2021-06-25: Violent Surprises

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  • Log: Violent Surprises
  • Cast: Zhang Xiumei, Riley Arwell, Xander Lovell, Eleanor Klein
  • Where: Sylvara Great Woods
  • Date: June 25, 2021
  • Summary: In need of a blood sacrifice, the Fangs try to take the life of what they assume is a perfectly normal traveler. They get two surprises: 1) she's an important friend to someone they've met, and 2) ancient technology hurts a lot.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Zhang Xiumei is meeting Eleanor in the woods outside of town. This is certainly just because they are friends -- just friends, thank you very much -- and certainly because they are not trying to get away from where people might ask questions. She certainly isn't asking questions! If she was asking questions, her life might not be such a Granas and Guardians bedamned mess!

But, she is a responsible clerk, despite this. Which means that she is early.

She isn't quite in her usual garb today -- no skirt, no stockings, no flats -- and instead has long pants on, hiking boots she purchased afrer joining ARMS, and a coat worn over her button-up collared shirt. A red ribbon, tied at her neck, is visible under the coat.

Her green eyes scan about the woods, before she sighs. Her glasses dip down her nose a little; the thin light of the woods, filtered through the high tree branches, reflects off them and hide her eyes for a moment as she looks around. "Aaah, too early," she says. "I really should watch that..."

She might not be dressed as a clerk, but she still has the look of someone. Not so tall, not so armed, and with purple hair in a neat ponytail, she looks like a hiker from the city.

DC: Zhang Xiumei switches forms to Biometal Model AV!
DC: Eleanor Klein switches forms to Crest Sorceress Eleanor!
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Let's just make it quick this time. Nothing fancy. When someone comes along, I'll hold their attention and you just... end them before they know what happened.

Riley is the kind of person who can pretend a plan like that is merciful rather than vile. But they can't afford to play fair with their targets. They've already been stopped once, and the thorns are spreading.

 

The Fangs have been waiting for prey in these woods, and with Xiumei, it looks like they've found an easy target. Alone -- not built or equipped like a warrior. Even if she's got magic, hopefully it will be over before she has a chance to use it.

And so, Riley emerges from the underbrush, grabbing at something on the ground near Xiumei, and then looking dissappointed when his hands come away empty.

He looks up at Xiumei. "Did you see a really weird bug? Like... with a horn kind of thing on its head, and like a million eyes...?" He scans the ground as if trying to see where it skittered off to, hoping she'll follow his gaze.

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Nothing fancy. A clean kill, quick and quiet. That's the hope -- that's the plan. Xander sees the whole thing as entirely vile. It's just that he cannot afford to care.

So he waits for Riley to serve as a distraction, his eyelid twitching a little with the mention of the bug that is very real, did get misplaced, and if Riley found it, would probably finish that sound he started writing for it.

...That would be a better day for everyone than what's about to actually happen.

Xander creeps toward Xiumei from the cover of the woodlands, trying to position himself behind her to grapple onto her from behind before she can see him, yanking her backward.

GS: Xander Lovell has attacked Zhang Xiumei with A Sound From the Shadows!
GS: Xander Lovell has completed his action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Xander Lovell's attack becomes clear!
GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: High! Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Xander Lovell's Foul Play for 120 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

-- and right into the blade of his dagger.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor asks lots of questions. Many, many questions! She is, after all, a sorceress and a scholar. However, she just so happens to ask exactly the right sets of questions so that she doesn't have to think about why her life is kind of a mess. Why focus on that when she could focus on literally anything else?

Eleanor is not a responsible clerk. She is not early; she was delayed, in fact, by having some business at Sylvaland Castle that happened to keep her longer than she'd meant, which means she is merely going to be on time instead of early. At least, that's the theory.

Still dressed partly for diplomacy, Eleanor is in a sturdy enough dress for travel in pink, tall boots her main concession to the woods and ehr hair down and back with a ribbon. She has her usual satchel full of various magical objects and a large rifle ARM on her back, and happens to be moving quietly through the woods at the moment. She is smiling, even, as she turns a corner and comes down the path, some distance away from the figures who are talking about weird bugs. She brightens as she notices Xiumei, starting to wave--

The glint of steel brings her heart to her throat, and she is not nearly fast enough to pre-empt it. The sight of blood is another thing she's not fast enough to prevent. "--"

Suddenly sparkling light rains from the air before a sudden chill wind blows. Shards of ice and snow erupt from the air behind Xander, Eleanor stepping forward and swinging her hand out with the Crest in it without a word beyond, "XIU!"

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Xander Lovell with Boreal Flurry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Xander Lovell takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Boreal Flurry for 121 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Aah--" Xiumei looks up, her eyes lifting to peer at the man who steps from the underbrush. She steps back, her expression alarmed -- not like she feels endangered. (Perhaps she is trusting.) She looks more like she was caught doing something she shouldn't have.

"A--a bug? No, I can't say I did--" Her eyes squint. "Are you--are you hunting bugs? Sorry. I'm Zhang Xiumei, I'm not really from around here, but--"

Xiumei isn't the most attentive to surroundings and details. For better or worse, she is not the only one using her eyes and ears. There is a voice in the back of her mind -- one that picks up on the rustling of branches, one that heard a twig snap -- that speaks softly, feminine, and with alarm: <Xiumei! Behind you! He has a knife!>

Xiumei turns at Avile's warning, whirling just in time to see him grab her. There is a blink, then it starts to happen: a sheen of light that shoots up her body. Her glasses are the first hint, turning into a flicker of light, and whisking away as tiny cubes. Then, with a line of crackling light up her body, her clothing is replaced. Boots with armored greaves; pants and shirt with a mesh-steel black bodysuit, and that's what Xander's knife hits.

It hits hard, hard enough to cut through but not the deep, killing below that he expected. Blood wells -- before the suit forms and pushes the dagger back. She hisses sharply, as she holds a hand towards him. Glove and gauntlet form, then a high-tech handcannon already gripped and aimed at him.

Her green eyes narrow, as a silver-white headpiece forms about her forehead. A gem there and in the white and teal chest armor glow, a brilliant green. And her eyes glow, too; there are faint circuits and patterns, a layer of light laid over her darker green eyes.

She levels the handcannon at him, her eyes narrowed and growing angry. "What is this? Bandits? Is--" Her voice is a barely controlled, angry snap. Then, concern enters her face, as she looks up -- and spots Eleanor. And, as it happens, spots the icy wind that shoots in towards Xander. "Nora!"

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Xander Lovell with Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Xander Lovell takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst for 126 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

The first thing that goes wrong is that Xiumei turns around early. Riley makes an alarmed sound -- kind of an 'ah!' -- trying to call her attention back, but then the second thing goes wrong. She summons armor and weapons onto her body from thin air. That quick killing blow from Xander that Riley was counting on doesn't happen. Instead, she's hurt but still standing, and opening fire on Xander with a hand cannon that didn't even exist just a few seconds ago. Riley jumps to his feet, his eyes going wide as he struggles to process this sudden turn. "What?! WHAT?!"

That's when the third thing goes wrong. A familiar figure steps into view, a familiar voice calling out Xiumei's name.

...It's Eleanor. One of the Drifters he tried to befriend at the Lunatic Garden ruins. And she, too, unleashes an attack on Xander, and suddenly the whole scenario is turned upside down.

"How is this happening again?!"

He scrambles to grab his bow and nock an arrow, and his hand shakes as he draws back the bowstring--the left one is bandaged. But since the Fangs found him, he hasn't depended as much on his aim. He lets a shadow arrow fly, and it corrects its course in midair, relentlessly seeking out Eleanor as it hisses through the air.

GS: Riley Arwell has attacked Eleanor Klein with Homing Arrow!
GS: Riley Arwell has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Zhang Xiumei. Xander tries to etch it into memory, so the grave doesn't have to go unmarked. He commits fully to his attack, no hesitation, except --

His target turns around, flicker of surprise in his gaze as he sinks his blade in. It doesn't land where he expects, and it meets more than the resistance of soft flesh. A chill runs down Xander's spine, and it's more than the realization that this is about to get messier than he or Riley had hoped.

Shards of ice tear into his back like shrapnel, and Xander goes rigid, eye wide and breath caught in voiceless pain. Where did -- ?! Before he can identify that panicked voice calling for his target, Xiumei's a blur of green and white and circuits, barely able to focus to register it before the shot from her handcanon blasts him across the forest floor.

Xander smashes into the earth in an unmoving heap. The earth stirs before he does. Ripples in the underbrush form before tearing apart as thick, thorny vines burst forth. Red buds blossom into flowers filled with rows of teeth, and they dive into the earth to weave through it as if they were serpents in water. They seek out Xiumei to surround her and strike out, trying to crunch their fangs into her to siphon blood -- that which has already spilled, and more, if they can take it.

GS: Xander Lovell has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Hungering Garden!
GS: Xander Lovell has completed his action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei critically guards Xander Lovell's Hungering Garden for 31 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Xander Lovell drains Zhang Xiumei! Xander Lovell gains 16 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein guards a hit from Riley Arwell's Homing Arrow for 84 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor doesn't immediately recognize either Xander or Riley--she's shocked enough that it might be some kind of banditry of indeterminate origin to start. Long combat experience helps her ovtherwise fractured nerves though. "Be careful!" Eleanor calls to Xiumei, noticing her suiting up, the anger--well, of course she's angry.

"What do you mean, happening again!?" Eleanor shouts back at Riley, and her eyes widen as she starts to recognize him. "Wait--this is--"

The shadow arrow flies towards her, and while Eleanor would love to dodge it, she sees it homing in on her. It hisses through and she swings around to block it with the rifle she holds in both hands, the arrow nevertheless dragging across her arm and bloodying her sleeve. "You--"

Xander falls, and the earth stirs. Eleanor stares for half an instant before she reaches into her bag and calls out, "This has to be some kind of mistake! What are you doing!?"

She pulls out a bunch of Berries that she lifts into the air, and glowing light bursts forth from between them, light sparkling down over herself and Xiumei to try to buy a few more moments.

"Don't you recognize me? We met before, at the ruins!"

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Eleanor Klein! She gains 110 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Zhang Xiumei! She gains 110 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"You should learn," Xiumei snaps over her shoulder at Riley, "that some people have some surprises! Especially before you try to murder them!"

Her eyes widen -- she follows the arrow that is loosed towards Eleanor, and her eyes widen sharply as she sees it fly in and hit. "Nora! Hold on!" she calls out, before she turns her head. From her to Xander, just in time for Xander to come at her.

Or, rather, to send those strange, fanged plants at her. They lunge, teeth striking her side -- but the bodysuit is armored and sealed over the wound, and only a little blood is drank from it. She yanks back quickly, turning her gun down.

She fires a shot into the flowers, before she turns towards Riley. "Nora, you know them?" she asks, as she feels sparkling light fall over her; soothing her, mending some of her wounds. She takes a breath, and then her eyes are on Riley. Close onto him, she thinks. Her handcannon vanishes, into so many cubes of data-light.

In its place, her sword appears: cylindrical handle, then with a buzzing sound, a white-green blade. Xiumei reels her arm back, then snaps it outward. The blade of energy turns into a whip. It slashes across him with a static-like noise -- and a burning sensation, if it hits.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Riley Arwell with Pulse Whip - Extend-Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Riley Arwell guards a hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Whip - Extend-Slash for 99 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

This has to be some kind of mistake! What are you doing!?

"It is absolutely a mistake, but I think we're committed now!" There's a bitter edge to Riley's voice, but who is he even angry at? The universe? Himself?

"Gah, what is even the quick version of this -- we're here to steal your friend's life to give as a sacrifice to an evil god! And I'd like you to stand down and let us, because we're so charming and likeable, and it'll be our lives if it isn't hers! But I doubt you'll be interested in that, so here we are trying to kill you, too! Isn't this great!"

He grits his teeth as he tries to steady his hand, and looses another arrow at Eleanor. This one doesn't seek her out, but instead suddenly splits into three as it gets close, the target area fanning out across more of her body.

Xiumei warns him to expect surprises if he's going to go around making attempts on people's lives.

"What? --No! We did consider surprises. That -- what you did -- was ridiculous! Where did all of that COME from?!" She lashes toward him with a sword, and he grabs for his dagger to parry -- wait, no, now it's a whip! More surprises. The strange weapon sizzles through him, and he staggers back, his nerves buzzing with pain.

"H-how are you doing, Xander??" He saw him take a lot of fire already, but he's still moving around and summoning scary plants, that's good... how did this go so wrong so fast!

GS: Riley Arwell has attacked Eleanor Klein with Split Arrow!
GS: Riley Arwell has completed his action.
GS: Eleanor Klein fully evades Riley Arwell's Split Arrow for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Xander pulls himself to his feet, hand pressed into his eyepatch while his body trembles. Vines emerge from the lacerations in his back, dangling lifelessly and stained in his own blood... until they absorb it greedily, red clusters of tiny flowers growing in the color's place.

With the familiar sight of Eleanor, he laughs bitterly, then sighs it all out as he looks toward Riley. "I told you... I told you! And you kept insisting we should meet people like this was going to end any other way! Every! Time!" His face contorts into a snarl. "So I'm doing fantastic, thanks!"

His gaze dizzily swings around, landing on Eleanor. "It's survival. Sorry you met us."

Another flash of steel, and Xander lunges toward her with a trail of red petals scattered behind him, trying to sink the blade of his dagger into the space between Eleanor's neck and shoulder.

GS: Xander Lovell has activated a Force Action!
GS: Xander Lovell has attacked Eleanor Klein with Bloodlust!
GS: Xander Lovell has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Xander Lovell has completed his action.
GS: Eleanor Klein guards a hit from Xander Lovell's Bloodlust for 108 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Xander Lovell drains Eleanor Klein! Xander Lovell gains 54 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"???" Definitely a mistake, but committed? Eleanor looks frustrated to start at an answer like that, but Riley manages a quick version all right. Great, indeed. The sorceress watches another arrow loosed at her, and there's a glint of magic at her ankle, a bit of jewelry there suddenly glowing brightly as she spins in place on the ball of one foot. It's much like a dancing step, and it's all that prevents the tripled arrow from sinking into her chest, the magic instead carrying her past all three. "No, I--"

Some people have surprises. Yes, Xiumei has surprises all right. "I'm fine!" she calls to Xiumei, "I can back us up!" And then, "I THOUGHT I knew them!"

She was fine; she said she was fine. Nevertheless, she feels a little nauseous at the vines emerging from Xander's back, and then there is the matter of--

"Hold on! There has to be some way other than--"

Steel flashes, and Eleanor swings her rifle out again like it's a staff to try to block the knife. This time it doesn't work so well; she deflects the blow only enough that it sinks through her shoulder instead of somewhere more immediately fatal, blood spraying back as she stumbles back with a cry of pain. "You--"

It's too close for her to get to her Crests, and far too close for her to fire her weapon, so instead Eleanor stumbles back and puts up a hand. A golden ring on her right hand flashes, the red ruby emblazoned on it suddenly glinting with light as Mystic power surges forward. "We've fought servants of evil gods!"

The spark turns to a flame, a great mass of fire crashing towards Xander from Eleanor's outstretched hand, "If you'd just stop then we might be able to help you--!"

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Xander Lovell with Mystic Ring!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Okay!" Xiumei calls out. "But--but be careful!"

She wheels her head to look back at Riley. "Sacrifice me to an evil god?" Xiumei repeats, more than a little incredulously -- like she must have heard it wrong, like she is surprised they would admit it so openly -- and then she shakes her head sharply. "I have no intention of being sacrificed! This--whatever you're doing... you have to stop it! This isn't right!"

Her expression is stricken. Concerned, really; maybe on the edge of panic. This is a dangerous situation, and made all the more dangerous by the fact that they didn't tell people they would be out here. "It's--it's an artifact of the Zeboim era. Something I borrow from two Reploids, from that time, who can't fight anymore!"

Her head turns -- and her eyes widen, as Xander blitzes by for Eleanor. She cries out, wordless this time, and then she sees the blast of flame. She has to get them off Eleanor, so she charges at Riley. She moves fast, her feet carrying her at a speed no human could do -- and she leaves afterimages, even as she leaps up. Her sword is gripped in two hands; the blade shortens, back into a long sword-sized weapon.

But it curves, slightly, as she carves it down for Riley as she lands. "Stay AWAY from her!"

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Riley Arwell with Pulse Saber - Jump Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Riley Arwell critically guards Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Saber - Jump Slash for 33 hit points!
GS: Xander Lovell guards a hit from Eleanor Klein's Mystic Ring for 74 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Xander Lovell activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

I told you... I told you! And you kept insisting we should meet people like this was going to end any other way! Every! Time!

"It was nice at first! You can tell me all about how you told me so later! Just try to stay alive!"

This--whatever you're doing... you have to stop it! This isn't right!

"We know! We know it isn't right! But Valmar wants blood, and he's taking ours until he gets someone else's life."

There's a wince as Eleanor talks about helping them. "You want to bring us a different victim? The last time someone tried to test the curse for loopholes, things got ugly."

It's--it's an artifact of the Zeboim era. Something I borrow from two Reploids, from that time, who can't fight anymore!

"...Cool, that sounds like some amazing weird Drifter shit, sorry I'm going to kill you before we can chat more about it!"

Xiumei attacks again with her trick blade. This time, instead of trying to parry with his dagger, Riley makes a quick cut across his own arm, spilling out blood in an offering. A great tangle of thorny vines rushes out from the opening in his body that he cut, trying to catch Xiumei's blade. And they don't stop there, twisting around her arm and reaching even for her neck, as flowers begin to unfurl. They emit a strange perfume; even Riley isn't sure exactly what sort of poisonous flowers he called.

GS: Riley Arwell has attacked Zhang Xiumei with See What Blooms!
GS: Riley Arwell has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Riley Arwell has completed his action.
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Riley Arwell's See What Blooms for 87 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Cripple and Drowsy applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

"It isn't right, but neither was the other choice."

Xander slides a half step back as the flames are set upon him. The vines from his back stab into the ground, elongating and emerging to surround him in a wall of thorns. They burn away in place of his flesh, but Xander looks even more pale for the effort. The infestation on his back dries and withers some, and it almost feels like she just did him a favor despite the pain.

The offer for help draws another laugh from Xander, joyless and cracked. He holds his head up in his hand. "Again with that...?! I'm trying to stab you and stab your friend and maybe worry more about yourselves for a second!" He growls. "Besides! I've heard it before! And we don't have time to risk it all again!"

Xiumei tells them about her abilities and Xander balks further. "That's a fascinating story--" that isn't sarcasm, though one would be forgiven for the mistake -- "But you don't owe us that?!"

What are Drifters?!

But Riley's getting Xiumei's focus, and she is apparently using dangerous ancient (fascinating) technology. Xander's snappish demeanor wilts right along with the vines. "Riley --!" He doesn't get there in time, but the momentum carries him through as a pair of branches burst forth from the ground, twisting together to form a shaft, and growing a scythe's blade of dark wood with a chilling aura carrying the scent of flowers laid upon a grave. All of his strength goes into a single, overhead cleave.

Stay away from HIM, he could have snapped back if the hypocrisy wasn't so raw, and -- wait --

...Xander looks back toward Eleanor in the wake of his brutal swing. "...Childhood... friends?"

It doesn't change anything. They're committed, as Riley said. But Xander's breathes in deep, hoping the perfume on his collar can combat the rising nausea. (Xander you're projecting again.)

GS: Xander Lovell has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Reaper's Grudge!
GS: Xander Lovell enters a Counter stance!
GS: Xander Lovell has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Xander Lovell has completed his action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Xander Lovell's Reaper's Grudge for 79 hit points!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Xander Lovell drains Zhang Xiumei! Xander Lovell gains 40 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor would agree that it isn't right, but at first she sticks with the idea that she can talk their way out of this. That seems increasingly less likely as the battle continues; trying to block is all well and good but the longer this goes on...

Valmar. Of course, Valmar. "You don't understand--" A different victim. They've already tried. Of course they've already tried. "No!" she answers, "I can't just--"

Worry more about themselves for a second. Eleanor quiets at that, and not just for that but also for the pain and the blood. And because Xiumei shouts on her behalf. That cry of hers, the way she moves so quickly--"Xiu, I--"

'Childhood... friends?'

It doesn't change anything, does it? But Eleanor sees the two of them, and for a moment is silent but for the rustle of metal against metal as she pulls something else from her bag, and lets her rifle sink down most of the way to the ground.

She sets a strange, coppery flute to her lips instead, and breathes, taking advantage of the space afforded her to begin a haunting, strange tune that shakes in the bones and rattles in the skull, that shields and heals herself and Xiumei while possibly disturbing their opponents. It is a brief song--

Her expression doesn't harden so much as solidify, her golden eyes shining strangely in the light.

"...If that's how it has to be," she says after a couple of bars, but it isn't just the bleeding making her wince.

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Shielding Melody!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Shielding Melody!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein accepts Eleanor Klein's Shielding Melody for 0 hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Quick and Shield applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Zhang Xiumei accepts Eleanor Klein's Shielding Melody for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Cripple and Drowsy removed!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Quick applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Valmar!?" Xiumei calls back. "The--the god of darkness? But--but... there have to be ways to break his control!"

She makes a shocked, gasping noise when she sees how the wound that Riley cuts into himself spill out thorns, vines, and those eerie flowers. The Pulse Saber slams into it -- and she starts cutting into them. The blade burns bright, the plasma field flash-igniting some of the plants to ash...

...but not nearly as many as most foliage, and the vines curl into her armor, thorns stabbing into her black bodysuit. She hisses, yanking her arm backward and tearing free of it.

"He asked!" Xiumei answers Xander with frustration. She turns, looking at him, seeing him rush in -- and his scythe forms. That, she thinks, is a shock; she sees the blade come down. Varius screams in her mind: <MOVE!>

Xiumei moves, stepping back, and the blade cleaves along the front of the armor -- leaving a deep and terrible gouge as she steps backward.

"Hold on, Nora...!" she cries out. Xiumei hears the song playing, sees the look in her eyes, and feels some of her unsteadiness cease. The gems in her chest and forehead glow, brighter, and she snaps up her free hand, and a cross-shaped piece of meta appears. She snaps it out, throwing it at Xander. It blurs, green energy igniting across it, and slashes at him.

That is an effort to distract -- if a painful one -- as she brings up her Pulse Saber. She shouts, wordless -- and then becomes a blur, as she surges forward. A half-leap, a half-charge, and she swings the brightly burning blade out to slash across Xander as she surges forward.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Xander Lovell with Soaring Cross Strike!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has launched an attack Link!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Xander Lovell with Rushing Pulse Blitz!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Xander Lovell has activated a Force Action!
GS: COUNTER! Xander Lovell counterattacks Zhang Xiumei with Counter Attack!
GS: Xander Lovell takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Soaring Cross Strike for 201 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xander Lovell gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
GS: CRITICAL! Xander Lovell takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Rushing Pulse Blitz for 271 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xander Lovell gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Xander Lovell has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: Zhang Xiumei guards a hit from Xander Lovell's Counter Attack for 68 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

The--the god of darkness? But--but... there have to be ways to break his control!

"He's not controlling us, he's in us. We're the hosts of his fangs. That means our souls have been infested. Not even the church could figure out what to do with me except kill me and try to cleanse what was left."

Xiumei sears through the vines with plasma, cutting herself free of the entanglement with Riley, if nothing else.

Eleanor plays her flute -- and seems to resolve herself to what must be done. A coldness settles in Riley's stomach. It's not as if they gave her much reason to choose otherwise. But why couldn't those two versions of themselves have just stayed seperate...? Isn't it a big enough world to be a drifter in one place and a murderer in another?

Xander rushes in to help him, all intensity and trailing vines. Concern flickers over Riley's face as he sees the state he's in, but things are moving too quickly.

While Xander peels off Xiumei, Riley fires off another arrow at Eleanor, letting Valmar guide its flight.

He frowns at Xander's horrified utterance of 'childhood friends.'

He considers the way they've been calling out to one another. "They do seem like a bit of a mirror, don't they..." he mutters.

GS: Riley Arwell has attacked Eleanor Klein with Homing Arrow!
GS: Riley Arwell has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Riley Arwell has completed his action.
GS: Eleanor Klein guards a hit from Riley Arwell's Homing Arrow for 85 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

"We don't understand?!" Xander shoots back at Eleanor. "I think we've been made viscerally aware of our own situation."

He asked! Xiumei says of Riley. "You don't have to humor him!" It's the wrong argument to be having right now, like this isn't a battle he's trying to take to the death. It is.

And Xander isn't going to fight like they're about to show him any mercy if he falls he. He fights like a cornered animal, relentlessly advancing into Xiumei's first strike. He hurls his scythe into the air as it spirals upward, ignoring the cross strike that burns a searing blow across his torso to pull free a new dagger and aim a thrust for Xiumei, trying to spot a weakness in her armor to slide the blade into.

But she's faster than he is, so much so he can't catch her movement as they collide on the battlefield. Her blade greets him, brilliant and burning, cleaving into his body as she surges past. Xander stumbles with his hand reflexively at his wound. The bleeding is... minimal. And that's a disadvantage. His scythe, which he meant to catch on descent, cracks apart in the sky, raining down in splinters.

The world darkens, and he grits his teeth. "No --! No, I... I can still..." His fingers try to squeeze the hilt of his dagger, but his grip loosens instead. It slips and falls to the ground, and the rest of him follows. Xander pushes himself up on one hand, grimacing and quivering, infested with his burnt, withered flowers.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Xander has a point. Eleanor doesn't have a retort to that. But Eleanor reflects that she can't be surprised that that would be the Church's inclination. Souls infested... She can only speculate as to how to try to account for that, and has little to go on. But it doesn't make it feel any better. If they seemed to be under Valmar's control, or at least more overtly evil, then maybe that owuld be one thing, but...

Resolve is one thing. But it doesn't make it feel any better, that this is what they have to do. The next arrow comes, and this time Eleanor can't block it, taking another arrow that slams against her with its dark power, knocking her to the side and ending for now her opportunity to work musical magic. She spots Xander starting to fall. She thinks, for a moment--what should she do, here? Is there a way they could still...?

"...Maybe we can find a solution," she says, setting her jaw and pulling a Crest, rathr than her rifle. This one is Wing doubled, and she breathes in, multicolored light sparkling about her. In lieu of a wand or staff to direct her magic, she uses her other hand, feet moving together as she turns to point at Riley. "Endlessly turning, endlessly whirling--The sky's limitless course! Mistral Judgment!"

She puts out her hand and a green whirlwind bursts through the trees, seeking to batter and entrap Riley this time.

She wants to apologize... but she won't. It wouldn't be right to either of them.

"Xiumei--if we can capture them, maybe--"

GS: Eleanor Klein has activated a Force Action!
GS: Eleanor Klein spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Eleanor Klein has attacked Riley Arwell with Mistral Judgment!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein's Stoic stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei lands on the ground, her armored feet skidding over forest dirt, a few bits of grass, and no small amount of burnt flowers that crumble to ash under white and teal armor. She turns, whirling to see where he slips and falls -- and she waits a couple heartbeats, to see if he comes at her again. She looks, then, at Riley.

"What...? But--but Kamui worked with Valmar, and--"

And things are different for robots. She wouldn't call Kamui soulless, but she doesn't have a piece of Valmar. Her eyes widen for a moment. "There has to be something else we can try!" she calls back to Riley. Then she tenses, as she spots the arrow fly free, hurtling towards Eleanor. Her eyes are wide again.

(There it is, Riley.)

And her expression seems distraught -- because these two seem close. Because there is a mirror there, even if Xiumei would never tell Eleanor that. And, the way she just hurt Xander, she has to wonder: how would she take it, were it Eleanor?

She thinks she knows.

She looks sideways at Eleanor -- hesitates for a second -- and then she nods, breathing hard when she does. "Let's... let's try it, Eleanor!"

She drops the Pulse Saber. The energy blade deactivates; the cylindrical handle drops down. Then it winks out of existence, into so many cubes of light. The gem in the center of her chest armor flashes.

And a field of grey explodes out, in a wide cone, towards Riley. As it passes, strewn ash-petals freeze in midair and turn greyscale; a dropping branch from a damaged tree freezes in midair; blades of grass freeze in place. The greyscale effect washes over the nearby area, rushing towards Riley.

It stops time as it passes.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Riley Arwell with Timestopper!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Riley Arwell takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Mistral Judgment for 287 hit points!
GS: Riley Arwell takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Timestopper for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Riley Arwell gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak applied to Riley Arwell!
GS: Riley Arwell activates Sufferer!
GS: Riley Arwell enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

Riley sucks in a breath and feels his blood freeze as he watches Xiumei's blade cut through Xander.

I... I can still...

"Xander--! No, stay still, don't aggravate it..." As Xander starts to sink down, Riley tries to step in front of him, but with two opponents, that's not so easy to do. He looks back and forth between them, wary and with panic rising.

They're conspiring against them, except they're conspiring to... help? Eleanor and Xiumei both echo the same sentiment -- maybe they can find a solution.

On another day, Riley's instinct might be to try to take advantage of their sympathy. But this time the pity and hope just feels like claws over a raw nerve.

"Just stop. Please." He doesn't want to hear it. Is this how it's going to be, with people sympathizing with them but not able to help, just pouring their optimism and virtue out at them and making them prove over and over that they were really, truly justified in giving up hope. As if it wouldn't be a different kind of nightmare to find out they killed all those people for nothing. He'd take that nightmare if he could, but that isn't how this ends.

"What do you think you're going to do for us?!" Riley fires an arrow into the air. When it comes down, it becomes a multitude, the arrows pouring from the sky like rain.

Eleanor summons a whirlwind. As it bears down on them, Riley wraps his arms around Xander, trying to shield him from the lashing winds. It succeeds in pinning them down for the moment -- and then Xiumei's time stop takes hold.

GS: Riley Arwell has attacked Eleanor Klein with Arrow Rain!
GS: Riley Arwell has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Arrow Rain!
GS: Riley Arwell has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Riley Arwell has completed his action.
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Moderate! Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Riley Arwell's Arrow Rain for 167 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Riley Arwell's Arrow Rain for 209 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Xander, in complete defiance of Riley's pleas and his own body's protests, shoves forward, only to collapse uselessly into the ground again. His fingers claw into the earth as he winces. He barely sits back up.

They continue to speak of mercy. Find a solution. Save them. Capture them. No, they can't -- there isn't time -- if they get captured here, held and kept from the hunt, Valmar will choke the life out of them and these Drifters will watch it happen.

"I can tell you what they'll do," he manages to say through ragged breathing. "They'll be distressed and distraught and... oh so sad for us as we waste away... but they'll still let it happen over the alternative..."

Xander wouldn't even blame them for it.

It's why he has to fight. It's why he has to get up. Because Riley's been the world's acceptable loss ever since Valmar claimed him. Maybe Xiumei and Eleanor want to believe they're different, but they're not. Maybe it's better if they never have to find that out.

Then Eleanor's storm comes, and Xander senses Riley's next move before it happens. "Riley -- don't! Run, you idiot...!" But Riley doesn't, and Xander's protected from the winds, but as helpless as Riley is while pinned under them when time comes to a halt.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Kamui worked with Valmar, but Kamui is unique. Things are different. Maybe there is something--Eleanor, at least, has every intention of trying to find something, of bending her magical means towards doing so, especially when it seems possible for a moment that they might manage it.

"I can't do that!" Eleanor calls back at Riley as he asks them to stop. "I can't let you do this, but I can't just do nothing, either--"

The arrows come down, and Eleanor steps back in surprise, ducking down and shielding her face with her hands as the arrows rain down. "Aaah--"

She slips in the dirt as the arrows come down, and hits the ground hard, her head hitting a root. Time stops, but Eleanor doesn't move for the moment either.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Find... some answer! I don't know yet!" Xiumei answers Riley. Maybe Marivel would have one, but hoping Marivel had the answer to every problem wasn't fair to her -- or even terribly realistic. She freezes, too, for a moment, as she sees Riley get closer to Xander. His arrow flies down -- splits apart -- and one punches into her armor, through a damaged part of the chestplate.

It doesn't bite through entirely, but the arrowhead is wedged into the metal mesh of her bodysuit and quite uncomfortable. There will be bad bruising tomorrow, to say nothing of her other wounds, without healing.

She hesitates, too, at the sight of Xander and Riley frozen in time like that. Holding each other.

She swallows, hesitating for a second.

Her eyes glance back at Eleanor, where she hit the ground. Xiumei shakes her head -- this isn't a question at all, to her -- and bolts towards Eleanor. She's stronger, with her Biometal activated. She lifts the elf easily, then leaps -- and leaps again, vanishing into the woods.

When time resumes, the two are gone.

<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.

It doesn't feel like time stopped, to Riley. Only that once the battering of the winds stops, Eleanor and Xiumei are nowhere to be seen. It's a twisted relief that's becoming unsettlingly familiar. He didn't have to kill someone he'd wished to befriend today. But the thorns stay, and their demand won't be satisfied without someone's death. The best he can hope is that it could be a stranger.

Bruised muscles protest as he moves out of his protective posture and pulls Xander up into his arms. He's... unsteady on his feet, but they'll hold him.

"We'd better find a new hunting ground," he says quietly, something too distant and guarded about his voice. He starts to walk.

<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.

Xander's not sure what to expect next, and when the moment's over, he wonders if he hadn't blacked out for a portion of it. That makes more sense than the sudden silence, and them suddenly alone, all while his body begs for unconsciousness.

But he can't give in yet. He can feel the exhaustion in Riley... and that ever threatening gloom of despair sinking over him.

If Xander hadn't messed up the killing blow...

He's silent as they make their own escape.