Fantasy Bravely Null

[Orikanyo]

Adalbrecht Cocksburrow.

"Naught much time, skirmish as you will." Adalbrecht would let the others deal with the big one, he knew however the dangers of leaving the soldiers at his feet to their devices. he imagines the warden wishes to draw fire... Bring the enemy closer so that the troops can surround and flank. Tearing them to ribbons, they are trained to fight murderers and theives who are desperate for the light of the sun once more. They fight like they expect cornered beasts...

As such, he made his own way forwards, kiting the mass of guards he clutched his fist before him, black oily flames bursting forth from the gauntlet, seeping deep from between the plates and forming a small ball of ephemeral darkness. "Hubris' blinding blight, devoid this man of his sight." and with a grasp of his hand the ball was crushed between his fingers, and across the way a guard, felt the effect.

Sneaking out from his own shadow a cold chill rose up his spine, arms of shadow quickly wrapped around his eyes and plunged the man into deep darkness. His screams were primal and full of terror as the light was taken from him.

Adalbrecht readied on the other side to prevent the encroachment upon his allies, ready to strike at those who face him.

 

[Shadow Dancer]

Hibiki Naoko and Seiichi followed the Tiger duo feeling the unease drip off of the Tiger woman for quite awhile before she engaged in conversation with the puppet master. It was only a handful of sentences the two exchanged before the Crane samurai took offence and rushed past their group hand on his blades hilt apologizing as he went before he demanded to speak with the Tiger duo. Hibiki readied himself and nodded towards Seiichi who took the damaged shield hanging on his back in hand. They both had seen enough to know things would escalate shortly.

As they expected thing did. It started with a fair pointed warning from the Tiger man, then a short speech on their side ending with a request to put a hold on things from the Tiger woman. When the Crane was about to calm down much to Hibiki's relief things heated up further with a drawn blade and a warcry from the troubled Crane noble who then swung at the Tiger woman who easily sidestepped the rage filled swing prompting her partner to distance himself out of sight and presumably draw his bow.

Hibiki looked towards Seiichi and whispered, "Make sure the Crane doesn't get shot I'll put an end to this fight, hurry it will not be long before either the wildlife or a Tiger search party finds us with all this racket." Hibiki turned to Naoko, "Prepare to heal some injuries, hopefully minor." Moments after Hibiki spoke Seiichi stood between where he believed the Tiger man would fire from and the Crane Noble. While Hibiki put his hands on his kodachi and kaiken briefly considering a paralysis poison before dismissing it as a waste. It only took him a breath to get in a position to intercept both combatants incase his first attempt at stopping the fight failed.

Hibiki's head filled with worries about pursuers and the wildlife that could get attracted to the noise and how soon either could arrive along with a worry he would have to use too much energy on this issue to be fit for a fighting retreat. Thanks to years of practice despite his inner turmoil he appeared stoic and cold his eyes flicking between the conflicted parties. "Stop you fools, have you forgotten we are currently in a marsh being hunted down like dogs by our enemies! We have a day maybe if we are lucky two to get to Miyaori before we find ourselves surrounded by a army of Tiger soldiers and as you see there is gods know how many kilometers between us and the town." Hibiki was hoping the reality check could get through to the Crane and jolt the Tigers. Though his gut was telling him he would have to use force on the Crane at the very least.


(Interacts with: RageFactorXIII and Pepsionne )

 

[Arcanist]

The Jungle of Embers

Pepsionne , Misuteeku , Shadow Dancer , RageFactorXIII

​

As Hibiki had quite rightly put, the trees had ears, the water had ears; the entire jungle wasn’t deaf to the sounds of aggravated shouts and declarations of duels. Something had been watching them in the trees for quite some time, though, was rather patient.

A creature with flesh coloured wings, long bony black arms and spindly talons, and a thin humanoid body. Its face was scrunched up and inspected the group of humans with small eyes.

Seven souls would be nothing to rip through, this creature had tore through and had supper with many more than seven, but it knew the timing was important. It watched three of its prey shouting at one another, with weapons drawn. Now would be the perfect time to strike with them all arguing with one another.

But from a short distance away, at the river, behind the smallest of the prey, two black and vile serpentine creatures slithering up out of the water and onto the land. Their feet were webbed, but also had rows and rows of tiny sharp teeth, with a slithering tongue hanging out of their mouths.

The winged monstrosity couldn’t wait any longer it seemed. It gave an ear piercing screech, in the hopes it would scare its serpentine rivals away, and jumped from the tree, hoping to land on its target, Itsuo.

The two serpentines were unphased. Instead, both started making guttural sounds. It wasn’t long before one turned to Sheridan, spitting out a large, black substance towards her like a web. It was mostly harmless - by mostly, all the substance would do was slow one down significantly, for it was heavy and rather sticky.

The second serpentine spat the same substance out too, only at Hibeki, and hoping to catch Naoko in attack too.

 

[Arcanist]

Gerran Perall | Lanthane Grivois | Ayka Galani

Tags: (Locke/Shaia) The Black Knight (Vivian & Co.) Takumi98 (Adal) Orikanyo (Clara) King Crimson ​

Friends and allies were all reunited once again, it seemed, with even Locke having two looking out for him. Or, well, perhaps not, judging by the insults the two had thrown at him. They weren’t unfounded. Lanthane, Ayka, and Vivian unfortunately were aware of that, and probably wished they weren’t.

After all had come together, there was emphasis put on escaping. The trio glanced up to the ceiling, more water spilling through its cracks. It was a miracle the prison had held up for so long.

Gerran looked to Adal as he asked about the whereabouts of the Warden, as well as all the other guards. “Most of them are running around like headless chickens further up. No doubt some of them are getting out of here while they still can. The Warden though…” He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “I haven’t seen him. We must be prepared to face him, just in case.”

Soon, after much agreement to get moving, they made their way through the prison once again to the final checkpoint. They were met by fleeing guards, whom Lanthane had thought were running right at them, and several times had yelped at the possibility he might be stabbed. Soon, they met again with Morgan, insisting Rivienne was counting on their sacrifice -- whose, they weren’t so sure about as she looked to no one -- and was on her way again.

Ayka seemed full of confidence. “We got this. If Gerran got in, we can certainly get out!”

“It's not exactly the same thing...” Lanthane muttered, though, yelled as Ayka smacked the back of his head.

"Don't be so rude! You know what I mean!"

It wasn’t long before they reached the final room, and of course, Gerran’s worst fears had been realised, There he was, the Warden, standing there with his lackeys, waiting on each and every one of them.

Of course, Locke began shouting at the man, clearly frustrated at their situation as much as they all were. Lanthane joined in after Shaia, “I’d hate to see his strength at full aggravation, and I’d like to leave with all my bones intact.”

“Your bones will remain firmly in place, milord,” Gerran told him with the upmost confidence, pulling out his sword and lifting his shield off his back, “the only bones I intend to see broken are our enemies’.”

“Ooh, Gerran must be serious if he’s already talking smack about our enemies,” Ayka smirked, already opening her tome to the right page. “Though, if we’re facing off against that beast, we’re going to need to match his strength.”

As several of the others were thinking of their own strategies, Locke had gone on ahead, spinning and twirling the spear he had picked up earlier as if it were a simple baton. Clearly the man had great skill, and Lanthane, watching the technique wondered; wasn’t that a Highwind speciality?

Next came Clara’s testament of how she would down this mountain with one strike, and the curly-haired noble couldn’t help but shiver at that. She was much scarier and frightening than she let on. Boy, was he glad to be on her side...and with all the other pretty ladies too!

“I’m sure I have something in my bag of tricks to throw at these vile villains…” Though, Lanthane wondered if he did. It was a small room, not a battlefield, and any type of explosion could send the water rushing in much further than he would have liked. Perhaps it might come to it later, if they were to have a chance of winning…

With Adal already taking the plunge against the enemies, he managed to blind a soldier with that dark magic of his, sending the man into terror. The screams were enough to frighten anyone who wasn’t a veteran on the battlefield.

Ayka was not one of them. She started muttering something under her breath, what seemed to be an incantation. A golden glow moved from her fingers to Gerran’s sword arm, wrapping around it like a tight piece of string. “Alright, go get ‘em!”

“My pleasure,” Gerran growled, before he advanced forward towards one of the soldiers. The soldier was prepared, advancing forward too with a shout. Though, when he expected his buckler to simply clash with Gerran’s blade, he found it had cut through it, and to knock it out of his hand. The man stood, gobsmacked, and as a result, was too late to bring his blade up to defend against Gerran’s sword. The sword went through the man’s stomach with such force that the man’s body shifted on his blade, and once Gerran pulled back, the soldier landed flat on his back, choking on the blood that came streaming out of his mouth.

 

[Misuteeku]

Sheridan Sasaki
​

Oh the crane sadmurai decided to fight. It was an expect outcome and a bothersome outcome at that. She wasn't quite paying attention what was happening before but that didn't really matter, what mattered more was to stop this fight. Unfortunately, the tiger girl seemed to be willing the fight and so was her boyfriend bodyguard, or whatever it was, as well. Thankfully the trio that were traveling with them was going to join her in stopping this fight. If she was any less of a person she would have left them to deal with the situation but master's orders were master's orders. Taking a few soggy slips from out of her sleeves she was about to cast some dark magic to knock a few people out, the ninja boy brought up a good point.

"Oh yeah, monsters," Sheridan muttered to herself. It was strange that they hadn't encountered any yet but that was perhaps a slip of fortune. A slip of fortune that was soon going to spell misfortune considering the crane sadmurai yelled his lungs out and potentially alerting every single monster in the forest. What kind of monsters lived in the rankest, dankest, drenched placed known as a swamp? If she had remembered correctly it would be-

A loud screech pierced through Sheridan's ears as she instinctively covered. Looking at the origin of the noise revealed it to be a batman! Or just something that had a relatively similar humanoid figure and had features of a bat. At the very least, it wasn't those blasted serpents. Then as if she had some sort of karmic injustice she felt something push her down. "Ah!" She yelped out as the black web like substance captured her. Water filled all of her clothing and the distant yelps from a certain puppet dog were more than enough to make the originally calm Sheridan annoyed. She was not going to get to be serpent's a meal again.

"Blasted serpent, you'll rue the day that you crossed me!" She yelled with her shrill young voice as she attempted to push against the web substance. It proved useless as the web clung onto her like glue. Now she remembered what made swamps her least favorite place on this Earth. It had the combination of everything bad from overflowing water to leeches to this goddamn serpent. She was so going to turn this goddamn serpent into a damned puppet that it wasn't going to be funny. Grabbing her peddling puppet dog she shoved it's mouth onto the web. "Bite!" She yelled. As commanded the dog began to chew the web away. The teeth were made out of metal and were sharp enough to get the job done. However, it was going to take her a little while before she removed this blasted web and sent this little abomination to hell.

 

[Shadow Dancer]

A ear piercing screech sounded out and Hibiki's instincts screamed at him to dodge to the right causing the black substance to miss. Naoko wasn't so lucky she dived down a moment later then Hibiki but her legs were caught by the black goo pinning her down. Seiichi had his eyes on the bat creature diving towards the group namely the Crane samurai. Seiichi attempted to intercept the beast with his sword cutting and arc through the air unfortunately the bat beast was too fast and it only drew a superficial cut on the creatures leg. "Damn!" Seiichi cursed as he took a look around to see Naoko and the young girl pinned by a black goo both trying to cut their way out. While Hibiki moved to intercept the two serpents before they could get to their captured prey. Sure of his friends safety he focused on the bat monster watching it's every move for a chance to attack.

Meanwhile Hibiki noticed Naoko and the young girl were both struggling to get out from their new found bindings as the serpents made a beeline for their meals "No you don't!" Hibiki shouted gaining the pair's attention and buying a little more time. Hibiki made his second uncharacteristic choice and rushed the pair his situation leaving him little choice. It seemed to be enough, as the serpent's did not ignore the prey that was willing to come to them. Now with the two serpents circling him and snapping at his heels Hibiki inwardly prayed to whatever gods were listening that Naoko and the girl would escape quickly.

Outwardly however a string of curses that would make the Pirate Queen blush erupted from the Ninja's mouth as he evaded attack after coordinated attack, only able to make a few swipes that glanced off their scales. The entire thing would look quite comical if it weren't for the large risk of death the second HIbiki made a single mistake giving a serpent a chance to spit the black substance. With the serpents and Hibiki at a temporary deadlock it should give enough time for the two trapped females to get out of their bindings and the others time to respond to the sudden attack or that was Hibiki's hope.

 

[Pepsionne]

Yui | Ryuichi​

Seeing the other members position themselves between her and the Crane Noble, weapons fully drawn, didn’t surprise Yui in the slightest. She was fully aware that fighting in the jungle was not the most optimal choice, especially given the reverberating cry of the samurai standing before her.

“Mimi’s got what she wants,” Yui said in response to the Rat Clan Ninja. “We don’t have to worry about Tiger Clan soldiers chasing after us. Not for now at least. Monsters, on the other hand, well,” she let out an amused chuckle, “a mere crystal isn’t nearly enough to satisfy them.”

A smirk began to show itself on her features. Regardless if there was a fight between her and the Crane Noble, based on the noise and movement being generated between them all, they were bound to find action from another source. After spending years travelling the Feurey jungles, she had an instinct for the behaviors of the creatures that inhabited it.

Almost as if on cue, a sharp shriek split the air above them like a wave breaking apart against a large rock. Yui’s hair was whipped sharply to the side by the gust of wind pushed out from a pair of strong wings. She braced herself against the whipping vegetation surrounding her.

While everyone’s eyes were focused ahead on the large creature swooping down, eyes aimed on the Crane Noble, two writhing black serpents came dripping up through the forest. Their gleaming wet skin caught loose leaves of vegetation and dragged them along behind in a trail of viscous slime. Sheridan was the first target to be caught, her small frame becoming quickly encased in the black web shot from deep within the creature’s throat. The Rat Ninja was the second target for the serpents, his reaction time getting the better of them as he dodged the sticky black web. His mage wasn’t so lucky. She ran to duck out behind the ninja, her legs becoming encased in the thick slime that served as a bonding glue.

Ryuichi cursed under his breath at the sight of the creatures. His gut was telling him to take Yui and run, let the other nobles deal with the mess they made, but he thought better of it. If they were going to take Mimi down, they needed numbers. They needed to make allies now, not enemies. His eyes shifted from the large bat-like creature that was swooping above them, its loud screech and large wings creating a cacophony of sound and wind, to the two writhing serpents who were closing in on their targets with a searing hiss. Yui was in a safe place for now, so his main priority could be molded to something else for now.

He studied the creature’s movements as they snapped their attention from the two downed females to the now outnumbered Rat Ninja. They circled him with slow, calculated movements, their jaws snapping with a loud gnashing of teeth. Judging by the frenzied attacks by the man, he wasn’t going to last long against the monsters. Ryuichi couldn’t have him dying and resurrecting into Mimi’s grasp, it would be a swift end to them all.

Ryuichi loosed an arrow from his bow, aimed at the creatures from his hidden spot. The arrow moved swiftly through the moving crowd of nobles, threading its path precariously but calculated to its end. The arrow landed deep into the back leg of one of the serpents, its momentum strong enough to pierce straight through its flesh and skewer both of its thin back legs together. The serpent let out a high pitched reptilian cry, falling to the ground in a chaotic fumble in an attempt to use its now disabled back legs. With one creature at least immobile, the Rat Ninja should be able to hold his own. Ryuichi moved swiftly from his hidden position to keep his whereabouts unknown, taking up a new angle to notch another arrow.

Yui’s eyes remained plastered to the sky. A brazen fire burned in her eyes at the large creature hovering above them, dipping its claws and mouth down in an attempt to capture the Crane Noble below. Her grip tightened around the hilt of her sword excitedly. She followed suit to the attack from the one Rat Clan member, rocketing herself towards the Crane Noble. As the monster dove once more with its long legs outstretched downwards, Yui used her momentum to launch herself upwards, gaining just enough height to slice a deep gash into the monster’s ankle. She hit the ground in a hard roll, wasting no time to stand once more and regain her stance. The monster flapped its wings in a fury now, its foot dangling at a sickening angle as it struggled to stay attached to the flesh. Blood dripped freely down from the creature’s wound above them like rain.

“Come on, Crane Noble,” Yui shouted, gesturing towards the large beast flailing above them. “Let’s see what you’re made of, huh?”

Interacts: Shadow Dancer Hibiki, RageFactorXIII Itsuo
Mentions: Misuteeku

 

[InsaneAsylum]

The Warden​

It seemed that the tower of a man took Locke’s approach as a challenge. The Warden accepted. Striding forward himself, he slowly picked up speed. Each step kicked up a splash of water until he came to a sudden stop before Locke. He whipped his halberd up, and then down toward Locke, looking to crush him with one incredibly powerful blow.

While the Warden himself didn’t move fast, he swung his weapon with incredible force. The only thing that might slow down these attacks would be well placed ranged attacks of any sort.

The remaining guards were shocked, witnessing Adal send one of their comrades screaming in terror with a single spell. All of them rushed the dark knight, looking to overwhelm him with a flurry of blows from their swords. The water rising beneath them was starting to slow down their movements.

However, Adal was not alone. The rest of the prisoners rushed forwards to his aid, meeting the guards in another bloody brawl. Morgan herself was in the mix as well, taking on her fair share of guards.

Fatigue could be seen on the faces of the prisoners though. Their hourney so far had been difficult, and their muscles were wearing down. The guards were quickly gaining the upper hand on them.

From farther back in the room, a mage could be seen charging up a ball of blazing flames. It wouldn't be long before he let it loose at someone.

 

[King Crimson]

Lady Clarabella of Gavenia
​

A hail of bellows and clashing of steel, and the final battle to win their freedom was on.
With a mighty swing of his halberd, the warden at last stepped forward to do battle with the foolish dragoon, and with her cold, calculated eyes, Clara saw, at last, a golden opportunity to fire upon him.
However, there was one among the fleet of guardsmen, who had found an opportunity of his own amongst the prisoner's onslaught. He slipped behind his comrades, charging right past the dark knight, and the magic-enchanted swordsman and pushed his way through Morgan, and the weakened and exhaustion-addled prisoners. He had no concern for foes such as them, who would stand to oppose him.
No, there was only one such target he was concerned with; the furtive, vulnerable, young children hiding at the enemy's backline.
His approach came suddenly, and with only the rapid splashing of water underfoot, was Clara able to pull her focus away from the warden to see death rapidly coming towards her.
"Die, heretic!" he roared, sword raised to take her head from her shoulders, shield raised to rebuke any attempts to stop him.
The sword came down, Clara's gun rose up, aimed at his barrel-sized chest.
In that decisive moment, she shut her eyes tight, squeezed the the small, silver lever beneath her finger, and prayed.

A cacophonous roar answered her, a gruesome shriek from the end of her gun that threatened to shatter what was left of the crumbling walls of the flooded prison, followed shortly by a dazzling flash, and an eruption of smoke and fire.
The tiny ball of condensed, tumultuous flame, flew forward with devastating speed, colliding first with the knight's raised shield, which was quickly rendered into dust beneath it's searing heat and might, along with the thick, muscular arm that was braced behind it, and then the armor-clad chest of the unfortunate man that lay behind that.
The magical bullet kept going, obliterating it's way through flesh, iron and bone, until it exploded from the guard's back.
Unimpeded, it hurtled across the room like a crimson meteorite, cleaving a bloody, infernal path through any body unfortunate enough to cross it's path.
A man lunging to take a lethal stab at Morgan's flank, suddenly found himself without an arm, as the flame separated his outstretched limb at the elbow mid-thrust, another rushing headlong towards the dark knight, until an incredible force sent his head reeling back, minus his jaw.
And at the other end of the battlefield, a wizard, his hand outstretched, a fireball of his own at the ready, only for Clara's to intercept it just as it left his palm, their collision resulting in another room-shattering explosion, leaving naught of the caster but a shadow of dust upon the wall behind him.
---
The recoil was...more than Clara had been anticipating, a thought she reflected on, once she could hear it over the intense ringing in her own ears, but not before rising from the small, shallow puddle of water she had landed in, ignoring the protesting of her woefully bruised shoulder to snatch up her beloved firearm that lay at her side.
The guardsman stood motionless before her, frozen in place, sword still raised, his expression unreadable behind the veil of iron covering his head, a scorched-black hole punched cleanly through his shield, providing her the perfect window to gawp, both horrified and amazed, at the sickening carnage her attack had created.

Interacting:
Lanthane/Ayka, Arcanist
Adelbrecht, Orikanyo
Vivian/Lyari, Takumi98
Lockeheed, The Black Knight

 

[The Black Knight]

There was a focused scowl on Locke’s face when he strode toward the towering Warden. His blue eyes were unblinking, watching as he raised his halberd up. The dragoon darted forward, closing the distance to get inside his guard. It was a disadvantage from being so large that a giant’s greatest weakness would be the length of his arms coupled with the length of his weapon. It granted Locke a safe space to operate. When the halberd had came down, Locke was already beneath the giant’s arms, driving the end of his spear into his knee joint. While being so close was a safer bubble to operate in than fighting at a distance (especially without a long-range weapon), the enemy’s legs were the next threat. Being grabbed by the giant would have been the third.

Locke had to keep moving to keep from being kicked, trampled, or grabbed. As a dragoon, exploiting weaknesses in an enemy’s armor to inflict a critical wound was his occupation’s forte. He wasn’t like the warrior who relentlessly attacked in order to wear his opponent down and dominate them through strength or technique. His skills were specialized to cripple his enemies, leaving them open to be taken down swiftly by his allies.

Locke’s attack was only one out of two that assaulted The Warden. Shaia who had her bow trained on The Warden had fired an arrow as Locke had asked. When the giant’s halberd struck the ground, an arrow had been traveling for his right eye to take advantage of that brief pause in combat when he would resort to shifting his attack. The archer followed Locke’s movement, turning once in a while to fire an arrow into the face of a guardsman who came too close to her. Shaia, who was normally just as silly and childish as Locke, had a stern look of her own. She made sure that each of her arrows counted. She operated smoothly as though her job was second nature, yanking the arrow from the felled guardsman’s skull to re-nock it against her bow before she would use it once more.

The fox had been studying everyone’s contributions to the battle. This wasn’t a fight to distract them from the primary objective: escape. They needed to escape and warriors often became too deeply engrossed in combat that time was lost. Hiro’s eye caught the flicker of magic across the room. A well-placed long-range weapon could have ended the caster if the snipers had seen him, but Shaia was focused on backing Locke, and the little girl with the big gun was focused on guards trying to put her at a disadvantage for not only herself but her team.

A shot made on pure luck fired from her gun not only stopped her assailant in his tracks but cleaved through several more to include the magician in the back. Hiro had never seen anything like it. A Hail Mary. The monk walked over to the girl and stood before her.

“I will guard for you. Please focus on clearing a path so that we may escape,” the monk told Clara calmly. With everyone directly confronting enemies, the rangers at the back were their main hope for advancing.
InsaneAsylum Orikanyo Takumi98 Arcanist King Crimson

 

[RageFactorXIII]

Itsuo Murato

“I may share her blood but you, my dear friend, are most closely resembling the monster.” The words the Akai said in response to Itsuo's challenge had the male's boiling blood rise even higher. The samurai's feet shifted as he began to lean forwards, about to launch off towards the Tiger Clan Traitor to engage her in combat. Itsuo did not even care to listen to the useless words the Rat Clan Survivor was uttering. All the black haired young man could see was the one he wanted to cut down before him, nothing else existed in this moment. Unfortunately, the rest of the world seemed to disagree with Itsuo as an obscenely loud beastial cry dragged his attention away from his foe before him to instead focus upon the larger enemy hurtling downwards.

Surprise had nearly killed Itsuo as he stared dumbly up at his new attacker, though thankfully his many years of training kicked in at the last second and the young man swiftly, if not awkwardly avoided the giant bat-like creature's pounce. Still, Itsuo had been unprepared for an attack from a skyward angle so his last second attempt to avoid the beast had caused the normally nimble samurai to stumble and fall. I understand what the Archer meant now. Itsuo thought as he picked himself off the ground, feeling no small amount of irritation towards his lack of awareness. Then, the Wakizashi and Masakari within the black haired male's hands were stowed within their sheaths at his hip and leg while Itsuo's eyes remained fixed upon the creature that had nearly killed him. The others were able to wound this creature, but it can still fly... Maybe I can do something about that? Itsuo's hands twitched as he considered how to keep the monster grounded with his arsenal. It only took the samurai a moment before he settled upon a plan of attack.

Itsuo loosened the Kama head of his Kusarigama from it's place on his right hip as he then began to twirl the weapon's chain in a counter clockwise manner. The young man unhooked the rest of the chain, grasping it within his left hand as his eyes locked onto the giant bat's forearm while the others continued to fight the creature. The Akai woman wanted to see what Itsuo was capable of? Itsuo would gladly show her by rendering the monster's arm unusable or, rather that was the young samurai's hope when he released the twirling chain, allowing the Kama head to fly through the air towards the group's shared foe. The plan had been to bury the Kama head into the giant bat's forearm, where Itsuo would then viciously pull upon the chain to cause the weapon to sever muscles and tendons within the beast's arm. However, only the initial part of Itsuo's plan worked the way he had hoped. The Kama head did bury itself deeply into the giant bat's long forearm earning yet another pained cry from the creature, but when the black haired male pulled back on the chain the Kama head did not budge. "That should have worked." Itsuo muttered to himself as he looked at his attack's result with incredulity, which soon turned into panic when the monster raised its arm to take to the air again.

Wind rushed past Itsuo's face, violently whipping his long black hair behind him as the giant bat he was currently attached to ascended. The samurai had attempted to let go of his Kusarigama when he realized that the beast was about to go airborne, but unfortunately he had habitually wrapped the chain around his right wrist when he had tried to retract the Kama head earlier. That is why the young man was now dangling quite a many feet within the air, holding onto his weapon's chain tightly to prevent the loss of his hand as the giant bat hovered above the battlefield. Though, Itsuo was now attempting to safely unravel the chain from around his wrist, but his task was made difficult due to the creature's movements. Why did I think this was a good idea?

Tags: Pepsionne Shadow Dancer (Mentioned)

Location: Within the Jungle of Embers

 

[Arcanist]

The Jungle of Embers

Pepsionne , Misuteeku , Shadow Dancer , RageFactorXIII

​

The serpentines’ black webbing on both of their human prey had varying levels of success - the first, of course, had engulfed the smaller of the prey, much easier to catch now - though, the other had only caught her legs. The other webbing had missed one of the fighters of their group. Still, it’d be enough to grab the two females, drag them into the water, and dinner was served. If one could get past the puppet gnawing at the webbing to get her out of it. Such a pathetic thing would be easy to knock out of the way.

Though, just as they were about to clamber over to their captured prey, Hibiki had intercepted, catching the attention of the two of them. Of course, with hisses and snarls, they circled the ninja, snapping at his heels, figuring two of them could make quick work of the ninja in the process.

Until one had both its legs skewered together and a guttural shriek of pain sounded through the air. The first of the serpentines, the one Ryuchi had shot at, found its legs both bond together, and had fallen to the ground, squirming like a fish out of water. It seemed desperate to get onto its stomach again, which hadn’t the thick skin on them the rest of its body seemed to possess.

The second one, however, could wait no longer, and decided to use the moment to lunge forward at Hibiki, jaws pried wide open, and claws beared to sink into the ninja.

The first, barely wriggling onto its stomach again, decided to drag itself to one of its remaining prey; Sheridan. It was slow and cumbersome, but it planned to lunge when it was close enough, to finish her right there and then if it could.

Of course, the winged creature believed its descent would be successful. The slice by Seichii against him was barely felt, not enough to stop it, or so it thought. Itsuo, its prey, managed to roll out of the way, and Yui had slashed so deeply into its ankle, that it let out another ear-piercing scream, as it felt its foot hanging off. The shock and the sudden loss of its foot was enough to ground it for a moment.

That moment would prove fatal for the bat-winged creature. As the Kama head of Itsuo’s Kusarigama lodged into its wing, there was another shriek. Though, as Itsuo tried to pull back, no doubt to injury its wing further, it did not budge. No longer wishing to spend its time on the ground, it began to flap its wings, and managing a bounce on one working foot, it took flight into the air - though, with heavier baggage.

Itsuo, it seemed, had been stuck to him via the weapon lodged in its wing. He tried to unwrap the weapon’s chain from around his wrist, though, the creature batted its wings viciously, trying to shake him off itself so it could fall from such a height. Though, it didn’t seem to work as well as it had hoped. In an attempt to get him off, it decided to suddenly dip down and towards his companions, in the hopes that the weapon may come apart from it, along with the human.

 

[Takumi98]

Vivian Grivois | Lyari Morcant | Ashe Starvos​

With Locke going in to face the Warden and many of their allies focusing on those in the back, Vivian stuck close to Lanthane's side to give him time to get whatever he may need from his bag, and to protect him from any harm.

Blue green eyes locked on one such opponent, shifting to stand between the man and her brother, Vivian's blade met his. There was a whistle in the air as an arrow made it's home into eye slot, causing him to stumble before he ultimately fell. She jumped at the resounding shot from Clara's weapon, glancing her way before watching as it cleared a path.

With a shaky breath she reached down and with as much strength as she could muster, pulled at the arrow Ashe launched. Once freed she placed it in her belt for the time being, deflecting a blow from yet another guard, that was then blind sided by one of his allies being tossed by what Adal had called a bear of a man. Giving her friend a nod amd small smile, Vivian's expression shifted at the sight of the remaining guards rushing forth to swarm Adal, quickly followed by the prisoners meeting them like a wave crashing against a wall.

"Ashe!" The blonde called, reaffirming her grip on her sword as she kept her eyes on what remained of their foes. The ginger nodded, letting yet another arrow fly as it hit yet another guard engaged in what remained of the prisoners and Adal in the neck. The guard released a gargled cry before he stumbled back into his allies near him in a clanging pile of limbs and weapons for a moment. It gave one such prisoner just a little more time. Tarkik used the distraction, bringing the stolen sword from one of the fallen into the neck of another guard, before the man had moved to Adal's flank to assist him, the guard he had felled used as a shield for the brunt of the attacks against them both.

Lyari brandished her staff as if it were a lance, sweat beading down her brow at how high the waters were getting. She bit her lip, shifting closer to Ashe in the meantime, who nudged her with his elbow and gave a slight tilt of his head, earning a slow blink once, pause, then twice followed by a shrug from the short white haired girl. His own silent version of asking if she was alright, and her own silent version of 'I don't know'.

Vivian glanced to them and picked it up, before her brows furrowing. From there she glanced to Lanthane.

"Brother, Lyari's getting nervous it seems." She muttered, a gleam of worry in her eyes at the thought of her friend. It would be unfortunate to wake up at the Crystal, but damn it all if anyone they've befriended here lost their lives without getting the chance to be free again.

Arcanist InsaneAsylum Orikanyo King Crimson The Black Knight

 

[Arcanist]

Gerran Perall | Lanthane Grivois | Ayka Galani

Tags: (Locke) The Black Knight (Vivian/Lyari) Takumi98 , (Adal) Orikanyo (Clara) King Crimson , (Warden) InsaneAsylum ​

Gerran had continued to hold up the front line with Adal, and Locke had advanced ahead seemingly to take on the Warden on his lonesome. He was a braver man than him. He had thought to take out the rest of the guards first, but he had the same thoughts as Hiro. They had little time to waste and they couldn't spend their whole time in here fighting off the swarming security around them.

In his thoughts though, one of the soldiers had edged past him and Adal, clearly looking for the prey standing at the back. He watched him run towards Clara, and was sure a terrible fate was to befall her.

Until she pulled the trigger of her gun, and men fell like dominoes amongst a flashing bang of smoke. Truly, it was a magnificent feat, a great weapon, yet it came with powerful and dire consequences. Either way, Lady Clarabella proved useful on the battlefield, and it only made Gerran more determined to help man the front-lines, make sure no one got past him or Adal to their mages and ranged fighters in the back.

"Gerran! That enchantment isn't going to last the whole battle, you know!" Ayka yelled to him.

Gerran grunted, readying his blade once again. "I may make the most of it then." He would hold the line with Adal, and the other prisoners and General Morgan that soon joined them. But they would be slaughtered by these guards, and quickly, no doubt due to their growing fatigue. Abandoning them to fight the Warden wasn't his main focus, not for this moment at least. Once again, he started sparring with soldiers, blood tinging the growing water around them.

The room was practically bursting with prisoners now. Though Ayka could pick out her comrades by the differences in colours and attire, all the moving heads and flailing bodies didn't make it easier to pick and focus on a target to enhance. The woman tutted, flicking through the pages once again, she picked out another incantation spell to use, one that would be perfect for someone to use to their advantage against the Warden.

Locke would be a good candidate for some extra speed. If he was already quick on his feet, a boost to the leg, or both, would certainly give Locke more of an advantage. Rather than simply enhance the one leg, she decided she would enhance two. Though, enhancing two limbs was a longer process, and he would find only a slight boost to his speed with both legs than a larger difference than the one. Nonetheless, she began to chant her incantation, and once again, that same golden glow wisped from her fingers towards Locke's right leg first. The magic swirled around his leg before it progressively got faster, swirling at a fast speed on his leg. He'd feel the difference on the right, but not the left just yet. Ayka needed more time for that, unfortunately.

Lanthane, in the meanwhile, was dawdling away time in thinking of what to do next. He couldn't use his lightning concoctions, for if he did, he'd fry everyone and himself with the growing levels of water. The only type of fire concoction he had was a bomb, and again, he didn't feel particularly confident in using that in the already bursting prison.

In his bag rustling, he hadn't time to prepare for the soldier that came running at him. Though, to his surprise and great concern, Vivian stepped between the two, and actually managed to deflect the other soldier's attack, before an arrow promptly made its home in his eye. Lanthane swallowed back, and though he was thankful, the fight wasn't over yet. Vivian had managed to defend him once again before her rather large friend from earlier had practically tossed him aside.

This was madness.

"Thank you, Vivian, but you shouldn't have to step in to defend me," he told her. He was, for once, worried for her safety in all of this, and rather, it should have been the other way around. Well, if he was blessed in more parts and limbs of his body than one, perhaps he would have been able to.

The less said on that, the better.

Lanthane finally thought to lift three concoctions out of his bag - the first he held in his left hand. It was a cyan liquid, though, the bottle almost looked liable to freeze. He could dash this at anyone's head, then watched the potion take effect. He did glance over to the young Lyari at Vivian's message. Unsurprisingly, she was shaking like a leaf, afraid to run forth into battle. He felt very much like that himself, always had in combat lessons as a child.

But he wouldn't show it, at least, for the girl's sake.

"Don't worry, my fair lady," Lanthane shouted over to her with a reassuring smile. "We'll be out of here in a jiffy. And you can be assured you have lots of strong women, especially strong men, to take care of you," he winked. He turned, gripping the cyan liquid-filled bottle, looking for just the right target to throw it at. His eyes settled on the Warden, and he figured he'd be a nice target. He had to hope he wouldn't come after him or anyone else in the back, mind you, but it would help to give the fighters around the beastly man something of an edge.

"Heads up!!" Lanthane shouted. He shook the potion, and once he felt a crackling in the bottle, he tossed it over multiple heads of fighters, aiming for the Warden's shoulder of the arm that held his weapon. Should it successfully hit, the potion glass would shatter against his shoulder, it would be coated in the cyan liquid, freezing over it and hindering movement of his shoulder. Though, for how long, would be the question...

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Almost everyone fighting down there in that prison paused, watching the blast from the little noble girl’s gun tear through the guards in an instant. None of the guards expected the prisoners to posses such firepower, even if they had raided the armory. Just what were these nobles made of?

The Warden, however, didn’t bat an eye, as he was preoccupied with a swift little dragoon. The Warden rose to his feet as a light green glow surrounded his arms. It seemed the arrow in his eye was of no bother to him. With the new found strength in his arms the Warden shrugged of the ice trying to hold him down. “Time to end this,” was all the Warden said.

Rearing up, the Warden brought his weapon behind his back, tensing upas he prepared to swing at Locke. However, Locke was out of range at this point surely. It seemed the Warden didn’t care. Suddenly, the halberd was on the otherside of his body. He had already swung! The brutally swift and powerful swing sent a shockwave forward, send the water before Warden surging forth towards Locke, threatening to crash him into the wall. Whether or not the wave caught him or not, its power would be enough to send a spiderweb of cracks up the wall.

One of the comrades of the poor soul who had fallen victim to Adal’s terrifying dark magic turned to the man. “Y-you dark magic using bastard!” The man turned readying his blade. The streak of red on his armor signaled that he was one of the higher ranking guards. “We’re all gonna die down here because of you all!” The guard dashed forward, each step kicking up splashes of water. A warcry left his lips as he approached Adal, swinging at his head with his broadsword.

Morgan, the leader of the rag tag band if prisoners let out a sigh of relief that she hadn’t been stabbed from behind. “Nice work ki-“ Her eyes set upon the cracks working their way up the wall from the warden’s slash. Water began spouting through the cracks with increasing intensity, and chunks of stone began tumbling into the growing pool beneath.

“We’re too late! Everyone grab onto someone!” Morgan cried out, before grabbing onto Clara and pulling her in tight into her chest. “Hope you can swim!”

Moments later, the entire wall crumbled, and a wave of water washed across the room. Screams and yells filled the room as everyone was pulled into a current flowing into the last open path. The nobles would watch as they and the rest of the guards were flushed into the darkness like turds into a toilet bowl.

———————————————

Eventually, the nobles would in fact awaken. Their soaked bodies would feel soft desert sand beneath them, and a soft moonlight gazing down above them.

They had awoken next to a small oasis, and the moon was bright and full. A cool breeze would tickle their skin as one by one the nobles woke up.

It wasn’t only nobles there, but many guards and other prisoners had been washed up here as well. Fortunately the Warden wasn’t among them. Even so, the guards that had survived seemed to have no intention of putting up any more of a fight. An ecstatic laugh broke the astonished silence.

“AHA! We made it!” It was Morgan. She stood with her face turned towards the sky and her arms still wrapped around Clara, shaking her awake. “Praise our Goddess Rivienne! Once again she blesses and protects us!” Whether or not Clara had awoken yet, Morgan dropped her back onto the sand. “Now... where are we?”

 

[King Crimson]

Lady Clarabella of Gavenia ​

Only in rare instances, at her family's court, had Clara ever seen a person of Feurey birth, never had she come face-to-face with one personally, as she did now, the imposing, fur-clad man looking down imposingly upon her.
At the very least, he appeared to be in alliance, and unlike some of their mutual companions, appeared far more civilized.
"An astute plan, to be sure..." Clara replied, rising unsteadily to her feet.
"...Though I fear our foes will not suffer to allow me the time and concentration required to unleash another volley of that magni--."
Another sharp crack split the air, the hideous sound of steel falling on stone resonating around the room as the warden's halberd tore the prison's mortar asunder.
She could only look on, eyes wide with panic, and body paralyzed with fear, as the cracks formed around the hall, yawning wide, and letting ceaseless torrents of water come flooding in to bury them all in a watery tomb.
Morgan shouted something, which was lost to the deafening roar of water, her scarred, steel-like arms wrapping tightly around her in a protective embrace.
Instinctually, Clara clung back with all of the strength she could muster, buried her head into her bosom, and shut her eyes tight, hiding fearfully away from the terrifying world around her, as the waves engulfed the two of them.
Darkness soon followed after.
~~
She was back in that forest clearing, having just witnessed something she could only describe as a miracle.
A sharp noise that split the very air, and that fiend that blighted their land was no more, erased from existence like some bad dream that disappears when you open your eyes, with no memory of what had caused you such distress in the first place.
Slowly, he lowered his rifle, the subtle hints of a rare, confident smirk on his worn features.
"See now, my child, what I have forged?"
With gentle ease, like a goldsmith polishing the most gem in their collection, he brushes the loose strands of golden hair away from her face, before resting his firm hand upon her shoulder.
"See now, what I leave for you to inherit in your future?"
Clara's heart fluttered at his kind words, his gentle touch. It nearly threatened to fly up from her chest and into her throat.
"F-father..." Clara replied, her voice trembling as she fought to keep her usual composure.
"I-It is seldom for us to ever speak privately...and even more seldom for us to exchange such words..."
Once more her emotions welled up within her, she swallowed, hard, to keep them down,
"But I wished to say, that truly, I lo--"
"Ho! Lord Cervantes! Is that where you went off to, then!?"
Like an arrow hitting a sparrow out of the air, the loud, grating voice pierced through, Clara's words dying suddenly in her throat.
"Ah, Iago. I was just preparing to make my return." Cervantes replied, his hand drawing away from his daughter's shoulder, leaving a bitter coldness where it once laid.
With a crack of his reins, he was gone, leaving Clara, alone, once more, her hand reaching out futilely towards him.
~~
With a sharp gasp, Clara awoke, one hand still unconsciously reaching out, now towards the dark, night sky, the other still clinging onto Morgan's shirt in a veritable death grip.
The danger seemed to have passed, and with a long, trembling sigh, Clara relinquished her embrace, hoping silently that none of the others had bore witness to her holding onto the general like some frightened babe.
...That is until, the general came back to life on top of her, her superior strength roping Clara right back into the hug, shaking her about, and singing praises of their survival, not a single care given to the others around them, or for the numerous protests streaming from the reddening face of the mortified noble in her arms.

Mercifully, Morgan was quick to end the embarrassing display and move on, dropping Clara unceremoniously back onto the sand, of which she takes firm handful, examining the granules studiously, before banishing them to the wind.
"Unless there are any other deserts I am unaware of, we appear to still be in Rivienne." Clara responds, rising to her feet.
Although, where exactly in Rivienne was still to be determined. There was no sign of the grand towers of Grenouille anywhere on the horizon, nor any villas, impoverished hovels, or merchant roads nearby.
Disappointingly, their situation seemed no less dire than it was before; they merely traded the suffocating walls of prison for the hopeless wastes of an endless, barren desert.
"I propose we establish camp for tonight, and prepare for the heat wave that shall greet us come morning." Clara states, after a moment of pondering,
"We salvage what supplies we can, treat our wounded..."
With an icy glare leveled at one of the surviving guards, she adds, "...And press our prisoners for information on the whereabouts of our prior confinement, and if there are any settlements in our vicinity."
Turning a slightly softer look back towards the general, she continues, "...Depending on our fortune, we may be able to embark as soon as next nightfall."

Interacting:
Lanthane/Ayka, Arcanist
Adelbrecht, Orikanyo
Vivian/Lyari, Takumi98
Lockeheed/Hiro, The Black Knight
Morgan InsaneAsylum

 

[Misuteeku]

Sheridan Sasaki
​

The webbing was finally becoming undone with her puppet gnarling it into nothing. Adrenalin popped into her veins as she turned to look around to see the viper coming at her with the intent of making her its dinner. Now she didn't care about many things but dying here was one thing she cared very much about. It was approaching her at fast yet hindered, possibly from the attack the ninja had done to the serpent, and she needed to act fast. She didn't have any talismans one her but she didn't need any talisman to deal with this monster. Breaking out of her web cocoon, she picked up and threw her puppet at the serpentine.

"Distract it!" She yelled as she began her spell. Thankfully the puppet wasn't an actual dog, in that the an actual living being would be surprised by its owner's betrayal, and that the commands issued immediately took into effect. Adjusting itself the dog opened its maw wide and prepared to deliver nasty bites onto the serpentine monster to buy its lady enough time to deal the spell. Taking advantage of this moment, Sheridan began to cast. Dark magic pulsed onto Sheridan's palms. It was foreign but familiar presence like seeing a nostalgic feeling of seeing an old friend again. Though that matter to Sheridan right now, throwing her hands forth she channeled the magic. "Blood shall be the sacrifice, bones shall be the foundation..." A dark ritual circle appeared beneath the serpent. Ghastly hands emerged and attempted to drag it into the circle.

"Your heart will be offering that'll be judged by the hells below..." The spell was immensely strong compared to her usual magic. Darks hands radiates with gloom and lashed out onto the serpent. Clawing its skin, its face, even inside the serpent own body without even leaving a trace of a wound. It was dealing damage to the mind while pinning the body into the circle. However the magic would take time before its completion. Without her talismans, Sheridan had to be careful with her magic or else the serpent would break out of it. Well, it'd have a hard time considering it had a small puppet gnarling on its tail.

 

[Orikanyo]

Adalbrecht

To fight men, that is easy, even as the high ranking guard attempted to strike Adalbrecht the haphazard strike, filled with raw rage, was a simple thing to clash against. But as the two locked blades, hate and desperation clashing against each other as they locked eyes, the world was swept away from underneath them, turning the battle into a desperate bit for survival. Water over took them, and soon, darkness swept them all away to who knows where...

His mind slipped from the world, as if deposited in a place beyond the immediate worries of drowning. His mind was elsewhere, thinking on the nature of magics he learned none to long ago.

Magic... Is oft thought of as a diametrically opposed duality.

White magic, is often looked in a positive light. It heals, benefits, cleanses. And in general, these things are indeed good. But White magic in excess is oft a dangerous thing, one of the most powerful white magic spells is a truely deadly beast. known by the simple moniker of "Holy" a spell that is rarely ever possible to cast... But deadly in it's own right.

Black magic, is seen as destructive, and of course it very much is. But it is raw power, meerly formed into ways that makes the most output, lesser used black magics can be used for a great deal of tasks that aid many people. The most common, would be the water spell, able to condense water via magic into the air from elemental energies into the life giving succor thats very much needed in the desert.

The destruction comes from excess of what makes the two magics what they are, creation.

You create, with white and black magics.

You make latent magic into a effect or physical thing.

This is why both are allowed while Dark magic is not.

Dark magic is not creation.

it is the opposite in it's dealings, it is entrappment, it deprives, binds and abates

But as the other two, it can be made to do good as well as bad. Such in the case of Adalbrecht, who inflicted upon himself a sigil that would last a long time, to steel himself from the coming horrors he would face, the guard his mind against what he had to do. Fear , has always been his enemy, from even a young age he was known as a child who took to fright easily, storms cause him to shiver and hide, he cried at the drop of a hat.

Fear, has always been a long standing companion, it kept him from get together that most nobles would thrive in, forced to go for decorum's sake, but ending up a wall flower.

When it came to the day he had to make the choice, the choice of fighting back or giving in, his whole body practically demanded that he run for the hills. His father long gone, he was but simply minding his duties as a noble over his people, people kind and hearty. Even as a fearful fool, he was loved, and he loved them. Much like how the farmers tended to their fields, the land was his field, and he tended to it with vigor and certainty he never felt while wielding a blade or casting a spell.

But... he had a choice... if he stayed, ire would be drawn to him, if he stayed his people would likely try and fight for him, that much is true, but what they had in man power they lacked in swords, and training to wield them well. They had allies for certain, but as more fell to the church, he knew he had to abdicate and run, to make certain no one would bleed on his behalf...

But his fear would take root.

it would bind him, horribly and so tightly he could barely breathe.

But as it was said before, Dark magic is the act of binding, entrappment... And to remove fear, to entrap it in a sigil.

That was just what he needed.

But dark magic is not fully destruction... The fear would build in the sigil, swelling, pulsing, until it would finally...

Adalbrecht woke upon the sands, his heart, his heart was racing, his eyes widened and half blinded with the haze of nearly drowning. The sun's light danced upon his bleary eyes as his body scrambled to gain purchase upon the sands below him. He could feel the intense pounding of his chest, his breathing was ragged and jittery, he couldn't focus, he could barely move, his body was exhausted and entrapped within the cage of fatigue. Tears welled up in his eyes, his arms slowly pressing upon the ground as the sigil upon his back had broken and flooded his body with the fear he had felt all this time sicne he left his home.

He shivered, he shaked, his stomache twisted and turned, his body was on the brink and it was all he could do not to scream.

For he opened his mouth to do so...

And his body expelled possibly a gallon of water along with what could have been the sludge they were forced to eat way back when.

The knight, was now replaced by a sniveling whimpering boy, falling to his side and sobbing uncontrollably.

 

[Arcanist]

Gerran Perall | Lanthane Grivois | Ayka Galani

Tags: (Locke) The Black Knight (Vivian) Takumi98 , (Adal) Orikanyo (Clara) King Crimson ​

Lanthane groaned as the Warden seemed to just shrug the ice off. He noticed the same kind of glow that Ayka's magic allowed for, only this was green. The kind of enhancement on such a throbbing muscle-head like this would prove deadly if someone were to be hit by it. He was going through the potions he had on hand, choosing another one to chuck at the Warden again, only, it came too late. The Warden had raised his halberd, sent it crashing down, sending a huge wave towards Locke and intending to use it to smash him into the wall.

He watched the cracks travel along the ground, climbing up the walls, and he knew the place was going to blow. He turned to Vivian, looking to her with probably the most serious expression that Lanthane had ever mustered before, and told her, "When I grab you, you hold on tight. Don't let go of me, not even for a second."

Lanthane looked to the others, in the hopes that he could warn them somehow. Gerran was busy gutting another guard with his sword, Ayka was flicking through the pages of her tome for another enhancement spell. Both were engrossed in the battle, both aware and unaware of what was happening around them.

There was no time to warn them. As soon as the water rushed in and General Morgan called for people to hold onto someone else, Lanthane latched onto Vivian, pulling her close without a second thought. He thought he could see Gerran rushing past him to Ayka, but the waves rushed in and swooped them away, and Lanthane just held his breath and closed his eyes, refusing to let go of Vivian in the process.

Naturally, with the water whooshing past his ears, all the bodies strewn about in the sudden flood, how he squeezed his eyes shut, he was surrounded by darkness. He vaguely recalled seeing it before, if only for a short time. The only other time he had experienced a feeling of limbo...

...was when he died.

It was ironic really. Idiotic, even. Lanthane had been brewing some concoction in his personal quarters and added too much of the wrong ingredient. The next thing he knew, he had awoken at the Crystal, a feeling of inebriation clutching at his mind, a breeze tickling him between his legs...and several squeaks before a cloak was thrown over his body. Apparently resurrecting meant your clothes weren't taken with you. Who would have thought?

Instead of waiting around for some proper attire to put on, Lanthane instead sauntered out of the Church. raving and celebrating how he had created the largest, most explosive bomb of his yet! The poor young woman followed him, insisting he stay put so that they could check him over, provide him with clothing, even get him something to eat should he so need it. But instead, with nothing but a cloak wrapped around his waist, he walked out and met a very concerned Gerran and Ayka, celebrating.

He later learned he had blown his rooms up. No one else was injured or killed, thank the Goddess, but the room was a right state, and bits of Lanthane's clothing lay strewn across the room...not to mention how his blood stained the carpet and the walls.

At first, Lanthane found it hilarious, intriguing, to say the least. He didn't seem phased by the idea of death and resurrection. Not until a few hours later, when he realised what had happened, when he vaguely felt unlike himself, and he truly realised he had died. The failure to recollect anything between those two moments was that darkness. That was when he realised just how serious it was.

That, and his father lectured him thereafter, claiming how irresponsible he was to risk his safety like that, and that if he were to die and resurrect at the Crystal, that he should at least do it for a worthwhile cause.

For the war.

For a few days, Lanthane wasn't quite himself. He, of course, perked up much later in the week, claiming melancholy was a mood not suited to his visage.

But he wanted to avoid that darkness if he could manage it. And he feared he might have faced it again, by drowning.

When he awoke, Lanthane lay there, sand grains scratching against his cheek as he tried to acclimatise himself to the world around him again. It was night, judging by the dark skies, the way the oasis was cast in an ethereal, white light. His curls lay flat and stuck to his face, along with his clothes drenched and stuck to his body too. But they had made it outside, alive, or at the very least, he was. Though, that was when he remembered the weight on top of him.

Vivian.

Lanthane gently rolled her onto the sand, shaking at her. "Vivian? Vivian, are you okay?! Say something!" He demanded frantically. If the Goddess Rivienne truly existed, then perhaps she wouldn't be so cruel to let another one of his siblings disappear.

"Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four..."

Gerran counted, a figure of complete calm as he counted and pushed down on Ayka's chest, willing her to wake up, to breathe. He stopped, leaning down, trying to listen for breathing. None. His nose wrinkled and was about to take the necessary steps for mouth-to-mouth.

Then, she spluttered up water, gasping for air, and coughing at the amount she tried to inhale in one go.

"Easy, Ayka," Gerran told her, helping her to sit up. Though his expression was still a visage of calmness and collection, relief swelled up within him. He was sure Lanthane would never forgive him nor himself for letting Ayka fade away into the Goddess' arms so quickly. He wouldn't have either. "Slow, deep breaths."

"I'm fi-fine," Ayka gasped, trying her best to take the breaths exactly as Gerran told her to. She continued them, and their taller, stockier companion stayed by her, until her heart had slowed, and she too had calmed. When she had managed that, she glanced back to Gerran, giving him a nod, "Th-thank you, Gerran." She managed a smile as Gerran gave her his own nod back. She leaned back on her hands, her breathing slowing, and she murmured, "Go...check on Lan. I'm fine, really."

Gerran did glance around to Lan, finding him frantically shaking at Vivian, and didn't delay a second longer. For all he knew, perhaps she needed his help too.

Ayka sat like that, for a while longer, as Clara already started going through a plan of what they should do, now that they were out of that Goddess forsaken prison. She looked over to her, rubbing her abdomen, tender from the impromptu surfing, and managed a nod, "Okay...that all sounds...like astute thinking..." She gestured vaguely, before sighing. "Sorry, I'm gonna need a...a moment..."

Though, the sobbing that came from Adalbrecht seemed to stir a sudden energy into her. She turned her head, trying to find him in amongst prisoners and nobles, and saw him on the ground, continuing to sob. "Wh..." Ayka stumbled to her feet. "Adal?" She called out to him, intending to walk over to him.

 

[Takumi98]

Vivian Grivois | Lyari Morcant | Ashe Starvos​

Vivian couldn't help the amused smile that curled from her lips at her brother's words to Lyari, the blonde noticing the almost embarrassed pout on her friends features, but the light eyes of the black magician held gratitude in them, the young woman glad that Lanthane went out of his way to try and ease her worries.


Panic settled into both Princess and Black Mage as the Warden unleashed his counter attack, however. Lyari had quickly clung to Ashe like a frightened kitten as water rose ever higher after Morgan's shout, wide lavender eyes staring at the dark waters as a high sound of panic squeaked out of tightly sealed lips as she held onto her belongings and her friend with shaky hands that started to gain white knuckles. The archer barely had time to put away his weapons and firmly grip her to keep her from slipping from his grasp.

Vivian herself had her attention on Lan as he told her to hold onto him, and with a nod and a small downturn of her lips she quickly put away her own belongings, and once he had pulled her tight she quickly gripped onto his shirt as water crashed down on them and threw them all into the dark.

Her face was buried in his chest, eyes squeezed shut as she held onto her brother as best as she could. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest not even it could be muffled under the water that rose well over her head. It didn't take too long before her chest ached, lungs burning, and heart rate grew the longer the dark consumed her.

Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go.

A reminder to herself, chanted over and over louder than the pounding throb started to form behind her eyes. A headache, pulsing almost in time with her heartbeat. She held on tight, until she just couldn't anymore.

Her grip had slackened sometime before they had fully hit the desert sands, body going limp as blonde hair became dark from the water and stuck to the young nobles face and neck like the fur of a wet pup. As Lan rolled her weight onto the sand and shook her, she didn't stir, sand sticking to damp skin and clothe as her head lolled to one side.

Elsewhere amongst prisoners and guards alike, Ashe was helping check on Lyari as the girl coughed and hacked up water with shaking pain filled breaths. The archer had glanced up at Lanthane's frantic calls to his charge, green eyes zeroing in on the Princess and sucking in a sharp breath as he quickly took noticed that her chest barely moved, from where he sat in the sand beside the shaking young woman who he had felt just as responsible for. Before he could get up to ensure the young noble wouldn't see the Goddess anytime soon, he quickly caught sight of Gerran making his way over to the two siblings with haste, and knew that the man would make sure the young blonde was fine.

InsaneAsylum Arcanist Orikanyo King Crimson The Black Knight

 

[The Black Knight]

The guards were a thorn in the archer’s side. Shaia had to keep her focus on Locke, but she couldn’t risk taking her eyes off the rest of the enemies surrounding her. When she did look away, she made sure that whoever earned her attention died swiftly—swift enough that she wouldn’t lose a second watching Locke. But she hadn’t been quick enough. Locke was dancing around The Warden’s feet when she watched the giant swing his halberd at him. Her heart jumped and Shaia unleashed a terrified scream, “LOCKE!”

Hiro glanced away from Clara, his ears standing on end as he directed his eyes toward The Warden. The giant’s swing had been his most powerful and swift yet. It had sent the water hiking into the air on clear stalagmites. Both Shaia and Hiro watched with gaping mouths, Locke leap inhumanly quick to the side of the swing. His right leg glowed and the layers of his blond hair fluttered about his forehead amidst crystal beads of water. Without hesitation, the former dragoon officer took a step, and then his right foot came down once more. The water exploded around his stomp. His leg bent, and then like a spring, sent the dragoon soaring in the infamous dragoon Jump. Locke leaped right up to The Warden’s chest. His spear was cocked back and surged forth, plunging into the colossal warrior’s throat until the spaded head erupted out the back in crimson ichor.

Gripping his spear and posting his bare feet against the man’s waist, Locke broke off the end of the weapon and replied to The Warden’s last statement: “Aye. It ends.”

Locke stabbed the wooden stake into The Warden’s other eye. The wall shattered behind him, sending chunks of rock and a deluge of water crashing into them. The dragoon didn’t even bother to turn his head. He knew the wall had broken as soon as water poured over his shoulders. They had been too late. Something struck the back of his skull, causing his vision to black out early.

Everyone was grabbing onto someone and seeing as the one closest to him had been guarded, Hiro made a mad dash for Shaia. She returned her arrow to her quiver and shouldered her bow as she noticed the monk running toward her. She raced toward him as the water splashed against the sides of the chamber and started to swirl into a whirlpool. When the two collided in an embrace, the water was suddenly above their heads. They were swept into the current that had been so strong that the very air felt as though it were being drawn from their lungs. When it was all over, everyone had suddenly been deposited outside.

Hiro had been the first to recover. He sat with Shaia lying on her side to his left. The sand was dark by her mouth where she had unconsciously coughed up water. Locke was lying on his side to his right, and Hiro had torn one of his sleeves to make a bandage for his head. The sand had been stained with water and gruel from Locke having also unconsciously regurgitated water and chum.

The monk opened his eyes from his meditation, watching as the other prisoners started to stir. He didn’t understand how they had all made it out, but they had. His ears swiveled, listening to their conversations. The others were planning to rest and setup camp. Hiro heard a sigh escape Locke as the former prisoner stirred.

“Ugh, my head,” Locke groaned as he slowly reached a hand up to tenderly touch the band around his skull. “How the heck am I alive?”

“We all are,” Hiro informed.

Locke turned his head slowly, glancing up at the fox who looked just as healthy as ever. “I’m not even surprised at you right now.”

The dragoon groaned more as he rolled onto his back. He posted his hands at his sides and slowly sat up. Hiro rested a hand upon his shoulder to steady him.

“You took a blow to your head. I think it had to be a rock. You should rest,” Hiro advised.

Locke smiled peacefully. “I’m just enjoying freedom. I’m so hungry…” Tears started to tumble from Locke’s eyes as he started weeping. A sweat bead of embarrassment ran down the back of Hiro’s head as he patted the warrior’s back.

“There has to be something around here.”

“There’s an oasis nearby.”

“I’m going to head there before I faint.”

Locke rocked forward and slowly rose to his feet. Once standing, he closed his eyes, tipped his head back, and enjoyed the cool desert breeze against his skin.

“The others are planning to set up camp and stay until next night.”

“Unless they pay me, well, us. I’m not obligated to care. We all had the same goal. That was it. Now that I’m out. It’s back to work,” Locke said. He opened his blue eyes and gazed up at the moon.

Hiro was surprised at how resilient Locke was. Like a switch, he was back to business. The dragoon had walked over to gaze at Shaia. She was sleeping with her arms tucked against her body. Her platinum hair was strewn about her face and draping the sand around her. Locke stared for a moment. His brows slowly rose until he lifted his foot and gave her a swift kick.

Shaia gasped, her amethyst eyes flying open. She peered up through the layers of her hair at Locke and growled, “Locke! You ass!”

The dragoon grinned mischievously at her. “I was just making sure you were alive.”

Hiro narrowed his eyes at him. “If she wasn’t, I would have buried her.”

Locke shrugged and started heading to the oasis. “How was I supposed to know? I’m gonna go catch some fish or somethin’.”

Shaia sat up with a growl and tossed her head to swing her argent mane behind her shoulders. “That jerk!”

She grasped her bow and quiver and stood abruptly to her feet to walk briskly after him. Hiro sighed and rose to follow them. He was convinced that he was never going to stop being the parent.

InsaneAsylum Orikanyo Takumi98 Arcanist King Crimson

 

[Pepsionne]

Yui suppressed a smirk from sliding onto her face at the sight of the Crane Noble flying through the air. Was it karma? Poetic justice? It didn't really matter, not in the heat of the moment but gods it was funny.

She watched in contemplation as the beast bobbed up and down, the movement no doubt tearing bit by bit at the muscle in the noble's arm. He would need the rat clan healer after this, no doubt.

As Yui watched the beast dip back and forth in the sky, its injured and quite large frame struggling to maneuver in the little patch of clearing, an idea flashed deviously in her eyes. Ryuichi looked onward from a hidden place in the brush, a pit forming in his chest when he recognized the look. She was going to try her wind magic. At times like this, those ideas of hers were either miracles, or only seemed to worsen the tragedy.

He notched an arrow tentatively, watching the flying beast frantically flap its wings to release both the buried weapon from its wing and the man attached. Ryuichi brought the bow up, aiming towards the flying figures. If he could just hit the angle right, he may be able to dig up the flesh around the buried kama and loosen it much like digging up a rooted plant with a shovel. His breathing was slow and deep as he focused, until after a beat, he stopped breathing entirely.

Ryuichi loosed the arrow from the brush, its momentum stirring up a flurry of green vegetation as it bore its way through the air. The arrow lodged itself into the beast's wing just as it dipped down to the side as it had been, and as Ryuichi had predicted. The buried arrow wedged itself in at an angle, pushing the kama up slightly. He cursed under his breath. The beast and his aim were both slightly off from his prediction, not providing enough force to fully unearth the blade. Over time, sure gravity would do its work, but how long did they really have?

As Ryuichi had been calculating his next attack, Yui had begun to summon her wind magic. The air around her feet began to circle upwards, creating an increasingly strong draft that threw her hair into a wild flurry. Her eyes were glued to the beast up high, even as the dark tendrils of her hair whipped across her face and partially obscured her sight.

The arrow from Ryuichi's bow landed into the beast's wing, the angle it projected from creating a risen mound under the skin. The beginnings of torn flesh could be seen where the crane nobel's sword was buried.

Now, the beast was thrashing around even faster, as no doubt the arrow compounded on the pain it was feeling. Even with the cacophony of noise, both from the flying beast and the reptiles, as they were being eaten alive by Sheridan's dark magic, Yui's focus did not falter.

Just as the beast began dipping down far lower as it had before, almost as if it was planning to scrape the crane noble across the ground to finally shake him loose, Yui had finished charging her spell. She casted a blast of wind to hit the flying beast's chest, knocking it backwards into one of the thick trunks surrounding them. The force of the wind had been cut down significantly due to its sudden move to dive, but the beast still hit the solid tree with a bone jarring thump. The loosened kama slid further out of the wound it caused, teetering in the bloody flesh for a second before finally popping out of the wing entirely. Yui watched the crane noble, now free, begin his descent to the ground. The force of her spell had knocked the beast further up than it had originally planned to dive, hopefully it was left enough air time for the noble to regain his senses and land with some dignity.

(mentions RageFactorXIII Misuteeku Arcanist )

 

[Orikanyo]

A word, a name, his eyes opened wide and narrowed like a spooked beast.

He didn't see Ayka, he saw a facsimile of a person, a hazy being approaching him. It was all his mind could muster, stunned as it is, his body acted on instinct, he clambered, scrambled to his feet, desperate to climb the dune and make it to whatever amounted to safety.

The dune however gave way by it's sand, hand met loose footing, foot pushed deep into something that would not aid it. The dune was as much a blockade as the prison was down below.. or perhaps far away?

He had tripped and fallen into the uprooted sand, sliding furtively back to when he started his flight, covering his head with his arms, legs curled up, a desperate defence against the precieved monsters that plagued his mind as fear reigned.

Where was he?

What was happening?

Where is father?

"Father... Father.. Father please help me..." his whimpering cries could be heard by none, or so he thought as he had others around him. His demeanor and countenance gone, reduced to a crying child... His mind sought answers, the prison, yes.. the prison... Water... Blood, fighting? Blood was in his mouth, he had bitten his tongue... WAS biteing his tongue. He released it but whimpered again. The prison... The others..? the kind men inside? Waves took them, or maybe blades? Are they dead? Were his people dead? Did this all amount to nothing!? He sought to be a martyr but a martyr's lot is too much!

Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't this world allow peace?

Why did he do all this?!

He had killed, brought life to end, with nary a blink or thought. "I...I didn't mean to hurt them...." his cries against the judgement of his own mind, whimpering to the uncaring sand. "Why... Why... The blood.. So much blood..." the seal, the seal did this... Locked awya his fear. Oh he knew it was a bad idea but he did it, he did it to himself! No other brought himself this misery than he!!!

"...Why......." his last furtive words squeaked out, before he closed up further.

 

[King Crimson]

Lady Clarabella of Gavenia
​

A large mass of freed prisoners had began congregating around the nobles, fearful, furtive whispers being murmured amongst their ranks;
"Is that the princess? I-Is she dead!?"
"T-That knight, what on earth happened to him to make him cry like that!?"
"What do we do!? What do we do!? We're doomed!! Hopeless!!"

"For what purpose are you lot still standing around!? Do you not see the sick and wounded in need of your aid!? Are you expecting the church to come offer us salvation!?"
Clara angry voice rang out clear across the oasis, shaking many of the men out from their mortified stupor, a mortal dread of what she portended to, if not the girl herself, spurring them to plunge into the well formed at the oasis's center, and desert sands surrounding it.
Despite the brave face she put on, she still stood a fair distance away from the others. She couldn't let them see that she was just as shaken as they were. The horrible image of the fallen princess driving a lance in her heart, the once, brave knight's wailing ululations echoing hauntingly in her ears.
Truly, things couldn't get any worse.
"How the heck am I alive?" a familiar, loathesome voice rang out, warning Clara of how wrong she was.

Whipping her head around, she found that idiotic dragoon, reunited with his friends, frolicking about as if nothing was wrong, speaking wantonly of how "none of this was their problem" as he made his way towards the oasis.
It was enough to make her blood boil over.
Immediately, she moved to intercept them, barring their path to the with her small, tiny body.
"So, It was not enough for you to take flight from your duties, and leave your brothers and sisters to be persecuted as heretics, but now you plan to abandon your countrymen once more, and this time, rob them of what meager supplies they have left?" Clara asks, her eyes narrowed accusingly at the former noble, her voice seething with bitter contempt.
Her arms cross across her chest, she all but spits out, "Truly, your craven nature knows no bounds."
"...And pray tell..." she relentlessly continues, taking a menacing step towards Lockeheed and his band,
"What was it, you were planning to do once you've left this place? Were you going to venture out into the desert, and pray you reach civilization before hunger, thirst or the elements took you?"
"Should you miraculously succeed in escaping this desert, were you going to hope that they would be hospitable to you, and not rife with soldiers of the church, or peasants who would gladly see you returned to your shackles in exchange for a chance to feast with our gracious captor, Lord Bartholomew?"
"Perhaps you wished to flee to the neighboring land of Feurey? Surely, two countries that have been at war with one another for decades, and very well may be once again, wouldn't do something as sensible as shoring up their defenses around their border!"
The girl punctuated every single one of her questions by angrily marching one step forward, until she was standing toe-to-toe with the dragoon.
Despite the difference in their height, she still locked her unflinching eyes with his, boring at him with a palpable rage and disgust, that only barely managed to mask the sting of betrayal, and the disappointment that lie beneath them.
"Despite your objections, this is, in fact, your problem, Sir Lockeheed. You and your ilk are hunted as fugitives, just as we are."
A frustrated sigh escapes her, her hand takes a firm grasp on one of the gleaming golden buttons embedded into her coat's shoulder, with a swift yank, she tears it out, clutching it tightly in her clenched fist.
She wanted to retch.
What she was doing went against every fiber of her being.
But she was desperate, they were desperate.
She couldn't afford to let such a valuable ally be wasted.
"...But since logic and reasoning has long since escaped you, I shall hope your vaunted coin will be enough to convince you not to throw yourself onto our enemies' swords."
Holding the button out for him to see, she explains, "Fourteen Karat pure silver, mined from the kingdom of Ventin before their fall, encrusted with diamonds from the Great Desert, Rivienne, mined during the kingdom's establishment. Even a piece as meager as this would fetch a fair price at any market, more than enough to hire the services of a foolish sellsword."

Interacting:
Lockeheed/Hiro/Shaia, The Black Knight

 

[Shadow Dancer]

A shriek pierced Hibiki's ears as one serpent got both legs pinned together causing both to momentarily pause before the injured serpent crawled to the puppet master. The uninjured serpent seemed to decided it had enough and lunged at him it's maw wide open and razor sharp claws ready to bisect him. Hibiki only smiled, baring his blades and charging the serpent himself in a test of who was faster, winner survives. As the two neared Hibiki propelled himself to the left at the last moment and swung his kodachi and kaiken in a cross letting their momentum do the work for him. He felt his blades bite into his foe and heard another ear piercing screech but also felt a sharp pain in his side. The serpent managed to leave three marks that shredded his light armor like paper and bit into his side. Fortunately the armor prevented the strike from going too deep but it still would limit his movement. Hibiki then turned towards his foe to see the damage he did.

Seiichi watched as the Crane samurai hung in the air and quickly tried to think up a way to get him down or buy time for the man to get himself down. Turned out that was unnecessary as the beast decided to swoop down at him forcing Seiichi to dodge to the side though as he did he swung his katana aiming to hit the already injured wing and it was met with some success tearing a bit more of the webbing and hitting a finger. Hibiki got back up and readied himself for the next attack.

With one last slash Naoko managed to free herself from the sticky substance that bound her legs, around her the sounds of fighting sounded. Naoko calmed herself as she was trained and focused on casting a healing spell for Hibiki to slow the bleeding and numb the pain. She inwardly cursed her inability to properly fight as she did so. After several seconds of humming a melody to focus and weave the spell she released it and a soft glow fell on Hibiki's side, it was only a quick fix but it would keep him going. Naoko quickly got herself a bit of distance from the fighting and kept an eye out for her allies reading herself to cast a spell a a moments notice.