View source for 4767/Contract of the Gods' Forge - Titanite

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/11/09
|Location=Lordran
|Synopsis=Pursuant of the legendary titanite slabs, opening the vault gets the would-be retrieval team more than they bargained for.
|Cast of Characters=70, 6, 518, 984, 941, 1014
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For once upon a blue moon, people are headed deep underground for a relatively benign reason. Cursed ruins, lost tombs, forgotten dungeons, infested swamps, wartorn caverns, sketchy laboratories; for once it's as simple in nature as a vault. A giant, secret, deeply buried vault under the city of the gods, but still, a vault.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The way to the site is as simple as navigating through the city ever is, though significantly more populated than it used to be, helping ease some of that grandly empty air. The way down is as simple as entering the citadel and walking through a staggering amount of excavated passage in the mountain rock; a long trek to be certain, but a safe and uneventful one. Being on the city grounds themselves, and being property of the divine monarchy, there is no reason for Priscilla not to attend, and thus she has time to speak whilst navigating the long, long spiral.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"With much thanks to thine outstanding efforts, the forges art almost ready once again. Upon the scent of opportunity, many hath already filed to the Embers, though I hath left the judging of their worth to Sir Andre and our Giant, as I thought it both fitting and amusing. Regardless, little will happen but the mundane shaping of iron and steel lest the only metal befitting the gods be retrieved. The old god of the forge chose nought but to fashion it, in lieu of any other domain of creation, and sealed his last reserves under his resting place shouldst it disappeareth from the world, as it almost entirely hast. This wouldst normally be a trivial matter, however, there art . . . questions, as to what wouldst becometh of a substance so highly steeped in the miracles of the old gods, whence left alone for such an unforseeably long time, rather than being shaped right away."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:6|Tomoe (6)}} has posed:'''<br>Tomoe had seme quite invested to help with getting the forge going again and so here they were once more under ground. Someday she's get to put her flying to use in aid of this world, but that was not this day. Then again flight wouldn't really be needed, right? She grins a little bit as she catches up with everyone else. The Iron Lily does listen intently as she gets a few more things explained to her. <br><br> "I underderstand, at least I think I do. To be fair the smiths could produce stuff to rival anything factory produced back home. So I'd not call that too mundane at all myself. Ah for what would need to be forged out of it? That is something to think on if the supply of the metal is limited...."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:518|Yuuki Kuran (518)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Smiths, magic forges, weapons of great power. A conflict around the living dead, and a history that could be contained in a hundredscore ancient scrolls (or vaguely hinted at in scores of esoteric items and left for the reader to infer) for unearthing.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It felt downright homey to Yuuki Kuran, though wandering through a long tunnel with a warm fuzzy snow-coat and boots was a little different than doing the same in a snowswept valley.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"So..." She squints at Priscilla, though saying 'squint' is generous, as her large eyes narrow slightly in concentration. "A long time ago, valuable things were locked away, and you want to find them? They aren't, um, hearts, right?"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pause. "No reason." She clarifies, because there's totally a reason and her transparency is almost as strong as her normalcy.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I think I get it. Do you think there'll be problems, after they've been locked away for so long? Oh, and, after, do you recommend any other places to look around? There's a lot of beauty here..."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yuuki Kuran, Totally Normal Tourist.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:'''<br>As before, Lin's here on Union time and coin, but with a renewed sense of interest. Finally, an opportunity to obtain some form of powerful magical material and learn about it. Even if none goes to her and all she can do is observe it being forged, it'll be worth it!<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Eeeeeuuuuhh.... well I've never heard of Jade springing up and biting anyone's faces off, so here's hoping the answer's just 'nothing.'" Lin casts her vote thus! 'Let it not be crazy ore that wants to maul faces.'<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Solar's naviating the passages easily. It's a heck of a trek, but she doesn't seem the least bit winded....<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:941|Mel Brock (941)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Hey, glad to help," is Mel's simple reply to Priscilla as they walk. She's here in her Marshal outfit as always, hands in her pockets, goind down the steady descent almost lazily. "I mean, aside from all the lethal monsters and stuff. Those I could do without." She does her best not to tread all over Priscilla's words otherwise, listening quietly. At the end of it all, all she can think to say is, "So basically, you're worried this stuff might have become a life of its own, or twisted the area around it, or... something." No telling what divine stuff will do left on its own like that.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1014|Heaven's Armory (1014)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And where goes Mel, as is often the case, there goes Hravn. The sword is here to walk with them, but her human form disappears and reappears at long stretches. Long walks might disagree with her, with her penchant for being carried.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;While the human form gives a greater ability to look around, she's much more interested in where they're going than in the path there. "Or attracted something to it."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Poor Tomoe. At least there's a real sun outside these days. "The advantage of industrialization, if mine recollection is to be trusted, it that a single factory is able to produce vast quantities of works swiftly and efficiently. Such is not the case here. As for what is needed, a better question wouldst be what is not. The sheer number of relics that hath since disappeared from the city after its steady abandonment is beyond count. The petitions to replace them art without number. Many of them I even suspecteth art little but covetous lies, to replace artifacts that never existed. All demand the purest titanite as the only substance suitable for their replacement, few shalt receive it."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Priscilla almost wants to say something completely different to Karal, but this is one of those situations where Creation may actually be more sane. "I wouldst hope as much as well, but there is a reason that there is only one true metal here, as opposed to five." Then to Mel "It is said that too much of his heart went into the gifts he didst bequeath upon the Lords. Such metal can be considered as his surrogate children of divine creation, born rather than a race of thinking creatures. Not one alive hast ever seen an intact piece sit idle for centuries, and especially not since its creator's death." Followed by an attempt at humour. "Children art known to take neither well."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She nods faintly as Yuuki asks away, until the mention of hearts, at which she somehow gives the overall impression of stopping in place despite her unbroken gait, and turns to look with more bewilderment than suspicion. "No, I cannot say they art in any sense I may imagine. Of more concern is what may hath been locked away with it, perhaps. If thou art looking to explore the city, thou hast mine apologies preemptively for this work first. The Royal Archives, the Cathedral Gallery, the citadel palace, or perhaps even the dragon shrine may be more to intentions of relaxation."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A number of complicated questions addressed, the timing is perfect for the group to arrive at what the tunnel has finally lead to; a pair of gargantuan granite doors -- predictably sized for this city's original inhabitants -- that look oddly primitive and rough for the sprawling Gothic Escher painting of a city outside, with worn and rounded corners, and covered top to bottom in writing. The writing itself is so worn down as to be hard to make out, and seems to have nothing special about it, save for looking like some holy Ancient Sumerian text was transcribed by a Gregorian monk in an Illuminated manuscript. Whatever magic was there has faded long ago.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So Priscilla pushes them open, with strength enough for the job despite the downsizing convenient to talk to people. The gates grind open with more than a little grit, and apparently on no visible hinges, but the room beyond is much different. The interior is sized just as the door would suggest, being easily large enough to build a ship in, and in pristine condition. Marble tiles and fluted columns seem like an odd choice for a vault, but their sheer density and thickness seems to indicate the roof won't fall from anything short of the moon falling. One could imagine soaring stacks of gold bullion or pallets of cash as easily as metal, but little is actually visible past the first set of pillars, because something has managed to break halfway into them and fill the intervening space with rubble, obstructing the view of the rest of the room with a small mountain of shattered masonry.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:'''<br>"A... a material for a child?" Lin stammers, struggling to wrap her head around this bizarre idea. It's enough to keep her quiet for the rest of the walk that remains as her mind does flips trying to work out how exactly that works.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That's probably best not thought about TOOOOO much though...<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When faced with a great pair of doors, Lin's swordarm readies, fingers curling around her mundane steel weapon's grip.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She maintains that grip whilst strolling on in with the others. The pillars have her attention. The pillars and the doors. She blinks a few times... then makes an uneasy noise.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Uuuuuoooah... something MIGHT be rampaging around down here. Look, the pillar's been thrashed."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:941|Mel Brock (941)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"...yeah, that's a possibility too now that you mention it," Mel replies to Hravn. "Why did you have to mention it? Ignorance was bliss." She shakes her head, but then listens to Priscilla for a bit longer, thoughtful. "If you ask me, unless the artifact was /extremely/ valuable or important, the answer should be 'tough shit' regardless. You abandon a city and leave things behind, you're giving them up." Sigh. People will be people, of course. Mel silently hopes that children will not also be children, in this particular case, but doesn't say so aloud. Instead, she eyes the room they enter into, and... whistles.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"That's a hell of a mess for a place so pretty. You want me to start moving that stuff? Might take me a few minutes, but I think I can dig that out."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1014|Heaven's Armory (1014)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hravn good-naturedly bumps a shoulder to Mel after her reply, and keeps walking. There are a few things to look at, on the way, at least. The space cop, Hravn knows, but also... a crossbreed. An avatar. A demigod. Familiar, largely. Except for that other girl, but there's no reason to spend time studying something so normal.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A mountain of rubble.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Is that supposed to be here?" It's something of a hindrance, isn't it? Hravn's not the best at clearing earth. It's something opposte of her theme. She can wait, though, as the TK certainly can do that... in time. "There might be structural problems once it's moved, as well."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:6|Tomoe (6)}} has posed:'''<br>Tomoe Says "That is also a good counter point when I think about it that way. Humm might I be of aid later in hunting down some of the missing items? I'm certain some of them are just laying in some tomb...full of death traps..." She's got to know this world well enought it seems as she ahems, at Priscilla and she moves to keep with the rest of the group they got metal to recover and she's happy to help with it. <br><br> "I'll just trust your judgement on who gets such, Priscilla. I'm just a sword arm after all." <br><br> She's taking a good look at the pillar and out comes her sheild the mourning wall and her sword is drawn as well as she makes ready. <br><br> "Your right KAral and Mel? Things are a lot cleaner than they used to be. It's also a lot less hostile than it used to be Mel trust me on that one."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:518|Yuuki Kuran (518)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yuuki nods, her squint giving way to a kind smile. "There's a weight of history to ruins like those, at least. The manufactured crumbling into more of a vista... and you can imagine it the way it was."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She radiates a palpable sunny aura of cheer at the Olde-speaking dragonwoman. Perhaps if she carried the cheer of more than one person, she could bear their cares as well. Perhaps. "I'll be sure to look into those places, though. Some time off may be nice."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The large doors are pushed aside, with a tiny bit of ooooh-ing at the grinding, hingeless nature of the doors - like some fucking tourist, really.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Is this also due to the looting and abandonment, then? Has someone gotten here first? But... hum. The doors are closed?"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yuuki just sorts of starts wandering off, head on a derpy swivel as she takes in the Sights And Sounds. Like some sort of awful Disney Princess, unseasonal and atypical-for-the-area butterflies follow in her wake.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Priscilla stops to confirm probably exactly what Karal is thinking, training her ears for any sound from the room beyond, but in the ensuing silence, she hears nothing. "Rampaging, perhaps in the past tense." she noncommittally replies. A little more confidently, she shakes her head to Hravn. "It is not, though I suspect thou hadst asked without expectation of answer. For this little, I doubt, but such is a worry of mine were there to be further damage."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hearing the words 'death traps' is about the most levity she can find in the situation, tail twitching in apologetic imitation of a more verbal giggle or snort. "Thou art always welcome to push thine bravery as far as it takes thee, Lady Tomoe." She then looks directly at Yuuki, and with a very, very peculiar expression; one that is not unfriendly, or even judgemental, but strangely uncomfortable nonetheless; painfully clear that the words remind her of something. ". . . no, I doubt as much. It was still buried and sealed a mere day previous. If there is aught else thou wouldst wish to see however . . ." She trails off unhelpfully, not finishing her thought.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of course, she has little desire to clear the wreckage herself. Her own powers to do so remotely are significantly less impressive than Mel's, and so the first thing she does is to reluctantly step back with an affirmative nod, and then meandering just past the doors, to look at the writing and keep the room in her peripheral vision at the same time. However old the script is, she can obviously read it, judging by her eyes tracking and the faint movement of her lips.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So a lot of rubble has to be moved. Not as much as it initially seemed, as the pile appears to be tall but shallow, but enough that the nearest corners of the room look more than a little slovenly. In the intervening spaces where Mel is levitating the wreckage however, rather than lifting it free, the sound of stoney grinding and clattering continues as it really shouldn't, not being usual sounds of telekinesis. It grows louder each time, becoming more and more concerning as the jumbled masonry shifts and flattens.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As the rest of the room becomes visible over the top, stretching an impressive ways into the distance, several things are noticed in short order. Many other pillars, walls, and even some of the ceiling has suffered the same fate, though mostly shallow damage rather than being broken outright. Littered amongst the stone are jagged flakes, shards, and chunks of something else; something too black, marbled and rough to belong to the door, but much too glossy and sharply broken to be stone.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lastly, the signs of motion, only fully beginning once the rubble barrier has all but disintegrated. Easy to mistake for other chunks of wreckage in the room, bear sized silhouettes of craggy grey material lift themselves from the floor, standing tall in lethargic, almost confused discord, rather than clockwork synchronicity. Brief expectations of typical fantasy golems go out the window as they shift the dust and gravel off, sending the smaller pieces clattering into the wrecks that surround and cover them. Detailed human figure exists between their shoulders and their ankles, chiseled like a Greek Adonis over every centimetre of worn, ashen metal, but their fingers and toes end in draconian claws, and the spine terminates instead into a dangerously heavy tail as long as they are tall. Their shoulders uniformly sprout -- in place of ornamental wings, perhaps -- broken halos carried aloft on their backs, ringed around their heads like an old picture of a messiah; except they have no heads. Their necks all terminate into a flat surface like highly polished quartz, providing an unbroken surface upon which runes much similar to the door are inscribed in sharp, pristine definition, taking the place of any face.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They are also all armed with various kinds of massive polearms, and seem to be wading waist deep through the rubble to get at the door.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:941|Mel Brock (941)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The work of moving the rubble, for Mel, is not terribly exacting. It does warrant using the upper reaches of her (still-limited) power, but 'a hundred tons of rubble at a time' is nothing to sneeze at. It's at least a not very /spectacular/ show; with Mel moving her hands as if to grip it herself, the rubble silently lifts up in a big clump, only to be floated off to one side to make a pile. If it takes a couple loads to get through, she'll spread the piles out evenly so as not to disrupt the path in and out. The only interesting sight is the occasional, very faint flicker-shimmer of purple around the rubble as it floats.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With the rubble shifted aside, she brushes off her hands. "Not too tough, all things considered. Little bit of a workout, bu... t..."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"...well, shit. Um."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mel quickly reaches back behind herself and draws Hravn, a movement that's becoming second nature the more she does it. "Back me up." It's here that the psychic goes for a two-at-once approach. One barrier created solely of her own psychic power, a solid wall of kinetic force with all the strength she can muster. She can't maintain it indefinitely, but it's strong enough something truly immense could hit it and it wouldn't budge. The other barrier, she creats through Hravn's power - focusing the wind blade's ability to harden the air, reinforcing her own barrier with a secondary source that (as far as she knows) will be much more able to endure.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1014|Heaven's Armory (1014)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Right, enough looking around like a tourist. The rubble-shifting isn't much more fun than Hravn than it is for Mel. Demons or golems of some kind appear--to have already been here, under the rubble. How'd that happen? With the place sealed, there's not much way to tell. Hravn retreats even as she advances, her human form disappearing into a handful of quickly-out sparks even as her true body is drawn from the sheath. Following Mel's will is reflexive, her own helping shape and orient the barrier. It will last awhile, so long as nothing breaks it, but that eventuality is sort of the point of a barrier.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:'''<br>First there's the matter of HUGE debris being cleared by telekinesis, more than enough to awe Lin. Then she spots an odd material on the floor and decides to bend down and nab a chunk of the dark stuff for closer examination....<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not that she gets very far in that endeavor. A noise that's just out of place puts her hand right back on her weapon. "Uh. Anyone hear that?! Doesn't sound good!"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"That.... what IS it? The god's children?!" She's not getting very friendly vibes from them. Rather, it feels like they're likely to all try to tear her apart if she comes any closer!<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"This material we're after's way stranger than anything I've heard of! Now I -have- to see some of it in action! Just... not like this?"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gathering her courage, Lin approaches... but doesn't draw her weapon unless threatened first.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:6|Tomoe (6)}} has posed:'''<br>Tomoe wasn't intending to be insulting she was just undering how well made many of the traps that the people of this world would employ to guard things. It was be on your toes or a veyr nasty end. Still she does think on what Priscilla has said. "I will put my money where my mouth is then in the further on that." It seems she's got an idea of what else she can do in the future but today they need to recover what they can from here. <br><br> Tomoe is ready to help when Mel just moves to lift it with the powers of her mind. Tomoe halts she looks and grins. <br><br> "Well that works." <br><br> She'll move on ahead and keep to point looking a bit sheepish realy. Then she sees the living thingS? Clockwork? Golems? She doesn't know what she does know is the things are moving and they have no heads. Tomoe will start chanting a light elemental spell to enchant her blade, golden runes dance about her body and then as she finishes mangling Norse? Her blade catches fire with a white fire and she mocves to chage on the hostile things. <br><br> "Wait are these things the material?!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:518|Yuuki Kuran (518)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As rubble is moved, there's all sorts of dust and little bits of crud that slough off, filling the air with fine particulate, causing Yuuki to bring an arm up to shield her eyes from gusts of the stuff as things are moved about. It does't seem to delay her reaction, even as her butterfly friends flutter about.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Is this what we came here to find? I suppose this is... unexpected?" She asks Priscilla, having no expectations of what they were to find and more curious than surprised.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Why were they buried, then? Were they... fighting?"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yuuki still seems pretty content to just tourist hard here, drawing out no weapons and exerting no motions of power or inklings of battle skill - but she's quite normal. "It's dry, and smells like history here."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Karal bending down to pick up a shard of the material while Mel is working seems to confirm the similarity. Despite looking as rough, coarse and pitted as primeval stones, it feels more like polished obsidian to the touch, with just a hint of grit. More importantly, she can make out the fragment of something etched into its badly broken surface; a tiny corner of some larger writing carved on its face like a stone tablet.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Priscilla looks up from runes of her own, and for the first time in quite a long time, looks as lost as everyone else. Her astonished look, and the slow shaking of her head, should be taken to mean that there is no precedent for this happening. No lore snippet either. "I am entirely certain these creatures were not present whence this vault was sealed, for what they hath done to anything they wouldst be expected to protect, nor may I mistaketh them for intruders, as their faces . . ." she pauses briefly, before uttering aloud what must be the translation on the single piece of them that looks like a metal slab. "Loyalty."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A heartwarming word, but within minutes, one of them leaps the length of the room and smashes into Mel, propelling itself a little bit like a jumping spider and smashing into her barriers with what must undoubtedly be multiple tons of body weight. That alone is insufficient to get through, and the titanite creature crashes to the ground in front of her, but is undamaged for the effort, and rises to kneeling by immediately slamming its polearm -- some kind of catchpole -- against the invisible obstruction, grinding it against her psychic power such that crackling sparks of fierce, blue-white light coruscate between its blade tips.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Speaking of which, two more follow closely behind it at a steady, grinding pace, almost zombie-ish save for their fantastic size. The gap in their shoulder halos appears to function as some kind of circuit, because the same sort of electricity snaps to life, and then launches as a projectile at Tomoe and Karal. A fourth and fifth arise at the very back of the room, and move to join the others, but will not arrive in time to question as to whether Yuuki's lack of hostile action or simply appearance of lesser threat is responsible for her going unmolested.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seeing a fight is imminent, Priscilla does what any sane (or even insane) resident of Lordran does and gets out her weapons first, pops her buff second, and guns it third. The rubble clitter-clatters where she is obviously running on it hard, past the front line, but none of the creatures seem to pay it any mind.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:941|Mel Brock (941)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;WHAM. Oh, wow, it went right for her. Mel's instincts were pretty good, it turns out. "Cripes, you're heavier than you look," she grunts. It's still well below her barrier's maximum limits, but it's enough that she'll tire out if she tries to hold it up indefinitely. So she goes with the obvious solution: 'not trying to hold it up indefinitely'.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Hravn, I need you to hold out for just a moment."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She hates leaving the blade to hold that thing back solo, but it'll only be for a moment. Just long enough for Mel to let the telekinetic component of the barrier dissipate; so that she can gather herself mentally, draw in all her power, and flat-out blast the Titanite Demon with approximately all the force she can unload.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1014|Heaven's Armory (1014)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Quickly made, and able to last, Hravn's barriers are not especially strong against extreme impacts. Mobility and utility, not brute force, are her favored foci. It's good, then, that the thing impacted Mel's barrier and not hers. Foiling a concerted melee attempt is much easier on her than taking that first charge, and though the initial barrier won't cut it as-is, separating her will from Mel's for the moment lets her wielder focus on that while the Armory blade expands the barrier outward. Solidified atmosphere entangles the polearm, and retains all of its near-perfect properties of insulation, the electricity meaning little to the shield's bonds.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:6|Tomoe (6)}} has posed:'''<br>Tomoe will trust in Priscilla and everyone else here. So wht were thise being's purpose? Well she'll worry about that later as they are now coming to attack and she will protect herself. Tomoe will move to try and block the incoming attack with her sheild to block it it may be a good idea, it may be a bad idea?She's not sure but either way she's going to take a good wallop from the attack even if she does block it. Tomoe then then break into a tryin trying to get up close and personal with the nearest of the attackers with her blazing sword.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:'''<br>The way these things move just isn't HUMAN. It sets off all kinds of alarm bells in Lin's psyche! But her reflexes, thankfully, aren't dependent on even that level of thinking. She moves seemingly without any thought at all to defend, removing her ENTIRE sheathed weapon from its resting place at her belt. One hand on the grip, the other on the end of her sheath, she places it directly in the lightning bolt's path.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A nasty spray of sparks and foul smells follow, the lightning's force blasting back across Lin and spidering out in fractured, lesser blasts. Much of it's deflected AROUND her though.... and into the ground, towards the ceiling, into debris. She's left standing, if shakily. Smoke curling from her flesh, clothes scorched along with some exposed skin. Breathing hard, but with an appetite for violence whet...<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Didn't just become THINGS, these things use magic!!"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Power flows through her though. Heightens her muscles, sharpens her reactions, hones her skill! Air ripples out of her way when she springs forward like a rocket and dives in for her assailant with a mighty slash across its entire body!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:518|Yuuki Kuran (518)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's almost impressive... No, it's actually impressive. The rush of discovery, the slow burn of exploration, the soaring moments of beholding. It was moments like these that made her feel alive in different ways than simply waking up every evening. Better than that, the air was dry and filled with the grit of history and without any of the normal things she had come to expect from Spooky Ruins - bloodscent, mouldering corpse rot, any number of stomach-turning sights or a thick and soupy fog of fear and dampening ick.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Instead, there are simply giant titan(ite demon)s trying to kill them, their very faces the bearers of history.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yuuki takes a moment to look up and do nothing more than absorb this, though her window to do so is no longer than a moment. "Right -- w-watch out!" She calls, but Mel and the strange weapon-person has this! Hopefully!"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She doesn't have a dramatic pose or complex activation or dramatic motion, instead just running (at a fairly normal pace) laterally, drawing a small baton out. "Priscilla, what do you want us to do? Are they precious or special? Are /they/ the metal? Priscilla???"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She could still... think she felt the halfbreed's presence? Maybe? Not really?<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Where did she go?!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hravn knowing the tricky bullshit properties of air should probably be a given. Even told to stand by, her tasteful meddling leaves arcs of magical lightning crawling around the demon's metallic skin instead of roasting Mel's torso, and approximately all the force Mel can unload is known to be something high enough for many people to call 'a metric fuckton'.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As such, her particular titanite demon goes sailing through several columns, blasting torso-sized bricks into the room that scatter into already precarious piles, starting chain reactions of flying, falling and sliding debris that is so busy that it feels like some sort of FPS should be chugging. It slams into one of the two firing from the middle, and craters the opposite wall, taking it with it into the natural rock that occurs past the polished marble brick.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That leaves Tomoe and Karal with a moment to double team one of their respective aggressors, with the former interposing herself as the classic shield wall, taking another lightning bolt aimed for Karal off the top of her HP bar with some partial penetrating abilities. The young Solar is left free to rush past like the wind, cleaving across the monster's broad, chiselled torso, with a perfectly linear gouge flashing into existence across its chest with the sound of snapping stone, though hitting that aggressively, possibly the sound of snapping steel as well. Though their bodies have gained some softer properties from being able to move, it still has several levels up on creaky iron automatons.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tomoe's sword has less of an issue battering away with flashy virtual sparks and sprays of incandescent light, but its weird, greyish skin seems to diffuse and absorb the magical buff past its outer layer, soaking it into itself, and leaving it with many shallow wounds rather than decisive damage.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The two active and advancing from the back appear to have stopped, and further don't appear to be ready to handle Priscilla with whatever limited senses they have available. The air whistles and shrieks as her scythe accelerates past the limit her invisibility can muffle, and splits in their metal flesh rapidly appear as well, but eerily, one, then both, silently slump over lifelessly before anything looks sufficiently broken, briefly filling the room with an uncanny chill as she frees up.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I hath no knowledge of what to call them! Certainly they art born of whole titanite, but sufficiently beyond I cannot say! The rule of this land is to defeat all challengers or else perish; this hast changed not! If thou must, at least leaveth their faces intact!" The two that Mel had smashed together begin to get up, crawling out of their shared crater and disentangling their tails, where pieces of halo and small extremities crumble off. Magical lightning charges and then fires again, straight for Mel and Hravn, as Yuuki still manages to somehow go without notice in this absurd brawl sprung by what should be priceless historical treasure simply ready to pick up and take home.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:941|Mel Brock (941)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With the Titanite Demons going down one by one, Mel makes the mistake of lowering Hravn's guard at last.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When the two she's smashed come crawling back out of the hole in the wall, she realizes the mistake she's made just a /smidge/ too late. "Oh sh-" She /starts/ to raise the wind barrier again, but she's not quite fast enough to avoid getting a nasty shock, one that staggers her back and puts her on her knees. "Aaaaaaaaagh!" Panting, the Marshal goes through some effort to stand back up, and gives them - particularly the one that had attacked her to begin with - a nasty look.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then she brings her left hand up, and makes a yanking gesture.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mel can't do as much force 'pulling' as she can 'pushing'. But if her hardest 'push' was enough to put that thing across the room and /through a wall/, her hardest pulling should at least be enough to fling it all the way back to her, and that's about all she needs. "Hravn, sharpest edge you can give me!" She yells it out at the same time as she thinks it, taking the sword in both hands, stepping up, and SWINGING at just the right moment. She's trying to use its own momentum and Hravn's cutting power to just flat-out bisect the thing.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:6|Tomoe (6)}} has posed:'''<br>Tomoe finds her 'magic' is being either nulled or somehow devoured? She's not sure but these things are mobile far mroe mobile than she would think they would be. Tomoe is doing here best ot be the best shield wall of her own to keep the monsters at bay but she has to wonder about just what they are? This is a very strange reaction and she keeps moving to attack with her blade. Pris doesn't know them? That is trouble but she presses on trying to get under it's guard. She sees the stuff is consuming magic? Damn she will have to keep note of that, or if not consuming certainly far harder to harm with it than she would expect she also makes use of a shielf bash on the constructs she keeps going. <br><br> "What is your purpose?! What do you want from here or us?!" <br><br> It's a long shot but it could be far worse, right? Maybe there will be able to or want to say something back?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1014|Heaven's Armory (1014)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hravn transmits her warning too late. Trying to use the radio network takes too much time. Without direction, she can't shield her wielder on her own, either, even if she sees it coming.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A sharp edge, however, she can do. No magic is required, beyond that of her own, nigh-peerless existence. A blade of legend, thin yet practically indestructible, comes at the demon at dangerously high relative velocity.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's a rather different sort of more subtle magic that cloaks over Mel automatically as this happens, a shield of air that exists for no purpose but to protect her body from the natural reactions of impact to such a degree that an unarmored human could stand against the supernatural. That part might not even be noticed, except in after-analysis.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:'''<br>Lin's sword bends, wobbles, snaps near the end of the strike! But it's fine. She gestures once for the blade and it instantly appears in her grasp in the faintest blur of golden light. As before she swiftly puts the pieces BACK in the scabbard, even though this uses a precious four seconds.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But what does she intend to do exactly, without a weapon?<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lin shifts her stance around. Horse stance of all things, empty hands balling tightly into fists. Her breathing turns into a controlled, focused hiss.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And she raises one fist rather meaningfully, scowling at the strange demon... but it slowly turns into a predatory grin. Confidence. A promise of coming violence. Close scrutiny could see her arm muscles rippling and flexing rapidly, like springs coiling up... or jet engines revving. Flickers of golden white flame drift from her body and illuminate a sun sigil upon her forehead. "Huuuuuuuuuuahhhh.... SECOND TRY!!"<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This time, the ground beneath her CRACKS when she vaults for the creature and swoops in low. She skids along with Essence surging through her limbs, swoops under the creature's staff and lets loose with that single fist. One blow, with speed that eyes cannot follow. One punch mighty enough penetrate and crumple steel. It flies towards the Titanite Demon's chest in-between Tomoe's melee'ing like the hammer of the gods, whipping up howling heated winds and a bone-rattling, ear-splitting *CRACK.*<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And she's angled this blow with the creature right between herself and one of those mangled pillars...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:518|Yuuki Kuran (518)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With things becoming increasingly escalated, and Mel having two enemies (well, Mel and Hravn, but when you're doing the Weapon Meister thing, it's hard to count heads quickly in a fight, even when you're aware it's two people!) to herself while the rest have one, except The Disembodied Voice and Anime Scythe Cutting Air Effects of Priscilla, which still confuses the heck out of Yuuki - surely, she's just behind some rubble, right?<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But that's not the point. The point is that she has a power, a terrible power. The power of hope. The power to help. And worse than that power is a compulsion to use it - a need, burning deeply in her chest. One moment she is on the ground, and then she's in the air, a clear sign of her leaping, but it was... /fast/. Not beyond-the-speed-of-enhanced-sight fast but the Normal Girl had some zip, as she gracefully hung in the air before gravity tried to remember it acted on her. Her baton weilding arm was out and behind her, as an electric crackle ran through the air, with it a metallo-organic looking silver scythe with a half-batwing on the end coming to life in her grip, before she dropped down behind the titanite demon. One clean cut, at the shoulders. One merciful stroke.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It was so anime it hurt to watch.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I'm sorry I've been so unhelpful!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whether encouraged, excited, repulsed, or even apathetic to the figurative sight of blood from Mel, the wrathful statues make no indication; nor do they deign to speak to Tomoe, or perhaps simply can't, without anything approaching a head, never mind face or mouth. Hers simply strikes at her in what would look like a blind rage were it not so silent and strangely resolute, cracking at her with its massive, bladed catchpole, slamming on her shield with its fists, and letting bolts of electricity fly as it leaps up and over her to keep up, trying to pin her beneath it like a bug, exchanging pixels of HP for new slashes across its chiseled muscles and tendons, wearing one another down piece by piece.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not so much the case with the other pair. The titanite demon Mel deals with seems almost glad to come at her again, not even fighting the telekinetic pull, and instead winding back one child-sized fist to punch straight through her meaty chest on the way in, adopting the proper pose to do so and everything. Its poise does not make it a winning trade with a +15 refined curved greatsword, however, and the strike can only be considered so much as how accurately its upper body flies at Mel still locked in its striking pose, while the lower grinds loudly into the floor beside her, ripping up the marble tiling to expose the flat, polished cut that went through it.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Much the same effect is accomplished Yuuki, descending on the damaged demon on the losing end of that crater. Before the thing can even jump back into the fray with Karal and Tomoe, another bullshit scythe catches it by the cracked halo, and then rips through the entire fault line, cleaving it apart like a budget saving samurai pass. 'Unhelpful'.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Finally, the demon being dealt with by the two non-immortal waifus gets a similar but more brutal treatment. Slashed, gouged, sliced and battered all over, being blown through the room at speed enough to force it through one of those prodigious columns means that its ripped up body simply shatters apart on the second, breaking apart along its worst scars and working its way down from there, into so many beautifully artistic fingers and toes sailing backwards. With any luck, Karal will keep all /her/ fingers too.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So Priscilla 'comes out from behind the rubble', still blithely explaining nothing to poor Yuuki. "No, such was already far beyond what was expected of thee. I didst offer mine apologies in advance, but thou art still a guest here, excited to see else but battle, for a change of pace." she instead offers, surveying the room with a bit of an unhappy expression, before morosely pushing over one of the bigger chunks of shattered titanite with a toe (having been barefoot the entire time in lego hell).<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She then picks up one of the demon's 'faces', broken off from its body by the impact, hefting the large and smooth-cut surface etched with those fist sized runes. "Arms of our first gods; swords of our shared future; by Fire we serve against time; with loyalty as the steel of our hearts; as blades beyond bending or breaking; our bones or our oaths to our masters; until our long service begets the end of the age of war; and peace for our only father." She makes a vaguely distasteful expression, followed by "I feel as if translation may hath failed the poetic wisdom of his writing, but I see well why some of these works were not content to remain inanimate and unused at the end of their age of service."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Finally, she kicks off a few pieces of masonry, and reveals the full text she had just recited, apparently reading it from under her feet. Buried underneath all the rubble, is one of what must be a few complete 'ingots' of the marbled black metal, and the fact it is large enough to stand on describes much. The thing could best be described as a slab, hard to fit into the bed of a truck, and carved like the popular depiction of the ten commandments. The 'face' piece she holds in her hands is certainly an excerpt from it, indicating the strange demons had somehow come from the slabs of metal themselves; spontaneously. "What an inconceivable jest. Too much of his heart indeed, whence even his metal is not content to go unforged."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1014|Heaven's Armory (1014)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I've cut another worthless obj--oh, titanite. So, the opposite of worthless.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hravn reappears in human form. Of course, the blade remains in Mel's hands, but this lets her walk around and examine the runes. She's relying on Priscilla to translate, as Hravn can't actually even read them; a pronunciation key for Lordran relics hasn't found its way to wikia yet. Give it time.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Few things wish to go into history, unused, unfulfilled." The woman in yellow gives an elaborate shrug of flowing silk. "Yet, for even the unforged slab to rise, that... those words must have been carved with the writer's soul." Figuratively? Maybe. Maybe not.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:941|Mel Brock (941)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mel is just kind of standing there in the aftermath, still holding Hravn's true 'body' in the followthrough stance.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It takes her a second or two to parse what she actually just did. To realize that she just yanked an enemy towards her through the air and cut it in half with a single, smooth swing.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Hravn. There's a PsiMarshal by the name of Morimoto. Keiji Morimoto. If we ever meet him, he must never, ever learn I just did that. After all the times I've given him crap for the stuff he does, I'll never hear the end of it."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:'''<br>"... simply amazing! For the material to yearn for use so much that it carves itself for war if left to gather dust.... I cannot help but be awed at its spirit." Lin's tone has turned respectful and calmer than normal, due to how simply SHOCKING this development is. She feels a bit bad about beating the things into submission, but uh.... if her hunch is correct, the material needs a better purpose than 'attack anything in sight.' and would prefer it that way.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She notices, a few moments later, that her hand is bleeding. That damned thing was tough enough to cut her hand up respectably! Titanite shards laced a number of cats in her skin...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:6|Tomoe (6)}} has posed:'''<br>Tomoe isn't expecting they were going to speak but she at least now knows. Given they were magic she figured they might have a way. The attacks keeps comming and her HP bar is dropping quiote a bit and Tomoe is feeling it. In realaity she's going to find herself more than a bit messed up by the pounding she's taking but she's not giving up either. As she takes several shocking hits? She keeps going and she now moves to get into the last of the fight with the t thing once it's finally /finished/ she's panting heavily but that's more from mental what were these things? She takes a moment to look around. <br><br> "Is everyone all right?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:518|Yuuki Kuran (518)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yuuki drops to the ground lightly, her hair falling messily around her shoulders as she lands, Artemis (her scythe) held lightly in one hand as the Titanite Demon's body fell apart. The others did similar - or rather, she had done similar to the others, as she was the latecomer to the fight, not them.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And she looks so sad, a deep morose things. "If I had acted sooner... I'm sorry. I was quite confused! And then, well..." She bows low, at the waist, like a humbled japanese person, even if she's vaguely european-looking.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Her eyes look a little off. "Ah, is everyone alright?" She echoes Tomoe, before glancing at Priscilla. Battle causes little scrapes and cuts, but only Karal is really bleeding. "It could be terribly depressing, waiting forever for a purpose that may not come. Forever... is a very long time. One can only sleep for so long before becoming restless."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Depressing. Yes, Priscilla knows a little bit about that. Little bit about waiting around forever too. Alone. Isolated. Nobody remembering you're there. Forever.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just a little bit.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She tosses the face pieces up in her hand and catches it surprisingly lightly, before turning and stepping off the priceless artifact metal underneath her. "Such is the way of this world that even its metal hath ambitions of its own, it wouldst seemeth. Thou hast mine thanks, at least, for thine aid. I believeth I had called upon Lady Brock to begin much of this lifting, but it wouldst appeareth that sorting wouldst be in higher demand. Regardless, the grey metal is of no use to the smiths. It hast been tainted, or perhaps, altered, by the presence of a soul. Titanite infused with souls cannot be broken down and reused once more. It is bonded for eternity. The only ends to which I can imagine making use of this is . . ."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Priscilla then cryptically interrupts herself again. "I shalt hath thee speak to Sir Andre, Lady Karal." She looks to Yuuki. "And to thee, there is much else here I wouldst rather thee spend thine time looking at than this."<br> <br>
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