292/Episode 3: Army of Many

Episode 3: Army of Many
Date of Scene:	26 July 2014
Location:	The Homeworld
Synopsis:	An adventure in Fuki's Node!
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Tomoe, 38, 151, 162, 165, Fuki, 269, 347

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Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    There is a reason the doors are sized this way. The two groups find themselves in similar hallways, after Fuki opens both doors, both are castle-like environments, but they're formed out of stone that's been set in place over what clearly looks like the interior of a tiny, modern ventilation shaft, sized heavily up in the case of the larger group.

    The larger group find that the hallway decays with distance, while the smaller group find it more well-maintained as they go. When both emerge from mildly damaged steel doors that have been reforced out of vent coverings, they will find themselves both the same height. They will also find themselves within a massive suburban home, decayed from thirty years of lack of maintenance. The upper level - or possibly roof - has been blasted away by the ages, leaving jagged walls. Pots from the kitchen, walls, couches, tables, chairs, and other structures have all been repurposed into garrisons and barracks, mess halls, meeting places, armories... The (relatively) massive residence has been turned into a castle over the ages.

    A few hundred Dolls of various sorts and makes are spread all throughout, the human-like robotic things hard at work manning the guard towers that are built out of shattered lamps and propped-up brooms. The Bleeding Scryers team that was sent away to scout the surrounding area has come in!

    Fuki will receive reports immediately when she arrives about the surrounding areas, detailing the chokepoints between the collapsed suburban houses and the general lay of the land, as well as the dangerous more distant location. By their description, it's an old public transit center, an outpost full of Jade Kingdom forces. They've already been alert to the revival of Fuki's own castle, but haven't gotten any gague of how many are present, and so have only received extremely minor reinforcements at the outpost.

    Now it's obvious they have some negative intent. So, how will Fuki proceed in dealing with this first outpost of the enemy? Available, as before, are the two ASSAULT groups, the SCOUT group, the AERIAL group, the two HEAVY groups, the SNIPER group, the RECON group, and the MIXED group, officially batallions but numbering only a few dozen each.

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki gives a light nod to the Bleeding Scryers, "Thank you." she responds with a bow, before turning towards everyone else present. "Alright, it looks like they know we're here now and that we have our army. The enemy's main castle according to Ainsley's scouts is an old public transit center and with how big those are you can expect a lot of forces will be present however, we are unsure of how many are involved Could be a few, could be more than we can handle. In addition, between us and the enemy castle lies the land and more chokepoints, suburban houses and the like being repurposed to suit a kingdom."

    "The Jade Kingdom, as the reports mention, do know that we're here now, I believe the fact that we were able to open the display case indicated our proper 'arrival' in the area." Fuki, takes a small breath, nodding, "We have a few groups available, our two Assault Groups: The Queen's Scythe led by myself and the Glass Blades led by LIzbet, who's not here today. The Aerial Group, Blast HOrnets led by Zephyr. The two Heavy Groups: Fortress Walkers led by Karian who isn't here today, and the Fae Bastions led by Tomoe. The Sniper group, Smiting Hands, led by Hei who isn't here as well. Zeno's Recon group, Harsh Shadows and the Mixed group, HOly Trinities led by Kirito."

    "I'm open to suggestions on the next move with the information we have at hand. We cannot, obviously, do a full frontal assault without having the unknown might of the Jade Kingdom upon us."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley has equipped herself with Nom de Plume and a set of leather armor as per her normal adventuring attire, but has taken to wearing a single layer of robes over the top of the armor to act as a representation of her scholarly nature. She's starting to figure out how she should look, and it makes her very fantasy-like, complete with the Harness on her back, and the bladed weapons attached to her belt.
    Her face shows her neutrality, as she approaches the group she is responsible for. The reports get to her, as well, but she moves back over to Fuki following the information provided to her. "If your purpose here is to conquer the lands, my advice is to strike at their outpost. Allowing them to gain ground will mean a detriment to the maneuverability of your forces," she advises to the Shinki Confederate, "They know this place is becoming a threat. My suggestion is to send a portion of the combat-capable troops, with scouts accompanying the sniper groups to act as spotters, and the heavy forces to make a swat at their outpost. If information indicates that their outpost is vulnerable to be taken down, then taking the outpost and capturing any forces there would be a good first move."
    She crosses her arms, as she mentally kicks herself for suggesting such an aggressive tactic. "In essence, you use the snipers to prod the hornet's nest from afar and provide covering fire to the heavies, who will test their defenses."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"I think this is all rather quaint."

    Hey, that guy's here again. Last time he showed up, he was tagging along when Fuki and some friends cracked open a huge storage container full of lots and lots of not!shinki, and absolutely did not fight a giant kitbashed spider monster because it just kind of fell to bits due to old age.

    He feels distinctly as if he's missed something that happened in the intervening period, but he tends to be the sort of guy who wanders anyway. He's been through the eclectic crowds that now populate the Homeworld, and he's been gone and here again and all over the place. Who even knows why he's here again now?

    Who even knows why he was ever here last time?

    And who knows what he missed in the space between?

    Well, someone probably does, and someone can inform him how we got here (and perhaps who the Jade Kingdom is), should they be inclined to talk to the red-haired stranger. In any case, the tiny man is up on the roof, marvelling at the lilliputian decor, snooping around the structures, making small talk with whoever he can find, generally acting like a curious tourist. From this, he gets the general impression that there is a reasonable degree of stuff that happened before he stuck his nose in, establishing the general frame of events.

    Recon seems to be his thing but honestly who knows what his investment in this is? He's certainly not the military sort.

    "I love what you've done with the place. It's got this magnificent Borrower asthetic. Where would you recommend going for the best views of the neighborhood?" he asks the Doll he's blabbering to.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr ponders the report, resting her axe across her shoulder like some kinda shounen protagonist. "Hnn. I could take a skirmishing force of my aerial units and make a diversionary strike at another location, make them split their attention between the main force and my lightning strike team." she offers in suggestion. "The Hornets were built to hit and fade, so we might be able to sow some confusion."

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    It's Nine! He's here, and he's happy to be here, a silly grin on his face. And oh man he forgets how small Fuki really /is/. Because man she is ever frickin tiny. He doesn't mean to be rude, he just mostly talks to her over the radio, and intellectually he knows she's small, but damn if she isn't frickin TINY.

    He'd crouch down near her, bent and coiled like an animal, a smile on his ugly face, and he'd offer her a friendly, happy little nuzzle. Man she's tiny, look at her little hands oh~! And then they're walking, and he's listening in kind of a detached, sort of distracted way, his mind elsewhere and his thoughts elsewhere, and then he'd turn to Fuki, his voice sort of curious. "Where do you want me Fuk-" And he's staring right at her. "HOLYHELL!" And that would be No. 9 falling on his ass and sort of scrambling up against the edge of the vent, staring at the now Nine-sized Fuki (to him) "How the hell did you get so big Fuk?" Stare.

Kirito has posed:
    As his avatar, yet again Kirito's chosen to aid Fuki on this mission. Reluctantly, but none of the Nodes can be allowed to fail if They are to be thwarted!

    But this whole thing still makes him feel bad. 'We assembled a sapient army' is somewhat unethical in his view... so he's quietly snorting in frustration to himself while eying Fuki. After listening, he folds his arms, making a difficult face.

    "If we're going to be taking down their leader, a full frontal assault's the worst thing to do. Infiltrating that transit center with an ARMY won't be easy... and if the alarm was sounded once we're in, gettin caught without it won't be good. So, the next best plan is a distraction. Try and get them to thin the guards by falling for a feint, THEN launch the attack." With Ainsley's strategy being aired though, he nods once, scratches his cheek thoughtfully, pondering on it.

    "INformation's always the most valuable thing though... we need to know what forces they have, and where, and what approaches we can take."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has got used to being the size of Fuki, she admits it's kinda fun being a tiny little lady in a giant world, ot is that a normal sized world? She was at least having some fun with this. Fuki was a fed but well? The whole mess with the Pures and such was a great danger in general oddly she's not here in her avatar state she's here with Tizona on but she's clearly one not an elf, two she's a bit shorter and has red hair and no pointed ears. She does seem a bit nervous but she's not alone right? She is however wearing armor that looks very much like what she has in SAO. She's been busy but she looks nervoulys over to Kirito as she forms up with him.

"Well here goes nothing right Kirito? Tizona?!"

She's armed ready and tries to fall into the proper mindset for what she must do today.

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki listens to the ideas presented, from Kirito and Ainsley and Zephyr. Then, when Nine screams out.. "Welcome to my node, NIne. Everyone who is taller than me ends up my height. I can't explain it." She gives a light nod, "Alright, then I believe we have a plan here. The Queen's Blade and Honor Guards will stay behind for now, and we'll have a heavy group, an assault group and a recon group to scout out the area and if possible conquer it. Does this seem acceptable to everyone? I would like Ainsley, Zephyr and Kirito to lead their respective ones."

    Fuki emits a small flash of light and tosses a Shinki Flight Unit at Nine. "Here, for you so you have an easier way to get around, Nine. And I hope you brought Monty." a smile coming to her face before she scans over the groups one more time, her eyes landing on the Traveller's visage. "Oh, hey, that one's here. I don't ever think I got your name but did you have any suggestions?"

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    Staaaaare. Pause. Beat. "Wait, what? You mean I'm-" He looks down over himself... and his eyes are just, wide. "Fuck me..." he fumbles for what she'd thrown him, he'd pull out Monty, sort of cuddling the now tiny gun and staring about the place with a certain soul-wrenching terror. "Right. Yeah. No prollem, no big, s' fine, s' all good. Um. Yeah. Um. Um. Yea. Um. S'fine." Blink. Blink. Blink. "Right. So. How, can I, help. At. Six inches tall fuckin gods what th' hell..."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Hrm? Oh, me? I'm just a traveller," he replies honestly. "But it seems as if we're having a council of war, huh?"

    He wanders over, giving his conversation partner a brief apology, and hums in a teeth-vibrating way as he looks over the other people standing around at this pow-wow. He recognizes one or two of them, but the others not so much. He scratches his chin.

    "Military maneuvers? Not my thing in the slightest, but... you should absolutely consider the fact that this is such a dilapidated environment. Derelict, cobbled together, you know what I mean. Regardless of where you go or what you do, you're going to need to take the lay of the land into consideration when you go from point A to point B."

Kirito has posed:
    "It's nothing worth worrying about." Kirito asides to Nine in a simple but lightly reassuring tone. "So far nobody else we've found is any taller."

    With others arriving he doesn't quite recognize, Kirito can only give them all a good examinatory glance, but he adds, "If we take the outposts, they'll probably try to retake them. That could be the diversion I was talking about."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Once given the order, Ainsley nods in confirmation of Fuki's words. She already begins to round up a proper squad to lead out to the right location. She makes sure to ask for a map of the area for her to assess along the way, so she can plan a route that gets them to the outpost with a minimal chance of being spotted. She mentally prepares herself for the idea of war. She's done this before, but this time she doesn't have the benefit of being able to dictate the battle flow... this isn't her Node.
    Ainsley lets out a sigh and reaches up to adjust Nom de Plume on her snout. She calls over to Traveller, "The scouts assessed the immediate area," when she overhears that suggestion, "We shouldn't run into terrain difficulties, with any luck."
    Once prepared and discussed, she gathers up the Dolls that she's responsible for and heads out ahead of everyone else. Scouts need to be the first people on the battlefield, after all. She makes sure to try to round up a sniper or two, in case they find an opportunity to make precise shots against these foes.
    "Nom, be on the lookout for large Conceptual Resonance signatures," she tells her Abstractum, "If we find a Pure Wielder, we need to tell Fuki about them."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe looks to Fuki for a moment as she smiles a little bit she's ready to lead her own forces as well. She's armed she's ready and making her self not freak out. She's got to learn to not rely on her avatar right? Okay so she looks to Kirito and grins a little bit.

"I guess we're all pocket fairies now huh?"

With the chatter out of the way she's now keeping alert for Ainsley is correct they need to be ready.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "We're all tiny down here, don't worry Nine. The guys we're gonna fight are probably tiny too, right?" Montressor assuages Nine as best it can. "Take it easy, yeah? We'll just do what we do best, kill stuff. Doesn't matter what size we are, right?"

    Tizona, prompted by Tomoe, is already calling out an eager, enthusiastic "YEAH!! Man, this is gonna be a party." The armor seems easygoing and upbeat about this.

    Meanwhile the groups are getting ready. The GLASS BLADES and the HARSH SHADOWS are gearing up to get into motion, while the BLEEDING SCRYERS, the FAE BASTIONS, and the HOLY TRINITIES form up behind Ainsley, Tomoe, and Kirito. They're clearly expecting Fuki to handle leading them, possibly to the outpost and into the battle itself? Let's see what her plan is.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Being shrunk down is not really something Six expected. As long as she still has her armor, though, she'll be fine. Unless they're fighting opponents that are still normal sized. Then she'll probably wind up having issues, she thinks. Because it won't even be light fighting Hunters, even though they're twice her size. If she's this small, things will be absolutely massive. She doesn't really know anything about this particular node, she just happend to follow Kirito and Tomoe.

    Seems she may be alright, as there does seem to be a war going on, from the talk of everyone else. Having no idea about the tactical situation at hand, she opts to stay quiet for now. She doesn't like to go into situations totally blind, even if she's had to before. She taps at Enforcer for a moment to see if he's awake.

    "So where do you want me?"

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    Wild high cackling not-very-sane laughter. "Oh right because it's just a dick measuring contest yea, that's- great, I- yeah. Hah. Ahahah. Aheh. Heh. Uh." He's looking down at Monty, clinging to the now tiny gun, nodding. "Right. Right... just, kill stuff. Don't matter what size, don't- yeah. Right. Perfect, unnerstood. Right. Right? ...Right." Breath. He turns to see what Fuki's plan is, because he's pretty well useless here, at the moment, with the hyperventilating and all.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    The lost-seeming visitor edges away from Nine and Nine's just a little. Yes, let's ensure that he is not in the same neighborhood as this chap. He offers the golem a token "Steady now," and rubs his nose. He'll probably find himself following along one of these groups, even if his ability to do tactical things or engage in combat is literally nil, but perhaps he will find something he can do to help out. It's like schrodinger's cat.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr nods at the orders. "Hornets, assemble! I want a phalanx of the fastest assembled at the entrance. Galeforce? Sync with Divine Wind, we're probably going to need to use the new Mistral Tempest system..." she smiles up at the circlet, and gives it a fond little stroke along one 'arm'. "It's been a while... lets get back into the swing of things."

    As Nine starts freaking out, she looks over at the BOW. "Breath, focus, there'll be stuff to shoot soon." she offers, then shrugs her axe from her shoulder, rolling it around in her grip before stating. "Divine Wind, Mistral Form. Drive--" the Device then chimes <IGNITION> the large weapon shrinks down, and a duo of rotating turbine blade-like drones begin flitting around her in a relatively tight formation. "Alright, I'm ready to go."

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki nods, looking at the ones before her. "Well, it seems it's all decided. Nine, I need you at my side. Zephyr, Ainsley, Kirito. Probe and prod the nest, get whatever information you can gleam from it." she turns to the new people in the node, eyeing Noble Six with a curious glint, "Follow Ainsley." she commments, "I don't know who you are so I will have her watch over you."

    Fuki turns to look at the Traveller "I want you to follow Kirito. I'm still unsure about you..." a nod coming from the Shinki, she closes her eyes, "I'll lead the advance with a portion of the Honor Guard. NO need to display everything just yet, just enough force to take the outpost and set up there."

    Taking flight, she heads towards the door. "All troops, assemble and move out!"

Fuki has posed:
Fuki turns to Tomoe, "You and your guard will follow Kirito. You two are close, yes?" she questions from the door, "Need you to make sure our flank is covered from attacks on the rear and side, can you do that for me?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe turns her attention to Fuki and nods.

"Understood and yes we have a lot of experiance working together."

Tomoe doesn't evne bother using her name of Sheena everyone's going to call her Tomoe and honestly she's quicker to respond to the name than her birth one at this point. Shge grins and she now moves to order her troops to get to the flanks are covered. She divides them up into three groups and hopefully it should be enough to cover eveyrthing.

She now respond to Tizona with a grin.

"All right then Tizona I'm thinking I feel a bit better about this..."

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    Right. Hah. Things to shoot. Hah. Hah. Right. Hah. Hahh. Nngh. He runs a hand through his hair, trying to compose himself so he can stand beside Fuki. His voice is low, muttering something softly to himself and wiping sweat from his leathery skin in great hooking hand swipes, scattering it to the floor. "Right. You know I'll always be right by your side Fuki. Always." He rubs his face a little, trying to fight his composure back.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr nods, activating the flight pack she received last time, letting it take over for her flight spell so she can save mana. "Hornets, stay close, we strike from the sky while the others move in from lower altitude. Watch your sectors and stay sharp."

    Zephyr then follows Fuki's lead, but takes the overwatch slot above the group.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    "Roger." Six replies, as she looks to Fuki and gets her orders. She turns and looks at Ainsley, and makes her way over towards her.

    "I'll give you fair warning, scouting isn't my primary skillset, but I can make it work." She says to her CO for the mission at hand. She wants to just be clear that with the heavy armor and weapons she brought with her, she's generally expecting to serve a more heavy purpose, "Consider me a good option if you have to go loud, though."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Moving out is fairly simple now. The flight tech that the group has works well enough, as does the flight of the Dolls as well. Skimming low over the ground, Fuki's forward scouts work wonders, at least for the most part. Ainsley's Scouts will be able to function as perfect spotters for the rest of the group, while Kirito's Trinities and Zephyr's Hornets split off and seem to start gearing up to attack the public transit center as they shift now to ground, trying to keep stealthy in their approach for as long as they can.

    The honor guard are a more elite force, meaning they should be worth more, if this comes to a matter of numbers. With two of the "battalions" here, that gives the group something in the high tens of numbers... And this IS just an outpost.

    On the signal of the leaders - that is, Fuki, or possibly Zephyr, Ainsley, and Kirito - the split-up pair will both begin to work in their seperate ways, while Fuki's honor guard try to take the chance to storm closer to the outpost.

Kirito has posed:
    "As long as Double Fault's up for it." Kirito murmurs to himself. God, why did the NOde have to be this way? He looks over his shoulder at the Traveller, and gives the man a nod. Then his wings appear and he starts flying low, drawing Double Fault. "Non-lethal if at all posible." He tells his partner, hoping Double Fault can do his thing at aiding that goal.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    So, we're in for a penny, in for a pound, it seems. Well, we'll have to see what happens. It's not as if Kirito's vauge acquaintance is completely incapable of handling himself in a combat situation, even if his capabilities extend to 'running and feinting'. "Scouting I can do," he says to Fuki noncomittally, walking over to Kirito's side.

    "If it helps, I'm mostly here because, hmmm... how to say... I have positive experience with Shinki, so I like to stick my nose into you guys' affairs."

    And so he goes with Kirito; sans wings, sans weapon.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley works to find a decent set of vantage points, splitting up her squad of Dolls into pairs so that there's always one to watch the other's back. Once she's chosen an array that gets a good field of view, she picks a vantage all to herself high up on a perch with her Harness, and tries to scan the enemy outpost for any Resonance signatures with Conceptual Sight in an attempt to spot Pure Wielders in there. Of course, she's unlikely to spot anything that is intentionally obscuring itself, but it's worth a shot.
    While she's at it, she describes the surrounding terrain to the others as well as any troop movements that she spots that the other scouts haven't picked up on.
    She just hopes she doesn't gain the enemy's attention in the process, or she'll face some serious violence. The nervous energy in the lizard girl is quite obvious, making it difficult for her to focus.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe gives Noble Six a look over the spartan was interesting but she's got her own job to do and her Battalions got thier orders. Tomoe contiunes to over see the flanks and the rear with her own forces. She hears the bit about Kiriots own orders she nods slightly. She's got no senses to pick up if there are pures in there. She's nervous about that but hey she's not alone and she's not ... helpless even like this.

She doe skeep tabs on Fuki as best she can...as well.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Double Fault hums softly, glowing with a low, red light. "On it, bossman. Powering Strife Drives, I'll be in non-lethal mode!" It says, brightly. "Looks like the gang's holding on, waiting for your signal. You ready?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Ainsley gets confirmation of her suspicions. Nom de Plume was, as mentioned before, already ready and prepared to scan for the relevant targets here. And, thankfully, it seems like there's not any real Pure User presence here.

    Her scouting is useful, though; collated with the spotting from her scout group, she should be able to multiply the effect of the attack and neutralize the "home field advantage", so to speak.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Fuki's armor hums and lights up as well, though a bit lower than Kirito's. "Powering Strife Drives. Party's soon, you make sure we're not late, alright? Let's get in there and attack when Kirito does, we can cover him!"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Having stuck behind Ainseley until they reached their scouting position, Noble Six set up with the large caliber sniper rifle she had brought along, peering through the scope, "Really need to develop a way to mark targets with these things.." She mutters to herself, as she tries to keep track of any hostiles she sees. What /are/ the hostiles, anyway?

Kirito has posed:
    Not much use bargaining or trying to force these folk to surrender... unfortunately, Kirito's just gonna have to try to subdue them quickly, before casualties mount up. And if he goes in first... "We're gonna strike hard and fast, and take them down before they can sound any serious alarms or assemble!" He's emboldened by Double Fault's confidence that they can in fact do this non-lethally.

    It's not the soldiers they're after, obviously, but the ruler.

    With Double Fault drawn quickly...

    The guards seriously aren't gonna know what hit him.

    Step 1: Come out of nowhere.

    "Seeeeeeeeiiiiiyaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Outdoors? even a great distance is easy enough to cross in a flash. Kirito pushes his wings to their limits, putting on a GREAT burst of speed and rushing STRAIGHT into the enemy outpost. Hoping, of course, that those there will put ALL their attention on HIM for a required moment. Because he's headed RIGHT for the sentries at full-bore, aiming to just PLOW through them and scatter them with sheer momentum and surprise.%R    Should he plow through, Kirito goes skidding across the ground and hoists up Double Fault... time to start the subdual!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "Good work," Ainsley murmurs to Nom de Plume, as positive reinforcement. She realized she didn't give enough of that a while ago, knowing that Nom is a creature with a personality and deserves some consideration. She looks for openings in the surrounding structure, and any battlements that may provide a problem for the crew.
    "I recommend using your weapon to fire on any airborne targets on the enemy side." She reaches up to touch the bridge of Nom, and asks, "Could we provide an aura to mark targets? Or transmit information to Noble Six to assist tracking those targets? We should be her spotter."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
The Traveller is following Kirito, indeed he is... but there's something unusual. He's sort of... strolling. Taking in the sights. See, he's beem wondering... among a lot of the visitors to this Node he's one of the few who hasn't reacted to the change in size with surprise. He took it in his stride, and he's far more interested in looking at the interesting post-apocalyptic landscape and its transformation into something new; a small world inhabited by these many dancing dolls.

    And as Kirito makes a huge obvious target in his attempts to KO the sentry outpost's inhabitants, he... just keeps down low, slinking, sneaking... hiding behind available terrain... it's not cowardice, by any stretch of the imagination. He's just waiting to see what he can do to make his involvement meaningful.

Fuki has posed:
    Silent Black is drawn, armor is donned. The menacing figure that is Fuki flies along side her honor guard. "Let's hold back and we'll go in when the time is right." she holds herself in mid air, looking around. "All units, the order to attack is now. Bring your might upon this place and make sure that any subject here knows the might of our small force." a large intake of breath before, "Orders are to capture and secure! If a few bite the dirt, so be it."

    She takes a look around and flies over to Ainsley, "Anything you see that can give us a good advantage, Ainsley? You're the tactician here, large groups are not my forte. Being an assassin is solo work normally." She looks towards the lizard-being with a concerned look hidden behind that feirce fox mask. "Perhaps this will help... a few trust issues I have with the rest of the Users."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "We need to draw them out," Ainsley tells Fuki, motioning to the structure. "Our flying forces should make a charge directly. I can assist directly with that, if you want, but I am not a warlock so it is outside of my level of skill to manage large numbers, and the Conquistador cartridge, which helps our combat potential, does not work well against groups. I would need to single out outliers in their forces." She frowns for a moment, looking over the structure. "At any rate... Flush them out, like water fowl hiding in reeds. Once we do that, we attack while they're buzzing about trying to focus on the flying forces."

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    Nine would take off at the same time, and woo boy flying is /weird/. He's flown on dragonback before but this is just odd. Moving in tandem with Fuki, he would look towards the distant enemy, a thoughtful look on his face... before offering a feral grin, leering over at Fuki. "Leave em mostly alive? Right. Can do. Might not want t' be alive, but thass part a th' fun innit? Heheheheh..."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
"If it needs to go down, I can take it down. Until I run out of ammo, anyway." Noble Six says, "Marking targets will help out a lot, even just calling them out. I will be able to do the adjustments and make the shot just fine." Six says, "Well, the scope does most of the work and the calculations."

    It'll take some doing to not go for lethal shots, but Six is sure she can do it, she'll just have to focus on it and not let her instincts take over.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Noble Six's HUD pops up an array of threat assessment indicators, showing off all the ranged enemies in her sight. "Not much I can do here!" Enforcer says, sheepishly. "I mean, y'know, with a shield, and not much in the way of Strike Drivers." Through her sight, she'll be able to see Dolls using a variety of energy-based firearms and a small variety of melee weapons charged with assorted glowing bits of energy. Several of them are already mobilizing to deal with another threat... Noble Six, for the moment, has no major opposition and will have little trouble covering a selected ally or two.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Kirito winds up smashing through the windows of a rusted-out bus. Kirito's Holy Trinities are right behind him, their DPS making for some great speedy strikers, though there's a bit of a delay. In the meantime, Kirito will find the most apparent sentry-slaughter to be found is on the top of the ramparts - made up of the bunched-up shelves of a small news-stand that was next to the transit station - between the battlements, where clusters of dolls in dark-green armored uniform draw and activate their energized blades suddenly! Those that weren't bowled over and STUNNED, that is.

    "Alright, Kirito! Remember, these are machines, we can disarm 'em hard! Let's go!" And, as if prompted by Double Fault there, the WESTERN RAMPART SENTRIES are immediately setting upon Kirito and his group, which are still figuring out their foothold for now. With swords, axes, spears, and all sorts of medieval-futuristic weapons like that!

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr nods. "HORNETS! STING!" she calls. Divine Wind chimes loudly, as the Bits suddenly rev up and flash out in a relatively wide area... the Shinki-scale equivalent of ~150m. The air within that range flows behind the mage and her forces, sending them screaming down like a swarm of angry insects.

    "Spread out, engage and drive them into our allies fire lines!" she commands, smashing right through a wall with a focused concussive blast, scattering debris and howling a war-cry as she skids to a stop inside the outpost.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    "It's fine. We'll see about getting you some Strike Driver upgrades as we go on. For now, stay on standby and watch my back in case something sneaks up on me." Six says, moving a hand up to adjust the scope on the rifle a couple of clicks.

    She picks her target, someone who's undoubtedly unaware of her presence, exhales, and lets the scope do it's job to predict heading, wind speed, and the usual stuff it predicts, before she squeezes the trigger. The target is not the head or upper body, like it would be if she was going for a kill shot. It's aiming for a leg. Aiming to disable (and maybe maim, it is a very large bullet), but not kill.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    For those who have any curiosity about HOW, exactly, it is that their characters, who would, during a sudden, chaotic battle, be unable to figure out the intricacies of the lay of the battle, might be able to actually do that, they can look no farther than Ainsley, who is currently supplying the Users down there with various critical bits of information, relayed to them, for example, via projected map.

    "I am already on it." Nom de Plume says, simply. "Simply keep observing."

Kirito has posed:
    In all honesty, Kirito's better as a warrior than a tactician. ONce he's on the battlefield, things feel far clearer. The handful of Dolls that come swinging at him are parried easily, the weightless energy blades clashing against Double Fault.... and Kirito lashes out with a sweeping kick to take advantage of his opponent's busied weapons.

    "Right!" Agreeing with Double Fault, in the next instant he engages a simple Sword Skill - the one-striker 'Slant'. His aim? Weapon arms, close to the wrist!

    He's pretty sure that kind of damage is easy to repair around here!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley's gaze focuses intensely, and occasionally she lifts herself in the air with her Harness to find a new vantage and refresh her awareness of the evolving battlefield. The map is projected for the convenience of those that need it, primarily the appointed leaders. Noble Six is directed to those forces that seem to be gathering coherency, in the hopes of dismantling the balance of the enemy formations one part at a time.
    Her head turns, scanning for movements, speaking gentle suggestions over the radio for adjustments in forces. She has taken the tactician role to heart, taking advantage of her observer view of the battlefield. She did this once before, though, so she's trying to stay out of dangerous zones and the open spaces. The last time she flew out in the open, the Conquistador nearly beheaded her, and she's not about to repeat mistakes.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Plenty of chaos going on in here. Specifically the kind of chaos that it's easy for someone to slip through in. There's enough noise that parts of the outpost are beginning to get suspicious of what's going on up on those ramparts. The Traveller is going to need to slip through the bus Kirito crashed through, then probably further in. Aged cardboard and entire scavenged drawers are used below benches and suchlike to make easily-hidden-behind structures for The Traveller to skulk through and about.

    The green-clad people here are alert and well-trained, refusing to go rush at noises in a panic, so the Traveller is going to need to bypass a fair number of patrolling guards that are in a larger section of the structure. There's a lot of them, but since this was once a bus waiting area, the wide courtyard-like layout means it the Traveller shouldn't have issues moving around. Are there any particular STRUCTURE TYPES he might be attentive to, and wanting to investigate?

Fuki has posed:
    Over the radio relay she set up with everyone, Fuki clears her voice and lets out an auidble smirk. "Alright, we'll be storming the front doors soon enough for this place. Ainsley, I need any chance you can get to find the leader of this outpost. If its like any military regimine, it's the one with the biggest hat or brightest colors." Lowering herself from her aerial advantage, she focuses her attention on the roof "I need a flying regimine to land on the roof gently, enough not to notify them that we're here."

    Fuki signals to her honor guard and Nine to follow her as she dives towards the roof, a grin upon her be-masked face. Locally, she lets out a soft laugh, "Mmm. It's comforting to know people still listen to me. Now, just to make sure they don't get hurt..."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe gets the order to attack and attack they shall while hte others moves in. Tomoe issues orders to her forces and is intending to be leading one of the three groups personally, there's quite a bit to do. She'll be leading the troops in with her head first into the enemy ranks with Moon Cutter in hand, she's not quite as swift with it as she normally is but it's nothing to laugh at.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Fuki can see that while the group is making a pretty harsh dent, the outpost is a sturdy bastard, though it's slow to wake. There's individuals breaking away from the larger groups that engage the Elites, trying to relay news of the attack through the outpost as a whole. What they might do after they know isn't clear yet, of course!

    The dive goes well enough. Thankfully, they don't have many issues getting to what's left of the roof, though that's mostly ramparts and a few leftover girders. There's so little cover fire because... Well, the longer-range sorts are busy elsewhere!

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Nine flies on up. Montressor speaks up briefly. "Yep, leave them functional. That just means don't crush the chest, I'd guess. Oh man! We could do all the delimbing we want! You feeling up for it, Nine?" The gun seems eager.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Fuki specifically finds it so easy to deal with the ranged air stuff because the entire aerial force is immediately set upon by Zephyr's Hornets, the whole group doing a sudden intense rush that forces them to retreat over to Kirito's end of things, where his Holy Trinities are firing on them as well. The flanking and crossfire is extremely effective, though several of the enemy figure out who's doing the leading and do their best to tackle Zephyr out of the air with sudden rushes, and stab her in close-combat using energy daggers. The Hornets as a whole don't find much opposition though.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    The critical concern here is that what we have to do here is really almost entirely based around fighting other people, which puts the travelling tourist at a distinct disadvantage. Fighting people is not his forte, so he suffers significantly should the Dolls deem him a danger.

    It's bothersome, because that bus was certainly a sublime sight, in a weird, weathered way, and you have to admire the all-around transformation of the neighborhood's neglected metal and machines... sneaking through it, he'd sorely love to thoroughly commit its details to memory, but sadly 'less time touristing; concentrate, it's dangerous to meander'.

    The traveller has to react quickly: sneak, sneak, sneak. Since we're in the business of disabling sentries, what he's looking for is to disrupt their developments: these ramparts aren't built out of solid steel and stone, so they have to have certain supports holding them together. He searches for these sorts of things- a small tear here and a significant smash or snap there, and hopefully he can weaken the makeshift structures that the Dolls have made so the ramparts begin to become less defensible.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr grunts. "C'MON THEN! LETS GO!" she howls in a hot blooded frenzy. She parries blades with the shorter axe, ordering her Bits to flash in, using their relay to enhance the potency of her wind-element. <MISTRAL STORM! SPIN UP!>

    Zephyr draws the axe-haft out a little further so it's easier to hold two-handed... though she's starting to get overwhelmed by the numbers of enemy units piling in on her. "YOU WON'T BEAT ME! C'MON!" with blurry movements, slicing the air so hard and fast it sents shockwaves through those she manages to strike, Zephyr wades through whatever gets in her way, losing chunks of her Barrier Jacket for the focus on offense. "I need everything you can give me Galeforce!" she says to her abstractum, then twists her grip, and levels a hammerblow into the floor beneath her. <MAELSTROM BURST!> announces her Device with a resonant ping, sound suddenly draining from the local area... before a rush of white noise accompanies the ground rupturing, throwing debris and high pressure winds all around where she's fighting. They're controlled so as not to strike allies, the Bits turning the winds and debris into any enemies within their range.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Finding targets is easy, thanks to the data that Ainsley is providing. Noble Six is able to quickly switch from one to the next, squeeze off a well aimed shot, and move. After four shots, she ejects the magazine from the sniper rifle and loads a fresh one in, before sending the bolt home.

    She gets up and quickly changes positions, wanting to not stay in the same place for too long. Camping may be a legitimate strategy in some games, but this is no game, and she doesn't want to give away her position.

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    A feral grin from the Golem, and a nod. Don't aim for the chest? Oh man this is gonna be fuckin boss. He nods, looking over at Fuki and hefting Montressor, his eyes just, crazy and his grin wild and triumphant. "Ready to move ma'am!" C-CLICK! He'd engage any who engaged Fuki but in the meantime he's not here to draw attention to himself. Yet. The fun comes later.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    As Fuki ordered, Noble Six is firing on air targets probably. One of the ones that try to attack Zephyr suddenly finds it can't actually grapple with her because Noble Six has de-limbed it, blasting an arm clean off. Another that was diving down for Kirito crashes instead somewhere opposite the Traveller.

    Noble Six's movements are probably a good idea. What comes next is the only logical thing you can do to deal with something so long-ranged: Somewhere in the structure, a catapult of sorts is fired, eventually dispersing in mid-air into a rain of jacks, thumbtacks, and similar horrible pointy shit that both makes it hard to move where it lands, and threatens to eviscerate a doll before it does. Thankfully, only Ainsley and Noble Six are still over there! The scout group is much closer.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley responds to the assault of thumb tacks and the like by holding up her hand and projecting a cone of magnetic force. This magnetic energy repels the sharp objects as they approach, trying to deflect them, but she has to do some active dodging to truly avoid the rest of them. Once she's finished with that, she flies up into the air and begins to pinpoint the spots where these kinds of large machine weapons would be. It's a great advantage that she can fly, but she winces as she feels the battery running down on the Harness.
    And then she starts to shoot bolts of lightning down at any catapults or other weapons she can find, trying to disable them with precise blasts that'll disable their mechanisms. She does this inbetween sweeps of the battlefield, directing any available forces to aim for the catapults as they're discovered. Mostly just Noble Six's shots.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    There's a nice dramatic moment where one of the flying soldiers who has broken away from Zephyr's assault blasts up towards Fuki, swinging her massive hammer wide, as she tries to bring it down on Fuki's head. Thankfully, Fuki won't have to move an inch from her dramatic perch on the rooftop. Nine fires a blast from Montressor, and the bright red streak of light slams into, and subsequently through, the doll's midsection, cutting off the attack and sending it rolling and then falling through the opening in the roof.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Tomoe's caught up a bit late, but with Tizona's defenses roaring up at full strength, and Kirito's forces already there to cover her, she won't be taking much damage, even as she draws a fair amount of attention, blades coming down on her and snapping in half as they do. At close-range, it's unlikely enemy Dolls will be getting away from her, or from her heavy group that she's brought along. Though there's a fair amount of heavier weapons fire pointed up that could be bad for Tomoe if it got concentrated on her...

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Well that's a lot of incoming hostile fire. Six is on the move, but she'll need to pick up the pace. "Hey Enforcer, now might be a good time to be ready. We've got incoming!" She calls out to her Abstractum, as she dodges an incoming thumbtack by rolling forward. She'd still rather have her shield available to defend against incoming fire until she can get into a position to set up her sniper rifle again.

Fuki has posed:
    The sound of someone flying catches her ears then the blast of Montressor rings out. "There's a reason I like you, Nine. This is one of them." she peers down into the hole and hmms, sending visual data to anyone who can accept such data. "Looks like it might be a party down there that we're going to crash here shortly. What say you all?" she calls out over the radio, a grin upon her masked face. "As soon as Ainsley can pin down a leader in there, I'm going in."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    The sapping tactics go well. These things are being propped up by all kinds of random household objects scavenged from the surroundings. Giant pairs of scissors, large bits of baskets, an old powerstrip, several large cups... Moving them around, stealthily sabotaging the assorted structures, should make various sections of the ramparts tip over. This is a little more obvious, and wakes up the rest of the group rather severely, but it is fairly clearly having a major effect on the defenses.

No. 9 (269) has posed:
    The movement is instant, his reaction instantaneous, but his attention enough that he pulls down a little as Montressor fires. His grin is wide and bright, his eyes blazing, and he'd nuzzle her happily as the enemy falls in half and tumbles down. "Ooh, I love crashing parties." He lifts Monty, waggling him a bit. "And I've got JUST the spike for the punch." Hee.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    This is some Dynasty Warriors shit right here.

    Hands go flying everywhere as Kirito disarms enemies in vast sweeps. They desperately attempt to flank, but Tomoe and her guard are here, as well as the tanks of the Holy Trinity, to cover Kirito's intense advance through the melee masses. Meanwhile hhis sweeping martial arts moves get enemies pinned for less destructive capture. There was a part where things looked bad, a larger male model approaching and looking like he was gonna try to crush Kirito with a giant hammer, but then one of Zephyr's hornets slammed into him and the rampart collapsed out from under him due to the Traveller's efforts, and he smashed facefirst into the ground far below.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Noble Six is gonna have to hold her own a fair bit against the massive stream of awful materials. It's like they launched everything you never wanted to accidentally step on. But it bashes against Enforcer's suddenly-projected energy barrier, and as long as Noble Six is okay with the traumatic shudders of force that go up her arm, Enforcer holds firm!

    Ainsley, meanwhile, is going to locate two things: First, the location of the machines. Strange contraptions formed out of odd bits of silverware, a measuring cup used to fire the awful payload. She'd also be able to zoom in and see the commander-looking lady - she's actually got a really big sword, not a really big hat. It's a giant steak knife - ordering the assorted soldiers to retreat. The order is spreading out, and it looks like trained movements are being done for it, like it's standard procedure for everyone in these outposts to retreat when faced with something like this. Which implies awful things about their counterattacks.

    Huh. Well, might be worth it to capture or assassinate that girl anyway. Though that's all up to Fuki.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Ainsley's fire on the metal-wrought catapult-esque devices fries the string used for tension in them, but the overall structure doesn't have nearly enough resistance to get broken as a whole by strikes of lightning!

Kirito has posed:
    With a massive male bearing down, Kirito weighed his options. He could try a Sword Skill to deflect the weapon, hoping that such acceleration would follow the rules he's used to and absolutely defeat anything not similarly empowered.

    Yeah right. Multiverse. Not gonna risk that against an overhead blow!

    But he thankfully doesn't HAVE to worry about that. In comes a rescue from Zephyr's efforts, and the Spriggan gasps in relief. "Nice save!"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The force of the impact is enough to remind Noble Six that she'd be better off dodging these than trying to take the hits, "I don't suppose you've got some secret ability that'll make me move faster." Six mutters, as she turns to one side and fires the sniper rifle with one hand at an approaching plastic construction block with rediculously sharp edges.

    "Wish I'd brought a rocket launcher. Maybe next time!" Six is already starting to compile a list of upgrades she'd like to get for Enforcer, when she's able to.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe sees to it with the Holy Trinity at her back. She contiunes her strike and is starint go feel a bit more bold however as she moves with her weapons. Tizpna is certainly helping her endure everything that is thrown at her. She can not parry them all, they do score hits she tries to right through the pain and keep going. However she can't take everything but she's damn well going to try.

Fuki has posed:
    Taking no cue from anyone, the Shinki's scythe, Silent Black, is pulled up into a ready state. A light nod and off Fuki goes from the roof into the building and with quick scanning, she sees the overly large 'blade' carried by what looks to be someone issuing orders. Silent Black is shifted a bit, scythe head behind her as she jets down towards what Fuki believes is the leader of the area, black wings flaring out as she makes a mid-air brake. She swings the scythe around to bring the blade up against neck. "Don't move and I will treat you well."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Fuki blasts her way down to the commander that Ainsley's managed to identify, halting her movements with a blade over the neck. The sudden halt comes to a dramatic staredown. Though, of course, it's sort of one-sided with the commander facing away like that.

    She throws her titanic weapon to one side and raises her hands. "Fine." She says, simply. But this came after a long delay; Fuki will have had to commit to capturing this one out of all the others, it seems. Fuki's honor guard immediately sets about fully capturing her.

    Meanwhile, disarmed dolls are being sent away by the martial force of the others, forced farther and farther out of the area, all of them drifting off and flying away in a flock of sorts, in well-practiced retreating motions. Hmmm... This can't be the army that took over EVERYTHING, can it? That'd be absurd. But in any case, Kirito and Tomoe have achieved ground dominance, and Zephyr and Nine have achieved dominance of the high ground, while Noble Six is quite capable of handling any threats in-between while Ainsley ensures nothing of the enemy is left behind when they retreat.

    Good work out there, it seems like. This place is captured! Until the inevitable counterattack anyway. Let's be honest, the foreshadowing on that is getting a little heavy.