Difference between revisions of "3640/Who Watches The Watchers"

Latest revision as of 00:44, 11 January 2016

Lezard Valeth has posed:
MIDGARD

THE TOWER OF LEZARD VALETH

The infamous Tower of Lezard Valeth is an imposing sight. Standing a dozen or more stories, the tower is a massive, overbuilt affair of pulleys, levers, and windmills, all endlessly grinding against the wind that constantly howls around it. There is no entrance on the ground, only pain and death from the constantly roving undead that hunt forever in the dead forest that surrounds the edifice. There is only one entrance: At the rooftop, where a landing facility for flight is present as well as a durable, iron-barred gate that leads inside.

Once inside, one is immediately confronted by the smell of exotic components, strange materials redolent with unfamiliar natures, acrid chemicals that can sting the nose and eyes... And old blood. All of this hits you like a wave as you enter, seeing a large room with deep, glowing runes incised in the walls. The room bears a large, rune-ringed pad, emitting a light remarkably similar to that Lezard has when he teleports. The grinding of machinery does not prevent faint screams from echoing up through the stonework.

MEANWHILE, in a much nicer area of the Tower, Lezard sits at a table, sipping wine. "Tamiel and I expect the heroes to begin their assault shortly. I have set the teleporter circle to divide them throughout the Tower, rendering them vulnerable and unable to support one another. Once I have received signals that they have appeared, I will facilitate your assault upon the invaders." There is a pause. "Do what you can, but do not put your life on the line. I am... prepared."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari Takane sits at the table, the ninja dressed in a midnight-blue kimono. She crosses her legs, head tilting as she sips from a sake glass. Tail flicking, looks Lezard over, then offers a salute to the man.

"Divide and conquer then. You seem to have impressive security, so I'll be sure to make good use of it, Lieutenant."

Finishing off her glass, she sets it down, and checks her equipment. Sliding her umbrella into better drawing range, she takes a deep breath as she looks to the others.

"Be careful everyone. Let's all come out of this alive." Some Feds /do/ care about their allies.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    It'd been a legitimate surprise when Chica's burner commlink had rang with this job. She'd been thinking that the Confederacy had enough badass people to uphold their interests. Once she'd ensured the means to get to the tower, she'd gathered up all of her gear, set her ballistic mask on, and made her way out into the cold Seattle night.

    The trip into this room had been both facinating and actually pretty goddamn terrifying. Her being here on the goodwill of the owner was painfully obvious. Despite that, she still was far too curious for her own good; as she made her way she opened up her Astral Perception to see what sort of information she could glean. What was there brought a sour taste to her mouth that wanted to make her retch. The teleportation spells were amazing, but the mana here felt polluted. "Disgusting," she grunts in English. Her voice modulator picks up her voice and scrambles it immediately, making it sexless and deep.

    Once she's in the room, the shadowrunner stays off to the side, looking over everyone that had come to join them here. She professed no knowledge of anyone, though she'd heard some of these voices before. Halfway through, she spends a few moments checking her guns and loadout. APDS for her Super Warhawk, Stick-n-Shock for her SMG, plenty of regular rounds for the both of them.

    When the speech is done, Chica moves forward. "My contract," she says bluntly. It's all fairly standard, but the biggest provision is that she's only beholden to protecting and working with everyone in the room for this mission, and no further. Signed under is 'La Llorona'.

    "I want to talk about my fee, as well. I expect to get well-paid for this."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin Tokuyama is not hear today. His bike is currently in a storage unit and his normal outfit is folded up next to it. Instead, there's a whole new guy here today that nobody recognizes. He's also being polite enough to not go straight to the top of the tower, but we'll get to that later.

    He's wearing a set of loose pants and a set of wrestling tights that leave his arms free and look like a low-cut tanktop. He's got on a big, golden luchador mask made to vaguely resemble a tiger. He's also wearing, over all this, a hooded sweatshirt which reads 'La Monta�a Virtud' across the back in glittering letters.

    He arrives on the back of a burro, with a steel chair strapped to his back, wrapped in canvas as if it were some ancient blade. Whether by luck or skill (it's luck), he avoids most of the wandering undead and dramatically rides up to the base of the tower, expecting to throw open the doors and begin his protagonal adventure to the top of the tower through numerous floors of traps, as is appropriate.

    Only he finds there are no entrances. Briefly, he begins to speak in Japanese, "Heeey this is-" He cuts off and then instead begins speaking in INCREDIBLY BAD Spanish instead, "<Oi. This confusing being is. Door to the interior there is not and puzzlement. It is the perogative of the villain to entrance supply to heroes in cases of known arrival. I am being of angry at this rudeness.>"

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Gudako is currently busy.

    It seems Caster sustained significant injuries the day before, and while that doesn't really matter to her because she has the mana to just send Berserker out... well, Caster is a demanding fox, and overacting her injuries. As such, she may have requested Gudako stay home with her and wear a nurse outfit and take care of her.

    That's alright though! Gudako sent Berserker.

    "Look I found a thing!" comes the red-robed pink-haired foxcatgirl Berserker's voice, as she hurries to the table holding a vial of shiny gold dust sealed with care. "Lezard! Lezard I can't get the shiny thing out of the bottle!"

    She falls to the ground, using all four limbs to tug at the bottle violently. And then her mouth. And then all four limbs again. Roll roll roll. She bumps into the table.

    "LEZARD HOW DOES THIS WORK, BERSERKER WANTS THE GOLD THING INSIDE!"

Staren has posed:
    What /is/ it with wizards and towers? Staren thinks to Lazlo's tower of learning, a shining beacon of hope, tolerance, and knowledge that can be seen for miles...

    Ah. So this is a shining beacon of what, selfishness and egotism? Or perhaps a 'I built this tower, do you /really/ wanna mess with someone this powerful?' sign.

    But today, the heroes gathered here /do/ want to mess with someone that powerful. At least they're landing at the top so they don't have to go through all the floors. I mean come on, that would be stupid. The grating is dealt with (this is not a stealth mission. The wizard surely saw them coming a mile away,) and then...

    Oh. The top floor isn't the sanctum either. Clever wizard. Staren looks down at the floor. "Can anyone give me a reason /not/ to blast a hole in the floor?" Well, to try to, anyway.

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    Tamiel is just staring at... someone. That featureless mask she wears makes it hard to tell if it's Chica or Berserker that she's staring at. Oh well. "Rather bold of them, even so. I'm looking forward to it." She's in 'business mode' right now, though... which means she's a woman of very few words. Also she's dressed in the typical bodysuit rather than the fancy dresses she's been wearing to more social functions.

Kay (780) has posed:
    Truth be told, Kay was rather touched at how gung-ho Kyra was to rescue Sophia. Kay herself... actually doesn't care for the angel, though she's very pragmatic about helping an ally, even one that's basically a defector. So she's going to be with Kyra, letting Berserker hang out however the princess of yandere wishes to hang out. That is, Kiyohime Berserker. This could get confusing. Anyway.

    "We aren't just blowing a hole because, oh, I don't know... do you think it's a good idea to blow a hole in the tower of a wizard that blasts open city gates and walls and commands hordes of undead below us, immediately escalating everything to threat level purple? Or do you think it's a better idea to go in, grab stuff, and leave rather than attempting something that will just make them mad, aware how much firepower we have, and probably won't even work?"

    She shrugs, grabbing her kit behind her, and slides down to the roof. As if expecting Shin to have messed up like this - or maybe she was the one who messed up - she ties off a rope and tosses the other end over the tower. Getting inside of course has a teleport pad, and no other entrance. Well. "But keep it in mind for our /exit/ strategy."

Lezard Valeth has posed:
"Ah yes." Lezard arches an eyebrow at La Llorona, glancing down at the contract. He flips through the pages idly, and nods, reaching over to pull up a quill out of an inkwell and sign his name in a flourish to the contract as well. "You will be well-paid. I have no reason to stint, considering this is an active combat mission against Union forces. Do you wish money? Items of power? Knowledge? Make your choice quickly, they are breaking in now."

Berserker's question causes Lezard to twitch slightly, but his face remains placidly calm. "Please, let me see it and I will show you how to open it." He says to the cat.

When the cat hands the vial of gold dust over, he holds it up, tipping his head as if making some quick mental calculations...

And then pithces the vial at the wall, where a section slides open for a moment. The vial of gold dust gleams in the gray light of the afternoon around the tower, being exceptionally cat-attracting.

The vial then lands right in a pocket of La Montana Virtud's sweatshirt.

"Servants." Lezard sighs as the cat is thus sent on her Grand Adventure.

Crys Gattz has posed:
The Tower of Lezard Valeth, there was a name that put legit fear into Crys's heart. The man was driven, powerful and nothing would stand ion the wya of getting what he wanted. Sure he could play nice, she knew that. He wasn't a fool who used force mindlessly, after all being polite and words cost one nothing. She was on edge as she made ready to go into the tower regardless. She lookd from sTaren to Kay for a moment then focused her eyes on Kay.

"I may have a mean for quick exit but I suspect Lezard's wards would intefear with a telepipe's use, it's an option though if we really get in a fix."

She semed as ready as she could be really as she had already summoned some sort of massive mechanical claw weapon from her photon trap and the thing covered he arm. It oddly looked a bit like some Ork or Imperium of Man power claws. Likely made to do the same thing in the end, right?

Staren has posed:
    Staren scratches his helmet. "He stole an angel and he knows we're here to steal her back. We're armed to the teeth -- not literally, although maybe I should give this body a mouth laser just for the sake of the expression -- but... As you say, he's a powerful wizard with a whole bunch of people on his doorstep. He /has/ to have seen us flying in and he's probably watching us right now, I mean /I/ would be. How is threat level not /already/ purple?"

    Staren looks at the pad, then back at Kay. "Heck, he probably has control of that teleport pad, and it being programmed to teleport us straight into a cell in the dungeon is one of the /nicer/ things that could happen. I mean, why not program it to just incinerate any unauthorized user who steps on? Or turn us all into frogs? Like booby-trapping your front door. Except this is the back door. You know what I mean."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Normally, Kyra would be all for doing this the 'proper' way, which is invading a dungeon from its typical entrance. However, in this case and mission, the thought of at all being 'traditional' goes out the window.

    Though it also turns out that the tower doesn't have a traditional entrance. They're going in from the top and Kyra is providing the transport.

    The Falcon-class Rafflesia is an odd ship to look at, resembling a giant metallic shark covered in "Floran Engineering" (vines that survive in space!) Kyra can even seem to pilot the ship on her own with a medium amount of guidance from the on-ship AI.

    After easing the ship down and letting everyone exit, the Rafflesia slips upwards, disappearing into the clouds, assuming an 'evasive-orbit' routine where it can lie in wait for when they need to make their inevitable escape.

    "I'm sure Lezard wouldn't be afraid of dropping a big meteor on our heads if he saw us bombarding his tower from afar." Kyra adds to Kay's objections. "Anyway, like any good dungeon running team, let's try to stick together, okay? Bad things happen when we're separated."

Berserker (860) has posed:
Kiyohime, for that is what we will call her to keep her from being confused with Catzerker, materializes behind Kay. She'll diplomatically handle Staren! "Oh, I'm pretty sure that isn't what it is! And if it will make you feel better..." She turns around and blasts the floor with a fireball! She doesn't actually expect it to penetrate, it's just to make a point to Staren that it's probably harder than it sounds to blast through the floor. "There, we've attempted to blast through. Now my beloved wants us to move on, what say the other couple?"

Couple? Oh, she's looking at Kyra.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    Once her contract is signed, La Llorona takes it back and folds it carefully, stashing it within the folds of her armored coat. "Currency," is her demand. There's a reason for this. She's got a strong reason to be concerned that any magical item she picks up here will carry the same taint that holds this place. Or something that could be used against her later. Better this so she can get her own damn magical items and telesma.

    Once all that's been taken care of, Chica takes hold of her SMG hanging from it's strap and makes her way outside, and waits near the door. The lenses in her mask allow her to see the AR interface put up by her commlink; she starts tapping away to connect to the tactical channel for the mission and engage her privacy settings. Then she waits. She'll have the time to go soon.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    For the entire ten seconds Lezard holds that vial, Catzerker is jumping up and down and quickly intoning: "HURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRYHURRY[...]"

    Then he hurls it.

    The Servant is after the vial in an instant, her pupils in huntress mode. She crouches down on all fours, wiggles her rear and wags her tail, figuring the best angle to go at it from. And then ZOOMS after the vial, with sufficient start-up that the ground around the table trembles and some of the stone is rocked out of it.

    Predictably, this results in an immediate crash-course for NOT SPANISH SHIN AT ALL, the foreign hero in danger of being tackled right into a secret wall passage that leads into large, steel elevator, more like a prison cell that happens to move up and down design-wise.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari just /stares/ at Berserker. Lezard throws a thing. It leads the kitty off to stop the assault!? The woman will need a moment, and then just sighs.

"Remind me to never get a Servant." She shudders, instantly thinking of what it'd like to contract the cat. Or Gawain.

Then, the ninja stands, and finds herself a spot to wait for the signal to begin the operation, tapping on her magitek gauntlet to thumb through whatever data on the tower's defenses Lezard might have given them. And most importantly, seeking out a good choke point to ready a few traps of her own to catch their assailants.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Nero was of course present...in spirit form. It appears that she's not going to show herself until the time comes that it beccomes a necessity.

     At Kiyohime's mention of 'couple', the Roman Emperor's voice echoed out from somewhere around Kyra's general vicinity. "You will find no objections from me. Let is forge ahead and see to it that this task is completed with proper grace."

     Despite saying that, she couldn't actually be arsed to materialize and assist with the hazardous scenery.

     Good job, Nero.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    La Monta�a Virtud is already beginning to climb his way up the rope that Kay gave him. He lets out a grunt of effort, only for a vial to land in his sweatshirt pocket. Immediately after this happens, he's tackled off the rope by a flying Catfox that sends him flying into a wall and into the interior of the tower. As he goes, he cries out a mangled: "<ACK! I had no way of seeing the next!>"

    And then he's gone and slammed into an elevator, sitting there stunned for a few moment, "<Ugh... my all is pain.>" He grumbles in more mangled spanish, sitting up. The impact has knocked loose the scarf he was wearing under his sweatshirt but over the leotard and wrestling outfit. This means that the entire elevator is now filled with the flapping, billowing scarf that Shin is UNABLE TO MAKE STOP MOVING.

    "<Hello Lady. Please, I ask where I can be the hero.>"

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    From the outside that must have looked pretty ridiculous. Fortunately, Shin and the cat are now inside an elevator and don't need to worry about the judgmental eyes of outsiders! Unfortunately, they are now inside an elevator.

    As the metal deathtrap starts rumbling and moving down the tower, Catzerker flails back onto her feet, eyes darting around. "Shiny vial! Lezard promised Berserker shiny vial! WHERE?!" Left, right, up, down, where did it go?!

    She can't see it.

    But she can see the scarf. It taunts her.
    She is too focused on hunting to recognize it.

    "NYAAAA!"

    Catzerker hurls herself at the scarf-- missing LA MONTANA VIRTUD, and slamming into the wall of the elevator with such force it shakes and-- the cable breaks, causing the elevator to start its freefall. A panel broke open at the top, too, giving view of the dark stony shaft.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" The masked form of Shin is trying his best to avoid being mauled by a hyper-stimulated catgirl that is currently rampaging in an enclosed space with him. He's dodging around the elevator, causing the billowy ends of his scarves to move around after him, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    The screaming only intensifies once the cable breaks and the elevator is in freefall! A fact which is baffling in its own right, because he entered on the ground floor. Damn Wizard Towers. The masked professional wrestler immediately chucks the bundle from his back up through the hole in the ceiling of the elevator and then follows after it. He plans his feet on one side of the shaft and starts short-hopping his way to try to slow his descent.

    Unfortunately, all this does is cause the scarf to swish-swoop-swish-flick behind him with every motion as he tries to ascend the shaft to meet up with the group. He is beginning to understand why Gudako calls her 'Berserker' despite her originally seeming so chill.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
When the group takes the teleporter, because they eventually will, they fade out, teleported...

And end up all over the tower, because the teleporter was designed to do that. Douchebag.

STAREN:

Staren manifests in a pristine-looking laboratory setting, albeit alchemical in nature. Many glass tanks are set up along a wall, shining with burnished brass, glass, and steel. They are full of bubbling goo, with small forms hanging within them Should Staren look closer, they look kind of... Fetal.

The opposite side of the room seems to have a large grate inset into the floor. A teleporter pad is set up beyond it, already activating as somenoe else begins to appear...

Lezard Valeth has posed:
KYRA AND NERO:

The White Mage and her Servant appear in a dark room with flashing lights, a dull thudding noise seems to resonate through the large hall, and ominous shapes seem to take form, making orderly lines as they crouch, uncaring, over piles of cloth and plastic. A great light flares in the distance, brilliant and terrible in its elegant horror, as a terrible demon shrieks blasphemy into the air.

Oh, it's Elizabeth's concert hall. Want to buy some merch from the zombies? The CDs are discounted right now. Thankfully, she's busy being an idol so you're probably safe at least until the set is over.

Tamiel might not agree, however. Think Liz likes mosh pits?

Staren has posed:
    "Huh. It really went straight to his lab?" Staren comments, stepping off the pad. "Sorry, I guess I was wr--" Staren turns and then sees that noone else is here.

    "...Oh."

    But the pad's activating again! Staren waits to see who it is. Must be some kind of randomizing program on the teleporters, and someone tried activating it again.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
KAY AND BERSERKER:

Kay and her Servant appear in a bubbling forge area, where metal is rendered down in crucibles, rendering away impurities over alchemical benches which seethe with bits of elemental matter and pieces of eldritch creatures, along racks of bubbling beakers and liquids, foul and redolent, being distilled down before being decanted. A shadow moves near the teleporter on the opposite side of the room.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
     And out comes a black-clad being, a balistic mask covering their face with a painted-on deisgn that looks like a screaming, rotting woman. An aspect of Death carrying a gun. "You're trespassing," comes La Llorona's modulated warning.

    Once she's stepped off the plate, La Llorona doesn't wait to be shot at; she immediately dives into cover. She was facing what /looked/ like some kind of battle suit. That meant there was something alive inside. Good news. She can't really summon any spirits here, as awful as the mana was, so instead she digs out her Super Warhawk heavy pistol from under her coat and loads up a clip of Armor Piercing Discarded Sabot rounds. Locked and loaded, she jumps from the opposite side of her cover, on Staren's right, and starts firing off this party.

Elizabeth Bathory (911) has posed:
    The room is... Packed with zombies, who are rocking out. It's like a huge concert with a pit, and Kyra and Nero stumble through the teleport into the Concert Hall. Liz is up on stage, performing her newest smash hit single, 'The Axe Of My Love ~ Severing Lonliness (And Also Your Neck)'.

    It's basically about exactly what you think it's about. The chorus goes a little something like 'As my heart goes buku buku, your bleeding neck-stump goes blupu-blupu! That's what happens when I swing my axe with loveRemliel (talk)!'.

    The area's actually pretty open in the back, where Kyra and Nero are, and there's another teleport rune on the other end of the room, literally an exit (stage) left. But, between them is a veritable sea of ZOMBIE MERCH PUSHERS. They press in in a swell of groaning capitalism.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz says "Expect anything and be wary of anything that seem harmless. I would say it long been so. If one paid attention. Still she seems on edge her long ears droop slightly as she thinks abotu what's waiting in there.

"At least the walls are not alive and part of a cosmic horor...I hope."

She would be seeming very concerned and Staren's not helping. Wait how does he know so much about being an evil wizard?! She'll take the teleporter that Stare used but isn't certain she'll end up in the same place he might have gone.

Staren has posed:
    Chica is right to dodge. As soon as Staren sees she's not an ally, he shoots first. The armor's right arm mounts some kind of double-barreled beam cannon -- it may or may not damage the wall, but it looks like it would probably do more than tickle for sure. Staren's head follows her movement, but while he's considering how to deal with her, she's already at the other end of the lab bench shooting him. The first shot hits some kind of forcefield, a multilayered amber sphere of force that';s suddenly visible. It leaves a mark where it's damaged, though, and her next shot as Staren runs for cover shatters one of the layers -- Hard to get a good look in the blink of an eye, but there must be at least two or three more but probably not, like, ten.

    Staren considers for a few seconds. "...You sure you want to do this? ...Yeah, alright, but if you change your mind and wanna tell me where the angel is, feel free." As he's talking, he reaches into his bag. Two things fly up over the other lab bench he ran behind: A fly-sized camera drone, and a small missile the size of a magic marker.

    The second turns to fly towards her. It tries to home in and explodes with the force of a few grenades, though the explosion is focused to within a few feet so as not to wreck /too/ much scenery.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    It doesn't take long before TEAM RESCUE runs into their first devious trap. Namely that Lezard has rigged the teleporters on the roof to split the party. Kyra will grumble about him knowing that they were coming sometime later. For now, the best she can do is scowl and look for the way back as she finds herself plopped in the middle of a teeming zombie mob.

    Her first instinct is to start laying waste to the zombies with her magic. As a white mage, it was one of the few times she could actually feel like a frontliner since undead could not resist her. But this thought goes right out the window when she hears /Elizabeth/ singing for all of them and she quickly discovers the indominable barrage of CAPITALISM that permeates the room. "...ugh...!" she huffs at the rival musician and extremely dangerous servant. Causing a fuss would be deadly, attract attention, and slow them down. "Nero..!" she whispers. "...we will not challenger her here today. We must sneak by and achieve our objective!" she half expects her to remain cloaked in spirit form. Kyra sinks her hoodie down further over her eyes and starts to shuffle-sneak. Shuffling, of course, so she blends in with the zombies a little better. Her extremely pale skin is an asset here as she holds her breath and pushes her way through squirming, distracted zombie flesh.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    The virtuous and masked Spanish hero does his best to avoid the cat, with striking success right up until he has to start scaling the elevator shaft. Now stuck about ten floors up from the loudly crashing steel cage below (don't forget to dodge the whipping cable!), Shin clings on for his dear and starts Megaman X'ing his way down via wall slide. Unfortunately, the gleam of Catzerker's crazed, amber eyes down below surge out of the falling metal coffin.

    Crashing into the wall by Shin, digging in with her paws like the stone is comfortable, clingy foam, the Servant glares at his scarf, following its every last movement with her eyes.

    "Gonna catch you! Nya, nobody can outhunt a cat!"

    She is preparing to lunge! The tells are pretty obvious, she's doing the buttwiggling again, and there's that slip of drool coming out of her half open mouth. She might have already forgotten about that vial. Maybe Shin is getting out of this with it intact! It's kind of like payment, right? Could be valuable, once he figures out it's in his pocket.

    Shin could try to attack the Catzerker, or he could hop into either the tenth or ninth floors. The doors are fortunately open, although it's hard to tell what each floor contains!

Kay (780) has posed:
    Appearing in the lab, away from everyone else but Berserker and Levi, Kay lets out a sigh. She has a submachine gun out today, glancing around the lab with it at the ready. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it. Levi, you head on ahead. 'zerk, you're with me, watch my flank while we find the exit. This is probably a trap. Try reinforcement or something, whatever it is you do." She'll walk forward slowly after saying that.

    Levi, of course, will move forward, cracking her knuckles, and draw a large, heavy blade. The earth elemental sniffs the air, but she's advancing far less cautiously.

Nero (880) has posed:
     And the teleporter SPLITS THEM UP.

     How utterly expected.

     Kyra arrives at...a concert hall? What were these lyrics? And all of these zombies! Wait, they're selling Liz merch...is this Elizabeth's concert stage!? Well then, this is an unexpected surprise. Nero was actually....quite interested in Lezard's Servant. But no, for now, their objective was to get by and complete a different objective.

     Drawing Liz's attention wasn't part of the plan. Thus, the Saber Class Servant remained in spirit form, voice faintly responding to her master. "Very well. I will remain hidden for now." She would follow Kyra through the crowd, remaining quiet from there on. "Still, I must say, this is quite irritating. I suppose it should be expected of a Magus, that his stronghold would be laden with such hinderances."

     Can't make it TOO easy, can they?

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys doesn't have to wait long to find out where she's going to end up, the one eyed newman gazes into the lab just intime to hear the masked woman.

"Yes, yes we are, and we're for the angel. Be spart you can't spend a paycheck if your dead. If not?"

The Claw clanks.

"You'll meet my friend here."

She holds off for the moment, maybe homing the other will back down? It's unclear or is she up to something else.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
STAREN AND CRYS:

Just when you thought La Llorana was bad enough and you'd have a chance to outnumber her, there is a hissing noise, and a splash of burbling liquid as one of the tanks opens up, spilling out its contents onto the floor amidst a wash of scentless liquid. The large mass of flesh, formerly hidden in a tank near the back, quivers for several moments.

And then it unfolds, a mass of twisted internals and branchlike bones, hanging from long, spindly arms. With a piercing shriek, it howls at the invaders, immdiately pouncing for Crys with an explosion of corrosdive, deadly flame.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin kicks a foot into the wall and uses it to exit the elevator shaft, crashing into one of the floors and rolling on the ground as his downward momentum abruptly ceases. The martial artist lets out a grunt and a cough, "<The impact is substantial. My ribs with break are, thoughful.>"

    He vaults back to his feet, and then tries to find a corner to hide around. Berserker is a cat, right? Well, according to the internet, cats have habits and various traps you can set for them. Shin tosses the canvas wrapping off of his chair and unfolds it. He sits down in it for about .5 seconds, then gets up and runs off, leaving it out in plain sight as he tries to duck around the corner and out of sight (efficacy may vary due to scarf).

    Once he thinks he's out of sight, he shouts loudly, "Hey! That chair is mine! Don't sit in it, because that's my spot and I was just sitting there!"

    No cat can resist this.

Staren has posed:
    *splash* One of the creatures is attacking. "Oh my god, seriousl-- AH!" Staren starts to comment and then is startled as some kind of bone beast THING runs past his camera towards Crys.

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    There's another occupant here. The winged angelic being that shimmers into view from the teleporter is, as always, masked and prepared for battle. The place chosen makes her sigh faintly, but she'll bear it. It's not that she DISLIKES Liz's music... but music is not one of her hobbies, and she tries to shut it out in favor of quieter pursuits.

    Sneaking through the crowd is a good idea. However, sneaking by Tamiel will be harder, both due to her supernatural senses, and for the simple reason that she's /expecting/ someone to be here. "I suppose I should be prepared, after the last encounter I had with a Servant..." A bright flash of yellow materializes an actual suit of armor this time, and a summoning of a long-bladed sword into her hand.

    Also fifteen more swords that flash into existence orbiting her body, just in case.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    Under her mask, Chica's face twists in distaste. That was a technology that most certainly didn't exist in her world. This bastard had deflector shields. Chica ducks back down quickly once Staren goes into cover himself. Trying to burn all those down one by one will just make her run out of APDS. Thus, she holsters her Warhawk for now and brings out her SMG and loads it with regular ammo.

    An angel? The hell does she know about an angel? "Won't learn anything. Don't know where the slot is," is her blunt reply. She peeks up over her cover--and just manages to spot that little missile on her way. And it's tracking her! Just as it gets close, she tries to jump away to lessen the blow, but it still sends her sprawling back, hunched against the wall. "Ngh.

    Then came someone else. Chica scowls under her mask and brings her SMG to bear to fire on her, until suddenly there's a FUCKING DUSIGUSTING MONSTER that's apparently... Not trying to kill her, at least. It's a start.

    Her attention goes to Staren. Her hand raises as she opens herself up to the mana here, grimancing at the feel of it, drawing in just barely enough to stop her from Overcasting. Her Mentor Spirit howls encouragment to her--PROTECT--her hand pushing forward as sparks begin to gather around it. Following soon after is a bolt of blazing lightning that arcs and sizzles towards her opponent.

Berserker (860) has posed:
Kiyohime didn't waste energy disguising herself tonight. She's in her petite normal form, with the odd horns as well. She'll linger near Kay, just shy of looping her arm with hers, and advance with her. Fan at the ready, the Berserker just fans herself for now.

At Kay's request, she does concentrate, throwing up a light reinforcement of both with a charge of mana. It should help Kay tank hits better, which is the major point.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
~One Ninja Transition Later~

With go-time fairly well on, Yari'd use Lezard's method of transport around his tower to arrive just ahead of the duo of Berserker and Kay. She's rigged up several trip wires around various tables, connected little cloth balls, and in one case, a mine that's set to blow into small metal shards when stepped on.

Yari herself has found the darkest corner of the bubbling lab that she can: a somewhat difficult task, but she's tucked herself in the shadows behind a large desk. If Berserker and Kay are particularly observant, they might just catch a glimpse of that shadow opposite the teleport just before she ducks into hiding.

No knives in the dark just yet, as she awaits to see if the two trip her traps. A quick handseal, and she has a twin right beside her as she studies the Servant and Master from her vantage point, body nearly flat to the ground as an eye peeks out briefly, which narrows as she notices Berserker's concentration and magic charge.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...and as my heart goes buku buku..." Kyra hums as she weaves through the zombie crowd. Really, singing along is an attempt to blend in. It's not because Elizabeth's song is RIDICULOUSLY CATCHY. It's not because that song is now hopelessly stuck in her head. "~swing my axe with love~..."

    Tamiel's display does not go unnoticed, though. Kyra stops sneaking and tenses up in the direction of the bright flash of light. She stares, seeing the Grigori summon /fifteen/ floating swords into the air along with her regular sword AND armor. That is sixteen swords too many for Kyra. "Nero." she whispers. "The Grigori that fought Kay last time-Tamiel-she's here. We have to move quickly! Get ready to intercept her if she comes after us!"

    At the very least, Kyra can slip a hand under her shirt and snatch up one of her darts, jabbing herself in the arm with it. Seconds later the world seems to slow down on her as the haste mixture takes effect. She makes a mad dash for the teleporter on the other side of the room, intent on slipping by before Tamiel can react.

Staren has posed:
    Staren doesn't know what a 'slot' is -- local slang from this person's world? But he can believe that a security contractor doesn't know. "Then you are free simply to run." Crys's arrival brought hope they could end this quickly, but it seems she'll be busy. Staren peers over the bench, aiming his missile pistol when a freaking /lightning bolt/ strikes the forcefield. The next layer glows white as it absorbs energy and shatters (Two of the discs on Staren's chestplate are smoking now), a shower of sparks raining around Starenm and the layer behind that also glows, then shatters unevenly, sections of transparent amber force flickering. The forcefield array is more than half gone now -- Two more layers beyond that one. And there are five discs on Staren's chestplate. Makes sense.

    "Gnngh!" Staren grunts as he stumbles back slightly from the force of the thunder. He fires another missile, then leaps onto the bench and across the room, apparently deciding that if he charges her he can stop her from spellcasting!

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Shin escapes to the ninth floor!

    Catzerker pursues, roaring (well, mewling loudly) as she chases. As she comes into view of a chair, and a demand not to sit in it, her instincts kick in. She must sit in that chair. Also, Mad Enhancement dictates she dislikes taking orders anyway. She only tolerates them when she feels like it, and generally only from her master and her other-self. And that last one depends on her mood a lot.

    The cat pounces, and slams down on the chair. It probably breaks, but she settles down and curls up in a ball, proud. Then she licks her tail, grooming herself a bit. The pursuit made her dirty.

    UNFORTUNATELY FOR SHIN, this tower is a horrible place to be. Maybe he didn't notice the smell due to the chase, but he might notice the stinking, hot breath of something near him now. If he turned his head, he would notice the rotting corpse of a (relatively small) dragon, twice the height of a person. Its purple scales are only half there, the other half exposing bones and the rotten contents of a dragon. Despite this state it seems completely conscious, and is now hungry for Shin flesh.

    Trapped between a cat and a dragon!

    Think fast, masked hero.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Kyra would hear Nero idly humming along to Elizabeth's song. Snapping out of it only when she mentioned to be ready. "O-Oh, right. Yes, of course, Praetor."

     Not that there was a ton for Nero to do to prepare while in spirit form.

     ......

     "As my heart goes buku buku, your bleeding neck-stump goes blupu-blupu! That's what happens when I swing my axe with love~..."

     Damn it all, these lyrics were horrible, but it was SO CATCHY.

     SEND HELP ASAP.

Kay (780) has posed:
    Levi is the one going first, and less cautiously, and it's Levi that discovers the traps first. With a short squeal of surprise and pain, the eruption of shrapnel and gas bursts underfoot, sending Levi reeling back and choking. The demon isn't immune to poison, though she's so heavily-resistant that the shrapnel is the bigger worry.

    The important thing to note is that this has basically, at least briefly, taken the Familiar out of the fight, leaving the much weaker Summoner with 'only' Kiyohime as a defense. Kay whips her SMG up into position, scanning the room... then squinting, as she adds her supernatural vision to her sight. It won't actually help, since Yari isn't immaterial or anything, but she does it anyway.

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    Dashing via haste is a good idea, actually. While she's fought supernatural creatures that move swiftly, Kyra's speed is something that Tamiel was not expecting, and that's always good for at least a few seconds of safety. Well... maybe not safety, but surviving. The swift motion gets Tamiel's head to whip around, and a half-dozen blades dart out, embedding in the floor as they launch after Kyra... too slowly, leaving a trail of blades after her. It's close enough to get a look though. Nero might be able to tell better that the blades, while basically high-quality, are of mundane quality and not on the level of a Noble Phantasm. They ARE made of mana though, and are already starting to deteriorate now that they've been flung. A matter of minutes is all that they exist.

    This is all academic compared to the fact that Tamiel is moving swiftly as well, darting forward toward Kyra with her blade in hand, making for a quick thrust. She's /expecting/ to get intercepted by Nero at least. "Not exactly the most epic of soundtracks," she remarks. Pop music is not battle music!

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    -1 Chair, +1 Freedom from Pursuer.

    A momentary success for the masked luchadore as he leans against a wall and sighs tiredly. He'd rub a hand over his face, but the mask sort of prevents that from being a valid emote. Instead, he takes a moment to catch his breath. And then another moment to realize that it smells like Lezard's Zombie Army right now.

    But it's not a zombie army at all. It's a zombie dragon! Shin shuffles in his footing for a moment and tries to figure out what to do. He's not completely sure he can take the Zombie Dragon in a fight, but he doesn't want to get chased by Berserker some more.

    He quickly pulls out his phone and runs a Google search, "Uh... uh... uh..."

    He begins reading at the dragon off his phone screen, "A number of philosophers argue that Kripke's ideas about a posteriori necessary truth facilitate the defense of physicalism. They urge that even if a zombie world is conceivable, that does not establish that it is possible in the way that matters. Conceivability is an epistemic notion, they say, while possibility is a metaphysical one: 'It is false that if one can in principle conceive that P, then it is logically possible that P'. Chalmers has responded in several places."

    "His most detailed version of the conceivability argument (2010) uses the framework of two-dimensional semantics. This enables him to distinguish two kinds of possibility and, correspondingly, two kinds of conceivability. In the primary sense conceivability entails possibility, and it is conceivable that water should have been a substance chemically different from H2O. In the other, 'secondary' sense, it is neither conceivable nor possible that water should have been chemically different. The difficulty for the conceivability argument can be expressed by saying that even if zombie worlds are primarily conceivable and therefore primarily possible, it does not follow that they are also secondarily possible."

Berserker (860) has posed:
"Traps. How inconvenient," Kiyohime sighs. She fans herself, frowning... not because it's dishonorable or anything, but because it will force her to act so... inelegantly in order for her beloved to progress. "Ah. Allow me to disarm them, Lady Master," she declares sweetly. Has she seen Yari? Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn't matter.

She needs to disarm traps.

Kiyohime's solution to this is quite straightforward. She flicks her fan into position, and with a steady motion, gestures repeatedly, each gesture sending an explosing fireball blasting out to erupt over table, beakers, potions, anything. There's no need to worry about traps if she can just BURN IT ALL DOWN.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is about to say more when a horrible thing that smells like death, pounces on her. Crys turns rapidly but it's not enough to save her fully the Numan is caught in the flames. Her barrier kicks in but it's not enough to stop the full force of the thing's flames, her clothing and skin are eaten away. Which gets a cry of pain out of Crys. She backs off trying to figure out how to get into melee range.

She doesn't summon a pistol into her off hand, she raises said hand however, mutters.

"Barta"

Sending a wave of freezing cold at the creature. She's got her distraction off and she now attemps to deal with the effect of the last attack.

"Staren! Deal with them! I have to handle this thing!"

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
     Direct hit! And it seems those shields are running out. If she had a way to simultaniously damage all of the panels, she might straight out overload the system and prevent them from recharging at some point in the fight. Really, she's not sure if that's how it works at all, but it's a better gamble than just wasting ammo plinking at this big bastard. At least he's apparently willing to show quarter.

    The fact that this thing has a /missile pistol/ in addition to all of these other things makes Chica growl under her breath, but she's a little more practical about it this time; she fires on the missle as it comes towards her. It's a tiny target, but she's got a lot of lead to throw out with her SMG. Eventually one hits, just a few feet from her cover, pushing her back somewhat but not causing near as much pain.

    But now he was coming for her! Turning, she fires off the rest of the rounds in her clip before dashing off. She's trying to load a new clip in and keep the mech off her ass.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    It was a good thing for that Haste spell too. The blades arc at her but to Kyra, they look like the slow-moving projectiles seen during one of those really artsy scenes in action moves. She has ample time to slip under them or use nearby zombies as shields for the majority of the blades. This is to say nothing of the final strike performed by Tamiel herself that Nero will HAVE to jump in to intercept.

    While she can manage fifteen mundane swords, sixteen, again, is way too much. A panicked squeal escapes the mage as the Grigori homes in on her, intent on sticking her with the blade. "Nero!" she squeaks.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
The gas and shrapnel make an opportunity for Yari as that blasted familiar is taken out for now! But Kay is cautious, and the ninja can't immediately find a good attack position. And then, there's Kiyohime.

Fire. Fire /EVERYWHERE/! Hopefully that lab's insured, because soon much of it is burning, and Yari and her clone have ducked down enough to barely avoid being torched. Half of the desk is an ashen mess. It's going to be hard to be stealthy, but the ninja gives it her level best.

Almost immediately after the smoke from her poison clears, a figure leaps out from behind that desk. Fake-Yari makes a head-on charge in a strange leaping and zig-zagging rush between what little cover isn't on fire as she makes to draw her hidden blade and stab right into Berserker! Though an illusion, it might just be enough to distract.

A few moments later, Yari exits her cover, and leaps up along the wall and then to the ceiling, magic letting her run along it. Only once she's gotten right above Kay will she then leap down, trying to stab her from above between the shoulder blades while she tosses a trio of kunai at Berserker! More fire is likely to spread as the explosive tags attached go off in a loud krump of bomb and smoke around the woman!

Lezard Valeth has posed:
The Barta blast crashes into the twisted being, causing it to howl as the frigid Photon Art repels it. There is a skittering noise as it scatters from one side to the other, staring from unblinking, black marbles for eyes.

It has like a dozen of them.

With another shriek, it spits more gouts of fire, unleashing a hellish firebreath before pouncing forward, tearing cruel claws downwards with gravity assistance to try to shred into Crys. It has no intention to let Crys get out of melee range.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Predictably, spouting philosophy at an undead dragon doesn't seem to impress it. It's probably because Shin can see the inside of its skull via an empty eye socket, and there's nothing in there. Just theorizing!

    An actual dragon might give pause to the paper being cited, but this zombie dragon just opens its maw wide and breathes poison at Shin. It's some awful green and purple mist. Might be lethal to a normal person, but this masked hero can assuredly sweat it off if he tries.

    Or dodge! Dodging is probably better.

    On the bright side the way it's all rotten and magically animated, it's not the sturdiest looking opponent defense-wise. Then again, punching zombies was never the best way to deal with them either.

    Around the corner, Catzerker's ears perk but she continues grooming herself. Wasn't she actually doing something before sitting down?

Staren has posed:
    Chica would be happy to know that the shields, even if not fully damaged, regenerate too slowly to be of extra help in combat, and when one overloads, Staren needs to repair it anyway.

    She /would/ be happy to know it, but she doesn't know it so she can't be happy about it. Alas.

    Chica's the first person Staren's run into who thinks of blowing the missile away! It takes a focused burst on target, but when she manages it, the missile explodes harmlessly!

    The spray of bullets wears away at the forcefield, finishing off the third layer and eating into the fourth. It doesn't look like it takes bullets well, each one knocking a small chunk off. Which adds up to a lot, the way that thing churns out lead!

    "Rrrgh!" She's getting away! It seems like sooner or later they always figure out his field's weakness is bullets, lots of them. Why does he keep using it? Oh right, because even so, every bullet the field eats is one that doesn't get /him/.

    Wait, if she's running away, does that mean he has a chance to just bypass this area? He starts looking around for any way out, or another teleporter pad or something... Oh wait, then he'd leave Crys behind. Well, he can work that out once he /finds/ a way out.

    For now, he drops the empty missile pistol (it had four shots) and snaps a couple more beam cannon shots at Chica to make her keep her head down so he can get a good look at the room.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Well. There it was.

     Nero materialized, Aestus Estus in hand, and immediately swung upwards, parrying Tamiel's thrust away from Kyra before taking a protective stance in front of the girl. "And I was wondering whether or not we would slip by you." The Servant muttered, a smirk forming on her face. "But I suppose not."

     Nero did not waste a second longer and immediately stepped forward, gathering Prana into her body. Her blade then burst to life, covered in fla- wait no, what was that? What was it green!? And why was it beginning to cover Nero entirely?

     It's a shame she didn't notice.

     Instead, with her sword reared back behind her, Nero attempted to strike. "Rosa Icht-"

     But then something went wrong. Like a wrench being thrown into the works, something went out of place. Nero realized it too late. Instead, her body began to get smaller and smaller...

     TOAD

     Where the Roman Emperor once stood, there was now a small, green toad sporting a red cape, a lone ahoge, and a mini Aestus Estus. Needless to say, she was no longer a threat.

     "......"

     "....Ribbit! Ribbitribbitribbit!?" And then Nero-toad immediately began to angrily complain in frog speak.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz normally is one to fight in melee, but this thing's fire breath has made things very complicated for her. It's clearly got enough power to render a portion of her normal protection no longer as effective s it normally is. She's able to keep it off blance with her barta, it seems not to like it that much, prehaps it's time for a weapon change if she's got to keep close. Lezard is proving that he doesn't mess around even with his likely disposable assets.

She banishes the brutal claw and summons a pair of photon sabers, the twin blades glow blue and the air freezes about them. She attempts to dodge dodge the flames, she's able to do so this time.

"Staren worry about the objective I'll be fine. I been hunting monsters all my life get going!"

She parries the claws and attemps to break the deadlock and counter attack.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Shit shit shit!" Shin says, watching the angry, zombified dragon as he looks for a way out. Backwards surely leads to death and forward leads to zombie death. This puts him in quite the predicament. But he'll improvise as best he can. He's pretty sure the cat is stronger than the zombie, so if he can turn the cat AGAINST the zombie, that will turn out better for him.

    So okay, Cats like hunting. Cats are also possessive and vaguely territorial. Shin looks down at the scarf around his neck. He immediately rips off the luchadore mask and tosses it to the side, hoping Catzerker will be too distracted to tell him with a mask on apart from him without a mask. Then he takes off the scarf and throws it at the dragon.

    "OH NO!" He shouts at the top of his lungs, "This monster took the gift that Berserker gave to me and is keeping it for itself! The precious gift that cat-sempai gave me has been taken and claimed by another!" He bemoans loudly, trying to run and duck out of the way of the poison where he can, rolling along the floor to keep from getting caught in its noxious (and assuredly lethal) poison.

    "Whatever will I do!"

Berserker (860) has posed:
Yes, burn everything and there will be no traps to worry about! The simplest solution to protect her darling Kay! Kiyohime blasts table and desk, methodically torching the room with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Aha! The culprit appears!" Kiyohime gleefully whips about, ready to blast Yari as well! And she promptly does so! The Yari clone, at least. As it stabs toward her, the blade slices into her shoulder... but she lets loose a wave of fire, eyes alight with glee, far more than should rightfully be in the pleasant girl's demeanor. Too bad it was a fake.

    The distraction works well though. Kiyohime is not able to see ahead of time the incoming kunai that detonates, hurling her backward and into some of her own flames. Well surely that's taken care of her for good, hasn't it? That's quite a squeal she let out!

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Claws clash into the photon blades, and somehow, the claws don't immediately get severed on contact with the weapons. This thing is built Lezard Tough.

Or more accurately, Lordran Tough, but neither of those present were hanging out in Lost Izalith so they might not know a Chaos-altered experiment when they see one.
5rThe struggle goes back and forth, the claws sending up sparks as it wrestles with her, pushing back and forth around the tunes... And then the lock gives, hurling the beast back and leaving a painful looking slash across it. The creature bleeds a noxious, smoking ichor that hisses when it hits the ground... and explodes into flame.

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    Tamiel's blade moves in a silvery lunge of death, aiming toward... Kyra's leg? No, she's just wanting to draw out Nero without wasting her own energy, attempting a modicum of tactical thinking. And in this, she succeeds brilliantly! Nero has manifested and now she can engage in the battle she desired against another Servant!

    Only... Nero turns into a frog.

    Tamiel skids to a halt, literally digging her heels in to slide and stall. Wings spread to slow her, bringing her to a stop still some distance from either. Despite her mask being a featureless blank slate, somehow she still manages to convey a look of utter bafflement. What sort of plot is this?

    Hesitantly, the feared angel of death and destruction pokes her swordtip toward the frog. "Is this your final form?"

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    Chica manages to get into cover with a grateful sigh, and being able to slap in another mag makes her feel a lot better, too. Glacning around, she does her best roady run as flashes of beam fire flash near and around her. One of them hits one of the fetal-like containers and shatters it, sending it spilling all over the Shadowrun as the largest piece of the container thunks on her head. "Agh--FUCK!" Disgusting! This shit was /rank/!

    And now she's furious. No way she's going to let this one slide. She was covered in disgusting necro-juices. Standing, Chica takes advantage of Staren's temporary distraction and starts charging her spell. She takes and takes from the ambient sick mana until it starts to become painful to hold. Then she releases.

    Chica gasps and goes to a knee as she feels some of her life force slip away with the spell, but the result is an Overcasted manaball that flies towards Staren's side of the lab. It detonates in pure white light, raw mana that causes living material it hits to literally begin rotting with celular death. Like a magical explosive necrotizing fasciitis.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Staren's examinations of the room shows that there's no way out other than that teleport pad opposite the one you came in on. Lezard probably doesn't even USE the teleporters himself, and they're just there to troll people who are invading.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    The sword has been intercepted! But Kyra does not continue running for the exit teleporter. No, running around Lezard's tower alone is a bad, bad idea. What kind of Praetor would she be if she abandoned her dear servant to the stalwart Grigori, anyway? An awful one.

    Plus something has gone wrong. Kyra can FEEL the wrongness of the MP that Nero draws from her as she starts her attack. Kyra opens her mouth, ready to warn the Saber, but by then it is too late. Nero...is a toad.

    Tamiel is confused.

    Kyra takes advantage of this confusion. "Final Form? FINAL FORM? Hah!" Kyra rushes in through the zombie swarm and bends down, scooping up Emperor Toad and thrusting it into Tamiel's face. "This isn't even her final form. BEHOLD!!!"

    There are a handful of ways to cure a Toad in Kyra'd disposal. One was a little more perishable than the other two, which are esuna (could wild magic again) or a remedy (need to fumble through inventory for that). Kyra opts for option three.

    She turns Toad Nero to face her and makes a very big show of kissing the toad on the toad lips.

Kay (780) has posed:
    "Berserker, I don't think-" Kay starts to say... and then she starts burning things anyway. Sigh. "Levi, are you all right?" She doesn't actually need to ask, thanks tot he Familiar link. She can feel the throbbing pain from the coughing demon's lungs and wounds, as a dull ache in her own muscles. At least Berserker is guarding her, right? She can work on approaching the teleporter.

    Except that Yari gets the literal drop on her. She looks up just in time, but the blade sinks into her shoulder... deep. It doesn't quite get in between her shoulder blades, but it's a very bad wound, blood fountaining everywhere! And the only thing she has to reply with is...

    Submachinegun fire at point blank.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Shin turns the corner again, having carefully prepared his trap. Catzerker suddenly jumps up her seat, recognizing Shin. "Shin! What? Oh no! GRRR, EVIL THIEVES!"

    Directing the Servant at the dragon zombie has very, very predictable results. There are dragon guts, bones and entrails flying in every direction moments later, and then Catzerker returns with the (somewhat dirty and smelly) scarf. She proudly returns it to Shin, puffing her chest up, a hand on one hip and looking the part of a cat handing its owner the results of her hunt as a gift.

    "Nya! Have you seen a masked man? Berserker was trying to find her gift from Lezard but lost track! ... maybe Berserker should go ask Lezard for another one."

    That went surprisingly well.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Er... no, I haven't. But he said you scared him off, so you must be the best hunter ever!" Shin comments, rolling up the scarf and sticking it into a pocket where it still tries to billow against the inside of the sweatshirt. He looks over at Catzerker and then says, "Sorry you lost whatever it was, though."

    Then, he remembers Kay's advice from a while ago. He takes a step towards the proud-looking Catzerker and reaches out a hand. He arms to go around her hips and then scratch the base of her tail right above the tailbone with the tips of his fingers, "Uh... Good kitty? Thank you for saving my scarf." He notes hesitantly.

Nero (880) has posed:
     "Ribbit!"

     Nero-toad croaked and jumped back away from Tamiel's poking blade. And then back another way to avoid the foot of a shambling zombie. Argh! What to do!? Why did this always have to happen at the most inopportune times!?

     M-Maybe she could still fight Tamiel as a toad! Yeah! All she had to do was BELIEVE! She could do this. She could totally do thi- That line of thought is cut off once she felt herself lifted up and turned around. "Ribbi-"

     FROG KISS INITIATED

     THE PACT HAS BEEN SEALED. YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD IS MIN- wait no, wrong thing. There is a flash of light, and where she was a toad, Nero appears, back to humanoid form. "P-Praetor! I have too many things to say, but there is little time at this moment." And with a face tinged slightly red from the indignity of this entire situation, Nero turned around and pointed Aestus Estus at her opponent.

     "My apologies! But no, that was not my 'final form'." A smirk followed. "Nonetheless-" And then, without warning, the Servant grabbed Kyra by the waist and leapt backwards, away from Tamiel and aiming to land on the teleporter.

     ACTIVATEING FAKEOUT.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Kiyohime's fire proves effective, as that Yari is all but right up in her face when she unleashes it. There's a burning, a scream, and the figure is blasted to the ground before finally falling still. Could that be it!?

That explosion rings out, and with Yari's first opponent tossed into a wall, the fake dissipates into motes of silver-moonlight magic. But that still leaves Kay.

Just as she gets that stab in, up comes Kay's gun. She's forced to let go of her weapon, leaping bag just in time to avoid being shot in the face! There's a spurt of blood, though, as she's caught in the side with that burst as she ducks into a spinning backflip, landing and sliding across a table into a crouch. Her kimono starts to darken from the blood, but the ninja's still in the fight. She weaves a few handseals as she slides to a stop, and sucks in a breath.

"SUITON!"

A blast of murky, oily-water spills from her mouth as Yari attempts to get Kay all coated in that sticky, likely flammable magical oil-tainted water! She'll probably need one heck of a drycleaner after this. For now, Berserker goes unharmed, 'downed' as she is.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz hs never been to Lordran before, she knows of it but not in enough detail to make the comparison. She does think this thing is a dangerous and horrible monster. It's powerful, skilled and clearly pissed off. Finally as the parry and counter parry play ends? Crys scores a hit at last on the beast, however the smoking ichor causes the ground where it falls to burst into flame. Crys says nothing but if Lezard is watching remotly or has some means to record the fights happening in his domian? Crys would have this /You have got to be kidding me/ look on her face.

She attemps to dance about to burning blood, but is not entirely successful and she's cooked more, she's also clealry hurt at this point some of her clothing now a melted mess of syntic materials glued to her flesh amd it's not a happy thing for the long time Union fighter. She attemps to bite through the pain anbd launche into a brutal combo trying to put the beast down.

Staren has posed:
    Another teleporter pad! Good! Wait, no. Even if he sneaks onto it /with/ Crys, they could be seperated again. This mission has become a /mess/. Staren has no idea what's going on with the others, but he's not hearing any 'I found the angel! Mission success!' or the like on his radio, for sure. Charging ahead doesn't seem safe, but taking down every defender they encounter sounds incredibly tedious...

    Oh shit, she's casting a spell! He draws his laser pistol, but the manaball is already flying towards him! It explodes and everything goes white...

    And... he's undamaged? Staren looks over himself for a few seconds in confusion. His HUD doesn't indicate any damage, and he doesn't /see/ any damage... "What did you do? ...What /was/ that??"

    Staren's currently uploaded into a robot body. Sadly, there is no living matter to attack -- if this were a console RPG, IMMUNE would flash over his head.

    Well, at least she has a moment of confusion to try something else, though he'll probably take cover again soon enough!

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Shin touches the base of Catzerker's tail.

    She immediatly blushes and takes a step back, evidently feeling weird! "E-Eee, t-t-that's-- B-Berzerker didn't know you felt that way about Berserker, nya! Berserker already has a husband, though!!" It's true, when she says 'master' it actually alternately translates as 'husband'. It's a quirk, much like how Caster uses the maid-honorific for master, which is significantly more formal and owner-relationship than the simple use of the English word 'master' like most Servants do.

    "T-This is awkward now, nya!"

    Oh god, what to do. Catzerker looks left, looks right. "B-Berserker should probably get back to Lezard, Berserker was here to deal with something important that might happen tonight! Oh! Maybe Lezard would hire Shin?!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Oh! No! I don't!" Shin holds up his hands and waves them, "You don't really kick off the Love Interest vibe, I mean!" Shin shakes his head, looking equally awkward, "My friend just told me that it was a thing you do to cats! I was trying to be friendly!"

    "Aw geez!" He MAY... MAY be playing up this awkward misunderstanding for the sheer sake of his love of tropes, "It's so awkward!" He holds up a hand, "Oh, hold on," Shin reaches into his sweatshirt pocket and pulls out a plastic bag full of a strange pink material. He opens the bag and throws it right up and then... there are cherry blossoms fluttering around. He brought his own bag of cherry blossoms.

    "There, sorry." He then coughs and says, "So awkward! I'm so sorry for this incredibly awkward misunderstanding! I think this is the part where I should just..." He bows his head repeatedly, "S-S-sorry!"

    And then he stereotypically runs off without responding to the last part of her statement.

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    Tamiel only balks at killing Kyra and Nero because of the bizarre situation she finds herself in. More swords flash into appearance as the original set begins to decay and disintegrate, the mana holding them together failing now that she's launched them. The one in her hand is fine, though, and as Nero takes on her original form, Tamiel prepares for an EPIC BATTLE just like she should have had right away.

    Except Nero then decides to make an EPIC RETREAT instead.

    This is probably the right decision, because immediately when the attempt is made, all fifteen of the summoned blades launch in a flurry of steel, the deadly rain whizzing toward the pair as the Servant leaps away. They're glowing yellow this time, too, empowered to strike and pierce even the insubstantial. Sadly, they still must go through intervening obstacles, and though walls may not be in the way... several of the moshing zombies are instead lanced right through, providing some cover for the pair that has, in fact, tricked their way past the Grigori.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
CRYS GATTZ:

Crys launches forward, and so does the beast. It comes down to who strukes first.

Crys does. The impact crushes into the beast, cracking mutated bone, shattering internals, and tearing it into pieces. With an agonized howl, it falls to the ground, whimpering. It sounds almost.... Human.

And then it explodes into a pyre of flame.

KYRA AND NERO:

Kyra and Nero leap onto the teleporter, and vanish.

They appear in a dark place that stinks of blood and screaming.

No, it's not Elizabeth's other concert hall. God.

No, between the dull thumps, the howling, the moans of despair and weeping, the stench of fecal matter and rot, that this is some kind of prison.

WELL THEN. This seems like where the Grigori would be if they're anywhere.

In fact, it doesn't take long before Nero and Kyra manage to locate said Grigori, chained to the wall. They appear to be unharmed, meaning Tamiel seems to have kept to their promise, at least.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    Chica's not the type to let such a thing interrupt her actions, but she could tell when her spells weren't having any effect. Apparently, the kid was a freaking rigger. Go figure. A vicious set of curses come from her as she drops her SMG and lets the strap hold it for her, going for her Warhawk. Two more rounds in the clip, both of which Chica fires towards a particular target--the leg joints of the robot. If she can't kill the rider, she might at least cripple it.

    Once she's empty, she dives to the side regardless of what sort of actions he might be taking, snaking her way under a table to reload with her second and last clip of APDS rounds. "I'm not sure if I can keep him from advancing," she sub-vocalizes into her commlink. Out loud, she grunts, "This place is a fucking maze. As far as you know, that'll drop you off a goddamn cliff. You're on the wrong side of this, kid." Maybe she can make him leave?

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Go go go!" Kyra whispers, peering around over Nero's shoulder as the (much shorter!) Servant carries her away. Kyra is at least light, strangely enough. Not having the super-heavy gold and platinum laden CURE-ALL on her helps this. "Whew." Relief is clear on her face. Even with her powerful Saber she really did not want to try for a fight with the Grigori-after all, she was able to take on Berserker just fine and get to Kay. Kyra didn't want to know if Tamiel could get through Nero.

    Thankfully, they escape into Elizabeth's OTHER concert hall. Which happens to also be a functional dungeon. The only difference is there is a little less hawking of Elizabeth merchandise.

    Once Nero has kindly put her down, she's quick to go searching, hoping that Sophia hasn't already been taken to Lezard's lab for experimentation. Forunately, this isn't the case, "Hey!" whispers, unzipping her hoodie and rifiling around for a certain mixture. She's quick to produce it too-a superconcentrated oxidizer made from Rust Monster digestive enzymes. She dumps it on the chains. "We're getting out of here!"

Kay (780) has posed:
    Kay isn't all that great compared to some, but she is way faster and stronger than a human has a right to be. Not fast enough to avoid the spray of oil that blasts over her, making her stumble back and... er... well it's oil. The blonde grunts as she slips, then lands with a thud.

    This is bad because the area is still smoldering, and her clothing catches fire right away now, the accelerant igniting and setting most of her ablaze with a screech! Kay rolls aside, but it isn't just to try to put herself out.

    Levi, coughing and spitting blood, is back in action. The familiar rushes, bleeding profusely, with a bestial growl and a much faster lunge than Kay has, whipping her massive blade forward for a dangerous stab with supernatural stength behind it.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Nero may be small, but she can still pick you up, Kyra!

     ...

     And she's not small!

     Once the escape is successfully made, barring the sacrifice of a few poor zombies, they make their way into what appears to be a prison of sorts. She wrinkled her nose at the fetid stench of the place as she set her Master down. "Ergh! Do these people not know the meaning of the word 'clean'!?"

     For now though, she follows along after Kyra, blade in hand and ready to intercept anything that might potentially jump out at them, while the white mage worked on the chains. ...She probably could have just slashed them apart, but too late for that now!

     For now, she was effectively standing guard.

Berserker (860) has posed:
Know who else is on fire? Kiyohime. Know who doesn't care? Kiyohime. The Berserker hisses angrily, lobbing uh... more fire at Yari, because THAT sure fixes everything, doesn't it?

Like the other Servant, her main goal is the safety of her Master, though. To that end, she grabs the flaming Kay and murmurs, "We're leaving, Lady Master." A quick yank, and she's pedalling toward the other end, letting Levi keep Yari busy.

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    Sophia is pretty calm for someone who has been imprisoned. Her wings are in good condition, too, though she isn't completely clean. She's in better condition than most of the rest of the dungeon though! The Grigori waits patiently as the chains are dissolved, glancing at Nero before she looks at Kyra again. Her expression is puzzled. "You came to rescue me after all?"

    Apparently the sort of goodwill she's seeing is confusing, given the danger. Not that she's objecting. She rubs her wrists, standing up and then already moving to find the exit. The collar and manacles she once had are gone, it might be noted. "Thank you," she manages awkwardly.

Staren has posed:
    Targeting the knees is a good idea!

    Shame about that forcefield. One shot partially breaks it -- the second goes through a hole and hits a knee... Staren's surprise gives Chica a chance to target a weak point in the armor and blow the knee armor apart... The external armor. There is a clearly-metal knee underneath.

    Staren ducks behind cover again. "I can deal with a cliff. But it's you who are on the wrong side. I don't care how much money Lezard has, or how fancy his magical defenses are. We're taking her back. Also, c'mon, the guy's a jerk. If you weren't human under that armor, you'd be nothing more than mindless cannon fodder to him. /That's/ sure not the right side."

    "So, I notice you want to try talking now that it's two-on-one. Got anything else to say?"

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Two things come at Yari: Fire, and then through the fire, Levi and her stabbing! There's a brief moment of a curse and blood splattering as smoke obscures the area where the monster and the ninja struggle! There's a voice over Yari's radio and a flash of magic as Levi and the burning Yari crash into a burning desk, sending up smoke everywhere.

When it all clears up? Levi has the ninja pinned to the desk, weapon through her chest and the ninja hardly moving at all. It seems the trio are home free.

About two seconds before the two get out, they might spy that pinned ninja dissipating into illusion magic-motes. Back in Lezard's Nice Room, the ninja thuds down into a chair. There's a first aide kit, and she's trying to patch up her burns, the bullet wounds, and of course Levi's lovely stab right into her /good/ shoulder. She's a bloody mess, but mission possibly accomplished.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Grigori, Kyra has determined by now, handle emotions a little differently than humans.

    The metal is simply reduced to red powder, which drops to the ground quickly. "We did." Kyra nods, "Were you not expecting a rescue? Actually, don't answer that, we need to get out of here."

    She gives a thumbs up to Nero and heads for the teleporter they came into the dungeon through.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is able to take it down at great cost, she's burned badly her clothing for the most part has melted and is clinging to her. She listens to the thing is as it goes down and she pulls the weapon back. She hears the almost human wimper and that brings back bad memories of things deep in the dark on Ragol she's about to move in to end it's suffering when thet hing explodes, her barrier takes the worst of it but she's sent flying and she's a burned mess. She won but she's not going to be much of a threat to anyone for a while after this.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    In her ear, she hears the command pass along the tac-band. Whatever the Union had been looking for here had been found, and fighting any further would be pointless. Plus yes, now this /is/ two-on-one, odds she's not feeling like taking right now. The robot was clearly able to take more punishment than she was willing to give, too.

    From under her table, she holsters her heavy pistol and comes out with her hands raised and palms out. An aside glance is sent over to Crys and her little issue, before looking back to Staren. "Two on one, huh. I've gotten new orders. You have what you wanted, I've been told to let you retreat."

     With that, she shrugs and drops her hand, and motions to Crys. "You should probably deal with that, by the way."

Nero (880) has posed:
     Nero nods and after taking a glance behind them, steps through the teleporter first to meet any threats.

     Well, it would seem that the mission was accomplished.

     Mostly.

     Barring that whole TOAD thing. Could have done without that!

Staren has posed:
    Staren is silent for a moment. He has his own radio too, of course. "Confirmed. I will cease hostilities." He holsters the laser pistol and stands up... then rushes over to Crys, sucking air through his teeth when he sees the damage. "Hang in there, Crys." From that magic bag of his comes a bandage with some sort of lump on it which he wraps around the worst-burned area. It seems to include helpful chemicals and nanomachines that work to stabilize her. "One second." He rushes back over to pick up the gun he dropped and put it away, then he helps Crys to her feet or picks her up if need be. "This pad had better go to the exit, or I /am/ gonna start blowing holes to get out. Your boss knows I'm a walking armory." Onto the pad they go!

Tamiel (779) has posed:
    An irritated Tamiel reappears as well, uninjured but having never gotten the fight she wanted. The silent masked grigori has dismissed her armor and weaponry, and now wears her body suit again, along with the mask, and an Elizabeth Bathory t-shirt.

Chica Mendez (927) has posed:
    As Staren starts making his way to help Crys, the elf moves forward to look over the mess. There's a contact card in her hand. "Here, kid. Pass it to your friends. I'm sure someone will get a use out of it."

    Typed in bland letters on the front reads 'La Llorona', the reverse has what looks like a contact number. Probably to a means of connection that she can burn easily.

Staren has posed:
    "Seriously?" Staren doesn't expect the person he just fought to /give him her business card/. "...You might want to check out something called the Syndicate. Ask for the loud guy over the broadband, he'll hook you up."

    He doesn't throw the card away, though...

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz Says "I have a telepipe...if we need to try it." She doesn't say much else she smells like cooked meat which is not a good thing. She's been hurt before but it's been a long time since she got burnt like this. If not for her personal barrier? She'd almost certainly be covered in third degree burns. Thankfully whatever STaren is pumpting into her is doing a heck of a number on the main though.