2023-01-14: Reason
- Log: Reason
- Cast: Ganondorf Dragmire, Zhang Xiumei, Boomerang, Solitaire Collier, Eleanor Klein, Link, Ashley Winchester, Josephine Lovelace, Medli, Seraph Clarine, Ida Everstead-Rey, Gwen Whitlock, Ruth Pauling, Venetia Vuong, Juni Vandrer
- Where: Forsaken Fortress - Battlements
- Date: January 14, 2023
- Summary: After Ganondorf, the King of Evil, makes a move... people must give chase. But he has help from Boomerang, a Quarter Knight with his own agenda, and has his own ally.
<Pose Tracker> Ganondorf Dragmire has posed.
It was over too fast.
With many Drifters lured away by the chaos on Lunar, and ARMS stretched to its limits by a series of backbreaking tragedies, no defense could possibly be mounted.
It was the middle of the day.
The windows went dark. A fiendish chuckle filled the air.
And a demon shedding shadows like dew materialized behind the leaders of this world's nations. In Meria, in Sylvaland, in Guild Galad - but in small villages, too.
"Rejoice," the Phantom in midnight armor seethed. "My Master has need of your spirit."
And then, in a surge of motion, it reached out to grasp them, and two heartbeats later, both were gone, leaving blasts of magic and ARMblast to blow down the walls.
In the aftermath, the question became: Where? Fortunately, for a Drifter, support in thinking through opaque clues is never far away, and putting the pieces together - the Phantom in shadow, the mention of a sorcerous Master - point all to one place only:
FORBIDDEN FORTRESS
The Forsaken Fortress is exactly as it says - a fortress-island that seems to have ripped itself directly out of the ground all but overnight, many months ago. Perhaps flying Gears could penetrate, but the walls loom too high to get in by boat.
And of course, then you have to deal with the door guards. The sky is full of Bokoblins on balloons equipped with cannons, and Wizzrobes prance through the sky, toucan-like beaks squawking in delight as they brandish deadly magic staves. The Helmaroc lurks on its perch at the top of the tower, beady eyes promising violence on any who dare the sky.
Below, the sea is swarming with rafts occupied by Bokoblins with spears and swords, chittering excitedly at the prospect of war. There are one or two secret docks that one might use, but with the army awaiting outside...
...you'll have to fight your way in.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Zhang Xiumei stands near the forefront of the Drifters. It's a motley group, she thinks; between the mission in Spira and the Lord of Calamity, so many are away from Aquvy. Still, this is why ARMS exists: to preserve the order of Filgaia, for the people of Filgaia.
That includes against the minions of Ganondorf. She would by lying, though, to say it isn't personal. Ganondorf Dragmire has always had an interest in Eleanor. Even with her feelings on Eleanor more secure...
It will never not be personal.
"Let's go, everyone," Xiumei says, and she exhales. And she leaps--
<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.
--and is SLAMMED into the water with a splash. A figure in a brown duster kicks her into the drink, then lands on her raft. He isn't a human; Boomerang is an armored figure, almost cybernetic. Of course, Metal Demons cannot be called cybernetic in truth -- his flesh and blood is that of living metal. His face is an armored mask, betraying no emotion.
Beside him, a massive wolf lands -- Luceid, the Guardian Lord of Desire. Violet and red, with glowing golden eyes, and looking balefully at those gathered. "Boomerang," Luceid says. "You're sure?"
"Yeah," Boomerang says. "It's time. Time to see what this Lord Blazer can do. Time to get you revenge, partner. And if it means I work with the enemy of humanity... then I guess that's what I always was. I know what you want. And you know what I want."
"A battle. To prove you exist."
Boomerang nods. "Exactly. So COME ON!"
Guardian and Metal Demon flash with light. A brilliant nimbus of red and violet, surging around them both -- until it blots them out, and then merges together. When it fades, he is an armored figure -- sleek dark violet armor, with gold and red highlights. Red gemstones are mounted where the ears would be.
A long, evenly balanced broadsword in his hand -- though the steel of the blade gleams with a faint red-violet light, as he holds it up expertly. Boomerang's eyes are the same pale gold, under the visor, as he looks at them.
"Show me," he says. "Show me why you exist! Show me your history means anything! SHOW ME WHAT YOU REALLY ARE!"
DC: Boomerang switches forms to Boomerang Flash! DC: Gwen Whitlock switches forms to Super Courier! DC: Ganondorf Dragmire switches forms to Phantom Ganon!
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
Amongst the forces at the Forsaken Fortress, a hot air balloon floats on high. The artillery basket is manned by a quartet of moblins readying miniguns to fire down at anything that tries to approach via boat. Sitting on top of the hot air balloon, cross legged, is Solitaire Collier with Nidhogg laying down in her lap. She doesn't seem to have any issue with heights.
"Vinsfeld hasn't called for us." Solitaire says. "In the end, we did not even need to make a choice."
Perhaps Antenora's death affected him even more than we thought. But you should remember that power isn't the same as strength.
"I've known that all along," Solitaire says. "But regardless of your strength... Without power our ideals will be ignored. Still neccessary."
What she isn't expecting is Boomerang making a rather dramatic entrance. Solitaire doesn't do any such thing. Rather, she thumbs at her axe which is growing warm in the presence of Boomerang.
"Mm."
She walks to the edge of the balloon, readying her axe in her hands.
"Is he strong?" Solitaire asks.
He is.
She smiles, ever so faintly. But she makes no overt declarations. Not yet. Instead she gestures forward with a hand in a 'c'mon' gesture.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Tara Alicia Klein--the Marchioness of Klein, and Eleanor's mother--was among those taken. Eleanor wasn't there to protect her at the time; there was so much going on that it didn't occur to her despite her previous visions that they would strike now, or here. But she has been sick with worry ever since. Odessa, she knows, has reason to go after her family. Others have before. And Ganondorf, especially...
What's worse, to Eleanor--is that her mother is very, very pregnant. With the guard redoubled at home, Eleanor has promised her family that she would bring her back--no matter what.
But the fortress looms ahead, and it doesn't scare Eleanor nearly as much as the fear she already feels. Not until--
"XIU!" Xiumei is battered down. But a moment later, as Eleanor starts to the edge, to go after her--she focuses her mind.
...She'll be all right. Just, "Let's handle these so we can help the others!"
Bokoblins swarm. The Helmaroc is there...
"GANONDORF!" Eleanor calls, at the top of her lungs.
She brandishes her golden pistol, and focuses her will. She is in a ship of her own, though she is not piloting it at the moment. She focuses her will, standing at the prow of the ship--
Her bullets burst into sacred light as she fires them, the power of the Sage manifest. These bullets are designed above all to destroy evil. And so they will.
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Sacred Bullet! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.
The King of Red Lions sails in. Link has arrived! The green-clothed boy is here to assist in rescuing everyone - and perhaps, finally finding Aryll - but to do so, they'll have to get past the mighty swarm of Bokoblins.
Standing aboard his sailboat, he reaches into his gear and pulls out: Deku nuts.
And then he starts throwing them at rafts. Blind the Bokoblins and force them to fall into the water - an age-old plan as old as five minutes ago!
"You won't get away with this, Ganondorf!" Link shouts. The King of Red Lions nods with rocking, sagely. This boy has potential, after all.
GS: Link has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Deku Nut Exploitation! GS: Link has gained 2 Combo! GS: Link has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
It has been... A month. It seems that crises have a habit of arriving in quick succession, as if the cosmos itself were conspiring to stress the protectors of Filgaia and Lunar to their breaking points time and time again. As if they were being tested by an inscrutible hand whose schemes orchestrate the survival of only those most fit to rise to the challenges facing both worlds.
...Nah. Couldn't be.
Surely it's just that villains are an opportunistic lot. Seeing a chance to wreak terrible havoc, the King of Evil made his move-- not only taking the leaders of many of Filgaia's most powerful leaders in one fell swoop, but stealing away Eleanor Klein's mom in the process. This is no mere battle for the members of ARMS, this has become something personal.
There's no time to feel the burn of exhaustion. A mother is in danger. Her unborn child is in danger. Ashley stands at the van with the others, his hands wrapped tense and tight around his bayonet. "We'll get her back," he reassures Eleanor, "One way or another." No matter how bad this entire situation screams 'TRAP,' they don't have any other choice.
And just as the festivities begin, the other shoe finally drops.
"Xiumei!?" In one swift motion, she's knocked into the sea. And...
"You..." That face-- that figure. He remembers it well, in spite of the terrible concussion he suffered at the time. There are too many enemies here, now, to fight Boomerang on even footing. Moreso when...
...He fuses with the Guardian of Desire.
"...Are you two serious? You know there's a pregnant woman in there, right!?" Ashley grits his teeth, his hands tighten into fists. In an environment this saturated with enemies, with the deck stacked so high against them...
There's only one thing to do.
"Revenge... I never asked for this power," Ashley grunts, blue, baleful flame roils and coruscates over his clenched fists. "But I'm not letting you kill me. And I'm definitely not letting you or that King of Evil kill that kid! If I have to wield this power to make you see reason, then let's do this!" The flame spreads like an inferno, catching his form as if it were so much kindling. It billows upward, spiralling into a sky-scorching pillar that sets several bokoblin balloons ablaze.
"Let's go, Boomerang! Luceid! No warrior is old enough, no god is mighty enough, to get me to break my word to her!" A knight in black and red, whose armor glints and reflects a distant and ancient apocalypse, erupts from the pillar of flame. A blazing sword is gripped tight in its hand-- and swings for the fused Boomerang in a singular, searing slash! "We're all going home today! You're not going to stop us!"
DC: Ashley Winchester switches forms to Knight Blazer!
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Boomerang with Hot Fencer! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action. GS: Medli has attacked Link with Aeolian Chord! GS: Medli has gained 2 Combo! GS: Medli has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Boomerang counterattacks Ashley Winchester with Counter Attack! GS: Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Ashley Winchester's Hot Fencer for 192 hit points! GS: COUNTER! Ashley Winchester counterattacks Boomerang with Counter Attack! GS: Ashley Winchester solidly guards Boomerang's Counter Attack for 68 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It would have been hard to have missed it. All over parts of Aquvy, people of elven heritage were vanishing, spirited away in the night by powers unknown and unseen. With the attention of so many others seemingly diverted elsewhere -- whatever her status, Josie has not missed the removal of the Black Wolves to Spira, or the rumors of the trials others are facing in Glenwood and beyond -- another has been able to make their move seemingly unopposed.
Frankly, it hadn't been any of Josie's business. She had a pretty good idea of who was involved and it really wasn't in her best interests in the slightest to get involved.
And she wouldn't have.
Except there had been that little girl in Damzen City. Josie had been there, shopping around for buyers for the Kizim Fire. The girl had been been crying about her big sister who had gone missing.
The girl had pointed ears herself.
"..."
NOW
It's always possible to borrow a boat, if you're quiet enough about it, and especially if you do in the dead of night. Josie is certain that its owner will understand.
Especially since it's looking less likely like its owner is going to get it back -- certainly not in the same condition it had been in before. "Damn," she utters, the boat skipping erratically over the waves as she tries to skirt a bokoblin raft that has come in too close to one side once she sights the size of the crowd in the water. It doesn't look like she's going to get in as quietly as she'd hoped. But on the plus side, it doesn't look like she's the only one storming this particular castle.
"Hey, Nell!"
This might be awkward for Eleanor, all considering.
"Aim for the ones to the left. I've got right!"
And as she had said, with absolutely no hands on the helm, Josie unholsters her rifle, braces, and takes aim at one of the balloons in the air.
GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Ashley Winchester's Counter Attack for 58 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Screwdriver! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Medli has posed.
Arriving alongside the young hero in green is a young girl dressed in religious finery. She looks half scared to death as she sits in the back of the King of Red Lions, holding a golden harp tight in her hands. Was this why the Great Valoo sent her with Link? Could this be the moment? The fortress is terrifying, and there's more monsters than she's ever seen before.
Pulling a lovely green shawl more tightly against the wind, Medli stands. "Please be careful, Link! And try not to leave me behind!"
With that, the young girl closes her red eyes. As she begins to strum her harp, her voice lifts above the sound of the waves.
GS: Link accepts Medli's Aeolian Chord for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Link! GS: Mighty and Riposte applied to Medli! GS: Link gains 2 Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine is a being of Lunar. But the new friends she has chosen, the new friends she wishes to support and protect, are here on Filgaia. So as many disperse to Lunar, to Spira and Glenwood, here she remains. She will aid in the protection of this world in their stead.
...And as the Master of the Forsaken Fortress makes his move, she is among those who moves out in retaliation. With the direct threat to Eleanor's family, how could she not?
An army stands in their way. Clarine stands undeterred by her friends' side.
"Yes. Let us-" Clarine starts, nodding resolutely as Xiumei leaps.
...And then there is a blinking outline where Xiumei once was in the air.
"A-ah! Xiumei! Are you alright?" Clarine gasps. Where she once stood is a man - tall, and accompanied by a massive wolf. She has seen neither wolf nor man before... but as a spirit, she can tell that there is More. He challenges them - challenges Ashley, to battle. Clarine huffs. A rather rude fellow, but... She can see his seriousness on display, as Guardian and Metal Demon merge. And Ashley transforms in return.
"He does not fight alone. Ashley, I stand with you. Warrior, you shall see what makes us." Clarine declares.
"Acuteness!" She casts her arms out, and a red light emanates from her, settling on the allies closest to her position. Where it lands, her allies find themselves strengthened.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ruth Pauling with Acuteness! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Acuteness! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ashley Winchester with Acuteness! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Ashley Winchester accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Ashley Winchester! GS: Quick applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Ruth Pauling accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Ruth Pauling!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
As it so happens, Ida's aunt--Anna Everstead-Rey--is one of the Master's advisors, and a member of the High Committee of Guild Galad's Great Houses. She was among those taken. Ida has borne the weight of her family's fear, shock, and horror as well as her own, and she worked tirelessly to help resolve this crisis. It helps that she's not alone, that Eleanor's mother was taken, too. Ida's tried to be there for her as they traced the trail. As it turned out, the kidnapper was not exactly subtle.
It's an open question whether Ganondorf knows or cares who Anna is, beyond her value as a hostage. As far as Ida's concerned, he's gone and made things deeply personal.
The heiress of Everstead-Rey stands at Eleanor's side, clad in refurbished Hyadean combat armor, one hand gripping the railing as the ship starts its final approach. Her gaze goes flinty; Ganondorf has always had the advantage of seemingly limitless numbers, and the idea that the roving marauders were a "Deku Isles problem" has been thoroughly disabused. "Move fast," she says, "move decisively. Don't let them swarm you." A raft drifts close, and Ida makes good on her word. The wind rises beneath her, green motes dancing at her heels as she leaps off the deck. Ida traces a graceful arc through the air, lands on the raft, and ducks the Bokoblin into the drink with a snap-kick.
"Right behind you, Xiumei--!"
SPLASH
"Xiumei!" Ida cries, and she whirls to face the man who struck her, her face twisting in a rictus of rage. "You," she snarls, though, as usual, her heart tightens in terror at the sight of Luceid, actual Guardian Lord. They're here for Ashley. "He's not alone. You want this that badly--"
Yes. Yes, he wants this that badly. Ida has scant seconds to process the sight of the two merging, then grits her teeth, and leaps for Boomerang's raft. She leads with an open-palm strike to the torso, then flows into a combination of light, testing blows as she starts to circle him. The raft means she can't circle-walk properly, but a student of Method Mercury must be ever-flexible.
When Boomerang meets her eyes again, one of them is bright emerald-green. Secondhand fear starts to creep into Ida's consciousness.
Butcher. Kinslayer. Maddened, honorless dog.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
There is one odd drifter who hadn't been focused on Spira and the Lord of Calamity, as she.... was preparing to go to Lunar for a completely different but subtlely related purpose.
Gwen is here to deliver packages and stow away money... and she's all out of packages because SOMEONE screwed up the mail routes by kidnapping all the leaders. Everyone's a little worried about their local governments, and thus, mail is affected.
That is one(1) reason she is here. The other is because, very likely, one of her fellow Drifter friends asked her to be.
All they had to say was something that sounded a lot like magic and a lot like Master, and even more like 'asshole in robes that Gwen dislikes', and... the courier just naturally insisted she come.
And here she is, Gwen Whitlock, Super Courier, sitting on the boat for fear of being knocked over by some blast or another. "... Shit..." A bullet slips from her fingers as the boat rocks, marking the fourth one thus far.
Squinting her eyes into the distance as she grips her fifth bullet, Gwen groans. ".... Oh Guardians, it's that kid again.... Uh, shit, I can't swim..." She waves a hand and yells. "Hey! Try not t' bite on more than you can chew until we get over there, okay?!"
She quiets, seeing Ashley from afar. Seeing him transform.
".... Let's get this done before Ashley gets forced t'use more of that power of his," she says, her tone lacking in the enthusiasm of before. Bracing with her foot on the edge of the boat, Gwen says, ".... gonna try to cover for lil' Link over there. Let's make this day's trajectory go all up-like, eh?" She aims, and fires, sending a powerful blast from her right palm, not making things any easier for those on the boat with her.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Coil Cannon EX! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Boomerang with Water Dragon Form! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's stances have changed from Counter to Counter and Stoic! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth responds to the call immediately when tragedy and horror strikes as it does, partly by nature of being drawn to it. Rather than say anything particularly encouraging, she offers the unspoken presence of who it is they've come to accept at their side.
Ruth's got her eyes up to the sky as she feels that twinge of immense pain going through her left arm. Malevolence - hers, more of a foggy mist like from a muggy rain - courses through that limb as she draws her rifle, but holds her 'elf' form just so as she prepares to take aim for the skies for shots beyond trivial for her to take--
Boomerang blindsides them, taking Xiumei out of the picture and immediately capturing Ruth's attention. She moves in front of Eleanor reflexively, aware that she's a priority target and momentarily transfixed on the sight of Boomerang and a massive wolf.
To be this close to the embodiment of Desire, subconsciously, probes at when the Trial Knight asked her a question she lacked the clarity and strength to answer, one she fought hard to catch a stronger hold on her heart. She won't know the enormity of Luceid's presence without someone pointing it out, but she doesn't have to know it to feel it.
Bommerang's desire is clear. A battle, to prove he exists. Ruth's eyes close as her Malevolence tugs at... difficult times.
Times where she only existed, her only worth, was to battle. She has never met Boomerang in battle and may have only heard of him in passing. She's not even his intended target, hearing about the 'Lord Blazer,' and yet the form he takes intimidates. Ashley channels that fell power, guided by resolve to take it to just and heroic ends.
'Show me why you exist! Show me your history means anything! SHOW ME WHAT YOU REALLY ARE!'
Her heart knows, and Clarine entrusts her with an empowering red light. She can only hold on and ride it out as she assumes her Hellionized shape, that enlarged single-winged gargoyle-like figure, leaping to the vaguely defined space of the raft as she swings the naginata-like bayonet blade of her rifle in a wide, slicing arc.
She is - for the moment - without words beyond a shrieking hiss, caught in simultaneous acknowledgement and denial of her likenesses with Boomerang's inquiries.
GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Boomerang with Bloodletter! GS: Ruth Pauling has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Normally one might think: Ha ha, they stole the Master! That's rad!
Well, it would be a lie to say Venetia Vuong felt warm feelings for the current occupant of that seat. He is, in fact, a "Grade A Asshole" and a "Real Piece of Work." And while this is true, there is also the fact that he does rule Guild Galad with a certain degree of *established legitimacy*. And perhaps more importantly:
If they are to change the form of their nation: let *them* change it.
They also took a bunch of other people who Venetia is less mad at. Somehow. Yeah, it happens.
"I don't know about you," says Venetia on the stern deck, facing perhaps towards the unusual Beastwoman who had joined their group in this impromptu mobilization, "but I'm not certain that I can fully encompass this particular icon of darkness. What was his name?" 'GANONDORF!' Eleanor calls. "Just so," Venetia says, nodding her head.
"But these," Venetia says, gesturing at the barrage balloons. "These..."
"These are so... GAUCHE."
She draws out a Crest Graph, sinking into a somewhat cautious horse stance as she raises it up. "Alright, let's get started." The Crest Graph glows-- and with a twist, a duodecim plus one of small amethysts plus a single enormous amethyst go hurling up towards a balloon! When we say "small" we mean "about the size of a grapefruit," and when we say "enormous" we mean "about the size of Venetia."
Will this be effective against balloon warfare?!
well, like, probably
GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Solitaire Collier with Amethyst Sign ~Second Month's Decision~! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action. GS: Solitaire Collier takes a glancing hit from Venetia Vuong's Amethyst Sign ~Second Month's Decision~ for 64 hit points! GS: Boomerang partially guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Water Dragon Form for 77 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Charge bonus activated! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire solidly guards Eleanor Klein's Sacred Bullet for 26 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire takes a solid hit from Link's Deku Nut Exploitation for 93 hit points! GS: Blind blocked! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire partially guards Josephine Lovelace's Screwdriver for 66 hit points! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Gwen Whitlock's Coil Cannon EX for 116 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Ruth Pauling's Bloodletter for 54 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison blocked! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
On time for once. That's the thought going through Juni's head. In that she's not trying to play catch up at least. Riding along on Eleanor's boat for the approach, she's currently hanging towards the back. Making last minute adjustments to her rifle. Twin pronged and sleek. One of the last steps is checking the system link at her wrist. A flip of her thumb, (The upper one for those curious) the barrel makes a faint hissing noise and extends further.
She had been... elsewhere when she was called, but she's not complaining. That's literally a mess for other people and she doesn't miss deck swabbing in the slightest.
Venetia's questioning gets her split ears to perk up and swivel, followed soon by the odd numbered gaze from the alien, "You get to a certain point and flashy... seems to become more common." she makes a dismissive gesture with her free hand as something calibrates automatically, the barrel adjusting and sliding into place, "Been a while since I've seen balloons though." She tilts her head, "Think it'll be like those festival games? Pop enough balloons, win the prize?" While she is joking, the tone is dead serious as she levels the rifle.
While she's joking, there's a deadset look on her face that hints that she's taking things seriously enough. And not that it matters at this range, but she does sight in the same balloon that Venetia just lobbed- she leans back from the scope for a moment to ID it. "Rocks?" -when those amethysts go down range. Hopefully no one there eats the things.
GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Juni Vandrer with Long Barrel Configuration! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer's stances have changed from Counter to Avenger and Counter! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
Solitaire's eyes settle on Ruth. She swings Patience over her shoulder and points the Mobians towards--actually she's pointing at Ashley Winchester. Or what Ashley Winchester is now, at least. The guns train on the Knight Blazer.
But before the Moblins can open fire, Venetia ... throws a rock at it!
Solitaire's eyes slant suddenly towards it and she leaps off the balloon??!
And she lands on Venetia's Ventia-sized chunk of amethyst and then hops back off it. Unfortunately for her, she isn't able to deter the path of the amethyst entirely and it impacts against the basket'o'mobians real hard, crunching against their head and resulting them in tumbling out of the balloon.
Solitaire leaps again,and this time she seems to be...
Aiming for...
Another Venetia-shaped object.
Namely Venetia.
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She aims to land axe first towards Venetia, hoping to cleave her right down the middle! She remembers how Venetia fights and she doesn't expect bisection to be the end of it.
Her eyes slant towards Juni who seems to be taking aim at the balloons and so she spins on her heel, throwing a vicious kick for her chest, intending to send her flying OFF the boat and into the water.
"Hi." She says as her dramatic proclamation though it's not that dramatic because her voice is as quiet as a...well you get it.
GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Venetia Vuong with Talons of Nidhogg! GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Juni Vandrer with Right Wing Tableau! GS: Solitaire Collier has completed her action. GS: Venetia Vuong takes a glancing hit from Solitaire Collier's Talons of Nidhogg for 57 hit points! GS: Break applied to Venetia Vuong! GS: Hyper applied to Solitaire Collier!
<Pose Tracker> Ganondorf Dragmire has posed.
Can you see him, there? At the top of the tower.
Staring down from closed windows, alone in a high sanctum? With tarnished-copper skin and hair like fire, a broad aquiline nose, and eyes that pierce the heart? It would be difficult, of course. Yet still, they call for him and know in their hearts they are heard. The King of Evil makes his villainy plain.
Eleanor's bullets blow through a few bokoblins, but many simply scatter, balloons and rafts moving with unnatural agility, cackling. Link's flung Deku Nuts prompt a few startled creatures to shriek and fall off, alright, but many simply shake it off and leer, drawing blades. That behavior is swiftly curtailed when Josephine Loveless blows them over. But.
Over the sea, over the rafts, a point of darkness forms, a wisp of abyss black and neon sea green. It blooms outward, billowing widely, until its form is clearer, defined.
A Knight, a helm with twin horns. No matter how much light is shone on it, it gains no illumination but the lines of light that swoop elegantly across its shoulders, down the long, tattered cloak that flaps behind it. Like its very form were a void.
It stares, but does not speak. It hovers, looming tremendous for several long seconds.
And then it pulses with light, red throbbing through those green veins, before it raises a wickedly curved sword, its tip forming into a strange curl, and a fell light bursts from its edge, watching across the arena. It swoops forward, hand raised high, and STRIKES down for Eleanor, a ruthlessly fast sweep of a blade that might just cut the entire boat in half if undefended.
And as that attack begins, another Phantom appears, wisps of smoke puffing off of its cape as it snaps up with one hand and fires a bead of light that blooms into a sphere the size of a cart, careening toward the would-be Hero in a challenge as old as the world.
GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Runelight! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Medli with Runelight! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Runelight! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Eleanor Klein with Clash with Demonhead! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Link with Dead Man's Bullet! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire enters a Counter stance! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has canceled their attack on Link. GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Figments of a Drowned Past! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire accepts Ganondorf Dragmire's Figments of a Drowned Past for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz and Hyper applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Blitz! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Link with Dead Man's Bullet! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire enters a Counter stance! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.
"Do I look like the type of guy that cares?" Boomerang answers Ashley. When he speaks, his voice is strange. There are two voices, speaking together -- Boomerang and Luceid, his and their voices laid over one another. He sees Knight Blazer and if he had a mouth, he would smile.
Blazing sword meets living metal blade, buoyed by the sheer force of a Guardian Lord. They slam together, sparks and crimson lightning exploding between the two.
And then they dance. Blow for blow, the swords meet, striking together with the ringing sound of their impacts -- and explosions of fire and light with each strike. For a moment, they seem matched. "That's it! You think you're a god?" he says. "My partner... we've seen what you REALLY ARE!"
His golden eyes flash. He turns his head, to look at Clarine -- and his smooth armored helm shows no betrayal of emotion. "You wanna get mixed up in this, Seraph? Your funeral. Never saw why you type wanted to bother with this dying world--but there's funerals going round!"
He holds a hand out, and then a ball of shadow gathers. It crackles, arcs of blackness leaping across the sphere -- and then explodes off it like a shot, hurtling towards Clarine in a path that doesn't quite go straight -- and makes it harder to follow.
And then Boomerang whirls. In this new form, he is blindingly fast -- and his strange, overlayed voices bark out a laugh that sounds more maddened. Closer to Luceid's laugh. "Oh, so you want a piece too, huh? Got yourself one of our bodies, now, huh?"
Her palm strikes his arm, as he swings it up to block -- and he barks out another laugh, even as the armor dents. Then, he slams forward at Ida.
"Good! Use what you have, that's what I always said!" he snaps back at her. Then, he swings his sword around, in three fast slashes, chopping across her repeatedly with fast and brutal motions.
Then he turns. He spots Ruth -- and sees her form for its truth.
"The... hell? One of those things from Lunar?" he asks, as he sees the naginata-like bayonet crash down. Boomerang swings around his sword, catching the naginata with a burst of sparks as the blades catch. They trail along each other -- and then he twists, only just managing to not have his arm shorn into. It cuts the metal armor, nonetheless.
He whips around, then, and slams the blade for Ruth's midsection. He shouts, his two-voiced cry echoing with a bestial tone, as his sword bites for her.
GS: Boomerang has attacked Ashley Winchester with Luceid Saber! GS: Boomerang spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ruth Pauling with Crescent Fang! GS: Boomerang has gained 1 Combo! GS: Boomerang has attacked Seraph Clarine with Shadowburst! GS: Boomerang has gained 2 Combo! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Triple Down! GS: Boomerang has gained 1 Combo! GS: Boomerang has completed his action. GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Ganondorf Dragmire's Clash with Demonhead for 134 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Ruth Pauling solidly guards Boomerang's Crescent Fang for 92 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: CRITICAL! Link suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Dead Man's Bullet for 172 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: COUNTER! Seraph Clarine counterattacks Boomerang with Reflect! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Boomerang's Shadowburst for 230 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Medli takes a glancing hit from Ganondorf Dragmire's Runelight for 53 hit points! GS: Disease applied to Medli! GS: Hyper applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Evade bonus activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ashley Winchester solidly guards Boomerang's Luceid Saber for 79 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Gamble: High! Ida Everstead-Rey solidly guards Boomerang's Triple Down for 75 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Guard bonus activated! GS: Your next attack with the Counter flag will display with the name Last Word. GS: COUNTER! Josephine Lovelace counterattacks Ganondorf Dragmire with Counter Attack! GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Runelight for 120 hit points! GS: Disease applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: Hyper applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Charge!! You gain 35 FP! GS: COUNTER! Gwen Whitlock counterattacks Ganondorf Dragmire with Counter Attack! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Ganondorf Dragmire's Runelight for 58 hit points! GS: Disease applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Hyper applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: expired! GS: Juni Vandrer accepts Juni Vandrer's Long Barrel Configuration for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Mighty applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Juni Vandrer suffers a terrible blow from Solitaire Collier's Right Wing Tableau for 139 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Clarine's Reflect for 103 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor promised to look out for Link, too. So she sees him with his great plan about the Deku Nuts, and nods firmly once. "Right!" she says, having leaned a lot on Ida on the way over--she would have to admit that despite her resolve, she cried in worry while there was nothing else to do but wait. But there is no more time for that.
"We won't leave you," Eleanor assures Medli. "None of us will."
And then--Josie!?
"Don't call me 'Nell!'" Eleanor complains. "And I thought you were with them?"
Nevertheless, she takes her direction. She aims at the ones to the left.
But Ashley... Ashley's resolve and indignation are heartening. His transformation is not. "Be careful!" Eleanor calls to him. She is glad to help Venetia remember his name. As it happens.
But then--the figure there, at the top of the tower. She is heard, she knows. And that point of darkness forms...
"A phantom?" Eleanor wonders, and then when it pulses with light, Eleanor has to throw out her hands--both of them--to forge a barrier of Light to meet the blade. She is fast enough to save the ship. The barrier is not strong enough to save her, and she's battered by the slash. It's blunted by her barrier, but she still flies backward as a result, hitting the deck with a hard noise and rolling. "Link!" she calls in worry. "Hang on!"
She rises again, and lifts her hands. "O sacred Light," she intones, "Power of the Three, I invoke thee!"
A brilliant light--unlike any kind of magic seen by some in the world for a long, long time--sparkles down upon the combatants fighting the Phantoms. It suffuses them with power, heals with the power opposing the Phantom's darkness.
"You will not prosper, King of Evil," Eleanor promises, and does she sound really old-fashioned all of a sudden? Maybe. "We will recover them!"
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Restoration! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Medli with Restoration! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Restoration! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Link with Restoration! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Restoration! GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 2 Combo! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action. GS: Eleanor Klein accepts Eleanor Klein's Restoration for 0 hit points! GS: Medli accepts Eleanor Klein's Restoration for 0 hit points! Diseaseweakens healing! GS: Restore! Disease removed!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I'd think at least half of you would, but I guess Guardians can be blinded by vengeance too." Ashley answers, his blade clashing with Boomerang's. Where one is empowered by the might of a Guardian Lord, the other is fueled by the wrath of the Blaze of Destruction... And of something else besides. Living metal and omnicidal flame meet and mix, strike by strike, swing for swing-- until something finally gives. Boomerang slashes, Ashley blocks, and in that moment he-- pushes away, kicking back off Boomerang's chest. He flips backwards, armored heel digging into the ruined earth. "A god? No. I'm not the Blazer either. I told you before and I'll tell you again...!"
A wave of red light washes over him. The might of a Seraph of Lunar fills the knight with renewed vigor. "I'm Ashley Winchester. I am a baker! And I--"
His allies press in one by one, giving him the chance to attack. His left arm folds down on itself, revealing a barrel hidden within his wrist. It shines like the surface of a dying star before erupting, spewing a tongue of all-scourging flame at the blasphemous fusion of Demon and Guardian. "--Am not alone!"
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Boomerang with Corona Bolt! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action. GS: Link accepts Eleanor Klein's Restoration for 0 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock accepts Eleanor Klein's Restoration for 0 hit points! Diseaseweakens healing! GS: Restore! Disease removed!
<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.
Link is fighting Bokoblins, when the ghost appears. He's not prepared to block.
The beam soars out, and impacts straight with him, knocking him off the King of Red Lions. He goes into the water.
With all that metal, he should sink. He's a small child, and while he swims very well, the fight is turbulent. He could die here. He shouldn't be fighting, right? He's just a child. He's just a boy.
But everyone's fighting for someone. He's fighting for someone. Eleanor's spell strengthens him, and also his resolve.
Suddenly, two small hands grab a raft, as he lifts himself up, tunic soaked in seawater. He draws his sword, an angry expression on his face, as he turns towards Phantom Ganon. "I won't ask twice. Let everyone go..."
There's no supernatural power to the blow that Link prepares to make. He rushes forward, shield out, sliding before he leaps upwards. It's not a supernatural technique, or even one of extreme training.
But it is a hero's move. It's full of rage and confidence, as the blade moves to try and plunge into Phantom Ganon.
"Or I'll make you regret it!"
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Corona Bolt for 158 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Hyper, Mighty, and Riposte removed! GS: Link has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Link spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Blitz! Link has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with A Brother's Rage! GS: Link has gained 1 Combo! GS: Link has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Medli has posed.
Heroes, much more capable than she is, surround Medli. What can she do but play her harp and support them? Her song wraps around Link, strengthening him. The sweet sounds of a harp and a young girl singing are terribly out of place in such a dark place, but Medli plays with all her strength, even so..!
As one song ends, she's about to play another, but--! Medli shrieks in fright at the sight of the Phantom. It's clearly here for Link, with the way it attacks him, even if Medli is in the way. With a gasp, she flaps her arms once, allowing feathers to form over them. Unable to get into the air in time, some of the Phantom's evil light strikes the young Rito girl, burning her feet.
Tears come to her eyes, but she keeps herself aloft. "Link! Watch out, it's after you!"
Eleanor looks so cool, fighting in harmony with light itself. Medli can't help but watch in awe for a moment, flapping her wings frantically. "T--thank you!" Medli calls, in response. "I'll keep you safe!" Everyone seems to know so much more about what's happening. Medli has to do her best!
Link is tossed into the water from the Phantom's attack, and Medli's resolve turns to diamond. "The Great Valoo sent me with Link to protect him, and to help him!" Medli cries, floating back down to the boat. She winces as she lands. "I won't let his journey end here! Get out of our way..!"
Though her voice trembles, Medli reaches a hand out. Feathers swirl around her, carried on the strong gusts of the sea. "And l--leave us alone!"
Propelled by Medli's urging, the feathers race toward the Phantom, accompanied by the winds so treasured by the Rito people.
GS: Medli has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Fledgling Turbulance! GS: Medli has gained 1 Combo! GS: Medli has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I do. I have seen the seen the beauty of this world and found it worth protecting. And more than that - these are the people I have chosen as friends." Clarine replies. "Those who stand against them, I shall defy - with all that I am!"
A ball of shadow gathers in Boomerang's hand, firing off toward her in an unusual pattern. Its movements are difficult to track...
...So, she doesn't. In one swift motion, a mirror is drawn from her sleeves. As the ball of shadow rushes toward her, Clarine raises the mirror to intercept.
In that instant, two powers clash. Clarine grits her teeth, pushing against it. Boomerang's power is great. Despite her attempts to ward it off, it nearly threats to break through. The mirror begins to crack. The strain is clear on her face... but with one minor push, she manages to reflect the ball right back at Boomerang! It is not without consequence, however - she is clearly exhausted from the effort, and the mirror shatters into motes of light once it finishes its duty.
She takes a deep breath - just to center herself, of course, she does not breathe - and directs her hands forward, following up the reflected attack with one of her own - a ray of searing, blinding light aimed right for Boomerang!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Boomerang with Incandescence! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Josephine Lovelace accepts Eleanor Klein's Restoration for 0 hit points! Diseaseweakens healing! GS: Restore! Disease removed!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
"Unfortunately the prize is the Master," Venetia sighs to Juni, "but there's others in the mix here too, and if nothing else, think of your reputation, eh?" She smiles at the three-eyed woman. She has no idea she's not some kind of Beastwoman. But then, from above...
WELCOME:
TO THE HOUSE
OF MOUSE.
"I think that's Collier," Venetia observes to Juni as she sees someone debark with an axe from one of the balloons. A beat passes, and she says, "Fudge."
Only, she didn't say fudge. She said--
THE WORD!!
And for better or worse, Venetia does not get instantly and bloodily bisected by the death axe. What she does do is throw herself to the side of the incoming axe death hard enough to hit the deck, tumble without dignity, bang a shin against a capstan, curse vigorously and once again say the Word that isn't Fudge, before pushing herself upwards and saying, "Hello to you too. I suppose the happy times are over, eh? You working with this ancient peril?"
"To answer your question," Venetia calls towards Juni, "I'm quite good with rocks, yes. They're very flexible." She's gotten another Crest out, and there's a glimmer of red liquid - like jewels, more than blood. It spirals around Juni. Juni may feel a certain degree of security in her own life. And--
She's doing it to herself too?? Venetia adds, "hmf!" afterwards.
GS: Venetia Vuong has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Venetia Vuong with Persephone Sign ~Death Defiance~! GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Juni Vandrer with Persephone Sign ~Death Defiance~! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida has precious little room to work with. Balancing on a wave-tossed raft with Boomerang would be difficult, but throw in Knight Blazer and his horrible, fiery might, and things get even dicier. It's testament to Ida's trust in Ashley--despite her fear of the power forced upon him--that she stays by his side.
It helps that Ashley isn't the only one here with power he didn't ask for.
Ida has no words for Boomerang, but what she does says far more. As the blade comes down, she drives her arms up, crossing them in a guard. This would, ordinarily, be a good way to lose both hands. Ida is no longer ordinary. Silvery-blue tissue washes up through the seams in her armor, encasing both arms and near-instantly hardening into Hyadean exoskeleton. Boomerang's blade slams into her guard in three bone-jarring impacts, cutting off bits of armor, but the guard holds.
"Ashley," Ida says, "on your left!" Ida jukes left, dips a toe into the water, and kicks up a splash of salt spray. Droplets hang in the air, and Ida's Breath--her life-force--billows out into them. Boomerang is suddenly faced with not one, but four Idas. One of them drives a foot for his midsection. One of them comes in low for the leg sweep. One of them drives a palm for the square of his back. One throws an uppercut for his face. Clarine's light clings to all of them, illuminating them, making their attacks a bit more disorienting.
The Ida throwing the palm-strike for Boomerang's back is the real one. There's a viciousness there, despite the controlled, fluid motions of Water Dragon Form. It might have something to do with the increasing distress and anger leaking into the back of Ida's mind.
Fafnir was bullied, viciously, for most of his early life. Boomerang is no Berserk, but that callousness and indiscriminate bloodthirst won him no favor from a man who valued camaraderie, and the bonds between battle-sibs.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Boomerang with Coils of the Water Dragon! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Clarine's Incandescence for 145 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Boomerang! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Coils of the Water Dragon for 158 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay applied to Boomerang! GS: Boomerang enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth's advance is from a place of heightened emotion - messy and raw - overcommitting into the swing. Her right flank would be exposed to Boomerang's follow-up were it not for her wing curling inward.
The stone-like flesh of its membrane is sorely tested against something directly empowered by the embodiment of Desire itself. It should slice it in twain. The blade bites deep enough to draw strange, dark purple blood (which will dry back to the 'correct' shade of red when it does).
That she's not bisected on the spot isn't just a miracle - it's part of the abject horror of the existence of 'those things from Lunar.'
She can see the glow of Boomerang's eyes, far too intense for the wing's membrane to hide the sight of, and her gaze of a glowing purple meet with it. Her tongue flicks at the taste of surprise and shock.
"Do you not like what you see?" Ruth's voice is much softer in the moment. "When you have your answer... will you live with it? Will you have a choice--"
She can feel Ashley's building power over yonder, and she has just enough spatial awareness to leap to a separate but equally inconveniently-sized seacraft to allow Ida greater maneuvering space to stay close as she perches and glowers from the bow of a small ship as she breaks eye contact and faces downward, her tail wrapping around her left arm and the length of the rifle to help keep hold as she fights off some shaking.
"I'm not from Lunar. No. I'm from what was once Celesti. Celesti... was a rowdy neighborhood for Death, and I," she looks to the length of her rifle, "have ever been their greatest busybody of a neighbor. There came a time a heartless monster loved to pay them a visit. Knock on their door, show them... how many would love to come visit. They would visit in fours." An unsettling smile.
"What meaning was there to the history of someone like that? Death's Door?" A billowing fog starts to fan out from the rain, building but only being released when Ida gives the space and opening in their movements. "Do you want that proof that someone existed? That's," she laughs, lingering at risk of her lucidity, "already answered."
GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Boomerang with Rolling Fog! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer glances sidelong to Venetia and responds, "Seems like the sucker's prize. Can we trade up?" At this point, Juni would be surprised that someone didn't just assume she wasn't a local, something for later.
Any response she'd have had is interrupted by the mouse trying to punt her off of the boat. Luckily Juni has a low center of balance, a lifetime of climbing trees and a tail that lets her snag the edge of the boat before she's thrown overboard. Mostly by said tail and one clawed foot clinging to the side. She'd been zoomed in and probably about to ruin someone's day when all of this happened.
Her head pops up over the side and with a bit of momentum aided by good old fashioned muscle (and you know, waves) She pulls herself up to the edge and lowers herself down into a crouch to avoid a crossfire situation and to free up deck space for the others. Particularly those fighting yet another problem themselves!
If she'd known they'd be repelling boarders maybe she'd have stuck with the good old shotgun crowd pleaser. "Huh, you again." she responds to the simple 'hi'.
Swinging the barrel around, watching the beastfolk's movements, steady and calm as she hangs there, "Smile." and pops a shot at said beastfolk. The gun emitting a strange faint whine followed by a whipcrack as the slug is fired. Juni brought a fun toy!
GS: Venetia Vuong heals Juni Vandrer! She gains 87 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple removed! GS: FP up! Venetia Vuong's Reload! activated! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Last Word for 77 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Gwen Whitlock's Counter Attack for 106 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Solitaire Collier with Snap Fire! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Solitaire Collier takes a solid hit from Juni Vandrer's Snap Fire for 109 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Solitaire Collier! GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Ruth Pauling's Rolling Fog for 39 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blind applied to Boomerang!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Let's just say I quit, right?" Josie calls back. "You're here to save them kids and all too, right? Then I'm gonna go on and ask the impossible: trust me!"
As if it were just as simple as that.
One balloon and its crew tumble down into the sea. "One down! Like shooting fish in a--"
That's... Boomerang, she realizes, furrowing her brow as she spares just a glance in the Hyadean's direction. When did he -- ah, comes the second thought, but of course.
Just like Ratatoskr, in his own way. Shuffling her rifle into the crook of her right arm, she takes ahold of the helm in the next moment. ...No time for thinking about that business, or who else she might run into on her mad dash to save the sister of someone she doesn't even know.
"Damn," she mutters to herself, sideswiping a raft of bokoblins clumsily. "Gonna regret this kinda thing, one of these days."
There is a presence here, somewhere high above. It becomes only more pronounced the closer that Josie gets. She is the daughter of an archmagus, after all, and so...
Things like that are not easily missed. Lifting her head as she pilots her craft, her gaze goes to rest on the figure that has formed over the water. Her eyes widen.
"Shit! It's you--"
And though she throws up her hand, though sparks erupt in a sort of shield before her, it does nothing to halt what's coming. Josie staggers, grabbing onto the helm as a poor sort of anchor against the curselight that washes over and through her and utters a terrible oath. She straightens only when Eleanor's blessing falls upon her, too. "Thanks... Nora!"
Try, try again.
Taking her hand off the helm at last she stands atop the rocking deck of the ship and reclaims the rifle from where it's still cradled in her arms. "Don't right know if this'll do it," she says, kneeling. "But like they say--"
She takes the towering form in her sights, she eases her finger over the trigger. "Don't know 'till you try!"
A crack resounds from the loyal Gawain-series rifle. The rest is all up to Lady Luck.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Red Lotus! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.
"The Guardian Lord of Desire! And what do you think they desire, if they think someone left their dearest friend behind?" Boomerang asks -- in his voice and Luceid's alike. "Consumed by it... they don't feel like you and I do!"
He flinches, then, as he sees the barrel in Knight Blazer's arm -- a cannon -- and it surprises him. The shot slams into Boomerang's chest, armor crumpling around it, and he is pitched backward.
As he flies back, he gets struck by the very ball of shadow that he hurled at Clarine. It slams him from one raft to the next, and sends out a spray of water. He kicks off it -- smashing it down into the water for a moment -- and rises back upward.
"If you want to stand against me, then, I won't hold back! You made your choice--see if you regret it!"
He throws a hand down -- and this time, a much larger orb of black energy appears. The shadow orb pulls in huge motes of light, crackling, and then slams down at Clarine -- with an immense shadowy explosion when it impacts.
He hits the raft, then whirls to face Ida. It may say something about him that he doesn't flinch when she seemingly splits into four. He charges into all four of them, and his sword sweeps through them in rapid strikes, and he turns -- the palm strike for his back hitting his chest instead. He suddenly flashes a bright red.
Then he surges forward, blade slashing at her and leaving an afterimage. Boomerang turns, then -- and his golden eyes turn towards Ruth, as she speaks. "I'll live it with," he says. "Or I'll die glad. Yeah, I heard of Celesti--you humans are good at destroying yourselves."
His eyes narrow. Something about her -- something teetering on the edge. He knows that well. He looks through the fog, with some effort. Then, he leaps. The blade sweeps out, slashing at Ruth again, and leaves a shadowy trail after it, before he spins--
--and seems to teleport, moving so fast in a flash, that he ends up by Knight Blazer. His sword chops down again, with a massive overhanded slash. "You're all fighters! Killers! Not just a baker--or ANYTHING ELSE!"
GS: Boomerang has attacked Boomerang with Enraged Desire! GS: Boomerang has gained 1 Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang accepts Boomerang's Enraged Desire for 0 hit points! GS: Burst, Hyper, Quick, and Surge applied to Boomerang! GS: Boomerang has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Boomerang has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Boomerang spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Boomerang has attacked Seraph Clarine with Dark Matter! GS: Boomerang has gained 2 Combo! GS: Boomerang spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Boomerang Dynamic! GS: Boomerang has gained 1 Combo! GS: Boomerang spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ashley Winchester with Shadow Boomerang Maximum! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ruth Pauling with Shadow Boomerang Maximum! GS: Boomerang has gained 3 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Boomerang has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
You working with this ancient peril?
"Mm." Then nods to Knight Blazer. "You working with that one?" She looks back to Venetia. "That magic is very strong." She admits. "I have come prepared this time."
She does not smile at Juni. No doubt she's pretty unhappy with being called 'the sucker's prize'. Tactically speaking, she probably should focus on Venetia but Juni is getting off of the boat and if Juni could just drown that would solve a lot of short term problems and allow her to take her time with Venetia.
Juni pops a shot off that in this range is difficult even for SOlitaire to dodge. She takes a a glancing hit in the side that looks like it might've hit something important. Solitaire breathes through her teeth and then says, "But I...have also gotten stronger. I've learned some new powerful techniques... First..."
She tosses Nidhogg to the other hand, drawing out...
A brilliant pink-purple potion with the scowly face of an alchemist drawn on it. And then... Solitaire..
DRINKS THE WHOLE VIAL.
And then she throws the vial at Juni's face.
Solitaire those glass vials are expensive
Which is a distraction for the heavy axe swing with the back end for Juni's skull, still trying to force her off the boat and keep her there, this time with additional HEADWOUNDS.
"That is my first new strength I've found." Solitaire says. "A mysterious and helpful alchemist taught me his secrets."
Despite not smiling at all, she seems pretty proud of this.
GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Juni Vandrer with Buried Crown! GS: Solitaire Collier has gained 1 Combo! GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Solitaire Collier with Xander's MIRACULOUS minor Healing Potion! GS: Solitaire Collier has gained 1 Combo! GS: Solitaire Collier has completed her action. GS: Solitaire Collier heals Solitaire Collier! She gains 89 temporary hit points! GS: Seraph Clarine has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: Seraph Clarine solidly guards Boomerang's Dark Matter for 109 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Arcane Font, Guard bonus, and Gleam activated! GS: Juni Vandrer takes a glancing hit from Solitaire Collier's Buried Crown for 78 hit points! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Ashley Winchester suffers a terrible blow from Boomerang's Shadow Boomerang Maximum for 237 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ruth Pauling has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: Ruth Pauling takes a solid hit from Boomerang's Shadow Boomerang Maximum for 249 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ruth Pauling gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
At least Link isn't alone. ".... Huh, he's got a little friend, too..." Gwen observes, having sprawled onto the bottom like an awkwardly four-limbed squid caught up in someone's net. "... Aw, she's *adorable*! I wonder if--"
No, Gwen, now is not the time to ship, because you are on a boat, and there is a phantom Knight aiming straight towards you and your friends. "Eleanor! Look out!" Gwen tears herself from her reverie, reaching out her right hand to try to directly parry the blade.
*TING*
And now Gwen is back to sprawling on the boat, thrown there from the recoil of that exchange of weaponry.
And Link, in the other boat... is missing. With all that metal... someone *would* drown. But as Gwen tries to calculate some irrational maneuver that could possibly get her to Link without drowning, two small hands appear on the King of Red Lions' boat and Link hauls himself up.
"Okay, guys, I'm gonna do somethin' risky n' level the playin' field here. Ready your ARMS!" The Mockingbird begins to whirr with with a steadily increasing volume. Raising her right hand up directly over her head, Gwen grips her fingers into a fist.
There's a crack, and a faint zone of yellow energy expands outwards, encompassing the forces in a rough estimate of distance away from Gwen's own fist. It can't reach Ganondorf himself, in that tower, but the forces that are attacking more directly will definitely feel the effects.
However, this makes it very clear who is generating the field, and by extension, where to aim.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Boomerang with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Solitaire Collier with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt and Jam applied to Boomerang! GS: COUNTER! Ganondorf Dragmire counterattacks Josephine Lovelace with Counter Attack! GS: Gamble: High! Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Red Lotus for 213 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt and Jam applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Link's A Brother's Rage for 256 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper applied to Link! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey suffers a terrible blow from Boomerang's Boomerang Dynamic for 201 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: Gamble: Low! Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Medli's Fledgling Turbulance for 123 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia's face curdles. Ugh! Venetia thinks. This meddlesome mouse girl is distressingly well informed! She does, at least, not seem to be treating Solitaire lightly, considering this first action.
"I'd be interested to see how it is you anticipate preparing for sorcery from beyond the stars," she answers Solitaire, "but I have somewhere to be right now, and that somewhere is 'back at land with the hostages liberated!'"
And then --
Solitaire necks down an entire phial of sorcerous effluent.
"That potion? How strong was that potion," Venetia says to herself, but the answer is 'strong enough that Solitaire, who was already handling that axe pretty adroitly, is proceeding to do her best imitation of the Void 22 Axe Murderer, who strangely enough did not get that name from doing the murders with an axe, but rather because he was a member of a local axe gang, even though axe gangs are, naturally, an upstanding part of social and community order, just ask them'
She's in a bad direction to simply blast Solitaire. Curse my masks! she thinks to herself. If I blast her I might do her bloody work for her! What can I do?! Venetia looks down at her empty hands, having already put away a Crest Graph. What can I do --
Venetia feels a slight tear in one of the seams, and suddenly, she remembers those idle hours of picking up stray boulders and carrying away conjured stone for the grinders and the crushers and the assayers and the foreign trade.
"That's right," Venetia says, and she charges up behind Solitaire to hit her! Appropriately, it's a two-fisted axe handle fist-slam, possibly one worthy of the Galactic Federation. Venetia remembers the words and works of Claude Kenny.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I shall have no regrets. Regardless of the outcome." Clarine replies with a simple nod. Boomerang casts a hand downward. He has another sphere of black energy for her. This one, she can tell instinctively is too much for her to reflect. She holds her hand out, forming a barrier of light around her. The ball of light collides, and then explodes. She braces herself as she is consumed by the shadowy explosion. It sends her flying. She flips in the air, righting herself and landing atop the water with Seraphic grace.
"...He is strong. Is everyone alright?" Clarine asks. "Allow me to tend to your wounds."
"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life..." Clarine incants. A circle of Seraphic glyphs spreads out beneath her feet, its light reflected in the water beneath her. Lights builds... and she casts her arms out wide. "Revitalize!"
Light spreads out, settling over herself and her allies. Light that heals and rejuvenates, even after it fades.
"That... is for us to decide. No longer do I allow a Goddess or anyone else decide what I am for me." Clarine concludes.
GS: Venetia Vuong heals Venetia Vuong! She gains 87 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Break removed! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Clarine with Revitalize! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ashley Winchester with Revitalize! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Revitalize! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ruth Pauling with Revitalize! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 2 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine heals Seraph Clarine! She gains 363 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Formation! Venetia Vuong has attacked Solitaire Collier with RESOLVE PROBLEMS WITH VIOLENCE! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
'On your left.'
Ashley grunts in recognition, darting out of the way just in time to avoid catching Ida in the periphery of his blast. As much as the Blaze of Destruction wishes to be unleashed, to be cut loose to savage the world and erase all who live upon it-- Ashley denies it. As best he can, he wields that terrible power with care and precision. But even that isn't enough-- not for Luceid, anyway.
"So they're taking their grudge on Marivel out on me?" It can't be that simple, can it? He represents the very thing that Luceid and Anastasia sacrificed so much to stop. He's wielding the Blazer's power here and now, a living symbol of everything that had been lost-- all in vain, now that the Blazer has returned. "I promised her, too... What happened to Anastasia isn't right either. If there's anything I can do to help bring her back-- but that doesn't matter now."
Now, he's locked in a battle for his very life. A life that doesn't solely belong to him, anymore. And not just because he's been festooned with the title of a <<Hero>>.
He's sworn this life to someone else. Given it of his own free will. To let anyone take it, to let this world, even one of its gods, take it--
Is unacceptable.
Boomerang moves in a flash. A crushing overhead swing smashes into the knight's guard and sends him hurtling backwards, slamming hard through one craggy boulder and into the next, turning the first to dust and the second to rubble. And still he forces himself up, armor cracked and bleeding sterile, blue-white flame. "No. You don't get to decide that. Nobody does. Not you. Not Luceid. Not the King of Evil, or the Blazer. Nobody."
Knight Blazer draws in his arms, clenches tight his fists. With a roar, the flame leaking from his wounds becomes a towering inferno. The earth cracks and crumbles as he kicks off, bathing the land in a pulse of flame. Ashley lunges, grabbing for Boomerang's face--
And goes to smash it into the ground, drag it through the earth, all the while surrounded by a tight aura of flame-- a burning beacon of cataclysm held in a tight wreath by raw, defiant will. "We get to define ourselves. I get to define myself! Age and divinity give you no right to tell me otherwise!"
GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine heals Ruth Pauling! She gains 376 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Ruth Pauling! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ashley Winchester! He gains 283 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Ashley Winchester! GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Boomerang with Fury Striker! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ashley Winchester's stances have changed to Hero! GS: Ashley Winchester gains 65 THP from Regen! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action. GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 289 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Boomerang is much too fast for Ruth to follow, and in conjunction with how quickly Ida's moving, she loses him in the brewing storm of emotion going on around her.
"Will you," she says to either before she is summarily silenced about how good 'you humans' are at destroying themselves. The blade goes through her in a way she could realistically be considered, at that juncture, defeated, and she's just one brief stop en route to Knight Blazer themselves. Without getting too descriptive, that stroke was true. It's angled past her 'strong' side, there's the tell-tale spatter of blood.
There's exactly a two second delay where keen senses would know someone is trying to come in from Boomerang's left flank, the silhouette and shape of a grievously wounded warrior whose Malevolence keeps an embodiment of mutually exclusive truths, er... whole?
'You're all fighters! Killers! Not just a baker--or ANYTHING ELSE!'
"If only." Ruth says as she stabs the end of the rifle up against Boomerang, the ambient influence of Desire keeping her attached to something haunting distant through tear-clouded eyes. As if... the idea of proving otherwise were not the idea keeping her together(-ish). She tries to swing up and hurl them off-balance from a would-be impaling. (She is also disquieted just by being anywhere near Lord Blazer, but who wouldn't?)
Clarine giving such strength, from a fleeting warmth she's incapable of feeling even when by nature she is anathema to that Seraph's - all Seraphim's - continued existence as they are, finds another disquietingly fleeting smile.
Her tail starts to wrap and snake itself closer to the trigger of her rifle, one of her fingers flicking out at the hollow barbed heart-shape end.
GS: Boomerang solidly guards Ashley Winchester's Fury Striker for 98 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ruth Pauling spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Boomerang with Scars of Celesti! GS: Ruth Pauling has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ruth Pauling's stances have changed to Hero! GS: Ruth Pauling gains 59 THP from Regen! GS: Hyper expired! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action. GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Ruth Pauling's Scars of Celesti for 79 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Burst, Hyper, Mighty, and Quick removed! GS: Disease and Poison applied to Boomerang! GS: Disrupt blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Ganondorf Dragmire has posed.
The Hero fails his challenge. Well. ...that'll happen, sometimes.
Phantom Ganon's ready blade sweeps instead to Josie, as her bullet comes in, and smashes into THAT, instead, a blazing rainbow erupting around the impact point, light infusing the darkness of Phantom Ganon's arm, before it fires her discharged cartridge right back at her. The grasping weakness brought by Gwen's field is noticed, but it can't do much about it. Its hands crackle, ready for another shot of something, when Link's counterstrike comes in, clawing savagely into the belly of the flying phantom knight. It doesn't kill; if the damage is lasting, it doesn't show it. But it does stare down at him for several long seconds, before matching his sword with its - the blade gleaming with awesome strength as it carves down to cleave into the young warrior!
It moves on again from there, twisting only minutely. It sees Medli, her courageous defiance. The strength of resolve that empowers such a small, frightened thing. Her assault peppers its belly, too, and then it sweeps toward her an equal sword blow, waves of darkness blasting past the edge of the sword.
The second phantom turns its eye on Eleanor, and its whole essence fills the runic blade it bears, crashing it down toward her barrier to shatter the fledgling Sage. It knows its enemies well.
It whips its off hand up, following the volley toward Josie with a second, larger blast of light, and then ghosts toward Gwen, as her power tries to hold him at bay.
Maybe she's familiar with the move?
What is it with people and Gwen's stomach, anyway? Though, with a sword that size it'll more like just cut her in half.
GS: Blitz! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Dead Man's Bullet! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire enters a Counter stance! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Blitz! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Impure Phantom! GS: Blitz! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Eleanor Klein with Phantasm Fade! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 1 Combo! GS: Blitz! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Link with Wizard Blade! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 1 Combo! GS: Blitz! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Medli with Wizard Sweep! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer is paying attention this time and gets her arm up in front of the glass bottle in time for it to shatter and pepper her with glass. She drops back down alongside the boat, avoiding the worst of that swing as it whistles past and gouges out a slice along her arm. With her head just above the waves, then hooks her free hand over, clings to the side and scurries alongside the boat to reappear elsewhere along the edge in order to avoid a followup.
"You okay?" she asks Venetia, not quite sure what the mouse drank, though the reaction to it does have her questioning if it's some domestic brew of steroids and uppers or something. There's a scowl, "That can't be healthy." Then she raises the rifle and says, "Then again, neither is this." and lines up a shot, another whine followed by a whipcrack after confirming both by kit and by eye that there's no collateral. This means waiting for Venetia's swing to finish. The taunting clearly something of an attempt at distraction.
GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has completed his action. GS: Juni Vandrer spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Solitaire Collier with Lights Out! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Mighty expired! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Eleanor Klein solidly guards Ganondorf Dragmire's Phantasm Fade for 93 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Charge bonus activated! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire drains Eleanor Klein! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 98 temporary hit points! GS: Solitaire Collier takes a glancing hit from Juni Vandrer's Lights Out for 70 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Solitaire Collier suffers a terrible blow from Venetia Vuong's RESOLVE PROBLEMS WITH VIOLENCE for 128 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: Solitaire Collier enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Solitaire Collier fully evades Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt and Jam blocked! GS: CRITICAL! Medli suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Wizard Sweep for 220 hit points! GS: Cover applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Link suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Wizard Blade for 216 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Link gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Dead Man's Return for 171 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Ganondorf Dragmire's Dead Man's Bullet for 79 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The duplicate Idas wink out of existence the moment the strike lands. Ida feels armor give, ever-so-slightly, but then that red flash washes over her. Her back is to the open ocean. She falls backwards as the Hyadean's blade comes down, and more green sparks rise from her heels. The wind catches her--
But it's already too late. Boomerang's blade cuts a long gouge through her armor, and into the flesh beneath. A spray of crimson and quicksilver splashes into the air. Ida bites back a cry of pain as she whips back upright, blood spilling down her chest. She can feel her own arteries constricting and half-sealing, trying to staunch the flow. A moment later, Clarine's sorcerous light washes over her, and breathing no longer hurts.
She thinks back to what Fafnir said to her in that brief moment where they could talk--where they were more than just two people stuck in the same body. This is all her.
Ida's eyes drift closed. She turns her focus inward. It feels like she's grasping, straining for something just out of her reach. She bites her lip, and her eyes snap open, a snarl of frustration escaping her. She directs it at Boomerang.
"I'm sure your Mother is proud," Ida says, "that you feel that way. Or she would be, were she capable. But have you considered you're projecting a bit, with that?" Her alienist taught her that term!
Ida steps forward, throws a punch right at Boomerang's face--and he could easily be forgiven for missing the gesture she makes beforehand: pulling a flare grenade off her belt, lighting it, and all but shoving it into the Hyadean's eyes.
BOOM.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Boomerang with Flare Grenade! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey gains 65 THP from Regen! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Flare Grenade for 0 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Boomerang!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Gwen calls out to her--and Eleanor appreciates her help a great deal.
But Josie's help? It's still more surprising. "All right!" Eleanor says. She believes Josie must be sincere. "We are! My mother is with them!"
A hero's move, meanwhile. There is something in Link that makes her sure she must keep looking out for him--that there is something special in him. And he proves it once again with such a strike.
"Thank you!" she calls to Medli, "But be careful yourself!"
The Great Valoo sent her... There is something about Medli, too.
"Can do!" Eleanor calls to Gwen about her ARMs. But it is not her ARMs that she will be using in the next moment. The Phantom charges at her again, after leveling its darkness towards the others--Medli, and Link. But for her, too. The runic blade crashes down against her barrier and shatters it, sending Eleanor driven back once again. "Gah--"
She is a Sage. This is her duty. And her mother...
Link...
"I won't let you hurt them!" Eleanor cries, and begins gathering up light. She closes her eyes, and begins to gather Power. "By the light of Filgaia," Eleanor incants. "I call upon You!"
"Protect them!"
A brilliant shield of pure gold erupts before Link, Josie, Medli, and Gwen, shimmering with untold might, a barrier to deflect any harm. The Ley itself surges to support it at Eleanor's call.
"PERFECTED DEFLECTION!"
It shines, and glows, and Eleanor wobbles on her feet. ...She said 'them', after all.
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Eleanor Klein has attacked Medli with Perfected Deflection! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Eleanor Klein has attacked Link with Perfected Deflection! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Eleanor Klein has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Perfected Deflection! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Eleanor Klein has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Perfected Deflection! GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 2 Combo! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Eleanor Klein heals Link! He gains 369 temporary hit points! GS: Shield and Surge applied to Link! GS: CRITICAL! Eleanor Klein heals Medli! She gains 368 temporary hit points! GS: Shield and Surge applied to Medli!
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
Solitaire drank... A MINOR HEALING POTION. INdeed, you see some of her injuries healing themselves. "Death defiance." Solitaire says, very seriously. It is not a death defiance potion but as far as SOlitaire knows it is just a weaker version of what Venetia does. Juni is able to slide her body away from Juni's shot--it wings her but it isn't the palpable hit that Juni was hoping for--on the plus side, Juni hasn't destroyed the boat or her friends! Solitaire is finding that these people are tougher than she expected--even Juni, she had a feeling that Venetia was a real tough one considering she definitely killed her and she bounced back from that.
ACtually Juni might realize at this point with the way that Solitaire is placing her body that she is INTENTIONALLY making it difficult for Venetia and Juni to blast her by positioning herself in such a way that blasting her might do more harm than good--by hitting their friends or doing damage to their own boats. It might explain why she's staying so damn close to the gunslinger and the sorceress.
Venetia adjusts to this by lurking up behind her--Solitaire starts to move when a strange pulse from Gwen hits her and she suddenly turns her head to her axe.
"Nidhogg?" She asks, momentarily forgetting her nickname.
KAPOW!! Venetia gets a solid hit against SOlitaire's head. She rolls across the boat and then turns her head to look at Gwen. She frowns severely. She takes in a breath--
"You have already seen my second new power." Solitaire says as she draws something from her side. Venetia shall recognize it as the
H * O * O * K * S * H * O * T
Which Solitaire launches at Gwen. "Get over here!" She shouts, intending to snap the hookshot back just as quickly as she fired it as she attempts to pull Gwen closer and send her flying into Venetia even as she kicks back behind her to slam her foot into Juni's throat to try and get her to quiet down some.
"The Prayer Bells Will Not Toll." Solitaire says softly. "But the dream cannot be slain."
GS: Solitaire Collier has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: Solitaire Collier enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Gwen Whitlock with No Vacancy! GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Venetia Vuong with No Vacancy! GS: Solitaire Collier enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Juni Vandrer with Graceful and Merciless! GS: Solitaire Collier enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Blind expired! GS: Solitaire Collier has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.
A faint yellow light expands over Boomerang. His eyes narrow -- it's visible, a faint glow that narrows -- and he notes where she is. "You want some?" he asks. "Then get some."
He holds a hand out -- a bead of darkness appears before his palm, motes drawn into it, until it swells. Larger, then larger still, before it explodes off. It arcs, flies in towards Gwen, and explodes in a massive burst of shadowy light centered upon her.
"We're defined by the people around us," Boomerang tells Clarine. "I used to chafe, at the idea that I was a traitor. A mad dog. But I've realized... it's better to own what they'd make us than regret!"
Boomerang surges forward. He moves in a flash, his voice echoing. "That's how we take the past, and make it the future!"
He appears before Clarine, and thrusts out his hand again -- and a dozen bolts of shadow appear, then explode off his hand at point-blank range into the Seraph, before he kicks back into the air. He turns, then, and spins.
Knight Blazer comes in. He grabs Boomerang, bodily, and smashes his face into the dirt and rock along the side of the channel. Water rushes in to fill it, before Boomerang kicks off the ground.
"It's not age and divinity! It's the simple truth--growth comes because we take the past, we take the ideas of others, and make them ours!" Boomerang shouts.
Boomerang is stabbed, not a moment later, by Ruth's blade. It stabs into his armor -- skirts along it -- and there's a flicker of quicksilver from the wound. He turns, quickly. His blade sweeps out in a wide arc, slashing for Ruth and Ashley both. He cuts across the former -- then turns, thrusts at the latter -- and ends with a diagonal slash across both of them.
"THAT'S WHAT THIS IS!" he bellows -- in his voice and Luceid's. "Did you think Seraphim figured out Armatization? It came from somewhere--it came from the Elw, to better use the power of a Guardian! And now... it's given me the strength I've sought!"
He turns into a flash. He slams into Ida's fist. The armor on his faceplate dents inward. He swings around his blade -- slashing at her left side with a vicious, ripping tear.
And then in a microsecond later, he stabs into her right side, leaving shadowy afterimages in his wake.
"I'm who I am, the strongest Demon, BECAUSE I'VE BUILT MYSELF FROM MY PAST AND YOURS! I OWN THOSE!"
GS: Boomerang has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Boomerang has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Boomerang spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Boomerang has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Dark Matter! GS: Boomerang has gained 1 Combo! GS: Surge added to Boomerang! GS: Boomerang has activated Force Action: Boost! GS: Boomerang has attacked Seraph Clarine with Rush Cascade! GS: Boomerang has gained 2 Combo! GS: Boomerang spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ashley Winchester with Shadow Boomerang Maximum! GS: Boomerang has attacked Ruth Pauling with Shadow Boomerang Maximum! GS: Boomerang has gained 3 Combo! GS: Boomerang spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Boomerang has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Zero Count Execution! GS: Boomerang has gained 2 Combo! GS: Boomerang has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Impure Phantom for 190 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper, Hyper, and Shield applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Boomerang's Rush Cascade for 163 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Eleanor Klein heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 368 temporary hit points! GS: Shield and Surge applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Venetia Vuong solidly guards Solitaire Collier's No Vacancy for 74 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Venetia Vuong gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt applied to Venetia Vuong! GS: Delay blocked! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Gwen Whitlock suffers a terrible blow from Solitaire Collier's No Vacancy for 172 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Disrupt blocked! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock partially guards Boomerang's Dark Matter for 155 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty applied to Boomerang!
<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.
Link charges into the Phantom's blade headfirst, rattling against his shield enough to injure his shield arm. He may have failed the first shot, but he's not going to allow this blow to take him down.
As Eleanor's blessing and Medli's power from before surge through him, Link suddenly rolls backwards, shield up, before holding his sword in the air. Eleanor's blessing has healed him enough to be able to tap into this power...
Using a technique he was taught on Outset Island, Link charges his energy into his blade, and then suddenly swings, launching a powerful beam at the Phantom!
"HYAH!"
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Josephine Lovelace! She gains 279 temporary hit points! GS: Shield and Surge applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: Link has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Link spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Blitz! Link has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Beam of Courage! GS: Link has gained 1 Combo! GS: Link has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Ruth Pauling suffers a terrible blow from Boomerang's Shadow Boomerang Maximum for 298 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ruth Pauling gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey partially evades Boomerang's Zero Count Execution for 247 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Boomerang! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ashley Winchester takes a solid hit from Boomerang's Shadow Boomerang Maximum for 287 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Ashley Winchester enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Medli has posed.
Medli's attack hits home..! She can't help but laugh in delight, a little hysterically. This laugh fades near-immediately as the Phantom turns its blade on Link. With a gasp, she lunges forward, trying to protect the hero-- Only to wind up in the path of the Phantom's blade. A cry somewhere between a young girl's scream and a bird's panicked call pierces across the battlefield.
With a clatter, Medli's harp falls to the bottom of the King of Red Lions' interior. Tears fall down her face. Link is already up, on his feet again, back in the fight, but Medli -- she's never done this before. She's terrified, and everything hurts so much. Is she going to die here? Murdered in the presence of the same monsters that killed her parents?
Tears roll down Medli's face, sliding against her beak on their way. What does she do? "Mom," Medli whispers, knowing she won't be answered. "I'm scared."
Fingers scrabble for her harp, and as Medli is about to push herself back to her burned feet... Light settles over her body. Eleanor's voice seems to echo across the battlefield, reaching Medli's ears as clear as if the woman stood beside her. Medli holds her hands out before her, watching the motes of radiance form into a brilliant shield. Something in her heart... knows this. Recognizes this. As though it were a song she used to know the words to.
This is going to keep her safe, she knows, instinctively. This light... This is where she needs to be. With a breath in, Medli stands, holding her harp tight. She won't drop it again.
A few chords cut through the sound of the waves, the cacophany of battle. Medli pulls herself up to her very tallest, and closes her eyes as she plays. It makes her feel brave. This harp is a tool of fate, and right now...
"This is where I'm meant to be!" Medli cries. "I won't let you stop me!"
GS: Medli has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Attendant's Spirit! GS: Mighty and Riposte expired! GS: Medli has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Your mom?" Josie echoes, her skiff bouncing in the waves. "...God have mercy. Ain't Lady Klein expecting? --Don't give me that look, it's common enough knowledge! Right," she says, her expression grim. "We'll get 'er out. We'll get all of 'em out."
Though they may need a little bit of luck to accomplish that one, and the Lady takes as much as she gives. Case in point, while her chancy shot strikes home, it doesn't but come sailing back for her in a form, glittering with force and power. Sparks erupt again from Josie's hand, but it's to no avail: the spent cartridge blows right through this barrier as well. The force of it nails Josie to the skiff's deck for a moment or three before she rises with a groan. "Ain't... supposed to get 'em back," she starts to say.
Then she sights the wall of light flooding towards her. "Oh, bugger." Leaping to her feet, she twists only just out of the way of the bulk of the blast, the edges of the falling comet feeling almost for a moment as if they have set her skin alight. "Ain't half messing around, are you," she pants, steading herself against the helm, before taking immediate evasive manuevers to steady the listing boat. "Should've borrowed the skipper, too," she mutters, before squinting ahead at the fortress and then spooling from a pocket out a length of red red ribbon.
"...Yeah," she says after a moment spent looking at it. "Ribbons don't quite suit." She loops the ribbon around the helm, locking it into place. There's only one destination she's got in mind, anyway.
It's then that Eleanor's benediction descends upon her. "Ha-- much needed!" she crows back, steadying herself now atop the bouncing vessel.
Because really, she just needs one good shot.
"C'mon... all you Guardians. I ain't picky," she mutters, reloading the rifle atop a wild sea with the appropriate shell for this attempt. "And you, too, God. I know I ain't been the most pious. I know I've been more than my share of sinner. But-- c'mon now! Help a sister out!"
She brandishes the reloaded rifle, the same that she had once retrofitted with anti-Gear components, and again takes the phantom Ganon in her sights. "It's now or never!"
The crack from her ARM that follows is truly thunderous, the specialized shell sent forth on prayer and piston alike.
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Golden Dream! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 2 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has launched an attack Link! GS: Josephine Lovelace's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: You have activated the Force Action Fury Shot! GS: You cannot act while you still have attacks in queue. GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace accepts Josephine Lovelace's Golden Dream for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Surge applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Blue Moon! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 3 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia Vuong doesn't truck with these POTIONS and NOSTRUMS and ELIXIRS that they produce in Lunar and then hide in clocks to ferment in the sands of time. She sticks to the Heal Berries and snake oil that the good lord Dinoginos gave them, and that's good enough for her. Also, horrible sorcery.
"I'm fine! Worry about yourself, worry about the people up front! What are they even doing - this is awful, we've got two people in this boat now. We're going to end up sinking." Not a good place to be. However, the good news is revealed in several swift portions. The first is that Solitaire's new and secondfold power is a hookshot.
The second is that seeing this hookshot fills Venetia with rage. Normally this might be tempered by concern for Gwen - a fear of danger, as she saw that thing punch a dude open in a lighthouse shootout rather recently - but Venetia, like some other heroes of yore, is built different.
"That phrase," Venetia calls to Solitaire. "You've said it before!" She is stalling. "What does it mean?" To get out a Crest Graph.
Adding to the potential chaos of HOOKSHOT is what Venetia casts; a sudden crystalline prison of salt crystals jutting out of the boat's deck, aiming to imprision Solitaire! Briefly. It's salt. It's the ocean. It's not going to last excessively long. But maybe long enough...
GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Solitaire Collier with Selenite Sign ~Cavern of the Crystals~! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
It's simple truth, he says. It's simply truth that they're killers, destroyers, that this is the way of things. The way of the world. The consequences of what they've built themselves up to be.
A thrust. Ashley parries the blow, but the raw force behind it only opens him up for the follow-up. His scream, though tainted by the metallic reverb of his demonic vocal chords, curdles the blood. He's sent staggering back into the gorge he carved into the earth, into the canyon. Liquid flame leaks like blood from the wound, pouring between fingers as he doubles over, clutching at the gash.
"That... that's..." Ashley wheezes. He coughs, staggering as he pushes himself up. A wave of healing light pulses over his body, flowing into his wounds, sealing them up slowly, but the inner flame still shines. It pours from gaps in his armor that are too regular and angular to be anything but integral to his structure. If it weren't for Clarine, he wouldn't have enough strength to stand, let alone to do this. To answer Boomerang's resolve with his own.
"That's... really sad... Boomerang!" Ashley shouts, strength returning to his voice. To be defined by the world... To give in to how others defined you-- that's the same thing Anastasia was forced to do. That's the same thing that they've tried to do to me. To become a <<Hero>> because the world cries out for it-- is the same as becoming as <<Monster>> because the world fears you to be one! You've let yourself become nothing but the pedestal they put you on!"
Light lances out of the Blazer's armor as he pulls his chestplate open, the hinges unfolding to reveal a core within, pulsing and shining like the light of a not-so-distant star. "I won't deny... that we are the conesequences of our actions-- that we have to take responsibility for them. But to be defined by the past alone... That's sad, Boomerang. I refuse it-- That path. I've got something else to fight for. Something that defines me more strongly than anything the world could possibly do to me! If that goes against <<Truth>>, then let me be a liar! I have a dream-- a future I can't ever give up! I'll never stop reaching for it, no matter what the Blazer does to me!"
It ignites. Ashley grasps at the flame roiling out of the very core of his being, holding it tight, compressing it down into something he can control, something he can wield-- and not be wielded by. "The one that I love-- The life I promised her-- who says they aren't stronger than the world's truth!? I deny your path, Boomerang! For our future, for our hopes and dreams, I--"
The light is blinding now. All else vanishes before it, disappearing in a nova of blinding, all-consuming brilliance. "--AM--" With a roar, he releases it, disgorges a beam of absolute destruction. "--A BAKER!" It flash-boils the sea, it sublimates the land, it carries forward toward Boomerang, a single beam of light racing through time...
To connect past... and future.
GS: Ashley Winchester has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Ashley Winchester spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Ashley Winchester has attacked Boomerang with Banisher! GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ashley Winchester gains 58 THP from Regen! GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action. GS: Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Ashley Winchester's Banisher for 297 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
It's close in fighting, it's not at all a surprise that she'd try to make it hard to utilize her opponent's tools. Juni would do the same if it came down to it. However, Juni also likes to cheat and is currently doing so. Kind of. It's nothing fancy in her eyes, but she does have a convenient HUD that's integrated! Doesn't make some shots any easier though.
She scowls at the miss. Mostly at herself. She should be better than that. Sure it's a long barrel, close quarters mess, but still. Conversely, Collier might realize that Juni is keeping Venetia just out of the direct line of fire, trying to force the mouse to split her focus between the two.
"I can talk and cover myself at the same time. Sometimes successfully." She's chatty when she's not being all uptight. Mind you, she's still buying herself some time as she lets her system do its work, tracking movements and making adjustments to help with the whole, 'shooting a bad guy on our boat' situation.
"You know, someone with a story like yours, seems bad taste to work with these guys" she hooks a thumb towards said bad guys. "Drop the weapon and hands behind your head and this can go a lot better. And the offer to help sticks around even." Chatty chatty.
Also you know, still taunting, trying to keep eyes on her while Venetia works. She's got the better kit for this anyway.
GS: CRITICAL! Juni Vandrer suffers a terrible blow from Solitaire Collier's Graceful and Merciless for 211 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Solitaire Collier! GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Solitaire Collier with Active Tracking! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 4 Combo! GS: Hyper expired! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Solitaire Collier suffers a terrible blow from Juni Vandrer's Active Tracking for 0 hit points! GS: Dispel! Hyper and Quick removed! GS: Solitaire Collier's Slow Ward may block the effect! GS: Slow blocked! GS: Solitaire Collier takes a solid hit from Venetia Vuong's Selenite Sign ~Cavern of the Crystals~ for 68 hit points! GS: Cripple and Entangle applied to Solitaire Collier!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The light of Eleanor's protection couldn't have come at a better moment, cushioning the massive impact of the Phantom Ganon's blow.
Boomerang is also rightfully angry at Gwen crossing the battle lines, the explosion of shadowy light nearly casting the courier clear out of the boat, if she hadn't clung to the edge with her left hand. Slowly, desperately, she hauls herself up high enough to clamp her right hand onto the boat, and then pull herself in like a wet, disguntled mermaid.
Why is Gwen's misection getting all the misery today? "..... Gh....." She lays in the bottom of the boat, which is pretty much becoming her home now. "......"
Yeah, she desired all that, for sure.
But oh, what cruelty it is when she is wretched from her new abode by the H * O * O * K * S * H * O * T, throwing her ass over teakettle in the air right into poor, poor Venetia, fellow enthusiast of pretty rocks but for different reasons than Gwen.
**THWACK** Gwen, unfortunately, also can feel like a sack full of rocks as well, not that an adult human being will feel any better being knocked against another.
Dazed and befuddled on the surface nearby Venetia, Gwen sits up. ".... Friggin' mage assholes.... not you, Venetia, I mean, the bad mages..." She sets her Mockingbird up, half sitting up, and points, trying to get an aim on that severe looking dot waaaaayyy far out in the distance. Yeah, that looks like Ganondorf.
There is no way she'll make that shot.
So instead, her ARM fully charged up, she lets loose a beam, straight at the Phantom Knight, it being a far easier mark. "THERE!"
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Coronal Discharge! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Ganondorf Dragmire counterattacks Gwen Whitlock with Dead Man's Return! GS: CRITICAL! Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Gwen Whitlock's Coronal Discharge for 290 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jam applied to Ganondorf Dragmire!
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
Solitaire says, "Does it?" to Juni. "It takes strength and power to break the chains of this world." She has noticed Juni's own tactics. What Solitaire loses from ability and power she makes up for in situational awareness. She's a strong fighter and a second pair of eyes, so to speak, in the Malice Striker she carries. The dark energy of Nidhogg starts filling Solitaire. She tries to keep moving but it seems like it was a smart move on Juni's part to take a break from firing and just take a second to AIM. Solitaire is undoubtedly going to try and put a stop to that.
"Hi," She tells Gwen. She isn't a mage asshole either--she hasn't used any sort of magic. She tries to kick Gwen in the back of her head while she's aiming a shot for the Phantom Knight but while she's going for it...
Venetia imprisons Solitaire in a prison of crystal. Solitaire's foot impacts against the crystal and you can hear a yowl of pain from within the crystal prison.
ANd the best part is, Gwen is spared a concussion!
Soiltaire considers the prison for a moment. "Nnm..."
Okay okay I'm back... Uh what're you doing?
Solitaire lets out a wild shout as she slams the shaft of Nidhogg HARD against the crystalline prison, plowing open a path through it, though she has certainly lost some spring in her step.
She reaches into her pouch and tosses a slew of exploding cards towards the boat around Venetia's feet. Seems like Venetia gave her an idea!
The mousegirl flips back and swings the axe up at Juni's backside as she does so, trying to put both Juni and Venetia in front of her and, more relevantly, herself away from her exploding cards.
But it isn't a normal axe swing. Black energy erupts out from Nidhogg as she finally drops down behind.
"The Prayer Bells," Solitaire says. "Do not toll for slaves."
Her shoulders push up as she stares like steel.
"The prayer bells will not toll for the masters."
GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Venetia Vuong with Crumbling Foundation! GS: Solitaire Collier has attacked Juni Vandrer with The Prayer Bells Will Not Toll! GS: Solitaire Collier enters a Counter stance! GS: Solitaire Collier has gained 2 Combo! GS: Solitaire Collier has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'But I've realyzed... it's better to own what they'd make us than regret!'
"You're so close," Ida says, and through the pain, she thinks back to what others thought of her. A girl who never quite fit in with the rest of her social stratum. Someone too inconvenient, too precocious, too insubordinate. Someone who--it was whispered--belonged in a sanitarium. "I'm sorry. You deserved better. You all did."
Ida darts back, taking a moment to let her body finish its work. The flow of blood is now just a trickle, though the pain is something she's going to have to endure regardless. She trusts in Ashley and Clarine and Ruth to keep the pressure on. But then--
"Armatus," Ida chokes out, her eyes going wide. "That's--" It makes sense. A sick, twisting sensation settles in her belly.
Boomerang lunges as she's put off-balance. The Hyadean's blade tears into her side, tracing a bright line through the air, and spraying the ground with more blood. Ida reacts instinctually, whipping away the moment she feels the air pressure of Boomerang darting to her other side. Her arm rises, deflects the second blow at the cost of the exoskeleton on that arm. It erupts in a spray of shards, peppering the ground.
"Ashley," Ida chokes out, as she reels. Her vision starts to swim.
And she feels someone else reaching out from within her, a sensation too muted for her to feel when she tried to reach in that first time.
Fafnir never quite fit in, either. Too weak, too cowardly, too prone to softness. He remade himself, too, and the world suffered for it. He suffered for it, too.
Ida's eyes close. Her body jerks and twitches; the light of her Breath shines through her skin. A bright wash of silvery-blue engulfs her as more armor extrudes--
It's not just armor. Ida's transformation is more akin to Ruth's than Ashley's, flesh reshaping itself, flowing like water. Her hair springs loose from its bun. Her clothes vanish into her own shifting physiology. When she opens her eyes again, she's not looking up quite so far to meet Boomerang's.
He's facing another Demon. Ida has grown tall and broad-shouldered; her hair is a deep brownish-bronze, and her eyes are an electric, blued-steel hue. Her body is encased in equal parts plates and Dragonscale. The final scales grow into place on the side of her face as she smiles, grimly, at Boomerang.
Her forearms twist. The armor there splits open, not unlike Ashley's, revealing paired ARM barrels. Ida levels them at Boomerang's chest. She has nothing to say that Ashley did not--there's just a dull roar, and then a SEARING gout of Dragonfire from both ARMs. The blue-white conflagration is visible from the ships, and elsewhere on the fortress walls.
GS: Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Medli's Attendant's Spirit for 54 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Dispel! Infect! Blitz, Cover, and Hyper removed! GS: Break, Delay, and Entangle applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Highest! Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Blue Moon for 728 hit points! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Juni Vandrer takes a glancing hit from Solitaire Collier's The Prayer Bells Will Not Toll for 102 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Solitaire Collier! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Juni Vandrer enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Ganondorf Dragmire's Dead Man's Return for 126 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Ganondorf Dragmire!
DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Ida of the Method!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Boomerang with Fourth Method - Absolution! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's stances have changed from Stoic to Avenger! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey gains 65 THP from Regen! GS: Hyper expired! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Fourth Method - Absolution for 404 hit points! GS: Boomerang has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire takes a solid hit from Link's Beam of Courage for 429 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ganondorf Dragmire gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Hyper and Mighty removed! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Boomerang's wide sweeping response to Ruth's maneuver is enough to send her to a kneel. The follow-up of a diagonal slash is nearly enough to push her overboard. Her mass might be a moment of shared peril with what that might do to the balance of the craft. She can't feel the warmth of her own blood, but placing her right hand over the wound... it's unambiguous. She can't defy weaponized Desire in the hands of someone who has won the favor of the very concept of it, even as Malevolence feeds off of the sheer conflict to simply be.
Somewhere in her fading consciousness... her tongue flicks. She can taste the fear in the wind, over yonder, of a young girl asking her dearly departed mom for help through her terror. Ruth doesn't catch the nuance of the spoken plea (distance, plus also being effectively deaf in one ear), but the despair... it entices. There's only one thing someone like this--
Who, not what. There's only one thing she-- deserves.
Her tail hasn't lost its stride even before the tremendous force of Lord Blazer's power before Ashley's stalwart heart, trying its damndest to lift the rifle up and pull the trigger. She flicks that tail with a finger one last time, as Ida bears the brunt of the self-proclaimed (and historically reinforced) strongest Demon, who built himself up from his past and theirs.
She feels the light of someone who gives her space and protection when, paradoxically, her power and presence can only threaten and endanger Clarine.
"Suffering. Anguish. Pain. Fear." Ruth murmurs. "That's all she was ever worth. It's all that reaches to me. More than the light of day, the sound of song." She said something like this to win over her place in ARMS. "Without it, there's... little else." Medli's distress, somehow, steadies her enough that she can stand up and maybe move to better center the current seacraft they're on.
"All I have to offer creates more of it." Ruth rolls her left shoulder, gasping once as she parts her right hand from the grip of the rifle to her heart. "It feels. It feels. I treasure it. It feels like a heart that person never could have had."
"And I deserve that suffering. Anguish. Pain, and fear!" She hoists that rifle, shaking her tail off of it so she wields that weapon far closer to the way she did in times before. The report is deafening. The kickback on that rifle is immense. Someone of her original frame should not have been able to withstand it, but she did, for years, as her right hand dances across it to ensure the next bullet's chambered.
Four shots, in rapid, accurate sequence, together sounding like the deafening pounding of a fist at the door. The Four Knocks of Death's Door. That's the weapon, and technique, of one of the most blood-stained names of the Celesti Civil War.
"All of it from those who think she was more than a killer, I will have it!" She says, firing into Boomerang on behalf of IDa who does not need her protection in this moment but has it. "All of it from those who see that heartless monster, I will have it!" She says, Malevolence flaring to give strength to a busted left shoulder that now both does, and does not, have the strength to continue performing that.
It's nonsense, a contradiction. To ask the same feelings from those who would be protected, and those who would be harmed. To somehow be anything other than a monster by feeding those self-same urges, to somehow turn a hunger befitting a cruel murderer into a springboard for kindness and shelter! Yet, in the first barrage of questions in Boomerang's challenge, 'show me why you exist...'
Sometimes, defying reason into will, they just are.
"...Then I'll have the suffering, anguish, pain, and fear of the strongest Demon too," her tongue flicks at the end of that tirade.
GS: Ruth Pauling has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: Ruth Pauling spends 3 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Boomerang with Four Knocks On Death's Door! GS: Ruth Pauling gains 62 THP from Regen! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action. GS: Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Ruth Pauling's Four Knocks On Death's Door for 184 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Boomerang has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Venetia Vuong solidly guards Solitaire Collier's Crumbling Foundation for 67 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Venetia Vuong gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Weaken applied to Venetia Vuong!
<Pose Tracker> Ganondorf Dragmire has posed.
Solitaire deploys a weapon most foul, and one of the Phantom Ganons looks at her for a moment like it's thinking about it.
Then it swings around swiftly and catches Gwen's awesome discharge on its sword-edge, sending it hurtling back toward her at full speed. The damage built up from volleying the attack isn't small, but it's not murderous, either.
Josie's awesome shot, though, that'll do it. Her blessed shell punches into the Phantom's belly and then explodes with an awesome light. It shatters into mist and then gathers up into a puff of smoke.
But unfortunately...that was only one phantom.
The other emerges from another side, crashing its blade toward her.
Link counters that, too, a blast of light crashing toward the Phantom Ganon. It struggles to cast it aside with its blade, but its position isn't as well-tended, this time, and Link's blast cores out the center of the shadow-beast. It looks ready to strike despite, as Medli's song rains out. It hesitates, at that light. That glory. A child, nascent, but the Gods command that Courage will win the day, and Power can only shadow its path. Phantom Ganon knows this thing she bears, and hates it.
It holds up the blade, darkness pulsing through it, the holes in its form reconstituting...and then it shatters. Splits, fragments of itself roaring down to crash for Gwen, impossibly fast, incredibly strong.
And then another three appear, one looming over Link, over Medli, over Eleanor. The foremost enemies of the King of Evil each receiving no salute before each raises its blade and seeks to cleave them from this world.
GS: Ganondorf Dragmire spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Runeblade! GS: Delay expired! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Shadows of a Dark World! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has gained 3 Combo! GS: Recover! Break, Disrupt, Entangle, and Jam removed from Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Eleanor Klein with Phantoms of a Demon King! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Link with Phantoms of a Demon King! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Ganondorf Dragmire has attacked Medli with Phantoms of a Demon King! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"That is..." Clarine starts, and considers it for a moment. ...She has to admit, his words are not what she expected of him. Perhaps she had misjudged him. "...Well said. However... You still have the option to cast away those labels. It is true that the people around us can define us - but we do not have to accept those definitions, if we do not wish to. Otherwise, the only future you will forge is one dictated by another."
He appears, then, right before her. Her eyes open wide in surprise. There's only an instant to react. In one swift motion, her mirrors fan out around in front of her. Several of them intercept bolts of shadow, though many still manage to escape and impact Clarine directly. She recoils back, the impact causing her to dip just slightly beneath the water for a moment before she lifts herself back up.
That hit hard... but there is something he says that hits just as hard.
"Armatization...! 'Twas of the Elw's devising...?" Clarine gasps. "I... had not known. And to think of what became of it..."
A technique devised to use the power of a Guardian - engineered to use Seraphim instead...
She shakes her head.
"...Still, you have my respect, Boomerang, the strongest Demon. Behold now my light!" Clarine says.
"Enhance Cast!" Clarine calls out. She draws power in, gold-lavender light surrounding her. The energy around her becomes excited, accelerating, enabling her to draw it in more quickly. She puts this to use immediately, to cast a spell that would otherwise tax her greatly.
"O holy one, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupt souls..." Clarine incants. White light surrounds her, and she rises above the surface of the water. She spreads her arms out wide. "Judgment!"
At her command, columns of light begin to rain from the sky. They fall somewhat haphazardly, but always with direction - only her enemies are at risk. They do not come near her allies. Boomerang is the primary target - but if there are any minions left in their path, they might get caught in the light of judgment as well.
GS: Seraph Clarine spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Clarine with Enhance Cast! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has launched an attack Link! GS: Medli takes a glancing hit from Ganondorf Dragmire's Phantoms of a Demon King for 99 hit points! GS: Ruin! Shield and Surge removed! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: Medli enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: RUIN! All positive status effects and temporary hit points purged from Medli! GS: CRITICAL! Link suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Phantoms of a Demon King for 272 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Link gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ruin! Blitz, Hyper, and Shield removed! GS: Link enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: RUIN! All positive status effects and temporary hit points purged from Link! GS: Seraph Clarine accepts Seraph Clarine's Enhance Cast for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper and Surge applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Eleanor Klein suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Phantoms of a Demon King for 192 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo! GS: RUIN! All positive status effects and temporary hit points purged from Eleanor Klein! GS: Seraph Clarine has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Boomerang with Judgment! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine gains 58 THP from Regen! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Ganondorf Dragmire's Runeblade for 367 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Gamble: Very High! Boomerang suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Clarine's Judgment for 245 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Boomerang gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Boomerang has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.
Ida's arms shift. She shifts. Boomerang's eyes widen -- with realization, with concern, knowing he underestimated her. He sees the cannons in her arms and makes a surprised grunt, before they fire. The blast of energy slams into him, hurtling him away from her. He smashes into the ground nearby.
Smoke wafts off his damaged form.
He looks at Ruth. He hears her talk -- and his eyes narrow, as he sees the Malevolence flaring from her. "What--"
Her shots punch into him. The rounds tear through his armor. Quicksilver hits the rocks and the water, and he shudders. He doesn't know the name of the weapon; Boomerang never learned much about the modern kingdoms. But, lately, he's wondered if he was mistaken.
His eyes meet Clarine's. "I'd rather embrace them," he says. He scowls -- and then he is engulfed by light. Columns of the stuff rain down, slamming down all around him. He only just manages to stay standing through it -- lost in radiance, as they converge on him. The beams of energy fade, leaving him standing there.
He grunts, hand on his blade. It's plunged into the hilt.
"Deny me? You can't deny something as basic as gravity!" Boomerang shouts back to Ashley. Ashley comes hurtling in towards him. A rising nova of brilliant light, which slams into Boomerang -- the beam strikes his form and engulfs him. He becomes an outline against it. "Fight all you like!" he yells. "But--"
The roar of the ensuing explosion drowns him out. A massive flash of power, brilliance rising high into the air, and then fading.
As it does, Boomerang is gone.
GS: Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Ganondorf Dragmire's Shadows of a Dark World for 90 hit points! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor is doing the best that she can. Link, and Medli, especially in this battle--they're counting on her. Gwen is her friend. And Josie... Well, Josie apparently came back from the brink, which is exactly what she hopes for, isn't it?
The revelations from the other side of the battlefield will have to be given to her later; she is focusing her all on maintaining the barrier. And... it holds, for a time. It protects her friends from the worst of the counterattacks. Or, it does, until the Phantom strikes her, and with a cry of pain her concentration is broken. Eleanor crumbles under the force of the attack, the magic in her clothes enough to turn it from being lethal, but it's painful nevertheless. It's almost enough to break her out. Almost.
...But her mother is on the line. Eleanor's hand rises. SHe pushes herself back up. There is a wound at her side, where she couldn't turn away the blade, and her clothes are red. But she is alive, and otherwise whole.
"You..."
"Will never--"
She pushes up from her knees, to stand, and light courses all around her. "Never take--"
"My family!"
Eleanor throws out her hands and, in a mass of power, directs the power of Light itself directly for the Phantoms, to hold them still and in place for the strikes of heroes.
"Phantom, I abjure you! Go back to the darkness from which you came!"
The light becomes blinding.
GS: Eleanor Klein has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Eleanor Klein spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Incandescence! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.
The evil rend comes down. The cleave of the Phantom. Everyone's fighting. Eleanor, Medli, Ida, Ruth, Gwen...other people he doesn't really know...they're all putting their lives on the line to save people in need.
The shield goes up. Link tries to hold out, but the phantom sword sunders Link's shield, sending him flying backwards, bruised and battered, tunic torn. But he does not bleed. He's held on.
Link takes his sword in both hands, pointing it forward. "I told you..."
The boy charges forward, moving to plunge the blade into his Phantom's most vulnerable-looking spot. He doesn't know if he can kill a ghost and he doesn't care. He needs to force it to leave, at minimum.
"...that I wouldn't say it twice!"
GS: Link spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Link has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Weakpoint Shot! GS: Link has gained 2 Combo! GS: Link has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
HERE COME THE GWEN
With a mighty smash Venetia is once again thrown to the deck. Venetia is not a modest or frail lady but she has few augmentations and isn't wearing armor. She wheezes in reply to Gwen, before saying, finally, "No... offense taken." She puts a hand on her ribs, but at least, she thinks, I didn't break a leg this time. So far!
Then there is a bombardment of exploding cards at her feet. So far, Venetia. So far!
Venetia, at least, is wearing rugged boots. You walk through a lot of dangerous places in this line of work, and she leaps TOWARDS the explosive's source rather than away, which is a little paradoxical and is quite honestly probably dumb luck from being confused from what it is that Gwen did to her (probably break a rib). Landing on part of the deck that hasn't yet been obliterated, she runs forwards and then realizes that she is approaching someone with an axe.
Oh Dinoginos what to do -- the ship tilts, perhaps because of Boomerang's distress on the other side of the pilot house and Venetia throws herself up to land in the nest of interlocking crystals, briefly wedged. This is not good for my dignity.
Damn, damn, damn, Venetia thinks. Boats are miserable things. Couldn't they have chartered the Thames? The Thames is alright. You can't tell you're on the water! Mostly. Looking back towards where Solitaire is surging forwards, Venetia sweeps up a hand with another Crest Graph. Tightening her teeth, she narrows her eyes. This one is something of a strain and it doesn't help that Solitare is so swift, doubtless fueled by that POTION...
But Venetia, too, has secret magical compounds behind her. PROOF: A ripple and from the wood of the deck erupts hexagonal basaltic prisms in a rippling wave, aiming to rise upwards and discombobulate Solitaure with a combination of 'high speed stone rising' and 'irregular platform motion,' a lethal one-two punch. Many of the basalt pillars tumble overboard almost immediately. This will be a location that confuses future geologists, but the School of Mineralogy has left *plenty* of those laying around.
GS: Venetia Vuong spends 4 Combo on Interrupt and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Solitaire Collier with Hexagonal Prism Sign ~Giant's Causeway~! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer starts to say "Then pick your targets better", but she gets cut off as she doesn't quite take the shot to the throat so much as she takes it on the chin and she wasn't quite quick enough to dodge out of the way with the rolling waves. Probably made it worse really. When she falls over the edge, almost doesn't catch herself this time. Mostly held there in place purely by tail this time. She hangs there dazed briefly, then spits something unpleasant into the water and lifts herself up.
Right in time for another swing of the axe. She ducks under the worst of it, even if her HUD and body's protesting at this point. She'll probably need to take care of a few things. She should probably do so now, but there's something else that kind of needs to be done at this point, right? It's not exactly going spectacularly in her eyes.
There's an ominous glow forming from along the barrel. Starting at the actual barrel itself until the whole thing is lit up with a low pitch hum. She adjusts her grip, arm held against her other arm, rifle propped against her elbow as she breathes in. Ignoring the twinge of pain. Breathes out. Ignore that twinge of pain. Breathe in and squeeze. Watching the various figures bob around. The pillars shifting and throwing not just her target off, admittedly. Still, she keeps tracking each person with a handy HUD marker until she suddenly, "Watch it Venetia", and a smooth pull of the trigger. The shot roars out. Leaving a crackling, faint glow behind along the path the projectile took, almost like an after image for the briefest of moments.
Collier got her wish, Juni's not talking anymore.
As soon as the shot's fired, she's moving again, trying to keep the attention split. Even if she's limping a bit at this point.
GS: Juni Vandrer spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Juni Vandrer has attacked Solitaire Collier with End of the Line! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Mute expired! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Solitaire Collier counterattacks Juni Vandrer with Counter Attack! GS: CRITICAL! Solitaire Collier suffers a terrible blow from Juni Vandrer's End of the Line for 339 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Solitaire Collier gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Quick applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Solitaire Collier takes a glancing hit from Venetia Vuong's Hexagonal Prism Sign ~Giant's Causeway~ for 115 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Solitaire Collier gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Interrupt blocked! GS: Solitaire Collier has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Medli has posed.
It's still scary. Everything is too much, right now, but somehow, Medli is able to find a place above the fear and overwhelming sensations. She clutches to her harp and stares up at the Phantom that looms above her. Wings form over her arms, once again, and she flutters into the air, avoiding the large majority of the Phantom's attack.
Something about this creature... Medli can feel it staring at her. She can feel its hate, and its fear. Toward her? How can that be? She's barely survived this battle. No matter where it's coming from, the fact that Medli can inspire this feeling in something so ancient and powerful...
Makes her feel strong.
Everyone is fighting together, but it matters that she's here! Medli alights on the King of Red Lions' head, bowing and offering a quick apology to the noble boat. She wants to look the Phantom in the eyes for this!
"My name is Medli!" She calls, as feathers gather around her again. Her own feathers, and some more illusory. "Every time you try to hurt Link, I'll be here to protect him!"
Balancing delicately, Medli sways to an invisible beat, playing her harp in staccato bursts. It sounds brave. The young Rito girl isn't very good with words, but hopefully her playing gets her meaning across. As her hand raises from the strings, all the feathers gleam, honed to a razor's edge. Lifting her arm, Medli sends them flying toward the Phantom's eyes, watching every moment.
GS: Medli has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Pinion Barbs! GS: Medli has gained 1 Combo! GS: Medli has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Her focus is on the phantom she's targetted, and in truth, but for a few select things, she pays not a bit of attention to the chaos and cacophany that resounds around her.
Well, nearly.
One word -- a series of words, a sentence -- from Boomerang rings out, inescapable amidst the din. "Oh, hell," she utters, catching that single statement and -- to an extent -- understanding what it means. Seraphim Armatization is of the Elw's creation?
But of course.
This shocked realization may be drowned out moments latter by her own brief self-satisfaction but it is brief, even if she has downed one of the phantoms. "You see that-- oh hell."
There's more than one phantom after all, and it's quick to take vengeance upon her with a swing of its sword.
Eleanor's spell takes some of the brunt of that blow, from which there is no escape.
The rest belongs all to Josephine.
There is a missing moment in time when she thinks back on it in the hours to come. As far as she can ever recall, she had been gazing at the blade as it comes swinging towards her and in the next, she's flat out against the deck of the boat as seawater pools about her head. Freshly sloshed over the side, but even it can't drown the scent of blood. "That's... going to leave a mark," she groans, sitting up and at least confirming that she hasn't been cut neatly in two. The reality is only modestly better, from the look of the wound that's nearly split her stem to stern -- but she'll live.
And she'll be damned if she dies in a boat like this.
"What," she says, swaying for the moment as she finds her way to her feet atop the pitching deck of her tiny borrowed boat, "you think... I only had the one?" She brandishes her rifle and in spite of her injuries, grins in a way that can only be called 'mad'.
She'd loaded two, after all.
"Have another!" she screams at the phantom that attempted to be her end, and the roar of the bullet that follows may as well be her punctuation.
GS: You do not have that Force Action. [fury] GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: You have activated the Force Action Fury Shot! GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: You have activated the Force Action Snipe! GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Suffering Bastard! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 3 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Juni Vandrer takes a glancing hit from Solitaire Collier's Serves You Right for 104 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I have to," Ashley answers Boomerang as the metal demon disappears into the overwhelming light. "If I can't overcome something that basic... I've got no chance with the Blazer. But I've got a promise to keep, so... I'll have to.
Boomerang... is gone. Knight Blazer stares for a moment longer, before disappearing in a flurry of blue motes. Ashley sags to the ground, falling to a knee. His shoulders rise and fall, taking in rhythmic, haggard breaths. He's fine. He'll be fine. He just...
Needs a second.
...This may be a problem, considering that there are probably still moblins about.
DC: Ashley Winchester switches forms to Musketeer!
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
Solitaire Collier didn't actually mind the chattiness, but she did observe it. What she didn't do was understand it. Solitaire is quiet by nature--and sure, maybe kicking for Juni's throat is maybe a statement on said chattiness, but Solitaire just knows that kicking someone in the throat is usually a good idea if they're trying to shoot you. Or cast magic at you but so far Venetia has been pretty cautious...
'Watch it Venetia'
Juni might regret giving SOlitaire even that notice as Solitaire suddenly turns towards Juni, spinning on her heel and swinging her axe across Juni's chest.
Just a moment too slow, thanks to her careful aim, to prevent Juni from taking her shot. The projectile crackles along and slams into Solitaire, spraying blood all over the place. And Venetia!
That doesn't stop Venetia from slamming Solitaire in the side with a PILLAr and that gets her to slam into another pillar whereupon she recovers, barely, jabbing Nidhogg into a gradually sinking pillar with Nidhogg. She pants for breath. SOlitaire's tough to get a bead on but she relies on her quick movement to avoid getting slaughtered on the battlefield.
"Is this the best future..." She coughs out blood over her chest. "I... am not strong yet..."
But Boomerang EXPLODING(??) seems to stir Solitaire--
--and Nidhogg even more who roars in rage.
"GWOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAH!!" The axe bellows out suddenly, prying ITSELF free from the pillar and swinging itself, along with Solitaire towards Venetia and Boomerang, ignorant of the attention they've caught of the Demon King himself.
Nidhogg's mad to see yet another brother fall, even one such as Boomerang.
"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" He roars, black tears dripping from two empty sockets, indentations near where the axe and the handle meet.
Nidhogg attempts to strike at the boat directly, a black eruption of power spreading out from it, through Solitaire--and anything that is in the way.
GS: Solitaire Collier has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Solitaire Collier has attacked Venetia Vuong with True Malice Striker! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Solitaire Collier has attacked Juni Vandrer with True Malice Striker! GS: Solitaire Collier has gained 1 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer takes a solid hit from Solitaire Collier's True Malice Striker for 197 hit points! GS: Juni Vandrer's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Break and Slow applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Cripple, Jam, Mute, and Weaken blocked! GS: Juni Vandrer enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Venetia Vuong partially evades Solitaire Collier's True Malice Striker for 132 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Venetia Vuong gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong's Mute Ward may block the effect! GS: Slow applied to Venetia Vuong! GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, and Weaken blocked! GS: Venetia Vuong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Disrupt expired!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
There are probably still moblins about, as Ashley falls to a crouch in exertion. Not too far behind him... Ruth, who encroaches like for all the part of a wary, starving predator with a bowed head in the wake of Boomerang's disappearance before frightening power. Even rolling around Elise's Domain could not fill Ruth's Malevolence-stained spirit with enough conceit to pretend what she was, what she did, what she does, what she is, what she will have... could ever compare to that.
She can only take Ashley at his word, as she finds a raised position while her tail reloads another round of four bullets into the rifle, just in case.
She will ensure there won't be moblins about while he recove--
The bellowing axe sees Ruth's wing rise on reflex to cover herself and Ashley from whatever's going on over there, as if something about that anguish shakes even her.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's eyes go silvery as Boomerang is swallowed whole by Knight Blazer's flames. He struggles against them as few could do, a testament to his might--but then he's gone. Dead? Ida's gorge rises, and she reaches back towards the man in her head--
He feels hollow. There isn't even the burning, vindictive satisfaction he felt when he killed Luisa's master, the man who humiliated him. Someone was there, and alive, and now, (perhaps?) he is not.
Me too, Ida thinks.
Ashley falls. Ida's hand--bigger, armored--reaches out to grab and stabilize him. "Watch him, Ruth," she says, and she, too, starts to sag.
From across the battlefield, she hears that roar, and her blood runs cold.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
As they say, any sufficiently advanced hookshoot is indistinguishable from magic. Venetia comes to Gwen's aid, whether intentionally or not, sparing poor Gwen's noggin and leaving the courier free to make one last parting s--
Ow. The first shot Gwen unleashed is now on a happy return journey straight towards her, clobbering her straight back down onto the ground away from Solitaire and Venetia entirely. "Ngh!"
Before Gwen could return the favor, Josie does, blasting the phantom through with a well-aimed shot, earning her a whistle from the courier.
"Nice shot, Josi--gh....!" The poor Mockingbird is used as a handy shield, each embedded shard of shade embed themselves straight through leather and cloth into the metallic skin. It hurts, to be fair.
It hurts like she might've been stretching herself a little thin.
Not like she'll let that unlucky card show. Not even when her expression cracks, seeing Link, his shipmate (literally) Medli, and Eleanor get a blade for their trouble. Or Ashley, suffering from his time drawing on Blazer's power. She can't get in to save them, but she can...
.... she'll do what she could always do: shoot back.
"...... Sucks to be you.... I'm still alive, and I'm still pissed at you for all the shit you caused!! How many people have your minions screwed over, just to get you back? Do you even know, or care?! It doesn't matter, because I do!" She forks a thumb back towards her face. "N' I got enough juice now to come back in for one more shot!""
Her left index finger writes glowing lettering in the air as the deep pink circle is drawn up. Her right hand is inserted into the middle, and fingers splayed wide, she aims, deliverying her final shot.
The bounce of light becoming an eternal circle, forever cycling without end.
"RINGSHINE!"
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ganondorf Dragmire with Ringshine! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ganondorf Dragmire takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Suffering Bastard for 464 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Interrupt and Weaken applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire accepts Gwen Whitlock's Ringshine for 269 hit points! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire solidly guards Eleanor Klein's Incandescence for 100 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Ganondorf Dragmire! GS: Blind and Mute blocked! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Strain! Eleanor Klein takes 40 damage! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire suffers a terrible blow from Medli's Pinion Barbs for 201 hit points! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire solidly guards Link's Weakpoint Shot for 87 hit points! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Link! GS: Ganondorf Dragmire has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Watch it, Venetia!
That comes outwards. Venetia tenses upwards. The rippling burst of stone impacts Solitaire but she's hanging on!
Damn it, Venetia thinks, am I going to have to kill this poor sad girl to keep her from sinking the ship? (She does not think it, but the possibility, nasty and brutal as it is, exists. She may hate it, but allies and comrades and the innocent are in this ship.)
But it becomes a moot point. Someone explodes.
Then Solitaire explodes. The axe comes directly towards her and Solitaire can see Venetia's lips tighten and her jaw set as her eyes cross, leaning backwards but it's not something that she can quite dodge as there is a bloody ripping TEAR and a gout of -
-- red --
-- that --
mostly withdraws the way it came.
* Death defied!
"ENOUGH!" Venetia bellows as she comes out round the deck with a torn and blood-stained robe.
"Whatever your reasons, your cause is lost! Take your cause and fight it somewhere else, Collier!" And despite the black eruption running forwards and a drawn look on her face, she runs up to shoulder-tackle the smaller than her Beastwoman towards the helpfully-damaged side of the deck!
<Pose Tracker> Ganondorf Dragmire has posed.
The Phantoms perform their murderous strikes, trying with all force to bring low the powers against them. But it doesn't, quite, take. For all that strength they bring to bear, the Drifters are more than adequate to the task.
Josie's reply blows a hole in the Phantom that came for her. Eleanor abjures a Phantom completely, piercing light filling it to bursting until it pops, its darkness cast out by light. Medli calls her defiance and dares to strike back, and claws at the gleaming eyes of the Phantom Ganon's helmet. It staggers back and then vanishes in a puff of curling darkness.
Gwen's Ringshine strikes true, a blazing barrel of light delivering its cargo to the Phantom Ganon; and Link carves away the final piece, finding and striking desperately in its moment of weakness. It works. Light erupts from its center, and it writhes like a scream, and then...poof.
Gone. Gone in wisps of curling, evil smoke.
Unfortunately.....
A pillar of light erupts from the tower of Forsaken Fortress, streams of radiance exploding out of every window in the structure. It lasts seconds...and then goes still.
The Phantoms bought the time they needed.
What has happened...awaits in the Fortress.
GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Solitaire Collier with Dealing With PVP Tactics By Exploiting Edges! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Weaken expired! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action. GS: Solitaire Collier takes a glancing hit from Venetia Vuong's Dealing With PVP Tactics By Exploiting Edges for 54 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Evade bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni does not look like a happy camper after that roar from the axe, even as her system is flagging all sorts of warnings. The kind of thing she's pretty confident she's got no real method of evading a blast that close, on this small a ship in the middle of a full on brawl. She's all, but thrown free of the ship and tears gouges into the side from three different attempts to catch herself.
She hits the water flat, unable to orient herself in time to break the surface tension. Definitely some cracks there, not that they're heard over the din of the brawl going on.
She sinks beneath the water not long after the impact.
When she reappears, it's on the other side of the ship, surfacing, grimacing, bleeding from multiple wounds. Her hands are shaky as she climbs her way up the side of the ship and hauls herself up and lands with a thud on her knee in a crouch. Puddles of water and blood already pooling around her. Struggling to keep upright. She lifts her rifle again and hooks it against her arm and knee, supporting it on the most stable thing she can at this point. She says something that sounds.. a bit scrambled. Hints of Al Bhed, the common language and something else. That was the wrong language.es. The wrong languages.
Then Venetia just tackles the mouse towards the water and... she starts laughing and slumps back onto the deck, sitting down heavily. Probably a bad idea to shoot a space gun when you're seeing triple anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Solitaire Collier has posed.
Solitaire is once again defeated by DEATH DEFIED but this time, at least, SOlitaire is trying to calm Nidhogg down to no avail. Juni's down, or down enough--she thinks--she just needs to finish off the mage, calm Nidhogg down and--
"Nnh--" She pulls Nidhogg out of the deck--
--and then Venetia just flat out shoulder tackles the badly wounded mouse into the water where she SPLOOSHES down into the water once more.
And she doesn't rise back up. Not for a--
--oh wait there she is, swimming towards the Fortress because that's the nearest safe harbor out there.
Ganon, she thinks, what was this battle serving?
She wants to find out. But mostly she wants to lie and the floor and drink another potion so she feels less like a dead rat.
<Pose Tracker> Ganondorf Dragmire has posed.
Ganon's Army begins to lose cohesion once his spell is complete. The air team begins to scatter apart. The Bokoblins on the rafts were already mostly destroyed by the battle on the water. The Fortress isn't abandoned but with Drifters' gear, ascending the walls, getting around or just beating the piss out of the Moblins that patrol the corridors, and generally making one's way to the top will be no vast trial. Even Helmaroc has fled, soaring off in pursuit of some other, precious quest.
In the prison tower, Link will find the familiar cage he briefly saw his precious sister within.
It is empty. The captives have been taken.
Charging further up, to the heart of the Fotress, one finds a chamber with yet more cages, positioned at points around a circle etched into the floor. At the center of that circle now stands a portal. And through that portal:
Ice. Snow. The ruins of a kingdom long, long gone. Just visible at the far end of the tableau, a temple site carved into a mountainside, surmounted by the image of a sorrowful woman with a pronounced nose and curly hair. Much like Ganon's own, actually. A temple from long ago, known through ancient memories of some few, but...that one was in the desert.
If you ask, King of Red Lions can give you the name of this place to which Ganondorf has taken his victims.
The last epitaph to a people torn apart by cruel fates and a succession of tragedies. The grand tomb of his doomed people.
The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
And like that, a second phantom is downed by Josie's hands.
But what light is that, that over yonder fortress breaks?
"...Not good," Josie surmises, before exhaling a heavy sigh and dropping down onto her haunches, then slumping onto the railing altogether. She fishes in her pocket for a flask and brings it to her lips. "Hope I get time off for good behavior," she remarks, gazing straight ahead.
No need to pilot the boat. It should stay on course for the fortress, though Josie reckons it won't much survive the landing. Fair enough, she got it for free.
Indeed, it won't be an easy landing, though her condition has improved enough to permit her to simply skip out of the wreckage and onto what passes as shore once she gets there; if someone's kindly with the curatives, she might even be better than fine once the time comes for someone of her stripe to apply a little force to the forces remaining in the fortress walls. But it feels like they've withdrawn, to some extent.
She's proven right, in a sense, once they fail to find any of the captives.
Or when they find the portal below.
"In for a gella coin, in for ten, eh?" she quips before walking into the light. If she's gone this far already, might as well see it to the end.
She's always been bad at sunk costs.
Josie lets out a low whistle as they emerge into a long-forsaken land. "Well... ain't this a pretty mess."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
They've all done what they can. But as the Phantoms scatter, Eleanor, heedless of her injuries, starts to rush again, hopping off the boat and running along the dock. However...
The pillar of light erupts. "No!" Eleanor calls, in dismay and worry, and stops, just for a moment. But she is with Josie, when they go in. The captives aren't there...
"No," Eleanor says again, and her shoulders sag, the young elf finding the burden of failure in this case heavy indeed. But... But there is a portal.
"...We must go through," Eleanor says. She is gratified that Josie does immediately. But as they step through, Eleanor strides forward, and sees--
"The..."
"This tomb, it's..."
"The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo," Eleanor explains, and she knows exactly how she knows it, from knowledge not her own. "The Gerudo..."
"...He would use even this to his own ends?" she wonders, with anger in her voice.