2740/Duty: Halatali

Duty: Halatali
Date of Scene:	05 August 2015
Location:	Hydaelyn Reborn <ARR>
Synopsis:	A request to meet the Syndicate of Ul'dah by the Murasame Zaibatsu and their allies turns into an opportunity to clean the training grounds and holding pens of Ul'dah's coliseum.
Cast of Characters:	627, 667, Starbound Flotilla, Sanary Rondel, 815, 823

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Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    The Murasame Zaibatsu sought to meet the Syndicate of Ul'dah; being all about using their time efficiently, the Syndicate accepted... but not to meet Souji and his men in Ul'dah, oh no.

    You see, long before the Calamity, the colisseum of Ul'dah grew to such an extent that they built a series of large underground caves, much like a dungeon, to store the many contenders and creatures that participated in the blood sports of the city. Unfortunately, the Calamity shook and broke many of the gates within, and monsters overran those caverns. They barred the gate leading into them from the colisseum... but let's face it, wrestling control of them back from the monsters would be a GREAT asset to Ul'dah's ability to generate MONEY. And thus, please the Syndicate.

    So the Syndicate would not have you meet them over a table for dinner, no no no. Not at all. WELCOME TO UL'DAH, FRIENDS! Land of business and opportunity.

    The Warp Gate is located next to the main, massive Aetheryte Crystal of the city, a large blue jewel enabling teleportation between others of its kind. The city is a large, round one, fortified heavily and built entirely of stone. Traders and kiosks selling all manners of rare, and typically expensive, goods are more common here than bricks in a house, giving the city a very busy air at almost all times.

    TL;DR visual:

    An envoy from the Syndicate, wearing the uniform of the Immortal Flames (blue, brown and green, a sort of heavy raincoat in design, but reinforced like armor), a female Miqo'te judging by the cat ears sticking out of her hat, awaits your arrivals; she will direct you to the colisseum, where you are to ask to be led to the Halatali gate. The Syndicate is waiting inside, she'll say. You have all the time you need to move equipment in with you-- enter when ready.

    Once you are, the large metal gate slowly rises, rusted and creaking with each turn of the levers by colisseum keepers. It gives directly into a massive arena, another set of gates keeping you from continuing deeper in. All seats are empty; you have no audience.

    Arena ref:

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Halitali is a suitable location. A boardroom is a boring place for a demonstration of the products of the Murasame Zaibatsu, a live fire exercise is much more... interesting. Additionally, he understands what the Syndicate is doing here: Getting more for their money. He can appreciate such a thing. With a nod to the Immortal Flames envoy, Souji leaves Ul'Dah, using the local Aetheryte Crystal to travel to Camp Drybone

It's on the outskirts of Drybone that Souji makes his first demonstration. He had made arrangements with the Flotilla to provide more... subtle transport of a specific production model. with a flare of amorphous red from the teleportation systems of the Flotilla, a massive construct appears, crimson and multilegged, similar to an arthropod of some kind with a humanoid torso grafted to the front as well as a massive spiked tail.

Souji leaps onto the machine and stands on the back, crossing his arms instead of making use of the cockpit as MP surges around him and flows into the machine, bringing it to life with a start and whirr of systems.

It promptly acts as a mount for Souji as they travel down into Halitali.

His associates have been instructed to show off their /salable/ products. There's no point in advertising things that people have no capacity to buy, after all.

Once they reach the arena proper, Souji stands there, the MA-11 'Guard Scorpion' battle drone awaiting the appearance of an enemy.

He glances at the empty stands, considering for a moment, but saying nothing, yet.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Well this was kind of a pain.

     Putting on shows like this instead of spending that valuable time locked away in her lab building machinery and making breakthroughs. Alas. Work was work. And thankfully she did finish something that could be sold not too long ago.

     It's simple. No fancy machinery or larger than life constructs. Rather, the scientist herself can be seen floating through the air seemingly on her own. A closer look would reveal that a pair of anklets she was wearing was the cause of her ability to fly. Encased in black metal and crested with a jewel to serve as a conductor, MP flowed into it, producing the flight effect.

     Oh right. A show. A show. Smirking to herself, Xiao spun in the air, tucking and turning this way and that. Flitting about like a fairy as she made her way down to their destination. After Souji arrived, she was soon to follow, landing into the ground softly. Her anklets ceased their glow and she stood, awaiting what was to come...

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Well of course non-custom varients of the Golem armor are for sale, which is why Grant Mason has brought the armor to bear. Heavy armor on a damage dealer is not unheard of, but for the time being the berserker is wearing the full set. The magitek powered armor moves rather smoothly for something it's size, and he carries himself with a purpose. There was one directive that he got before the mission began. Put on a show. They were here to sell these people on the equipment, or at the very least, the services provided by KIRIN.

    Smaller than the Guard Scorpion, the Golem armor is no less threatening thanks to the weapon that is, at present, still on the armor's back. No need to break out the big gun until the fun starts. Instead, Mason has opted to bring both of his axes, holding one in either hand, each weapon big enough to be considered a two handed Marauder's axe, were he a normal sized man. The dual bladed axes look heavy, but he weilds them like they were sticks of wood.

    "I thought there was supposed to be an audience." He mutters, looking at the empty stands. He was expecting people to put on a show FOR, not an empty arena for the sounds of battle to echo around inside of.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    THE STARBOUND FLOTILLA is here! They've not come wearing their usual ARMOR, at least not conspicuously. Their internal inventories can handle much of what needs handling. Their arrival, of <span style="color:ourse...

    "cxterm15">Absolutely not.</span>"
    "Lighten up, dude."
    "I'm not riding in it. We need secure military equipment."
    "And you need to not be so stuck up about every fuckin' thing."
    "It would be a good demonstration vehicle."
    "It would be a good way to be assassinated."
    "Exasperated. Get in the car, Albert."
    "Ye scurvey dog, quit makin' out with yer boyfriend and /get on the road/!"
    "Fine."

    What comes along behind Xiao Li Yu and Souji's own Guard Scorpion is odd. Those from Galianda might find its appearance uncannily familiar. A light-blue Cadillac-styled open-top luxury car that features, prominently, a glowing prototype engine's supercharger-esque arrangement at the hood, with its center displaying a circular glowing apparatus that spins light within it. It's mana-powered! Those sensitive to such things will be able to see that the car is using the Zaibatsu-patented MP batteries for long-term sustained use for the vehicles.

    Moonfin and Albert occupy the car, though the latter seems incredibly grumpy about that. Alongside, in a formation of two at the side and one behind, chocobo-yellow sleek motorcycles with a bird-like design feature similar engines at the sides. The ones at the side, ridden by George and Pavo, are clearly meant for law enforcement use, featuring sleeker, authoritative designs and road-adapted speed potential, while the ones behind are clearly intended as off-road mounts for cavalry soldiers, having obvious apparatuses there to hold heavy cavalry equipment that Biteblade and Seft both lack, and having much more of a 'steed' design to them. Luxury, law enforcement, and military uses all on display. Each vehicle hums with light that glows beneath its key plates as internal magitech systems work independently.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    They do, of course, park the car OUTSIDE the arena, because that would be stupid. Both inhabitants get in on foot; the four on the motorcycles slowly roll in as well. This arena looks about large enough to abuse vehicular cavalry tactics. Moonfin takes a position near Souji's vehicle, his hand at the side, while Albert moves to be near Xiao Li Yu. The remaining four distribute themselves in a circular pattern around the group; Biteblade is REVVING AGGRESSIVELY every so often. The nature of the magitech means that this produces an intimidating display of gushing light and crackling lightning.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    A massive machine, the ability to fly, power armor and weaponry, VEHICLES-- the Syndicate certainly won't be found wanting in further demonstrations today. As the Zaibatsu employees (slash allies) roll in, the members of the Syndicate appear together in the spectators' rows of seat, having selected the area directly above the entrance to watch from. The first two to appear are Raubahn Aldynn and Nanamo Ul Namo, a large dark-skinned man in partial black armor, worn over yellow and white clothes, carrying the Sultana of Ul'dah on one of his arms and shoulder-- Nanamo being a small Lalafell in royal white, red and pink robes, pale-skinned compared to her carrier.

    Behind them come Lolorito and Teledji, two more Lalafells, the former in white and red clothes, with a black visor over his eyes, and the latter in green and red. Lolorito has a killer mustache, to make up for his non-visible eyes.

    Behind THEM, another combination of a small female Lalafell and a taller dark-skinned man, Dewlala and Fyrgeiss. She wears yellow robes with a cone of a white pointy hat, while he wears fairly standard brown, black and white trader garbs.

    And finally, the lone final member of the Syndicate, a man hidden entirely in black robes with a white hood. At best, one can catch a glimpse of his short white beard, and red shades over his eyes.

    Once they all find seats, it's Lolorito who steps forward, placing his hands behind his back and smiling. "Welcome, Murasame Zaibatsu! Welcome, Souji Murasame. I'll be brief. We've stationed soldiers at the other end of the caverns. They'll be releasing poison gas down Halatali, forcing the monsters to come towards this end. Don't worry, the poison gas shouldn't reach us." Raubahn, in the back, frowns. A lot. Lolorito continues. "We would ask to see what this technology can do. Survive the monsters and we'll give serious thought to your business proposal... and your fair cut of the colisseum's profit for the next month, since you'll be the reason it can function again. We may have questions for you after the demonstration. Well, are you ready? Any questions?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    There's a shining burst of light from each Starbounder. The first comes from Moonfin; the heavy shockwave that blasts over his body as he equips the SPELLSWORD ARMOR is probably familiar to some. Like Grant, he has almost GOLEM-esque armor, styled after a samurai's and covered in heavy, sleek plates that project an almost holography-styled shielding over them. Heavy gushes of purple steam scream out of the armor as he draws a massive Heavy Power Katana. "The path is clear; all that remains is to walk it, I need no further mapping. Send the beasts to us; waves shall not break the shore."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Squad prepared." Albert says, gruffly. His own heavy armor is more dysopian and cyberpunk, with much harsher and more layered shielding than Moonfin's. The heavy powered armor, like Moonfin's, gives him a height of seven, maybe eight feet, and a precise grace of movement. He hefts a massive Heavy Power Warhammer in both hands, grunting heavily as his suit purges depleted Erchius in gushing steam and he takes a ready stance somewhere around Xiao Li Yu's floating form, ready to tank alongside Grant.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji suddenly turns to face the members of the Syndicate as they arrive on site. The leaders of Ul'Dah, these are the people Souji has to impress in order to get his foot into the door of large scale military industrial contracting with the Eorzean Alliance.

Their responses so far are promising. With precision, Souji bows to each member of the Syndicate as they arrive, the deepest reserved for the Sultana and her loyal man Raubahn. A cursiry look over the group confirms many of the rumors that run on the streets about the members of the Syndicate.

He smiles faintly. This is going to be a challenge worthy of his people. "It is an honor, Master Lolorito. We will be up to the challenge of meeting the opposition you wish to set against us. Your terms are... acceptable."

There is a glance towards the Starbounders and Xiao at the mention of poison gas. Grant should be fine and Souji carries his own means of dealing with potential exposure, but Xiao is a wildcard and the Starbounders keep their own counsel.

"Everyone, prepapre for combat operations." He gestures, pointing towards the area he expects the monsters to come from, and the Guard Scorpion rises, preparing for combat. "Let us make sure this is a demonstration to remember."

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao watched as the Syndicate members filed in and took their seats. How utterly shady. Not that they really had that much room to talk about being shady, but hey. The explanations of the task at hand give her pause.

     "Poison gas, hrm...?" Well, she'd be fine. Mostly. No need to worry! ...Probably. After that Demon Wall debacle, it would have been prudent to keep a few antidotes in stock. Just in case.

     "A demonstration to remember...well, there's only one way to make sure it does." Her anklets lit up as MP was channeled into them, causing the scientist to rise up into the air, somewhere by Albert. Additionally, she reached into her sleeves, producing a pair of black metal gauntlets. Her usual weapons. Not for sale, of course.

     "Ready! And no questions!"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade and Seft, on their more military-styled bikes, both glow more briefly. The armor that they have on, suddenly, is a bit more like the Empire's stormtroopers, clearly designed for vehicular operations, keeping the user dextrous and holoprojecting a wide variety of tactical awareness data. Seft's variant features a short cavlary-lance type weapon, with a tip that's lit up with some sort of glowing blue energy emission. It looks like it may function as a projectile as well! "Alert. Prepared for combat. Initiate when ready." She says in her usual synthetic monotones. Her own armor has finished resolving over her body; it takes the form of cavalry knight stylings to the space-infantry armor, especially around the medieval-styled helmet.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade's own Galactic-Empire-styled armor equips, as does the weaponry system for her bike. The GALACTIAN PROJECT weaponry features a pair of shotgun-style energy weapons on each side of the front wheel, and her armor is tribalized, covered in bone charms and wood carvings to go along with its motor-rider design topped off with a half-helmet that mostly focuses on the broad, glowing goggles. "You have monssster for hunt, Floran gonna /eat/! You watch! Sssmoke out meat prey, Floran hungry!" REV REV again, aggressively.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo's variant of the Galactian armor features a longcoat and a bit of a tricorn styling to the helmet, but otherwise, her pirate fantasy isn't injected too hard into things. Her magitech police-bike is quickly equipped with some sort of heavy grenade-launcher turret sort of weapon at the back, almost cannon-like. "Aye, cap'n, ye give yer word and ye have yer show." She seems EXTREMELY eager for the profit this is going to bring!

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Listening to the explanation of what their challenge is, Grant can't help but grin under his helmet. This is what he used to do for a living in the mines, but he'd have to go in after the monsters. Now they're going to send them to him? Don't make it too easy.

    He twirls both of his axes and then looks up at the rest of the group, "I'm always ready for combat operations boss." He replies to Souji, as he turns towards where the monsters will be coming in from, "I assume we're going to meet them halfway."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "You got it, boss dudes, I'm ready to get this show on the road." George says, flipping down the visor of the rather standard motorcyclist helmet he's got on in place of more standard space-infantry type helmets after his armor resolves over his body. He casually stretches as his Matter Manipulator equips his bike with a wide array of tools that don't seem to be weapons at all! Towing apparatuses, some kind of blinding flash system, static field generators, and all sorts of similar riot control tools. Like the others, this is linked to his armor, rather than the power source of the MP battery, but still ought to show off what the Zaibatsu has to offer.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Squad, sound off."
    "Alert. Ready."
    ""Aye, cap'n."
    "Floran hungersss!"
    "Mine is a blade that is sharpened for this task."
    "Readied up."

    "Starbound squad prepped for demonstration, sir." Albert reports to Souji, seconds after his order is given to prepare.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Lolorito grins at Moonfin's confidence. "Good! Very good. And of course, likewise, it is an honor to meet you as well, Master Murasame. Perhaps you'll be joining us at the table afterwards? You would be the first outsider to join the Syndicate. Quite the honor, if I do say so myself!"

    No questions though! Good. Lolorito reaches for his ear, as though speaking into a radio. "They are ready. Deploy the gas and open every gate." A click, and then rumbling.

    The whole of the Halatali caverns shake for a moment as old rusted mechanisms are activated, gears turning and gates opening. The one behind the Zaibatsu closes, while the one at the other end of the arena opens. It gives a clear few of the network of caves and rooms that make up this training ground-- and monster holding pens network.

    Though there's no trace of any poison gas, it isn't long before monsters start pouring out the gate, evidently in a hurry. The first wave consists in one very large fire elemental, a sort of rotating symbol made of fire. With it, half a dozen Bombs, a number of smaller fire elementals that look like glowing wisps or orbs, and two large, headless suits of armor with giant swords. The latter two entities clearly feel undead in nature, haunting spirits of a sort. Dead gladiators, maybe.

    Predictably the temperature in the room climbs upon the arrival of the fire elemental and its accompanying Bombs and smaller fire sprites. This seems to agitate Raubahn, who immediatly gets into an argument with Teledji over putting the Sultana into such a position. Business as usual up there.

    The Bombs, for the most part, make a beeline for the Guard Scorpion, and a number of them puff up like they're ready to explode. FIREMANE (the fire elemental) sends bursts of flames at Grant. The legion of smaller elementals surround Xiao, Pavo and George, producing sparks and flames in their directions from all angles. The Dullahans split, one going after Biteblade with its giant sword, and the other charging straight for Seft. Albert and Moonfin have no aggro yet, and can choose to spread themselves where they want!

    Looks like wave one will be to see how you handle a large amount of heavy-hitting targets zerg rushing in all at once.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Moonfin moves in to help Souji's vehicle. The heavy weapon can handle way more bombs in total than Moonfin can at any given time, so Moonfin focuses on dashing in to strike at the Bombs that look like they're getting ready to explode! "Fifth Sea Hylotl Style: Jaw-Piercing Urchin." His strikes are intense jabs; his ELEMENTAL EFFECT of choice is obviously going to be ice, using Xiao Li Yu's advice, which saturates his blade with a chilling mist and intends to slow the targets of his thrusts.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji can practically hear the 'if you survive' in Lolorito's speech, but he's accustomed to such things. The behavior of the Syndicate thus far reminds him a great deal of politics back home.

Idly, he wonders if that means they're just as lethal. The answer comes quickly when the Firemane emerges. He narrows his eyes, his Moogle Glasses immediately flickering information as he tries to look up information on the enemy. It seems concerned with Grant, however, and Souji is sure the heavily-armored member of ADAMANT can handle the initial assault.

More important to him tactically are the Bombs. While individually no threat, the combined potential damage here could be devastating. He makes a snap judgement as he sees several of them prepare to self-destruction,and weaves his hands in the air. "Haste-1." He calls out, the Guard Scorpion glowing bright orange as it is temporally accelerated. The powerful mounted MZ-66 Ashura Rotary Cannons spin up on the Scorpion as targeting designators appear on the plumping Bombs, and the machine leaps backwards, trying to buy a few moments as it slams into the side of the Arena and anchors against the wall. The Bombs have to die first.

With a gesture, Souji supplies more MP as well as the firing command, and the air shreds with the sound of hundreds of needle-like projectiles shearing through the air to punch towards the Bomb mass, coordinating with Moonfin to ensure their ally is not struck by the rain of firepower.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert goes for the smaller elementals. His heavy shielding will likely deal with the brute force of the dangerous creatures, but any flame attacks will still leave him very obviously on fire. Unfortunately, the Starbounder engineering flaw will rear its head again; they can't productively resist status effects! With heavy EARTH-TYPE strikes, he intends to create shockwaves that will disorient any of those elementals looking like they're about to attack Xiao Li Yu, as well as working to leap in and take any damage directed to their mage-ish type unless Grant has it covered.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo and George suffer the effects of fire more obviously. With the attacks already starting, they'll quickly be lit aflame, requiring support, but both are resilient enough to handle that for a while. Despite cooking in her armor a bit, Pavo gets right into combat, disengaging from Xiao Li Yu and tearing off in a circular path trhough the arena, trying to kite more of those elementals away from her so that she can lay down a series of launched grenades from her cannon-turret, which soon explode in a brutal gush of kinetic energy! "Aye, ye bilgerats, look over 'ere! Why don't ye come on and chase me, aye, AYE, COME GET YER PAY!" She calls out to the swarm. Even if they're not following, she can fire grenades to force their dispersal.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     "Oh my," Xiao mumbled, smirking as the first wave of enemies came out in force. Mostly fire elemental. What a silly move, lining them all up like this with one clear element. That made it far too easy.

     Slamming her fists together, her body immediately began to take on a chilly, blue aura. "Blizzara." She uttered, causing the energy surrounding her to funnel into her gauntlets. There was no way they would simply /let/ her prepare for this long however. Xiao found herself needing to weave through the air, back and forth, up and down, to avoid any errant attacks from the smaller foes attemping to surround her. "Whoops! Sorry! Not quite~"

     And once she found an opening, the girl spread both arms around and pivoted her body, spinning in midair. The movement caused the energy gathered in her gauntlets to release, creating a small blizzard that enveloped the elementals surrounding her in a freezing cold. Upon contact, ice would immediately and rapidly begin to build up, damping the flames at a staggering rate if left unchecked.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Wow, ow, WOW I am on fire." George says, tearing off as well. Unlike Pavo, his path is less deliberate. His moto-rally sort of tactic is to begin zipping back and forth around the crowd that chose to surround him; his RIOT CONTROL gear features things like local static field stuns and stun flashes, so as he darts through, his bike emits brilliant blinding flashbang effects and targeted static discharges against broad groups. He's trying to set them up for extreme damage from Xiao Li Yu's AoE ice attack! Which he hopes to use, in part, to help extinguish him, because he is still /on fire/.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    The fire elemental seems to be focusing on Grant, which is something that the Golem was hoping for. With his armor able to take the incoming fire blasts, he rushes towards Firemane, both axes ready to swing. He has no idea if a fire elemental is weak to melee damage, but he's going to try.

    First blow coming down with the right hand axe, and then he'll swing around in a circle, his left axe following as he wheels around, so he would follow up with the momentum of the blow. He is pretty sure the armor is not on fire, but it very well might be soon, with the rare that the fire elemental is attacking him. For now he's trying to keep it's attention.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "You're metal! Not meat! Not fresh! Floran want fresh! Floran kill you, make room for meat!" Biteblade calls out at the dullahans go after her. With a screeching burnout, her bike launches head on towards the headless armor, blasting laser shotgun blasts at the torso. As soon as the creature swings at her, though... Biteblade will manage to suffer only a grazing strike, because she activates the HOVERING function of her bike! The wheels suddenly jerk sideways and shift, transforming into a hovering apparatus briefly, long enough for Biteblade to slide UNDER and AROUND their attacks, and essentially "drift" her hovering bike around to fire shotgun blasts into her foe's back before quickly re-engaging the wheels and resuming more traditional bike combat.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft meanwhile tries to take advantage of superior range afforded to her by her large energy lance. She levels it straight and essentially tries to joust the shit out of the Dullahan going after her. If she can do this right, it'll be a one-hit-kill. If not, the impaled armor will have a free counterattack. But, hopefully, trying to send an energy lance through the chestplate of the haunted armor, with all the force from a magicycle charge, will be enough to disable it.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Moonfin's icy attacks strike at the Bombs-- cleverly, it slows their detonations down by cooling them off. He'd only need to tag each one once to really have the effect stick and buy enough time to kill all of them cleanly. They're not THAT sturdy though, and two already fall.

    The Guard Scorpion's cannons open fire, breaking two of the semi-frozen Bombs apart before they can detonate. Having gotten up on the wall, it's become less of a priority for the Bombs too! This means the remaining two bombs attempt to charge at Moonfin to detonate.

    Albert, Pavo and George focus on elementals, blasting and shredding them, dispersing their Aether into the air. Slain elementals sometimes leave behind small elemental crystals, which contain elemental magic ripe for use by magitech. Pavo in particular seems to have their attention, but Albert still has a few on him himself! They continue producing sparks and bolts of flames, but a few are trying to kamikaze charge at them now, exploding if they hit.

    Xiao's own attack immediatly freezes and shatters the brunt of the elementals; there are still a fair number pursuing Pavo though!

    Grant charges in, as the Syndicate watches the performance of his armor. It's taking that big elemental head-on, not minding the flames? That IS impressive. And Grant finds out melee works just fine; his blows pass through, disrupting the Aether and physical form of Firemane, causing damage. The numerous strikes do mean he's up close and personal now though, and Firemane suddenly heats up, producing a powerful heat wave.

    The upset Biteblade will be happy to learn she won't have to wait too long for a real meal, but for now, that Dullahan is taking her hits well. It can't keep up with her vehicle, but the lumbering brute tries nonetheless, even as shotgun blasts tear through its heavy armor. Slowed and damaged, it heaves an arm up, and then hurls its blade in an intercepting trajectory with Biteblade's bike!

    Seft, finally, plows right through the ghostly suit of armor, causing it to collapse to the ground. That was was easier to take down.

    But you're not out of the woods yet. More monsters flow in! This time, lightning arcs along the walls of the arena, causing Raubahn to reach for his blade before being told to stand down by Lolorito. "No, no. Please, Flame General. Let them handle it," he insists.

    Out of the door, a large, glowing purple reptile with scales overcharged with electricity breaks in, sending arcs of electricity in every direction. With it, a dozen lightning elementals, floating orbs of purple lightning that are charging for Xiao, Albert and Pavo, risking to overwhelm the latter two, who are still dealing with fire elementals. There are also small, floating imps, dark grey little demons shooting orbs of darkness and ice. These seem to be pincering Moonfin with the two Bombs, and Biteblade with her Dullahan too.

    The Guard Scorpion is aggro-free!

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Everything works even better than planned. That's a pleasant surprise. Souji looks over the battlefield and analyzes the current tactical situation.

It currently reads as 'Maybe we should have brought Sanary too'. While the horde of monsters might not be individually threatening, the last thing Souji wants to see is an embarassing failure on any of their fronts and they're being pushed significantly.

It's when the Thunderclap Guivre arrives that Souji cuts through the air. "Wide attack." He orders, and the Guard Scorpion leaps off of the wall, slamming down into the middle of the arriving enemies and unleashing a wide spray of gunfire, focusing heavily on the swarms of minor enemies in order to pull some of them off of his allies.

But then Souji calls out, "Guardian Mode." The machine raises its guns, using the articulated gunpods as shields as the tail behind it lifts, humming ominously. Optimally, the maneuver will get some monster attention, which will play precisely into the most interesting feature of the Guard Scorpion...

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    The sudden increase in heat does make Grant back off, heat sensors inside of the armor spiking out and making him retreat. He decides to swap weapons and keep some distance, as he folds the axes up and slides them away in the back of the armor. It's time for the big gun.

    The big gun is the Dragon cannon, which is unlocked from the armor's back and brought up into both hands. A weapon almost as long as he is tall, the auto cannon gets MP channeled into it, as he racks one of the rounds into the chamber, and angles the weapon towards Firemane.

    "You think you're hot? I'll show you some real heat." Squeezing the trigger, the weapon ignites, firing off explosive rounds towards the fire elemental, the intent being to blast apart it's aether and dissapate it.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Moonfin takes a ready stance, prepared to receive the explosions and tank for the others... But not for long. As they approach, he'll suffer only the physical blastwave and whatever physical strikes they use; unlike the others, he has BLINK TECH! Recently worked out, the short-range teleport lets him quickly escape the blast radius, albeit with his shield systems mostly overloaded and some heavy damage on his front side. He'll need a few moments to recover!

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Oh boy.

     Now she had some choices to make. Focus on the lightning elementals, or help Albert and Pavo with the remaining fire elementals. Well, as much as she would love to do the latter, the former too precedence. But she had an idea...

     "Albert! Pavo! Hold on just a bit longer! I have an idea! Try to spread them out as much as you can!"

     After saying that, Xiao flew back, narrowly avoiding arcs of electricity and weaving through the air, playing cat and mouse with the lightning elementals, looking for the right opening...

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo has WAY too much aggro! Yikes! She activates her own hover functions to attempt to jump her bike clear of them and onto the walls of the arena. She has the creatures vulnerable, but she can't afford to take many hints. "Aye lass! Can't keep 'em off me tailfeathers long, ye best be plannin' quick!" She calls out, still lobbing grenades urgently and only barely avoiding being taken out of the fight with the swarm after her.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert's not in any position to speak; he's currently on fire and spasming from electrification. He's working on drawing whatever fire from Xiao Li Yu that he can, intent on giving her whatever opening she needs to execute her plan!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade's bike is taken out! One of the guns is knocked off and it spins out, tossing the plantgirl off of it while she tumbles and scrambles to get to her feet, skidding over the ground but mostly protected due to her armor's specialization against this sort of thing, helping to lock up and cushion where it is needed. She goes prone and vulnerable, needing a brief moment to recover as well!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The Dullahan that attacked Biteblade will shortly have to deal with Seft, though; the robot girl discards the crumpled scrap from her lance and goes in to strike at the Dullahan that just took out Biteblade! She's going for a repeat of that sure-kill strike if she can land it!

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Eventually, Xiao does find that opening, and she speeds to a stop in mid-air, away from everything. Her eyes sweep the battlefield, counting up all of the enemies assailing her, Pavo, and Albert. "..2....5....9.....12....14...18....Okay."

     And then she brought a hand up, grasping her heart. Several plumes of darkness formed from within, emanating outwards as DARKNESS was activated. Wincing a bit, but proceeding nonetheless, shadowy weapons began to form in the air about her. Two, four, nine, twelve, sixteen, eighteen...

     Eighteen phantom swords made of darkness suspended in midair. Quickly assessing the number of enemies one more time, Xiao gave the mental command, causing all eighteen of those swords to fire forward with the velocity of an armor piercing bullet. Each sword aiming for a single fire or lightning elemental, aiming to take them all out in one single, precise shot.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     There's fashionably late, and then there's... The opposite of that. She had something for this.

     Well, whatever. In Sanary's mind, the important thing is that she didn't miss the demonstration completely. The timing could certainly be worse, at least, as she runs along with a massive shield strapped to her back and a bell in hand.

     "Sorry I'm late! So what's the-oh." Definitely late. But better late than never, right? Weighing her options, it doesn't take her long to decide on her own plan of action and make a beeline for Albert. He could certainly be in better shape with the whole electrified burning thing, and so she'll focus her healing magic on him to try and keep him better situated to... Be electrocuted and on fire some more, probably!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George calls out to Xiao Li Yu. "I'm on it, kid, hit 'em with what you got!" He rushes into the swarms and begins overcharging that riot-control stun-static, trying to spread them out so that they aren't caught in sudden bursts of low-scale stunning electrical discharge! His tactic is harassing and focused on hit-and-run, of course.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    The Guard Scorpion engages the second boss! The wide spray of gunfire clears a few of the lightning elementals, and gets the Guivre's full attention. As the large machine raises its tail, the lightning-aligned creature unleashes a breath of lightning towards it, unaware of its fancy features-- though with enough punch behind the breath that taking it head-on won't be pleasant business either.

    Grant fights fire with fire, blasting Firemane's form and causing so much damage to it that it breaks, and never reforms. A large fire crystal is left behind, charged with Aether.

    Moonfin avoids the Bombs as they explode and... well, explode. RIP the Bombs. They're not really dead, they'll reform sooner or later. Not anytime soon, though!

    Xiao plays cat and mouse with the elementals, zipping between and around them; they continue trying to shock her, pursuing her with notably speed in the air. They're not as fast as, say, wind elementals or Xiao are, but they're not slow either.

    Pavo, going so quickly, won't have any trouble outrunning fire elementals. The issue is mostly that they're firing fireballs at her nonstop, so she'd best watch where she drags that line of fire! Grenades do well to lighten the pressure at least, but a sudden appearance from lightning elementals right in front of her might change the game!

    Albert toughs it out! He will continue toughing it out.

    The Dullahan pursuing Biteblade, now swordless, moves in for her as she falls, but not before Seft can reach it. Given its weakened armor from the shotgun blasts, it's a trivial matter for Seft to pierce right through, and just that quickly, the armored beast falls to the ground and dissipates.

    Sanary arrives just in time to fix Albert up, though she does indeed wash up a few of the loose fire and lightning sprites, which discharge sparks, flames and lightning bolts in her (and Albert's!) general direction.

    Xiao's strategy pays off, as she eliminates en-masse the swarm of lesser elementals. Crystals fall to the ground inert but still alive with Aetheric energy. What few remain are stunned by George as he rushes in, greatly reducing the pressure on the group.

    But the arena shakes, and you're not done yet.

    Breaking through the gate is a massive, ox-like creature, Tangata-- black and brown, armored by scales, the large demon-like humanoid is riding atop a Peiste, a large four-legged snake-like lizard of beige color. It's charging straight for Grant, as the frontliner, and its presence is causing bonfires to lit up at random points in the room, eerie flames starting to move towards the creature as though trying to reach it.

    What's WORSE, green gas starts glowing in from the gate! Raubahn immediatly reaches to grab Lolorito by the clothes and lift him up, but the small Lalafell keeps his cool. "Come now, Master Raubahn, we all knew it was a risk. Let us see how they handle that as well, hm? Monsters are not the only thing that threaten lives, why only judge them on that?"
    The Flame General growls, but sets the smaller man back down.
    Teledji laughs. It's not subtle at all.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
The lightning breath blasts towards the Guard Scorpion, the cascade of electricity fountaining over the barrier. As it does so, a glowing light builds on the tail. Despite some of the electrical damage getting through and wounding the Guard Scorpion, Souji seems confident...

And then comes the incoming assault. When Tangata breaches the gate with the snakelike monster, Souji looks over, narrowing his eyes at the green gas. His gaze flicks upt to the stands, where Raubahn menaces Lolorito and the laughter of Teledji.

His read was correct. He grunts, and raises a hand. "Avoid the firing line to the mounted beast!" Souji calls. "Prepare for incoming gas! Beware the poison!" He focuses, and engages a line designator to warn the others of the firing line. It will go through the Thunderbolt Guivre and towards the Tangata.

His HUD flashes, and Souji nods. He thrusts his hand forward, pouring more magical power into the mecha. "TAIL LASER! FIRE!"

There is a whirring noise as the glowing tail flares brightly... And then fires a thin beam that traces down the exact path designated. A moment later, there is an eruption of explosive force, ripping upwards in a wash of blue-white light. Hopefully, the Zaibatsu members listened to his warning and evacuated the firing lane.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao watched as her handiwork took care of the lion's share of the enemies that were still running wild. The remnants could be picked off at their leisure. But what the big problem now was...well, the gas. The two monsters too, but the gas first and foremost. Some radio conversation set her onto the new task at hand and Xiao immediately set forth.

     Flying forward through the air, A cold current of air began to build up around her. "Blizzaga." The current grew colder and and faster, Xiao flew straight for the gass funneling into the arena.

     Veering down, she spun in mid air, directing the air current surrounding her body spin in a rapid spiral and drawn in any oncoming gas into it. Being in the 'eye' of the storm, she attempted to avoid inhalation as much as possible, but still caught a few fumes.

     She'd deal with that after. Landing on the ground and skidding, Xiao thrust both arms forward, forcing the freezing air current to fire forward, back into the tunnel it came from. With luck, she would have sent most of it back to where it came from. Grant and George were given looks after. "Okay, your turn!"

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    It seems that with his target down, Grant has immediately shifted priorities. He was going to move to get the door closed, but the giant ox thing with it's battle mount is sort of drawing his attention at the moment.

    Shifting targets, he begins to fire and move, trying to circle around towards the gates that are letting the monsters and the gas in. If he can get them closed, he can try to make sure that the others can seal them. But he'll need to deal with this big monster first and foremost, "Come on ugly! Come and get me!" He taunts, trying to keep it's attention. At least if it charges again he can roll out of the way. He hopes.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Gotcha kiddo!" George calls out. As he zooms into the stream of icy air, he follows up with Grant! "Fire in the hole!" He calls out, and there's a tremendous blast after he lobs a grenade at the door! Grant has made sure that most of the opening is closed, and George can handle the gaps. His grenade explodes in mid air, turning into a mass of METAL FOAM that quick-dries over the surface of the tremendous gate. It's designed to swiftly and temporarily repair hull breaches! it can PROBABLY handle this.

    He is still on fire slightly, and still very burnt, so he'll head on over to Sanary next, needing to get out of the fight before he his wounding takes a more lethal toll on him.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo is unable to avoid the lightning elementals in time. Crying out in surprise, she barrels right into their form, electrocuted heavily and launching off the wall. Like Biteblade, her armor keeps her safe as her high-speed ride comes to a close, but she'll be out of the fight momentarily as well, as she suffers the burns and stunning of those lightning elementals!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert, healed up effectively, moves to intercept any fire towards Sanary. He stands firm between her and the enemies, and though he's lit on fire and electrocuted AGAIN, the status effect is the only thing that gets through his heavy, partially rebooted shielding. The DoT is the only thing that can function on him practically for now, but since he lacks ranged attacks, all he can really do is be a meatshield!

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     The good: Sanary coming in fresh means Albert's getting a hefty amount of healing energy pumped into him in a very short amount of time! The bad: Coming in all ready and raring for the fight clearly isn't doing her any favors in terms of keeping a low profile. Drawing literal fire and lightning from the sprites, she hunches over to try and let her shield take the brunt of their discharge.

     "Really shoulda brought my armor for this, huh?" Despite the spasming she's doing from some of that shock going through her shield, the healer still manages a brief laugh before swinging herself around to cover George with her shielded back next. Taking note of his mild on-fire state, she gathers up some healing energy into her hands before starting to bat at those flames to try and put them out while healing him up at the same time.

     "So how much did I miss, anyway? This.. Ah. Ice should put out a fire, yeah?" Without waiting for a response, she draws an old smart phone out from her coat's inner pocket. She takes another moment to fiddle with it, the air next to her distorts and glows faintly before a giant flying manta ray with a crown seemingly materializes out of nowhere!

     "Alright, Forneus. Take care of the flames. And don't hit any of our own guys, got it?" The creature addressed as Forneus gives her a quick nod before flying/floating upwards several feet. It flaps its wings once before using some magic of its own, sending out chunks of ice at the flames converging towards the ox creature. Noticing that Albert's still moderately on-fire, meanwhile, Sanary divides her own attention between channelling that rejuvenating force into both Albert and George simultaneously!

     She can afford to be tired later.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade is back on her bike and rushing in towards those imps that previously missed Moonfin! She's still got one shotgun on her damaged bike; she's going to try to shotgun them down and get a solid MEAL to use! She needs to charge up some of her own regenerative energy after that, and unfortunately she can't eat crystals, so she has to get a few bites while they're still alive!

    If that works, she'll mostly be spraying at the first reptile creature, rather than the Tangata. Still abusing that hover-drifting!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft, of course, takes what Souji is doing as an opportunity, as does Moonfin. His TAIL LASER attack means a clear path! Seft's going to try to take it and Moonfin blinks in, dashing beside her. By blasting down that firing line as the explosions clear, they intend to rush forward through the path. "Sixth Sea Hylotl Style: Harpoon Borne Upon Waves."

    While Moonfin attempts to leap in a tremendous jump over the electrical enemy and slam his sword down upon the fiery one, still using that ICE-aligned energy, Seft intends to rush the reptile down and use her increased resistance to pain to let her JOUST into its main body without fear of the stun that comes from electrification! Just the IMMENSE burning damage.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    The Guard Scorpion unleashes its TAIL LASER, which drills through the Guivre and towards the Tangata, still atop its Peiste. The damage is immediate and severe, with the Guivre practically being cut in two and Tangata's mount being killed by the blast. The creature hops off, growling and glowing with flames.

    Xiao's magic manages to push the poison gas back for the time being, buying others time to set plans in motion! It does also cool the arena quite a bit from the built up heat so far.

    Predictably, Grant's maneuver causes the large oxen creature to stomp its foot and attempt a charge. Whether truck luck or planning, the beast smashes into one of the gates, the wooden and metallic door shutting itself quite loudly-- on the other hand, this means that the creature passes through several of the flames that were trying to get to it. Each one he does creates a bright blast of fire, washing over the entire arena. It's not too threatening if it's just one, but that was more like three or four.

    On the other hand, George's grenade seals the door shut. The poison gas stops glowing in, or at least, if it keeps at it, it's only just a bit. Just don't hug the small vents and you'll be fine.

    Pavo and Albert play the role of tank, willingness or not-- they have healing, at least, so it's not too bad. Most of the elementals left are small fry.

    Thanks to Sanary's sudden summoning, the eerie flames are taken care of-- no more risks of explosions.

    Biteblade shotguns imps down; the little buggers are fast, but not durable. They're not a very good meal, but they're better than going on an empty stomach for sure. They taste kind of... voidy? Empty? They're only minor Voidsent, so it's not pronounced.

    Seft charges in last, using the wound caused by the Guard Scorpion's attack to severely injure-- and kill-- Tangata. The oxen demon falls to the ground, its glow and heat dying down.

    What few elementals or imps might be left will easily be round up and killed, and Lolorito will applaud with a wide grin on his face. "Marvelous! You see, Flame General? There was nothing to worry about." Some arguing occurs between the large black man and the two shady Lalafell there, which we'll spare you.

    The one who speaks up next is the sixth member-- the robed old man, who stands up and asks: "'Tis wonderful technology indeed, but what will we do if it breaks? Would we not be beholden to you the same as to the Garleans if we opted to use their Magitek instead? Hmm. Jobs, yes. If you could train some of our men and teach them to repair and maintain the equipment, it would sweeten the deal."

    The Sultana herself seems busy trying to calm her 'bodyguard' down right now, while the other two members of the Syndicate are glaring unhappily at the usual song and dance.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
And then as fast as it began, it's over, a stunning display for the Zaibatsu. Souji moves the Guard Scorpion to the center of the arena, letting it idle there proudly as he bows to the Syndicate members once more. "The battle is won and you should have no further..." He glances over to Lolorito and Raubahn fighting. "Troubles."

The question from the robed man causes Souji to nod. "A salient point, though I am fairly sure the Garleans are not interested in trading to you their technological advantage. Perhaps if you had a group that was already versed in working with magitechnology at your disposal, the process of training and cooperative effort would become easier. I would additionally be most interested in working with the Alliance's research and development teams should you have any of note. Perhaps we can develop more customized materials for your needs as well."

Souji then gestures. "Do note that I have one additional benefit: Our technology does not run on Ceruleum, but by simply providing it with the magical power any of you in Eorzea possess. Aether will undoubtedly work the same as the Magic Particles of my homeland, and you possess such power in abundance."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "Experts..." The man muses, crossing his arms. "There was a man willing to lend us knowledge of Magitek, once. I'm afraid his colleagues are looking for him as we speak. And no, the Garleans would not, lest we accepted surrender."

    Raubahn breaks from his dispute with Lolorito and Teledji to field that one. "Something the Sultana will not stand for. Ul'dah will not end like Ala Mhigo. That technology of yours could bolster our fighting chances up a lot. If you're willing to work with us on adapting it and helping our own craftsmen understand it... I vote in favor."

    Teledji frowns, crossing his arms. "Now now, let us not so be hasty. What say these men won't turn on us once they've gotten inside? A group we've never heard of shows up with their own brand of Magitek and wants to sell it to us? Foul play, I say! I vote no."

    Fyrgeiss, the trader of a dark man, shakes his head. "I disagree. The business opportunities are endless. We cannot let this slip by. I vote yes, especially since we won't have to dig around for Ceruleum anymore."

    Dewlala, the Lalafell witht he pointy hat, sighs. "We would consort with someone who uses the same technology as our enemy? What will the people think? Their faith in us will diminish and our coffers will lighten. I say no."

    Lolorito smiles wide. "What a hasty decision you all make to discard such an advantage. I vote yes... provided we're supplied with an expert. Why, I'll even supply you the workshops myself, on my land of course. Can you think what would happen if the other two city-states said yes and we said no? We cannot take that risk."

    The robed man sighs. "Ever my duty to make the final vote. I vote... yes, but your men will be working with those of the Garlond Ironworks until we find their leader again. He will decide whether or not your technology is all you claim it is, in absence of another expert."

    Teledji objects. "Ridiculous! The Ironworks aren't sided with any of the city-states, you would place OUR power in THEIR hands?"

    Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo finally rises, speaking in her soft voice. "Master Teledji, I find those terms agreeable. If Master Murasame agrees, we can return to Ul'dah and finalize the exchange while the Flames come clean these caverns up."

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Once it was all said and done, Xiao took a few steps back and sighed deeply. "That was...something." She'd have to thank Albert, George, and Pavo later. She'd probably have gotten a lot more hurt, if not for them. For now though, she produced a potion from her sleeves and down it, saving Sanary some trouble.

     An antidote followed, just in case, and then she turned to listen to the testimony of the council.

     "...?" Were they arguing? She wondered why. Well, no matter, they did their part. Now it was time for their audience to follow up. Souji answered the questions asked rather perfectly. She felt no need to follow up. Lest they get weird looks and then burned at the stake for being a technowitch! She hadn't forgotten that!

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Panting a bit as the adrenaline wears off, Sanary's glances around slowly before focusing her gaze on the unfamiliar group that Souji's talking to. A blank stare settles on her face not long after she starts, however, diverting her attention isntead towards the more familiar faces. "W-well! Good work, then, I think. Now who needs healing...?"

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    "Well that was interesting." Grant says, as he looks around at the rest of the group, though when Sanary asks about healing he raises a hand, "I could definitely use some healing." He says, as he moves towards her, "That was nuts, huh? Didn't think they'd have that many monsters crammed in one place..Like some kind of monster party."

    He switches his weapon back onto his back and pulls the helmet of the armor off, "I think we might have something going with them. Dunno why they'd say no after that little demonstration."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Reminds me o' core fleet votin'." Pavo says, with a tone of amusement as she slowly gets to her feet. Looks like she's survived, as has George. Both will be thanking Sanary and collecting their bikes.

    "They are not saying no." Moonfin says, to Grant, as he disengages from his damaged armor, and slowly begins working the pieces back into his Matter Manipulator. "They are like us, of the Starbound Flotilla's Core Fleet. They must move in unity to achieve great power. Those who wish otherwise are disregarded. It is the way we achieve great things in this world."

    "Floran think, isss fun either way. Get money anyway! Maybe a little, maybe lotsss. Alwaysss bet on hedge tribe. That isss how meat wordsss sssay it, right?" Biteblade says, regenerating and already at work on buffing out dents on her bike.