "... away from the likes of you!" To Marivel, the insects emit a high-pitched shriek, pinpointed straight for Marivel's sensitive ears.
GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Layna Manydays with Blumenschild! GS: The Rosenwache has gained 2 Combo! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Ivan with Goldspeer! GS: The Rosenwache has gained 2 Combo! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Azoth with Goldspeer! GS: The Rosenwache has gained 1 Combo! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Marivel Armitage with Lowenschrei! GS: The Rosenwache has completed her action. GS: Layna Manydays fully evades The Rosenwache's Blumenschild for 0 hit points! GS: Layna Manydays activates Evade bonus! GS: Azoth takes a solid hit from The Rosenwache's Goldspeer for 136 hit points! GS: Marivel Armitage critically guards The Rosenwache's Lowenschrei for 0 hit points! GS: Ivan takes a solid hit from The Rosenwache's Goldspeer for 149 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The Drake's movements are of unrelenting fury.
Seraph Lanval, Water Seraph and Oracle of Schturdark, embodies water itself like so very, very few entities can - flowing and swaying in a precarious backwards lean that he has to kick up a leg to stay upright. Even with the apparent bulk of his manifestation, his agility has few natural matches as Yvain's drake wing misses even the water-like strands of his beard hairs. The horrid 'whispers,' as Amaranth calls them, pass him by. That smile of his never fades, unbroken - even knowing the heat of the awful purple-and-green fireball flying for another.
"It goesh without shayin'! But I'm gonna!" Lanval calls to the lot of them as he steadies - through all of the fury and the shouting, for how little actual brain he often shows to have (do Seraphim have brains? Lanval is a strong case for 'no'), this is a subject that is in his wheelhouse. "That there Rose Queen 'n her own, there. Hellions. 'n... I can tell with that much--" he's interrupted by screeching Rosenwache insects, "--'n I can tell with that much Malevolence... ya really don't want 'em near Yvain."
They could be the tipping point. That there's an additional powerful Hellion at all is bad, bad, bad news and says that something's been brewing under their noses. He trusts Layna with everything. She has the power of Purification and he knows she can keep them at bay. He has seen her fight so, so many creatures at once by her lonesome that he can't imagine ever being in a bar fight with her at his back.
It wouldn't be a fight any more because there wouldn't be anyone left standing before it started, with her - and Layna's not alone. He can put all his focus on helping quell some of Yvain's fury as it starts to stain the landscape.
"Ash fer you," he turns back to Yvain's backside. The faltering Fire Seraph may have terrible wings of discord to fly with, but for the earth beneath - the earth that shapes where and how water rests...
Lanval gets casting, the usual glyphs expected of a Seraphic Arte as water in all forms great and... not... leave their spiritual presence in the air around him, "ya need a bath. Hallowed Tides!"
Lanval prepares the figurative 'bathwaters' are 'more of a raging whirlpool' that try to surround and constrict Yvain to keep him in place and prevent him from moving - but he'll watch for the melee attackers among them and make sure there's space for them to get in there safely. Any shot they get could be the only shot they get to save him of his Malevolence, after all.
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked The Drake with Hallowed Tides! GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Suffering isn't sanctuary!" Azoth calls back. "Please, you can't dismiss his pain, either, just because it doesn't look like everyone else's! Just because a drake doesn't have the same face to show it, or to say it, doesn't mean he isn't hurting...!"
But his pleas are silenced by a spear fired off by one of the insects, impaling into his shoulder joint. Azoth lets out a strangled beep of a sound, a wild arc of energy leaping out of his body in place of where blood might otherwise splatter.
He rips the spear out and casts it aside, but staggers and grabs hold of the 'wound' when the vicious sparking continues. There's so much of her 'royal guard', and no way of knowing the source...
And will he just be gunning down more of those who can hurt, but not show it...? But he can't let this interference continue. He's not programmed for that.
Azoth lifts his damaged arm with a twitch and snaps his fingers. Lances form. He dives into the fray, trying to weave through, twisting and spinning, and with commands like a conductor, bringing the lances chasing him down as he tries to calculate key weaknesses in the formation.
GS: Azoth has activated a Force Action! GS: Azoth has attacked The Rosenwache with Circuit Breaker! GS: Azoth has gained 2 Combo! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean *is* growing up! But then Marivel accuses *someone* of popping off early, and Dean double-takes at her. "Huh?! I didn't attack too early! You have to wear a Hellion down before you can cleanse the Malevolence, right? That's how it's supposed to go!" It does finally occur to him that the Bug Lady probably isn't inclined to believe they're here to help the Drake when they just opened fired on him, though, so he does rub the back of his head sheepishly. "Th-this is helping, promise!"
Regardless, the car is suddenly a lot more empty--and much more aerated, too!--so he jumps out the side where the folks heading towards the Drake are going. "No, like I said, it's not the dragon--" He doesn't know if the Bug Lady is going to end up helping or not, so he'll leave her to the others. Hopefully she listens, or else hopefully they can convince her.
For now, the Drake rushes the group, snapping one wing around to attempt to ground Dean. While the impact on the car door is definitely plenty to rattle him from head to toe, Dean manages to stand his ground. They've got to weaken the Drake before they can purify him, so... Dean darts out from behind his cover and attempts to strike the Drake on the solar plexus (do dragons have that?? he has no idea but he'll aim for it anyway) with his ARMs' combat rods. Maybe that'll force some of its breath out of it!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked The Drake with Violence Vice! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Amaranth has the Drake's attention. This is both good--in that she's probably the only one here who might be able to get through to him--and bad, for fairly obvious reasons. Ida's seen what Amaranth can do, but she also knows that when someone's sworn never to use their terrible killing arts ever again, you don't gainsay them. For a moment, as the Drake's roar echoes across the plains, Ida wonders if she'll get the chance to tell Ms. Weaver how the introduction went. The clothes were lovely.
Ida risks a glance backwards, spotting a lone figure with a shotgun, but not seeing anything more than that in the brief instant. The Drake that was Yvain rears up, and Ida has scant seconds to leap into the air. They're enough. The ground cracks and buckles, but Ida is no longer there. She twists on a heel and leaps, her body flowing with the Hellion's rage rather than resisting it. It's remarkably similar to how Lanval moves, sometimes. She lands on her feet, her body slipping into that smooth, fluid stance once again.
"I'm certain you have a very logical explanation for this," Ida says, lips pulling tight as she raises her voice at the Hellion swarm. "But--"
Yvain goes for Amaranth.
"NO!" Ida shouts. She takes off like a shot, racing the Drake as he rushes the Seraph that was once his friend. At the last second, she leaps, throwing herself bodily between Amaranth and her attacker. Claws rake down Ida's left side; the horrible sounds of shearing metal and ripping flesh cut through the air. Quicksilver and crimson drip down Ida's side. Reddish-silver fluid bubbles from the wounds, forming armored patches to keep Ida's vital fluids in and Hellion claws out.
'I am the Rose Queen, and I am here to offer sanctuary for those who are deemed unfit by society.'
Somehow, those words cut Ida just as deeply as the Drake's claws--no, deeper. Her jaw tightens. She sets her feet, and glances over her shoulder at Amaranth. "Ms. Weaver, please stay behind me." There's tension boiling in her voice, but also determination. Amaranth would know why. She experienced the same thing. For a few precious heartbeats, she turns to the swarm of smaller Hellions, and shouts to their Queen: "He has a name!"
Ida leaps forwards, whipping her right leg up and around in a spinning kick to complement Dean's rush from the front. She rebounds from the motion, twisting in mid-air--
And then reaches out with her left hand. There's a sharp phwip as a long, thin metal tendril erupts from just behind her wrist, its end just barbed enough to lodge in scale.
For a few moments, Ida lets Fafnir's reflexes guide her. The man's been a dragon. He's fought a dragonslayer. Ida trusts in him to help her get this right.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked The Drake with Muscle Memory! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: The Drake takes a solid hit from Seraph Lanval's Hallowed Tides for 84 hit points! GS: Entangle applied to The Drake! GS: The Drake guards a hit from Dean Stark's Violence Vice for 62 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Drake gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break applied to The Drake! GS: The Drake activates Power Burst! GS: The Drake critically guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 18 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: The Drake activates Guard bonus and Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Not such a misunderstanding after all... it seems the insects -- the, uh, guardians of the Rose Queen?? are protecting not only the Drake but the idea of the Drake... and not interested in allowing him to change from his current state. "He wasn't always a Drake, though, and he'd probably really prefer to go back to being what he was...!" Ivan hesitates. "Also, uh-- what is a Rose Queen?"
A spear flies out from the swarm. Ivan darts to one side, but it catches him in the side of one leg, sinking in deep.
His face contorts, though he doesn't cry out.
He needs a moment to recover his focus, but when he does, he lifts his arms and then pulls them downward, as if dragging something from the sky. A spell glyph alights beneath the swarm of the Rosenwache, and down from the sky above it fall searing globiles of liquid fire.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Wow are you really going to say 'buzz off' to bug people? I thought you'd be more sensitive." Marivel asides to Layna.
But the Rosenwache continues in their taunts. Well the Rose Queen does. "Ah, no, I don't think this is a game. I'm just thinking this is a waste of valuable time that could be spent helping him. If he falls any further under the sway of the poison infecting him, he is likely to torment your kingdom as much as us. Fell Dragons by my understanding only keep extremely limited vestiges of their former personality, not enough to be charitable to you for your assistance, not enough to truly recall whom they loved in life."
She quirks her head, "But it is true. I don't have sympathy for him. Why would I have sympathy for someone I don't even know? Even if I can empathize with his circumstances to a certain extent, that's pretty far from sympathizing."
The Rosenwache lets out a powerful sonic screech. Marivel glances to dean for a moment, and then she looks back to the Rosenwache.
She elects to keep the earbuds in her ears.
"Anyway how can I sympathize with this guy? That's ridiculous. What a comical idea."
She gestures towards Drake. "I mean... he has like a full Robot Master squad trying to save him, to say nothing that some of us here are actually old friends of his. I have more sympathy for you, since it doesn't seem like you have real friends of your own..."
"But the Drake of Celesti?" Marivel shrugs both shoulders. "I have no sympathy for him at all. If anything, I'm actually rather jealous of him. How dare he have so many good friends trying to save him without him doing them the good decency and being healed quickly? I'm very envious that so many of the people he loves are still alive. It's rather irritating... actually."
And with that she extends a hand and unleashes a wave of darkness that aims to grip up out of the Rosenwache's shadows and cling to their bodies to make them easier targets for their friends.
"You're geting in the way of him being reunited with his family. You care for his companionship, naught else, yet you could still have it if you let him be healed. That is the path to him remembering you."
GS: Ivan has attacked The Rosenwache with Scorching Rain! GS: Ivan assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Ivan has completed his action. GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked The Rosenwache with Boogiepop Phantoms! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The part of the pillar behind her crumbles, falling in a shower of stone as Josie is pressed back against it; for a moment she teeters on the edge before righting herself.
Just in time to meet dragonfire. Dark eyes widen for an instant and throwing out her right hand, the magus' daughter summons forth a swirling barrier of electricity before her. "To me, o lightning--"
The flame rebounds against it in the next heartbeat, some of it kissing her flesh. But most of it parts about her like the sea cut by a ship: once the flames die down she is standing there still.
"..." Under the mask, Josie grits her teeth, and almost as an afterthought sees to the flames on her right forearm.
She's down, off the ruined pillar in the next moment, her longcoat flaring out behind her as she drops.
When she moves again, she doesn't stop, hopping across the few remaining remnants of the masonry where they still stand, pressing closer to the Drake. ...As well as the others engaging it. Briefly dark eyes flit towards the glamorous bugs but quickly Josie's attention returns to her target.
The next shot comes nearly out of the blue, cutting right through the momentary gap that forms through the group of the would-be purifiers of the Drake.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked The Drake with Liquorice Piercer! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Amaranth grimaces as the winds sweep over her, and the Drake's earth-shattering roar rips into her very heart for a moment.
It's not because she fears.
It's because... she can sense the pain inside that roar. She's very briefly pulled back to the very day she was roaring.
But suddenly a claw comes at her, and she grimaces--
But Ida's suddenly interposed herself between her, and a horrible noise of metal and flesh rips through her. "M-Miss Ida!" she exclaims.
The declaration of the Rose Queen is grand indeed, but almost dramatic as Ida calls her to stay behind her. "Yes... I am sorry. Let me try harder."
Her attention turns towards the Drake again. She breathes deeply.
"Yvain. Do you remember this song? You taught me this one... before I left. I... I remembered it in the end."
She lifts the flute to play a slow, melodic song, filled with solemn flat notes. A song made to cut through the loneliness of silence, when one is alone...
"You knew, did you not? You knew I would need this song in my loneliness after I left. You were always looking out after me. Even when I was pushing everyone away..."
GS: Seraph Amaranth has attacked The Drake with A Song -- So you'll never be Alone...! GS: Seraph Amaranth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Amaranth has completed her action. GS: The Drake takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Liquorice Piercer for 49 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Drake gains 1 additional Combo! GS: The Drake activates Evade bonus! GS: The Drake has lost 1 Combo from Interrupt! GS: CRITICAL! The Drake guards a hit from Seraph Amaranth's A Song -- So you'll never be Alone... for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Drake gains 1 additional Combo! GS: The Drake activates Power Burst! GS: The Rosenwache takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Boogiepop Phantoms for 54 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Rosenwache gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disease and Poison applied to The Rosenwache! GS: The Rosenwache activates Arcane Font and Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache takes a solid hit from Ivan's Scorching Rain for 173 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Rosenwache gains 1 additional Combo! GS: The Rosenwache activates Arcane Font and Sufferer! GS: Gamble: Low! The Rosenwache guards a hit from Azoth's Circuit Breaker for 30 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! The Rosenwache gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shieldbreak applied to The Rosenwache! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna notes the way they move in formation. That complicates things a little - being outnumbered was bad enough, but outnumbered by combatants with perfect synchronicity... that could be trouble. And the durable stone surface... punching them isn't going to be pleasant. They go in for an attack and Layna dodges to the side, grinning slightly as she notices the speed of its reaction.
A dangerous group of foes... just as she likes it.
She does glance to the side toward Marivel, though.
"D'you think that was a lil' too much?" Layna asks, before turning her attention back to the Rosenwache.
"What they've been sayin'... it's all on point. His name's Yvain. He's a Seraph - do you know what a Seraph is? - and if he's left in this state for too long, consumed by Malevolence... that's it. He's gone, and all that's gonna be left is an angry dragon spreading more Malevolence everywhere." Layna says. "And me, purifying Malevolence is kinda my job... in a kinda, spiritual, metaphysical sort of sense."
And then, the voice behind the bugs introduces herself.
"The Rose Queen, aye? Sorry, didn't know I was in the presence o' royalty." Layna chuckles. She removes her hat, then, for a sweeping bow. "Name's Layna Manydays - Captain o' the Ruby Empress, and Seer o' Water. Pleasure meeting you, Your Majesty."
With that said Layna rushes forward aggressively once more, this time wreathed in winds.
"Sorry, but if you don't stand down, I'm gonna have to trash your royal guard!" She says, unleashing a flurry of wind-empowered punches into the fray.
During this, though, she glances to the side, over toward Lanval. She hadn't noticed, but he calls it out. This Rose Queen... is she a Hellion, too?
...That certainly complicates things.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked The Rosenwache with Dread Momentum! GS: Layna Manydays has gained 1 Combo! GS: Layna Manydays assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> The Drake has posed.
As for him--Lanval works his casting, and pronounces his judgment of the moment. Azoth mentions the Seraph hurting... and that may be true, too. But before that can be seen, there is a raging whirlpool meant to hold him in place. It's effective; the Drake roars in place as he finds himself unable to move for the moment, unable to keep going after Amaranth and locked in combat now with Dean and Ida. ...With Josie still lining up more shots.
Dean promises that it's helping!! And he darts forward, his strike moves to what would be the solar plexus on a person and maybe on a dragon? While the blow doesn't seem to physically break anything, it forces the drake back, seeming to knock some wind out of him. Ida rushes in right after, and rejoins the melee. She speaks of a name--and a tendril emerges from Ida's wrist. The end ought to lodge in a scale, but at the same time, Josie's shot cuts through the gap and knocks the drake backwards with sheer force, dislodging the tendril-hook and partly freeing the drake. In moments he may be able to move from the water--
...But he doesn't, immediately. he doesn't because Amaranth comes closer, and the Drake, trapped as he is, growls at her--until... the song. He growls harder at first, and then... listens. He wavers where he is, for a few moments.
It is a few moments not being set on fire, though.
GS: The Rosenwache guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Dread Momentum for 102 hit points! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> The Rosenwache has posed.
Something changes in the wake of those spears. A delayed response, maybe, or something Azoth says.
Marivel's words cause the guard to hesitate further, considering. Then, laughter, musical and light. Confident. "I indeed do not have friends, in the sense you mean." Their shadows are gripped into Marivel's hands, holding them still to guard against Azoth's arrows of light, attempting to use their masses to guard as a whole, a few valiantly falling.
And the flute, most of all, seems to change something, leaving Ivan ample time to lop liquid fire onto the insect soldiers, some of which collapse into stone dust.
".... Very well," says the voice, softly. "If this is its pain, that it cannot appreciate such a song... then truly, sanctuary is not what's needed. But, today will not be the day you will save this dragon." Pause. "If you cannot hold your ground against my Rosenwache, then you have no hope of defeating the dragon of Celesti."
Layna's punches shatter a few more insects, but the voice continues speaking.
"To answer your question," the voice continues, though it's not clear immediately that it's to Ivan. "A rose queen is they who bloom...." The insects bunch together, their antennae extending into vines-- "... but also have thorns."
Spikes fly throughout the battlefield, embedding on anyone in their wake. In the ground, on skin, on armor, they embed. Impossibly, each turn to a bud and leashes into a perfect bloom of petals, all in subdued shades of red and violet.
"That... is the rose queen."
GS: The Rosenwache has activated a Force Action! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Layna Manydays with Rosenhecke! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Marivel Armitage with Rosenhecke! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Ivan with Rosenhecke! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Rosenhecke! GS: The Rosenwache has attacked Azoth with Rosenhecke! GS: The Rosenwache has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth takes a glancing hit from The Rosenwache's Rosenhecke for 91 hit points! GS: Azoth activates Evade bonus! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from The Rosenwache's Rosenhecke for 177 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Power Burst! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ivan takes a solid hit from The Rosenwache's Rosenhecke for 189 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ivan gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Layna Manydays takes a solid hit from The Rosenwache's Rosenhecke for 191 hit points! GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from The Rosenwache's Rosenhecke for 200 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Marivel Armitage gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Your next attack with the Sneak flag will display with the name Misery's Many Friends.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Seraph Lanval stands where he does, one hand held out as he tries to maintain the whirlpool holding Yvain - though is is rapidly approaching the level of holding that is 'mild inconvenience.' Even at an elemental disadvantage, the Fell Drake is at the last stage before a Fell Dragon and it is not something one trivially holds down in place.
Not even Seraph Lanval, who may have a claim to being one of the single most powerful water elemental spirits to walk the two worlds today, would treat the feat as anything other than something worth his utmost attention to maintain. His effort to do so, in part, begins to pay off as Amaranth sings a song. A song that captivates a beast nearly beyond soothing. If he can hold Yvain in place, and Amaranth can hold their emotion in place, then... the Seer of Flame, Ida, is in position to get to work on starting to purify. He tunes out the nearby Hellion's voice by necessity, because this could be the one chance they get to save Yvain.
The Rose Queen makes her decree. Spikes fly everywhere, embedding and implanting Malevolent roses... and Lanval's focus begins to falter. He knows full well how difficult this situation is for Ida - a former Hellion herself - to have to fight to get through someone whose inner discord is almost too loud to hear any other thoughts.
Or Ivan, who he knows as a troubled young man just trying his best to make the best of a world he struggles to define in the lenses of anything other than being an assassin. Both are, in their own ways, especially vulnerable at this time - and there is a choice Lanval has to make.
He has to rescind his focus on the whirlpool as he brings that withdrawn hand back to the gourd. His other arm was struggling to keep hold of it.
Lanval does not need to speak encouragement and enthusiasm to them - he just needs to impart the emotion of resilience and celebration in the face of adversity, making these small gains as they have. They are getting somewhere.
He holds the drinking gourd up in both hands and gives it a good shake, before swinging it upward in one arm (clumsily) with the biggest damn smile on his face. However thorny this Rose Queen is, however deep those vines might yet dig in one's psyche - his only measure of the Rose Queen's power is through her servants and it's a troubling outlook - he has faith in them to pull through.
So long as they do, in this hour.
This hour that yet stands to turn happy after so many countless hours of the exact opposite, for Yvain!
GS: Seraph Lanval has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Happy Hour! GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Ivan with Happy Hour! GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action. GS: Seraph Lanval heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Seraph Lanval! GS: Seraph Lanval heals Ivan! He gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Seraph Lanval!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Amaranth couldn't really admit she expected it to work; she was just putting herself out there as earnestly as possible, with the most memorable thoughts that she could remember in her centuries-long life.
That the Drake is given pause, and gives them precious few seconds...
They're not out of danger yet, though -- the Rose Queen's thorns -- spikes -- fly, and embed; a violent bloom of petals.
"Yvain..." she whispers, her attention drawn to the Drake in that moment.
"I can't let you fall into this. You were a far stronger person than I was -- still are, I know that... so please. Everyone is here... we want you back. Please."
She can't do much but speak, fervently and from the heart -- but from personal experience she knows that it worked. She must only hold hope strong and fast.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
His movement already limited by a spear to the leg, Ivan is beset by a hail of spikes. He throws up his arms to protect his head and face, but ends up with a painful collection of spines along the rest of his body, his mind drifting back to so many battles with cactuars...
Around this time, Lanval seeks him out to raise his spirits with, well, spirits, and an infusion of resilience and vitality lends him a second wind.
He calls a sword to his hand and cuts open a portal to roiling lava, unleashing a torrent of molten rock toward the swarm.
"I'm -- not sure if that answer was as informative as you thought it was!" he shouts, to the disembodied voice.
GS: Ivan has attacked The Rosenwache with Molten Roar! GS: Ivan has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ivan has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
as Amaranth plays that melody for the Drake and tries to reason with the seemingly unreasonable creature, the Drake... stops...? In return, Dean too refrains from the attack in the hopes that it will get through to Yvain. Just in case it doesn't, though, he trades ARMS for Medium--the Original Artificial Mountain Medium, specifically.
The ley hex beneath him glows with power channeled through the Medium, and it flows out towards his friends in turn. Amaranth (okay he doesn't really know her but let's be real, EVERYONE is Dean's friend), Azoth, Marivel, Layna, and Lanval's already taken care of Ida and Ivan so the last of Dean's defensive magic flows up around Josie. Which might be awkward when folks realize that the pale-haired woman isn't interested in purification. But that's a problem for Future Dean!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Seraph Amaranth with Protect Crag! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Azoth with Protect Crag! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Marivel Armitage with Protect Crag! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Layna Manydays with Protect Crag! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Protect Crag! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cover expired! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Layna Manydays accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Layna Manydays! GS: Azoth accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Azoth! GS: Josephine Lovelace accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: Seraph Amaranth accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Seraph Amaranth!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"So even though you know, you're still going to get in our way, huh...? You trying to test us or something?" Layna replies, then shrugs. "Fine with me. Let's keep this fight rolling!"
The antennae of the Rosenwache, then, extend... and unleash a volley of spikes that rain over the battlefield. Layna braces herself as they rain down on her... and winces, as one pierces into her right shoulder. It's pretty deep... but, it's much less bad than it could have been, if it weren't for a timely, sorcerous intervention from Dean, as the power of the Mountain protects her.
"Thanks, lad! I owe ya!" Layna calls out to Dean. Her right arm isn't moving too well, though... but, she can still cast effectively. With an incantation the winds begin to stir, building into a powerful tornado that seeks to tear into the ranks of the Rosenwache.
And then, Layna rushes forward - unleashing a devasting punch with her left hand that violently disperses the tornado, sending debris every which way.
GS: Layna Manydays spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Layna Manydays has attacked The Rosenwache with Winds of Fortune! GS: Layna Manydays has gained 1 Combo! GS: Layna Manydays has launched an attack Link! GS: Layna Manydays spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Layna Manydays has attacked The Rosenwache with Stormbreaker! GS: Layna Manydays has gained 1 Combo! GS: Mighty expired! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
No, Josie is the one wildcard in the mix here -- unlike the others, she's not here to purify the Drake. She doesn't even know what it really is, beyond being a dragon. Beyond being infused by Malevolence, somehow. Maybe it wandered here from Lunar on its own -- she's been given to understand they have dragons of the non-Metal variety. Maybe it's some doing of the Trial Knight's.
But the reasons why don't matter. Even Odessa's decision to evaluate and eliminate it if possible doesn't matter.
There's just... something oddly exhilarating about trying to take on a dragon. It's been a long time since she's felt like this.
Even with the other baggage that has come to the surface with those feelings.
Then Amaranth calls out to it. Calls it by name.
"Yvain...?" murmurs Josie, arching a pale eyebrow. For the moment, she lowers her rifle. Strength flows from Dean in that next moment, tunneling and rooting her deep (in a metaphorical way) to the land.
The woman to behind the lot of them tilts her head to one side for a moment, almost quizzically. Then shaking her head, she shrugs her shoulders, and quite abruptly, jerks the hand holding her shotgun to her left. She pulls the trigger as she does.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked The Drake with Misery's Many Friends! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear! GS: The Drake guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Silver Cloud for 111 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
He doesn't understand, but before he can offer further retort, the spikes crash through the battlefield like a torrential rain. Azoth twists and spins, trying to avoid as many as he can. But several thorns lance into his body with more sparks. Dean's Medium flows through him, his circuits able to reinforce his operations with the energy so he stops twitching.
"They're calling to him. They're his friends. Please. Don't try to separate them like this...!"
But sometimes force is the only way. Azoth forms a few smaller blades of light. One. Two. Three. Then four. He thrusts his hand out, and they fire, spiraling around each other to strike their targets in rapid succession. He aims for those most threateningly close to those trying to reach the Drake.
He has to buy them more time...!
GS: Azoth spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Azoth has attacked The Rosenwache with Signed Zero! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Hyper and Quick expired! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Just call her Miss Fortune.
The bullet rebounds off a rock, veers wildly towards someone else's weapon only to bound off of that and then continues on its flight towards the dragon at a possibly surprising angle.
But... where did the shot come from in the first place? By the time anyone looks behind them, Josie's long gone.
ELSEWHERE
"...Yvain, huh," says Josie aloud, stooping a moment to reclaim the discarded communicator.
"Hey, I'm back," she says into it, and only smiles when the person on the other end cusses a blue streak. "Heard you the first time. Don't worry 'bout it none. Situation got hairy so I'm bailing. It's still alive."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Another shot rings out, and Ida is forced to land without setting another hand on the Drake. She hits ground in a three-point crouch, a cloud of dust billowing up around her. Pain shoots through her injured side. She glances back towards that markswoman...
Josie, Ida thinks. Why she is she here? Is she trying to kill him? She already took a hit for Amaranth--is she going to need to take a bullet to save Yvain?
Maybe she doesn't need to. What a beautiful song. And what a confession to make--Amaranth needs this, too, Ida realizes. She glances over her shoulder, then, as Yvain-the-Drake seems to calm, she steps forward. "Dean," Ida says. "Layna, I think it's--"
The Rose Queen makes her pronouncement. Ida spins on a heel, to face the barrage head-on--but she's already too late. It's all she can do to twist to the side, to cover her head with her arms. Thorns rip into her flesh, blossoming into Malevolent roses. Ida can feel the power seething against her flesh. She tastes pride and despair and arrogance. The roses make to set down roots...
But they find no fertile ground in Ida's body. In a flash of red-violet light, Ida stands in a storm of rose petals, whole and uncorrupted. Her skin is broken. Blood spills from the dozen wounds left in her arms and side. She raises a hand and salutes Lanval as the Oracle's power washes over her, amplifying what is already there.
"Hello, Rose Queen," Ida says, and while her voice is calm, every word resounds as thunder. "Roses are lovely, but I much prefer the humble lotus."
The lotus, which sets down roots in the muck and dirt of the river, and transmutes them into beautiful blooms.
And then Josie opens fire again. Ida's head jerks towards her, then towards Yvain. Golden-white light surges around her as the Malevolence fades, replacing its fell glow with the force of her spirit. As she charges the Drake again, phantasmal white lotus blossoms rise from her footprints, dissipating. Lotus petals follow in her wake. "Yvain," Ida says, as she draws back a fist. The flame that sustains the world ignites around it, burning gold, then white, then blue with its intensity. "Listen to her, Yvain! Remember! Remember who you are!"
Ida drives her fist at the Drake with what would normally be bone-crunching force. It wasn't long ago that Ida refined this particular strike to punch through Gear armor, but she's pulling it, her power acting as a conduit for Moor Gault's.
It may or may not be desperate, but either way, it's determined.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked The Drake with Unbroken Lotus Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cripple expired! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: The Drake takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unbroken Lotus Fist for 173 hit points! GS: The Drake activates Power Burst! GS: The Rosenwache takes a solid hit from Ivan's Molten Roar for 189 hit points! GS: Disrupt and Shieldbreak applied to The Rosenwache! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Winds of Fortune for 112 hit points! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Stormbreaker for 129 hit points! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache guards a hit from Azoth's Signed Zero for 90 hit points! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: The Rosenwache enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> The Drake has posed.
The music is an old tune, never before heard on Filgaia. And Amaranth's words call out, quiet but resounding. The Rose Queen has her own designs here, and Josephine Lovelace is not here for any mission of mercy or peace. But Lanval's powerful watery magic keeps hold of the Drake, able to briefly entangle even such a powerful Hellion with the sheer might of Filgaia's waters. They may be ailing, but they are still strong.
The Drake stares at Amaranth a little longer with those words ringing out. And Lanval--Lanval suddenly has to take his attention away from the whirlpool, and the Drake for a few moments still stays, not yet drawn out of its reverie even if it is no longer physically held. But those last moments, that could almost be happy...
Dean offers protection; Ivan and Layna and Azoth keep up their fight. And Josephine...
The shot rings out. It bounces off that rock and hits Yvain from an angle, burying in his scales and prompting him to roar out in what is probably pain. ARMs have been quite effective on him so far. it is while he roars that Ida still comes forward. She calls for him to remember, drives a purifying fist forward--
It hits, and it hits hard, cracking scales and putting a large dent in the Malevolent aura of the Fell Drake. Almost...
Ida receives a flash of insight, a brief feeling--
'Where is it!? I have to protect it!'
The Drake's wings beat heavily and he surges upward, the ground bursting into Malevolent flame again that pushes back the purifying flames once more. It seethes out to the group, completely obscuring vision--
...But it was slower, this time. The light didn't entirely disappear.
And they know, now, something that can quiet the Drake's rage.
GS: The Drake has activated a Force Action! GS: The Drake has completed his action. GS: The Drake spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: The Drake has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Drake has attacked Seraph Amaranth with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Drake has attacked Azoth with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Drake has attacked Layna Manydays with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Drake has attacked The Rosenwache with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Drake has attacked Dean Stark with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Drake has gained 1 Combo! GS: The Drake spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: The Drake has attacked Seraph Lanval with Dark Inferno ! GS: The Rosenwache takes a solid hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 280 hit points! GS: Poison applied to The Rosenwache! GS: The Rosenwache activates Sufferer! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 106 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Dean Stark! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 182 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Layna Manydays takes a solid hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 175 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Layna Manydays! GS: Seraph Amaranth takes a solid hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 173 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Seraph Amaranth! GS: Azoth takes a solid hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 175 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Azoth! GS: Seraph Lanval has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Lanval takes a glancing hit from The Drake's Dark Inferno for 91 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Seraph Lanval!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
There's a gasp from Amaranth when the Drake finally rises up, and his wings beat heavy; then there is flame, and she's in the way--
Dean's shield rises, shrouding her in protective rock. It's got to do-- it's already crumbling the moment it lands against the mighty flame. If she remains here, she'll be incinerated, aaaa--
Amaranth slaps a door down on the ground, opens the handle and dives through.
She tumbles out of the sky out of the other side of the door some fifteen seconds later, dress lightly singed with a groan.
They didn't succeed this time, but...
She won't give up...
<Pose Tracker> The Rosenwache has posed.
"A story cannot give all its answers at once." Lava pools underneath the phalanx of insects, bypassing their shields by going for their legs. One by one, they collapse into the heat, inert, their shields cracked with warped heat.
A few more break as Layna commands the winds to tear into them, dust and glittering mica swirling into the vortex.
Azoth's blades cut through stone like it was butter, cleaving two and three with his blades.
When all is done, there is only three, no, now two left.
"A lotus..." The voice grows a hint of sadness. "A lotus cannot grow on salted ground."
The bug collapses.
".... Your demands are heard, and your will is known. I will no longer interfere."
"Now then." A lone insect soldiers onto fallen?() Amaranth, hunched over due to a leg now hobbled from injury. It bows, and collapses into dust before it can rise back up, its last words lingering on the wind, leaving a single pink bloom of a rose behind.
"Make your own happily ever after."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
A little more time --
But it isn't enough. Malevolent fire surges down, and Azoth hasn't time to beep out a warning. His arms try to shield him, and a shield tries to shield him, but its light is devoured with shattering force before Azoth himself is consumed in the wave of flames.
It passes, leaving him collapsed with the arcs of dark, Malevolent energy crawling through his body. He's smoking from the shoulder the spear had hit. Azoth sits up, crosslegged and slumped, placing his hand over the damage to try and obscure it.
A low toned, sad string of beeps quietly speaks to the empty air where the Drake once was.
GS: Marivel Armitage accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Marivel Armitage!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
A loud sound rings out - and Yvain's emotional stability once again deteriorates to fury. This is without the might of the waters of Filgaia to try and keep them bound where they are, but it is far, far, far too late for him to re-cast the whirlpool to keep him there as the beating of wings displaces enough air that even he's hard pressed to stand upright (he can't - he's kicking a leg out and swinging an arm with a wild look on his face).
This impending act of helplessness lasts exactly for as long as it takes for Malevolent flame to burst forth. Seraph Lanval lets himself tumble back by the force of the fiery blast before the flame itself can reach him, more Seraphic glyphs forming as he ends in a seated position.
"Blessed Drops!" He gets the name of the spell in there, shouted more clearly than the chant that comes before it.
Huge, shimmering, beautiful droplets of the purest water splash down upon the battlefield to try and quell the stirring hellfire of Yvain's Malevolence-fueled rage - one droplet on himself, quelling the worst of the all-consuming flame before it does any real damage to him.
That much is under his own natural Seraphic Arte power, even as the resultant puddles bubble with Malevolence-filled rage (for what of it does not get turned into steam). It's going to call for some last clean-up work by any of the Seers here before it seeps too deeply into the ground.
The Rose Queen disengages. Lanval's eyes are closed as he breathes contemplatively, engaging in his all-time favorite hobby...
...second all-time favorite hobby...
...somewhere in the top ten of his hobbies...
Breathing.
"Can't be shure they'll shtay out of it," Lanval says, now taking some drags off the bubble pipe. Why not? Now there are bubbles. "Filgaia... at leasht it doeshn't have all that much Malevolence around... ushually. Yvain got more time becaushe of that, but..."
To say the obvious.
"That ain't a normal Hellion. That'sh a shtrong one. I dunno where they came from. But that can't be the only one... we all know how that can shpread."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
MEANWHILE - ELSEWHERE
A soft-spoken voice - once more, discordant with their appearance if not their tone - speaks not far from this so-called 'Rose Queen.'
"Could you reach them...?" She asks, voice filled with the assumption of the worst, a silhouette of a hand clasped over their own heart - in whatever shape their silhouette takes. "It's... it's like their anger never left me. The only thing they could feel..." She speaks as if haunted, like some part of it were still burning her - within and without - even now. Like a form of tinnitus taking a tone unfamiliar to what's there.
"Did you share with them your dream? I... even someone like them... would have found peace in it?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida doesn't merely punch the Drake--she keeps driving herself into him, the light of her fire clashing with the armor of his scales and the dense aura of his Domain. Blood wicks down her body. Pain shoots through her chest. She does not stop. She can't stop. She has to shatter this cage...
And then, a flash of thought that isn't hers, or Fafnir's. Ida's eyes widen. Her heart leaps. She did more this time, but she can't do it alone. The Drake begins to take to the air, then, and all Ida can do is reach up, calling out to him.
"Yvain! Please, come back!"
Then the world around her bursts into flame. For a moment, Ida is lost amidst the towering inferno, and when it burns itself out, she's kneeling in the dirt, covering her face with bloodied, burned arms. Hyadean tissue knits itself across her wounds, forming vein-like traceries of hybrid flesh. "Amaranth?!" she cries, glancing around--
A door opens. Ida breathes again, coughs up smoke. "Oh, thank God," she says, once she can form words again. "Now--"
The voice speaks to her. Ida turns to the strange, insectoid Hellions, her expression pained, but otherwise unreadable. "...Salted earth, hm?" As the last of them crumbles to dust, she glances around. "I'll trust you to keep your promise, Rose Queen."
First, Ida tends to herself. She pulls a fresh Heal Berry from her pocket, and bites into it; it bursts into sweet, analgesic juice on her tongue. Next, she turns to offer another to Amaranth. "We were close," she says. "Next time. Next time, we'll bring him home. Isn't that right, Azoth?" Ida glances back at the android, her face twisting into a look of worry despite her own wounds. "There's a patch kit in the trunk. Can you walk?"