2022-11-12: Fragmented World
- Log: Fragmented World
- Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Kaguya, Kartikeya, Ambrosius, Ida Everstead-Rey, Lydia Seren, Cyre H. Lorentz, Gwen Whitlock, Lan Lilac, Juni Vandrer, Fereydoon, Azoth
- Where: Harmonde - Port
- Date: November 12, 2022
- Summary: Eastern Zoara, the environmentally healthiest part of the region, faced a difficult dry season. Months after acquiring an otherworldly terraforming device, Demetrioi, the Veruni are eager to use them to offset this drought in a place their influence reaches. After all, it's a much smaller ask than turning an inhospitable waste into an oasis. There are a few Veruni nobles who would have hated to have lost a promising harvest in Harmonde this year.
Demetrioi has done their best with this comparatively simpler task, and the Veruni managed to keep a tight lid on what eyes came to and fro - as they are known to, among those who must live carefully under their watch. For a time, all seemed fine, with a robust rainy late autumn to counteract it.
Now, Harmonde is drowning in floods and swaying against storms without cease... and the floodgates of curiously well-armed travelers has burst open to investigate. Yet, even their enemies have some pointed questions about the situation...
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
ABOUT A MONTH AGO AND SOME CHANGE, MAYBE EVEN CLOSER TO TWO MONTHS...
The verdant plains of eastern Zoara experienced a drought, enough to risk the yields of the upcoming harvest season. Harmonde, under the thumb of the Veruni, felt a tinge of panic. The last year's harvest cut it close - the climate has further affected the population of the fish here. If things got any worse...
A few Veruni higher up in the hierarchy pulled some levers. 'Why are you still poking and prodding that eyesore of a talking tree? We're sick of hearing mewling from lowly humans at Harmonde! Put it there, put it there now!'
The scientists obliged. This should have been a simple task. It wasn't the same scale of what helped create Alcidamas.
EARLY ON...
The people of Harmonde looked to their new addition with suspicion. How could they not? It was unlike anything anyone's ever seen. It hurt a bit to look at, the way everything seemed to just bleed right at the edge of perception of color and space... and the strange way they're heard, in some novel concept of sound.
) hello everyone i am demetrioi :) i am a friend :D
A strong breeze and cool rain filled their days, off-setting the drought.
A BIT LATER...
The rain continued. Intensified, even. The drought had been off-set. Fish were biting. Demetrioi's smile, from a screen on the trunk of the large shrubby tree-thing, grew wider.
D the days keep getting nicer :) so everyone have a happier day :D
The people of Harmonde paid them little mind. Others murmured amongst one another as to whether the Veruni would demand even more of them now that fortunes appear to have changed.
"They're never satisfied," an overweight man in a tie muses, "I might have to look into commissioning a second fishing boat."
"What if they don't like the flavor of the local harvest?" A local waitress gossips. "It's been hard enough to import the apple wine."
"When will that thing go away?" Asks a very small girl, to her sister. "Did you hear? It scares me."
) it is all right :D i will try harder until everyone is happy :D
NOW
It is bedlam.
Flooding fills the streets, and some of the docks have collapsed underneath crashing waves and storming winds. Heavy lightning rumbles overhead, striking the ground and causing small fires that are quickly put out by the torrential downpour. Most of Harmonde has taken shelter... assuming they haven't tried to skip town.
o where is everyone :o are you all right :)
The weather spills outward throughout eastern Zoara. Not even the Veruni and their sycophants can keep it under wraps. It's only a matter of time before the Drifters and other parties descend upon it.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Among the interested that approach now are two individuals in heavy raincoats. One is significantly larger than the other, struggling to keep up with the smaller.
"Keep up," says one - Ethius - a hand over his head. This is not the kind of environment he operates best in, for a variety of reasons, but he has no choice.
"I'm tryyyyin'," Homer huffs, puffs, and whines...
"Get down!" Ethius turns a full one-eighty and tackles Homer outright as lightning strikes into a nearby street light, leaving behind a crater in its wake. It takes a solid ten seconds for either of them to recover from it.
"...This can't be Demetrioi's doin'," Homer murmurs as he catches his breath. "That coulda killed someone...!"
Ethius doesn't pay the speculation any mind. "You are here, right now, because you activated the Demetrioi." He points a finger towards the unmistakable mass of sensory weirdness above. "You have one chance to do whatever it is you did to get that device to function--"
"Demetrioi ain't just a god damned device!" Homer snaps back. "Everything they'd ever done in Alcidamas made everyone happy! In all my years, livin' a life full of people lyin', cheatin', and stealin', they're the single most givin' and carin' individual I've ever had the honor ta meet. Enough with the threats, and lemme--"
A silhouette touches down in the rain, their insertion equal parts lightning-quick, precisely placed, and otherwise completely silent.
"You will not be approaching the terraforming device." The declaration of one of the Sentinels of the Veruni - Fereydoon, who already has his visor on. He is flanked by three soldiers dressed in full uniform. "To leave both of you to your devices was an error. Ethius Hesiod. Homer Mecone. You will surrender--"
A moment passes. Fereydoon taps a hand up to his ear. His visor hides the surprise in his expression. "...Confirmed."
It should say everything in the moment to outside observers when Fereydoon signals to the three foot soldiers. "I must leave them to you." There are very few situations in which Fereydoon's attention would need to be called from capturing two persons of interest, as Ethius and Homer alike find themselves in (for scene purposes, sequestered) peril. Very few situations, indeed, that Fereydoon jets off moments later.
FOLLOWING MOMENTS LATER
Fereydoon touches down against rain-slick earth with a stumble in grace easily missed by all but the most trained eye. The character of the local atmosphere, once again, throws off his otherwise exacting measure of the variables of number of targets and environmental features.
"This is your one warning!" Fereydoon calls to those encroaching, the light of his eyes behind the visor glowing through the stormy gloom that hampers visibility. "To advance breach Harmonde further will earn my blade. To delay and deliberate will invite my pursuit!"
Normally speaking, the word of those approaching would not warrant even this response prior to hostilities but today, is an issue on multiple fronts, and he is compelled to this front by duty.
Solaris presence in any form cannot be tolerated.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
EARLIER:
Demetrioi is a delicate machine! You can't just pick him up and put him down like some kind of overgrown toaster!"
At the labs Kaguya tried to explain why this was a bad idea, once she got here. She didn't get much of a response though, dsepite being absolutely livid and shouting rather a lot. The second-in-line researcher had jumped at the chance to take over the project in Kaguya's absence--an absence that, notably, was arranged in order to take care of drastic Ley disturbances at Yggdrasil Isle. So, on returning:
"You absolute MORON. You didn't even read my notes on Demetrioi's functions, did you?"
"Your sentimental approach is why this project has taken so long already. If your way had any merit THIS wouldn't be happening!"
"Bite my--"
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?"
NOW:
Kaguya, Veruni researcher, stands in the steet looking up to the lab. The rain pours down on the hood of her cloak, driving through the fabric and soaking her through despite the heavy green armor of her containment suit. Her blonde hair drips with rainwater, her pale green eyes narrowed sharply as she looks up to the laboratory. She doesn't cut a very imposing figure despite her anger, being as small as she is. And she isn't wearing the frightening helmet of her containment suit; why bother? What on Filgaia will 'contaminate' her now? ...No, she stares, because her target is there.
She will reclaim Demetrioi, and starts walking again towards the lab to do so. But suddenly, a message comes into her ear, and she lifts a hand to the communicator. "What?" Kaguya says. "Oh, son of a--"
ERROR: Invalid UTF-8 sequence.
<Pose Tracker> Kartikeya has posed.
HOURS AGO
"Persephone's intelligence was quite clear. We are expecting... trouble," says the man on his throne, within the depths of the Locus Solus. He gazes down at the figure kneeling before him.
"So your mission is clear," he continues. "Provide assistance to Fereydoon in retrieving it, but most importantly... eliminate any Solarian operatives, or anyone else who interferes."
Kartikeya, for the first time since he entered Volsung's presence, smiles.
NOW
'Anyone else who interferes' is quite the broad net, indeed.
"Been a while, Fereydoon," comes a familiar voice over the Sentinel's earpiece. "Volsung thought you could use a hand! Sounds like we're about to have some visitors!"
This is followed by a good ten seconds of unskippable laughter.
Said visitors have, of course, already arrived. But being late to the party has never bothered Kartikeya in a long, long time.
"Looks like you started without me!" calls out Fereydoon's fellow Sentinel on that very subject as he falls upon a particularly ill-fated group of Solarian operatives. "Haven't you people ever heard of waiting your damn turn?!"
It's been a long time since Solaris and Veruni forces have clashed properly. It's unfortunate that this group has had to break this particular ice with not one, but two Sentinels--
Especially with Kartikeya.
There are screams from that side of the harbor town thereafter, punctuated by the low basso rumble of an explosion. Dust and ash rolls up towards the sky.
Laughter follows.
"Too easy! TOO EASY! Is that all you got?" Kartikeya screams to the heavens, as if in challenge. "Fereydoon! You find that 'tree' yet?" The fingers of his monstrous right hand curl in towards the palm, as if in anticipation. "'Cause if you haven't... I'll make it easy for you!"
He'll level Harmonde.
MISSION COMMENCING! - Survive battle against the Veruni Sentinels and/or any of their allies!
OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE! - Convince ??? that ??? must be ???.
GS: Fereydoon has adjusted their boss level for 2 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius is, ultimately, just a soldier among the Veruni, a mechanic. That means that though he can see, hear, the terrible shape of events beginning to take form among the whispers of his peers, he has little ability to affect them. It comes as no surprise to him, then, that the attempt to rectify the Harmonde situation begins to turn sour.
There is only one person he trusts to handle the Demetrioi, and she was unfortunately busy when the decisions were made.
So, Harmonde.
Ambrosius is there - he jumped at the opportunity to deploy, for his own reasons. The heavy rains... a hand extends, the subtle blue glow of ether emitted as he attempts to use his own ether to redirect some of the torrential downpour away from the town proper. The lightning he can do nothing about - but if he can do this small act, that is enough.
...But, that familiar, boisterous voice... Behind his face-concealing helmet, Ambrosius frowns. Sentinel Kartikeya is here.
That is a problem. If he is allowed to have his way, there will be nothing of the town left. Ambrosius turns from his current task, making his way deeper into the city. If there's to be anything left of Harmonde afterward, this must be finished quickly.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Harmonde's political situation is... complicated, to say the least. Traditionally, it's fallen under the aegis of the Church of Granas, but there have always been rumors about who really pulls its strings. The Veruni are not nearly as well-known in Zoara as they are in Elru; they're a shadowy threat, the subject of speculation. The thought that they might have a colony in Guild Galad's surrogate breadbasket is unthinkable.
Ida... has learned an awful lot about what's really going on in Harmonde within the last few hours. None of it is good.
Ida's boots pound out a frantic rhythm on the rain-slick street as she sprints towards the harbor district. Fleeing civilians run by her, carrying bags, pulling children in tow--trying desperately to get to safety. They're what's ultimately at stake here, though what is in dispute is something else entirely. This weather is entirely anomalous. Demetrioi is here.
Cause if you haven't... I'll make it easy for you!'
Ida skids to a halt, eyes narrowing as she sights Kartikeya silhouetted against a burning building. His laughter sends fear down her spine.
She glances back over her shoulder, at the silhouettes running from the storm, and the shooting. Ida sets her jaw, pulls a flare grenade from her belt, and strikes it against the Dragon Filament in the palm of her right hand. In a single, smooth motion, she sends it flying downrange, fastball-style, right at Kartikeya's head.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kartikeya with Flare Grenade! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia is pretty morose but when Kaguya asked for her help, of course she'd come by. 'Help people fighting the sentinels not die' doesn't sound like the sort of thing she has to really worry about, Drifters are usually pretty good at not dying, but maybe she can help stop this from getting comically worse. At the very least, she has a feeling she'll need to babysit Ethius before he murders someone for not knowing what's going on in his head.
She glances to Kartikeya.
Who...
....Seems like a creep honestly. Lydia's expression is less terror and more weirded out. She doesn't know WHO that guy is though she was warned about a guy with the NAME. She just hasn't put the name to face.
Also since she is presently blindfolded, it's not like it's easy for her to pick out faces right now.
"Uh," She looks to Fereydoon who, if nothing else, isn't acting like a Jojo villain.
"Hey so." Lydia says. "Not here to take Demetrioi away or anything."
A large swoosh of water slams into her.
Lydia endures this.
"So like maybe we can do some...evacuations of the people? So they don't die?"
She pauses a moment and adds, "Maybe... I can use the power of meteors to NOT destroy a city?"
She thinks for a moment and adds, "Ugh."
And then another moment. "Look uh, if we FIGHT though Demetrioi is just gonna make it storm harder," She has some experience with Azoth so has some idea on computer logic. To say nothing of her experiences of OS. "So how about we make like your friend over there and be really happy? I bet if we all have a good laugh like your buddy and say how big fans we are of Demetrioi this will all calm down."
"I'll start."
"Too easy! Ha ha ha ha ha! Too easy! I am happy to be here! The only thing that could make me more happy is if the town was not being destroyed by a death storm!"
She nods to Fereydoon. "Now you try."
GS: Kartikeya suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Flare Grenade for 0 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Kartikeya! GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Fereydoon with If We Gave Peace A Chance How Would We Raise FP?! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Fereydoon takes a solid hit from Lydia Seren's If We Gave Peace A Chance How Would We Raise FP? for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
It seems like it was just yesterday, Cyre Lorentz was in a secret Solarian base, helping to put out a totally different fire. Now, he's here, in Harmonde...
...Not putting out any fires at all, in fact, because this whole place is absolutely drenched in rain.
Which is eminently strange, because this is nothing at all like how things were back in Alcidamas. There, the weather was... so much better. Idyllic, even. What could possibly have gone wrong here...?
Well, no. Cyre's pretty sure he knows what's gone wrong. You don't fuck around with the ley without being very careful about it, or something is sure to backfire at some point. Whether that's the actual ley doing the backfiring or just... the twisting forces of fate is an open question.
Speaking of fate being kind of a bitch, though--
"Oh, great," Cyre mutters from beneath a heavy, weather-treated coat, "Of course the bigshot Veruni would actually show up. And here I figured this might have been an easy mission."
Cyre has not ever actually met Fereydoon, probably to his benefit. It's not quite as lucky as having never had the pleasure of meeting Kartikeya, but it's close. But from what he's heard from the grapevine, he knows at least what the bigshots among the Veruni look like.
And this one is definitely one of them.
He stares over at Lydia. Lydia does Lydia things.
Though she does kind of have a point.
"She does kind of have a point," Cyre recites narration in Lydia's direction. "If we cause a disturbance, there's a decent chance that Demetrioi will notice. So, maybe instead we work together to make sure people here don't die? Hey?"
If nothing else, Cyre thinks better of the Veruni than of most Solarians.
This is mostly Kaguya's fault, but also, like, he kind of gets why they're so pissed off? What with the planet hating them?
Not that he approves. He's a high priest of Fengalon, after all. But still.
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Fereydoon with Cyre Is Actually Not Choosing Violence For Once! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Rain is pouring, waters are raging, and there's a nice little robot... tree.... thing that just wants to help everybody.
With Ida running up discreetly in her rainslick, Gwen's mission is clear, only to Gwen herself: be loud, noticeable, and extremely in danger. Somewhere, Auntie Frea looks up, and facepalms.
"Hey shieldhead! Kart-key guy! Better find that tree quick, because you'd gonna have t'knock on wood for the amount of luck you'll need _t'take on me_." Striding in casually as she points a thumb to herself, Gwen grins wide, her poncho fluttering in the breeze. "... Okay, okay, wait a sec. I got 'nother for ya! If you're lookin' for challenge with those folks, you're barkin' up the wrong tree! Which one y'like better?"
Gwen blames Hiro for everything
"And in case you forgot who I am, lemme give you a big ol' reminder!" Poncho sleeve is drawn back, showing a brightly glowing ARM exposed to the light, palm pointed out towards the Veruni. "Along with a demonstration how bad your day's gonna be!"
Gwen fires, the recoil blowing her back onto her back leg. Please hit, Ida, or Gwen's bluster will be for nothing
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Kartikeya with Crackshot! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Much of Lan's life has been spent hoping for rain. Rejoicing when rare clouds gathered low over the Badlands, setting out buckets and pails and cups, anything that could catch those precious drops. On the moon, rain fell as easily as it does in Adelhyde or the greener regions of Ignas. She'd danced in it, letting it soak her to the skin.
Lan is not dancing now.
She's had to pull her thigh-length hair into a braid to keep it the heck out of her face, and yet she's still constantly blinking water out of her eyes. The air carries an electric charge, even beyond the strange oily sensation of Demetrioi's interference with her connection to her gods.
Lan doesn't like it. She doesn't like any of it!!
Except having Ida and Gwen on her side in a fight. Lan likes that just fine.
"Are those shoes or your actual legs?" she calls through the wind and rain, casting a dubious stare at Kartikeya's feet. "They look super uncomfortable. Was it on purpose?"
This may be a ploy to distract him from the mini-comet hurtling down on him from space.
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Kartikeya with Meteorain! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Fereydoon suffers a terrible blow from Cyre H. Lorentz's Cyre Is Actually Not Choosing Violence For Once for 0 hit points! GS: Kartikeya solidly guards Gwen Whitlock's Crackshot for 49 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple applied to Kartikeya! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Please react targeting the attack number in +queue. GS: Kartikeya suffers a terrible blow from Lan Lilac's Meteorain for 121 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer is investigating strange things afoot at the circle- Juni's pretty sure theres some strangeness going on and she's being more practive lately. Particularly with the whiffs of tech she was hearing about. She's kitted up today! That is, she's back in her local clothes, looking like a fuzzy Al Bhed rocking an ARM. And she's currently keeping low to the ground, enjoying the heavy rain as you know, she's water proof. Mostly.
Veruni here means she's on the right track. Chasing Ethius and homer has her confused briefly. She knew they were from out of town, but she didn't think they'd have the other three eyed critters hunting them. Questions for later. She figures the decision's made for her though. The warning that they should keep back, keep out of their hair, the usual. She calls out, "Come on, has that ever worked against actual opfor?" Leveling the shotgun down range at the Veruni in question. A grin on her face. "That's why we never bothered." Mind you, she's much happier with other methods, but that's neither here nor there.
Much like the Veruni, she's wearing a pa- trio? of nice high tech goggles that keep him nice and highlighted for her. "Got an answer for you though." she suggests before just pulling the trigger. She's scurrying along soon after, calling out over the rain and general sound, "Homer, you alive out there? Keep your head down." She's not worried about Ethius. She knows he's... funny. The other guy though, he's squishy and not really a fighter. "If you need to book it, try to give me a heads up and I'll cover." She pumps another shell into place and quick loads a replacement. Going to be a fun day.
GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Fereydoon with Warning Shot! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Fereydoon has activated a Force Action! GS: Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Juni Vandrer's Warning Shot for 23 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
It's true; as soon as she heard Sentinels were coming and so were Drifters, she got on the line to Lydia. Well, as soon as she could do so undetected, anyway. She would rather dissuade them from coming entirely, but... That ship has sailed.
And Solaris is here.
Kaguya turns from her walk down the way to se the approaching Drifters, and scowls. She scowls more when she hears Kartikeya's demand. "Damn it," she says, "This is the last thing we needed--"
Lydia talks about Demetrioi, and so do some others, but Kaguya doesn't answer at first because she's sprinting towards the battle and only hears bits and pieces.
"Hold on!" Kaguya says, "This is stupid! You guys--what would you do with Demetrioi even if you took him!? You should LEAVE, before you get killed! If these two don't do it the weather WILL!"
"Just go away and let me handle it!"
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
"The location of the terraforming device is long confirmed," Fereydoon says. Under the mask, his gaze drifts. He does not question Volsung's judgment when it comes to assigning his Sentinels their missions and posts. Demetrioi is too valuable to lose, there's people of interest who have been caught skulking about... but Gebler's armed presence and approach alone is enough to justify his split objectives.
Enough to justify even Kartikeya's presence. He knows better than to gainsay Volsung. Some of the finer matters are now out of his hands, as a soldier.
A handful of approaching Gebler are dealt with through the stroke of an unignited ARM blade, clearing them aside as Lydia approaches from another direction. He assumes it a feint.
"Not here to take Demetrioi away... from a confirmed Solaris operative." He's not up to date on (very recent) events. Fereydoon holds a defensive posture. That's even more rich than Gwen's distraction excuse about making a delivery (that he almost fell for, back in Alcidamas).
He doesn't interrupt Lydia's observations with being stabbed. He has a running count of how many hostiles there are, their heading, and immediate threat value. Conversation is a luxury they all have, even over the howling winds.
"I cannot accept that logic. There have been no reports of hostiles nor other enemy activity up until now. There is no reason to believe proximity to such actors would have an effect!" Fereydoon does not laugh, but he has no reason to lie. There is also no grounds to deny something is off with Demetrioi, but what or why. Could it be as simple as Lydia claims?
Here comes Cyre, who is not with Solaris by current intelligence but nonetheless seems to make a reasonable suggestion. "We are under assault by Solaris as we speak. Even if your aims are as noble as you claim, the well-being of those of Harmonde cannot be guaranteed until they're driven off."
They might be able to hear Kartikeya's laughter from here.
"We have our orders. As a Sentinel, all that is left for me to do is execute them. If you do not seek violence, then... I will give you grace to leave within the next ten seconds." This is a calculation. Ten seconds until the next wave of Gebler that might slip past Kartikeya. Might.
A unit exceeds his calculations, forcing Fereydoon to swing his blade towards them. Lydia and Cyre aren't being directly targeted, per se, but the particles that fly from the blade from how fast he swings it is something like a grazing hit to them - more like superheating air, as if the very wake of his weapon by proximity could induce injury and fell enemies on its own.
"My estimates were off by four seconds, but the sentiment remains," he says to the two of them.
ELSEWHERE
During the attack on Alcidamas, Ethius had the element of surprise against two otherwise pre-occupied Veruni soldiers. There is a very good reason you hear few instances of their rank-and-file being accosted and brought low by non-Veruni.
Three soldiers is enough to lay low almost any typical party of Drifters. Ethius has to hide behind an intact (...for the moment) barrel to avoid rifle fire, which Homer has already taken cover at.
The odds start to change for the better, as Juni peppers one Veruni with weapons fire that is far beyond that of what they usually stand against.
"Get to the Demetrioi," Ethius asides to Homer, "I will follow shortly."
"Y-Ya don't have to tell me thrice," he stammers as he takes off from that opening. Unfortunately, he will run into Ambrosius around this time, who is free to accost him.
Ethius, as an aside, looks over to the smaller be-goggled support fire. "What is your stake?" He asks.
MEANWHILE
The odd tree thing continues to stir, casting off the same hard-to-look-at colors and shapes around it. The smile on the trunk-mointor starts to turn to the side.
o there is so much shouting and noise :) there is no need okay :)
GS: Fereydoon has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Scatter Slice! GS: Fereydoon has attacked Lydia Seren with Scatter Slice! GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fereydoon has completed his action.
DC: 1 turn has elapsed in the battle against Fereydoon! 4 turns remain!
GS: CRITICAL! Cyre H. Lorentz takes a glancing hit from Fereydoon's Scatter Slice for 93 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Kartikeya has posed.
There are many reasons why Volsung doesn't deploy Kartikeya more often than he has. But perhaps the most important of those reasons is this one: each of his Sentinels has a particular set of skills, meaning they are best deployed towards those operations which compliment those talents. Persephone excels at intelligence and propoganda. Elvis is superior at information-gathering and research. Fereydoon is best for those operations which require a firm hand and a sharper blade.
Kartikeya, on the other hand, is a weapon of mass destruction.
Which means -- and Fereydoon would know it, as he has known Volsung from childhood -- that Volsung has approached this situation with a scorched earth policy in mind. They will have the Demetrioi, or they will burn Harmonde to the ground.
Or, perhaps, both will happen.
One building is already in flames, which threaten to spread; it's a cruel backdrop to the Veruni warrior's position as his own soldiers spread out and begin searching the streets.
Something comes whistling towards his head in that moment. That enormous Golem's arm pinned to his shoulder moves fast, faster than any ordinary limb could and snatches the grenade right out of the air. "Eh? What's--?"
It still explodes in Kartikeya's grasp, mere seconds after he's caught it. This provokes a hiss; he squints against the light. "Gonna throw shit at me, are you?" he calls out. "Well, how about this!" He returns tit for tat, snatching up a large chunk of masonry fallen from the wall of the burning building with his right arm and hurls it at Ida as if it were an angry meteor.
Which, speaking of meteors... "Is that it?" he replies to Lan, though the expression on his face suggests some vague amusement of his own rather than irritation or rage. "C'mon, give me a proper show--"
The only warning is pinpoints of light in the clouds above, before the stars come hurtling down in screaming beams. He's moved that terrible arm again to shield himself, but a single ray of starlight slices against a cheek, leaving a streak of blood. "..."
Veruni Etheric energy swirls about him, as if it were the beginning of a terrible storm. "So you're one of those Baskar Shamans, are you?! Elvis told me about your lot. Got a direct line to the Guardians, have you? Let's see if they're what they're cracked up to be!" The storm erupts, slicing outwards for Lan in a great green-yellow arc of wind.
And perhaps he would have focused on Lan, then, if Gwen hadn't introduced herself via terrible puns and a bullet.
Kartikeya snatches it out of the air. "...I remember you. Frea's little test subject... right?" He grins at Gwen with pointed teeth as he crushes the bullet in his hand. "Let's see how you've grown, kid! Come on, don't disappoint me!"
The Veruni-make shotgun he brandishes in his left hand is a new one. Without so much as a delay, he aims it at Gwen and opens fire. Dance for him.
GS: Kartikeya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Reap the Whirlwind! GS: Kartikeya has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Lan Lilac with Hi-Vortex! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Eye for an Eye! GS: Kartikeya enters a Counter stance! GS: Kartikeya has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kartikeya has completed his action.
DC: 1 turn has elapsed in the battle against Kartikeya! 4 turns remain!
GS: Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Kartikeya's Hi-Vortex for 58 hit points! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Kartikeya's Reap the Whirlwind for 143 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Guard bonus activated! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Kartikeya's Eye for an Eye for 75 hit points! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: CRITICAL! Lydia Seren partially guards Fereydoon's Scatter Slice for 112 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Eh?" Lydia says of being a Solarian agent. "Well yeah I mean I WAS one but only because they didn't give me any choice, bro. I escaped a little bit ago--"
She rubs at her neck with a frown. "Wait, wait wait wait-- If Solaris is here we definitely can't be fighting! We gotta stop them! I'll help okay??" She really hopes she doesn't run into Krelian like a day after escaping him. "Look."
She turns and kicks a Gebler agent between the legs with her robot foot. He immediately goes down because that's like getting clobbered there with a sledgehammer. Lydia COULD have just stabbed the guy but she's a little wary of just murdering her former coworkers right now because she is struggling with F E E L I N G S.
Of course shortly after, her arm gets hit wiht superheated air and partially dislodges from Fereydoon's strike.
"Dude."
She pries it off, clobbers another Gebler agent in the head, and then one handed throws the poor guy at Fereydoon.
"Watch where you're swinging!!" She complains.
WAit was Kaguya trying to get her to save the Solarian soldiers too? Nah probably not right?
"UHH DEMETRIOI WE'RE ALL GOOD HERE WE JUST ROUGH HOUSING OKAY????"
Kaguya please fix this quickly.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Fereydoon with Are We The Baddies?! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
He didn't even answer her. She was serious, they look painful!
Almost as painful-looking as the great blade of wind Ether that bursts from the storm hovering around Kartikeya. Lan somersaults backwards, the worst of it slicing past harmlessly, though she has a few new cuts on her legs for her trouble.
But she's landed right where she wants to be - between Ida and Gwen. Rings of silvery starlight form over Ida's heads, almost like halos; a second is mirrored over Lan's head. With a snap of her fingers, they smash into the ground at their feet, dissipating into dust and leaving behind a temporary burst of energy, settling into their skins like...
Well, like magic, okay?!
"I'll be happy to show you!" she shouts to Kartikeya, as an afterthought. Unfortunately, she's right next to Gwen's and Ida's ears. Oops.
GS: Fereydoon suffers a terrible blow from Lydia Seren's Are We The Baddies? for 97 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: Lan Lilac used Force Action: Mystic on herself! GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Grace and Glory! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius hears sounds of combat. Behind him, where the Sentinels have encountered both Drifter's and Solaris's forces. Doubtlessly, they do not need his help. And ahead...
...Ahead, he sees Ethius and a man he's unfamiliar with. They are speaking to one another. ...Interesting. He departs, leaving Ethius to the care of three of his peers. At another time, he would prefer to deal with him himself. But he has his priorities right now. As for Homer...
Ambrosius's typical movement speed is a slow, implacable march - but he can at times move suddenly, alarmingly fast when need be, which is why, despite having seen him from behind just a moment ago...
Ambrosius appears in front of Homer, as if stepping out of the mist of the rain storm.
"You are Ethius Hesiod's... associate." Ambrosius notes, for lack of a better term for their relationship after having only seen them together just this once. "I recommend you leave, immediately. An operation is currently progress. Do not interfere."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Kartikeya is going for Lan. Gwen will not have *that*.
The fact that Kartikeya does remember Gwen does startle the courier, calling her bluff and then some by mentioning Frea's name directly. He remembers, alright. The carefree smile wavers, then gets plastered on. She called for this, and she will use it to her advantage.
"Well, then--" *BANG* *PI-ING*
Gwen is fired on with little to no warning (as if such a thing could happen with Kartikeya here), and it audibly collides with Gwen's right ARM, the deflection registering on the courier's face as a pained wince that she quickly tries to mask over. "Gladly! Better keep your eyes open, or you'll miss your shot!!"
With her right hand held in front of her, Gwen runs forward.
It's not like her ARM can convert BULLET to ENERGY, but the rest can still work, right? Either way, she gets a punch in.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Kartikeya with Return to Sender! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters a Counter stance! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 2 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Kartikeya counterattacks Gwen Whitlock with Counter Attack! GS: Kartikeya solidly guards Gwen Whitlock's Return to Sender for 60 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP! GS: FP up! Charge bonus activated! GS: Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Kartikeya's for 64 hit points! GS: Your next attack with the Counter flag will display with the name Find Out!. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Lan Lilac's Grace and Glory for 0 hit points! GS: Amplify, Burst, and Surge applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Hyper applied to Lan Lilac! GS: Your next attack with the Counter flag will display with the name FIND OUT.
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer shakes her head and says, "Force of habit at this point" in response to Ethius. She points to Homer and adds, "You shouldn't drag guys that panic under fire into the middle of a gun fight by the way." before answering seriously in something of an undertone, "You guys might be my ticket back home. I might want to help the locals, but I can do that better with a blockade runner and backup than I could as a solo act." One more shrug and she adds in that same serious tone, "And it's a target rich environment at this point. You're not going to give me a good reason to regret this are you?" Too late if so. Oh well.
Solarians being present does give her reason to consider a slash and burn process at this point. "I don't think I brought enough ammo or tools for the level of problem here today-" she scowls, realizing now that there's definitely more than she would have thought. She rolled the dice, it's time to go for it.
For good measure she also takes a potshot at the Solarians because that's just the kind of mess the situation is. Might as well confuse everyone or something. "Seriously though Homer, get your head down. Not your kind of situation. While I think he's my ticket out, he can also handle this I think. I can get you out if you want to bolt."
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre shrugs over at Juni with an expression on his (hooded) face that seems to say 'eh, worth a try right?'
Ten seconds to comply before one of the mightiest Veruni to have ever lived brings their full power to bear against a handful of (limiter-removed!!) drifters in the middle of a rainstorm. One that Cyre can try to control, but even the thought of doing so causes goosebumps to bubble up and down his arms. The air here doesn't feel right. He has enough control to defend himself, but...
Against a target like this...?
But what Fereydoon says-- and what Lydia acts on-- seems to give him an idea. "Better idea. As it turns out, I've got a bone to pick with Solaris too. You see, I still haven't forgiven them for what they did to my little sis over there, among other chips I've got on my shoulder. Sooooo what iiiiif instead of just running off, we give you a hand, hey?"
That doesn't save him from being almost caught up in the aftermath of Fereydoon's slash, but Cyre has enough experience to only end up battered and a litle bruised by the fire-hot shockwave. "Lydiiiiiaaaa," Cyre drones, darting in to HURRICANE FLASH KICK some poor Solarian soldier right in the face. "Don't start punching sky jerks without me!"
...Though ultimately... They do need to retrieve the Demetrioi. So Cyre might be forgiven for... being a little more flashy than he usually is. His wind might kick up just a bit more dust than it typically does. Cause a bit more chaos than it should...
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Fereydoon with Violence Is Fine Against Sky Jerks Though! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Violence Is Fine Against Sky Jerks Though for 15 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Demetrioi... a entity of many mysteries and precious little data. To some, he is a great hope. To others, an anathema of existence. To others, an opinion does not matter. Solaris is here. Solaris is interfering.
Solaris still maintains assets it can deploy for such tasks.
In the chaos of the conflict, a blur of red light darts across the battlefield, darting and zipping through the heavy rain and weather. Flooded water ripples in its wake, the construct's path inches above it to keep from being slowed by the elements. It moves with speed that might suggest it were afraid that if it stopped, lightning would find it. If one believes such a construct could know fear.
Autonomously deployed, it makes its own assessment about who the critical, priority target in this engagement truly is. And then the overrides execute the calculated action.
Azoth is one whose opinion no longer matters.
As Kaguya sprints through the battlefield, she is met with an rattling, digital screeching as black and crimson descent upon her with a brutal tearing of ARM-energy claws.
GS: Azoth has attacked Kaguya with exec.dior SHRED! GS: Azoth has gained 2 Combo! GS: Azoth's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Silvery membranes fall across Ida's eyes, shielding her from the blast. She sees Kartikeya flinch, and knows she's bought them all some time--but the question of "How much?" remains. She still remembers Kartikeya from the battle in Kattelox, and the outright terror he was. Now, she can only think of Adlehyde.
No. Not again. Not again.
Ida draws back her right fist, her whole body tensing. Silvery exoskeleton pours from her flesh, solidifying into blue and gold armored plates. Ida roars, and drives her fist forward with terrible, crushing force. She strikes the thrown debris dead-on, and there's a horrible CRUNCH like a piledriver arm hitting concrete. The masonry chunk explodes into shrapnel. Bits of flying brick trace bloody lines across Ida's face, and embed themselves in her armor. Her whole arm groans with the strain of impact. Ida grimaces, but does not give Kartikeya the pleasure of hearing her cry out in pain.
The heiress steps forward as Lan pulls back, instinctively putting her between (what she assumes is) her support. The starlight envelops her, dulling the pain and filling Ida's body with a sensation she can't name--something bright and free and swift. "Right behind you, Gwen!"
Ida charges, darting around to Gwen's right as she blurs across the distance. Her right fist races up in a cross-punch to Kartikeya's jaw, while her left lashes out in a body-blow to his stomach. She pulls her right hand back, and her fingers suddenly sharpen to claws--Fafnir's memory isn't here in the moment to guide her, but Ida knows how it goes. She slashes them across Kartikeya's chest, trying to lay open that armor.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kartikeya with Muscle Memory! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 3 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a glancing hit from Azoth's exec.dior SHRED for 88 hit points! GS: Hyper and Mighty applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya did not mean to spare the Solarian soldiers. If Lydia wants to make sure her former allies don't die that's cool, but Kaguya is not really thinking about it much. Indeed, she's mostly waiting for the other shoe to drop on them; Solaris has operatives powerful enough to give the Veruni pause, she just hasn't seen them yet. Until--
SCREECH
"What the shit" Kaguya starts and dives to the side, ARM-energy claws tearing into her armor but only catching a leg as she hits the ground and rolls. She hops up after. "You--"
Ah. It's him.
"...Well, that sucks," Kaguya says to Azoth and to herself, and then charges for him. She knows he can't help it. But neither can she. Not with two Sentinels here.
She tries to get a hold on him with her superior Veruni strength so that she can lift him up and slam him straight into the ground, but whether it works or not she's abrubtly more mobile, careful, precise.
The Perfect Orbit is knowable.
"Hey!" Kaguya calls to the friends(?) she has over there, "Don't take him lightly!"
But she can't just try to avoid the fight anymore--she has less than a second before the counterattack, probably--
GS: Kaguya has attacked Azoth with Meteor Stance! GS: Kaguya has gained 3 Combo! GS: Kaguya's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Azoth takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Meteor Stance for 125 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Kaguya! GS: Kartikeya takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 62 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
On paper, the whole picture is a reasonable enemy-of-my-enemy situation, as Lydia complains about being swung at and suggests she helps. She helps by flinging a Gebler agent that he tries to avoid with a deft movement, but the wind swirls and picks up thanks to you-know-who, clipping him upside the face and turning it. It is mildly amusing that such a blow moves him.
Cyre manages to catch Fereydoon in the periphery of his own displaced air, which whirls about him and is summarily cut in twain with a flourish of his blade.
"Enough." Fereydoon speaks up. "Shared enemies we may have, that does not make us allies. I have entertained your entreaties beyond reasonable parameters!"
He aptly demonstrates how little he may need their help. He takes off in a burst of energy, running through several Gebler in a line. With a flourish of his sword, he cuts three that Lydia looks to accost in twain. This demonstration is followed up less than a second later.
Above, Cyre risks standing in the way of an ignited ARM blade slice, deactivated with a flourish as he whirls to face Lydia and jab the end of it into her, where he activates it again in a piercing blow.
"To remain is to stand in the way of the mission!" A mission where every act of laughter and slaughter his fellow Sentinel pulls, is another moment complete annihilation is entreated. (If the current meteorological concerns aren't arleady doing that. It's drenching everyone! It's lightning everywhere! It's windy as heck! Also it smells bad, because fish.)
"...You escaped my notice," Fereydoon asides to Juni, in the distance. "Impressive." With a few movements of a hand into a seal, he engages in the Veruni Etheric sorceries to fire off a wave of earth towards her.
If Lydia and Cyre want a shot at reaching through to Demetrioi - if they can - they need to go through Fereydoon.
MEANWHILE
Juni's presence is helping lighten the load some. Once Ethius has an opening, he moves in with a few strikes of his quarterstaff. They register, but these are not push-overs. He's in a pitched battle to try and fling one over into the waters, moving carefully in the struggle as to not allow a clear bead on himself.
"I will be calling the shots here," he says to Juni. She may notice that his voice sounds - legitimately - more hurried. "Homer is the back-up plan--"
This is around the point in time Juni gets Ether-conjured rocks tossed at her by Fereydoon.
Meanwhile, Ambrosius runs into Homer, who is a large fellow bearing a pitchfork, a raincoat, and a wing and a prayer. "N-Not by choice, hey-- ya sound a lot like 'em," Homer clears his throat. "Look! I've been with Demetrioi for a li'l over two years? Almost three?" He's not sure how much time has actually passed but definitely at least two. "Ya gotta let me near 'em, what's goin' on... Demetrioi only ever wants to keep people happy! I dunno what ya did, but... lemme fix it! Lemme make it better you gotta--"
He's looking ready to try to stab Ambrosius. He can, and would, make a very capable attempt at it despite Juni's appraisal of him - but he couldn't take him one-on-one.
IN ADDITION - WHERE DEMETRIOI IS
Demetrioi hears the excuse that they're all just rough housing.
o why though there is no reason at all :) i have made enough for everyone and when it wasn't enough i made more :o
They continue to turn their head. The way the bush-tree-thing rustles as the wind passes through it in a distinctly multi-dimensional, mind-bending way is... headache-inducing.
) is everything good yet :o i worked hard to meet everyone's needs :)
GS: Fereydoon has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Perfect Slice! GS: Fereydoon has attacked Lydia Seren with Razing Blow! GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fereydoon has completed his action. GS: Fereydoon has attacked Juni Vandrer with Stone Bullet!
DC: 2 turns have elapsed in the battle against Fereydoon! 3 turns remain!
DG: The party led by #-1 NO SUCH OBJECT VISIBLE has been fully Exhausted by !
GS: Fereydoon has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Kartikeya has posed.
It could have been worse. He'd shot at Gwen, after all, and not at any of a number of other targets available in the street. In spite of the rain, after all, the fire is still spreading between the houses, and that's not accounting for the Solarian Black Ops team in the town and other assorted mayhem courtesy of their good friend Demetrioi.
But as long as Kartikeya has more entertaining prey than the townsfolk to toy with, perhaps a tragedy can be averted.
Perhaps.
"So how is the old hen?" he calls out to her, gesturing towards himself with his own shotgun. "Still searching for the answer, is she?" His lips split in a nasty smile and he begins to chuckle, then outright laugh. "Too bad! She's been barking up the wrong 'tree'!"
He makes no move to dodge as Gwen runs right at him, even spreading his arms as if to welcome her strike. This might be a warning for her... if one that might come far too late. That massive arm of his simply scoops her up seconds after her fist connects and just like the last time, she finds herself lifted bodily. "Let's see how Frea's work holds up!" Kartikeya yells and, as he sights Lan, his lips twist in a nasty smile.
"Sounds like the plan!" he roars, and he hurls Gwen for Lan as if Gwen were a javelin and Lan the target.
But there may well be one thing he's neglected in this particular moment, and that's Ida. Ida, who has closed the gap in the moment after Gwen is hurled like a missile. Ida, who jabs an angry fist for his jaw. Ida, who connects with a notable crack.
His gaze rolls down towards her on his own recovery, and the worst part of it might be that he doesn't look particularly angry at all about her hit. Instead, he moves to similarly scoop her up and investigate her, those plates on her arm.
"Oh, it's you. The hybrid. Good arm!" he remarks, baring his teeth as if pleased.
"BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" He swings her around, slamming her for the ground in one overhand blow.
GS: Kartikeya has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Let's Have Some Fun! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Lan Lilac with Let's Have Some Fun! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Rude Awakening! GS: Kartikeya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kartikeya has completed his action.
DC: 2 turns have elapsed in the battle against Kartikeya! 3 turns remain!
GS: CRITICAL! Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Fereydoon's Perfect Slice for 189 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Cyre H. Lorentz gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Quick applied to Fereydoon! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Kartikeya's Rude Awakening for 73 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: Juni Vandrer takes a glancing hit from Fereydoon's Stone Bullet for 70 hit points! GS: Break applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Lydia Seren suffers a terrible blow from Fereydoon's Razing Blow for 150 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lydia Seren gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: COUNTER! Gwen Whitlock counterattacks Kartikeya with Counter Attack! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Kartikeya's Let's Have Some Fun for 152 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lan Lilac partially guards Kartikeya's Let's Have Some Fun for 207 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lan Lilac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth's claws sink into the earth instead of the desired, meaty strike into his target. Rain beats against his chassis, his dark silhouette occasionally contrasted by the flashes of the storm behind him. She did say he would be helpful -- but, as she jokingly predicted, not necessarily to the right people. Azoth is, as always, most useful to those who hold his puppet strings.
"Current objective: secure subject 'Demetrioi'."
As if Kaguya had not gathered. (Which is why he can say it.) He beeps a low toned string. It's a computerized, slightly musical way of agreeing: this does suck.
Kaguya charges for him, Azoth charges back. She manages to grab hold. Azoth is about fifty percent heavier than he looks, but Kaguya's already carried him across a chasm before. To heft him to the sky and hurl him into the ground is not beyond her ability, and he crashes there with a delightfully heavy thud before rolling back into perfect balance. Bright orbs of crimson form around him, erratic in their movements before launching after Kaguya to harass her with their constant, suppressive fire.
In a conflict with so many players, Azoth's 'horns' -- antenna, perhaps -- are constantly shifting and swiveling like the ears of a beast, gathering the data and voices from all around him.
When Demetrioi speaks, Azoth's body goes rigid, a spark of rainbow crawling up his spine in the robotic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Azoth would prefer more data before judging them, but, counterpoint: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
One thing Azoth would assert is that upsetting Demetrioi is a mistake. Again, his opinions do not matter.
GS: Azoth spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Azoth has attacked Kaguya with exec.ohr SEARCH! GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Oh my guardians, do you not care AT ALL about the civilians here?" Lydia says. If this is the more reasonable of the two people here, no wonder Kaguya fears them so much. She fears them wrecking everything with their stubborness!
She looks over to Cyre "They're not sky jerks! I mean some of them are sky jerks but most of them are, like, as much trapped in the situation as I am. I'm not the only person SOlaris picked up, they put a bunch of 'em in Gebler or conscript them as workers look I can get in the detail about how it works but it doesn't make any sense to me but my point is Rachiel was a sky jerk and I'd still be in the sky army if not for her, and some of the sky jerks were actually sky nice to me like Seraphita--"
She is promptly impaled by Fereydoon. "Oh come on!" Lydia complains as she struggles to maintain her cohesion and immediately puddlefies.
"I hate being a puddle," A mouth on one side of the puddle complains before attempting to slither past Fereydoon--
--moments before Lydia FWOOPS back into her humanoid form and channels Celesdue.
"BLACK HOLE!" She shouts as a hefty gravitic pull tugs Fereydoon towards Lydia--
--before she double palm strikes for his chest, intending to send him flying.
"BIG BANG ATTACK! GALAC GUN!!" Lydia shouts.
She glances in Demetrioi's direction. "Oh nah it's fine!! You've done fine, maybe too fine actually, if you could maybe turn off the flood I bet it'd make lots of people even happier. The roughhousing is just, you know, us playing around? Ha ha ha just playing around awesome! We're pretty weird like that okay? It's a vigorous philosophical debate!!???"
GS: Lydia Seren spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Fereydoon with Black Hole! GS: Lydia Seren has launched an attack Link! GS: Lydia Seren spends 2 Combo on Poison and Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Fereydoon with Big Bang! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Fereydoon solidly guards Lydia Seren's Black Hole for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break and Entangle applied to Fereydoon! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer looks at Homer incredulously and says, "He's your backup plan?" Though she holds a six fingered hand up and adds quickly, "Sorry Homer." before calling out, "Too reliant on your equipment." She taps her own equipment, "We train to aid, not rely on!" She's mouthy today. Also she ducks under the worst of the rocks with a simple 'whoop' sound before standing back up and shooting at the Veruni with a wry look on her face.
She nods to Ethius and says, "Call it out, I'll see if I can keep up." before darting away to avoid drawing extra fire their way. She may or may not use her long tail to trip a Solarian soldier on her way by, getting closer to engage the Veruni. Said soldier is also given a quick stroke by the butt of her gun.
To the others, she's moving to cover them. The ones that seem to be in the same boat of engaging both sides that is.
There is... that oddness of a puddle girl though. "What th-" she shakes her head. She's seen it briefly, but that's grey goo territory and that's worrying. Let's not dwell on that. She's friendly enough now right? "Heads up" She gives the girl some warning at least, what with using a shotgun and all.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius briefly glances back in Ethius's direction. It seems he's acquired some help. Hm. That could be a problem. For now, however, his attention returns to Homer.
'Not by choice', he says, of his association with Ethius...
"...My condolences." Ambrosius replies, sincerely. Homer entreats him, telling him how he's been with Demetrioi for two, three years, and how he has to let him near them. Ambrosius stands there for a moment, impassively - helmet masking his impression and his poncho, though rain-drenched, obscuring his stance.
"Be that as it may, the situation is out of your hands now. They are coming with us, or this town will be destroyed." Ambrosius replies. It might sound like a threat, but it's his honest assessment of the situation. If Demetrioi doesn't do it, Kartikeya will. He doesn't move, even when it looks like Homer might be getting ready to stab him - but if he makes good on that readiness Ambrosius will reach out to grab the head of the pitchfork and hold it in place.
GS: Juni Vandrer spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Fereydoon with Collateral Damage! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Fereydoon critically guards Lydia Seren's Big Bang for 50 hit points! GS: Poison blocked! GS: Fereydoon enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Fereydoon suffers a terrible blow from Juni Vandrer's Collateral Damage for 143 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison applied to Fereydoon!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
That's Ida taken care of, now to buff Gwen--
Gwen, who has just been flung at her like a missile. Lan yelps and kicks off of the ground, threading magic through her silver ribbon without a thought. She rises into the air, arms outstretched, and throws both arms around Gwen as the courier threatens to shoot past.
Then, in a moment of supreme antigravity fuckery, Lan uses herself as a fulcrum and swings Gwen back around, letting her go to sail right back at Kartikeya - hopefully, fist-first or something.
The inertia transfer throws Lan back to the ground with a loud "Oof!" and what might be a curse. Ewww, she landed in a puddle!
Shake it off, girl...!
She scrambles back to her feet, takes a running jump, and kicks off of the air again and again until she's hanging high above Kartikeya. They've got to put this jerk down and go find Demetrioi. Something's wrong, this never happened in Alcidamas...!
The sky opens up above them, a thousand-thousand twinkling points of light shining even through the rain. They descend, one by one, the size of hailstones, pinging and pocking all around Kartikeya - and then for the coup de grace, Lan just drops out of the sky, heel-first, with the sole of her sandal aimed for his head. "HYAAAAAA!"
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Kartikeya with Dancing in the Dark! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Kartikeya solidly guards Gwen Whitlock's for 48 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Kartikeya takes a glancing hit from Lan Lilac's Dancing in the Dark for 67 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"I dunno Lydia, most of the ones I've met have been pretty jerky and are definitely from the sky, so maybe it's a bias thing. But that's okay. Sometimes it's okay to be biased against an oppressive sky empire, even if its footsoldiers aren't necessarily jerks. They're still enabling jerkdom, so they must be fought--"
And then Fereydoon decides that this charade has gone on long enough.
Welp, the good times couldn't last forever.
"Shit--" Fereydoon comes down like the sword of an angry god. The only reason Cyre isn't carved straight in two by the blade-ARM is that he's just a little too fast. He manages to dart out of the way of the blade, but not its aftershock. The blast wave tears into him, blasts his cloak aside, tears straight through the clothes he was wearing underneath--
And that's how Cyre ended up shirtless for the second fight in a row. Thanks Fereydoon!!
"Ugh. We're going to have to do this the hard way...!" Cyre draws in a breath. Around his neck, the silvery talisman of Fengalon blazes with light. Even within the domain of Demetrioi's control, he is still the high priest of wind. He draws it in, pulling from the roaring storm surging all around him, twisting it around his body like a suit of armor, building it tight...
Before unleashing the excess in a burst of ultra high-pressure wind, trying to blast Fereydoon back out of his preferred range...!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Eye of the Storm! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has launched an attack Link! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz accepts Cyre H. Lorentz's Eye of the Storm for 0 hit points! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Fereydoon with Hurricane Havoc! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters a Counter stance! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 3 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Hurricane Havoc for 73 hit points! GS: Delay applied to Fereydoon! GS: CRITICAL! Kaguya partially guards Azoth's exec.ohr SEARCH for 89 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison and Reaper applied to Kaguya! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"...." Gwen's expression quivers again between fear and anger at the reference to Frea. Some quip would be in order, but all her mouth can manage is a load of what feels like dry sand. "I know, I know, Kaguya!!"
It also makes her lose sense of the warning signs Kartikeya's pose implies. "....! Ghh!" The tips of Gwen's boots struggle to find traction on the ground as she is lifted up Kartikeya. The courier has the nerve to look startled, having not felt such a sensation in quite some time. Few people could really claim to be able to lift Gwen with one arm, much less a massive one like Kartikeya has.
Fewer still could say they've *thrown her* with one arm.
But Gwen is now flying, straight towards Lan, away from Kartikeya, who is now turning his attentions to Ida. ".... Lan, gimme a hand!" Gwen yells, as she sails towards the poor shaman. Maybe there's something something magic Lan can do, or-- yes that will do
Lan comes with the save, or, well, it could be called a buff, as she uses her magic and positioning to throw Gwen's momentum back towards Kartikeya, boots first towards the Sentinel's face. If it lands, she tries to use him as a platform to direct her trajectory upwards, and then, as gravity calls for her, slam back down on Kartikeya. That, or she slides by and comes running towards him, either way. "I'm takin' this asshole extra seriously!!"
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Formation! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Kartikeya with Special Delivery! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Ghh!" Kaguya calls as she hears Demetrioi worry. It's not great. It's eally, really not great. And Azoth of course has the objective she suspected.
"Ca't let you do that," she says, but she notices that low toned beep... Yes. Yes, it sucks all right.
THUD but the bight orbs crash towards Kaguya and hit hard. She throws her arms up in front of herself such that they mostly impact her armor, but there's still so much of it that it is a constant problem, heating up her armor so much it could start to melt if those stay up.
Kaguya notes Azoth's approach--and she wonders. The cold part of her suggests that she could use--
No.
"He's not stupid!" Kaguya calls of Demetrioi, "And he's not having fun! If I can just get to him--"
But she can't yet. So she'll have to make this work, one way or another. "Ghhhh--"
Kaguya suddenly grips the ground, stomping hard enough to make it quake--and and rips a chnk of building wall straight out of a building, picking up the brick and wood and hurling it straight at Azoth.
"Rrrrraaagh!" Then she calls, loud, "Demetrioi! Listen to my voice! You gave everyone what they need! But you need to hear me! I'm coming to you, so just sit tight, okay!?"
GS: Kaguya spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Kaguya has attacked Azoth with Satellite Break! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya takes 35 damage from Poison! GS: Kaguya takes 44 damage from Reaper! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Kartikeya suffers a terrible blow from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 256 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Kartikeya enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Blind and Cripple expired! GS: CRITICAL! Azoth takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Satellite Break for 113 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Azoth gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
"Successful completion of this mission is the best course for all involved, and your insistence on getting in the way only stands to increase the likelihood of suboptimal outcomes!"
Lydia, for how much she hates being a puddle, is masterful in her ability to make her physiology a thing of suggestion, held back only by the fact she remains corporeal. (Hello, cheaty Seraphim.) Fereydoon's footwork allows her to pass without the risk of her striking him from underneath, but gives her clearance to summon forth a BLACK HOLE. It struggles against Demetrioi's forces - to a point - but manifests. He strikes his ARM into the ground for traction - that muddy, non-solid ground - that even his control over earthen energies can't thaw as he's dragged towards the center...
And then swings that blade into the palm strikes, a tremendous shockwave of energy emanating from the point of impact as he's pushed back but upright.
"Not bad," he speaks respectfully, as Juni gets a shot on him thanks to the curving of the BLACK HOLE that arcs bullets from an angle that gets past Fereydoon's impressive defenses.
"The easy way for you was to vacate Harmonde! Do you not listen to reason in pitched combat?" Fereydoon scolds as Cyre asserts his birthright against Demetrioi's atmospheric ownership to leap up as a blur, twisting his form with the displaced air as he swings his weapon like a guillotine, twice, upon Cyre's position, coming to a land through probable violent turbulence as he draws back a free hand with several obscure gestures and slams it into what is currently understood as Lydia's center of mass with... greater understanding, perhaps, of the closest thing to a 'center of mass' she has in the moment, to try and create a cascading failure of feedback.
To move and then swing the flat of the blade towards the encroaching Juni, as if to remind her that in her closing distance, she no longer has that element of surprise.
"You are only achieving fruitless escalation!"
ELSEWHERE
Homer does, in fact, attempt to force his way. Ambrosius' physical strength keeps that pitchfork held. It's a fine pitchfork, it's on par with any of the other weapons you can buy in stores at this point of the journey, but even for all his size and bulk, Homer just doesn't compare...
"O-Out of my hands, huh. Out of my rubber gloved hands," Homer murmurs and whines, "well, don't want this town ta be destroyed, after... findin' somethin' to make this world a li'l less miserable, but," he starts gesticulating with one hand off the shaft, "can't argue with someone who can grip onto metal 'n maybe bend it like it's nothin', y'know? Gah ha ha hah!" Homer laughs, murmurs some other syllables, and...
"Recurrent Current!" Homer is a Symbologist, as he said to others, channeling that electrical shock through the head of the pitchfork and - he hopes - through Ambrosius. It sucks and is rude, it's a constant series of shocks that won't go away! In this rain!
For being kind of on the back foot of a lot of things, it cannot be forgotten: nearly the entirety of Homer's life was that of a smuggling thug in the Mecones. He knows how to fight dirty.
Meanwhile, Ethius gets low to try and make sure there's no line of sight between Fereydoon and himself. (He is currently being battered by another Veruni Guard to his flank, so his hands are a bit full.) "Don't draw the Sentinel towards us," and there's an edge that typically is not there. "We don't have much time--" A Guard gets a hand over his mouth.
He'll be okay, maybe.
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
OVER BY YOU-KNOW-WHO :D
Demetrioi, still listening to Lydia's shouting, 'speaks' as such while they smile.
o that does not make sense at all but it is all right :) the previous calibrations did not achieve happiness :D
Kaguya calls out. It is a voice they recognize, and trust as a friend. Kaguya had always been content with their work in the laboratories.
) okay kaguya i will wait for you :D i hope i have met your friends expectations :D
HOWEVER...!
An amateur rocketeer, a taller man with green hair, is just riding out the chaos with his family. He's running experiments on his stockpile of explosives and other volatile ARMs to pass the time, be in his happy zone, and all that.
The spreading fire outside pierces his house, and works quickly. Chemicals overheat and burst, one after the other. His sense of self-preservation kicks in time to run back to his family as a home he took out a 36-year-mortgage on goes up in flames.
The screams of terror are visceral, the damage cascading across that part of town as the family flees as Demetrioi watches.
o that is not a good thing :)but it is okAy it will bE eVEn better :D
And it begins to flood. The moisture in the air even outside of the area of effect starts to pull itself in in order to feed the clouds above, drenching and sweeping that family away.
They manage to not get swept into the water. Ethius, on the other hand, gets his wish as one of the Veruni Soldiers is swept away into the ocean ahead. He is opportunistic - he can't win a direct protracted confrontation. He can win a game of balance as he sweeps another off.
Ethius casts a look towards Demetrioi, and Homer, and Ambrosius alike.
It's not all rain, under the hood of his raincoat. Much of that is sweat.
GS: Fereydoon has attacked Lydia Seren with Chakra Seal! GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Fereydoon has attacked Juni Vandrer with Crushing Swing! GS: Fereydoon takes 31 damage from Poison! GS: Fereydoon has completed his action. GS: Fereydoon spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Fereydoon has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Executioner's Stroke! GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo! GS: COUNTER! Cyre H. Lorentz counterattacks Fereydoon with Bloody Aftershock! GS: CRITICAL! Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Fereydoon's Executioner's Stroke for 428 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Cyre H. Lorentz gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Fereydoon! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Fereydoon has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Bloody Aftershock for 117 hit points! GS: Delay! Attack greatly weakened! GS: Lydia Seren suffers a terrible blow from Fereydoon's Chakra Seal for 113 hit points! GS: Break, Cripple, Slow, and Weaken applied to Lydia Seren! GS: Jam and Mute blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Rain washes the blood from Ida's face, leaving angry silver-and-red lines where the masonry cut her. She grits her teeth as Kartikeya grabs Gwen, and weaves to the right, hoping to strike at the Sentinel while he's busy--
She never gets the chance. She hears Demeitroi's voice over the sound of screaming and flame, the words as incongruous as they are terrifying. "You," she snarls, raising her voice. "You have NO IDEA what you've just d--ghk--" Ida's anger trails off in a startled gasp as Kartikeya grabs her arm and hefts her up like she were a particularly interesting insect.
'BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH!'
There was a time when that taunt would've gone right through Ida's mental armor and lodged in her heart. Years of emotional trial and camaraderie have broken those old, failing defenses, and replaced them with genuine resilience. Kartikeya hefts her up and DRIVES her towards the pavement with that Golem arm, but Ida does not go quietly. Her left lag lashes out, glancing off his elbow--a momentary inconvenience for him, but just enough time for her to do something else.
It sure doesn't look like anything at first; there's a hideous CRUNCH as the ground gives way. Bits of brick and mortar and dirt fly everywhere. Rain pools into the new crater, washing the dust of impact out of the air.
A sudden rush of motion; a figure in gleaming blue and gold rushes Kartikeya, a bright exoskeletal blur as they strike low, trying to grab him by the waist. A roar of pain and sorrow and fury rips free from Ida's lips as she twists, shifts her weight, and tries to suplex Kartikeya into the same crater he made, just for her.
And then--"Demeitroi!" Ida shouts, her voice pained, angry. "Oh God. You should never--" They have to make people happy.
He doesn't know what happiness is. Next time. "No. You idiots. You never understood them. THEIR MAKERS NEVER UNDERSTOOD THEM!"
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kartikeya with Overturn the Black Tortoise! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Kartikeya critically guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Overturn the Black Tortoise for 53 hit points! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Juni Vandrer takes a glancing hit from Fereydoon's Crushing Swing for 38 hit points! GS: Break and Entangle applied to Juni Vandrer!
<Pose Tracker> Kartikeya has posed.
All around them, wind whips through the air. Fires spread, in defiance of a rain that falls without cessation. This, truly, is a catastrophe in the making.
<Pose Tracker> Kartikeya has posed.
All around them, wind whips through the air. Fires spread, in defiance of a rain that falls without cessation. This, truly, is a catastrophe in the making.
Light erupts from overhead, a shining rain presaging Lan's own descent. But is this something that the Sentinel will realize? After all, it would look at a glance to be identical to an earlier attack from her.
"Is that--" Kartikeya starts to reply, his gaze tilting upwards as he tracks her own descent. Her foot never connects with his head. He sweeps out an arm and catches her handily by an ankle. "--all?!" he completes, hurtling her then for a nearby abandoned applecart. Wind follows up her flight, but it never will catch her; whether it's his intention from the first or not, the rending gale churns right into and through a nearby building, transforming its lower floor to flinders. It doesn't seem like anyone had been in there, what with the spreading fire, but--
Lan wasn't the only one en route to Kartikeya's position. An instant later, he's subjected to a bodily impact, courtesy of Gwen. "What the--" he barks, actually staggering under that blow.
Unfortunately, stagger he might, but Kartikeya remains unbowed: straightening to his full height as she rebounds towards him for another go, he twists and reaches out as she passes near him. Reaches, as it happens, for her artificial arm.
And w r e n c h e s it in the wrong direction.
"Let's take a look at her handiwork! Frea always was a stickler. But on a body like this it's wasted!" He releases his hold on Gwen, dropping her to the ground.
This might be just as well for it is here that Ida rises like a phoenix -- or perhaps, like a righted, angry tortoise -- her figure fully transfigured.
With a build like his, it should have worked. He's if anything a bit top-heavy, with slender limbs where they're still his own (one... assumes, at least). But unfortunately for Ida, Kartikeya is Veruni.
And Veruni have a funny habit of overcoming the limits of physiology, particularly in his case. He grapples with her instead, Golem's arm gripping her left tightly as the two of them fight for leverage.
And still, he smiles down at her, lips split about pointed teeth.
"...Heh heh heh heh. Ahahahahaha! Did you think," he says, Etheric arte bundling up about him, "that you actually stood a chance?!"
The windstorm erupts beneath her with terrific force.
And it's in that moment that an explosion rips through part of the town in a rolling wave, even as other waves are summoned in from the skies. "Eh? Fereydoon! What the fuck is going on?!" Kartikeya yells, twisting at the waist as if to attempt to sight the disaster and/or his fellow Sentinel.
GS: Kartikeya has attacked Lan Lilac with Too Bad!! GS: Kartikeya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kartikeya enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Sucks To Be You!! GS: Kartikeya enters a Counter stance! GS: Kartikeya has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Jetstream! GS: Kartikeya has completed his action.
DC: 3 turns have elapsed in the battle against Kartikeya! 2 turns remain!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey solidly guards Kartikeya's Jetstream for 51 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Amplify, Burst, and Mighty removed! GS: Disease applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Kartikeya's Too Bad! for 106 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lan Lilac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Hyper removed! GS: Kartikeya enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Kaguya-made debris fly toward Azoth as he strives to advance on his target. The building smashes over his chassis, Azoth breaking through with a cleave of a red energy blade to help shatter it beyond what broke against his own rattling body. A terribly scrape, leaving streaks from the stone, smears across his visor, obscuring the light that tries to shine through it.
How painfully unfortunate that it's Kaguya that Azoth has determined has the will, and the power, and the relationship necessary to reach Demetrioi in more ways than one. He can't back down, even as every plee she gives to Demetrioi, and Demetrioi's response, twists the agony in his core.
wait what will bE eVEn bet--
Azoth shrieks in his own distorted pitch, layered with a deep reverb of a voice on top of sharp, glitched noise. His claws sink over his antenna, threatening to rip them off, except: "Error. Invalid target. Error --"
Thrashing, writhing, tail lashing, Azoth contorts his body impossibly. He drops to all fours, tearing through mud and rain like a feral creature as his chassis makes the small shifts necessary for this new beastly gait. Claws sweep for Kaguya before his tail stabs down into the earth, the chain of it audibly lengthening enough so that it punches back through the ground, aimed under her.
Its path is not straight. That is not intentional. That is Azoth's visor flickering with the wrong colors.
It normalizes at the end of his assault, so much that its usual pained red can be considered normal. Nothing else is. Wind. Rain. Fire. Screaming.
"Hypothesized objectives invalid," he muses aloud, with what ability he has to. "Variable poorly defined. Mission parameters mathematically impossible..." For once, he is not speaking of himself.
GS: Azoth spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Azoth has attacked Kaguya with exec.azoc TRANSMUTE! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Recover! Cripple removed from Azoth! GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"GUHHH... " Lydia grunts, spitting out silver metal out of her mouth as she's clobbered in the chest. She stumbles back and wheezes. She glances over to Cyre "I mean yeah I get that but you seem maybe a little too..."
Fereydoon makes the mistake of sounding a little like Ethius when he speaks. Sure it's not exactly the same but it's just similar enough.
"OH MY GOD." Lydia shouts. "SHUT UP. JUST SHUT. UP. Should I have tried talking to the giggle laughy murder guy?? Is HE the reasonable one of all the Sentinels? I came here because I didn't think it was right for your people to get GENOCIDED and thought, you know, maybe Demetrioi can help you out! That would have been SUPER GREAT. Maybe you'd stop committing WAR CRIMES, I thought, if you didn't have this overarching sense of doom over your heads."
"But nooooo!" Lydia's eyes bobble from side to side cartoonishly as Lydia abuses her nanomachines for the sake of cartoon comedy. "JuST BecAuSe wE hAvE coMmOn EneMIeS dOEsn'T mEAn wE aRE alLIes." She performs a horrible mimicry of FEreydoon's voice. "Maybe I just don't want an entire city to DROWN. You're here trying to wreck the world for everyone else without even trying to find a path to coexistence and even then when someone tries to help you stab them, REPEATEDLY, with your DICKSPEAR."
"Maybe the Guardians didn't condemn you guys, maybe you're just SO IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK WITH that they couldn't help you even if they tried! No wonder Demetrioi is DROWNING A CITY because you guys JUST CAN'T BE HAPPY HUH. Don't you have EXPERTS we could be talking to right now?? Why did they send Mr. Soldier Boy and Berserk Chainsaw Massacre here instead of someone who actually knew what they were doing??"
She throws up her hands and says, "I feel bad for Demetrioi. I do! Because of your fucked up handling, Ethius is probably going to try to EAT THEM or something. All they want is for you to be happy and you can't even cooperate for long enough to stop a DEATH FLOOD. This is who Rachiel sent me to help, I ask myself, in her dying fucking moments! Oh but it's OUUUUR fault because we accurately predicted you didn't know what you were doing!!"
She pants for breath. The flood is getting worse. The screams of terror are getting worse.
"Oh uh, sorry Demetrioi. Still happy here." Lydia says.
.....
"Wait is that why Ethius was so worried about it? Did he know we're too DUMB???"
She brings her hands to her head and says, "No that'd make sense it's definitely not that..."
She looks over to Demetrioi. "Heey uh. Can you just turn it off, buddy? Sometimes folks just aren't happy. You know. Cause of brain chemicals. And also... You know."
"Capitalism."
She has forgotten to fight back in the moment.
GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Kaguya takes a glancing hit from Azoth's exec.azoc TRANSMUTE for 109 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison applied to Kaguya! GS: Hyper applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Evade bonus and Sufferer activated! GS: Kaguya enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Kartikeya's Sucks To Be You! for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Break, Cripple, Mute, Slow, and Weaken applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius listens to Homer's response. He starts to continue, starts to pull on the pitchfork to yank it from Homer's hands - but he realises what's about to happen before it does, though not quick enough to stop it. Ambrosius is familiar with Symbology, and the method of casting - so it's not entirely a surprise when, suddenly, a surge of electricity bursts forth from the pitchfork and into his hand. It's enough to force him to let go of it, and send him staggering back a few steps. Electricity courses through his arm, dancing across his armor from the flooding rain. The arm that took the full force of the spell remains at his side, still seething with electricity.
"...Very well." Ambrosius remarks. He laments the current situation, but he cannot deny that it puts him in his element. He casts his other hand out toward Homer, fingers splayed as he draws upon his Ether. The water surrounding them surges and moves - and as he clenches his fingers tight, the water crashes upon Homer from all sides like a wave.
But... things get worse. The torrential downpour intensifies.
"...Ugh." Ambrosius grimaces. He opens his hand again to release Homer from his attack. He turns partially away from him, keeping one eye on him and wincing eternally as the electricity still continues to surge through his body. He'll have to power through it. He puts up both hands - forcing the shocked one up along with it - and once again exerts his etheric power, this time attempting to exert his power over the downpour to stem, or at least divert it. ...With how bad things are getting, it's an increasingly temporary measure.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya can't hold back against Azoth; he's just too strong not to try to destroy. She hates it, though. She likes him. And she knows that he's forced to be here. But her responsibilities--
Demetrioi will wait. It's going to be okay. Except--
Kaguya winces at Azoth's shriek. Error. She should take advantage of that opening. She should. But she doesn't, and she loses the opportunity as she watches Azoth flail. Except--
"Ah, fuck--"
Kaguya dives out of the way, but the tail spikes up, and pierces straight through her armor into her side. She spits blood as it hits. She sees that flicker, but--
"...You're..." Kaguya winces, and holds her side. She feels it. She knows what she has to do. She has to draw on that power. "Sorry, Azoth, but I--"
Nothing happens. She blink, an then dives to the side. "What--"
She can't draw on it. Her heart hurts for Demetrioi, and for Azoth, and she can't activate her power. "Damn it, damn it--"
This is bad. This is very bad. So Kaguya does the only thing she can. She pulls her ARM, and starts charging up a shot. A high-pitched whine sounds into the air as light gathers at the barrel of her ARM, and she aims her most powerful shot at--
At the ground itself, hoping to cause a crater in which she can bury Azoth for long enough to buy a few precious moments. "You're..." As she charges, she says, "You're right. He can't do it. He can't fulfill his purpose."
The explosion that comes whites her out for anyone looking towards them, makes a great green blast that completely obscures what comes next.
GS: Kaguya has activated a Force Action! GS: Kaguya spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Kaguya has attacked Azoth with Revolution Trigger! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Kaguya's stances have changed from Stoic to Hero! GS: Kaguya takes 25 damage from Poison! GS: Kaguya takes 40 damage from Reaper! GS: Reaper expired! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Azoth suffers a terrible blow from Kaguya's Revolution Trigger for 273 hit points! GS: Dispel! Hyper and Mighty removed! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Kaguya drains Azoth! Kaguya gains 96 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer holds up a finger and says, "Yeah probably." as she ducks under the swing, rolling under the worst of it. She darts forward though, a different approach to what she usually tries to get away with. Much like with the Solarian, she uses her tail, trying to drag the Veruni ninja down while simultaneously swinging her shotgun at him like it's a glorified club.
"Had to be done though. One of the two of them's weird, the other seems nice enoguh though." She hops back whether she was successful or not and continues, "And honestly I'd rather they stay in one piece and free. You don't upset your pilot right?"
She does a brief check of the shotgun for damage, since you know, it's not her usual kit and then checks over her shoulder as Homer tries to barbecue a pitchfork. Back to Cyre who she calls out, "Might need to find out what I stepped in here later!" and to Lydia, she's just keeping an eye on her. She seems friendly, but still. Grey goo.
Also Azoth, a robot critter she's dealt with before. That's worrying. He had seemed friendly at the time. Humans and their creations get weird though- "He doing alright?" She asks, not sure if she should be on the lookout later or what. Another followup. Another time.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"You don't seem like a gambling man," Cyre says to Fereydoon. "If all you're doing is considering how your odds shake out, then you'll-- oh."
Lydia.
Lydia says Lydia things.
For a long moment, Cyre stares at her. Just. Stares. Then he nods and points at her and says, "Yeah, what she said! Guardians, I missed having you around Lyds. It's so nice to not have to be the only one ranting at people for being utterly unreasonable in the face of--"
Fereydoon. A blade like a guillotine swings down. Cyre roars and reaches up with both hands, palms slamming into the sides of the blade. His eyes blaze with emerald light as twin twisters of pure force smash into either side of the blade. But he can't stop it. He can't. It cleaves down, carving a bloody trench into the shaman's chest.
For a moment, time seems to stand still...
And then crimson mixes with emerald. Cyre roars, stepping into the blow, his own blood becoming a turbulent cutting fluid as he slams a fist into Fereydoon's midsection, drilling through his armor. With a pulse of force, the Shaman blasts the Veruni back... and staggers forward. "Ghhh. You moron. Optimal for who? For you...? Your mission? Aren't these people supposed to be under your protection...? What about that mission? Fine. If you're not gonna protect them..."
The weather turns. Something awful is happening. Cyre lifts his head to the sky, whispering a curse. He uncorks a bottle of greenish gel, slathering it over his wound. One of Jay's tinctures-- to stop the bleeding. "...It's getting worse. Lydia, I'm going to... To try and stop it. Buy us some time. Veruni, if you care at all for your stewardship of these people, save them. If not... At least don't stop me from doing your job."
He rises up into the air, held aloft by a halo of viridian light. Cyre takes in a breath, glyphs of sacred language weaving overtop of his skin in bands of emerald energy. He may not have the control over the wind like he does outside of Demetrioi's influence, but...
He's still the Voice of Fengalon. This is still his domain! If this is storm is at all part of Filgaia, then as representative of one of the Brothers Storm, it must heed his will! He reaches out, straining from the effort, trying to quell the incredible fury boiling overhead. To draw it into a space he can contain...!
GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Fereydoon with Percussive Maintenance! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's fine, Lan thinks distantly as Kartikeya grabs her out of the air. It's fine, she thinks as he hurls her towards a brick freaking wall.
And then he grabs Gwen by the arm, twisting it in a way that even Lan can tell is just not right, and it is suddenly No Longer Fine. Lan twists too, in midair, both feet meeting the wall. She kicks off once more, frame bent low as she scrambles towards Kartikeya.
He hurt Gwen. He hurt Gwen.
It writhes in her veins. All the sorrow and sick feelings from going back to Damzena, the hopelessness of watching Rachiel die. The town eroding under the weight of a flood, and Lan is just sick, and tired, and sick and tired and Kartikeya should just stop existing.
Lan rises up behind him, the first traces of ink lining her limbs, and grapples onto his back, special attention given for the Golem arm that sprouts from him like an insane cancer.
Light and darkness peels off of her skin, fluttering dizzily - reorienting - and bursting against Kartikeya's skin. It sinks in where it hits, a thousand maladies and curses carried on velvet wings.
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Lan Lilac has attacked Kartikeya with Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
That did not sound good. That did not sound good *at all*. "Demetrioi.... sounds off," Gwen says.
However, that's not all of Gwen's problems right now, as Kartikeya has his hand on one of Gwen's greatest strengths, and biggest weaknesses. The moment Kartikeya cracks it the wrong direction, Gwen *shrieks*, spit flying from her mouth. A shuddering sob of relief leaves her, to her shame, as Gwen is dropped back to the ground, curling tightly around her ARM like it was as fragile as hand-blown glass.
The world might as well go white, because through the veil of pain, Gwen has shut her eyes to all things.
Of course he'd know how to do that. He's likely had to do it himself.
Forcing herself to uncurl and back onto her feet, Gwen finds a gust blow her back down.
'Did you think that you actually stood a chance?'
Gwen feels the pulse of Ink, of Lan's anger. "Shit... LAN! IDA!" Get up, get up, GET UP--
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Fereydoon takes a solid hit from Juni Vandrer's Percussive Maintenance for 71 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Hyper and Quick removed! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: CRITICAL! Kartikeya suffers a terrible blow from Lan Lilac's Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth for 224 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Delay, Drowsy, and Stagger applied to Kartikeya!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"GWEN!" Ida screams, eyes shooting open as Kartikeya goes for her friend's ARM. She's inspected it, and knows it's keeping her alive; in her mind's eye, she can already hear the horrible sounds of twisting metal and snapping bone. The sound she actually hears isn't quite as bad. That doesn't make it any better.
Kartikeya might not be Berserk, precisely--he seems more clever, better with words, somewhat less likely to murder comrades for the hell of it--but to Ida, they feel cut from the same cloth.
And as Ida strains against his might--as Kartikeya's laughter echoes in her brain--he stirs, remembering the agony of cracked ribs and the taste of his own blood.
The tiny bomb cyclone goes off, and Ida goes flying. She ragdolls across the ground, sparks flying each time part of her strikes the road. Bits of carapace rip free, leaving a trail of dissolving Hyadean flesh. Lan's sorcery keeps her from suffering anything horribly injurious, but Ida feels it sputter and die as she skids to a stop on her back. She plucks herself up, reaches up, and tastes copper. Through a haze of pain, she sees Cyre rising into the sky. If anyone can stop this nightmare, and halt whatever Demeitroi is doing, it may well be him.
The goal remains the same. Ida can't do anything about the fire, or the flood, but she can keep Kartikeya occupied, busy.
"If all you speak is violence--!" Ida roars, stomping a foot into the ground. Fresh exoskeleton wells up to patch the damage on her arm and torso. Her eyes gleam; bits of her right pupil turn bright green. Breath--Chi--boils off her body, forming a brilliant multi-layered pyre. It focuses around her right hand, the glow there almost too bright to look at.
"THEN LET ME DEBATE YOU PROPERLY!"
Ida goes from stillness to motion in a heartbeat. The water beneath her feet washes out in a surging wave, almost boiling. A roar escapes her lips.
The first thing to hit is the shockwave of the punch, a battering ram of displaced air. Next comes the Breath, a burning corona of life-force. Finally, Ida's fist proper, striking with enough force to powder concrete and shear clean through Gear armor.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kartikeya with Unbroken Lotus Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's stances have changed from Stoic to Avenger! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Kartikeya counterattacks Ida Everstead-Rey with FIND OUT! GS: Kartikeya solidly guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Unbroken Lotus Fist for 138 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kartikeya gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Charge!! You gain 65 FP! GS: FP up! Charge bonus activated! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Kartikeya's FIND OUT for 194 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
Fereydoon twists and contorts through Cyre's tremendous winds somewhere in that sequence on his descent, the pure force washing around him and popping his ears even through protection, and from there...
"I don't sound like that," Fereydoon asides somewhere in that. It is the only act of levity to be found in Lydia's protest and verbal down-dressing of whate veryone is doing, as he zeroes in his focus on Lydia as she speaks.
A deadly, zeroing focus. Everything about him stills, when...
Chaos. Absolute chaos. It starts with a series of explosions. It escalates with flooding. Screaming. It is a chaotic backdrop to Lydia's verbal dress-down of how this all has been handled.
He doesn't have an answer - absolutely nothing is what was reported or shared prior, completely inconsistent with the way Alcidamas went in its span of a few years. He is similarly disquieted because of another reason.
Kartikeya is freaking out. He is not known, utilized, or respected for his composure. When the loss of it isn't just in raw, violent fury but utter confusion...
That is when Fereydoon can draw a line.
"Kartikeya! Fall back! Everything is beyond all calculation! All units, fall back!" He's not wrong. The phenomena happening here is bordering outright impossible, physically speaking, Juni's tail wrapping around his leg for moments to pull him out of focus. "That there could be something beyond even our reach..."
Cyre, however... refuses to accept that. He grasps the storm, clawing at it. The wind calls, the wind howls, the wind reaches...
For a time, it swirls, pulling all of it into a specific point. A time. It is his birthright to act on behalf of the winds, but as the moments pass...
It feels more and more, there are cracks in the metaphorical hand.
ELSEWHERE
Homer feels clever about himself for all of ten seconds, before Ambrosius turns the water upon him and sends him rolling along back towards where Ethius and the last Veruni Soldier are having it out. There's the order to retreat, bringing a momentary pause.
Ethius, boosted by adrenaline, manages to snatch a rifle not meant for human physiology out of their hands, dropping it to Symbologically deliver an electrical coup de grace as he takes off running. Cyre's hold on the storm might buy time, maybe.
He casts Homer only a brief look before he looks to Ambrosius. He has enough hold of his reason not to open fire on him, the least of which because it wouldn't put him down.
"Let me pass," Ethius says, insistent and tonally not at all neutral. "Now."
"H-Help me up," Homer coughs, and is ignored.
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
SOMEWHERE FRIEND-WARD
There are so many things said. 'Still happy here,' according to Lydia. Ida has a freak-out about how everyone misunderstands the multi-faceted nature of happiness. Azoth cannot comprehend what is being said and implied, but who can?
o :o :o
Demetrioi makes a strange face at Cyre holding all of that.
o what are you doing :) it is okay i am able to do this myself :D
And then... the grasp, it leaks. It cracks. It starts twisting in geometrically impossible directions, as the fractal patterns on it intensify into colors that no longer exist to the eye.
o i can not stop because i know what this place was like before :) you should never stop doing your best ever :D
Defying the calls and pleas to stop, the Guardian of the Winds...
Has no say here, and it all spills out of Cyre's grasp - but not before he gives everyone precious time to evacuate. The Veruni Soldiers are falling back by Fereydoon's command, not even waiting to see what comes of Cyre's gambit.
"Kaguya! Do not risk yourself," Fereydoon says, "no harm will come to you. None of us could have forseen this!"
Ethius, down there, is quietly pulling away security pieces from the rifle that are meant to stop ordinary humans from using it as he awaits Ambrosius' answer - but there's a noticeable twitch in his hands. A precision, starting to falter.
) because you all deserve to be happy no matter what :DaND i can DO it iF I tRY :D
The short of it is, Demetrioi tries. They try so hard, and now... they're in the middle of a brewing super-storm cell.
Now what?
<Pose Tracker> Kartikeya has posed.
He's distracted in that moment, fixated on what Demetrioi is trying to do. This isn't at all what he'd heard it was capable of. If it weren't for the firm grip that Volsung holds on Kartikeya's leash, he'd even consider leveling the entire town to ensure the situation was good and buried.
Perhaps that's one reason why it works -- why, as Lan rises behind Kartikeya like an avenging angel and grapples with him -- why the ink is able to pour against his skin and stick uninhibited.
Kartikeya makes the sort of sound one does when they've been stabbed in the back from behind. A little hoarse, a little raw. A little too quiet, for all that's been done to him.
"The fuck... kinda magic," he utters, trying to shake her loose from him. He drops that Veruni ARM and twists, trying to reach for her with the arm he'd been born with. But Lan is not so easily dislodged, not immediately; it takes time.
And Kartikeya finds, quickly, he has other things to be concerned about.
"Heh... heh heh heh," he manages, in spite of what grips him. His gaze is wild as he focuses on Ida, burning bright with her own chi. "Yes, I see you now! Come on! Don't leave me hanging, hybrid!" His own bloodlust burns bright even against the curse that works its way through his veins. As he had for Gwen, he stretches his arms -- both of them -- wide as if to accept every
single
blow
she has to offer him.
He grabs her with his left arm, slung around her shoulders. He brings her in close. If it weren't his inherently loveless nature, it might even be tender.
But there has never been an ounce of tenderness in Kartikeya, not for years.
"...Keep that up, and maybe you'll give me the fight I've been waiting for," he rasps. Blood, just a thin stream, trickles from the corner of his mouth. "I'll... look forward to it!"
Then and only then, he tosses her aside.
'Fall back!'
From anyone else -- Volsung excluded -- Kartikeya would have protested.
In any other situation, even. If they were anywhere but here, right now.
He growls, even in spite of his mutual sentiment about the situation. "Well, you heard what he said!" he shouts, straightening as he gestures towards his soldiers in earshot with his left hand. "Situation's getting too messy for us!" He glances, again, in the direction of the Demetrioi, and just as quickly looks back again.
"But first--"
Etheric power surges around him, bundling up to a locally-destructive scale.
"A little parting gift!"
And briefly, as his soldiers begin their retreat, Kartikeya is the eye of a swirling storm. "Enjoy!"
He doesn't linger there after, departing as the storm rages in his wake.
As another, far greater and closer at hand, threatens to be born.
GS: Kartikeya has attacked Kartikeya with Gather! GS: Kartikeya has gained 4 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Kartikeya accepts Kartikeya's Gather for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Drowsy removed! GS: Amplify and Hyper applied to Kartikeya! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Lan Lilac with Sky Twister! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sky Twister! GS: Kartikeya has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Sky Twister! GS: Kartikeya has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kartikeya has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Blood spills. Not the first time Azoth has torn them open and bled them out. It's a new piece of feedback for the war machine in recent years. Bloodloss was trivial feedback for the battlefields he was built for.
He was not built for this. He was not built for opponents to hesitate. He was not built for them to apologize. Azoth's body sparks with pained, excess energy. He regards Kaguya with a beastly posture, legs trembling and claws twitching.
Demetrioi cannot fulfill their purpose.
"... It hurts," he tells her. Again, it is not for himself.
But it wasn't the first time he said that to her in Yggdrasil, either.
Kaguya fails to draw upon her power, and Azoth advances on lurching motion at a time. The orbs of light that has chased her begin to ripple, taking shape into blades, and orbiting to aim toward her. With a raised arm, Azoth prepares to snap his claws. Even if she hit him, even if this chassis were brutally damaged, he cannot stop --
The earth gives out.
An explosion in green engulfs him just before the ground itself does, the only signs of Azoth within it a series of distorted, alarmed beeps before they are muffled under the sounds of mud rushing in to fill the crater.
The blades aimed for Kaguya tremble in incorrectly colored light before deleting from existence.
Red light gathers, bursting like a geyser as Azoth claws his body halfway out, battered by wind and rain and trapped in swirling mud. Crimson talons futilely rips through the ground, his tail puncturing through and stabbing wildly around him. Azoth thrashes, trapped for the moment, as the storm brews and his target escapes.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey fully evades Kartikeya's Sky Twister for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lan Lilac solidly guards Kartikeya's Sky Twister for 85 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lan Lilac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Lan Lilac enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia blinks slowly at Fereydoon.
"Huh?" She asks as he just... bounces. The worst part is she has no idea if her rant helped or just wasted time. She rubs at her forehead with both hands for a moment. Of course, Demetrioi is really insistent on using the whole cinematic budget for the day and Lydia is stuck in the middle of it.
Did Kaguya just explode, Lydia thinks distantly. Well she can teleport but...
Rggh...
Argh...
"OKAY FINE." Lydia says. "If OS can do it, so can I...! I don't need their help!"
She runs towards the tree--
--and will try to physically grab it.
And shake it. "Stoooop! It's okay to be lazy!! Kaguya's in danggerrr!"
That's probably about all she's able to get out because in her desperation she isn't really thinking about the negative consequence of a robot person touching the Happy Tree.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
As much as Cyre struggles, the fact is that this is a strange place, alien to the laws of Filgaia. He feels his grip slipping, but he clenches tighter all the same. He feels his will-- his body-- strain and fight and grasp, but...
It's not enough. He loses his grip. Cyre has a moment to scream as the backlash catches him in the gut, sending him flying directly into a conveniently placed crate, right across from Demetrioi.
Cyre groans amidst the wreckage, but he doesn't get up.
Apparently he tried a bit too hard.
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Kartikeya's Sky Twister for 237 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
The storm is building, raging, beyond what even he, with his mastery of water, is able to contain. Behind his helmet, Ambrosius's expression is grim. He weighs his options. ...And then, the order is given to retreat. Not just Fereydoon, but Kartikeya, as well. If that is the case... then it gives him some freedom to act.
His gaze turns toward Ethius, then, as he orders him to let him pass. Quietly, he starts to march toward him.
"You cannot stop me with that weapon, Ethius Hesiod." Ambrosius asserts. He continues forward - but passes him by, instead going for where Homer lies ignored. He reaches down to pick him up by the raincoat... to lift him up off the ground and set him on his feet.
"If you can fix this as you claim, do it." Ambrosius says. "But do not get in her way."
He doesn't specify who that is but he expects, hopes, that it will become clear. With that done, he moves to leave. A retreat has been ordered, after all - his hands are tied, here. And if, in his escape, he assists anyone else in theirs, then it was simply the most efficient route out of town.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She makes him work for it. Twisting just out of his grasp, skin pasted against skin, and all the while the Stranger's poison sinks into his flesh and blood and bones, just as it had once done to Lan. Finally he manages to throw her off, and Lan ducks out of the way to let Ida take over. She's got to get to Gwen--
But even Ida's fearsome might can't put the monster down for good. Only an order from his master(?) brings the fight to a close - and just because Kartikeya's a big creepy jerk, he leaves a present for them. Lan is buffeted by the storm, blades of Wind ether slicing at her arms as she presses on - attempting to haul Gwen the rest of the way up to her feet. "C'mon-- we've gotta find Demetrioi!"
The ink still crawls across her, but it's not a full manifestation - even now, Lan is fighting it. "He's got to understand!"
If only the rain would wash away everything she hates...
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Fereydoon calls to Kaguya, even as Kaguya feels the wind shake and shiver and move. She can't even look at it herself. But she doesn't have time to. But he gives the call to retreat... And reassures her.
No harm. Of course, no harm. That's what she should worry about, isn't it?
"No!" she calls back to the Sentinel, "I have to isolate him!"
But she says this not from near where she was with Azoth, but suddenly right beside Demetrioi, appearing in flash of green light. That's where her voice comes from. She is still bleeding from the wound Azoth gave her. She is still bleeding emotionally from the pain he mentioned that is not his. It hurts, he said, and it does.
It hurts a lot.
But Kaguya kneels down, next to Demetrioi. "Lydia," she says. "Please. Let go."
Unless of course Lydia gets ZORCHED free first, in which case she gets earlier, "Lydia, it's OK. I'll be fine." She gets that regardless. But here and now..
"Demetrioi," Kaguya says. "I know it's been really hard. But you've done a great job, OK? You just need to come with me for a while. It'll make me really happy if we go somewhere far away from other people, just you and me. OK?"
It must just be the rain, that makes her eyes so wet. That would explain it.
"Let's get you out of here and figure out things from there, OK?"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia, from the floor, smoking gently. "Yeah okay."
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer scrambles as the rain starts to go weird. Weird by this planet's standards. She's waterproof for a reason, but we won't get into that. "H-hey! If you can't stop it don't overdo it. I'm not a medic." She's trying to actually help there. She's not really sure how good she'd be dragging anyone out in this kind of a torrent. Incidentally, friend or foe, she does try to snag what looks like a body with her tail as she climbs. Grumbling, claws gouging and grasping until she can get on a rooftop. Body hauled up, she slings the shotgun away under her poncho and breaks out the rope, securing it to the rooftop in question before climbing back down and fishing for anyone else that looks like they're struggling. Fight's over, time for... damage control. There's a voice in the back of her head telling her she probably should have held the trigger for once, but really the last few times she's hesitated-
The sky being weird colored and broken gets a rare reaction from the alien woman. Ears flat, she mutters, "Not paid enough for this as she looks for an exit route. Tears in dimensional space are an engineer's forte, not a sniper's. Well above her pay grade. Really part of the reason for the rope and the climbing is reducing the drag on her smaller frame. She's not exactly heavy enough not to go for a free wind ride without work. Still, Cyre goes sailing. She tries to find anything she can grab him with, claw at.. what his coat? She's not picky. She tries to snag whatever she can to pull him above the rushign water. Not that there's much safety elsewhere, but do what you can when you can.
Kaguya fleeing with the machine splits her focus, that's the kind of thing she should really take apart, but there's also the matter of helping others and checking on why she stepped in this mess in the first place.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida strains with all her might, eyes flaring brightly as she lays into the Sentinel. Following up a punch like that requires tremendous stamina, but she tries; she manages three quick punches and a knee-strike before she runs out of momentum.
It's not enough to put him down. Frustration flares like a dying star in Ida's chest. She's kept him busy, but God, for once--
As Kartikeya pulls her close, she goes perfectly still, and thinks back to the surprise in Berserk's eyes. How viscerally good (and yet, empty) she felt when she saw him die.
Again, Ida edges around part of herself she's kept hidden, buried. That part hears Kartikeya's words and feels fierce defiance instead of fear and anger.
She hates it. (She can't hate it.)
Her body goes limp as Kartikeya throws her, and then follows up with another bomb-burst of wind. This time Ida's ready for it, though, and rolls with it; the shockwave picks her up and carries her, and she rides it down a city street, past gutted storefronts. The water carries with it bits of furniture, clothing, dishes--remains of people's lives.
"DEMEITROI!" Ida shouts, her voice raw as the gravity of this sets in. They've killed people. They're in pain. They've been told to do something, but they don't understand it. "Stop! Please! You have to stop!"
Ida lands, and sucks in a few unsteady breaths. She looks like shit, like she's been used as a chewtoy by one of the meaner Sentinels. (She has.) Kaguya is there. Ida looks at her, blood dripping from a half-dozen wounds on her face. Does she have the right approach, though? Will telling Demeitroi they've done a good job make them stop?
Or will it convince them that they need to keep it up, and do even better?
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen hears Ida cry out her name. It was just a little bit of pain, right? She's still alive. Still breathing.
"... Ida, Lan, stop it, it's okay! I'm fine!" Gwen is fine, staggering and stumbling as she does manage to get to her feet again, her left arm cradling her right. Wind and rain sting her exposed face and carry her words away. "... C'mon, I'm used to this... you can stop now..." Panting, she watches Ida pummel Kartikeya.
How dumb was she being, throwing herself in front of Kartikeya? He would know what to do to make her scream. And he would relish how it made her friends angry in return...
"... Shit.... really screwed the pooch on this one..."
Then, Kartikeya leaves his departing gift. And Gwen, hampered by the pain in her right ARM and the wind, is not as nimble on her feet as she'd like to be. "GH!!"
Her head hits the ground, making the world go blank for a moment. The next, Lan is there. ".... Lan... hey... it ain't that bad." Gwen tries not to lean on the taller shaman, glancing worriedly on the marks on Lan's skin. "... It ain't the time for that, okay?" She glances back towards Ida, who isn't... any better. "Ida, c'mon, let's keep goin'."
Keep your eyes on the prize, and not on the destruction and death around you.
".... Demetrioi. Hey bud. Good t'see you again." Gwen tries to keep herself from leaning on Lan as she presents her best friendly face. "... think someone's given you some instructions that were off, so it ain't your fault. Kaguya's gonna help that part, though."
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre is far too tired to do anything but dangle bonelessly in Juni's grasp as he's hauled out of his crate cushion.
It's a lot like lifting a vaguely man-sized cat, honestly.
...Somehow his pants hold up to the abuse. What are those things made of, even...?
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
A storm rages from Kartikeya's final parting gift. Warm air expands and accelerates outward, feeding off of the ideal conditions and helping cause a further chain reaction. It gathers debris, lifting them in deadly spirals and smashing them into structures. Destruction expans exponentially thanks to Kartikeya's masterful finishing touch.
It might be entertaining to watch from a safe distance... if anywhere is safe. Visibility is a concern.
"Kaguya!" Fereydoon calls again, as she insists she will isolate this... malfunctioning(?) terraforming device. He is in no position to move back to chide her for disobedience. It is unsafe enough that even two Sentinels are 'nope'-ing out of there.
For Lydia, when she moves to touch Demetrioi the feeling is indescribably strange and outright awful - and it might not even be a reflex of malice. It's a phenomena Azoth has previously experienced, and one she may have if she tried to hug it before. Demetrioi does not have a compatible handshake protocol with anything. It is complete sensory overload - so much so that if OS were still in control, OS would mysteriously have the capacity to directly disobey an order involving interacting with Demetrioi if they wished. (Nothing would come up in debugging that suggests alteration - it is just that awful an interaction. AI constructs and Seraphim do not play nicely with Demetrioi!)
o if kaguya is in danger i should not stop :) she is a very very good friend :D
Ethius pulls out a few more components from the rifle idly. All the safeties should be off. He does this even as Ambrosius insists it won't hurt him, and when Homer is helped up Ethius yanks him along while he strains his arm holding the rifle in the other. Not even a simple 'thanks' or acknowledgement of Ambrosius' terms. (Homer murmurs a 'thanks' though.)
Cyre's crate has fish. It's still good to eat. He has earned free fish. Unless Juni steals some for herself out of frustration. A cursory glance as a saboteur reveals she has never seen anything like Demetrioi. It's almost like a fantastical thing woven beyond the ken of sorcery or technology. (Closer examinations reveal it's either the next step from nanotechnology or something parallel, but all of it is beyond Filgaia.)
In the distance, though Lan struggles to fight through the wind and visibility, she can see the 'face' of Demetrioi turn towards her in some recognition. They remember her. She can see a smile. Is this a friend she can reach in time? This is a friend he made through difficult times, that saved another friend from being killed.
Ida screams, and throws herself before Demetrioi. Stop, please. They have to stop!
) i will never stop being a good friend :o even when it is hard to be a good one :)
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.
Gwen helps herself closer, and she arrives at about the same time as Lan will be able to, as Gwen speaks to them softly. Telling them nothing's their fault.
o im happy to know i didnt do anything wrong :) if i was i can only make it better :)
Homer isn't that far behind, with Ethius by him.
"This is... this is my part, right," Homer coughs, "my part, ain't it--"
Kaguya speaks up at last, as Ethius over there is silent outwardly. Here, around Demetrioi, is an eye of the storm - but that storm wall is closing in. Some rain still reaches this far in, despite that.
) i can do that you have helped me make so many happier :o but it is so hard to leave it like this :)
The tree-thing shimmers again, and then... a frigid, all-consuming cold snap. The sudden reversal of temperature sucks, but it does accomplish a few things, in the great overcorrection.
The storm ceases - but so many weapons and equipment become brittle. As everyone is drenched from the rain...
The rifle Ethius starts to lift shatters into a multitude of pieces, and then... the entire ground shakes.
Things move and slither from underneath, and parts of the town collapse further. On closer examination, Demetrioi has produced even larger, thicker root-vines throughout Harmonde's underground to the point of being a support structure.
Some may lose their footing and collapse. Demetrioi miniaturizes into a carriable cube for Kaguya, in mass that should be super-dense and impossible for anyone to lift, and yet...
"Stop!" Ethius yells, extending a hand -
Just in time for Fereydoon to make the rounds one last time, blind-siding Ethius, and yet...
The strange man catches this at the last moment despite the flash-freeze chill, summoning the Symbological shield that just shoves him back.
Fereydoon casts a look to Kaguya, utterly neutral underneath the mask, extending a hand and allowing her a quick exit with the prize.
Ethius can only stare and watch, from his vantage point.
PRIMARY MISSION: Survive the Sentinels... COMPLETE!
SECONDARY MISSION: Convince ??? that ??? must be ???... 3 of 3 COMPLETE!
The flash-freeze has devastating economic and environmetnal consequences for Harmonde, once it thaws. To say nothing of the moving of earth, the explosions, the flooding...
How, or why, did this happen?