4223/Getting the Ley of the Land

Getting the Ley of the Land
Date of Scene:	16 June 2016
Location:	RIFTS Earth
Synopsis:	Something bad is happening near Lazlo.
Cast of Characters:	983, 592, 930, 336, 991, Staren, 834, Lexicon, 992

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Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    It's not all that strange for someone or something to take an interest in a nexus of ley line energy. The crackling bluish energies are stuffed full of magical power, and the nexus more than doubly so. It is also not that unusual for a dirigible to appear in Rifts Earth airspace, which has numerous strange and anachronistic technologies side by side.

    What /is/ unusual is how the dirigible managed to secure the ley line nexus, despite the beings that had other thoughts on the matter. The lifting capacity is also impressive, as it had a cargo... a large box that was dropped on the nexus, and was now just sort of soaking up the energies therein while the airship hovered above. Truly it was a curious matter... and all too close to the border of Lazlo, especially when the first scouting party didn't return.

Thranduil (592) has posed:
     Thranduil arrives, wearing his shiny, ornate battle armor. At each hip is an equally ornate sword, indicating that he is a dual wielder. His plan was to get out a bit more and make some diplomatic connections. He looks around when he steps through the warp gate and his jaw practically hits the floor. Talk about culture shock...the Elvenking has never seen such things as aircraft, skyscrapers or neon lights. He takes a few tentative steps forward, grey eyes wide as saucers. As people bypass him on the sidewalk, he realises his throat is dry from gaping and swallows, struggling to keep calm.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden is sightseeing!. The digimon decided to take a break from worrying about certain... stuff, and decided to explore the multiverse a bit more!. Right now, he is in his base form, walking slowly down the sidewalk, and having a reaction not too far from Thranduil's, this place was impressive, even if he WAS mroe familiar with modern cities. He walks around slowly, still near the warpgate, looking around at the people nearby, the different buildings, and especially, the flying machines.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Near the large crate at the nexus, a small camp has been set up. It doesn't have tents so much as propped up tarps in case of rain, along with several boxes and trunks and a few folding tables. A propane stove and range has been set upon one of them, which is currently turned on to heat a kettle. It appears, from the scent, that someone is preparing to make some tea.

    This someone, for those who wander close enough to investigate, appears to be a young woman dressed in the typical garb of an attending maid to someone. The maid is shuffling about, her hair up in a bun, adjusting chairs and generally setting up a cozy little base camp near the crate... and also near some disturbing-looking cages with shackles in them.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Arriving at one of the cages is Stygian Mirror, no disguise necessary. The white-haired, fox-eared, cat-tailed and lizard-eyed woman might well pass for a Lunar Exalted to the magically savvy, what with the way those animal features are trying, and failing, to make people ignore them via some form of a psychic attack. The bony tunic, gauntlets and boots, and the Soulsteel sword on her hip, probably tell a different story altogether.

    Behind her, four people have been chained up. The first wears body armor from Lazlo, possibly a scout or policeman. The second is in wizard's robes, but various technological enhancements and flashing lights demonstrate he's not a fantasy spellslinger. He's also kind of old, probably in his 60's. The third looks like a tourist, unarmed, unarmored-- he probably has no business even being here, and just got caught at the wrong place and time. The last is some sort of mutant or beastman, a kind of eagle-man. Mirror is carrying their weapons and gadgets under her arms, while also managing to tug on the chains that bind all four of them, to get them to the maid prepping the cage.

    "I think I saw others. They spread out pretty far, but I can probably catch them. There was a class of teenage students on a field trip too, this wizard guy here is their teacher. Arcane stuff I'm no good at. I didn't know magical schools were a thing."

Staren has posed:
A FEW MINUTES AGO

    Staren sits at his desk in his office/bedroom on his spaceship. A comfier version of one of those wheeled office chairs, set in front of a metal desk with a large monitor on it, as well as a small framed picture of Twilight Sparkle smiling. There's a keyboard and mouse, but Staren doesn't actually use them -- He's leaning back in the chair, mentally browsing Multiverse Youtube.

                              INCOMING CALL - ARL XZZYNI                          

    Staren accepts the call. The screen immediately jumps to an angry, anthropomorphic wolf who's leaning a bit too close to the camera. "STAREN!" Xzzyni snaps impatiently, startling Staren into tilting the chair too far back. The grizzled old wolfen's fur is going a lighter grey in places, but he has that drill instructor look to him that transcends age. "I'm okay!" Staren shouts back, getting up and shoving the chair aside to stand in front of the screen.

    "An airship has appeared at a nearby ley line nexus. Not only has it driven off the local mages and scholars studying and using it, but a party of curious citizens that went to talk to them lost contact with us. /You/ are among the best equipped to investigate, deal with it if it's a problem, or let us know to send backup if it's a /big/ problem."

    "Uh, y, yes sir." It's pretty rare that Staren actually gets missions these days. More could be exchanged, about backup plans and such, but Xzzyni knows full well that if Staren actually dies the catboy's layers of backup plans will lead to him hearing about it. So he doesn't waste time discussing them, just gives Staren sort of a 'go get 'em, soldier!' look and ends the call.

    Staren suits up and teleports into his fighter's cockpit -- the Star Hawk is attached to the underside of the SSC Stranger than Fiction. It detaches and dives down to the Equestrian atmosphere, headed for their warp gate.

HERE, NOW

    The Star Hawk approaches from the Lake Ontario warp gate. <<Attention unidentified airship.>> Staren radios. Do they even have radio? <<This is Staren of the Lazlo Self-Defense Force. A welcoming party has disappeared in your vicinity. Identify yourself and explain.>>

    If they don't respond, Staren will flyby for a closer look.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
A good many miles from lazlo, magical power flares within a small cave and an engraved circle energizes briefly. A figure emerges from the flash... Valentha Summers, and she's quick to hop onto her parked HOVERCYCLE and go roaring out towards the distant dirigible. Given how quiet it is, she may or may not be able to go by completely unnoticed, unlike Staren's giant mecha...

    "Who uses BLIMPS these days? WHO?!"

Lexicon has posed:
    The Drive Core Controller of Britannica has many projects on her plate in relation to the Multiverse. Today she's decided to look into other possible sources of energy, which may be useful as a source of system resources for her Drive.

    Which brings her here to investigate magical ley lines.

    The overhead passage of an airship was noted some time ago but largely ignored since it didn't seem to notice a brunette wandering the woods with a holographic screen. Lexicon hums to herself as she runs a little wand from side to side, examining the graphs as they change. Doing this, much like dousing, she decides on a direction and moves that way, keeping her wand's motion going to keep herself pointed in the right direction.

    Which results in cresting a ridge overlooking a mystery crate, the airship from before, and some shady looking characters ferrying around less shady looking characters in chains. Immediately, Lexicon backs out of sight behind a stone formation. She glances at her screen, examining the readings. So that must be the source of it, but what exactly is going on, here? She dismisses her screen, then the wand, in similar flickers of digitized code. A frown crossing her face, Lexicon peeks back out around her cover, minimizing her presence until she has a good idea of just what is happening.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
As far as strange vehicles go, Sigrun is holding the reins to a horseless chariot, driving out of the wormhole at near a hundred miles an hour, making quick turns to avoid anything in the way and make it where she's been pointed by Staren's aid.

She stops two thirds of a mile away from the blimp, and with a wave and some glowing runes, the chariot stops being surrounded by winds. Likely the very winds that have been propelling the vehicle at those speeds. The sharpshooter takes position with a tree nearby for cover.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    Does the ship have radio? Yes, actually. Though the radio that answers is in the encampment below, not from the ship... and it's an old-style radio with the big microphone. Anne wanders out from the shade, over to where the radio sits on the table nearby, connected to a small dynamo for power. She clicks it on.

    "Anne Blakely, here to research the effect of ley line energies on reinforcement and animation magics. I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of any welcoming party, maybe they got lost." Unlikely, but it's not like Anne actually cares.

    She turns off the transmitter for now and wanders over toward Mirror, pretending to ignore her maid. "Oh, I like the old one. Hmm. Magic schools? I suppose that works." With a shrug, she starts examining the four in more detail, not even bothering to hide them. Whether or not the others can see they are in chains is up to them.

    The approaching Star Hawk is met by a trio of small drones... helicopter drones that move MUCH faster than they have a right to, though still not on par with a jet's speed. They aren't attacking, but they do seem intent on falling into an escort pattern around the Star Hawk, probably analyzing the Valkyrie.

Alden (930) has posed:
The digimon has to admit, a rather large blimp was something new to him, enough to bring his attention and move closer to see what was going on about it, even if it meant going towards the rift. And of course, seeing the large mecha moving, simply made him even more curious!, now that was something he was unfamiliar with. He goes as far as digivolving to his Garurumon form, just to move faster for a closer look.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Radio signals and traffic in the skies. Well, that's what she was hired for, she supposes. Mirror glances idly upwards, then back towards the cage, remembering to drop the weapons she's carrying. A pistol and a rifle from the man in armor, a fancy magitech staff from the wizard, a camera from the tourist (which Mirror has not identified as 'not a weapon'), and a bone knife from the eagle-man.

    "Should I move out to catch them? They can't have gone very far. They might even have stuck around to help their old man out."

    Truth is, she doesn't want to. But a job's a job, and it's been some very long years since she's learned to put duty before her moral compass. She does have episodes where she flips that around, but usually keeps it in check.

    If she's aware in any way of the approaching parties, she doesn't show it. (She isn't.)

Staren has posed:
    The Star Hawk transforms into hybrid mode as it slows down to approach, now looking like a jet with arms and chicken-walker legs. <<What about the people who were here when you arrived?>> Staren asks, skeptically. He doesn't have proof or anything, but this situation seems... suspicious.

    He sees a cluster of people and zooms in with a thought. This is no distant sattelite photo with hard to make out details -- this is high-tech cameras not /that/ far from the ground.

    Staren readies missile locks on the drones as the Star Hawk approaches the group -- if Anne elects to keep talking long enough for him to land, it will switch to humanoid form and demand that Mirror 'Explain what's going on immediately!'

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
Valentha Summers, seemingly going unmolested, lands her craft on the way to the dirigible, and hides it in some brush.

    What she does next is rather odd. She crouches down low, and starts searching for signs of passage. Footprints or vehicle tracks. Or, more unusual for someone that appears human, scents. Her nose is still sharp as a dragon's ever was, and she can definitely use that to her advantage.

    If Staren's doing such a wonderful job of distracting them, she'll use the element of surprise to her advantage.

    Which, well.. gets all the more in her favor because she completely fades out of sight and continues attempting to find and/or track a trail whilst invisible.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    The maid helps relieve Mirror of her various weaponry that was gathered, helpfully laying it out nearby for examination. "Ah, I'm sure they went right toward the nearest town. Most people in this world seem more cowardly than anything else. I'm sure a small selection of mages in training won't be a problem."

    The maid then bows politely to Mirror, and pulls the whistling kettle off to pour some tea, completely ignoring the fact that there are enslaved beings nearby and a giant robot landing. She has a job to do.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Though Sigrun is far from an expert on blimps, the opposite in fact, the idea of 'fill up a balloon with some gas and use it to float' is not alien to her, and this looks like a case of that. She also has some idea of how to deal with that.

Taking into account the fact that this balloon is likely protected against that kind of interference, Sigrun tries it anyway, picking one of her more common specialty arrows. The glass-tipped arrow has a shaft covered in a spongy tissue.

She looses the arrow aimed somewhat off-center, near the rear of the airship. Upon impact, the fire contained within the tip spreads outwards, spreading the now thoroughly burning spongy tissue far beyond the point of impact.

Alden (930) has posed:
The Garurumon only picks up the pace as it becomes clear that something is happening, what with the jet and the odd things starting to flank said transforming plane, clearly the blimp is the center of things!. Still, he decides to remain on the ground a bit more, even if he gets closer.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    Those approaching on foot will have an easier time seeing the cages, which are under a tarp. At least Anne keeps them out of the sun! Speaking of Anne, she turns to Mirror thoughtfully. "There's no need, as she said. I doubt they're a threat, and are of little use. We're here for research, not to depopulate the area." How nice. Though they're spared by apathy more than mercy, in the end it's the same!

    She does look rather annoyed as Staren continues to approach and lands nearby. The drones circle around, now doing a flight in a triangular pattern about the humanoid mecha. Hands on her hips, she's sufficiently distracted that she looks up and completely misses Alden and Valentha approaching, though Starless and Mirror might. Maybe Staren was asking Mirror, but Anne will step up for Mirror. "I hired her, she's following my orders. Are you going to just loom around all day? I suppose you could volunteer, or your pilot anyway. I don't think our technological base is similar enough for me to get any use out of your machine."

    Then Sigrun attacks the dirigible. A few things become clear.

    - One: it is not filled with hydrogen, thankfully.

    - Two: while the fabric is flame retardant, it is not fireproof, and starts to burn on several chambers to release the gass with a hiss. This causes the ship to list and two more drones to come out, working quickly to try to contain the fire.

    "Mn. That one wasn't mine. While I did take out renter's insurance, that's awfully rude." The airship doesn't seem armed though. "Was that one of yours? Are we going to have to fight?"

    It is notable that whatever is in the crate is definitely soaking up some of that power.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Not having to chase a class down suits Mirror. Thank god. She nods to the maid and Anne, sparing a glance for the tea kettle. She wouldn't say no if it was offered, there's always time for good tea... and truth told she's had tea in much less savory places.

    Sadly this is not to be, when Staren lands a very large machine down and makes demands. Anne steps forward to talk with it, while Mirror simply comments: "That's a... really fancy Warstrider. Or is it something else?" People seem to have weird terms for things here. She still doesn't know what a 'Big Seven' is. Nagato was not very helpful was she asked her.

    Then flames! The dirigible was attacked.

    Mirror reaches for her sword, frowning. She doesn't say a thing, since Anne is already handling the threats; instead she uses her enhanced vision to look around. Can she spot the other attacker, or any of the others sneaking about? Her fox ears twitch, too, listening for the slightest twig snap.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden was not being particularly sneaky, all things said, he was moving to get a better look of the situation, perhaps realizing something was going to happen... between the jet, the smaller flying machines... the... cages?. The fire is what finally makes him snap into action, if only because he decides that a fire is not a good thing!. He stops running, mumbling as he forcibly devolves to his gabumon form, and uses a different card, no time to be cautious, he did hear blimps explode somewhere, so he should try to help!.

     A swift card slide, and a bright flash of light (not very subtle.), and a metallic quadrupedal wolf takes to the air, moving towards the blimp to inspect the damage, and see if he can help contain said flames!. Of course, it is easy to misunderstand why he approaches given the situation...

Lexicon has posed:
    For the most part, Lexicon isn't sure what to make of this unusual looking expedition. Of course it looks all kinds of shady, and yet, the trio is being awfully ambiguous about what they're doing-- and that's a giant robot. From her hidden position, the DCC simply follows along as things appear to steadily deteriorate. Someone's drawn a sword, and the airship is now on fire, there's a -- virus?-- on the loose over /there/...

    While she doesn't move, Lexicon reaches behind herself. A swirl of code produces a silver hammer, which she grips one-handed while her observation continues. If tension keeps rising, this is going to turn into a fight before long.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
Valentha finds stifling her displeased growl difficult, but at least she's not in the thick of this mess. Having picked up on the signs, she hurries along the trail. Overhead... as someone attacked the dirigible, INVISIBLE Valentha looked up to see. It gets her frowning...

    Sure, all signs point to heavy suspicion, but what if their team is up there?!

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun makes no sound, barely any movement, from her distant position in cover. She's fairly focused on the airship she shot at, and she's slowly nocking an arrow to repeat the trick, aiming for the midway point of the blimp this time. Wouldn't do any good to balance out the air loss by aiming for the front.

The hidden sharpshooter seems to have picked her spot to make her hard to observe, she's someone who operates by guile and trickery. The combat style of someone who treats a fair fight as a fool's gambit.

She's pretty focused on the dirigible and anyone who operates near it, so her stealth is not quite as solid for other directions, and someone coming from there might blindside her.

Staren has posed:
    Staren's about to respond, when Sigrun just up and attacks. The Star Hawk looks at her, then back at Anne. "Slavery and Kidnapping are illegal in the vicinity of the Free State of Lazlo. If this is a misunderstanding then talk fast. Otherwise release your prisoners and submit to a full inspection, and you will be given a fair trial in accordance with our laws. Refuse to comply and I will use force."

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    The maid pours tea, but it looks like it is not to be. Sadness. She sighs, setting down the tea kettle. "I suppose I should clean up around the camp, then, Mistress."

    'Cleaning up' consists of meandering in an increasingly wide circle, casually looking for others.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Things keep happening. First there's noise-- Mirror glances towards Valentha, but does not manage to figure out where she is. Her ears are not quite as precise as a real Lunar's would be. She can tell the direction she's in, but not where exactly. An attempt to look harder is disturbed by Alden just flying in.

    The white-haired woman immediatly adopts a fighting style, giving off a small but perceptible pulse of Essence, as she enters the Bloody Mirror Form. It probably feels a bit like tainted blood magic, and there's a barely visible red glow around her.

    But she does nothing. When she sees Alden moves to contain the flames, she... lets him. It? What is that thing even. A metal wolf with cannons that can fly? God damn.

    She turns towards Anne instead. "There's... two, maybe three people, not counting the Warstrider pilot. One might be outright invisible."

    A side-glance to ensure the prisoners are still near the cage and haven't run off. Luckily, it's the case. While Anne and Staren yell at each other, she's going to jab them towards the empty cage. For their own safety, as much as to keep them still.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden is not particularly sensitive to stuff, unless it's other digimon, or perhaps something so obvious even non related people can sense it. His focus is to stop the ship from collapsing, he just has to try to save the day, even if he is wrong about it!. As for the flames, he is not really sure what he can do, so he tries with freezing the burning sections!. He launches some of his freeze missiles at the flames, and breaks away the ice. (Also, he lacks visible cannons... but does have what look like small rocket/missile pods on his shoulders!).

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    The second arrow pierces the dirigible, and now Anne is looking VERY cross. The chamber starts to deflate, but the airship is going down at a fairly low speed. The drones appear to be trying to contain the fire, and with Alden flying up there to help, the fire is being put out pretty quickly. It won't spread much farther at all!

    But the airship is still going down. It crunches against the large crate, and then the gondola underneath sets down heavily with a crunching thud. It's actually fairly intact thanks to the gentle fall, though it's doubtful the thing will fly again without at least repairing the LTA frame. It went down gently enough that any prisoners inside were not harmed... but it appears that the gondola is largely empty anyway. The smoldering 'bag' will need some real work to get it aloft again, even if Alden saved it from complete destruction.

    Anne seems to consider for a moment... then shakes her head. "Mn, if I lied it would be obvious so very soon. Easier to just kill you and then finish up before they send reinforcements. I'd better take care of that sniper somehow, or you can, Mirror." The three drones circling Staren's mecha just open fire with... spinning buzzsaw blades shot from the drones, enchanted enough to slice through metal. The drones themselves are rather fragile though.

Staren has posed:
    As soon as Anne says 'kill you' Staren raises his machine's right arm to fire a burst from the gatling railgun inside the arm pack. In the heat of the moment he's forgotten about the drones -- they get in their shots, buzzsaw blades cutting into metal far more easily than they look like they should. Still, it's an armored war machine designed to take punishment. Sustained blade fire could tear it apart in a way a hail of bullets /couldn't/, but Staren's not planning to let that happen -- He twitches the arm as he fires the missiles that are already locked out from the gunpod under the elbow, three plasma mini-missiles homing in and exploding in superheated fireballs.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    "On it," Mirror says, with a nod.

    She leaps away from the area, having secured the prisoners in the cage. A quick glance is cast backwards, as Staren opens fire, but the woman already has her task. Her boss can probably defend herself.

    It's isn't too difficult for Mirror to pick a direction-- that second arrow gave somewhere to shoot for. Nothing precise, but unless the sniper moves, they'll be in the general vicinity. Quick-footed, but not especially quiet, Mirror leaps rocks, trees and other obstacles with feline-like agility.

    She's making a beeline for Sigrun, but mustn't have actually spotted her yet. She monster exterminator has a chance to get away, or to attack first, because there's nothing sneaky about the incoming, slightly glowing red young woman.

Alden (930) has posed:
The ship is not burning anymore!, yay!. Alden decides that NOW he shoudl check on the people in cages, hoping they are ok, and rushing to check on them!. He does see the small drones 'attacking' the robot, but he figures Staren will be ok, after all, they were just shooting buzzaw blades at it!, right?. He wonders where the odd person that was with teh cages went, but he thinks he'll burn that bridge when he gets to it, or when he crosses it... he was never good with sayings.

Lexicon has posed:
    "Tch..." the noise Lexicon makes is quiet at best, pretty much impossible to hear in all the sudden chaos that's just broken out amidst the leyline nexus. Drones attacking the giant robot, everyone kinda going nuts on each other in a wild melee in all directions. She frowns, eyes darting across that which she can see, analyzing her options.

    After some consideration, Lexicon releases her hammer and forces it back into her inventory, disappearing the weapon in a flurry of number strings and baseline code. With a sigh, she mutters, "I must be crazy," before she reaches up to secure her hat.

    And, holding her hat down, Lexicon scurries out of cover, moving across the clearing and all the battle going on. She's not interested in fighting, by the looks of it. Rather, she's making a beeline for the cage containing the imprisoned 'welcoming party'.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
Valentha Summers reappears near the group in a ripple of bluish energy, her hands already raised and sizzling with power. "There'll be NONE of that today! This is your one and only warning. SURRENDER!" She HOPES this is enough of an ambush as the spell finishes and a glowing, sparkling GLOB flies at Anne. It doesn't explode or harm or zap or zorch... instead...

    It's sticky.

    The energy spreads across the ground rapidly, and anything unlucky enough to contact it will be held fast. REALLY fast. You need superhuman strength to break supermagical glue!

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun makes no attempt to move anywhere at the incoming Stygian mirror, instead, she aims roughly seven degrees left of where she'd need to aim if she were shooting at what's incoming. The arrow she's using for it is a simple bodkin point, though as she takes aim, air wraps itself around the arrow.

When she looses it, it starts a gentle curve while speeding up. By the time it's actually flying in the direction that her soon to be assailant is going to be at anticipated point of impact, it breaks the air, a loud shockwave that will only impact after the arrow does.

Whatever trickery the sharpshooter has used to do this curving arrow, it should put her anticipated location at least a couple hundred feet away from where she actually is, and yet it remains accurate and potent.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    A third arrow. Mirror knows where the sniper is now.

    Unfortunately she gets the wind knocked out of her when the homing arrow just slams into her chest, and the ensuing shockwave knocks her off her feet and onto the ground. She growns, but to Sigrun's potential surprise she's not in pieces. Where a normal human might have been crippled on the spot, Mirror rises, plucking the arrow out of the wound and smiling. "Well, hi to you too. Good to see battlefield manners aren't as dead as I thought. I'll take getting shot at over being hugged any day." That was a WEIRD night.

    Essence flows into Mirror's wound. On her forehead, a black circle forms, surrounded by eight sunrays. It bleeds, lightly, and glows a dull grey and black. From the wound, sword sheathed on her hip again, blood oozes out into her hands, forming a replica of Sigrun's bow. It remains in flux, a fake made of blood and Essence, pulsing with red and black light.

    Unfortunately for Mirror, this can't make a copy of Sigrun's powers. The bow is almost mundane, better in construction, but without fancy abilities. She seems let down, having thought that shockwave trick might be the bow's work. Ah well.

    Better than nothing.

    Pulling the string back, three blood arrows form, and fire for Sigrun's position. They're bolts of Essence, functionally. Slightly corrosive, blunt force otherwise-- but they do drain magic, very slightly, if they hit, as though the bow were Soulsteel.

    And of course, Mirror loses no time trying to close the gap, resuming her run towards the sniper's perch.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    As the glob explodes and Staren opens fire... something else is happening at the cage. Alden and Lexicon both arrive swiftly after, to find the prisoners also trying to get out of their shackles during the firefight. The old man is trying to explain how to pop the latch, for the chains seem to be bound by a complex yet mundane lock. It's a bit too complex for the eagle-man's feather to easily pop it, though.

    Meanwhile, the plasma missiles take out the drones with ease, after they get their licks in. The helicoptors crash to the ground, making Anne wince... but she winces a lot more from the firing gun that Staren does toward her. Strange flashes of light deflect many bullets, showing some sort of magical barrier, but as she staggers to the side blood can be seen seeping through her clothing at her thigh. From the location, she should be spurting arterial blood everywhere, but the rate is much more sluggish than that for some reason. And the adhesive glob blasts everywhere, cementing her in place.

    Or does it? "Annoying little... GET AWAY FROM THERE!" That's to Alden and Lexicon. However, she doesn't appear to possess a lot of attack magic, despite being near a ley line. She DOES have magic though, and any mystical senses will feel the sudden surge of power. The adhesive starts to melt, hissing and disintegrating from around her slowly. "RUPERT! We'll finish this later, take care of this now!"

    The large crate in the center shudders, then the latch pops with a loud hiss of steam from the corners.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    That leaves... the maid wandering around helplessly. Or not so helplessly. A rustling noise is heard as she steps out near where the invisible Valentha is. Then, she smiles. "Ah... I thought I heard something. You're just invisible."

    The maid turns roughly in Valentha's direction. "I can sense you, you know. If you'll please make your withdrawal before things get messy, thank you." She gives a polite curtsy... and as she's doing that, the area begins to glimmer and sparkle as numerous tiny, glowing insects of some kind are flooding the air around her.

Lexicon has posed:
    "Nope," is Lexicon's simple response when Anne makes her demand. She doesn't even shout it and her voice is so soft that, in all this chaos, she may not even be heard at this distance. She realizes she's been noticed, however, and this accelerates her plan a few stages. She reaches out, code manifesting with a flash as her hammer rematerializes. "No time to be delicate about this-- coming through!"

    With both hands, Lexicon hefts her hammer up over her shoulder. Approaching the cage, she digs her heels in to stop herself while simultaneously swinging the hammer forward. Code ribbons flare around it, speeding up the swing moreso, directly into the cage door, "--EIN SCHLAG!"

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
The incoming magical arrows warrant a response. Sigrun doesn't make any attempt to dodge, but red runes light up in the air in front of her, and lines of magic fill up a circle around it. Right before impact, the magic in them goes from fairly anemic to rock solid.

And if those arrows wouldn't have been magic draining, they might have done a better job at protecting the sharpshooter, but magic draining arrows are completely out of context for Sigrun, an unanticipated problem, and the shield isn't designed to respond to that.

And thus the first arrow destroys it, and the second and third hit her in the shoulder and chest. She's thrown back, for all her offensive power... she's only human, and as weak and fragile as any of them. "What..." It seems that she's recognized that her shield wasn't so much pierced as drained.

The draining that hit her will find there's plenty there, she's like a walking, living wellspring of magic. A potent source of magical energy. Sigrun pushes herself back up, still going despite the bleeding, and now with the aid of her bow, she starts rapidfiring broadheads. The wind magic that enhances them doesn't make them go supersonic, no, they just spin like flying blenders, a dozen of them aimed for various sections of Stygian's gut.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden is not particularly good at opening locks in this form, unless he can break them by using his freezing jaws, and he thinks it's better to let the mistery person here to handle, she seems to have the right idea about opening the door, "Sorry, I am not sure i can break those things without hurting you."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
"So much for the warning." Valentha raises a hand and begins focusing energy into it. Here her magical skill really makes itself known. The air around her sizzles bluer than it already was, bolts of power flowing into her body and rendering it aglow from within as she draws on the abundant magical energies. They begin to swirl and accrete into a sparkling ball in her open palm...

    Just as Starless Night steps out.

    "No can do. Things are already messy. You want me to leave? Then I'm leaving with the welcoming party your crew has! Because it's either them... or whatever I can find of them and /ALL OF YOU./"

    At that exclamation the floating ball sparks and... FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASHHHHH!!!

    A supersurge of the purest magical energy, arcing like lightning, flies out for Starless Night. But it's not the only one. Another flies for Anne. The bolts hit with enough force to instantly vaporize tanks and superheat the shrapnel. Be it Valentha's enemies or the ground, there's going to be a HELL of a mess here.

    Thanks to the nature of the magic though, none of the bolts are drawn towards her allies or those she's here to help...

Staren has posed:
    The Star Hawk leaps into the air and hovers in hybrid mode -- Val warned him, and that's such a common spell that nearly everyone in Lazlo knows what it does.

    "Tch..." Staren sees only a bit of blood from what should be an obliterated limb! So Anne clearly has more supernatural defenses than just the shield that deflected most of his bullets. However, she seems to be lacking in offense. Should he try to take her down, or focus on whatever it is she just called?

    He decides to focus on whatever it is she just called. The Star Hawk draws its missile launcher gunpod and fires a salvo of four plasma minimissiles at the mysterious crate. That should be enough to deal with... a lot of things! Going whole hog with ALL THE MISSILES would probably be overkill here.

    Probably.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    More of that magic, what a pain. It's unpredictable! Sigrun's arrows come in, a rain of high speed blenders. With her free hand, Mirror grabs her sword and attempts to parry, while continuing her straight line run for Sigrun. She's not far now; Mirror's fast. But she's not as successful as she'd like to be with the parrying. One, two, three arrows get cleaved, another dodged, but the rest pelt her. The first few hit her armor. With each hit, the bony tunic seems to glow, sounding like heavy armor. The arrows don't draw blood but knock her back, they slow her run down.

    After the first few though, the rest get clean hits. Unpleasant imagery follows, as through the tunic the wind-enchanted arrows draw more than their fair share of blood. Worse, there's not really anything for Mirror to get out of it. Regular arrows! Not useful enough. Mirror doesn't stop, though. She fights (well, runs, too) through the pain and bloodloss.

    With each hit she takes, Mirror's Caste Mark, the symbol on her forehead, glows darker, bleeds more. And then she's the one glowing, although glowing is probably not the right word. It's more like light dims around her. She's radiating darkness, a lack of light, like a black sun.

    "I won't ask twice-- stay still and give up! I'm just doing my job, if you lay down your weapon I don't have orders or incentive to kill you!"

    The bowstring is pulled back. She only fires one arrow this time. Same as the last three-- it's a bolt of Essence, punchy, corrosive, drains magic on-hit. But this one gets much worse, if it does end up in Sigrun. It turns into a black worm, wriggling and digging into the wound. There'd still be time to remove the worm, before it digs too deep, but if it's allowed to disappear inside Sigrun's body, it's going to require magic or surgery to pull out. Luckily it transmits no diseases, it just eats flesh.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun doesn't speak, she's on the job, and while she could echo the sentiment, she views it as pointless. For once, she attempts to dodge, but it quickly becomes clear how much she relies on those shields to protect her from harm. She fails to get out of the way, the damnable thing ending up in her side.

Fortunately, she wears gloves. She reaches out with her right hand, and tries the grab the worm and pull it out before it can dig in.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    The worm doesn't put up much of a fight. Sigrun can easily pull it out. It's roughly the size of an arrow. Whether she wants to keep it (it'll keep trying to bite) or crush it, either is done effortlessly and before it can do much worse to her than having nibbled on the wound.

    It was a distraction, ultimately; Mirror leaps, and lands in front of the downed monster hunter, the bloody Essence bow dissipating as she reaches for her sword, to point it down at Sigrun. "Come on, don't be like that. I'm not a murd--" Y... yes, she is. "I don't kill without rea--" Y... yes, she has, depending on your definition of 'without reason'. Is it without reason to do it just because you were told to? For her, it is. "... okay, you know, I think I'd do a better job defending myself by not talking about me."

    Says the young woman with glowing red eyes, a pulsing and bleeding black sun mark on her forehead, and an aura that kills light around her. She's very legitimate.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    The manacles are pretty complicated, lock-wise... but compared to a hammer - or freezing jaws, if Alden goes through with that - they are quite breakable. The first smashing has the old man especially huffing, "Thank you. Anything you can do is appreciated!" It will take a few more moments to free all four of them, though, and the eagle-guy is only reluctantly being included with two of the others. The old man seems fine with him, though.

    Anne turns around to try to deal with the escape, the adhesive melting away at last... and then the first explosion happens. The crate is blasted apart, being of fairly mundane construction, and the sides tumble away to reveal the welcoming party... or what's left of them. Staren could have killed them with that! Of course they were quite obviously already dead, so he is saved from that little oopsie!

    The billowing smoke is a problem though, and it's not all from the missiles. The second blast from Valentha hurls Anne back to keep her from stopping Lexi and Alden, for now. But from the strobing blast wave comes something else... Rupert.

    Rupert is apparently a massive clockwork dragon hurtling directly toward the Star Hawk, with mechanical hissing jaws that snap down with far too much force for a clockwork contraption. Also, he appears to be glowing with the concentrated magical energy of sitting on a Ley Line Nexus for several hours, not to mention the life force of the entire welcoming party.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden tries his best to break the chains and locks, hoping he does not freeze burn the people chained!. It is a quick enough to do, and then his focus goes to the clockwork monstrosity jumping to destroy Staren!. "This does not look good." he mumbles, turning towards the dragon, and rushing to assist the already damaged mecha!.

     This time he is the one doing the macross missile massacre style attack. He moves a bit of distance first of course, all over his form, hidden compartments open, revealing a lot of missile ports, every single projectile having an angry face painted on them!. "Giga Destruction!". The swarm of smallish projectiles flying out, and rushing to land on the clockwork thing, while they are not 'plasma' they are powerful, enough to perhaps distract, or damage the magical contraption!.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    The maid screams all girlishly, hurled back by the explosion into the trees! But... isn't killed? Not vaporized? Her arms are held up, and when the blast wave clears, much of her uniform is scorched away, leaving parts of her stomach, her arms, her legs, all burned and smoldering to show... thick, chitinous material underneath the crisped skin, obviously damaged and bleeding but having taken the brunt of the blast. Lowering her arms shows that a more delicate jaw is partly visible, her cherubic face apparently a chitinous mask, with crawling legs tickling at the jaw where part of the living mask was blasted off. She hisses in pain as the strobing effect leaves the long shadows of the trees thickening as it fades.

    "Ninpou: Spider of Darkness," she murmurs, fingers forming a quick seal or three. The ultimate technique of the School of Dusk manifests, all the shadows twisting and joining... and forming a spiked tendril of pure darkness which lashes out, empowered by all the mystical energy in the area and striking violently toward Valentha now that her position is revealed.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun is on the ground, with a physically superior assailant standing above her, weapon pointed at her. Her every instinct screams that this is game over, this is where she meets her end. Stygian's words however, just insult her, "You could do me the favour of respecting me, if you're going to kill me, just do it. I'm not some mostly harmless maid who happens to be good with a bow."

And thus, she regains her composure. She still holds her bow, and while this is dire, there are ways out. While she talks, her hands don't move. "I'm monster exterminator, I knew when I signed up for the job that something nasty was going to kill me some day."

But while her hands didn't move, her bow did. The fey wood is in tune with Sigrun's desires, and it's drawn another incendiary arrow. When it reaches her hand, Sigrun doesn't hesitate. "And I don't think you're nasty enough to do me in."

She shoots with one quick movement, not even aiming for Stygian. No, she's aiming for the tree she'd been using for cover. Burning pieces of spongy material fly in all directions from there, including towards Sigrun, who is already rolling over to get on her knees and then up and running by the time the sparks hit her.

Lexicon has posed:
    "Sometimes the best way to pick a lock is to bust it open," Lexicon states as she repeats her swinging trick a few more times to free up the rest of the adventuring party. Glancing across the quartet, she asks, "Are you four alright?" A glance goes to Alden, right when the crate explodes and prompts her to shield herself with her arms. By the time she's lowered her guard, a mechanical dragon is in the air and Alden has charged off after it. Her gaze returns to the four adventurers, "Help if you can. If you can't, get out of the way."

    Her hammer shifts to one hand, and her now freed hand reaches out. Ribbons of code swirl into a polearm shape and then crystallize into a gem-tipped spear, which Lexicon hauls back and then hurls back towards the rocks that she had been hiding in before. It impales itself sideways into the stone, clicks down, and then begins emitting a faint white light from the gem itself. Other than that, though, it does nothing of note.

    Lexicon turns back towards Anne, lifting her hammer one-handed and pointing, "Call off the dragon, it's pretty clear whatever you were trying to pull here's gone sour. All you're doing is wasting everyone's time, now. You'd be better off just escaping, wouldn't you?"

Staren has posed:
    They were sacrificed to create... THAT THING? Okay, Staren's fully justified now, since this is /more/ than enough to get someone the death penalty, even by Lazlo standards.

    He makes a mental note for the future that even if a mysterious crate obviously contains something hostile, it might contain other things too.

    He'd like to obliterate Anne, but now he has a mechanical dragon to tend to. He's hoping there might be some kind of magical weakness to it, but that's Val's department, not his, and it's attacking him NOW. The Star Hawk turns and flies away from Rupert, preventing it from properly aiming some of its weapons... missiles, however, don't need to be aimed, and over two dozen of varying sizes and types launch from the gunpod, arcing back around and approaching Rupert from various angles. This includes three (3) additional plasma mini-missiles (big fireballs), seven (7) APHE mini-missiles (ram really fast and explode on impact/inside), and seventeen (17) plasma lance anti-tank micromissiles, which are basically miniature HEAT rounds that abuse physics to put long, narrow holes in things and hope they break an important internal component.

    If Rupert is fast enough to actually catch him though, he'll have (another) serious problem on his hands!

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
"... Ninjitsu!?" Of all things, Valentha wasn't expecting THAT. A freakishly huge tentacle slams into her at hyperspeed, piercing right through her clothing when it strikes, though it seems to BOUNCE off her head with only minor scratches to her skin. Less critical parts of her anatomy don't fare as well - the spikes dig into her flesh and bite deep, leading to a sizable blood splatter. more importantly, she's hurled into a nearby tree and hits with a sickening CRUNCH and a shatter... though...

    ... That mostly seems to be the bark and heartwood splintering.

    Valentha rises to her feet, a tad winded by the look of it, and sharply wincing. "Nasty tricks..."

    It's her clothing that suffered the worst here. The futuristic cloth-weave's drenched in blood and shredded.

    "Fifteen thousand credits. Fifteen THOUSAND credits. That's how expensive these clothes are!" The Techno-Wizard froths, clenching a fist out at Starless Night.

    This might be a bit on the alarming side. A human should have been dead five times over right there. She seems at most a little winded.

    "The gloves are coming off now."

    Valentha's whole body blurs with blue energy and--

    In the next very instant she's swinging her arm weirdly from BEHIND Starless Night, putting all the force she can muster into it.

    Which might be enough to send her at the same tree, if fate's in the dragon's favor today.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    "How is it disrespectful to point out I wasn't hired to kill you and don't much care to--" Do it. No, clearly, this person was mad, had an immense ego or pride, or some other strange code that prohibits her from accepting mercy. It's not that odd, but it's certainly frustrating. If Mirror had any sort of pride in what she does, she might take offense to the idea she's not nasty enough to do her in. She's a Deathknight; there's one thing they do and it's "people in".

    What they don't do, unfortunately, is attain immunity to incendiary arrows. That would be really useful right about now. Distracted momentarily by the lightshow of the other battle, she's spared a direct hit from the arrow when it impacts the tree and then sends burning wood everywhere instead.

    Sigrun uses the opportunity to run.

    Mirror sighs, taking a few steps back and away from the flames, though she's already been scorched here and there by the inevitable shrapnel.

    "You might be right. Maybe not. I'd keep running, if I were you." If Sigrun peeked back, she'd notice the dark glow around Mirror has intensified, dimming even more of the ambient light than before. Her sword is also glowing. A lot.

    She slices the air.

    The Crypt Bolt Attack fires forward, a streak of black Essence, a cut from a distance. Sigrun would just have to leap over it or duck, since it's horizontal. If she doesn't, though, the attack doesn't cut. It inflicts accelerated necrosis and decay to the area hit. It'll heal like a normal wound, though.

    Beyond that, Mirror does not pursue, at least not unless Sigrun intends to keep fighting or to head down to the main party. What the hell is that down there anyway? Was that inside the crate?

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    It might be alarming for Starless... or might not. The maid whips around, a short blade drawn from her... from somewhere on the outfit that is in tatters. The arm is caught with a clash of steel, Starless sliding to the side a little from the ringing impact.

    The damage to her mask makes her more cautious about talking, though her voice didn't seem to change. Maybe she's worried it will come off. It doesn't keep her blade from licking out in response after the parry, casually riposting the dragon's attack.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
"If you don't get it, you must be little more than a mindless beast." Sigrun answers, without looking back. She just keeps running, hindered by her wounds, but she still has plenty of magic available to her.

And thus, when Sigrun's ambient magical detection lets her know of the attack coming to her back, she throws up another shield. Now no longer focused on offense, she can shove a lot more into it. It's still not perfect, a shield big enough to block it all takes up a lot of magic.

And though she has a lot of it, she's been tapping into more than is healthy, and there's a limit to how much of it she can use at once, both factors which make it so as her shield decays, bits and pieces of the attack come through, striking her back and causing her to make a pained noise.

She keeps running, now even slower, until she gets back to her chariot. With glowing runes the air around the chariot picks up, and she stands on it, slumping a little as she grabs the reigns, the horseless vehicle speeding up.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
"NOT POSSIBLE!!" Valentha's genuinely shocked when her prodigious strength's deflected that easily! Well, melee never was her strong suit exactly, but she's left wide open by this manuever... and the blade digs into her arm, bloodying it and getting her hissing.

    But despite the agony she inhales sharply.

    Which will be another bad sign, if anyone knew what she really was.

    Because she takes advantage of being close up, injured or not. An unusual muscular contraction that starts in her sternum and moves up her throat's the only warning, and it's hardly a second of such. Then she lunges forward with mouth open and--

    FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!

    ... dragon fire, a plume so scorching and intense that the ground's left molten and cooling into glass in its wake...

    At point blank.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    Rupert wasn't uninjured by the initial volley to begin with... but mostly it seems to be armored plating slagged and torn away. Much more of that is sheared off by the numerous missiles blasting into the clockwork dragon, which bounds forward with a slam of one leg into the ground before the wings spread. Obviously magic is involved in actually getting him aloft.

    Fast? Not quite. But as the missiles begin to blast some of the redundant gears and struts rather than just armor, Rupert opens his mouth... and belches out a thin stream of glowing mystical flame lancing across the sky, bright enough it might as well be plasma. His movements are MUCH more fluid than the drones before, almost alive in nature, all the sophisticated workings moving smoothly together. He is slowed, however, by Alden's attack slamming into his side, giving Staren a chance to escape.

    Lexicon confronts Anne, and Blakely considers her options. "Hmm... you presume I am helpless enough to threaten. This isn't true." A gesture has the remnants of the drones, the wrecked equipment, and some broken tables and chairs swirling together to form a squat yet roughly humanoid shape, solidifying in front of Lexicon. "But... you're unfamiliar to me and this is doing little to further my cause. I could defeat you. You could be too strong for that. I don't like taking chances. How about we all withdraw, hmm?"

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Mirror slumps down; with Sigrun out of the way, she can afford to actually show weakness. She's not exactly in prime condition herself. Heavy bloodloss from her torso, what with those six or seven arrow wounds. She's spent a lot of Essence too-- every single time she takes an attack, her armor drains some. The rapid flurry of arrows from Sigrun is a natural counter to Mirror. If they were Holy capital H arrows, it would be even worse. Lucky for her they weren't. Lucky for her that Soulsteel weapons drain magic.

    If she'd knocked that girl unconscious she could've drained her blood to recuperate faster, but no such luck. And even if she still had juice, it wouldn't help for the blood. She'd better not pick another fight. Besides, her Anima is almost going full-bore. That takes -forever- to calm down, and it's not that she hates glowing like a black sun made of death and scary but it's really inconvenient when you're not fighting.

    She places her sword back on her hip, using one hand to cover the nastier of her wounds, her open sides. She'll limp back to the Nexus, try to regroup with Anne or that maid. She took care of the sniper, as arranged. Seems she missed a hell of a lightshow though.

Staren has posed:
    Staren is faster than a clockwork dragon! That's good.

    Staren's macross missile massacre appears to be doing damage, but not significant damage, to the clockwork dragon. That's... eh?

    Anne is proposing she get off scot-free for murder. Also, her dragon uses some crazy magical flame lance breath weapon that slices into the Star Hawk, burning a scar across its back and showering bits of metal and slag on the countryside below.

    "I'm just fine with 'destroying the countryside' if it means KILLING YOU!" Staren shouts. The Star Hawk turns and raises a beam shield on its arm to block any follow-up shots of that breath weapon. And the under-wing missile packs all open, and SIXTY more plasma mini-missiles streak down towards Anne.

    Frankly, if he has to use that many, it's probably either severe overkill or nowhere near enough -- he'll see which in a moment -- but he's MAD now.

Alden (930) has posed:
Alden grumbles as the combined missile barrage seems to be insuficient to stop 'Rupert' snarling loudly as the beast focuses on the damaged mech!. He dives, to avoid the mystical flames, and tries a different tactic, his eyes glowing a bright blue as he 'stands' on air, facing the dragon. "Rupert!" he calls. The digimon's eyes glow a bit brighter, before his chest... opens, and a much larger missile, this one with a blue tip appears, "Freeeze bomber!" he howls. This one is not so much a guided missile as... well, just a standard rocket, blasting towards the clockwork's head!. If it hits, it explodes in a surprisingly large radius, bright white filling the blast area and filling it with ice!. The area should be enough to engulf the dragon's head in ice. He does hope Staren's bombardment does not hurt any innocents, he really, really does.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    It takes Mirror long, painful seconds of running back towards the Nexus' center before she sees the lights and flames of numerous attacks again. She's heard the threats given by both sides, but didn't have anything to add. It wouldn't be very nice to boast about disabling her opponent... whose name she did not even ask.

    Well, apparently Deathknights are good at killing social etiquette, too. She'll have to ask that monster hunter her name some other time.

    But for now, her boss is still fighting. She'd best impress, so that her payment is consequently larger. Repeat work might be an option, who knows?

    The bright blue light of the Nexus suddenly dims, marking Mirror's approach. Her Anima Banner, not quite at its full level, is still radiating plenty enough of darkness to be "seen" and to, very locally anyway, shroud the magical energies of the area. One can almost discern shapes and moans in the darkness, bony spectral hands clawing to get out. It's just for show.

    The Abyssal lands in front of Anne, about as abruptly as the lights dim. She reaches for her sword, and with a click and an investment of Essence it splits down the middle, horizontally. The top half launches, connected to the bottom one by a tether of black and purple Essence.

    And then, a tempest.

    Mirror stands in the Eye of the Tempest (that is the name of the Charm) as her blade whirls around, intercepting a large amount of Staren's missiles, and shielding both the Abyssal and Anne from the explosions. A few get through, and burns are inevitable, but the sheer speed of the sword is enough to prevent the worst.

    Scorched by the blasts, and still bleeding from earlier, Mirror falls back to one knee, grunting. "Can't you tell when a battle is over and a deal is too good to turn down?" she speaks, towards Staren and his machine.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Point blank dragon fire is... well, it's actually bad news, even for Starless. A moment of startlement, and her body jerks back, moving at lightning speed to avoid the blast. Or... she tries to, anyway. The close range makes it hard, and her leg is fully caught, set on fire with the sizzle of burning flesh and the strange scent of roasting... sandalwood? Or something.

    That's when a spray of webbing, supernaturally enchanted, sprays toward Valentha's mouth to try stopping THAT from happening again. Another spray of webbing forms a strange whip, but the damage and pain mean it just carves a slice into the ground rather than hit Valentha.

    Starless lands and crumples to one knee with a wince... but she slowly rises, with a blade that appears like jagged bone erupting from her free hand to give her another weapon. "I have no contract on you right now, if they call for a withdrawal I'll do so."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
"SPLFFFFFTTTTT!" Valentha chokes on the webbing as it splatters all over her mouth. Chokes on that and the fire, it seems, judging by the smoke and flames that start streaming from her nose. She backpedals and tumbles into a lopsided martial arts stance, one hand extended at her side as if she's ready to swing a weapon... though she isn't wielding one.

    this... is bad. If she can't speak, casting becomes a lot harder, and one of her best natural weapons is trouble. She glares balefully at Starless Night, all but excuding displeasure and indignation.

    Seems she's waiting for that call to withdraw.

    But she's also takin the opportunity to focus and gather more magical energy, drawing it in from the Ley Line and shape a spell through will alone. It's slower... but she doesn't unleash whatever she's preparing yet.

    For the moment she's defensive.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    Alden's freezing breath frosts over the dragon's head, making it ice across and briefly locking it up. Rupert is... pretty dangerous though, it only takes a second for him to shake his head free and crack the ice off, letting it shed away.

    But a second is a precious amount. While Anne is staring down agaisnt Lexicon and trying to figure out if the digital entity is a threat - aside from being digital while she's analog - the dragon is against Staren. That brief delay has given Staren the time to pull away in the Star Hawk. Of course Rupert seems to have another trick up his sleeve but-

    "Halt. This really is pointless. You want to try to kill me?" Anne looks annoyed, more than anything, trying to dress her sluggishly bleeding leg. "Fanatical. You'll need to try again another time. Come, Mirror. Let's go." Apparently leaving the hostages at least.

    Rupert lowers his head, allowing anyone who needs a ride to climb onto the damaged but mobile construct. He appears to be leaking lubricant though. Damage to Rupert was probably why Anne decided this wasn't worth it.

Staren has posed:
    Staren growls in anger and frustration as his missiles are stopped. What the hell?!

    He's far from 'out' of firepower, but at this point it's clear that his firepower alone won't take this group down. The Star Hawk transforms to fighter mode and makes for the gate. Staren calls the Lazlo Defense Force to update them on this threat. They're not going to attack her yet, not without more information, as long as she doesn't kidnap more people. However, people in the town around the gate may be evacuated to shelter, and should Anne return, she'll likely find herself a magnet for adventuring parties seeking fame, claim to the bounty on her head, or just trying to make the world a better place by removing her from it.

    Few may stand a chance of succeeding, but it'll probably be a hassle. At least an annoyance?

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    "R-Right."

    Mirror gets back to her feet. Parrying a Macross Missile Massacre, it turns out, isn't as effortless as it looks even for an Exalted. Though at least it should significantly dim Staren's surprise that this happened when he sees the glowing and bleeding black Caste Mark on Mirror's forehead. It's not like she suffered no injury at all, either.

    Without another word, Mirror departs, following after Anne.