2018-02-12: The Sepulchre
- Log: The Sepulchre
- Cast: Siegfried, Talise Gianfair, Claude C. Kenny, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: Tomb of Enkidu
- Date: Feb. 9-12, 2018
- Summary: Three Drifters follow the name "Enkidu" to a forgotten monument - one raised by the last person they expected, for reasons none could have predicted.
=============================<* Nortune Grazelands *>============================= The Grazelands are the last remaining fertile land in the northeast if the Ignas continent. Firmly under control of the nation of Kislev, they are covered end to end with highly regimented farms and ranches, each under strict orders to produce so much produce or livestock, with an eye to maximum possible efficiency. Agricultural experts frequently travel from the city of Nortune to assist landowners, as do so-called "engineers," a nascent profession of individuals devoted to the study and use of ARMs in the Empire. The southern border of the Grazelands is heavily guarded, tapering off to a single pass through the mountains leading into the Great Aveh Desert. Kislev's forces are firmly entrenched in the area, and travel to the heart of the empire is strictly controlled. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddOSJ8571M
DC: Claude C. Kenny switches forms to Red Shirt Claude!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
In the distant western highlands of Kislev, a Quarter Knight fell ages ago. Centuries ago. But, as Drifters began to be more active in this region, rumors spread of a cave in the highlands. The cave is not a full ruin. It is a cave in the purest sense, and those who enter find a single room -- dripping, wet stalagmites and a dark interior. But there is something irregular inside.
Recently, an earthquake rolled through the surroundings, and rumor spread of what that earthquake uncovered: in the back of the cave, there was said to be a door of black steel.
So there is.
When the Drifters today arrive, they find that to be true. The back of the cavern ends in a large, steel door. It is jet black, and there is a faint gleam of red -- from long deactivated lights built into the doorway. It is all smooth panels, with no way forward clear.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Months ago, four women wandered into an ancient ruin and discovered a piece of a memory.
Two of those women have gone their own way. Two more, however, didn't forget. Certainly Talise didn't; she wrote the name down in her notebook, then resolved to pursue it, with Ida, when the opportunity arose.
She followed it here - to this cavern, and the door, framed in those inactive lights. Technology - once the bane of Talise, but something she's grown a lot more used to now.
Sliding her hands out of her gauntlets and hanging them from her belt loops, Talise bites her lip as she begins to feel around the doorframe, fingers traveling over the dark steel as if to try and locate a handhold or a hidden lever or panel or something. "Maybe there's a switch somewhere," she murmurs with a glance towards the others with her, continuing to run her hands along the edges of the door in the hopes of making a discovery.
The thought of brute force crosses her mind, but she puts it on the shelf for now and tries it the exploratory way first. Talise has learned a lot just from proximity to Ida Everstead-Rey; one of those things has been to use her brain more often.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
For the past little while during his quasi-imprisonment upon Cow Patty Planet (also known as Kepler-186), Claude C. Kenny has has been rather a bit more open about his true origins, at least with the Princess of Adlehyde and her chosen retainers. For others, he has continued the pose he adopted since his arrival: that he was a resident of this planet, just from Arctica or whatever.
This backfired spectacularly when Ida nearly shot him in the brain during the Siege of Adlehyde. Oops.
More recently, with people like Talise coming out of the woodwork as coming from the room, he has been content to let it be assumed that he is another such person, only from a much different (much weirder) part of said moon. This has not yet backfired spectacularly, but he assumes it's only a matter of weeks, if not moments.
But at this time, in this place, looking for something as dangerous as what Talise and Ida are suggesting... well, the Federation can't execute him for UP3 violations if the Metal Demons gut him first. And it's not like his people can kill him twice. (Or, more specifically, eight times.)
Claude slides his tricorder out of his pocket and activates it, a bright blue light shining up from the interface. It makes beeps and chimes and vaguely chirruping noises as he starts letting it do the things it does. "There's definitely something back there," he says, continuing to sweep the door until he arrives at the parts with the faint red lights. "Still drawing power, too. Maybe if I..."
*beep*bip*boop*
Claude C. Kenny: totally from the moon, or whatver
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'Enkidu'. It feels like it's been a lifetime since Ida ran across that dusty old mural in the Ruins of Memory. Back then, the Metal Demons were nothing more than old legends and patina-coated bones, a source of high technology and intriguing scraps of ancient history. That was back before Riesenlied asked her something she only half-remembers--what she'd do if the Metal Demons were more like humans than she'd imagined. That was back before she'd seen the Manipule Array. That was back before she found that fossil in the Hillside Ruins, and gave Riesenlied the benefit of the doubt rather than her suspicion. That was back before Zed looked at her with a grave intensity she'd never seen from him, and whispered to her:
'I am neither dead, nor a monster.'
Ida's life has become at least five different kinds of hellish since then, but she's finally managed to locate that damned tomb; in all likelihood, it's never been seen by human eyes. Before the three of them set out, Ida explained her intent: enter, survey, leave. Do not disturb any remains, leave no trace.
Unfortunately, the door is quite the obstacle. Ida stands next to it, poking at the plates around the light in with the blade of a multitool. She's looking for seams.
"I think you may have the best chance at this, Claude," Ida says, finally conceding defeat. She puts the multitool back in the pocket of her military-surplus overcoat, and steps back. "What does your ARM have to say?"
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Claude's tricorder flashes, a few times.
There is a faint power source for the door. Something quite impressive, for a door that is a thousand years open. But, more than that, the tricorder reveals something else. A dim light is cast over the door's engravings -- panel lines, meant to light up -- and shows where a few are meant to be pressed inward.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise narrows her eyes at Claude. "I get the idea I'm out of the loop on a few things again," she says as she dips her gaze to the tricorder. Then she just shrugs and eases back to let Claude bip and boop away. "Not that it makes a difference, though. Let's just open 'er up."
And indeed, Claude does have the best chance at it. As those panel lines light up, Talise slides her gauntlets back on, hoping she won't have to force the door with those obvious panels presenting themselves. "Claude, you are one handy guy to have around," she says with a tense grin, patting the spaceman on the back roughly.
Thankfully she didn't charge her gloves up for that. She'd rather not put Claude through the cave floor.
"Right. Ida, let's try some of these," she suggests as she eases forward, laying a palm on one of those panels and applying a bit of pressure - just enough to test at first, trying to get a sense of whether the door will open of its own accord, or if she'll have to get Talisey* on it.
* Talisey, adj. a) possessing the tendency to break shit.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude is glad Talise takes this well, because he doesn't have so many friends that he's ready to lose one.
"It tells me that this thing's old," Claude answers Ida succinctly; he presses a few more keys and sweeps the device across the door, highlighting the panels. "And that these are switches," he adds, gesturing with his free hand. "Here, here, and... here," he says, placing his hand on the last one and then tucking the device back away.
The boy from Earth looks at the woman from Filgaia, and the woman from Lunar. "Ready?" he asks, then pushes once Talise does.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Claude obtained an ARM designed for analyzing objects around him," Ida says. She's feeling a bit more like herself, meaning it's easier for her to keep a poker face, and easier for her to lie. "I think it may be quite old, but you know how much attention those old ARMs attract." Ida pops half a chocolate biscuit into her mouth, chews, and swallows.
She reaches out with her right arm, pressing gauntleted fingers to the indicated panel. "Ready," Ida says. She pushes the panel.
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
The panel pushes in. There is an audible 'click' through the cave, which echoes slightly in the cavern. Then, there is a loud groan of ancient dust cracking and the squeal of steel moving across rock. The door slides up into the roof of the cavern, some ancient motor lifting it up. It rises three-quarters of the way, before it sticks there with a loud clank. When it does, though, it proves plenty high for a human.
This doorway was built for a Quarter Knight to walk through, and Quarter Knights stand far taller, typically.
The inside of the cavern has a bier on it. A solid, carved stone platform that looks as if it was hewn from the rock with sword blows stands in the center of the room. The technology that locked this room away is, it seems, the only technology here.
The adornment on the walls is sparse.
On the bier, though, is a form. Old, worn armor is visible. It is rusted and pitted; a thin figure, one worn away by time. As they look closer, it is more than armor: it is the metal corpse of a Demon, rust and tarnish having reduced it to a state somewhat skeletal, and the Hyadean technology on it looks dimmed and often broken.
Enkidu.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Yeah, that sounds pretty useful," says Talise, who probably wouldn't understand the concept of space people anyway. Or outer space.
The corridor beyond is imposing, even for Talise at six foot two. She looks towards the ceiling and reaches up.
She can't touch the ceiling. Somehow it makes her even more uncomfortable. She even jumps to try and touch it, but falls short. "Someone's awfully tall," she mutters, shifting the straps over her shoulder to ensure she's got her sword and her gun closest at hand.
It is impossible to miss what is lying there on the bier - but Talise at first assumes it's a suit of elaborate armour. She begins to move forward, her eyes widening a little with curiosity.
The curiosity turns to an icy chill as she realizes she is looking at the earthly remains of a Hyadean. "Althena," she breathes, curling her hand at her chest and stopping dead for now, staring at the form on the bier as if afraid to actually do much more than that.
"So that's Enkidu, huh," she finally murmurs. "Incredible... I wonder why the Metal Demons buried him here instead of taking him back with them...."
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny, at six foot one, is not much better off than Talise, except for the fact that every ceiling on the planet seems too tall for someone who's spent much of his life in regulation-height starship corridors. His hand drops down to his sword belt when he spots the armoured figure, but after a moment he realizes it's just that - armour. He lets out a forceful breath as his heart slows down to a semi-reasonable 110 beats per second, and his hand drifts into his pocket. The tricorder comes out again.
"It's... older than the door," he says, moving slowly forward as the scanner works. "Definitely Hyadean." He sweeps the room, letting the tricorder run an automated sweep, because it'll invariably be smarter at it than anything he suggests. "So this Enkidu guy... he was the other Quarter Knight in that mural we found with Cecilia, right?" he asks. "It'd be nice to know what killed him. Y'know. For the others," he adds.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The door opens. For a moment, it seems like the motor is going to stick, but it holds out for long enough. Ida releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and steps inside. It smells like dust and stale air, and there's a strange scent underlying that staleness--something that reminds her of ozone and hot metal. The naturalist glances around the walls, studying the ornamentation--before allowing herself to look at the body on the bier.
Ida's seen plenty of Demon remains in her lifetime. Some of them have even been exquisitely-preserved, on account of the fact that nothing in Filgaia's ecosystem will willingly touch them, not even most microbes. She has never, ever seen a Metal Demon corpse properly laid to rest, and the look on her face says what she herself does not--wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape, alert but almost reverent. She has no records to consult to identify the body, but... there's no doubt in her mind who this was.
"I don't know," Ida breathes. She takes a step closer, blinks once, and starts to look over the body. It looks almost mummified, but the oxygen in the air has evidently gone to work on the organometallic compounds in the corpse's living metal tissue. There is just the slightest hint of flesh remaining, but there's just enough left on the head for her to picture what this man looked like when he was alive.
Miang's words come back to her.
'It's as you said--you can imagine them more like humans now. There is sorrow in this, a deep sorrow that people have always known from war... but I think there is also hope.'
A tear trickles down Ida's cheek, and falls to the floor. It may be the first water in this place in a thousand years. "God," Ida whispers. She touches the first two fingers of her right hand to her thumb, taps her forehead, her heart, and--oh-so-delicately--the floor in front of the bier. It's a gesture she's done when presented with dead bodies--Claude and Talise have seen her do it. It's a gesture of respect.
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
The armored form never rises. In a way, Claude's question is easy enough to answer. There is a gaping hole ripped through the front of the chest on the left side of the breastplate. All of them can see it as they step closer. It is an ugly, jagged thing in its shape; the edges, however, are smooth. It seems whatever struck Enkidu superheated the armor, making the hole look melted. The metallic insides are similarly melted and burnt, that skeleton showing signs of extreme heat.
The corpse does not remark on their tears, their wonderings, or their anger. Enkidu lay silent as the stone he rests on. There is, however, something amateurish about the way he was laid to rest. There are no adornments; there are no inscriptions.
Something becomes clear: this is a burial site, created by someone who does not know how to bury someone.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Yeah... he was the dead knight," Talise murmurs, compelled to keep her voice low not by external forces, but by a simple respect for the dead.
The science of it is lost on her, but there's a gravity to the way the rusted-out Quarter Knight lies in repose like this. Talise has seen fresh dead - even caused people to be fresh dead - more often than she'd really like. This is different - like walking into a church. A roughly-hewn church with adornment that is virtually absent. "...They buried him where he fell," she whispers with a sick dawning of realization.
The swordswoman glances at Ida, then bows her head and reaches back to momentarily draw her sword. She holds it at about face level, the blade pointed straight up and her head bowed deeply. Holding the weapon there, she goes silent, not counting out the full minute but doing her best to honour it.
Talise is no soldier, but the swordsman's salute is one of profound respect - warrior honouring warrior.
With a breath, she finally sheathes her weapon again, then sinks to her knee at the foot of the bier. "...Let's not stay here longer than we need to," she suggests, her voice quiet. "We've already violated his tomb. It'd be better to let him sleep."
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny is a soldier, and he doesn't salute. He generally reserves those for people who haven't tried to kill a planet. But he gets that civilians don't get that. Instead of talking, he just lets the tricorder keep scanning, collecting data on the blow that slew a Quarter Knight.
He'll need it later to compare to his phase gun.
Eventually, the device chirrups again, and Claude deactivates it. "Okay, I'm good," he says, sliding the tricorder back into his pocket. "Are we stealing his crap, or what? What are we even here for?" he asks.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida shakes her head, and reaches up to pretend to brush dust out of her eyes. On one hand, this is an entity that is likely responsible for atrocities against her people. On the other hand, he certainly can't hurt anyone now. "We're not stealing anything," Ida says, to Claude. "Let the ARM do its work." She realizes, then, that she left her sketchpad back in her room. She doesn't remember the last time she sketched something, much less something in the field.
It makes her a little more heartsick.
"That he was buried at all is an oddity," Ida says. Odd enough to make you feel guilty about plundering it. What was it you said to Zed? 'They're just a bunch of dead monsters?'
"We've got to seal it again," Ida murmurs. The last thing she wants is looters taking advantage of this.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude stares at Ida, his head tilting a little. "Um... why?" he asks. "You're treating this like it's... like it's the Church of your Granny or whatever," he says, then looks at Talise. "You too. If I understand this right, didn't this guy kill like a million people?" Claude asks, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Aren't his buddies trying to do the same thing? Why do we care what happens to him, like, at all?"
Claude C. Kenny: has a lot of questions.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Yeah, we're not gonna loot a tomb, Claude," Talise says firmly. "Even if he was Filgaia's enemy. Some things you just don't do."
She pushes her fingers through her hair and sighs. "It has nothing to do with what he did. It's just that cleaning out a man's burial place is a real asshole thing to do."
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
The tricorder interrupts the moment, with a soft beep. It isn't a beep of finding something about the scan. It is a beep alerting Claude to something else: to the transmission of a radio signal. Which might be when Claude catches sight of something else: a flash of red, from the door that slid only partway into the ceiling. It shines out into the cave, repeatedly, and there is a distinct pattern to it.
Then, there is a flash of blue.
The clink-clank of metal armored feet on the floor echo on the stone outside. By the time they turn, he can be seen: Siegfried walks, with a hurried pace, from the entrance of the cave -- which he teleported directly into. His hand slides back over his shoulder, grabbing the hilt of the Dark Spear. He unslings Glumzambor off his back, and his eyes lift. They reflect the dim light of the cavern, shining red.
The Quarter Knight looks ahead -- and stops in the room, in time to see a few things. He sees Claude's tricorder, flashing and beeping. He sees Ida and Talise, standing over Enkidu's corpse. His eyes widen, with raw, pure shock -- and then narrow. And then, he bellows.
"What--what are you DOING HERE!?" No, it isn't a bellow. It isn't something they have heard from Siegfried before.
It is a scream.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny opens his mouth to defend his position, since as Drifters they kind of loot tombs all the time, except many of them are robot tombs, but then his tricorder beeps. It's a weird beep, and not one he recognizes, because who the hell uses radio, so he pulls it out to look at it.
And then a Quarter Knight appears. Command?
> Fight
Run
Item
.....
Fight
Run
Item
> Talk?
"We were, uh... looking for Roy," Claude says, his hand drifting down toward his sword blade. "Is that him? he asks. "Did the robot tiger finally get him?"
He is helping.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise seems like she's about to say something else, but before she can actually do anything, she's cut off by the chitter of the tricorder. And then -
Red and blue lights flicker. The hairs begin to rise on the back of the swordswoman's neck as those metallic footsteps echo off the walls, hitting her sharp, half-elfin ears a little more sharply than most. She begins to turn.
When she does, she finds herself face-to-face with something she really did not want to see tonight.
Her right hand clenches up but she forces herself not to do it - not to go for her sword or her gun. It's one of the harder things she's ever had to do. Clenching her shoulder up, she tenses visibly as she resists the urge to make it a fight, even though a part of her realizes that trying to reason with a screaming Quarter Knight who views her as subhuman even when he's not blind with rage is probably going to end up with punches being thrown regardless of what she does.
"We were leaving," she says tensely, her shoulders coming up as she throws Ida a glance before fixing her eyes on Siegfried. "We saw the name Enkidu on a mural and we followed the clues to get here, not realizing it was a tomb. That's all!"
Please please please have enough brain left to process reason, Talise's mind begs.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Their behavior has been barbaric," Ida says, "but that doesn't mean we must stoop to their level." She pushes down the memory of oh-so-gently extracting a Metal Demon War-era rifle from the hands of a corpse. Another memory surges up to replace it--Kalve putting a hand overtop a poster advertising a relic, a preserved Demon hand. Comparing. "And besides--" A flash of red catches her eye, and she trails off, looking up at the door. Was it doing that a moment ago? Ida's brow furrows, and her eyes narrow as she looks over to Claude. "Claude, what does your--" Ida turns back towards the door. Her eyes go wide. Her heart leaps into her throat, as if trying to escape her body. She raises both hands to shoulder-height, opening them as if demonstrating she's unarmed. Claude says something that makes absolutely no sense, which means he's operating within standard Claude parameters.
"We're not here to steal from him," Ida says, her voice wavering. A tiny part of her thinks back to when she was ten years old, and got caught trying to extract a prized kite from a trellis on the side of another family's manor-compound. Another tiny part of her hears Siegfried make a sound she's never heard him make before, and twists. Startled. He's startled. Is he scared?
"Outside," Ida says. "Let us all--go outside, and then we can discuss this."
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
The way that Siegfried's head snaps to the left to look at Claude is, perhaps, a curious thing. At first, there is no anger when Claude says that he is looking for 'Roy.' There is a flash of confusion, a slight uncurling of his mouth in that enraged snarl, and he looks briefly dumbfounded.
His eyes shift. First, he looks towards Talise. 'Leaving,' she says. Then, he looks forwards Ida. 'We're not here to steal from him.' He looks at them, and his expression shifts. He is certainly not frightened; there is only one human that frightens Siegfried, and Id is nowhere to be seen today. His eyes regard them, and his lips work, and his expression is human.
The sort of human that they might know; the sort of human expression rarely, if ever, seen on a Metal Demon's face. Sorrow.
"No," he answers, and his voice is calm. It is steel. "You are not leaving. And there is nothing to discuss." He turns his head, to look directly back at Claude. The Dark Spear falls down to the floor, the blade catching the rock of the cave, and leaving a groove in it. "I never knew how to give him the proper tribute. To adorn the walls of this tomb, as humans would. But we are not human, whatever Riesenlied would pretend at. And looking at you, now... I know."
He looks up, and the sorrow is still there -- but it mixes with something greater, something familiar. Rage shines in his inhuman, metallic eyes, as he bares his teeth. "You come into his tomb! You come to desecrate his body, to turn him into a weapon to kill us with! And you have the temerity--"
Though he is not Lady Harken, Siegfried can move quickly when he must. He does here. First, a blast of light explodes off Glumzambor. It rockets outward in two fangs across the ground, to intercept Ida and Talise both. The energy explodes in a burst, before the Quarter Knight bolts across the ground in the time it takes to finish his sentence. His hand comes up, and grabs Claude Kenny by the throat so hard that it makes breathing hard.
He tries to slam Claude back into the wall, hard enough to daxe. But that isn't the greatest danger -- that would be the forearm cannon that pops out, when the armor plate rises, and the barrel of it gleams dangerously, only centimeters from Claude's chin.
"--TO LIE TO ME INSIDE MY BELOVED'S TOMB?!"
VICTORY CONDITION: None.
GS: Siegfried has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Hyadean Martial Arts! GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Hyadean Martial Arts for 156 hit points! GS: Siegfried has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Energy Wave! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Energy Wave! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Siegfried's Energy Wave for 77 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Energy Wave for 111 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
It is amazing, the things that can save your life.
Claude C. Kenny does not actively think this - it's difficult to think when you're short on air and a few seconds away from an extremely painful death - but the truth is nonetheless the same. If Siegfried had stabbed at his heart with the giant blade-spear or shot at him with the arm cannon, he'd have been in trouble. If the Quarter Knight had grabbed his head and squeezed, his life might already have been over.
But instead Siegfried went for the choke. So the Metal Demon, who outsizes the human considerably, is left with a sort of three-fingered grip that Claude just barely managed to get a couple fingers under. In addition, Siegfried has pressed him up against a wall, which means Claude has a surface against which his back - and, now, his feet - can be pressed to exert force. So that's two.
The third is, simply, that Claude C. Kenny is the son of Ilia Silvestri-Kenny: an accomplished martial artist, a qigong practitioner, and the kind of taskmaster who gunnery sergeants would discuss in hushed tones as 'maybe going a bit too far.' For most of a decade, she drilled her only son in the only kind of discipline he valued, and understood. And so Claude's right hand flickers up to press Siegfried's cannon arm away as, with feet, back and a couple of fingers, he forces the Quarter Knight's hand off his throat. He has the grip, he has the leverage. It still takes everything he has. But it's enough, and he lives to see another second.
And because he is indeed Ilia Silvestri's son, he uses that second to attack - even as the sweet taste of oxygen is coursing through his lungs - dashing past Siegfried, and unloading a blazing right hand at the Metal Demon's abdomen on the way by.
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Siegfried with Knuckle Burst! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Lightning bares the fangs of the Quarter Knight's anger.
"Damn it, that's not why we're here!" Talise shouts, though she knows all too well that it's futile and Siegfried has made up his mind. She shoulders into the explosion and lets her chainmail soak up the worst of it, but the force of it is still huge, blowing her back a few metres and leaving trenches behind where her bootheels dug into dust and crumbled rock. Talise crosses her arms to shield herself and opens her mouth to say something--
'--INSIDE MY BELOVED'S TOMB?!'
Talise's eyes immediately go wide as she's hit by a realization she never thought she would be hit by. "Your--" she starts.
She looks back towards the metal corpse lying on the bier, then back to the infuriated Quarter Knight, cold horror settling in. As if confirming it for herself, she snaps her head back again to stare at what's left of Enkidu, then back once more, at Siegfried.
Talise closes her mouth and swallows the lump in her throat; it merely sinks back into her stomach like a sickening weight. Even prayer won't get her, Ida and Claude out of this anymore.
Nothing might.
"We had no idea," she growls, not much heart in her tone - in fact she sounds downright apologetic even as she begins to dash to the side. Stiff fingers slide a few shells into her shotgun, then grasp it, pumping once and swinging it forward. "And I'm sure we'd gladly leave if you would just calm down for five seconds! I'm not so dishonourable that I'd loot your boyfriend's corpse!"
She swings her gun up, and fires off a blast of buckshot towards Siegfried the moment she can get a clean shot past Claude.
GS: You do not meet the minimum Force required for that attack. GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Shotgun Wedding! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Claude C. Kenny's Knuckle Burst for 45 hit points! GS: Break! Statuses applied to Siegfried! GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Shotgun Wedding for 63 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
For a moment, Ida wonders if Claude has unintentionally bought them some time--if she can make it to the door in that brief moment of confusion. Siegfried's expression changes, though, into one Ida was absolutely not expecting from him. Rage, yes. Accusations, yes--and helpless anger rises in response to them--but not sorrow.
A lance of light blasts across the roughly-hewn floor. Ida leaps to the side a second too late, and gets clipped by the energy wave, which detonates a second after it hits. The blast lifts Ida off her feet and sends her tumbling back, skidding across the rocky floor. One hand twists into a claw, and she drags it along the floor to arrest her movement--she can feel her nails tearing from the effort. When she rises, burn marks mar her white shirt. Her overcoat flutters, the Galadian coat-of-arms with the white lotus of fallen House Raye of Arctica glimmering in the light.
Ida's jaw goes slack. Her heart does a little flip. The multitool she's carrying in a coat pocket suddenly feels a whole lot heavier now. Siegfried chokeslams Claude into a wall, and Ida watches him struggle. "CLAUDE!" Ida screams. She takes three long, leaping steps across the room before flinging herself at Siegfried, motes of golden chi glowing around her fist. She drives her hand hard at Siegfried's gut, a blow meant more to help Claude free himself than to inflict damage.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Siegfried with Body Blow! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Body Blow for 115 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Siegfried's anger is in rare form. It is the sort of anger that, once unleashed, refuses to abate. It blinds him metaphorically, but there is also a clarity to every action. Whatever the Hyadean equivalent to adrenaline is, he feels it. His surroundings are super real; every detail noticed, every movement registering. That the same anger hardens his heart to the point that words simply fail to reach him.
Claude slams the arm cannon upward and breaks from his too-large grasp. His fingers curl about nothing, and then he comes in. A hand slams into his chest armor, knock him backward. It does not hit with enough force to knock him back as far as it seems to, though. Rather, Siegfried walked himself backward. Clarity.
He lunges forward, the Dark Spear in one hand. He slams it at Claude in a brutal stab before tearing it backward. Eyes full of murder, he spins to face Talise. The shotgun shells slam into him as he charges forward, flattening against dents they smash into the nightmare armor. Then, the Quarter Knight slashes Glumzambor down in a brutal slash across the front of her.
"Do not speak to me of HONOR!" he screams down at Talise, even as he whirls. He rushes to meet Ida midway through her rush, his feet carrying him to her. He snarls, swinging his blade down to chop across her midsection. Then, he takes a few steps back -- putting them all in front of him. Despite his rage, there is control in his movements.
GS: Siegfried has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Dark Spear! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Nemesis Cleave! GS: Siegfried has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Shadow Slash! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair critically Guards a hit from Siegfried's Nemesis Cleave for 25 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny critically Guards a hit from Siegfried's Dark Spear for 21 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Shadow Slash for 58 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny's first teacher kept him alive bare seconds ago. Two men keep him alive now.
The first is his mother's companion, the Fellpool Roddick Farrence. Edarl Blade Arts originated on the planet Roak, and in the modern era had become more of a performance art than a school of combat. And despite having returned the style to its original roots, Roddick's first lesson to his only disciple was the same one that had been drilled into him at a young age. Drawing the sword was to the Edarl School as the first act was to Shakespeare - the basis for the performance that was to come. And so for years, Claude's lessons would begin by drawing the sword: from every angle, draw the sword. From every position, draw the sword. Using either hand or both, draw the sword. At every speed imaginable, draw the sword, until the motion was clear and perfect no matter the situation.
And so even half-choked and desperate, Claude C. Kenny draws the sword in a single, fluid, perfect arc, bringing it up into a third position guard without thinking.
The second man is the smith Gamgee, one of the true living artists of the blade still living on the surface of Filgaia. During the Lacour Tournament of Arms, Gamgee granted his patronage to a single man: Dias Flac, a swordsman whose name is already becoming legend. Dias, following his opening-round match with the Boy From Earth, suggested that Claude would perhaps be worthy of the master's lesser works. And so when he accompanied Rena Lanford to the old man's home, he found himself gifted with a single-edged, curved blade and the offhand suggestion that he might grow into it someday.
And thus, in the tomb of the forgotten knight, folded steel meets the Dark Spear. Sparks fly and metal sings. The blade holds.
The guard does not, quite; Claude twists to his left and down, but the spearpoint nicks a crimson line just above his collarbone. The blonde swordsman lashes out a counterstrike, but a powerful spin takes the Quarter Knight away before the blow can land. As Siegfried rushes Ida, Claude sucks in another breath through his aching throat and lets loose a battle cry. He swings his arms as he moves, lashing out with three dancing cuts, each of them firing a vacuum blade toward the leader of the Quarter Knights. As Siegfried pivots to face them all, Claude fires a fourth, aiming at the Metal Demon's centre mass.
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Siegfried with Air Slash! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
There's a part of Talise that can't help but admire the way the Quarter Knight pours his anger into that all-consuming conviction - a conviction that goes beyond his faith, beyond his belief, into an utter certainty that his path his righteous and his blade guided by a decision that needs no justification. No justification save that it is a decision made by Siegfried, and therefore the right decision.
At least, the right one for him. She's more than happy to second-guess it - especially as Siegfried comes bearing down on her, brandishing that massive blade. Her hope of making this fight a distance war is simply thwarted - thwarted by the close quarters, and by the way Glumzambor seems to thirst for her blood.
She lets her shotgun swing to the side - and there's a sudden crash of steel as Glumzambor locks up with Rastaban. Talise's weapon, even being a two-handed broadsword, is dwarfed by the Quarter Knight's, but she somehow manages to lock the big knight up, her shoulders and arms straining as she pours her natural strength into withstanding a blow that ought very well to cut her in half.
Only when Siegfried wheels away is Talise hurled backwards, staggering a few feet, but whipping her sword back into a defensive stance - only to start forward again as the big warrior takes a whack at Ida.
Anger boils up from Talise's gut suddenly. Ida - who's had her own problems with the Quarter Knights.
Talise has lost enough friends already.
"Ida!!" she shouts with alarm, her voice suddenly taking on a note of fire. She surges forward, taking the centre of the group's little formation and attacking head-on, swinging Rastaban with a series of furious blows aimed to try and break down Siegfried's guard and punish him with a barrage of slashes across the chest. Mostly she's trying to take his attention off of Ida and focus it on her.
"Bastard," she growls as she swings. "You're not the only one who's lost people... and I won't lose anyone else!!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Infinitely Rippling Stream! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Claude C. Kenny's Air Slash for 89 hit points! GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Infinitely Rippling Stream for 81 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida sees Siegfried whirl, sees him drive Glumzamber forwards in a strike meant to catch her across the midsection. She steps back, twists back at the waist, turns the motion into something almost acrobatic--a backwards bend. Siegfried's spear carves a bright red line across the white fabric of her shirt, and even that glancing impact sends fresh spikes of pain through wounds made by Berserk mere days ago. Ida collapses onto the floor--or at least looks like she does. She braces palms and soles against the rock and shoves herself to her feet, sucking in a breath of chi as she does. Talise screams her name. Ida grits her teeth, fights back the urge to say she's all right. She's not. None of this is all right.
Talise is positioning herself to take the brunt of Siegfried's aggression, and is irrational as the thought is, it rankles. Talise doesn't want to lose anyone else, but it should be her. It should be her, the descendant of Luisa Rey, the woman who helped put so many of these monst
people
in the ground.
Ida's lips peel back from her teeth. Motes of chi glimmer around Ida's eyes as her hand twists into a claw-shape, momentarily becoming as hard as steel. Siegfried doesn't have much exposed flesh on him, but there are always ways to get through something's armor. That's what Jackie taught her. Ida takes a risky shot, striking at the back of Siegfried's wrist with a ragged-nailed, chi-reinforced hand. That is not the end of it.
Ida steps in closer, puts all her weight behind her right knee, and drives it upwards.
"And if that don't work," says a distinctly unhygenic man, one of the few remaining students of Luisa's lineage, "hittin' 'em in the junk always works."
Jackie Sayo is not nearly the same kind of tutor Roddick Ferrance is. Maybe a bit closer to Ilia.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Siegfried with Unladylike Fisticuffs! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unladylike Fisticuffs for 25 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
It is a rare blade that can hold against the Dark Spear Glumzambor. In another circumstance, Siegfried would express his approval. He is already away from Claude, breaking the parry, and he sees the Air Slash whipping in. He throws a hand out, and the blade of air breaks across that too-large palm, splitting in two directions about the Quarter Knight's fist.
Then, Siegfried turns. Glumzambor is a massive weapon, but it moves like lightning in his hands. Many of Rastaban's furious blows are met, the two great blades clashing repeatedly in a spray of sparks -- though a couple of those rough hews get through, slashing deep into the armor of the Quarter Knight. He is interrupted, though, by Ida. She slams her fist down into his wrist. Armor crunches; his sword is driven away, before he can counterstrike. And then Ida's knee comes up.
So with his now freed hand, he shoves her back roughly before it can connect.
"You think to lecture me of your losses? Your losses mean nothing to me! What is a scattering of years before a millennium of loss!" he snarls. Light gathers and grows around his armor, the various ARMs in it flashing. Then, a ring of light explodes out from around him -- and slams towards the lot of them in one great, furious blast.
Some of the l
GS: Siegfried has attacked Siegfried with Warbringer! GS: Siegfried has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
It is a rare blade that can hold against the Dark Spear Glumzambor. In another circumstance, Siegfried would express his approval. He is already away from Claude, breaking the parry, and he sees the Air Slash whipping in. He throws a hand out, and the blade of air breaks across that too-large palm, splitting in two directions about the Quarter Knight's fist.
Then, Siegfried turns. Glumzambor is a massive weapon, but it moves like lightning in his hands. Many of Rastaban's furious blows are met, the two great blades clashing repeatedly in a spray of sparks -- though a couple of those rough hews get through, slashing deep into the armor of the Quarter Knight. He is interrupted, though, by Ida. She slams her fist down into his wrist. Armor crunches; his sword is driven away, before he can counterstrike. And then Ida's knee comes up.
So with his now freed hand, he shoves her back roughly before it can connect.
"You think to lecture me of your losses? Your losses mean nothing to me! What is a scattering of years before a millennium of loss!" he snarls. Light gathers and grows around his armor, the various ARMs in it flashing. Then, a ring of light explodes out from around him -- and slams towards the lot of them in one great, furious blast.
Some of the light stays, glowing and gathering around him, and then infuses him.
GS: Siegfried takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Warbringer for 0 hit points! GS: Lock and State! Statuses applied to Siegfried! GS: Restore! Siegfried clears debuffs from Siegfried! GS: Siegfried has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Sieg Impulse! GS: Siegfried has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sieg Impulse! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Sieg Impulse! GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Siegfried's Sieg Impulse for 119 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny guards a hit from Siegfried's Sieg Impulse for 96 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Sieg Impulse for 115 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Siegfried's open palm slams into Ida's chest, and shoves. The air rushes from her lungs, and she tumbles across the stone again, slamming shoulder-first into the wall. Spots flicker before her eyes as she gasps for breath, Siegfried's voice echoing in her mind.
'Your losses mean nothing to me!'
Idiot girl. You came to this place seeking glory, and now you're going to die. You deserve--
Ida tastes iron and copper, realizes that when she hit ground, she bit her cheek hard enough to draw blood. She scrambles to her feet again, and breaks for the cave entrance. "Shut up and RUN!" she roars, to Talise. That's all they can do. The same, treasonous part of her that's been whispering those thoughts whispers that Siegfried would be perfectly justified in cutting you down, wouldn't he?
The shockwave explodes just as Ida reaches the tomb's entrance, sends her flying for what feels like the tenth time today. She rolls with the blast, letting it carry her--she forces herself to suck in a breath, picturing it as golden light reinforcing her too-weak human flesh. The bleeding along her stomach starts to slow. She can see again. She still goes tumbling, but this time, she gets up quicker.
"RUN, YOU IDIOTS!"
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Iron Body Cultivation! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Iron Body Cultivation for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny might have more to say about how the nature of things that are fleeting means they are felt all the more intensely, but he's neither smart nor well-read enough to think of them in the first place. Besides which, the most pressing thought on his mind is how much he wishes Rena was here right now, because his ass is getting stomped.
The Boy From Earth slams his foot into the stone and sends up a wall of stone that partially deflects the blast of power. But it can't stop it entirely, and spears of light carve through the rock and blaze into Claude's body. He staggers backward, sucking in air as he steadies himself. They're losing this fight. He's going to have to do something.
"What, you think I give a damn?" Claude barks from behind his pocked wall of stone. "You're sad because one guy you loved died, and that's supposed to make me sad? I kind of don't give a crap!" he opines. "Because even though you know what it's like to lose somebody, you still sort of murdered thousands of people in Adlehyde?" he points out. "Including the king, who Cecilia loved, even though she gave you the Teardrop you claimed you wanted! But we're only human, so our feelings and emotions don't count or whatever!"
Claude whirls, carving a line through his tone wall, and then he starts punching pieces of it in the Quarter Knight's direction. "I don't know why these two are sympathetic to you, really!" he adds between punches. "You're basically just a giant hypocritical monster dickbag!"
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Siegfried with Meteor Palm! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried guards a hit from Claude C. Kenny's Meteor Palm for 104 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
In Talise's mind, Ida hasn't been alright for months, no matter how much she doesn't want to say so out loud. She's tough as nails, to be sure. But not quite alright.
But then, none of them are alright. Her weapon clashes with Glumzambor and makes it through a few times, but soon enough Siegfried's shouting at her again. Emotions roil in the pit of her stomach; she grits her teeth but can't find words that don't feel selfish and hollow.
More than that, the light is coming - furious power that pounds towards the swordswoman with the pressure of an anger beyond anything mankind could muster. With a shout, Talise shields herself with her sword and her other arm, but trying to parry a wave of light is useless; all she can do is hunker down and hold on, so bright and so widespread is that furious blast. The drape of her coat snaps backwards, fabric scorching off of it; the chainmail under her tunic jingles, several links popping free. Driven to her knee by the sheer force, she's finally hurled backwards, slamming into the ground shoulder-first with an explosive gasp.
Escape is beginning to sound really, really good. Sadly it's not near at hand, and all she can do is roll off to one side with a groan. Pain shoots through her left arm, but she forces herself to bear it.
Talise's urge towards sass dies at the top of her throat, overridden by her urge to survive. Ida starts shouting at her.
Claude does not. Talise clicks her teeth together.
Something Rosaline tolds her bubbles to the front of her mind.
I suppose that's because we look to you for guidance sometimes. You often seem to know what to do next. But no one always does, do they?
"Claude!" she shouts. "Get ready to book it!"
Barreling forward through the the chunks of stone Claude's punching at Siegfried, Talise swings her shotgun into play. She squeezes down the trigger and starts pumping round after round out of the weapon, buckshot erupting towards Siegfried again and again. Muzzle flash echoes through the chamber, the boom of each shot ringing off the walls of Enkidu's tomb.
Some of the buckshot is sailing perilously close to the dead Metal Demon. Talise doesn't seem to notice. Instead she's loading more rounds and barreling forward. "You fucking idiot!" she roars at the Quarter Knight, letting her anger go. "It doesn't even occur to you that you have anything in common with us, does it?!" Another round of buckshot erupts from the gun. "My life is short, but it's my life and it matters!!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Slam Fire! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Slam Fire for 98 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Siegfried is slammed into by the pieces of stone that Claude punches. The stone, shorn from the wall, smashes into his chest, and then a piece into his helm. Both fall away with a terrific clang and a spray of sparks, as the Quarter Knight stumbles backward. Wild, furious eyes -- gleaming a metallic red -- dart between Ida and Claude, before they settle on Claude.
"In that one respect, you are correct! Your feelings, your dreams, your hopes, your hearts--NONE OF THAT MATTERS BECAUSE YOU'RE NOTHING BUT HUMAN!" the Quarter Knight roars with rage. His fury is distracted, though, as the shotgun blasts slam into him repeatedly. Armor is chipped away, and he turns, his teeth bared. His face is a mask of rage and pain, behind the armor, as he looks at Talise. "How many of you damn humans must I kill before you start FINISHING THE JOB FOR ME!"
The rage grows.
He swings his blade in two strokes at the air, and light ripples free from it. It flashes black and white; it flashes cyan, blue, yellow, and green. Arcs of terrible energy lash out, slicing for Ida and Talise alike, before Siegfried comes barreling straight towards Claude. He leaps into the air, swings his sword over his shoulder. Light flashes; there is a terrible silhouette, before he carves his blade down with one fell sweep at the boy from Earth's midsection.
GS: Siegfried has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Blue Destiny! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair critically Guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 38 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny critically Guards a hit from Siegfried's Blue Destiny for 36 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 95 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Talise and Ida are screaming to run. They want to get the hell out of here, so they can live to fight another day. But Claude does not see a reason to worry about fighting another day - they're already fighting here, now, with three people against the leader of the Metal Demons. No soldiers, no bodyguards, no civilian casualties to worry about. Just them, and him.
So he draws in a breath, sets his feet, and raises his sword.
Siegfried barrels in and brings his sword down, threatening to carve Claude in two. There is nothing the Boy from Earth could do to block that blow, delivered with this force from this opponent. And so he doesn't try - he deflects it instead, in a picture-perfect twisting deflection, that slams into the descending Glumzambor from the side, hard, and turns it away to smash into the floor of the tomb, where it throws jagged chunks of stone and blazing flame across Claude's legs. It hurts, but he takes it, because every fiber of his being is focused on whirling around, bringing Gamgee's sword shrieking up in a glistening, crescent-moon arc.
Or at least on giving the impression that this is what he's doing.
The feint stops suddenly, and Claude moves back a single step, his body lowering as his right hand releases the hilt of his sword and dives into his jacket. It comes out holding what appears to be the odd, featureless hilt of a bladeless sword, that flashes forward until it is aimed at the Quarter Knight's centre mass. Siegfried may recognize it for what it truly is, and he has two second's worth of draw to react. Claude hopes with all his being that it's not enough.
"At least one more," he says, then pulls the trigger, at which point the phase gun erupts in a blade of blazing light.
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Siegfried with 'Sword' of 'Light'! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Claude C. Kenny's 'Sword' of 'Light' for 108 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
It should be me. It should be me. It should be me. The thought echoes through Ida's mind like a mantra, not quite the same tone as the self-destructive thoughts, but uncomfortably close. Dying at the hands of a Quarter Knight feels uncomfortably like redemption to it. It wasn't just one person," she says. "It was so many of them, wasn't it?" Damn it, Ida thinks, stop talking. You bloody idiots, stop talking. Let her. "It was your cohort. Enkidu, Fafnir--how many others?" Ida remembers what her mother told her about the Etones she once served with. Brother Vance, Sister Mei, Brother Li. All of them are dead, and that's just the ones Flora told her daughter about. "Killing us won't bring them back, and you know it." Ida's voice is dry, and tight. The wave of sickly negative light races towards her, and she throws up her arms to guard, her coat-sleeves falling to her elbows. The energy singes into her, leaving paired burns across both her forearms, exposing the flow of energy beneath her skin. "But that's not what you're after."
"And Luisa survived," Ida says, "survived to have--us. Descendants." Claude pulls out something that looks like a sword, but isn't. Ida knows what it is, now--knows what it has to be. She looks away because there's no way she can look at it without being blinded--but Siegfried endures it, as he has done in the past. "And now, it all starts again." Ida told the others to run, but she's been moving back towards Siegfried this entire time, walking with a slow, steady purpose--or at least the illusion or purpose. She curls her right hand into a fist, and the chi positively boils off of it, responding to her rage. "FACE ME!" Ida screams. She hopes it sounded less desperate than it did in her head. Either way, she takes one step, and then another, and then launches herself into the air.
Ida twists in mid-air, launching into a spinning backfist directed at Siegfried's head. She lands, strikes low, a left jab aimed at his gut. The jab turns into a short, staccato drumroll of punches, shaky and unpracticed but dangerous nevertheless. Overwhelming force is the order of the day.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Siegfried with School of the Demon Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Siegfried takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's School of the Demon Fist for 154 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I've got a little more than human in me!" Talise snarls irrationally. A little flash of Tanin de Gianfair's leonine pride and anger show through her daughter for just a moment.
It is not the rage shining through. The Negative Rainbow radiates out, furious and dreadful.
Talise drops her shotgun, spent as it is, and reverts to her sword. With a loud roar, she sweeps Rastaban out towards those arcs of terrible energy -- and with improbable force, those coils of shining light slam into the silvery blade. Rainbow light bleeds past the sword in searing splinters, slashing at Talise's mail and cutting at her face, leaving a few little cuts across her cheeks; blood drips from them across her cheekstripes. Her muscles scream soundlessly under the sheer strain she's putting upon them, as though she's trying to physically hold back a tsunami. The bulk of the energy, though, collects against her blade.
With a shout, the swordswoman swings - and she hurls the greater part of those collected arcs to the side. Rastaban's blade shears through them. Light itself divides to either side of the blade. A subtle shimmer hangs in the air - not the shimmer of magic, but of some utterly inconceivable craftsmanship. A normal sword, in the hands of a normal warrior, could not cut light and energy like that.
Explosive light burns through the tomb as Talise stalks down the middle of the explosion, sword sweeping out to one side, then back across her body. Rastaban's blade weaves deliberately, like a cobra waiting to strike its prey. The anger is still there, but it's beginning to focus into something else. The memory of Rosaline's words in her mind seizes ahold of the rage and tempers it into something steely and sharp-edged.
"Feelings matter," she rasps, her voice low and cutting. "Was it something other than love that made you bury this man where he fell? Or did something else die on the battlefield?! Maybe the humanity that's dead is your own humanity, Siegfried!!"
Talise steps to the side and waits, looking on with a certain pride as Ida does her thing. Only when the heir to Luisa is finished does Talise move to follow up.
"You're not capable of anything but hate anymore, are you?!" Talise roars as she ascends, Rastaban coming up high. Power pours through her as she winds up for a heavy blow - and then, like a bladed avalanche, descends, attempting to power her sword through Siegfried with a monstrously hard slash. "HOOOOOOOOOAHT!!!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Savior's Storm! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Savior's Storm for 102 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Siegfried's mental state has not been as sturdy as his mighty armor in this fight. The sight of shotgun blasts coming close to Enkidu's corpse does not help. The Quarter Knight falls for a feint he might not, otherwise. Glumzambor is turned away, slashing into the ground, and Siegfried readies to block the swing upward of Claude's blade. Instead, Claude steps back, and he only has a moment to cry out in surprise. He does not have a moment to summon his own defenses.
A huge lance of light explodes from that strange gun. The energy blast rips through his left side and explodes through the back of the Quarter Knight. Blue-black fluid sprays out, before his healing systems staunch the flow; chunks of armor, flesh that has metal threads woven through it, and stronger metal stuff explode outward as he stumbles.
And then rights himself. Ida is speaking the names of the fallen, the names of his comrades. He ignores them. He bellows out a scream, and then he drives Glumzambor forward. He rams the Dark Spear for the youth's side, trying to impale him in the midsection with it -- and with a twist of his wrists, twist it in his body, and rip it free with a bloody tear. Which is when Ida's fist slams into him, driving him hard to the side, and spins him to face her. Armor is crumpled and dented, as she starts punching him repeatedly. "Yes! They died! They all died for something greater! For Mother, for her glory, for the Filgaia that could be! And your ancestors lived, only to destroy and ruin more with their progeny!"
Another punch comes. Siegfried grabs Ida's wrist, and then drags her forward. At the same time, his other hand slams the Dark Spear forward. He tries to drag her onto the sword, impale her, and then kick her off with a brutal display.
Which is whnen he turns, to face down Rastaban -- able to only see the lingering glow of the lights that Talise cleaved with it. He turns, staring for a moment, and then his lips curl back into a snarl. "I never had humanity! I had something more!" he spits at her. "I will carry on his mission, and if hate is what will carry me, then I will make that hate my own!"
Rastaban comes down. It slams into his shoulder, biting deep. Another gout of black-blue fluid explodes outward, before it stops. The Quarter Knight cries out, then punches a mailed fist for her stomach -- and turns. He grabs Glumzambor with both hands.
And swings his sword at Talise before she flies away, with a batter's swing.
GS: Siegfried has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Azure Cleave! GS: Siegfried has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Blue Destiny! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Blue Destiny! GS: Siegfried has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Guard! GS: Talise Gianfair critically Guards a hit from Siegfried's Blue Destiny for 34 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Azure Cleave for 92 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Siegfried's Blue Destiny for 97 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
A part of Talise's mind notices something she probably should not notice. She files it into a corner of her mind. Better to go down in a fair fight than to do... that.
Siegfried cries out as Rastaban strikes home. Talise whips her weapon back - but not before the massive Quarter Knight frees up a fist and punches her in the stomach. The wind erupts out of Talise's lungs as she crumples around the fist, dropping down to one knee. Her guard is down; Siegfried has a clean shot at her.
Glumzambor ascends, like a guillotine blade being prepped to fall. In the space of that second, Talise can only stare. Thoughts flicker in her vision.
Unpleasant memories.
"You're dead! HIAAAAAH!!!" shouts a sixteen-year-old Talise Gianfair as she swings and swings and swings at a man in heavy platemail and an Althena's Guard tabard.
The tall man chuckles heartily. His blade dances about expertly. Steel and steel meet again and again. Everything she throws at him is simply batted away.
Talise shouts angrily and keeps chopping. The guardsman boredly knocks her weapon aside.
"You're not very skilled, are you?" he asks with the most patronizing smile possible, before swinging and proceeding to beat her to within an inch of her life.
Glumzambor descends, like the sword of God.
And meets metal with a blinding rain of sparks.
"Hate ain't enough," rasps Talise as she begins to push herself up. The enormous weight of Glumzambor locks up with Rastaban; Talise angles her weapon, catching the much bigger sword with part of her crosspiece to try and hold Siegfried in that blade lock. Her aching muscles fire blinding pain through her body. It's like she's on fire. Even with her prodigious strength, holding at bay the greatest of the Quarter Knights is a herculean task.
"Hate ain't ever enough!" Talise snarls, green eyes intense as she stares up at Siegfried across that clash of blades. "Riesenlied realized that... Noeline realized that...! And you...
"...betray the love you shared when all you have in your sheath is empty rage," she hisses through the screech of steel on steel, her voice lowering to an icy cut.
Talise's gauntlets pulse with a sudden surge of power. Voice rising to a shout, she whips Rastaban upwards - and attempts to force Siegfried's immense weapon off to one side. It's a move designed to throw him off-balance.
But she doesn't follow up. Instead she jumps back, panting heavily, before calling out.
"CLAUDE!! IDA!! LET'S GO!!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Siegfried with Know When To Run! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Know When To Run for 0 hit points! GS: Talise Gianfair takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
There is still something viscerally satisfying about feeling a Demon's armor break beneath one's fists. Blood drips down Ida's knuckles, leaving spots of crimson all over Siegfried's breastplate--hardly the first time this has happened. Siegfried grabs her wrist mid-punch, drags her forward, jerking her off her feet like she's nothing more than a ragdoll. She sees what he's trying to do. It could all end right here, with her stabbed through the gut, and the dark thoughts say that she would deserve it. Self-preservation kicks in.
Ida twists to the right at the last second. Glumzamber drags a long, agonizing line across her right side, punches a hole in the back of her overcoat. Blood sluices down her side--that's a wound that's probably going to leave another scar for the collection. Ida sucks the pain deep into her body, feeding it to the fire like Id taught her to with his fists. She can't break this 'Limiter'. All she can do is use what she has for maximum effect.
She can feel herself fading. She needs to run, now. The thought rankles. It really shouldn't.
Ida snatches her arm back as Talise presses the attack, stepping away. She reaches for her spark striker with bruised, bloodied fingers, and fumbles a grenade off her belt as well. She ignites it, lets the fuse cook until there's two seconds left, and chucks it at Siegfried's face. Talise and Claude know what to do.
The magnesium and gunpowder cook off with a blinding white flash and a thunderous explosion, hopefully inches from Siegfried's face.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Siegfried with Flare Grenade! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Flare Grenade for 0 hit points! GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Siegfried!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny is gratified that the phase gun connects, but far less than gratified by how Siegfried not only survives the damned thing, but isn't manifestly hindered by it. He glances briefly at the weapon, wondering if it's malfunctioning or under-delivering for some reason, because the thought that the Metal Demon is tough enough to survive a pure hit from the best that Federation technology has to offer is just not one that occurs to him. This is probably for the best, as it would really, really terrify him.
The Quarter Knight's return thrust is too swift for Claude to avoid, and so he twists his torso around so that the spear connects with his left side, driving into the fabric of his jacket - which immediately hardens and stiffens as the Federation armourweave goes to work. This prevents Claude from being gutted, but does nothing for the impact - a dry crack echoes out as a pair of ribs go, and the young swordsman rolls along the floor, bouncing once before sliding into the wall by the entrance.
If he lives through the next few seconds, Rena will never let him hear the end of this.
Talise's words come wafting slowly through the grey haze of pain, and an actinic flare burns across closed eyelids. With a groan, Claude opens his eyes and slowly pushes himself to his feet, using the wall to prop himself up, his left arm held tightly against his side. The young man grits his teeth as the ladies charge toward him, and he sucks in another steadying breath. "Go," he groans, flecks of crimson staining his teeth, and once Talise and Ida dart through the entrance to Enkidu's tomb, Claude C. Kenny is quick to follow.
On his way out, though, he aims his phase gun at the ceiling above the door and pulls the trigger.
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Siegfried with 'Sword' of 'Light'! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Siegfried takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's 'Sword' of 'Light' for 282 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
Together, Ida and Talise create a distraction. First, Rastaban knocks the mighty Glumzambor to the side. Such a huge weapon, even wielded as skillfully as Siegfried can, has a weight to it that cannot be denied. He twists, moving with it. The Quarter Knight stumbles.
And a flashbang erupts in his face. It throws him backward, and he turns his head -- his eyes shining red through the smoke, as he sees the three of them running. Rage still fills him; rage still drives him to ends that he would not turn, ordinarily. Today, rage makes him seek to cut down a fleeing foe, and he brandishes Glumzambor.
The strange, negative-effect lights of the ARM dance as its eye turns. It twitches, something angry in that gaze. Arcs and fangs of light come exploding out and rush for the three -- even as Claude turns. Siegfried barrels down upon them as the arcs of the Negative Rainbow shoot out to find their targets. Then, the phase gun slams into the top of the doorway.
There is a massive, shuddering explosion. A massive rockslide results, as the cavern wall around the door gives way -- and boulders fall, crushing the Quarter Knight under them.
The arcs of light connect a split second later.
GS: Siegfried has activated a Force Action! GS: Siegfried has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Negative Rainbow! GS: Siegfried has attacked Talise Gianfair with Negative Rainbow! GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action! GS: Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 189 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Talise Gianfair has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Guard! GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 114 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 94 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.
GS: SHIA SURPRISE! Siegfried emerges from the rocks!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
As the last one out, Claude C. Kenny takes a full dose of the energy blast, which sends him hurtling out from the entrance and rolling along the entrance to the tomb, where he (mercifully) falls unconscious.
His strange weapon hangs loosely from one nerveless hand. So that is a thing.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida runs. She can feel the strength ebbing from her muscles, and the horrible burn of exertion setting in. She runs anyway, because the alternative is death, and for some reason, she still does not want to die here. She doesn't so much as glance backwards, so when the Negative Rainbow erupts, the only warning she has is the sound, and the shadows it casts. She twists into a clumsy roll, and the energy wave washes across the side of her face. She can feel her skin burning and blistering from the proximity--a direct hit probably would've taken her head off.
Ida bites back a scream. She falls to the ground mid-stride, and tries to force herself to her feet again.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Ida and Claude make their moves, and Talise makes hers.
She gets the hell out of there, trailing blood behind her. Her body doesn't want to respond after all the punishment she's soaked up.
And then the Negative Rainbow shines once more.
Rocks fall, crumbling down around the Quarter Knight - and the light roars across the three adventurers. Talise, at least, has the benefit of mostly-intact armour under her coat. The wave hits her and hurls her off her feet; she lets out a short cry before hitting the ground with a heavy jingle, coughing up a mouthful of blood as the light burns and tears across the back of her sea coat, scorching and ripping it.
And then it passes. There is momentary silence save for the sound of a few falling pebbles pinging off of Talise's mailshirt.
With a groan, the tall swordswoman pushes herself to one knee, then coughs up a mouthful of dust. "Ida," she groans, looking back with a wince. "Claude."
There they are. One's alive and the other's... well, supposedly alive. Both of them in rough shape, though.
"Don't you two die on me yet," she rasps, letting her gauntlets help her out. She's moving slowly as she limps over to the pair, but eventually manages to do a little hoisting.
At least of Claude. She drapes him over her shoulder like she's a lumberjack carrying a big ol' log. She'll try to help Ida up too, but something tells her Ida's too stubborn to be lugged.
"You okay?" she asks, her voice weighed down by pain and exhaustion.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
They are not alone, within the dark depths of Enkidu's tomb.
There is another here. Waiting. Watching. They exist upon the fringes of this conflict positioned in the shadows best set to avoid drawing attention to themselves. The polished white of unmistakable armor traded in for the drab earthen tones of a hooded cloak that blends them effortlessly in to craggy outcropping from which they hide, and observe. It is not wise to always make yourself known. And sometimes, the best way to hide oneself is in plain sight.
Both of these things are facts the Trial Knight has come to learn well.
So they observe, quietly and unobtrusively. As those Drifters fight. As they fall. As they make a single, last-ditch and clever effort to ward off a superior and enraged foe.
And a small smile curves faintly at pale lips, just as the entire world seems to shake around them.
Beneath cowl and hood, golden eyes fall for a faint, curious moment on Siegfried, on the entombed Enkidu. They consider all that has transpired here, as the rocks start to crash down. Perseverance and rage. Tragedy and determination.
"... hm."
And by the time Talise hoists Claude and Ida past that natural outcropping of rock and mineral, there is nothing there but shadow.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida allows Talise to help her to her feet, but pulls her bloodied hand away as soon as she's able. The side facing Talise is burned--not horrifically, but burned enough that Ida is keeping that eye closed. She can still see out of it. She thinks. She is bleeding and bruised and it's a safe bet she's going to have an entirely new set of bruises to match the ones Berserk gave her.
"No," Ida says. "Nothing is. I couldn't--" She's sure Talise will say something about her not being in this alone, but she just spent the last five minutes throwing herself against an iron wall for nothing. Nothing except survival. She doesn't want to hear it.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Yeaaaah, well. Me either," is all Talise says, her voice rather more drawn and exhausted than usual. Probably because she's bleeding from the mouth and has more than a few visible cuts and burns, leaving little lines of blood running down her cheeks. Much of it has dried.
It's the bruises under the armour that hurt more than anything.
She shifts Claude over her shoulder, wobbling a bit under his weight but soon managing to shift him around enough that she can carry him even in her battered condition. Quietly looking Ida over, she resists the urge to try hoisting her - and the uplifting sentiments just aren't coming right now.
There is only so uplifted Talise can be after getting nearly murdered by an angry man in his lover's crypt. Read: Not much.
"...Let's just get the fuck out of here before something else goes wrong today."