5342/Dark Castle of the Forest

Dark Castle of the Forest
Date of Scene:	07 July 2017
Location:	the Dark Lady's Castle
Synopsis:	How the whole Dark Lady chain, started. Tomoe rushed off to do what was intended by Cardinal to be a group quest, and things go bad, very bad.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, Kirito, 215, 1119, Staren, Silica
Tinyplot:	The Dark Lady

---

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe had said she was going back to America in her world to Washington State, notably a place called Port Angeles, located on the West Coast, monsters had appeared, as had a foreboding castle also in the last few says towns have sprung up as well in the region. Worst of all people had gone missing before here. Rumors abounded about a dark lord was seeking to rebuild against those Adventures whom laid them low so long ago.

Tomoe had said she'd keep in touch she'd checked in when she arrived but had been silent since. Her status appeared to be in combat, since then worse she wasn't replying to any messages, calls or anything else. She'd gone utterly and totally silent in the forbidding mountain forest of the Pacific Northwest. Upon arrival to the town it was simple enough to find out from the local police that Tomoe had gone off in search of several missing women. The police were actually happy to help given they are in over their heads.

They had also reported they women had come back but Tomoe was nowhere to be found, most had been kept in the dungeon of the palace and they had no idea about Tomoe. One Misty Williams a woman with orange-red hair and had worked at the local marina was quick to tell the arrivals.

"That's right, she came busting in like something out of Tunnels and Wyverns, damnest thing I ever saw but the thing that had me? I don't know what it wanted I was too scared to think. Your friend cut me free, told me to run and not to stop till I got back to town."

The officer would point out where the castle was and apologies for not being of more help, he'd offer the party a lift if they so needed it but one way or another the group wound find themselves in the forest massive forest, filled with evergreen trees. Mists clung to the mountains near by and into the forest where one could make out the castle in the distance.

The way there would be clear oddly a sure sign of Tomoe's passing and the cleared path leads towards the black castle is made of obsidian slabs somehow cut like one might expect more traditional stone and the way is open blue fiery torches burn at the entrance way. It's clear it's quiet, it's as if someone /wants/ all of you to come in. What is also clear if one looks around there's a few blast marks from fire attacks of some sort going off.

Kirito has posed:
Something CHANGED about Kirito upon realizing that Tomoe was in some kind of serious trouble. Like a switch had been flipped in his mind, all hints of his goofy gamer drive were sheathed and squashed as solidly as the swords on his back. His soft, youthful face - normally innocent enough - is contorted with fierce desperation and a grim resolve, gaze sharp and serious.

    He cannot fathom just what would've been enough to incapacitate Tomoe, and he's almost certainly kicking himself mentally for letting her go off alone. It may not be so, but THAT feels like a severe failure on his part.

    "Hold on, Tomoe. We'll find you and get you out of that place." Exclaims the Spriggan as he swoops down before the castle's main entrance, as solemnly as any oath ought to be.

    Once his feet are on solid ground, he reaches up and unsheathes both blades. The astute would recognize that one is Elucidator, and the other... Dark Repulsor, a sword that should no longer be in this world.

    Gritting his teeth and biting down a bit of fear at the ominous architecture, he can only wait for the rest of the party to arrive...

Iria (215) has posed:
There's more to Iria's life than simply being a bounty hunter. There's always plenty of things to do when the need for it arises. And when someone she knows is in danger, she's more than happy to help find them. After all, this is not just a game they're playing anymore! It's on for real now, and Iria doesn't care about experience or money or anything like that. It's all about finding the person in trouble!

Not long after Kirito arrives, Iria swoops in and lands too. As soon as she gets a look at the castle, she scowls noticeably and narrows her eyes a little. "Whoever or whatever's hanging around in there better be ready for trouble! They think they're all that, but they ain't seen the likes of us!"

Her demeanor softens a little as she then lowers her head and closes her eyes a little. "Please be safe, Tomoe. We're coming!"

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Hearing that Tomoe had come up missing? That was enough to get Josuke's attention. Particularly since she had left to help someone else and then never came back. Seemed like now SHE needed help, and Josuke was all too willing to offer it. He does need to avail himself of the officer's offer of a lift to the area. But at the apology, Josuke smiles. "Don't worry about it!" he offers brightly. He wouldn't expect the officer to put his life in danger for just one person. The police had bigger jobs than rescuing just one person.

    However, upon reaching the area, Josuke is immediately greeted by... a menu popup. While he'd been running, nonetheless. "Gah!" he yelps, raising his hands to defend himself against an incoming attack. When none is forthcoming, he looks over his hands. "...What the hell?" He pouts a bit, looking at the window as if he was dissatisfied with its presence. Then blinks. "A name? Well..." He just... enters his own!

    Once the menu prompt is satisfied and gets out of his face he heads for the obsidian castle to meet up with the others already there. He offers a nod to those gathering here. "Hi. I'm Josuke," he offers.

    In contrast to the many weird and wonderfully armed and armored party members here, Josuke is wearing just a purple school uniform. It's been highly stylized, but he doesn't have any armor, nor is he visibly armed. Hopefully he's got some tricks up his sleeve.

Staren has posed:
    Ah yes, Washington. Staren doesn't remember much about it -- he's pretty sure he recalls hearing about islands off the west coast shrouded in mist that noone ever comes back from. Also there might be giant killer bugs. Of course, travelers have to be prepared for such things on RIFTS Earth. Staren--

    What?

    Are you sure?

    So it's a futuristic Earth overrun by monsters where new continents have appeared, but it's not--

    Okay. Listen, I'm just the narrator, I can't keep all these straight. *Ahem*

    Port Angeles, Washington is now menaced by monsters and a mysterious dark castle rumored to be run by a dark sorceress or something with aspirations of conquering. Staren feels oddly at home as the party sets out into the eerie, misty forest. He rides on his broom as they approach the castle, waiting for a monster encounter to trigger when they reach it... But nothing happens. He hovers about, looking over the front of the castle and flying around to check the back side for possible alternate points of entry. "Are we sure we want to go in the front door? I mean, it's /obvious/, but maybe the game is less prepared for sequence breaks." He taps his chin and adresses Kirito: "Are there any records of successful sequence breaking in dungeons in SAO or ALO?"

Kirito has posed:
"A few." Kirito's uncertain-toned answer to Staren is probably not all that reassuring. "But the quests usually fixed themselves or went down story paths nobody saw before. Not really sure if that was CARDINAL making new paths or if they were always there. Heh... remind me to tell you about Kizmel later. ... Sequence breaking wasn't a good idea though. When Asuna and I were heading to buy the c-cabin..." He briefly stutters there, "We found it fifty meters in the air suspended in a tornado, with a dog barking at us... and Argo up on the porch. She'd run from the dog and missed the quest trigger but still got stuck in the tornado and the quest didn't progress until the dog was also up on the porch. What a case of lucky timing!"

    Kirito blinks a few times, realizes someone new just appeared...

    And stares over at Josuke. The boy works his jaw uncertainly, half-gaping at the guy's sheer height and odd choice of attire...

    But he soon recovers, and the Black Swordsman seems to poke something in Josuke's direction, and two new prompts appear from JOsuke's perspective.

    'You have been invited to join Kirito's Party! Accept/Reject'
    'You have been invited into the Gatecrashers Union. Accept/Reject'

    Staren receives a similar party invite. As does anyone else who approaches the group.

Tomoe has posed:
The group had formed up Kirito was all in business mode as they reached the castle and it was silent it's clear Tomoe's gone though and nothing has respawned. The only good news is on the Guild Status list? Tomoe is shown to be alive and not off line that much is good news but for some reason she's unable to respond. The Party is meeting up and forming up fairly quickly this likely is good time is a wasting and if Tomoe knew some of the people responding she'd feel good about it.

It wouldn't take too long for the party to enter the castle and once they do it would be much of what they expected though the layout actually feels real livable and usable from it. Well that's from the main entrance. It can be seen from peering into the open courtyard within. There's a disable if not in use smithy, stables and the like.

Staren might find some towers and the ramparts which do have doors into the other part of the castle, but place is empty however. IS this by design or did Tomoe go on a bender? Either way given the nature of the world there are a few possibilities where Tomoe might be.

Staren and anyone who got to the skies would notice the main keep's doors are wide open.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    More windows! Josuke tilts his head back as the windows appear. Gatecrasher's Union? Party? Well, they did apear right after that guy in black made that weird motion. Maybe it's his doing? And if he came here to help Tomoe, he's a friend. So Josuke pressess accept for both windows, not sure what's going to happen in response. And when things start popping up, his eyes go wide. "Whoa..." Clearly he's never played an MMO before.

    Sadly, Josuke doesn't have wings, nor can he fly. Crazy Diamond could throw him, sure, but that would be dangerous for him. Josuke might be an Elite, but he's still human. Falling from that far will probably hurt him. But hey, at least once the party invites are out of the way, they can get into the place, right? Staren's radio headsup gets a blink. The doors are open? "Either that's a trap or she already handled everything going in," he notes. Looking at the others, "...Does it work like that? I mean... this is a game world but not a game, right? So it goes by game physics?"

Iria (215) has posed:
As soon as Iria enters, she frowns and looks around. Looks livable, yes, but looks can be VERY deceiving. She glances around carefully, not wanting to risk being caught off-guard by the possibility of someone or someTHING waiting to get the party as they enter.

"I don't like this one bit," Iria finally comments after a moment. "It's almost like they wanted us to come in. Something's wrong here. Everyone keep your guard up!"

Kirito has posed:
"Game physics, yeah." Kirito asides to Josuke while strolling through the outer doors and into the courtyard... though he doesn't waste too much time looking over the grounds before heading for the keep's doors.

    "... Which means be careful around any doors as big as these. Anything that screams 'boss'... don't go it solo." Kirito's short on words here, and not in a mood to explain a heck of a lot... but he nods at those who warn of this being a potential trap.

    Still...

    "Trap or no trap, I'm going in after Tomoe."

    And so he does.

Staren has posed:
    Staren explains to Josuke, "The game and real worlds have merged here. Game entities seem to work on game physics though, yes." To Iria, he adds, "Of course CARDINAL wants us to come in. The dungeon is pointless if adventurers don't interact with it." As Kirito heads in, he lands, puts away his broom (in that messenger bag that is too small to hold it...) and follows after Kirito on foot.

Tomoe has posed:
It does seem like a trap, of sorts there's clear signs Tomoe fought her way through here but that's the odd part than where is she the whole place is cleaned out, several chests are popped open as the group heads on in With Kirito up front and everyone quickly behind them. It would not take long to come to the grand hall, there are bones of beast worked into pillars, massive skulls mounted on the wall and a humanoid figure sitting on a ebony thrown at the back it's female wearing black armor, if you could call it that with there was a fair bit of skin showing. The woman sits there drumming her figures.

Torches of blue flame light up and one can clearly see it's Tomoe but something is wrong her hair's gone bleached white, her eyes are red and there's a very unkind look on her face.

There's a title card if anyone scans her.

"So you come once more do you Black Swordsman? I have not forgot what you and your ilk did to my domain and it seem fits the powers that be let me back into this world. So interesting is it not? The foolish Lily thought she could stop me."

The Card would read Tomoe the Wilted Lily Vessel of the Dark Lord. She rises up from her sitting position and looks at the people who have come. There's a smirk on her face for a moment it's not a nice one but it also feels forced. The huge blade is pulled off her back.

"These lands are now mine and you will submit or die by my blade cretins."

The Boss Bars as it were are filling now and then she leaps up slamming her blade into the ground causing a shockwave of darkness to fly at the party. There's nothing you can do but submit

Kirito would find he's seen something like this before in SAO.

OOC The Armor more or less

BGM https://youtu.be/Ry4rdwv7UkQ Fight SAO

Silica has posed:
    Up above. It's a bird! It's a plane! No, It's Pina, and a Wing Snake, crashing through a window, followed by the blue-clad form of Silica. "Pina, Hibiki, Wind Spiral!" comes the cry from the Tamer, as her wings give out on entering the building. She plummets, drawing her dagger and aiming right for the Possessed Tomoe. "Submit to THIS!"

    The two Pets coil around one another, and launch a twisting bolt of wind-element magic to buffet and disrupt the 'Boss' While Silica channels ice power into her Dagger, slamming into the ground at the Wilted Lily's feet, trying to trip her up with poor footing.

    She then gathers her legs under her, and hops back out of range. "Sorry I'm late!"

Kirito has posed:
The longer that Kirito walks down the halls, the more that recognition starts glimmering in his eyes. "This castle... there's no way." No way, no way, no way.

    If nothing else, why isn't it in AINCRAD?

    His wandering thoughts are immediately silenced by the ignition of BLUE FLAMES.

    Many, many blazing blue torches. Kirito's face goes ashen-white. A horror-filled intake of breath follows.

    It's Tomoe up there. Tomoe talking to him.

    "This is some kind of awful joke...!" He gasps out to nobody in particular, wisps of panic striking at the worst of times.

    Why. Why. WHY WHY WHY?!
R
    An exhale later, he slams a foot down in defiance and steadies himself for what's clearly inevitable, the boss bars filling sets that matter straight enough.

    Though he briefly gapes, as if about to say something.. then clamps his mouth shut. Definitely thinking better of it.

    "R-ready for battle! Avoid vitals!" He clumsily shouts to his fellows as his wits start returning.

    The boy brandishes his blades, Dark Repulsor at the forefront.

    "Didn't learn your lesson last time... you still think you can just possess people however you please?! I don't know how you returned after that beatdown, but there won't be a third time." His tone is throaty and fierce, full of fire and some of the deepest anger that he's displayed in quite some time.

    NOBODY does this to his friends. Nobody.

    "Back to hell with you!!"

Staren has posed:
    So, the Dark Lady posessed Tomoe -- or at least, that's the story CARDINAL wants to tell. Staren checks his map for guildmembers...

    Shit. The Dark Lady posessed Tomoe. :(

    The wave of darkness crashes over his forcefield, the amber sphere cracking all over. "Let her go!" Staren shouts, cliche as it is. "I can make you another body, and you can have a chance to prove yourself as a ruler!" It's a reach, but maybe there's another way to solve this...

Iria (215) has posed:
Iria makes her way forwards carefully, keeping eyes forward and not letting her focus down once. She knows there's something wrong here, she can sense it within herself. And unfortunately, as luck would have it, her instincts are right on the money, for as soon as she spots Tomoe, her eyes widen more than she thought they could. All she can do is stare in total disbelief. That's Tomoe, but something's really wrong. Almost like it's not really Tomoe. And when Tomoe speaks, Iria knows there's something wrong big time!

"She's possessed!" Iria screams with a scowl. "Dammit, they're gonna pay for what they did to her!" She readies her weapon for battle, but is then stricken by the wave of darkness, stunning her briefly. Once she snaps out of it, Iria knows what must be done. "I'm sorry to do this, Tomoe, but there's no choice!" She knows she has to fight, but mustn't hit any critical spots.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke emits an affirmative sound in response to Kirito's words of going after Tomoe. And he follows Kirito, along with Iria, in as well as he can. Aside from any flying Kirito might be doing, of course. He's trying to stick close to the group, like Kirito said, to keep from getting trapped in a boss area alone. Though as they're confronted with... 'Tomoe the Wilted Lily'? Josuke raises a brow. "Wait, what...?"

    But then, before he can ask any questions, the Wilted Lily attacks! He can't jump out of the way; it's too far. But that doesn't mean he's helpeless. A purple aura surrounds him, and the pink and blue armored figure seems to rise from his body and take shape. The figure grabs hold of Josuke and leaps back, setting him down once they're out of range. Josuke can't jump that far, but Crazy Diamond can!

    Everything he's hearing so far seems to indicate this is Tomoe. Including Kirito's rather upset yelling, not at Tomoe, but at the thing that seems to have hold of her. Staren also seems to know something about this, and his words confirm that it is indeed a possessed Tomoe.

    Hesitation? That's putting it mildly. He doesn't want to risk hurting Tomoe, particularly because he doesn't know her capabilities. Fortunately Crazy Diamond's main means of attack is punches. Unfortunately, Joauke's out of range now, because his Stand is a short-range one. He's not going to let that stop him, though.

    No, he mentally directs his Stand to... yes, THROW him. Not directly AT Tomoe, no. Up into the air, in an arc. The Stand will disappear as he moves out of manifesting range. And as he comes down, he re-manifests Crazy Diamond, in front of him. Both to block any attacks that might be coming his way, and to allow the Stand to deliver a short-range flurry of punches, with an ascending yell of, "DORARARARARA!"

Tomoe has posed:
The Dark Lord looks up in shock as Silica catches her while she was coming out of her attack. One might say animation lock as the feint works out the wind strikes her sending he off balance and she doesn't seem to be very happy at all. Though it was a bit odd did the boss almost lag a bit? Strange there kirito talks and the Dark Lady replies

"Oh I did. I was far more careful this time, I even picked this little backwater to start my domain in. I didn't assault a major city this time after all. Yes what will you do stop me? Having her as my host is wonderful. The fool thought she could stop me alone."

The laugh isn't a nice one.

"You first."

Iria is now getting into the mix as she springs into it the Dark Lord smiles.

"Such a wonderful form, young, powerful."

then comes Josuke whose also moving to try to stop them. She sees him hesitate for a moment the drive bombing tanking trick Josuke is dong is something Tomoe would be impressed with, a hell of a lot the punches come in and force the boss back as she moves to raise a hand sending a blast of darkness at Josuke trying to counter the rapid beating he's giving her. She's taking hits and thankfully the punches seem to be working and the other strikes as well.

the Dark Lord then drives her blade into the ground and a massive pentagram starts to visible form about her.

"DARK RITUAL!"

People are going to need to hustle as a massive magical explosion is about to go off with the Dark Lord at ground zero but those scanning her would find yes the 'HP is dropping' Yet? It has to be slower than expected given it seems to be using Tomoe's own endurance against the party.

"Surely you lie! A trick to contain my essance and destroy me! DO not think I will fall for such tricks."

There was a sound ofd almost temptation in her voice, yet? Really could Staren be telling the truth?!

Silica has posed:
    Silica lets out a keening whistle, summoning her pets back to who. They coil around her shoulders, coming up one over each and glaring at the 'Boss'. She doesn't want to fight Tomoe, so maybe she can make herself useful... wait, that's a bad thing. "GET CLEAR!" she turns, and tries to get clear of the blast radius.

Iria (215) has posed:
The moment the explosion occurs is a moment that Iria's not there any longer. She jumps back and retreats quickly, trying to get as much distance as she can away from that explosion while she formulates a plan of action in her mind.

Staren has posed:
    Kaboom! Staren tries to get out of the AoE, but part of the forcefield shatters and falls away, looking ever thinner. These magical and explosive attacks seem less effective than the hail-of-bullets type of attacks, though, not that the Dark Lady knows that.

    "I have no idea how to contain you. If I did, I'd take you OUT of our friend. However... if you've turned to stealing bodies because you have no choice, that is one thing. If, even given a body of your own, you would rule as a cruel tyrant and hurt innocents, then we will deal with you as we would any other tyrant or villain. If you want to be a /good/ ruler, though, I'm sure there's a place in the Multiverse for you."

    He is moving to keep his distance, nonetheless, to give himself room to dodge further attacks. But he's holding off on attacking. If there's a chance this can be resolved without harming Tomoe further...

    Staren makes a finger-snapping motion for flair. A young woman beams down outside, in front of the door -- with bright violet hair and eyes, and a black dress. Some might recognize it as the android body his AI remote-controls to perform physical tasks aboard the ship. "This is the only body I have on short notice," at least, the only one he's willing to give. Well, that's not true, but he's sure she'd prefer something that looks human to an unskinned synth. "but if it isn't to your liking I'm sure we can customize it or come up with something different. I won't help you hurt people, though."

    He watches her, trying to judge whether this might work. His first concern is for Tomoe... but on the off-chance the Dark Lady can be redeemed, hey, that'd be quite something, wouldn't it?

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke is falling from the sky, so he doesn't quite have the ability to relocate just yet. He lands just as the pentagram appears. And he's standing in it. "Crap!" He has very little time to react, seeing as he has to land, realize he's in a REALLY BAD SPOT, turn, and then start running. As it stands, the explosion is likely to catch him in the back as he's running. Though he will manifest his Stand behind him to soak some of the explosion -- yes, he'll still take the damage, but Crazy Diamond is tougher than he is, so it'll be less damage than if it'd hit him directly. Likely the explosion will throw him some distance away.

    He's not out, though. But as he recovers, he also halts his attack, as Staren seems to be trying to talk this one down, and possibly out of Tomoe. He's always for the diplomatic approach, especially in this situation. He doesn't want to hurt Tomoe, even to beat this thing out of her, because he's afraid he'll accidentally hurt her.

Kirito has posed:
Kirito didn't move to attack at first, largely out of uncertainty of how he should go about this.

    But seeing the others start to fight... he ducks down low and breaks into a CHARGE!

    He flicks his wrist the moment 'Tomoe' slams the blade down, and three metallic glints go flying--

    Owwww, that'll probably sting. Kirito just hurled some throwing picks with expert aim!

    He skids to a halt just out of AoE range and readies his blades.

    "Seriously. What is this even about? Revenge?! So a high and mighty dark spirit is so bothered by a few swordsmen... kind of pathetic."

    He wields a smug tone that's pretty clearly usual for him, but the objective is obviously to rattle the boss and get it making stupid decisions...

Tomoe has posed:
The fight is kicking up and to use an old term the template attacks are flying already. This Dark Lord seems ready for the party as Staren comes in and makes his moves and goes on the verrbal attack.

"..."

That's all the DArk Lord has to say to Staren, but the question is how much is there to the Dark Lord after all? Is it even /aware/? Is it just running the script Cardinal gave it and letit lose with? It's hard to sell the finger snapping as a woman beams in she looks to the body for amoment and at the very much it distracts her.

Josuke is now proiving himself to be a hell of a friend here.

He lets Staren do his thing.

"What would my purpose be then?!"

The Dark Lord cries out using Tomoe's voice as Kirito bring up it about bring about Revenge she'll engage Kirito and lets out a cry.

"I WILL NOT BE USLESS!"

She atemps to impale the Black Stordsman but she's looking torubled confused and very angry...

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks. "What's your purpose NOW? I thought you wanted to be a ruler or something! But your purpose can be whatever you want, as long as you stop hurting innocent people!" He says a bit more emphatically, getting into it.

    At her outcry, he crosses his arms. "You could be useful to people by helping them. If nothing else, that magic you're throwing around could be used to protect people. But maybe you have other skills and talents too! Would you rather find out, or would you rather your only use be as another boss for us to fight?"

    Kirito can probably handle getting stabbed, right?

Iria (215) has posed:
Iria speaks after Staren does. "We can end this positively! You just have to listen to us! It's not what you might think." She hits a pleading note. "There's plenty of possibilities!"

Silica has posed:
    Silica pants, and looks at the others. She sees the Boss lunging for Kirito, and lifts her hands reflexively. She chants Words of Power, and uses her Water Magic to create a temporary shield to absorb the blow, small butterflies flitting around to create a dense packet of energy to take the strike instead of the Black Swordsman.

Kirito has posed:
"You don't even know what your purpose is and you're going around possessing people..." Kirito remarks, his tone accusing and QUITE angry though he hardly shouts so close.

    With a blade thrust straight at him, Kirito very nearly slashes right back. Elucidator clashes at an odd angle, but doesn't quite parry the sword proper--

    The nauseating sound of sharp metal piercing a thing of half-flesh, half-polygons fills the air... and a spray of bloody pixels emerges from the left side of Kirito's back. It missed vitals, but that has GOT to hurt.

    Oh yes, it hurts. Kirito bites down on the pain though it's all over his face. Deep, horrible pain that has him sweating bullets. But still...

    He unleashes a mighty battle cry, dropping both weapons to instead GRAB his foe's sword and hold it in place.

    His HP is slowly dropping, party status meter flashing with a Piercing DoT effect rather evident, but he uses the odd situation to step into range and deliver a driving elbow to try and knock the wind out of possessed-Tomoe!

    "IF you're going to do something guys, do it now!"

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke winces as Kirito seems to hit a nerve with his words. And as the 'Wilted Lily' makes to attack, starts running over to where she's attacking Kirito. He's not going for stealth here. "You're already useless!" he declares. "People who just want to lord over others already ARE useless!" And despite the rest not wanting to attack the possessed Tomoe... that's exactly what he does!

    He closes the distance and summons Crazy Diamond... and pummeling commmences! He's making sure the Stand aims away from vitals, though. But then the Stand's arms light up with an aura of orange-gold light. The punches aren't aimed to damage, though. They're aimed to FIX! To repair, to return things to the state they were before all this happened. At the very least that means trying to return Tomoe to an unpossessed state. At the very best? The possessing Dark Lady may be affected more deeply...

Tomoe has posed:
The Dark Lord seems to be having some trouble and Kirito's making it worsre with Iria's words and Staren's own. For a moment, she looks at him and that is a distraction. Somewhere inside Tomoe is likely screaming as there's a very good chance /she/s been watching the whole time the Dark Lord moves to pull out the blade. Silicia own spell has taken a good deal of the force out of the strike, it would be far, far worse has she not protected Kirito as she did. Iria's words also distract her but she attempts to pull the blade freed of Kirito.

"I will not be ... purposeless!"

She does not get to say more as Jojo does his thing as he makes his Stand against the dark lord, with his Stand.

She'll reel from the attack there's a scream from her in two voice, one of Tomoe's and the other of something else something is happening. The Dark Lord falls to the floor with a thunk, there are a few changes her hair returns to purple, her eyes shift back.

The hair becomes shorter she lays there dazed confused and /still/ in the dark lords outfit too. Of the Dark lord one can hear screaming that trails off as a hovering form leaves Tomoe's body and goes screaming away almost seemingly into nothingness.

Staren has posed:
    Staren's watching the Dark Lady closely. Ready to attack if she makes one more agressive move... Instead she leaves Tomoe. Staren rushes over... to Kirito, who's the one who just had A SWORD THROUGH HIM, after all, applying bandages to the entry and exit wounds to put antibiotics and nanites to work. Will those work on an Augma user? Let's find out!

    Once that's done, he looks over to Tomoe. "Welcome back, Tomoe. How much do you remember? Are you alright?"

Iria (215) has posed:
Tomoe's safe, so Iria runs over to check on her. Kneeling down, she says, "Are you all right? That was too close!" She looks to have a sense of relief based on her facial expression, and from how much she's sweating, it's obvious she was quite terrified with what happened. And that's something considering how tough Iria claims to be.

Kirito has posed:
With Silica's shielding taking much of the oomph of that hit, Kirito's able to stomach the pain and continue to function even as 'Tomoe' wrestles for control. But... it's really too late, isn't it?

    A few seconds count for quite a lot in a swordfight. As usual, Kirito's system mastery has lead to a bizarre, counter-intuitive bit of tactics...

    Because, in all honesty? Alfheim Online - as with its predecessor, Sword ARt Online - does not really have very nasty Piercing Damage-over-Time. The damage from having a sword stuck in you is pretty minimal.

    The damage of NOT BEING ABLE TO PROPERLY USE your sword on the other hand, in the middle of a fight, is devastating.

    It is not a tactic that a Solo player would have ever used, that's for sure. It's a tactic that would only ever have any merit...

    Because his teammates are there to take advantage of the opening.

    But WHAT a show of doing that. Kirito's distracted from struggling with 'Tomoe' by the appearance of... a very strange-looking... GLADIATOR?! His eyes are rather wide...and he yoinks himself free to get some DISTANCE from that barrage.... fairly sure Tomoe can withstand a beating like that even as he WINCES at every blow delivered.

    By the dozen.

    Bending down, he retrieves his weapons... and calls out experimentally, "... Tomoe?"

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke and his Stand both give the disappearing form of the Dark Lord a look. THAT look. That 'not today, evil one!' look. It gentles immediately, however, when he notes that Tomoe seems to be back to normal. He hopes. As Iria runs over to check on Tomoe, Josuke steps back to get out of the way. Still, he asks, "Tomoe? Are you all right?" He knows Tomoe, yes, but he's not as close to her as the rest of the group here, and he doesn't want to push them away from her.

    He pauses, to look between the others quickly taking stock of everyone's overall health. Can he see ally HP bars? Staren's patching should be bringing Kirito's HP total back up, hopefully. Josuke will be keeping an eye on it, but for now, since the danger seems past, he allows Crazy Diamond -- and the sparkly purple aura that sprang up around him when the armored figure appeared -- to fade.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe groans. "All of it...It was likemy control ... wascut off."

She rises up not noticing yet she's still in the Dark Lord's armor and the blade hassn't vanished just yet either. It's laying there on the groun a she's soon looking at kirito with a very worried look on her face. Josuke just earned some serious points with tomoe as she slowly gets up with any help that might be offered.

"I'm .... weneed to get Kirito help."

She notes before pauing to look down at the cleevatge and the rest of what she's wearing he turns /bright/ bright right and shakes her head abit.

"Kirito you damn idiot, don't leave Asuna a widdow."

She's now shaky on her legs as she feels like she's almost learning to hae to control herself again.

"It seems I owe you all one..."

In Tomoe's quest Log a new quests opens marked The new Dark Lord?!?!

Kirito has posed:
"I'm fine. ... More or less." Kirito remarks, despite the pain. The damage decal is slowly fading though he seems to be rather shakey on his feet. Whether it's relief, adrenaline rush, or just pain is really hard to tell. The nanobandages Staren slapped on do seem to be helping! ... His HP is on the rise. Though it's also on the rise rather fast due to Battle Healing, as always.

    "What the heck, did that guy PUNCH the boss out of you...?!"

Staren has posed:
    "He's not gonna die." Staren comments when Tomoe fears Asuna becoming a widow. It's a calm statement of fact, because he's watching Kirito's HP bar in his party HUD. "It seems that doing enough damage to a host will, indeed, force her to vacate them." He replies to Kirito. "...We should probably leave before she comes back, unless you want to loot the castle first. It didn't look like we killed her for good."

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke looks a little sheepish at Kirito's mention of 'punching the boss out of Tomoe'. It wasn't aimed at him, but he does explain, "<Crazy Diamond> can repair things. And people. I was trying to revert Tomoe back to before she was possessed. I'm glad it worked. If it hadn't, it might have just healed her back to full, and then we'd have had to start all over." That's always frustrating in video games. To say nothing of how THIS game is just slightly REAL!

Staren has posed:
    Staren snaps his fingers as Josuke explains. "Ohhhhhhhh. That was some clever thinking! Good job!"