3451/Minor Grail: The Sentinel Maze

Minor Grail: The Sentinel Maze
Date of Scene:	27 November 2015
Location:	The Great Mountains
Synopsis:	The small village of Wolong in the Great Mountains requests help dealing with a rogue Caster... but not all is as it seems.
Cast of Characters:	430, Lezard Valeth, 687, Sanary Rondel, 794, 895, 908, 915

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Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    The small village of Wolong, in a sheltered position within the Great Mountains, is a mix of Japanese and Chinese culture, Asian architecture spanning at best fifty buildings, most houses, but at least one is readily identified as barracks. Months ago, this small village was threatened due to its position between the Union and Confederate front lines, being a choke point that would be invaluable to own. But when a meteor, or so people assumed, crashed into the nearby mountains, the small village mounted a competent, powerful militia overnight, and utilized unusual and highly successful tactics, first to defend, and then push back.

    Neither faction had deemed it worth pushing into Wolong any further, and it stopped the militia's advance. But lately, the village has suffered unrest, and in the wake of its elder's passing, the new elder has reached out to both factions for help. It would turn out the Confederacy would answer the call first.

    The village, surrounded by trees and mountains, is difficult to see from above. It meant that precision air strikes and drops weren't possible, not without just razing the mountain chain anyway. North, the Union front lines, and south, the Confederate ones, after some travel through the needle-like stone pillars and peaks. West, mountains, and east, more mountains-- but east is an actual path, a road that navigates through the base of the taller stone formations.

    Though the villagers seem unhappy at the new elder's decision to call on the Superfactions, the young man waits at the entrance for those willing to investigate. He'll answer your questions, if you have any, and very roughly explain that their former tactician, the man who turned their situation around, disappeared into the mountains. Since then, nobody who leaves the village, not even to get water, returns. They never got his name, because he never told them. 'Caster', is all he'd agree to say.

    GUDAKO is along, with her dematerialized Berserker, but she seems more concerned by her cellphone than by this. Maybe if someone has a question only she can answer!

    It's mid-day here, and the weather is pretty clear.

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    More often than not, when Satsuki Kiryuin attends Confederate business, she brings one of her Elite Four with her, both for the skills they can provide, and for the simple presence they bring with them.

    Especially Ira Gamagoori. He brings a lot of that.

    But for today, the Student Council President of Honnouji Academy has arrived with no support but an old man very obviously clad in butler's clothes, who follows after her dutifully despite his advanced age. She walks as if completely assured of his presence, eyes straight forward despite the natural beauty of their present location; apparently she's all business in times like this. And also, for that matter, is given to playing hardball.

    The new village elder is greeted with nothing less than a cold, hard stare, and an expression that could generously be described as 'stern'. "This village declared it had no need for the Union or Confederacy some time back. While I am willing to allow for the change in leadership as a change in direction, I'm afraid that the obvious question must be asked. What do we stand to gain, by helping a small village that once repulsed our authority with military action? You yourself may not have condoned it, but your home has raised its hand against the Confederate military. That cannot simply be forgotten."

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     The pale, skinny Tommy Wahagi doesn't look like other Confederates. Other Confederates are like Darth Vader, Lezard Valeth, Satsuki Kiryuun. Other Confederates project an aura of dangerousness around them, a powerful confidence that cuts as sharply as any weapon. Many of them carry with them the scars and skills of a life of hardship. Tommy...Tommy carries with him nothing. He has no killer's aura, no sharp and dangerous look to him, no confident appearance. Dressed in his long robe, with a weird metal backpack clinging to his back, the pale and skinny Tommy looks more like a student forced onto a hiking trip than a dangerous member of one of the superfactions. No, worse - he looks like a student who's never had to do physical activity before who's been forced onto a hiking trip. His breathing is ragged. He seems unhappy, even frustrated, at the long expense of energy. The beautiful scenery is lost on him, drawing only spite as they work their way past trees.

     But this is part of what it takes to gain more power.

     When they finally arrive at the village, Tommy nearly collapses. He hits the ground, breathing hard, the wheezing, heaving breaths of an asthmatic wracking his body. On hands and knees, he fights to regain both his breath and his dignity.

     Meanwhile, the beautiful nurse Xanya appears completely unbothered by the long trek. The woman is unreal - /too/ perfect, like she was made in a factory, without the blemishes and flaws of humankind. She kneels and lifts Tommy up, helping him catch his breath with a distant smile on her face.

     Satsuki's speech gives Tommy a moment's pause, although that, again, might just be him coughing. For a moment, it seems like he's going to say something, but then the moment passes, and rather than disagree, he remains silent. A look slides across his face for all of an instant, a dark and unpleasant look.

     Satsuki probably isn't the cause.

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    Ira MacNally is most definitely not a member of the Confederacy.

    However, Ira MacNally is definitely a lover of earning money. Her recent antics at the Factory did a good job at least establishing to the Multiverse what she's capable of-and attracting the attention of people that could pay for it. Though in this case, she was mostly aware that Gudako was doing a thing and she wanted in on it.

    The teenager doesn't look like she's visibly armed, having come from a world where it really wasn't kosher to carry around weapons casually. She's at least gotten herself what looks like an armored leather coat to wear over her school unform for the purpose of 'missions'. All the while here, she's been staring at Tommy, then looking back to Gudako with a 'seriously? Really?' kind of expression on her face.

    The beefy Irish girl only has one question for the new elder: "What direction did he disappear off to?"

Ark Line (687) has posed:
Ark has replaced his poncho. The new one looks crisp and clean; newer, to be blunt. He hasn't given up on his hat, though, so the young man with the steel-grey attire and vivid purple hair stands out just a little bit more than usual. The older man next to him, apparently middle-aged and in a rumpled grey suit and kind of floppy hat, just seems kind of... out of place, rather than remarkable.

"Oh, relax." Ark waves a hand dismissively. "We'll talk about recompense and levies and crap like that later. These people need our help." It's a remarkable attitude for a Confederate elite to take, but Ark is one of a couple oddities among the roster. "We take care of the problem, they surrender to our forces, we secure the area and then we talk about what they can do for us, too."

"Our focus should be on the individual on the mountain," Caster of Steel, the other man with Ark, remarks. "If he is the source of their stiff resistance, we will need a proper plan of action to remove him from his sanctuary."

"And that," Ark agrees. He smiles a lopsided smile at Satsuki. "C'mon. Give 'em a break. They know they've made their bed."

Lezard Valeth has posed:
LEZARD VALETH is here as well. Having a secret superpower of being able to appear to be a reasonable person on occasion has been useful when dealing with people in political arenas, The Necromancer of Midgard is not putting on airs today, simply carrying himself along without weapon or apparent care. When Tommy collapses he walks past, not offering him help up...

But he also does not leave him behind, waiting for him to recover before they speak to the new elder.

The Sorceror of Midgard adjusts his glasses, considering as Satsuki lays out her opening gambit. "Forgotten? Hardly, I would say it should be commended that they have done so much with so... little." He smiles faintly. "Then again, their prospective savior appears to have turned against them, have they not?" Lezard looks to Gudako, who seems to be engrosed in her phone games, and Ark Line, who is playing Good Cop to Satsuki's Honnouji Cop. "The being identified themselves a 'Caster'. This lends itself to certain conclusions, does it not?"

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    One of the voices that had answered the village of Wolong was that of the Galactic Empire. A nervous officer had been the communicating individual, speaking on behalf of Lord Vader. Whether the name was known or not, no effort was made to clarify the truth of the identity behind it, or what an ill omen it must be to capture that man's attention. Time passed, and then it had appeared. The Star Destroyer REVENANT entered the skies like the tip of a great knife wielded by an unfathomably colossal being, exiting hyperspace in a location that could only be interpreted as a subtle threat.

    It casts a shadow that brings shade to the whole village and beyond.

    The arrival of the Empire's agent is, if anything, more threatening still.

    Darth Vader could be called a sorcerer to begin with, but at the controls of a starfighter he's as much a daredevil as he ever was, and very much in possession of skills that could rightly be called sorcery. What emerges from the REVENANT is not the TIE Advanced characteristic, but a small Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor. It is small, cramped, uncomfortable and barely has room to socket an astromech. It has elements of the TIE Fighter to it in this regard, though a little less minimalistic in all things save perhaps size. Its profile is small, and as speed and maneuverability goes...

    Vader does not walk, and he does not need to SEE to find the path that he will be taking. The fighter screams through the pass leading into the village with grace and precision, braking harshly as it reaches the end and comes to a landing where things are a bit more open. An eerie cold seeps out where Vader passed, and builds as the cockpit hisses open and he emerges from within.

    Darth Vader approaches the gathering in relative silence, the repetitive hiss of his respirator serving as the only voice he offers for now. He can sense the tension and that words have already been exchanged. Besides which, he said enough with the manner of his approach: Others cannot find and reach you in this way. I can.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    If it makes Tommy feel better, he can stay by Gudako, who projects no aura of danger whatsoever! Unless you're sensitive to dark magic. In which case she's a walking red flag. But don't mind that!

    The village elder-- elder being a very generous term, maybe it'll be true in fifty years, but this guy is barely out of his teenage years-- makes a face at Satsuki, not an insulting one, more of a 'yeeeeah we kinda fucked that one up' face. "My father and the villagers didn't think we should get involved in the war. They'd have taken any way out. I never really agreed with the policy. This place is an important chokepoint, it'd further your war efforts. Honestly, people just want out now. Mountains are cursed, they say. We'd be better off rebuilding elsewhere, but whenever someone leaves, they never come back. Or call."

    To Ira, he points into the eastern mountains. "We get food and water that way. Wells, plenty of fruit trees, things to hunt. Not safe anymore, though." Then to Lezard, a nod. "His price was pretty steep. He'd consume the magic and life of anyone we captured. We didn't mind, it meant a way out. When we ran out of people to capture, he became unhappy. And here we are. At first he struck us as the loyal, to-the-end man, very charismatic... the longer we worked with him, the more it seemed otherwise."

    With Vader bringing a ship through the narrow mountains-- something any lesser pilot would find foolish-- villagers start heading indoors. And the 'elder' isn't without the ability to grasp the situation and implied threat. He wonders if he's just made a pact with several devils to cheat the village out of their last one gone wrong, but eventually concludes you have to do what you have to do.

    It's with a nervous pace the man directs the arrivals to the eastern entrance slash exit of the village, leading back into the narrow mountains and trees. "I'd prefer not to go with you. For... five different reasons." He tries not to say out loud that between Vader and Satsuki he's about ready to change his pants, but it's pretty obvious.

    Last chance for questions, unless you're forcing him along!

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     Ira (girl)'s looks have not escaped Tommy's notice. Not even once. He knows those looks. He's seen those looks from everyone in his life. Those looks, those looks. 'You're so pathetic', say those looks. 'Why don't you just die', ask those looks. 'How can someone like you keep fighting after all this,' wonder those gazes.

     Those gazes have seeped into his skin. And while they haven't given him /confidence/, they have given him something similar, something that might be mistaken for confidence if one wasn't paying close attention.

     Defiance.

     "That's," Tommy manages, drawing himself up, "A r-really cowardly thing to do. You're a real c-coward, aren't you?"

     The look on his face is totally different as Xanya releases him. He leans heavily on a makeshift staff (literally just a big stick), staring at the village elder. "You're betraying someone strong t-to someone stronger. You're r-running away from the consequences because you're weak, and you d-don't even want to face the person you're betraying."

     "You're useless." Tommy draws in a sharp breath.

     "We should," he says, not quite meeting the rest of the group's gaze, "Leave them to their f-fate, and go recruit this Caster guy. He s-sounds strong, and he p-played fair with them. He'd p-probably be useful to us. They'll just..."

     Tommy's knuckles harden around the staff.

     "They'll j-just betray us to someone the first chance they g-get."

     "That's what weak people d-do."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     There's something nostalgic about the place to Sanary. Maybe it's the size of the village, maybe it's the smell in the air, maybe it's how shady the people are, but the healer actually feels at ease as she stomps along in heavily-armored feet (along with her heavily-armored everything else) to join up with the other Elites.

     Just in time, too, as she comes in at the tail end of the 'elder's' explanations and Tommy's own response. Once he finishes, she remains quiet for several moments before bursting out into laughter suddenly, clapping a hand across his back. Not too hard, of course, and she even makes sure to direct some magical energy his way just in case he needs a little pick me up!

     "He's got a point. How do we know you're not just gonna screw us over later when you think you won't need us?" She levels a long stare at the 'elder', partially to try and look intimidating with her sole eye glowing purple for a second and partially to avoid looking directly at Vader and Honnouji Cop. "You know who brought that Caster here? If you play along, this place might not catch on fire later~"

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    The scorn is palpable. There is little love for the sick and weak in Ira's mind and she finds Tommy's presence absolutely baffling. There is no reassurement from the girl either, no words offered that she would be protecting the weaker members of the investigating pack. Were this mission to cull the weak in the process, Ira would be alright with that.

    One of the later-joining members, Darth Vader, on the other hand receives a long stare. It isn't only the entrance but the very look of the masked, armored man is nonetheless attention-grabbing. The heavy breathing is slightly annoying.

    Ira sets out a few steps towards the Eastern mountains, but pauses as Tommy speaks, calling the man and the villagers a coward. "...these people have no power. If they betray us, they can't do anything to us, can they?" she laughs a little and continues on her way, "We need to have words with the 'Caster' it sounds like."

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    The approach of Lord Vader is one even a thoroughly 'mundane' person like Satsuki is not oblivious to - and not just because of the very visible, intimidating show of skill. Something on an instinctive level warns her of his approach, but between the sense of cold, ruthless power he carries with him and the display he put on with his approach, the Queen of Honnouji can't help but approve of his methods. Even if they unsettle her on some level. Ark, on the other hand, merely receives a stare with no small amount of disdain in response to his affability.

    Lezard, however, makes a more compelling argument to her sensibilities. "To rely on the strength of another is to leave oneself at their mercy," she says; he does have a point, but there's no small amount of dissatisfaction over their use of this mystery Caster on Satsuki's part. "But let me be clear," she says, turning back towards the elder. "You're proposing that, in return for our dealing with this 'curse' and your former savior, your village will cede this territory to the Confederacy and move elsewhere, granting us a valuable chokepoint. In essence, you're simply handing us the land 'as-is'."

    Satsuki snorts quietly, and then turns on her heel. "Cowardly indeed. But this land is attractive enough that I, at least, am willing to take the deal as-offered. I'll even see to it that REVOCS resources are devoted to your relocation," she adds, lips curling into a smile that's very close to mocking. "However, my allies make a very pertinent point. So I must warn you. Those who serve the Confederacy loyally, are rewarded. Serve well, and you will find prosperity, even." Her left hand subtly shifts Bakuzan's sheath, however, calling attention to the weapon.

    "However, if you attempt to bite the hand that feeds you, you will not be able to hide from our retribution no matter where you go or whose help you seek."

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    "Lies."

    Darth Vader's deep voice booms out abruptly, like the crack of a whip in a silent room. He strides forward, looming tall over the Village Elder and looking down at him from behind lenses that offer no glimpse of what remains within. He raises a hand accusingly and threateningly, but he merely points for the moment, rather than grasping or striking. Even one of his hands is more than large enough to enclose a man's neck, and it could only be a little more obvious than it is right now. Specifically, it could only be more obvious if he was just straight up strangling somebody.

    "We were not summoned by the petty authorities of a backwater village of little value to be deceived by an amateur playing at politician."

    "You will explain what is happening, truthfully and in full, and you will not deceive us a second time." Vader concludes, matter-of-factly. He withdraws his hand back into the darkness of his cloak, glaring expectantly towards the young village elder.

Ark Line (687) has posed:
Ark is trying really hard to be the good cop. It's really difficult when there are an awful lot of bad cops (and also Satsuki, who gets her own category entirely). Maybe he should have listened to Caster more about working on his people skills. Except that would make him insufferable, so...

...ehhn. He'll deal. Besides, maybe it's going to work even better with more threats flying around?

"He wouldn't," Ark assures the team. "Screw us, I mean. If he's out here, he's got enough people behind him to know that this street's one-way. But it's pretty nice, right?" Ark claps the 'elder' on the shoulder. He's stronger than he looks, but he doesn't try to hurt him. "I'd say 'welcome to the winning team,' but first we should..." Vader arrives. Ark's train of thought is totally derailed for a second. That guy has /presence/. He forces himself back on-track. "...take care of that problem of yours. Right?" He looks around. Vader seems to want more information, so he lets him ask for it. Ark disengages from them, backing off to let the guy in the freaky armor handle this.

While Ark backs off, Caster of Steel offers the 'elder' a quick nod, and watches Vader with a look of mild suspicion. The two of them soon start towards the path out of the village and up the mountain. "Be mindful of what words you use," Ark's Caster says to Ira. "We don't have enough intelligence to charge into this blindly."

"But we sure do have enough firepower," Ark retorts, a touch cheerfully. He looks over his shoulder, calling, "Hey, 'prentice kid!" in Tommy's direction. "Come on; time for one of your practicals!"

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    "C-Coward? We don't have any heroes here! It's a miracle we even held out this long! The village used to be three times this size, five times as populated. Getting that militia together to resist pretty much crippled us! Of course we want out! -I- want out!" the man answers Tommy, nervously.

    Sanary gets a headshake. "With what are we going to screw you over? Our militia's either dead or missing. We could throw potted plants at you, I guess." Humor, a cheap way to change the subject.

    Satsuki gets it, though. It's a good deal. He calms down. "O-Of course we wouldn't do anything like that. We--" Before he can try to finish answering Satsuki, Vader motions towards the man and demands the truth. This causes the man to take a step back.

    "Lies. I. Don't know what you're talking about. I told you everything. He's somewhere in there. Honest!" That much is true-- he isn't lying about THAT. But with how nervous he's gotten, the fact he's hiding SOMETHING is too obvious. And if it wasn't obvious before, it's a bit more now-- the man seems to be under some sort of suggestive spell. He has his free will, but he's strongly compelled to do or say some things.

    "Please, you've gotten our offer. Just go kill him already. We can't suffer another day in this place." That one, that's a lie too.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard does not menace the elder further, nor does he offer more perspective at the moment. Most of the conversation that can be had has been had. Other than perhaps more elucidation for Darth Vader, Lezard seems to believe they know most of what they need. He folds his arms at this point, perhaps sighing faintly. He seems distracted, really, though he waits to see what else might make itself apparent.

The response to Vader's accusations actually draws a faint narrowing of the eyes from Lezard, but he simply emits a low hmph, before nodding and turning away, heading to the mountain.

He's seen what he needs to see. Time to play this Caster's game and see how well he has set the board.

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     Sanary whacks him on the back. This alone nearly topples him over. The healing magic is appreciated, but Tommy's defiant look melts instantly into a red-faced ground-staring phenomenon. Apparently the touch of pretty girls is something Tommy still isn't able to handle if they aren't his direct subordinate. Then again, *is* Xanya his direct subordinate? The woman's...well, it's just /odd/, his relationship there.

     He remains staring at the ground at Vader's sharp crack of words. It's only when Ark calls that Tommy looks up and starts walking, almost out of reflex. The brief radio conversation explains what he should be doing, so Tommy slips open one of the pouches around his waist and pulls out his deck. Shuffling it rapidly, Tommy displays more physical dexterity than he really has any right to have as a sick person. It's like watching one of those ridiculous auto-shufflers shuffle a deck.

     Tommy looks over his shoulder at the Elder. There's a long, dispassionate gaze as he starts walking after Ark, shuffling his cards.

     Then he stops and turns to look at the Elder.

     To REALLY look at the Elder.

     "He w-wants us to go, doesn't he?" Tommy asks suddenly, a surprising degree of sharpness in his eye, "This is a t-trap because he's interested, isn't it? In seeing something b-besides this place. You're j-just the bait. M-Mister Vader is right, isn't he?"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Satsuki stops dead in her tracks. She's utterly still. Much like Lezard, she's caught the tone of his voice, but she doesn't have enough information about what Casters are capable of to draw the right conclusions. Instead, she simply regards the man over her shoulder and says, "A lie by omission is still a lie. Lying to us would be a very poor idea." She doesn't really have more to offer than that. Wahagi is on the right track, and if anyone is well-equipped to deal with the man hiding something, it's Vader.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Alas, he did have a point there. Sanary peers at the man for a while longer before shrugging lightly, resting a hand on the gunaxe at her side and looking towards the mountain. "Well, as long you know not to try that stunt again, I think this'll work out. Especially not with plants." She smiles sweetly at the 'elder', trying to avoid pushing him too far, then turns her gaze to Tommy and his... Interesting reaction to the whack. There's a slight smirk on her face at that, but she's not going to press those buttons just yet. They've got a job to do!

     As she starts moving to follow Lezard, however, she stops just as quickly at the mention of a trap. She tries not to let her confusion show, focusing her gaze on those mountains without even turning around. She remains quiet, however, content to let the real speakers do their thing while she just focuses on listening. Learning.

     Maybe learning how to use these techniques herself one day.

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    Chastised by Caster of Steel, Ira turns to look at the man, not saying anything, but merely looking at him. She seems rather put off by this, dreadfully unamused, and clearly putting this Caster down on some kind of list. A snort escapes her and she looks away, boggling as Vader sweeps in to throttle their 'patron' and accuse him of lying.

    She herself has all the magical senses of a rock. The compulsion spell that the man currently suffers under remains unknown to the persona user.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    Darth Vader seems contemplative for a short time, during which he simply looms over the stuttering elder and remains in place. He begins to put together pieces of the information that's been provided. A guardian appeared miraculously, but required prisoners to eat and drain. The militia is dead or missing ... but that's a lie. So is the claim that they don't have the ability to suffer another day here, and that he wants out. The logical explanation is that this entire thing is a trap to lure in more people who can serve as a battery to the guardian figure.

    After a moment more of consideration, Darth Vader applies brute telekinetic force to the base of the elder's right index finger, with every intent of simply ripping the fingernail right off. Assuming nothing prevents that in and of itself, he applies the same telekinetic force to his right middle finger. Only once this has been accomplished does he trouble to speak again.

    "Three lies, and one useless truth among them."

    "You neither wish to leave or have a need to leave. Your forces are not gone, or missing. The only information of substance that you have given us is that your supposedly unwanted village guardian is where you say it is." Vader doesn't bother asking any more questions. He's certain his point has been made, and that information -should- be forthcoming, eventually.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Those who head for the mountain early pass a duo of stone statues to the side. Decorative, not unlike gargoyles-- more human, less monstrous. Chinese in craft, depicting bald men in robes with large fans in one hand and a book in another. After stepping past them, the air changes. Ark Line in particular is equipped to tell they've just stepped into a Bounded Field-- a Noble Phantasm-tier one, at that-- assuming he's part of the early trip.

    From the outside of the area, it didn't look like anything much; talls rock formations, lots of trees. But once inside, the stone spires seem to stretch forward upward, and the path splits a dozen different directions through narrow paths into and around the stone.

    The wind is blowing from ahead-- regardless of where you head. This is exactly as annoying as it sounds, but great for capes. Prying eyes watch, likely through the magic of the field.

    Another set of stone statues, identical to the prior ones. Passing them causes their eyes to glow. This causes a rumble far above, and a number of traps spring.
* Large stones fall towards the party!
* Lightning strikes at the party!
* One of the paths leading further ahead suddenly cracks and shatters, forming a large gap in the ground. It doesn't seem to have a bottom, and it's too far across to just jump (for a normal person, anyway).

    Meanwhile, those who stay with the chief find him screaming in pain as Vader has his way with him. "Please! We don't have a choice!" False-- as far as he knows and believes. The spell on him might sing a different tune. "He'll kill us if we don't do as he says!" True. "He wanted us to-- the boy is right! We're bait! We were to lure would-be heroes or helpers who were better to siphon than random soldiers!" True. "He meant to impress on you the danger of ever coming back!" Also true. "The road ahead is strewn with traps, and he's hidden the soldiers for an ambush! LET ME GO NOW!" Also true!

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    A trap has been set indeed. So the plan comes together that they will split in two, and leave a second force waiting to swoop in once the first springs the trap. It's smart. Ambush the ambusher. Satsuki knows she has the sheer speed and strength to serve as an effective member of a quick-strike group, so she opts to stay behind; this leaves her in place for the results of Vader's questioning.

    She spends her time waiting with a cup of tea that her butler has presented her. When the hell did...?

    Over the radio, they're warned of a Bounded Field that has been laid over the entire area the advance group has entered, which only seals her choice as the right one. The moment anyone steps in there, Caster probably knows they've arrived. So choosing to wait with Vader in the village seems to have been correct. Even if the sight of a man having fingernails ripped out makes the tea less enticing by simple proximity.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Creepy bald statues, weird magical distortions in the air... It's definitely the Caster's work, although Sanary doesn't have quite enough knowhow to identify it as a Bounded Field (despite being in one just the other day). The tension in the air is enough to get her to bring up her shield, however, leaving her free arm... Well, free to brace the shield against the wind blowing from in front of her.

     Of course, the first thing she does is proceed to trigger ALL THE TRAPS. Withstanding the giant stones is one thing now that she's wearing the right armor for the job, and she even throws herself at a few to make sure there's enough clear space for Tommy to get through safely! The lightning strikes are another matter entirely, however. Even though the shield does absorb most of shock, the fact that she's wearing a mixture of metal and scales weak to lightning means a nasty zap still courses throughout her armor and burning the cleric quite a bit!

     At least she's got plenty of magic power to spare in helping her recover between traps. "Holy hell... Whoever built this place is an ass!" She pants slightly while keeping that healing energy flowing, even directing some outwards to help anyone else that's brave/stupid enough to trigger them along with her. The gap isn't too hard to pass with the AANS letting her just hover over them, although she does cut it a little close just to conserve energy for all the healing that's probably going to be needed soon.

     "Really hope there's no more lightning.. Guh. Everyone okay?"

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard is with the group that headed to the mountain early. He understands the situation. What remains is to see how excellent the execution is.

The entrance into the Bounded Field causes Lezard to narrow his eyes. He knows spatial distortions when he feels them, though he lacks the experience others might in identified Noble Phantasms on sight.

Give him time. Regardless, his cape billows dramatically behind him in the wind as he heads through the twisting paths. He scowls. This place is prime ambush territory. He doesn't, however, do anything untoward until the traps begin.

He was expecting the boulders, that's an elementary trap in a mountain area. With a sudden gesture, a section of the mountainside blows out, the earth erupting to force the rocks sliding towards him to divert around.

He was not, however, expecting the lightning. The sizzling blasts crackle and strike the magus, scorching over mystic protections and driving him backwards, leaving a nasty-looking blackened mark on his chest. He's not dead, but clearly wounded. "... Well played." He says to the air. He assumes the Caster can hear him, regardless. If their positions were reversed HE certainly would be able to.

The collapsed section of the path is less of an issue to Lezard, but he looks to the others. "I can take us across, but if someone can bridge the gap, it would be more optimal." He comments.

Ark Line (687) has posed:
Ark leads the charge up the mountain. It isn't that he's particularly well-equipped to deal with this sort of thing, even if he kind of is; it's that he feels like he needs to have some forward motion, here, or he's going to just stand around all day and all night.

As soon as he steps over the boundary, Ark starts, blinking and tensing. Caster follows him, frowning as he follows his path. "Woah," Ark breathes. He glances back to the early party. "Just walked into a Bounded Field. He's ready for us, all right." The Liner draws his weapons, a sleek-looking pistol in his right hand and what looks to the casual observer like a dull bone knife in his left. The martially-inclined might identify it as a type of war fan, though they're not usually made of a single piece of bone...

"We are on this Caster's home turf, as it were," Caster of Steel explains, to the non-mages in the group. "He will have done everything in his power to prepare for an assault. We will weather the worst of it on the way up --"

The traps start to go off right as they pick a direction (forward and upwards, Ark thinks, as always). Rocks fall, and Ark and Caster leap aside, Ark with superior reflexes and Caster with superior speed. They skirt past him, barely, tumbling down the path. Caster isn't in the proximity, but the lightning hits the ground near Ark, barely missing him and flash-blinding him instead. He staggers... and nearly falls into the pit, feeling the ground in front of him crumble before he takes a tumble.

Ark stops at the edge, blinking rapidly. "Guh. Okay. For a first set of traps, that wasn't too bad." He takes a moment as Caster of Steel moves up to meet him, looking this way and that warily. Ark makes a gesture, and Caster reaches under Ark's poncho, grabbing an object off his belt. He points the box at one of the spires at the far end of the pit and depresses a button, firing a spike on a wire across it. Then, he sticks the other end to another one on the near side, and bends a piece of the contraption outwards. It looks like it's some kind of powered zipline; just hold the handle, push a button, and get propelled across.

Ark and Caster move to go across with that, leaving it for the group to try and save Lezard some trouble -- assuming, of course, neither side collapses when they try it.

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     Tommy's basically been challenged. Ark's laid it down - /if/ you think you can take the heat. There's only two ways to respond to that - the way of someone with strength, and the way of a coward. And given how angry Tommy was at the village leader's cowardice, it pretty much seals the deal. He hurries along after Ark, along with his weird little metal box backpack thing. The weird little metal box backpack thing appears to also have throbbing fleshy bits, which is really creepy, as it's hard to tell where the flesh ends and the metal begins, and *flesh shouldn't be shaped like a box*. (Xanya is staying behind to watch Vader work, partially to play relay device, partially because Tommy gives her a look that clearly says he doesn't want her hurt.)

     Tommy's still shuffling furiously as he walks behind Ark. All of a sudden, the statues glow!

     Rocks fall.

     Tommy shouts and tries to run out of the way, but, well, as anyone can tell, Tommy and Running are not...a pair. Fortunately, Sanary's in the way to save him from the rocks!

     Tommy hits the ground, flat on his ass. He stares as Sanary takes the shot, apparently unharmed, his eyes wide. Hurriedly, he fumbles with his hand. "Elvish Mystic!"

     The trees around here don't just belong to Caster, after all! Tommy digs deep, drawing in the land, and forces it into - through - the card. There's a flare of green light as the ground opens up, and a horrible.../thing/ emerges. It's no elf that's ever existed in reality. Oh, sure, it has weird metal horns that /might/ be mistaken for ears. But that's where the resemblance ends - the horror is otherwise a terrifying conglomerate of metal and flesh, with huge, sharp claws. It's hunched forward, with a battery on its back, a sparking green battery drinking in power.

     Lightning strikes rain down. Tommy takes one right to the face, a scream erupting as the physical pain merges with the familiar sensation of being electrocuted. He screams and throws his hands over his head, whimpering. It's kind of pitiful, and super-embarassing, but there's no time for that now. The lightning scares him, scares the hell out of him. It's beyond terrifying. A little bolt of lightning can't do much damage but it *does* dig up some really horrible memories for him.

     It's only once the canyon's down that Tommy can take a moment to compose himself. No, he's not being electrocuted. He's a Planeswalker. He's better than the Tommy Wahagi who nearly died that day. He's way, way better. He's gotten bigger and stronger and...

     And he fights himself to focus on the cards. Yeah, on the cards. The cards are sanity. The cards are safety.

     Tommy steadies himself for a moment. "S-sorry," he says, "I c-can't do anything about that...b-but I can start setting up for anything that comes next."

     "Green Sun's Zenith! F-for Gyre Sage!"

     Tommy snaps his hand upwards. A green sun emerges in the middle of the sky, blotting out the stormclouds. The green light shines straight down over the field, slowly narrowing until it takes the shape of...of a horrible, formless mass of white flesh. The horrible formless mass is wired at every point, with pulleys on its shoulders. It has no face.

     Tommy moves over to Sanary. He waffles for a moment, reaching out like he wants to touch her and comfort her, then pulling away. The motion is really obvious and really embarassing, and finally, his face goes red and he turns away, looking at the canyon.

     Inwardly, he curses himself.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    Darth Vader seems to accept the village elder's explanation, and stops tearing his fingernails off. He regards the village distantly, and wonders about the positioning of things. The defensibility of this place has a lot to do with the surrounding geography. There aren't many ways in or out, allowing bottlenecks to be defended a lot more effectively with a lot fewer people than anyone has any business dealing with. Heading off into the mountains is a different story, though...

    Temporarily, the Sith Lord departs from the elder's company to reach into the cockpit of his fighter and flip several switches. There is a pronounced pinging noise as a transponder becomes active. He strides back to the village elder, remaining in arm's reach as he speaks.

    "Captain, I have activated the transponder on my ship. If I cease sending an all-clear signal, you will open fire on the transponder's location."

    Vader turns towards the village elder again, resting his hands on his belt. "You will bring me to your communications center, and signal your militia to return to the village. Once that is done, we will discuss the future of this village in greater depth."

    "Tell me more about this guardian being. Omit nothing." Vader adds, expectantly. He glances, vaguely, in the direction of Satsuki and her butler. A silent invitation to come along if desired, but he also asides, "Be prepared for the ambush to make its way here. I do not expect him to recall his fellows without making an attempt to signal that something has gone wrong."

    He doesn't seem troubled to air this doubt literally in front of the village elder.

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    "More than likely, now that our allies have entered their territory, they'll assume something has gone wrong simply by receiving the retreat order," Satsuki replies to Vader, calmly. "I will wait here. If our forces signal, I can enter quickly. If the enemy forces appear, I'm in place to deal with them immediately. And if they are foolish enough to try an attack on you..." Her lips curl up into a faint smile. "I can be there quickly to watch the show." Because let's face it. Trying to ambush Darth Vader can only end in a spectacle worth seeing.

    However, there is one person here whom she feels would be in more danger at her side than otherwise. "Soroi. Accompany Lord Vader for the time being." The butler takes a deep bow, giving a simple, "As you wish, my lady," that sounds as if it's passed his lips a thousand times, and then moves to fall into step precisely two steps back and one step to the left of the Sith Lord.

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    Were the statues at all breakable in any way, Ira would have broken off one of the fans or a piece of one of the fans. Failing that...it still looks like she's remained unarmed for now. Without any dedicated weapon, it's possible she just might bare knuckle fight anything that might come their way. No change is noticed when they pass through into the bounded field.

    Ira's results somewhat mirror that of Sanary's. Somewhat. Falling rocks don't seem to hurt Ira very much and, in fact, she seems to just swat the smaller ones out of the way with annoyed noises.

    Lightning, on the other hand, knocks her flat on her ass. She doesn't get up right away, staring up at the sky in pure shock (pun intended) at how incredibly painful that was. When she finally does get up, she'll head over to Sanary and prod her for a healing fix.

    She also pretends like nobody saw her getting slammed onto her ass. "I'm afraid I really don't have ways for passing that gap though. You're a wizard, right, can't you teleport? Or float?" she eyes Lezard who, frankly, looks exactly like what she'd expect a wizard to look like, minus the pointy hat.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    MOUNTAIN:

    Sanary tanks traps! Fortunately, she's sturdier than a bunch of rocks and lightning bolts by a fair margin, though the 'construction' of the place certainly hints there could be hundreds of additional traps on the way. Best not to get overconfident!

    Lezard offers a way across-- that much if up to them. There are countless side-paths that go around the collapsed path, although as a result they're longer. And possibly where Caster WANTS you to go. On the other hand, 'bridging the gap' is the least-effort path for a fair number of people, and two more of those statues stand on the ledge above, watching.

    Ark Line and his Caster cross via zipline. Expectedly, the statues' eyes lit upon passage. Two traps are triggered this time.

* A volley of flaming arrows rains upon Ark Line and Caster of Steel.
* Fireballs shoot down from the top of the stone spires towards the trees and assorted, flammable plant-life that Tommy is trying to make use of. The ensuring smoke threatens to cover the sky and obscure his green sun, too!

    At least, with those traps triggered, going across should be safe now?

    Ira will have no trouble arming herself with a stone fan. It's pretty sturdy, although not much use as a fan if you're hot.

    VILLAGE:

    "Our... communications center? We have a... radio, I guess?" This is true. And also false. They have phones, too. "We don't have a way to keep in touch like that." True. "Caster used magic to keep us all... it's hard to describe. Linked. Operating like a unit." True. And also, no doubt, very familiar to Vader. "He did leave some sort of statue in the barracks he said help spread the effect of his magic, if you want to see?"

    For the most part, the 'elder' has given up. The pain might have snapped him out of the spell. As he takes Vader and Satsuki to the barracks, he explains: "We don't know much about him. He really never told us his name. He's a tactical genius for sure, and his magic let him warp the areas outside the village to create... traps, mazes, death zones. He called those 'Bounded Fields'." He's telling the truth. Once the barracks are entered-- they're empty, predictably. It's not a very large building-- at most it might have housed a hundred people, in small bunk areas. There's an armory full of fairly standard Asian armor and weaponry. And in a side room, a very large obelisk of jade, runed and glowing.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    "There is something you are omitting. You do not communicate remotely in the field?" Vader asks, without offering any insight into how much this is recognizable to him. The idea of networked soldiers is nothing new to him, though exactly how it's accomplished may not be compatible with anything he is able to do. They'll just have to see. The barracks itself is unremarkable. Plenty of savages have had some facility like it, on primitive backwater planets with minimal resources to speak of. If that's the case, how do they communicate at long range? Couriers? Smoke signals?

    Surely they had developed some technology for that before this guardian appeared.

    "What methods of communication do you use in the field, if not your radio equipment?" He asks, but in truth his attention rapidly becomes divided. The question is mostly meant to distract, although if it offers a useful answer, he certainly doesn't mind. Ordinarily Vader would choose to simply smite the obelisk and have done with it, but he'd rather use it as a tool of his own if he can. If it connects to this person, perhaps he can use it to cause problems on the other end.

    Reaching out with his mind, Darth Vader probes at the obelisk, attempting to ascertain whether or not it is networked with the militiamen of this village.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Shaking off the rest of the twitching from taking a lightning to the shield, Sanary lets out a loud shout just to remind herself that her voice still works (again). "Oookay... Eugh. That sucked." She doesn't notice that gesture from Tommy, although she does notice the redness again along with that fleshy white... Thing in the sky before raising an eyebrow at him. "That yours?" Another amused chuckle later, and she takes a deep breath to start firing off quick blasts of healing magic around. One for Lezard and that smoldering mark on his chest, one each for Ark and Caster of Steel just in case those flaming arrows don't sit well with them, another for Tommy after all that screaming, and one more for Ira while pretending she didn't notice!

     "I can fly over easy enough if anyone needs it and doesn't wanna use that.. Uh." She gestures at the zipline device. "... That. I'd test it, but I dunno if that's such a good idea with the armor and all." And with that said, it's time to fly over the gap! Or hover awkwardly, anyway. She'll stay in place in front of the gap long enough for anyone who wants to climb on her back to do just that, and they'll be over fairly quickly with all the expected stumbling and awkward height changes trying to maintain a steady altitude will bring.

     She doesn't waste too much time once her feet are back on the ground, however, and Sanary resumes the march! She picks up the pace a bit, however, not paying much mind to the signals that there's probably even more traps waiting ahead. That, or she's trying to trigger them intentionally before they become too much of a problem for the others. It's hard to say sometimes.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
It's impossible to know what Caster would expect the group to do without knowing how much Caster knew ahead of time. Such are the perils of the intelligence game.

Lezard can appreciate that as the flaming arrows rain down on Ark and Caster of Steel, though he squints. "Burning the treeline? Did he prepare this ahead of time or is he setting up these traps instantly upon observing our capabilities and how we function?" He wonders aloud, looking to the thick smoke, and then to Ira. He smiles. "I am indeed a wizard, but why show what my capabilities are when we have someone so... unusual attempting to play a game of tactics with us?" He gestures to the zipline. "Feel free to cross as you like." He offers, letting the other frontliner go first as he lets Sanary heal him. The repairing magic gleams as it begins repairing the shock damage on his body, and he nods in thanks to the woman.

He will cross when the assault is clear using the zipline as he saw the others use it. He has nothing he cares to do in order to try to preserve the burning forest for now.

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     "Uh," Tommy respons to Sanay hurriedly, "Y-yeah!" He gets the heal, and his blush redoubles. He's in danger of blood loss! Well, okay, maybe not, but...

     Ark's zipline saves him from having to think too much about it. Tommy's weird little box thing has no trouble navigating its way over, either. Tommy gets his balance, when out of nowhere...fireballs!

     Land destruction!

     The forest around Tommy burns. Smoke coils around him, drawing another coughing fit forth. Tommy starts hacking and wheezing until he puts a sleeve over his mouth, which...mostly stops it? But he can already feel part of the connection severed. He flicks one of the cards off the weird little flesh/metal table and into his graveyard, dropping to his knees so he can get under the smoke and suck in a ragged breath. His fist hits the ground. Damn! He's too weak! He's way too weak! Even breathing was hard for him! Pathetic! Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic!

     Those feelings of being pathetic draw up in his chest as he reaches out for what plants are still around. Just because they were on fire didn't make this not a forest. He had time to get out what he needed...and if he could do that, then he wouldn't even really NEED the forest, would he?

     Green lightnig jumps from the battery monster into Tommy's hand. It goes up his body as he drinks in what he can of the surroundings. Then he snaps his hand out again.

     "Polukranos! The World-Eater!"

     A deafening roar breaks through the Bounded Field, shaking the ground. Something...*large*...rises.

     It could, imaginatively, be called a Hydra Engine, perhaps. The.../thing/...is a massive, four-legged nightmare of metal and flesh, melding interchangably and seamlessly. It has no eyes. Its muscles are wires and pulleys, gears and flesh interwoven together. Tendons are grafted to those wires and pulleys. Bones, part-metal, part-organic, are set in between them, lashed together with metallic strands. Its jaws, huge, nightmarish things, are lumps of jagged metal that *should not* be able to open like they do, dripping with a black ooze that probably isn't drool. The four heads rise and let out a terrifying shriek as it lumbers forward. Its furious chorus of a roar is almost enough to mask the horrible noise of the mutating lump of flesh that follows Tommy.

     The lump of flesh's arms split into four, like tendrils. At the end of each "arm", horrible metal jaws appear. Its muscles swell upwards and grow bigger, wires bulging out of its body.

     The giant Polukanos-machine stomps forward at Lezard's request, swinging its head to the side into the first statue it can find.

Ark Line (687) has posed:
Ark does the expected and gets the expected result.

Caster goes first, Ark touching the other side a couple seconds after him; the moment he's there, flaming arrows start to fall out of the sky. Caster shoves Ark forward, who loses his balance and hits the ground face-down -- coincidentally putting him mostly beneath the flaming volley. Caster instead takes the hits, a trio of arrows striking him head-on. Two hit him in the chest, and a third just below the shoulder. The first two cut up his suit jacket but break when they hit something underneath it, rebounding off some sort of armor. The third sinks into the meat of his upper arm, eliciting a shout of pain and frustration.

Incredibly, neither of them catch fire -- but that might be because of Ark, having rolled over on the ground and brandished his bone war fan, a haze of amber particles like a spray of burning embers swirling around the notched and carved weapon. The flames touch them, but they don't actually /burn/, even when fireballs erupt around them. The heat and lack of air is a problem, but it's like it isn't really hot at all.

Caster extends his good arm, and Ark takes it. He pulls Ark to his feet, and then pulls the arrow free, nodding appreciatively at Sanary for the prompt healing. Caster adjusts his damaged coat, and, surprisingly, it kind of works. It's a decent look on him. "It will hold a quarter ton without issue. Do not concern yourself overly much."

Ark is more concerned with the hydra. He blinks a few times, trying to be sure of what he's seeing. Okay; so the apprentice has some moves. He files that one away for later, and starts forward again. "Don't suppose you're still hesitant about that Noble Phantasm of yours," he asides to Caster.

Caster of Steel's response is a terse, irritated, "We'll see how this plays out, shall we?"

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    VILLAGE:

    "We didn't have much of an army before he came along. It was less a militia then and more peacekeeping. We didn't need to talk to each other long distance, everyone knew everyone. When Caster showed up, he used magic to do it, so we never got radios for everyone," the man explains to Vader, truthfully. The radio, in fact, is over there in the corner near the jade obelisk. It's an old military model, not native to the village. The sort of radio you'd find in a World War II museum. Presumably less primitive than Vader's cybernetics but hey!

    As the Sith Lord connects to the obelisk and reaches out, he finds it to be an amplifier. It absolutely is connected to the militia, which is out in the mountains, and also to a single ruling figure. Vader 'connects' just in time to catch ambush orders-- two sets of them. 'The woman and the black giant' and 'the maze's intruders'.

    Just on cue, while the armored giant is busy probing the connection, four men slink out of the shadows, armed with long, jagged and obviously poisoned edges. They're unnaturally fast and coordinates, striking from all four directions at the same time. Three for Vader, one for Satsuki. They're unarmored, save for black clothes.

    MOUNTAIN:

    Another wave of traps is dealt with-- though evidently not without frustrating Tommy first. The arrival of the massive hydra, and Caster of Steel's own display, causes a shift in the Bounded Field. Ahead, the path past the gap clears into an opening.

    At the far end of it, once everyone has come across, stands a man in robes, with long hair and a pointed, narrow beard. He has a large war fan in one hand and a book in the other. Lacking colors, the Servant isn't fully incarnated-- his form is black and purple, semi-ethereal, lacking definition. Caster's frown can still be seen.

    "You've damaged my maze, and seen through my plan. I'd congratulate you but none can leave my maze unaided. If you will not show me what you can do, then perish without a further chance to. Unreturning Army - Stone Sentinel Maze!"

    Evoking the name of his Noble Phantasm, ZHUGE LIANG fades from view as the ground surges up around him to form another serpentine maze of narrow passages and treacherous traps. Of more pressing concern than the Servant hiding behind walls is the fact the party is now surrounded.

    Camouflaged in the surroundings, the militia emerges. Archers and crossbowmen in ledges, spearmen behind a line of shieldbearers, and a line of archers and gunmen behind that. They'd been hidden by magic along the walls and trees.

    The army charges in! Arrows, lead pellets, crossbow bolts aim for everyone, while the spears and swords are only an issue to those who leap into melee, though they ARE advancing carefully. And with absurd coordination, especially when comes time to defend one another.

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     Caster's appearance is weird, and takes Tommy off-guard for a brief instant. But it's only a brief instant. He snap his fingers, flicking his hand across his play field. The massive Hydra Engine lumbers into the way of the attack, smashing into it to soak some of the damage. It can't soak everything, but it *can* soak most of what's headed at Tommy. Only a few arrows get around the titanic Hydra Engine as it falls to its knees and shatters. Those arrows land in Tommy's flesh, sinking in deep.

     He doesn't fall this time. Determination keeps him up, determination and grit teeth and willpower and a deep, abiding desire not to look any more pathetic than he already has. He's mad at Caster. He's mad at the scenario. He's mad that lightning and land destruction were used against him, that he showed a shameful face to somebody he likes and also somebody he admires. He's mad that people are *surprised* by him having tricks.

     He's not pathetic.

     He's not pathetic!

     "I'm n-not pathetic!" Tommy's internal monologue breaks into the real world as he slaps down another land card. Green lightning flows from both the Gyre Sage and the 'Elf', batteries sparking and delivering power right to Tommy.

     "Primeval Titan!"

     Power flows through him again, drinking in the forests and pouring them through the card as it hits the weird little box. The ground starts to shake as Tommy's magic flows around.

     The Giant Engine is as horrific as the Hydra Engine. It's a huge creature, easily the size of one of the vast rock formations. It's even taller than the Hydra Engine, too, thanks to the huge smokestacks pouring smog out of the sides of its head, like wicked horns. A beard of wires sprawls from its eyeless face, concealing its maw - likely for the best. Wicked metal claws tip its fingers as it lumbers into a defensive position in front of the party. Summoning Sickness!

     But the area where its feet step...is it imagination, or are there more trees and plants springing up around that awful thing? Then again, they look...*wrong*. Metallic plants? No...the plants are just like the Engines, or the weird Gyre Sage, which even now is growing larger. The plants are weird synchronizations of metal and organic matter, dripping black material as they rise where the Giant Engine steps.

     The Gyre Sage grows a wire-beard.

     Tommy's grin gets wider. "Y-you guys...should run. Because next turn, you w-won't have a chance..."

     "And I w-won't give you any mercy!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Mitsuzou Soroi is a rather elderly man, but that isn't to say he's decrepit, slow, or dull. Age, indeed, only seems to have refined him, even if it has stolen his youthful energy. He stands calmly with Vader, right arm folded across his body in silent and dutiful readiness, seemingly completely unaware of the man creeping out of the shadows with inhuman speed, at least until the lunge happens. At that point, he lifts his left arm slightly and reveals the stun gun in his right hand, pointed backwards at the man sneaking up behind him.

    BZAAAP.

    Satsuki, meanwhile, is of similar strategy. She plays as if completely oblivious, standing with Bakuzan against the ground and her hands on its pommel, right up until the exact instant her attacker makes his move. In the blink of an eye, Bakuzan is out of its sheath and ripping through the air with a speed that somehow manages to match the man's own, and he's greeted by the sight of the Queen of Honnouji, face alight with fierce triumph. "DID YOU THINK SUCH A PALTRY AMBUSH WOULD ESCAPE MY NOTICE?!" She intends to flat-out cut off the man's arm, if not more important parts; now that the trap is sprung, she needs to transform and enter the maze as soon as she can.

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    Ira stuffs the stone fan under her coat, zipping it up so it stays there as she moves. After that, she steps along Sanary for some super secret stealth healing while also kind of scorning Tommy a little more just slightly. Slightly.

    In short order she seems to have noticed that Tommy is capable of some kind of high-level monster summoning and other crazy wizardy stuff. He might not notice it, given the rather tense situation with the traps at the moment but Ira doesn't seem to have the time anymore to throw disdainful looks of disgust that kid's way.

    She DOES opt for Ark's zipline, however, only after Ark and Caster have crossed. She sees the fire arrows trigger when they do and waits until after they've launched, hoping that it's only a one-time trap. Following continues, Ira nosing her way to the front of the group because she obviously is rather cocky. Though being out front with Zhuge Liang doesn't seem to help very much, even as Ira makes a sudden mad dash for the man across the clearing.

    She doesn't make it, a wall shooting up before her that Ira hurls herself at and...

    ...yeah, she doesn't break through it. Her strength hasn't increased by THAT much. She bounces off, creating a big crater in it, before turning around for a facefull of lead pellets-that is until she swings the stone fan up in front of her face with one hand. While behind it, she takes the moment to pull out her lighter. All the while, her body seems to be taking punishment but she doesn't seem to be dropping from it.

    The Beast, a massive, black-furred gorilla-boar monster, springs forth from behind and around Ira with a roar, wading into the ranks of attacking soldiers with reckless abandon.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    Darth Vader isn't certain what sort of abilities Satsuki's butler has, but he's not about to gamble on the man being able to defend him from an assassination attempt, and truthfully, he doesn't need it. He turns his attention from the obelisk and its connection, responding to the instinctive sense of incoming danger. This is a simple enough situation to address. There are three attackers, approaching him within a confined space. The obelisk is in front of him. Therefore, the number of directions to approach him from is direly limited.

    His answer is to jump straight up and close one hand into a fist in a gesture of power. His jump -- straight up with no attempt to move his position -- carries him over the reach of the blades, while the grasping motion is reflected in a grip that closes in from around the would-be assassins in a circle, drawing them in close to a single point: Where Vader had been standing.

    There IS a small gap in the grip, deliberately left to allow Soroi some safety. It's exploitable, but not without dealing with Soroi himself.

    With nothing else to strike but each other, and with a much more powerful charge forced on them than they had reckoned for, Vader descends with every expectation that he will be landing on either corpses or incapacitated men.

    Before even attempting to resume his examination of the obelisk, Vader reaches out into the surroundings searching for more hidden enemies. It's possible the entire village is a liability, but he'd prefer not to go out of his way to make that true while he has the perfect tool to counteract the enemy right in front of him.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary peers at that hydra wordlessly, a long stare directed at the massive creature before she simply nods and continues onwards. Between all the summoning and crazy displays of magic and even withstanding the traps without the shielding and armor she has... She's definitely starting to feel a little outclasses.

     Thankfully, the Caster shows his face, giving the healer an opportunity to ready her shield. "You think that's all we got? We haven't even gotten started!" She boasts proudly, although it may or may not be moot since it's after Zhuge Liang's already disappeared. There's a brief look of surprise on her face when those soldiers emerge out of nowhere, although it's replaced by an intense anger once she realizes that there's arrows and bolts coming her way.

     Her hands start trembling. Not out of fear, but with seething rage even as projectiles strike against her shield, her armor, and a few even come dangerously close to striking the openings in her helmet. Not all of them are stopped, of course, since her armor is clearly meant for fighting massive beasts and defending against their massive limbs rather than pinpoint strikes, and blood spurts out from several of the arrows that have made their way into the joints.

     It's not enough to stem her fury, however. The healer lets out an enraged shout before firing a thin laser from her eye across the advancing soldiers, sweeping it across the front line. There's a brief delay before the laser triggers massive explosions, concentrated where the laser had touched mere moments ago. Intense heat radiates from the strangely purple explosions, and the magically-inclined would even notice that there's something unnatural and sinister about the blasts.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard proceeds forward, looking over Caster with an odd expression as he considers whom he is looking at. Lezard is unfamiliar with Earth history, thus the numerous hints and the name of the Noble Phantasm do not elicit the ability to identify the man. However, it quickly becomes irrelevant as there's a small army attacking them.

This is somwehat inconvenient. The camoflauged militia strikes Lezard repeatedly with several shots, the Noble Phantasm's ambush causing several bloody wounds. He almost collapses where he stood.

But he looks down at the blood staining his hands and he laughs, his voice hanging between pain and 'slightly unhinged'. "You played your hand too early, tactician. Did you think you were the only one with a hidden army?"

He staggers back to his feet, and holds out a hand, Power surging around him as he gathers the energy to cast a magic of his own.

"I am he who hath entrusted his soul to the eternal vortex of time. Ye know me! And if ye do not, ye shall be made to know me. It shall be engraved on thy very soul; LEZARD VALETH! If ye shall accept the brand of Hel upon thee, thy sanctions shall in turn be lowered. I shall grant thee the deliverance of thy soul, and ye shall come now before me!

His voice resonates through the area, perhaps reminiscent to a degree of other magecrafts... But then he looks hip, his eyes gleaming despite the blood running from his body. "Open the gates of Niflheim. More souls await."

Abruptly, the numbers game begins reversing as black holes open up, undead crawling and flying up out of the abyss from which the Necromancer called them. skeletal vikings, zombies, lesser vampires, spirits ghosts, ghouls, and other undead answering his call. They strike with no care for their own lives, seeking out the militiamen who have taken refuge and trying to consume them....

And this continues throughout the entire maze, as Lezard expands his own reach. They trigger traps. They likely die by the hordes... But they are disposable. There are always more undead, and he can sacrifice ten, twenty for a single kill.

Zhuge's army likely can't afford to make the same claim.

Ark Line (687) has posed:
The master of this place reveals himself. Ark holds his gun and his war fan, the former levelled and the latter held in a reversed grip. He starts to take a step forward --

Caster of Steel steps past him. Ark looks at him, puzzled for a moment. Caster broadcasts a warning... and Ark lowers his weapons, nodding fractionally. If his Servant wants to finally do his part...

The maze rises all around them. Ark and Caster stand back to back, regarding the walls and the militia. Ark unfolds his war fan, the tines on the inside spikes of flat, sharp bone with a delicate filigree of glowing amber symbols stretched between each. He starts sweeping it into the air around them, slashing it through the path of the bolts, bullets and arrows. The air seems to get thicker and heavier. Air resistance to the projectiles increases dramatically, slowing them considerably. They sting, but the volley isn't lethal to either of them.

"Thank you, Ark. I confess, I have not been generous with praise on the subject of the use of your weapon, but I hope you will not take it personally when I ask you not to do so any more." Caster squints, adjusting his odd porkpie hat and looking into the middle distance. Ark lowers Correct Future, the Grain seeming to sizzle inside of it. He holsters his gun, fishing in his poncho for something... and then comes out with a silvery packet he tears open with his teeth, biting into the white, colorless wafer inside.

Caster nods a little. "Thank you." He clears his throat, reaching into his own jacket. His hand comes back out with a black metal cylinder about the size of a peppermill, with switches and numbers all along the sides. A crank sticks out of the top and off to one side of the mechanical calculator. It bears a striking resemblance to a grenade. Caster of Steel thumbs switches apparently idly, watching nothing in particular. He takes a breath. This is it, then.

"You asked to show you what I can do," Caster says. "When the request comes from a figure such as yourself, I find myself inclined to oblige. If it's all the same to you, I'll introduce myself in the same way you have." He raises the mechanical calculator, holding it horizontally... and invokes its name.

At that very moment, the crank turns precisely once. The figures on the sides flicker and click, locking into pla<span class=" bold_fg_y bg_n ++ e.

"chy">MANHATTAN PROJECT!</span>" Caster of Steel thunders. "GATHERING OF THE GREATEST MINDS!"

There is a pulse, and a crackle of power. The same amber light that follows Ark's invocation of Correct Future is writ large, an outpouring of Grain from the reedy Servant in the grey suit. A dome of the light forms for an instant. Figures are visible all around him for scant seconds, silhouettes scattered across the ground of men and women hunched over a myriad of dimly-visible scientific appratuses. They remain when the light passes. They look like blast shadows, burned into the surface of the Earth.

The light gathers in the device in the man's hand, causing it to glow with white heat. Looking at it is like looking directly at the sun. It burns with terrible brightness --

-- and then winks out. Nothing seems to have happened.

Until the clicking of the geiger counter affixed to Ark's belt becomes audible. In a span of seconds, it goes from quiet and intermittent to increasingly panicked and insistent. It becomes almost deafeningly loud, impossibly loud, as the enormous radiation burst floods across the interior of the maze -- and through the bodies of the well-coordinated, well-drilled, and all too human militia with invisible lethality and immediate results.

"Surrender," Julius Robert Oppenheimer -- the Caster of Steel -- says sadly, "and I will spare the lives of your men. They do not need to die here today."

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Soroi stunguns an assassin down.
    Satsuki disarms another. That one does not fall over unconscious from the fact, but immediatly backs the hell off. Linked as they are into a cohesive unit, the man is obviously still sufficiently in control to know this has gone pear-shaped already.
    And Vader essentially forces the three assassins to shank one another with poisoned blades, by pushing them towards each other. The black giant lands on dead men, and the barracks fall quiet again.

    Except for the village elder, who has fallen onto his ass and is more or less quaking in fear now. This has gone very, very poorly. For them. Not for the Confederates. Was Caster too ambitious?

    This leaves Vader and Soroi with the jade obelisk, and Satsuki to enter the maze if she wants. It won't be very difficult to figure out which way people went and regroup, and would allow her to pincer the army from behind.

    MOUNTAINS:

    Tommy produces a GIANT METAL BEAST. It begins warping the land in Tommy's favor, a process somewhat resisted by the Noble Phantasm field but not fully.

    Ira's Persona charges in, crashing into the front lines. In swiping away the line of shieldmen it may have to deal with a few spear jabs-- and these guys are, surprisingly, not mooks. Actually, they are collectively pretty threatening, despite not looking the part, especially in the Bounded Field.

    An explosive eye laser from Sanary disrupts the back lines and front lines alike, temporarily halting the hail of arrows and bullets as archers and gunmen are forced to reposition and pick themselves up, those that aren't slain outright.

    Lezard's undead pour in; traps are triggered left and right. Massive boulders, ice bolts, fireballs, lightning, winds sharper than swords, quakes, trapped arrow launchers, and even at least one battering ram, automated, rolling to smash things. But the undead don't stop coming, and soon enough they overwhelm the militia-- and slaughter them.

    As if things weren't looking bad enough for the villagers, Oppenheimer happens. There might not be any action left for Satsuki by the time she arrives, as the villagers fall over, practically melting from the irradiation. Darth Vader-- well, hopefully he isn't choosing this particular moment to connect to the obelisk again, because the line is no longer being used to coordinate the troops, it's more like a cacophony of screams, shouting too loud for any tactician to rein back into order.

    This causes the maze to dissipate. Caster's Noble Phantasm is deactivated, the area returning to what it was before-- no traps, just trees and stone pillars. And a lot of corpses. Zhuge Liang is in plain sight, standing in front of what is best described as a hole in reality. The size of a fist, black and red. A few drops of black, muddy liquid leak out of it now and then.

    "If you know anything about me, murderous Caster, it is that I fight to my last breath. I would die on the battlefield before anything else. I would lead my men into victory, even if I don't live to see it."

    He grips the war fan and makes his last stand.

    "A warrior's death for you or I! Come!"

    The Caster swings the fan, sending a sharp, bladed blast of wind at the entire group. He doesn't look to be the sort of man who can take everyone gathered on by himself.

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     There's a lot of incredible things going on. Ira's Persona, Caster of Steel's ridiculous nuclear irradiation, Sanary's Psycho Powered-explosions, and Master Lezard's summoning are all enough to make Tommy feel way weaker than he should. If Sanary thinks SHE'S feeling outclassed, the poor, sickly kid is feeling totally pathetic right now.

     But the look in Caster's eyes, and the charge, is enough to get his attention. Tommy, without thinking, throws himself forward, into the path of Zhuge Liang. Ordinarily, this would be a really stupid decision - even a weak Caster is stronger than a strong human.

     For Tommy, this is tantamount to suicide. He's sickly and weak and basically pathetic. He couldn't win arm-wrestling, much less this.

     But he still does it, throwing out his arms. "W-wait! We don't have to kill you! If all you want is to l-lead people and feast, then why d-don't you just let us give you a b-better cause to fight for?!"

     "You've g-got real skill with ambushes and you're p-powerful enough to stall all of us at once! Why would you throw that away f-for something stupid? Why would you throw away the p-power to fight, the p-power to struggle, to keep living, just because you got b-beat once?!"

     "That kind of logic..."

     Tommy shakes his head violently, sending black hair everywhere. "That k-kind of logic is just stupid! It's something people who give up say to justify their c-cowardice! As long as you're alive, you can k-keep fighting and get stronger! As long as there's even the barest sliver of a chance, you c-can get better!"

     ""Until even that last sliver is gone, s-somebody who gives up so easily is t-totally worthless, not even fit t-to be called a human being!!!"

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Soroi is deft enough to step out of the way, leaving the three still-standing gentlemen to be yanked into each other by Vader. By the time the Sith lands, he is already dusting himself off lightly, and he takes the time to offer Vader a bow. "My sincerest gratitude, Lord Vader. I fear my age has rendered me rather incapable of handling such a group." He is nothing if not dutiful and businesslike, even to someone who would terrify most people.

    On the other hand, Satsuki is looking at her opponent with surprise and respect. "Hoh?" She gives Bakuzan a flourish before returning it to its sheath. "Remaining on your feet after losing an arm... your will is impressive. Or perhaps you're simply enhanced by Caster's powers. It doesn't matter. Bravery and wisdom both- you have earned your life." She turns, looking between the stone statues up the step, and then reaches over to the bangle on her left bicep, flicking the switches on it into place. Click-click-click.

    Even in the village, Vader can probably sense the moment Junketsu awakens, and the fact that this isn't just an outfit of great power. It's /alive/. And it's /hungry/. The only thing suppressing it is Satsuki's sheer force of will, forcing it to work for her, to transform for her. To engulf her and empower her.

"LIFE FIBER OVERRIDE!"
"KAMUI JUNKETSU!"

    The ground underneath Satsuki shatters when she vaults into the Bounded Field... just as it begins to dissolve. She is left with nothing but the ordinary mountain before her, and as a result she has nothing to stop her from reaching the rest of the group, and also nothing to do just for that particular moment. Nothing to do, except turn right to Tommy... and raise her voice sharply.

    "STILL YOUR TONGUE!"

    She looks briefly at Caster, and then back to the mage. "If you cannot understand his commitment and resolve, then you have no right to criticize it. The willingness to choose one's cause and fight to the bitter end, to stay the course even in the face of death, is a dedication on a level most humans will never even glimpse in their entire lives! If we must end him, then so be it, but I will /not hear such a man criticized as a coward/!"

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    For the curious, no, there is no cape on the Beast, though he is dressed in full white princely regelia, minus shoes, otherwise. No matter what it does, the suit remains pristine, blood failing to stain it and tears rendered by spears vanishing instantly afterwards. Though the Beast does not look like it's retaining damage, with each jab, Ira writhes. Although the effect is muted against her due to both of their strengths, it still becomes an overwhelming sensation in the face of larger and better trained numbers.

    As the Beast works, Ira meanwhile pulls arrows out of her skin and defends herself from the errant spear with the stone fan. She also flips it up in front of her face to shield herself from the brightness of the Manhattan project.

    Once the field is clear and the Caster stands before him, Ira turns. She looks slightly infuriated and seems to be moving a bit slower, but carefully, trying to hide her weakness, unwilling to admit that having fought so many competent people at once was not something she was experienced in and it had taken a toll on her.

    "Because, kid-" she rumbles at Tommy, "He'd probably rather use his power to serve himself than use it to serve other people. He'd rather die free than under the yolk of another person. Or faction. The problem is..."

    Ira smiles a bitter, bitter smile, "You can't go at it alone in the Multiverse, can you? You either wind up with some /real/ allies or you get squashed."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary lurches slightly once the militia is wiped out, satisfied with being able to contribute at least that much to taking those archery bastards out. The sight of those undead warriors swarming over the soldiers probably should make her more uncomfortable than it actually does, what with her past experience with it, but...

     Well, she's still bleeding quite a bit. Even with the healing magic running through her, it's hard to focus on her personal feelings about working so close to the undead while also trying not to bleed out herself. The melting soldiers seem to draw more of a reaciton out of her, and she stares at them for several moments before turning to focus on the strategist instead.

     "Brave, sure. Tactical genius, probably. But holy /crap/ you're being a real idiot right now!" She chuckles darkly while bracing that shield in front of her, grunting lightly as that wind buffets her armor and slices up the exposed parts of her face and joints further. And yet, she can't bring herself to just tackle the guy.

     It probably has something to do with Tommmy charging ahead. Just to make it a little more difficult to get the adrenaline going again, Satsuki shows up in... That thing she saw last time! She still hasn't gotten used to that. She knows better to try and interrupt, at least, and she steps forward to start directing her healing energies through herself, Tommy, and Ira.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    Darth Vader lands on dead men. He steps down, moving around to the other side of the obelisk so that he has some clear space to work with, nodding appreciatively towards Satsuki's butler as he goes. His role may not have been particularly pronounced, but it was a role well-done regardless. The armored man stops on the opposite side of the obelisk and puts his back to it, ready to fight again if somebody else comes at him. His gaze turns very briefly towards the village elder, then settles on the opposite wall.

    Then he touches the obelisk with his mind once more. It is no longer a coordination platform, there is nothing but fear, and pain, and screams. If he were still a Jedi it would stagger him, disturb him, drive him away. Perhaps he would try to calm those minds, to comfort them, to bring them peace.

Peace is a lie.

    That was Anakin Skywalker. Amidst the howling cries of billions of lives being snuffed out Vader had stood resolute and without reaction. So few lives in something as petty as pain could not trouble, or stagger him. He reaches into the howling pain, that whirlwind of fear and raw emotion and attempts to seize it while its master's eye is turned the other way. He turns himself into a siphon, drawing in their collective despair, fashioning it into a crude weapon within his mind.

    The Sith Lord shows no sign of the weapon he is fashioning externally. No fantastic floods of light that blind men and turn their insides to jelly. Those within the armory see, but they only see a great armored man standing in silence. Within his own mind, though, how wondrous it is. A tapestry of stars, luminous threads stringing being to being to planet and the surrounding "space". Caster's network is a web of lights weaved about him precariously, like moons, or perhaps more accurately manmade satellites. Looking at reality this way, it's not hard for him to imagine being able to do much greater things.

    Mentally lifting the "weapon" fashioned from the maelstrom of pain and madness, Vader casts it powerfully through the obelisk, attempting the psychic equivalent of a massive botnet DDOS attack back against the obelisk's own source: Presumably, Caster himself.

Tommy Wahagi (895) has posed:
     "Dying."

     "Isn't."

     "BRAVE!"

     Tommy's roar is probably the loudest he's ever been. There's no stutter, no stumbling, none of his usual character tics. The look in his eyes is sharper than they've ever been, a look that doesn't look anything like his usual, sickly self. It's a sharp gaze, hard and fierce and full of experience, something deeper than any physical illness could go. Given that Satsuki, and pretty much *everybody else's*, experience with Tommy has been, up until this moment, the stuttering, stumbling, sickly kid, the fact that Tommy can muster up this kind of courage is probably remarkable.

     He shakes. It's physically painful for him to fight down his own fears. Even Sanary's healing magic can't help him here, as he stares Satsuki down. He's scared to death. She could kill him. She could splatter him across the ground right now. She could destroy him with one motion. But...

     But he's still standing.

     He's still here.

     "D-dying," Tommy repeats, shaking his head, "It's n-not bravery! It's n-not...dying isn't..."

     "It's not d-dedication, or heroism, or s-something to b-be admired! That's s-something strong p-people, p-people with strength, say to save face! Something p-people who have p-power get to claim so they d-don't look so p-pathetic when they d-d-d-d-despair and g-give up! D-don't claim that giving up is b-bravery just because somebody d-does it in a flashy manner! It's a m-mockery, a m-mockery of everybody who's ever been weak and struggled to have even a little b-bit of power, a m-mockery of everybody who's striving and f-fighting and p-pushing just to get a little stronger and live just one more day!"

     "D-don't..."

     "D-DON'T LOOK ME IN THE EYES AND TELL ME THAT DYING IS BRAVE!"

     "BECAUSE THE TEN YEARS I'VE BEEN DYING SHOWED ME WHAT A LIE THAT IS!!!"

     Tommy's shakes get substantially worse. He's breathing heavy. He's shuddering, furiously, his robes shaking around him. His cards, his precious cards, are falling out of his hands.

     But he's still meeting Satsuki's eyes.

     ...and then, all of a sudden, he notices what she's wearing. His eyes make the mistake of sliding down for even a brief moment. His face turns a brilliant shade of crimson, his eyes roll back into his head, and...

     ...and...

     ...he passes out, falling backwards into the mud even before Zhuge Liang's decision can be made. His cards, fortunately, are in really nice sleeves!

     The giant vanishes. The metal trees vanish. The Gyre Sage and the Elvish Mystic vanish. Everything Tommy made vanishes as the young Planeswalker passes out from the strain of standing up to someone much stronger than he is, combined with the strain of, uh...embarassment.

     The weird little block of metal and flesh starts hoovering up the fallen cards.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
The Noble Phantasm collapses under the combined forces of the various Elites present. When the maze collapses, Lezard, too, dismisses his undead, allowing them to crawl back to Niflheim.

He would not use such a mass against a man like this Caster. If nothing else, he deserves to be given the honor of dying at the hands of more than a nameless zombie. There is a wash of blackness as Lezard produces the Manus Catalyst, the black, twisted and misshapen rod shuddering in his hand as he raises it to prepare for battle.

And Zhuge Liang strikes first, the wind slashing at them. Lezard was already wounded, and the slash cleaves into him, tearign a long, bloody wound across his chest. The pain is exquisite. He can feel his mind trying to blank out against the waves of agony. Were this his human body, he would have been dead already.

But his homunculi are no mere humans. Crafted with forbidden techniques from a growing library of samples across the Multiverse, they are designed to help him bridge that yawning gap between Man and God, to decipher the nature of the divine and wrest it for himself.

Tommy and Satsuki are shouting behind him. He can't afford to give them enough of his attention at the moment. With a colossal exercise of will, he forces himself to remain standing. "Death is something I know quite well, a foe I have beaten many times. But we both know that it is also not the end. Return whence you came, Servant, until you are called once more!" He calls. Yet again, a massive surge of magical force gathers and surges around him, a magic circle drawing itself to shape it as he calls out.

"AS THE HARMONIUMS OF ASGARD SOUND..."

The sky billows, clouds gathering as they crackle with intense lightning. The ground rumbles, several rocks ripping up off of the mountain to hang there as a seethign sphere of lightning gathers with black and brilliant azure.

"THEIR VERY MELODIES STIR THE ANCIENT LIGHTNING TO WAKE!"

From the black sphere emerges a massive sinuous dragon of Eastern appearance, the elongated body writhing in the air with a body forged entirely of sizzling blue bolts anchored to a massive dragon's skull.

And that dragon descends, rushing down to engulf and consume the Servant, ripping through him and delivering that massive coiling body of lightning to him.

"DRAGON BOLT!"

Ark Line (687) has posed:
Ark lets it play out. He's feeling... winded. He tears the rest of the wafer out of the small packet in his hand and then goes for the second inside it, consuming the Grain-infused superfood in a hurry. He needs to replenish his reserves, especially if Caster decides to go to town again. Considering what he did... well, it could be a /lot/ worse.

Yeah; worse than 'literally melting soldiers.' The words 'massive collateral damage' and 'horrific friendly fire' come to mind.

Caster of Steel bows his head. The mechanical calculator clicks a few times; he turns the crank with a few more. The few militiamen who survive find themselves sick, burned and with their hair falling out, but abruptly free of the radioactivity. What's left of their comrades is equally 'cool,' if still quite horrifically dead.

Zhuge Liang charges, and it isn't Oppenheimer who meets him. Ark Line steps forward, snapping out his own war fan and striding across the ground. A look of pity crosses his face when he sees Tommy, standing up for himself and then collapsing in a heap. He hesitates.

Ark lets the others handle this. He goes over and carefully lifts Tommy out of the mud, moving him away from the immediate battlefield. He promised he'd do what he can to keep the kid alive, and after that, well... it seems a little bit more important than getting a good fight in.

Oppenheimer has not moved from where he stands. The cylindrical object in his hand continues to click quietly. The sound seems somehow muted, compared to what came before.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    If people are hoping to reason with Zhuge Liang, Vader has just made that very difficult and unlikely. Using the suffering and fear of the dying villagers to ram a metaphorical drill into the Caster's skull, Vader inadvertently (or maybe intentionally) instills great fear of Oppenheimer, specifically, in the tactician and strategist. Someone still in front of him, and whom he is now fighting.

    There's really nothing Zhuge Liang can do against such an assault. He's paralyzed, stuck in place. This is very unfortunate, because if he still had his mental capacity, surely he'd tell Tommy something about loyalty, disgust for betrayal, unwillingness to just stab his subjects in the back (nevermind the bait tactic he just used). It'd be a great argument. One he can't have right now, but a great one.

    And surely he would thank Satsuki for understanding.

    And he'd tell Ira she's wrong, and it's not about freedom or who you serve, but about serving whom you agree to serve until the very end. To be loyal, to the last minute.

    He might even have something for Sanary. If it's idiocy to remain loyal to a wish and promise that was made, then he'll gladly be an idiot.

    Then he's consumed. Lezard's attack hits dead-on, and in an instant erases Zhuge Liang's presence completely. The Servant returns to the tiny Grail behind it as raw mana, fueling the murder engine.

    The reality hole pings idly, and waits. It seems to be communicating the fact that it will now grant the victors one (1) wish.

    ONE OF YOU GETS A WISH. It can't be something that would require an upgrade application, and it might get Asshole Genie'd a bit. Figure it out OOCly!

Satsuki Kiryuin (430) has posed:
    Satsuki is surprised. There's no putting it in flattering terms, no diluting it, no masking it in any way. Tommy's sudden vehemence surprises her, and it shows on her face. She can see the effort it takes him. And he meets her eyes directly, the entire time... at least, until he passes out. She's even left in vaguely stunned silence for a few seconds afterward.

    Those fairly close, might hear her murmur something under her breath. "...a cruel fate, to match such a strong soul to such a feeble body."

    Then she turns, to look back towards Caster. He has chosen his final moments; she is too late to partake in them, and there is no need at this point besides. She can only witness, and contemplate the young man who just shouted his heart out at her. Bigger, stronger, healthier men have quailed under her gaze. The Planeswalker's surprising spirit, she decides, is worth any ten of them. She'll have to extend him an invitation to visit Honnouji some time, if only to speak on their disagreement.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     "... Well. That was.. Painful." Sanary chuckles tiredly as the non-nukey Caster is slain, leaving the Elites surrounded by corpses and melted hopefully-corpses. Despite that fatigue, however, she does manage to keep herself from looking utterly winded, letting her energy flow around inside her to stem the bleeding.

     "So... Now what? We got any less backstabby refugees hanging around that need a new place to live?" She looks from person to person, getting that magical energy flowing out again in a light green cloud and sending it around to try and alleviate the worst of the injuries. Lezard gets focused on in particular. That Grail gets a confused look from the healer, and she looks towards the others again before she stares at it once more.

     "Er. Any idea what that is?"

Ira MacNally (915) has posed:
    Ira stares at Tommy, though not addressed, watching him with a distance in her eyes. She doesn't need a medical degree to tell that all that exertion won't be healthy for the boy-in fact, she assumes this outburst might be his last and deep down inside, Ira is alrigth with that.

    No effort is made to check on him when he passes out. Ira instead turns back to Zhang, ready to move in and strike when Lezard quite thoroughly beats everyone to the punch.

    "...aww." she rumbles quietly once there's nothing left but the seeping hole in reality. "No more fighting now, eh."

Lezard Valeth has posed:
In the aftermath of the blast, Lezard falls to one knee, actually feeling an unusual sensation of having perhaps pushed a little farther than he should have. He grasps his head, his vision swimming as he grits his teeth, still fighting to keep his body functioning.

Sanary comes to the rescue, the healing magics reinvigorating him and closing the heavy, deadly wounds he received during the battle. He shakes his head again, as if to clear it, and gasps, drawing in a breath. "Ah.... Thank you, Magus Rondel." He says, exhaling.

The silent prompt fo the Grail, however, goes unanswered, the Necromancer of Midgard looking up to frown at the hole in reality. "Could that be... a Grail?" He shakes his head, and looks over to Ira. "The fighting is over, but it appears a unique reward is in the offering. This is not powerful enough to meet my own needs."

He slumps back, sitting for a moment with a too-casual appearance as he tries to hide his fatigue, looking over to the unconscious Tommy nearby and frowning.

How did /that/ happen?

Ark Line (687) has posed:
Ark puts Tommy down out of the way, near Caster of Steel, propping him up against a rock. He steps back, frowning. Someone that weak... well, it reminds him of the Last Seeds on his own world. There's a reason Liners were created. They've got a responsibility to take care of them. At least, that's what Ark believes. Whether or not it's right is... kind of up in the air.

"So this is... a Grail, huh?" Ark mutters. He strides up to the hole in space, slowing cautiously as he gets near it. He lifts his hand, reaching out. It's a hole in reality. This isn't what he was expecting. "Wish for detailed information on the location and status of other grails of power at this point in time, listed in order of strongest to weakest," he mutters, echoing Vader's suggestion.

Ark looks back over his shoulder at Caster. "Hey, do you know how this works?"

Caster of Steel simply stares at him, silently.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
    If Darth Vader were on-site to be a part of the victory party, he would be tempted to take the wish for himself. But he isn't, and he is uncertain that it would be readily permitted, regardless of his station. There are too many competing parties here, all of whom he is sure have good reasons to desperately wish for such a thing. The hiss of his respirator carries through the barracks/armory, followed soon after by the distinctive ignition sound of a lightsaber. Red light fills the obelisk chamber, along with the smell of ozone.

    A casual stroke is used to dispatch the obelisk, hopefully ending whatever influence it might conceivably have had over the village. An equally distinctive deactivation noise signals the lightsaber being returned to Vader's belt.

    He considers the village elder.

    "The Confederacy has no use for leaders both too incompetent to conceal their own treachery, and too weak to see it through." He booms.

    A hand is raised, prompting one of the poisoned blades to rise from one of the fallen assassins, and soon afterwards propel itself into the elder's stomach. It is, deliberately, not a killing wound in and of itself. It'll kill, eventually, unless help is acquired... and an antidote for the poison upon the blade if found. If he's resourceful, Vader reasons, he /might/ live.

    But Lord Vader doesn't trouble to wait and find out. He exits the barracks, circling around its exterior and drawing his lightsaber again to hack at the base and the foundations. Once he's sliced through enough of it to be satisfied, he shoves the whole damn thing down with a fierce burst of telekinetic force. It's not /exactly/ flat, but it'll do for the purposes of a small shuttle.

    << Captain, I require transport. The transponder will provide you with adequate reference to find your way down without entering through the exterior passes. >> He commands, over his comm link. High above, aboard the REVENANT, pilots scramble to get a shuttle launched. It'll be down in no time at all...

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    The Grail pulses.

    Plantlife in the area dies, and villagers on the brink of death and promptly finished off by the wave of magic. Blood flows from the corpses, way more than it should-- and it quickly becomes obvious the red fluid on the ground is coalescing together, and forming writing. In the arid soil of the area, blood writes a series of coordinates. A dozen, roughly. Most of them aren't especially far-- speaking on a Multiversal scale. This Grail mustn't have the power to track ALL the Grails out there, but it looks like it can pick up at least a fair amount of ones not too far.

    Coordinates aren't exactly precise, though. They're pretty big areas and would require some searching, but you're now much better armed to do so than before.

    The hole in reality promptly closes and disappears.

    Back in the village, Vader slices the jade obelisk into pieces. Whatever magic was contained inside is released, signalled by the fact it stops glowing. And then he mortally injures the village chief. Unfortunately for him, there probably won't be anyone to save him. What's left of the villagers are going to stay holed up, and flee the area later before the Confederacy drops in to claim their new chokepoint.

    MEANWHILE, OFF TO THE SIDE.

    "There we go, spent all my AP!" Gudako says, as she looks around to see there's nobody with her and she seems to have kept walking into a dead-end between rock formations.
    Berserker chases a butterfly around.