2494/Sphere Hunting!

Sphere Hunting!
Date of Scene:	20 June 2015
Location:	World of Spira
Synopsis:	A crew of Elites travel to Remiem Temple at Tomoyo's behest to retrieve a sphere that may be in the area. But the nature of who possesses it is a horrifying one indeed...
Cast of Characters:	Crys Gattz, 136, 151, 385, Tomoyo Daidouji, 737, 789

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Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     The Calm Lands. A vast expanse of green plains enclosed with rocky ridges. Deep gouges and trenches scar the placid beauty, remnants of battles between Sin and summoners. However, with Sin gone, the Eternal Calm has arrived, leaving the Calm Lands a safe place for entertainers to set up.

     However, this is not what the Elites are here for.

     Off to the side of a ridge that goes down to the plains, there is a remnant of a bridge that has long collapsed. However, the gap it once crossed is small and the other side is lower than the ridge, making the jump a simple one to make.

     On the other side, the grass is tall and thick, showing no signs of repeated travel like the short, treaded grass below. A path slips in between the mound and ridges of earth, leading to a spot that lies out of sight of the Calm Lands proper. Remiem Temple.

     A dilapidated bridge of rotting wood and worn ropes stretches from the path to the temple. Though clearly decrepit, it still has a noble bearing that comes from fine architecture and long history. The bridge connects with a stone path that wraps around the temple, with extensions rising up from it all around, embedded into the surrounding rock walls with ornate, faded pillars built on them. Below, one could see the remains of what appears to be some kind of maze or track. However, in more concerning facts, the bodies of chocobos litter this circular path, and the gaping bloody wounds are clearly indicative of foul play.

     The temple itself is vaguely dome-shaped and has a multitude of pillars and statues of renowned monks and priestesses built upon it. The path goes up the door, once made of three parts but now lying in ruins, apparently smashed open with great force.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is not really made for combat anymore, but the prospect of finding lost knowledge and returning it to the living is something she couldn't overlook. The lizard woman that's passionate about emotions and information finds herself in the Calm Lands, though not before the others arrived. She brought her sword as well as the Armor Journal, but that's about all she has.

    She floats in the air, using her ability to fly to hover around the area and take stock of their surroundings. She fixes a sympathetic gaze upon the dead chocobos, and then turns her attention to the broken doorway. Her eyes close momentarily, the bloodshed clearly upsetting her. It's clearly not just an animal attack. When she opens her eyes again, she turns to rejoin with the group, floating somewhere behind them.

    "Once we get the sphere, I would like to examine it with my Sight. If it is damaged or corrupted, it may be easier for me to pull the data off and have it repaired if I can study it for a while," she tells the group as a whole. It's pretty much the whole reason she came here, to make sure whatever is on the sphere is intact enough to be worth anything at all.

Rarity (136) has posed:
A hop, skip and a jump off the beaten path. Literally, on the last one. But that's how they got here, and that's how they now stand before what remainds the temple.

"It at least appears to be in better shape than the former castle of the Sisters when we had to visit it in the middle of Everfree," Rarity notes, mostly to herself. "But ruins do have a tendancy to attract, as you could say, squatters." The unicorn makes a scrunched face at the thought. Just the thought of having to live in such degraded means makes her shiver all the way down to her perfectly coifed tail.

But that potential for 'squatters' is why she summoned her Element of Generosity at the ridge, and everyone got to see the quick yet stylish (and very magical girl like) shift into the lightly armored outfit.

It also meant Rarity could use the magic parasol she pulled from the cloak to glide down to the lower ridge like a paracute. "Difficult to beat an esemblem accessory that is both fashionable -and- versatile."

She mainly came along because this is, to some degree, a fashion related problem. That and she had been intended to meet the other fashion foward femme for some time.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Hey look, adventure.

Sarah needed to get out of the house anyway. But maybe noy THIS far out. The btight, pleasant swathes of the Calm Lands are something that Sarah isn't all that prepared for. Well... tempermentally. She can handle the walking. And walk she does, Sort of scurrying forward to join the others, she practically /radiates/ gloominess to those sensitive to such things.

"So. This is the place, huh." She says, waddling up to the rotten bridge. "So, let's not walk over this thing, it's going to kill someone." She comments to the others. "Unless someone likes falling to their doom. I don't judge." She loks back over to the dead chocobos. "And dead birds. Doesn't look like any of you guys did this either, so we're looking at horrible hungry monsters."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna has largely been out of sorts since the incident with the Chaos Titan a couple of nights ago; she hasn't talked about it with anyone, but it's not hard to tell when she's either depressed, or feigning good cheer despite shadows weighing on her heart. But between Elner and Rarity, she pulled herself together to come help hunt for spheres ... whatever those are, exactly. She doesn't care about being paid (although if Tomoyo insists, she won't refuse the money - she *can* use it), but at the moment, it's more the exploration that has her interested.

The rest of the Matrix of Light isn't here, except for Elner; the robo-faerie is drifting a bit further behind Yuna than sometimes, possibly to help keep watch over her rather than being entirely focused on scanning the surroundings. Yuna herself seems happy (at least, happy enough to put on a decent smile) to see Ainsley and other familiar faces here as well. "What kind of 'squatters,' I wonder ... ?" she says quietly as she carefully makes her way across the bridge (since Erina isn't here for her Flight Form), cringing a little when it wobbles more than a little underneath her. She deliberately averts her gaze from the dead chocobos; it's possible that she's trying to ignore them.

Actually getting up to the temple doorway seems to be a relief to her ... at least a partial one.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz had come to help Tomoyo out with her quest, she could understand her want to be more of use and not need to always need to hide bhind others. Heck Crys liked stuff like this to be perfectly honest so here she was right behind the young woman and seemed to be ready. Her mag hovered by her head and she was ready to go as she falls in with everyone else.

"Humm ruins so long as there isn't an eldrich horror sealed here this should be a lot of fun."

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    A chance to help a friend, while testing herself by beating up some bad monsters? Vivio doesn't pass on this, which is why she joined the group at the meeting place, finishing off a piece of toast as her breakfast.

    Now the young girl walks along with the group, hands holding the straps of her pink backpack as she jumps down to the lower bridge easily enough. She makes her way along the path, sticking close to Rarity with a huge grin on her face. Her first time seeing one of the ponies in person. No doubt there was a lot of squeeing and fussing earlier!

    As the temple comes into sight and they begin to make their way up the path, Vivio looks on the old structure with awe, "Woooooow..."

    Of course, as the dead Chocobo's are spotted, Vivio's face fills with sadness as she runs over to crouch near one of the poor birds. She looks it over with slightly moist eyes... The poor creatures, their lives ended prematurely just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soon enough she stands again, moving on with the others.

    Finally as they reach the broken doors of the temple, Vivio comes to a stop and tries to peer inside. She then turns to look at the plush bunny floating in the air beside her, "Chris, can you detect anything inside the building?" The bunny flies up into the air a little and stops, looking intently at the temple as he tries to scan for any signs of life in the old structure.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     Entering the temple proper, the sounds of battle ring out. The snarl of a massive beast, the whoosh of flames and the crack of rifles. Chris's sensors would pick up four humanoids, some kind of massive beast and three smaller... things, deeper inside.

     The inside of the temple is cool and dim, lit softly by a blue light that seems to come up from the pits around the circular floor. Like all temples, the inside bears many statues of High Summoners from years gone by, as well as two grand statues built into the walls of Zaon and Yunalesca reaching out towards one another. At the opposite end are three doors into small cloisters, and a flight of stairs leading up to the entrance to the Chamber of the Fayth.

     But, more importantly, a Behemoth is currently engaged in battle with what appear to be four warrior monks of Yevon. However, on closer inspection, their uniforms bear a lot of individual alterations and customisations, marking them as deserters or those who were discharged. However, they are a skilled team, flanking the Behemoth and dodging its goring lunges and swipes all while keeping up a constant volley of machina rifle fire and flamethrower blasts. The Behemoth slumps, its body dissolving into a cloud of pyreflies that drift away, humming their little song as they do.

     The not-monks all cheer and go to engage in all forms of manly displays of how proud of each other they are, all of them stopping when one catches sight of the group and levels his rifle at them. "Hold on you lot! The Sin Eaters have staked this claim. The sphere here is ours! You lot had better clear off before we make you leave."

Rarity (136) has posed:
Rarity was about to answer Yuna when the gunshots are heard. The unicorn stops, ears standing upright at attention from the interruption as she peers in the direction the noise came from. "Squatters like those?", she replies flatly.

'Squatters' that all turn their magitech guns towards them. Eep.

"Really now, that is no means to greet other visitors. How rude! And watch where you point those things!" A flicker of magic glows around Rarity's horn, and her telekinesis is used to nudge one of the rifles away from her direction. "You could seriously hurt someone."

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Chris floats back down to Vivio and waves his arms a few times. He then swings them to the side and then up. Then spreads them out and eyes looking vagulely menacingly. Vivio simply nods along as she her Device's movements are translated into the report about the things inside the temple. The sounds of battle simply confirms what Chris said and she hmmms, "Seems someone got here before us!" Though she does wonder about the inconclusive things detected further in.

    As the group moves on and the battle comes into view, Vivio watches with wide eyes at the large creature battling the four people. She's not familiar with this world so doesn't recognise them. But as the Behemoth is defeated, she focuses her attention on the apparently hostile group. She doesn't make any sudden movements so as to not spook them, responding to their demands with, "Ummm... Well, we can't really leave... See, we need that sphere too!" This could be a problem!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Sin Eaters? Seriously?" Yuna asks flatly. "That's the best name you could think of for your group?"

The rifle being pointed at the group doesn't seem to do much to impress her, either - particularly when she utters, "Shugoseiheki," and a kite shield materializes on her left arm. There are bigger shields, but this one is sized proportionately for Yuna ... and she keeps it in front of her as she advances to stand in front of the group, whispering, "Excuse me," to Rarity as she passes the unicorn.

Yuna grounds her shield, digging its bottom point into the stone in front of her feet, and looks over it at the Sin Eaters. Never mind that the shortest of them is probably tall enough to loom over her; never mind that their behavior thus far is pretty much the opposite of her own personality.

"We've travelled a long way to get here," Yuna states, "and we're not about to turn around and leave just because a bunch of ill-mannered ruffians think the Temple works on first-come, first-served. A friend asked us to find the sphere for her; what do *you* want it for?"

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
They manage to enter the temple, and Sarah looks over the inside of the environment with a sort of narrowed eyes. "This is a hell of a temple all right. Wonder why they had to build it way out here."

Oh, right, the giant monster. The Behemoth's throes cause Sarah to fall back, eyes wide. That thing is /huge/ and deadly. LOOK AT THE HORNS, MAN. Watching it get killed, though, causes the ecto-youth to pause, and look to the others. "Well, looks like they're here first. They're pretty strong, too." She shrugs. "You win some, you lose some, right? Let's just go, fighting over this isn't going to be worth it."

She sort of just looks at the others, and shrugs helplessly as she looks to the Sin-Eaters. "Nice job, guys. Looks like they're pretty dead set on pressing the issue though. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley follows the group into the temple and directs a stoic gaze toward the aesthetics, trying to discern the purpose of this place from all of it. From her understanding, the temple is a deprecated place based on a tradition that is no longer around. Now, it's just another place for scavenging groups to find old knowledge and bring it back to those who pay for it and appreciate it.

    Speaking of which, her gaze turns to the battle with the Behemoth. Her eyes shine and then manifest strange magical symbols on them, glowing in the dim lighting of the temple. She reads the teamwork between the various Sin Eaters, and watches the whole battle as it occurs. A lesson in how to use spells to help teamwork with her own party.

    Her eyes deactivate when she overhears the Sin Eaters threatening them. She looks toward the others, and rubs the back of her neck gently...

    "I prefer not to fight," she decides, "We all want the same thing here. Fighting over the Sphere will just be more costly than the reason you're fighting itself. Let's figure this out, we can resolve this peacefully." She punctuates these words with a gentle smile and a raise of her hands in a placating sort of way. She tries to step forward toward the fore of the group while she speaks.

    "No need for this to turn violent for any of us," she urges.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is now moving in deeper now and moving as best she can in with the others at this point. She hears as they are told to hold off. She looks at them for a moment narrowing her eyes. So it's a fight over epic lute huh? There's a faint smirk on her face b ut she says nothing for the moment she's muscle she's not the party's face after all. So she's aware of this and cool with that fact. She'll leave those who can talk better than she to handle this.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
Ainsley's scan identifies the temple not only as a place of worship, but as a place of power. There's a vague sense like there used to be a means to obtain strength here... but it's gone now. As for the tactics used by the sphere hunters, they always make sure that no one other than the target is in their line of fire, and they only fire once the Behemoth's attention is on someone else, to keep it constantly turning.

     But, things start to get tense right away as Rarity starts trying to nudge the rifle down. The ex-monk holding it looks confused, and then outraged, struggling to keep it lifted, and pointed specifically at Rarity. "I don't take orders from some talking fiend!" he spits at the pony.

     Yuna's brash approach, and the challenge she lays by planting her shield gets a few snide chuckles from the other rifle-packing monks, as they simply... fan out, pointing around her to keep her friends covered. "We're the Sin Eaters because we search ruins that Sin left behind! And we don't care if Gandof himself asked for the sphere," He looks at Yuna and Vivio, gesturing his head at one of the statues. "We got here first so it's ours!"

     The monk with the flamethrow gives a hearty chuckle at Sarah and Ainsley's words. "Listen to your friends, they have the right idea." He seems much older than the others, and has a bushy beard and a fatherly voice. Pushing past his comrades and pushing their rifles down, he speaks. "Listen folks. I know how it feels to get beaten to the punch. But we did get here first, we did do all the hard work, so we should claim the reward, it's only fair. But hey, more spheres are getting unearthed every day. You'll get another shot. Unless... you wanted to buy this one from us right away?" He offers a winning smile.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     One of the other monks snorts. "Hard work, sure. That thing was the only fiend around! Whatever killed those chocobos must have dealt with the re-HKK!" Chris's sensors may have picked up two of those unidentified things emerging from the cloisters at the back. The monk that was speaking slumps, revealing a squat green thing clad in brown robes. It has no mouth, but two glowing yellow eyes that seem to judge everything it beholds. Poking out from the back of the robes is a green tail, similar to that of a fish. Held in its little hands is a lantern and a butcher's knife, now stained in the hunter's blood.

     The others scatter, one of them narrowly dodging the swipe of the second green thing, the blade making the air hiss hatefully. The door to the Chamber of the Fayth slides open, and the third one emerges. It's slightly larger, and has a little golden crown atop its head, but is otherwise exactly the same. A sphere hangs from its belt.

     "T-TONBERRIES!" the bearded monk yells, blasting his flamethrower at the one not standing over the limp form of his friend. The one with the bloodied knife looks towards Yuna, and begins to slowly walk towards her, as the one with the crown makes its way down the steps.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley smiles sadly, nodding at the monk's words. As he speaks, she looks over to the others in the group, and her brow knits painfully, because she's not sure this can end peacefully if the bunch of them can't agree to let the first-come, first-served rule apply here... The lizard girl startles when someone gets ganked over there, her eyes widening. She takes to the air and --

    "Do not let them stab you!" she tells the group, "Ranged attacks, those knives are EXTREMELY deadly! All it takes is one good poke and you can bet on being seriously injured if not outright killed on the spot!"

    She shouts this to the group, thanking her lucky stars her boyfriend is from a world where Tonberries exist, and she's betting on the monsters being similar across the worlds ... they do look like what she saw in the books she had read of monsters found on Faruja's world, it's hard to miss such an iconic creature. "They might cast magic, keep an eye on their lanterns!"

    She then pulls her book off her back and opens it, flipping it open. She tears out a page and slips the tome back onto her back with its strap making it hang loosely from her shoulder. She holds the piece of paper up above her head, and bellows a single word:

    "OBSCURA!"

    She tries to cut off the communication of visual information for the King Tonberry by corrupting it as it reaches the eyes, the magic circle in Ainsley's hand lighting up with a Dark glow as it focuses the magic. She can only focus on one at a time, however, because she lacks proper study of Tonberry, and the spell might not even work against these things.

Rarity (136) has posed:
And then the man in the robes slumps from a knife in the back. Rarity lets out a frustrated snort. "Please! We were having a conversation, there was no reason to interrupt! I swear, how -rude- can people get around here?! Absolutely no class at all."

Really Rarity might of just walked out at that point, but when the third robed squat figure trundles out of the central doorway she spots the sphere hanging from his belt almost immeadiately. That must be the item they were sent to retrieve.

"Seriously? I mean.. Seriously?! You're carrying a bright orb around on -those- grungy robes and -those- hooded shadowy complexitions? I certainly hope you don't go into public with that clashing insult to the sense of vision."

However it isn't all just ranting about their terrible esemblems from Rarity. Even as she's doing so her bejeweled bow appears in front of her, held in her magic and the trio of blue diamonds inset in it to resemble her cutie mark glowing with the resonance. She pulls a crystal tipped arrow from the depths of her cloak, notches it into the bow, draws back... and then tilts it just enough to shoot into the air instead of at any one target.

The crystal arrow bursts at the arc of it's flight, sending a shower of rigid crystal shrapnel raining down on the three forms.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah was just about to comment again when a guy gets TOTALLY SHANKED. The color drains from her pale face as she sees the man slump over, revealing a small, strangely cute lizard with a chef's knife and a lantern.

This has immediately escalated Sarah's Danger Levels to NOPE.JPG. "Holy crap! Run, people!" Sarah calls out, falling back and preparing to ABSCOND...

And noticing no one else is. "Of course. No one's going to do the sane thing. Okay, fine. Strife time." There is a flash, as Sarah produces her JENGA STACK from her PUZZLEKIND STRIFE SPECIBUS. The stacked balsawood planks don't look all that intimidating...

"Stay at a distance!" Sarah calls out. "We don't have to kill these things, we just need the Sphere!" With a quick motion, she pulls one of the blocks from the JENGA STACK and hurls it at the closest Tonberry.

pok

It's not very effective. Maybe there's some trick to it.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio is a little torn. She wants to help her friend by getting the sphere, but the strangely named Sin Eaters are correct in that they were here first. Plus they did the work defeating that big monsters... Hmmm, maybe the group could buy the sphere from them. It seems like the Sin Eaters are just interested in it for the money...

    Vivio's eyes go wide at the sight of one of the Sin Eater's slumping over, revealing the Tonberry with its blood stained knife.

    Everything seems to go quiet for a few moments, atleast from Vivio's perspective... But her shocked face changes to that of determination as she shrugs off her backpack and calls out, "Chris!" The plush bunny flies down to join its master, sinking into Vivio's chest with the glow of magic. Iridescent light surrounds the girl, mostly hiding her from view. Her silhouette inside the lights quickly grows in size and in a flash, the light vanishes to reveal an older looking Vivio. She is clad in the stylish and deceptively functional battle outfit that is her Barrier Jacket.

    Vivio lowers herself in preparation of moving and then in the blink of an eye, she closes the distance between herself and the Tonberry that just shanked the Sin Eater. Is she mad? Ignoring everything everyone else has been saying? Perhaps, but for good reason. She doesn't stay near the rather cute but obviously dangerous monster for very long, just long enough to scoop up the fallen Sin Eater and jump clear.

    Soaring back to her starting position, Vivio lands and gently places the man down on the ground. She then checks for signs of life... Hoping...

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Before Yuna can seriously weigh whether to ask how much the Sin Eaters (she still thinks that's a stupid name) are charging for the sphere they don't even have in hand yet, one of the (ex?-)monks is unceremoniously ganked by a Tonberry that snuck up on him. And judging by how the rest of both groups react ...

Well, it's too late to try talking - Ainsley's already on the attack, Rarity and Sarah are following suit. Yuna just sighs heavily, leaves her shield planted, and materializes the Matrix Divider in her hands, charging up a decently potent blast before aiming at the approaching Tonberry with the first guy's blood still wet on its knife -

And has to stop to squelch a deep, burning desire to simply *freak the heck out*. Ainsley's warnings are one thing, but just seeing anything walking impassively toward you with a recently-used murder weapon ...

Her jaw clenching to stifle the first scream of what would probably become MANY, Yuna fires her readied blasts. Then keeps squeezing the trigger, following that first concussive bolt of radiance with a fast series of less-potent beam pulses, all aimed at or near the approaching Tonberrry.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz had heard of Tonberries before and Crys's normally confident face turns to one of terror. Given her life as a hunter and Union operative. Thes battles she fought her way through. She's freaking out at this point the Tonberries are freaking things. She's now moving to get back from them. Crys summons her claws but she seekms scared yes she's cared at this.

"Great Light! These things exist?!"

Given Crys' situations he's very freaked out and doesn't even engage them yet she's actally /frove up in fear.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     The Tonberry King raises his lantern, staring impassively at the group as Ainsley's spell hits it! It seems... confused for a moment, turning its head and lowering the lantern for a moment... but ultimately, it doesn't seem to care, pointing the lantern in the general vicinity of the party.