1383/Secrets E'en Walls Won't Keep

Secrets E'en Walls Won't Keep
Date of Scene:	21 January 2015
Location:	Ivalice
Synopsis:	Archadia advances on Nelveska island, off the coast of Zeltennia, to use its temple as a staging point for an assault against the Black Lion. Unfortunately for them, Zeltennia uncovers their plans and sends forces - aided by the Union - to deal them a decisive blow.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, 129, 307, Blurr, Ziggy Grover
Tinyplot:	Of Stones and Sins

---

Ultima (129) has posed:
Off the shores of Nelveska Island -

The creaking of ancient hulls as waves crash relentlessly against them, the subdued thudding of iron and steel against wood, and the churning of salty sea dominate the ambience of the lightless night air tonight as numerous naval warships slowly make headway upon an island in the distance. Onboard the vessels, the almost deathly silence of the crews betrays their wrought iron concentration. Every man and woman not prepared to charge off the deck at first sighting of campfire or torch light works relentlessly to prepare the naval ships for the inevitable battle ahead.

Many of the soldiers of the Zeltennian army wait anxiously, many of them heavily armored, below the deck in the hallways so as to conceal their presence. By the dim light of torches, some glance to one another nervously - their faces saying everything that needs to be said.

- Nelveska Temple

On land, faceless demons encased in steel as black as night are gathered round campfires outside of a towering, ancient, stone sanctuary. Some eating, some training for the mission which they've been preparing, some pacing... or even sleeping. Some bear swords, some long-barreled rifles, and yet others with muscular mastiffs of war at their side. Behind them, the temple entrance is aglow with the light of torches recenly placed... and the light extends quite a ways into the interior...

Allyn (307) has posed:
Having decided not to go on the boat, Allyn had changed into the shape of a large crab, or a Megalocrab as it is known in another world, seeing as they were going by sea. The shifter was glad to be back in Ivalice and was ready to get to work again. He keeps an eye on the boat, as he skitters along the bottom of the sea keeping in the shadow of the boat. He figured that's the best thing to do though, even if he can't hear what is going on above the water, but that's not too important. Nothing special here, just a large crab wandering around.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
Balanced carefully on the prow of the boat, Ziggy Grover was peering out at the dark sea. While he'd signed on under Duke Goltanna, he'd been somewhat awkwardly given the eyeful for doing something unspeakable, helping out an enemy general at one point. As he'd defended himself, "heroes just don't -let- women die like -that-."

So naturally he was being left alone, even more so when Dr. K had her explanation as to why- the doctor was off sulking somewhere, leaving Ziggy to grimace. "WOMEN."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe had heard the call for help like that as she's arrived and she seems to be on the mind with Ziggy somewhat who seems to be the Knight in shining spandex, Ziggy's boss can not police her thoughts! Well /yet/. Either way she's hveriong there a bit of the ground as she watches aware of how things might end up be going she falls in with the power ranger and looks to him.

"This ... is going to be bad..."

Blurr has posed:
    A small (by Cybertronian standards) stealth vessel is flying overhead in sync with the fleet, and inside the cockpit Blurr is monitoring the situation from above. He's been sent to assist the Zeltennians against a corrupt nation, who appear to want nothing more than to crush and rule with an iron fist.

    But why here, specifically, out of all the places in the multiverse? Maybe it's because his kind, and particularly his faction, used to be part of a corrupt institution. Maybe it's part of making amends for all the damage they'd done over the millions of Earth years Cybertron spent first conquering and subjugating other races and then turning inward on itself and subjugating its -own- people. The horrors inflicted on those who would dare stand against the government...were best left unmentioned.

    Doing this sort of thing could never come close to compensating for all that, but it was the least they could do, right? So Blurr begins to scan the shoreline where the enemy appears to be stationed for the time being, to see if he can get a better idea of what they're up against.

    Meanwhile, Ziggy isn't being left -completely- alone. Blurr's holomatter avatar suddenly materializes near him. Zeltennia's forces had handed him a tiny little ...white rock...thing, when he'd asked about communications, and he hadn't been able to figure out how it was supposed to work (yet) so he's decided he'll just have to use the projection instead. Not as efficient, but better than nothing. "I think I've met you before." the avatar comments to Ziggy. "What was your name again?"

Ultima (129) has posed:
Quietly, but surely, the encroaching fleets of the Zeltennia army - and their volunteers for tonight - encroach upon the island and its temple in the distance. As the ship drews near, deck hands rush to their places - only to crouch - as the first mate ascends quietly the Crow's Nest above. As the moments to landfall approach - the already near deathly silence of the ship's crew falls to literal stillness...

For what those looking, especially those on the outside of the ship, might be able to see - here are at least a few hundred men in number just situated at the temple exterior. Given the fires burning brightly inside, it is a given that there must be more. On closer inspection, there in fact two or three seafaring vessels situated already near the shore - likely enemy ships - armed with cannons and apparently bearing crew of their own. These ships, however, are not common wood and metal as the Zeltennian variety. In fact, the seem to be entirely wrought from steel and far more mechanical in nature.

Atop the temple roof, too, soldiers pace too and fro... though given that they seem to lack any light source save for a few stationary torches, they may be hard to see for some. All of them appear to be gunners or bowmen as well.

For those on the Zeltennia vessels, it'd be a few moments more... before the distant shouting of voices comes... and the bodies of the vessels themselves lurch as they strike land! On deck, crews quickly work to lower the rampways and drop anchor. As they do, Zeltennian forces charge forth from their vessels amidst the thunder of gunfire and war cries.

For the enemies part, they seem to be focused entirely on the main forces for the now - possibly giving unexpected reinforcements a chance to give them a surprise...

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn emerges from the sea a little ways off from the ship, the large grab glances around and blinks its crabby eyes at the charging enemies. Well now, this must be the place they were going to. Always something trying to attack, right? Well, that's not too unexpected, but what might be a bit unexpected is that the crab actually rects to this. It skitters back and forth a little, looking for a good opening, making sure that it only gets enemies lined up and not the people that he is here along with to help. He snaps his claws threateningly and then sprays a stream of bubbles out at the approaching armored people.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Oh it'll be bad, but we'll get through this. We'll just find a way through this!" Ziggy responds, giving a thumbs up that he doesn't quite feel.

Nodding at Blurr, the young man adds, "Yeah. I was announcing your race against KITT. And may I say, it was quite impressive how fast you went and... we're probably going to need a lot of it, really soon. I don't suppose, uh, I could hitch a ride with you for a bit? You want to come along...?" That last question was directed at Tomoe. "Because I think I'm going to need to get in the middle of -that- crowd fast. Not that I need help, but... well, Doc's not talking to me. She'll get over it, but..." Bringing his wrist up, Ziggy brings his hand to his wrist.

"RPM, GET IN GEAR!"

Whether hitching a ride with Blurr or not, Ranger Green was ready to dive into the armored people crowd. FEAR THE AXE.

Blurr has posed:
    "Uh sure I don't know about coming down onto that boat." Blurr's avatar replies dubiously. Oh yeah, that guy who played commentator during the race with that human-created AI, what was it called? Oh yeah, KITT. "I'm not sure it'll hold me up. But I can meet you on the shoreline somewhere?" he suggests.

    Blurr takes stock of the opposition. A lot of ground troops, boats made of steel, and they're hiding out in some structure near the coast. He also watches as allies move in, and decides to fire on the boats. Friendlies aren't bound to be inside any of those, right? When you're as tall as a Terran building it's hard to avoid unintentionally hurting people on your own side, especially when they're the size of humans.

    The stealth vessel swoops low, and a hatch on the bottom opens as the Autobot jumps out and lands in the water, which comes up just past his ankles, before taking aim at one of the enemy ships with an arm-mounted blaster.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe hovers a bit off the ground now using her wings to keep herself aloft as the enemy looks like they are getting ready to move in she looks to Ziggy for a moment.

"All right then let's get going shall we Ranger Green?"

She'll following him in she chants something in badly accented Norse, seriously Inga you need to sit the ALO people down for a little talk they are unintentionally butchering it.

Once the spell is in place buffing her self a bit she flies on after Ziggy getting into the thick of thin and comes in for such a landing there's a shock wave that might knock the enemy off their feet!

Ultima (129) has posed:
Chaos has descended upon quiet night, the sound of steel clashing with steel and the sound of guns and cannon fire thunder in the night. Stench of sweat interspersed with the smell of sulphur and blood pervades. The shores of Nelveska Island are alive with the passionate hatred of sworn foes slaying one another in turns. Bubbles collided with ebon-armored men, sending them sprawling, and the shockwave emitted by Tomoe's descent sweeps them out further still. Heaps of injured men are already piling up.

As Ziggy sails in from overhead, he is noticed by an Archadian soldier - who makes a vain attempt to block before ultimately being sent to his knees as Ziggy tumbles away.

The gunners atop the temple rooftop turn their guns upon Tomoe and Allyn immediately, as soon as they are spotted. Ziggy gets the misfortune visited upon him of being entirely too close to several injured Archadian and a small group of Zeltennians. It's for this reason, soon, he'd see a flash in the darkness as *something* is lit... and then the silouette of an Archadian gunner tosses a metal canister in his general direction...

As for Blurr, his surprise attack pays off. Somewhat. Because the enemy fleets had busied themselves with preparing to fire upon land... they were not expecting to be attacked from the sea. Especially not by what to these men probably looks like a demon made of steel! His attack catches one of the vessels on the port side, stripping some of its cannons clean off and knocking a hole in the hull of another. But though they are wounded, they do return fire... cannon fire equipped with shells of explosive magic to be exact....

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn flinches some as he's hit by the gunfire. Well, good thing his shell is rather hard, so it doesn't hurt too bad, but still bullets hurt at least that's what he has found. He grabs at one of the closest enemies and tries to crush it in one of his large claws, bubbling angrily at the person in the armor.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr twists and turns through most of the shells, but being so large compared to them does have its disadvantges. It's hard to dodge -all- of them, since they're so small, though they do manage to knock some chunks out of his armor. Still, nothing he can't handle. He continues his attacks, darting back and forth in the water and firing multiple times at the gunships from multiple angles.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"HA!" Ranger Green exclaims, as he manages to clear free long enough to defend the Zeltennians from the gunfire, using the axe to defend himself.

Of course, the injured Archadians draws his attention long enough for him to motion. "Shoo, get out of the way, I'm not supposed to be guarding you guys from... oh c'mon, can I at least declare you prisoners of war...? Ok, so... HEY wait a minute! You're throwing stuff at your own people!"

Oh for...

"C'mon, Ziggy at bat... and..." God, for once he needed to -swing- and hit...!

SWISH! goes the axe against the canister and... did he hit it back...?

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is able to get some of them down but she doesn't seem keen on finishing off the attckers if they stay down or run and there's others to worry about anyyhow they open fire on her. She takes a number of hits the round digging into her armour and then her body revealing heer digital nature in the form of wireframes rather than normal matter or blood. She too is now taking to the air again and chanting once more, golden letters swirl about her as she launches rays of light at the gunners from on high but she also sets her self up for more ranged fire...

Ultima (129) has posed:
By the minute, the ranks of both armies fall but one is clearly on the losing end. The bulk of the Zeltennian forces, though they are dropping dead or injured left and right, are slowly making headway toward the temple. The Archadians, despite a clear technological advantage, are being pushed back at about the same rate. Amidst the death wails and immolation of large clusters of both armies, angry fire exploding in the night air turning sand to glass even as bodies fall about, yet more shrill sounds of colliding and scraping metal ensue.

Allyn's pincer assault finds purchase, snatching a soldier from the sand and sendig his allies sprawling. The crushing force of the attack elicits bone crunching and wet gurgles from the soldier being crushed alive inside his own armor. Imperial mastiffs, muscular black dogs trained to attack foes much smaller than he, come rushing down the sandbank and attempt to latch their jaws onto any place soft - as a gunner takes aim again from afar... this time with a shell of the magical varety...

Blurr's exhange of gun fire leaves the Archadian flees both enirely too distracted to fire upon the shore, and far too unevenly matched to even fully retaliate. Even as they continue to barrage the area he is in with magical casings, more and more of their guns are stripped clean from their decks as their hulls slowly get torn to shreds and water begins to drag them down. In the end, three are swiftly sinking as two finally develop enough sense to turn about and attempt to sail to the rear...

The bright magical lights of spells are nothing too unfamiliar to Archadians, even aas reliant of technological might as they are! The gunners atop the roof literally scatter, leaping out of the way as the spell crashes into the roof and sends an ancient cloud of debris skyward. Tey themselves do not return fire, but...

...(un)fortunately, Ziggy has her and everyone else in the vicinity of the temple enrance covered for that! There's a loud *CLINK* as metal casing is struck, due to the unluckiest of their number ironically hitting a 'homerun' at an inopportune time, and the case bounces back up the embankment from whence it came. Every man or woman nearby has mere moments to gaze upon the implausability of this spectacle before...

...*somewhere off shore, a pillar of fire can be seen from afar and a farmer drops off a fence he was seated upon*

Almost on cue, mere moments on the tail end of the explosion which leaves the entire embankment charred and an entire unit of Archadians dead, those inside the temple begin to spill out from the entrance. At the head of the party, a distinctive soldier bearing a great horned helm with the face of a demon. He glances about, before giving an order to those with him, "...try to get the rest to the remaining vessels if you can, I'll stay behind... for now."

The horned soldier bearing distinctive armor design immediately moves toward Ziggy, drawing his sword, "...I don't know what you -are-... but you'll be dead soon enough." and then flinging a frigid blast of magic in the vicinity of him and any enemy fighters nearby!

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr watches with satisfaction as the steel boats are not much of a match for him. Heh, Terran-like materials were usually not very durable. It was amazing how many similar compounds could be found througouht the multiverse.


    But then, it looks like Ziggy is in trouble! Oh no! Some ugly-aft guy with an ugly-aft mask is coming after him with a sowrd. So Blurr does what any good Autobot would do and dashs between the two of them, letting the icy blast strike him right in the leg. He stumbles, falling to a knee...youch. That hurt. Slagging -magic-. Never could quite figure out how all that scrap worked. But no time to waste wondering about it. He begins to fold downward, his body compacting itself as he quickly converts from biped to hover speeder in a cacophony of mechanical sounds. Then he turns to drives off a distance...is he retreating? Nope, far from it! He's simply gaining momentum, momentum with which to run ugly mask dude right over. And then plow into the temple, hopefully collapsing it on top of the Archadians inside with his sonic booms.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn reels from the pincer attack from all sides, the hard shell cracking some as he bleeds. "Ok, no more mister nice guy!" the crab bubbles as it retreats and then raises its pincers and feints a couple swipes, "What will I do now? The crab asks the mastiffs, well, they wont have to wait long to get the answer to that question. He shifts and grows larger, his crab form replaced by that of a large, three headed dog/wolf, he's not used the form too much, but raises all three heads and howls loudly, then each head snaps viciously at a different mastiff as his targets.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"Oh c'mon, haven't you ever seen a Power Ranger before? I'm one of the good guys! Defender of the weak and downtroddened, and... hey, hey!" Leaping, Ranger Green goes flying through the air, the frigid blast exploding behind him in a spectacle of ice and snow, ducking and tumbling, the axe coming up. And a swing... wait, the guy's too far... try that again, another swing, this time -letting go-!

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe Meanwhile is having a very interesting time of things at this point as she cumes under attack she knew she was drawing fire but that was part of her plan to get them off her allies as much as she can the Alf Warrior keeep moving up in the skies and seems to be able to get the hecl out of here she looks to the horned shoulder as she's come under attack again but she drops in towards them intendin to try and cold cock him she saw he's covering for his men to flee there's some level of mercy in her mind for an officer willing to do that.

Ultima (129) has posed:
The Archadian vessels that are left quickly take advantage of Blurr's absence to reposition and drop anchor, hopefully long enough to secure some of their own fleeing forces. And what's left standing of the Archadian army flees in droves, even as their commander riefly engages their enemies... alone...

"...The weak should perish, that's all they are good for! Don't waste your efforts." The Judge retorts, even as Ranger Green goes flying away from him, "...futile though they might be despite..." and slowly turns toward the swiftly changing Decepticon. "...What manner of...", is really all he gets out before Blurr speeds away once more. Glancing over his shoulder, the horned officer trails off, "...machine...?"

Allyn's fight with Mastiffs becomes clearly one-sided as he changes into a much nastier sort of beast than he was before. Without support from the soldiers, and with bite wound injuries piling up, the pair of them stagger about in the sand - with one even falling over - eliciting ear-piercing cries before turning to run away and leaving a trail of blood in their wake...

The Judge turns back toward Ziggy and a group of fallen Zeltanian knights, menacing them quietly, before Tomoe comes crashing down from on high and sending him tumbling across the sand. Sand flies as he attempts to launch himself from the prone position again, only to once more be FLATTENED beneath the weight of Blurr as he speeds over the fallen commander before plowing into a temple wall, knocking it out, and sending parts of it crashing down! The last attempt he makes to stand, hard as that may be in jured state, is finally thwarted again by a thrown axe and once his face meets the sand again... he does not come back up. "I-i...nsufferable... fools..."

Realizing their commander is out like a light, and a lost cause, the last of the Archadian fleets set sail immediately without him. Cowardice of the worst degree.