371/A Muse's Legacy

A Muse's Legacy
Date of Scene:	08 August 2014
Location:	Desert Mountains
Synopsis:	Kalliona and the Union make an attempt to capture one of Chrysanthemum's strongholds.
Cast of Characters:	13, 61, 73, 101, 253, Riva Banari, 512, Sir Gawain, 537

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Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    The resistance is pretty small and scattered, but they have managed to set up an encampment with, thanks to Kalliona contacting the Union, an artificial Warpgate nearby! This gives a decent vantage of the rocky and narrow path leading to the fortress guarding the mountain pass... a very secure fortress, by many accounts. It's no wonder this was viewed as strategically viable, since it can be a choke point. It's not as defended as it could be because it's... well, Chrysanthemum's Empire controls most of the land, period.

    The encampment is hidden under an overhang, but has a decent view of the tail end of the force that is winding away to the east, vanishing into the distance. The fortress is not undefended by any means though! Troops can be seen on the walls, making the rounds, but it's something of a skeleton crew compared to what it could be and should be. No doubt they are expecting reinforcements shortly.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "So my plan, as per usual, will be that I will totally charge the front of the castle, draw most of their troops, and have an epic and heroic fight. You guys sneak in the back," Psyber says, emerging from the warp gate and only THEN taking the time to look out at the fortress. He deems his personal plan still viable, and rubs his hands together.

    Despite normal appearances, he is also wearing gloves on his hands today. The leather kind of riding gloves you see people wear, mostly meant to conceal his hands in case any Confederate surveillance might be around.

Sir Gawain has posed:
"Sneak, Master? That is..that is..we should all face them in battle, swords raised high like brave warriors, instead of sneaking and avoiding our opponents like cowards!". Sir Gawain, also emerging out of the warp gate, feels very strongly about stuff, obviously, staring at the fortress. "The fortress does not seem like much, we could easily strike it head on!".

Sir Gawain does not look very knightly. He looks more like some sort of spy or character out of a movie, a black suit with a gold tie comprising of his outfit, a sort of flower motif on the tie. He's not armored, but that isn't very important at this exact time and it wouldn't take long to armor himself.

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica sighs and shakes her head. "You are insane." she says, though there's a hint of approval in her voice. She ... kind of has a thing for stupidly brave men, not that she'd actually admit it or ever let that 'thing' be more than a pleasant like. Funnily enough, 'stupidly brave' is a LOT of Union elites, particularly among the men and boys in leadership roles.

    "I'm fair at stealth, I suppose, if someone else distracts everyone." she observes. She's actually fairly terrible at sneaking, but that's okay. She's not actually actively noisy and that probably counts for something.

    Frederica draws her hood up, letting the bat ears poke up above her head. "I'm usually better at firing at things from range. With a big thick dumb person in front of me to keep enemies from getting a good shot." she claims. "Er, not that there's anyone that fits that description HERE!" she admends hastily.

Riva Banari has posed:
"We're not sneaking like cowards. We're going around back and flanking them to more effective take them down. We're still going to be fighting, just working together." Riva might be a Templar, but she still has a sense of self-preservation. Unlike, apparently, some of these guys.

Ironic, considering her nature.

"I'm fine with this plan. You and whoever decides to charge head on go in the front, and the rest of us move around to cut off the potential for enemy reinforcements. Believe me, I'm sure we're all going to be seeing plenty of fighting. No one doubts your courage, but none of us can fight forever. We need to limit how many enemies we're going to need to deal with."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "Sneak? Ha! You don't need to concern yourself with such humble tactics! With Lord Maxwell here, this will be over before it starts! No, not even! I, Ivar, cannot allow Lady Milla to sully her hands. I'll handle the fighting!" comes a haughty male voice, close to Psyber-- he's met him already. That's Ivar, the dark-skinned, light-haired man in ceremonial white and grey clothes, with two sheathed blades.

    Milla is with him, wearing her standard clothes (which some might argue are too little), quietly rubbing her temples at the sound of Ivar's voice.

    The Four Great Spirits are with her, for those sensitive to such presences, though they are as usual invisible otherwise to most senses, awaiting orders.

    "I am extremely sorry. Ivar insisted on coming," she settles on.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Kanade... does not look like she should be on a battlefield. At all. Stepping through the artificial warpgate wearing her usual school uniform and with absolutely no weapons to speak of, one might wonder what morbid sort of death wish she's harboring. And yet, the elites here have probably seen enough weird garbage to be able to tell that she's one of theirs. Maybe she's another magical girl or something? Makes as much sense as any other guess. Aside from pure intuition, though, there's something else that might hint to someone that she's an Elite: she seems unaturally stoic. Turning her head this way and that to give her an idea of where she's ended up, she doesn't... react to anything. At all. Maybe she nodded her head once or twice, but otherwise? Nope. Nothin'.

    Pretty soon, though, Psyber gets her attention. She listens as he proposes a suicide mission... and just nods again. The only verbal response she makes is to mumble the words 'Hand sonic', eliciting the appearance of a small sword-knife on the back of her hand. Otherwise, though, she just... kinda... stands there, glancing to others as they speak up, not breathing a word.

Kalliona (537) has posed:
    Kalliona hasn't been seen before, as she mostly spoke on radio. Well, here she is, at the head of a cluster of resistance troops arguing about how to take things out. The Muse looks... like a normal young adventurer, to tell the truth. Blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, wearing a travel cloak and leathers. A quiver is at her side, holding about a dozen or so arrows, and an ornate but aged bow is slung across her back.

    The 'plan' makes her sigh and shake her head. "If you insist... but only if you are certain. We still don't know exactly what the forces are in there, but I admit that battle and strategy are not my strengths."

Anivia (61) has posed:
Anivia was still finding ways of proving herself useful to her Union allies. The Multiverse always had some terrible conflict or another that required a Phoenix's intervention... and today was no different.

The Cryophoenix was one of the first to cross over, but she didn't spend much time within the fortifications of the mountain base. Immediately upon warping in, the mighty Frozen Phoenix beat her crystal wings and leapt into the sky, circling above briefly to get a 'true' birds-eye view of the battlefield, trying to note any areas of interest or possible dangers before the attack begins.

After circling the skies several times, the Cryophoenix flaps her wings once more and begins to descend back down to the base. She lands on one of the outer gates, about two-dozen feel from the Union forces.

Slowly Anivia tilts her frozen head from one side to the next, as any curious bird would, as she quickly inspects the gathered Champions in front of her. She listens to Psyber's proposal, and Sir Gawin's reply for a brief moment... then simply blinks her bright red eyes and turns her head away. After a few seconds of silence she turns her head and quickly dips her beak under a wing, taking a moment to adjust a few frozen feathers before the battle begins. She really didn't have much to add to the plan it seems...

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    It would be a little rough to attack head on, if only because it would require tumbling down a hill... or approaching by air. The troops on the battlements are pretty sparse, but the main door only has a narrow trail leading up to it, enough for only a few people abreast or a mid-sized wagon. It'd be a pretty cramped assault, and basically placing anyone in the range of a death rain of arrows.

    The 'back door' /does/ exist, and is more open, but also includes a drawbridge across a ravine. This makes it kinda hard to get into through either door. Going over the walls is an option, but the entire company of resistance fighters can't.

    It's also hard to get an idea of the troop layout /inside/ the place. Anivia's distant flyover doesn't appear to attract any attention, but nets only a rough layout of buildings, for the entire fortress has a blurry haze over it that obscures details and troops. It looks like they have magical protections upon it.

Anivia (61) has posed:
"Hmm, strange. Though I see the Union in front of me... I swear I'm in the Institute of War again listening to the Champions attempting to one-up everyone else's plan." the Cryophoenix muses to herself as she continues to watch the Union from a safe distance.

From Angels to School Girls, Knights to Sorcerers... actually, yeah... Anivia feels pretty much right back at the Institute of War.

New faces, same song, same dance...

After shaking the sudden feeling of deja vu, the Cryophoenix begins to shuffle across the perimeter walls, taking a quick headcount of all the available soldiers and what equipment they carried. Warfare was nothing new to an Immortal... and Anivia has seen this kind of chaos quite often before. Though she wasn't a General... she was a Guardian, and often a Guide...

"I suppose we could split up, take half the soldiers in the front and half to the back? Perhaps with Union Champions by their side, we can find a way in?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Well, I can't say I mind all these positive attitudes," Psyber says happily, not minding that more and more people are falling in with the 'Let's just siege the place' strategy he has in mind. Psyber rubs at his chin.

    "Hmm..." He's not great a complex plans, that's usually why he drags Nathan along. While not stupid, he's just not a shrewd political mind, "What if we pretended to be messengers to get in?" He looks to Anivia, "Her plan works, too. I guess we should avoid doing too much damage to the BASE if the rebels wanna keep it for long, though."

    Kanade, for the moment, goes unnoticed by Psyber-sempai due to being so quiet.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva looks over at everyone present. "Hmm. We have to get control of the gates if we want to get in, but the easiest way to do that is to go over the walls. We can't bring over a regiment that way."

Riva thinks about the messengers idea. "Well, it's worth a shot! If we can get into the gatehouse and hold it long enough that's all that matters, right?"

Riva is bad at plans.

Sir Gawain has posed:
"Her plan is fine, but I have the preference of attacking them head-on, if allowed.". Sir Gawain's tone and demeanor makes this seem like he might argue if told no, but then he smiles, as a small sphere of energy circles him. When it fades, he's in his armor, blade by his side, as he smiles. "But either way, we will take this base for their rebellion!".

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "If you would like, I can grant most of us flight," Milla offers, for those few who can't fly and might want to take the direct approach. "For my own part, I am willing to stay with Kalliona and follow her guidance. I believe she mentioned this is her world?" she says, looking towards her.

    Ivar just frowns at her. "Lady Milla, I said leave the fighting to me! This is below you and what you have a handmaid for!" She retorts: "Unfortunately my handmaid has no skills appropriate to besieging a castle, does he? Hm. Perhaps I should find a new handmaid." Ivar shakes his head nervously. "N-No, that won't be needed! Alright, we'll go with..." Grump. "THEIR plan." Huff. He'd rather it be his plan. Or Milla's. One day he'll get the attitude beaten solidly out of him.

Kalliona (537) has posed:
    Kalliona just stares at everyone incredulously. "I am no General, but my usual means of doing this is to find a way in... perhaps over the wall?... and fight to the door to open it for the rest of the troops. I'm not sure I can do that by myself, though..." Ah, Riva is suggesting the same plan.

    The Muse turns and looks at the fortress again. "I can already fly, and turn myself invisible, but they probably have anti-air and it is... somewhat likely they can see through my invisibility."

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica cocks her head, looking at Psyber. "I don't think we're really going to pass as messengers." she says dubiously. Not because she considers there to be a chance in hell of it, of course. She's dubious because she's not sure whether or not Psyber is joking.

    She grins happily at mention of flight, having gained an appreciation for that in Alfheim Online. "I like that idea. But you probably couldn't give flight to all the resistance, right?" Frederica muses. Then, at Kalliona's suggestion, she nods eagerly. "If our small group can fly, or most of us anyways, then that works! We open up the gate, and let the resistance fighters in!" she suggests in turn.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Kanade continues to dutifully watch and listen to everyone, but she still doesn't seem to have much of her own to offer. For the moment, she keeps on being small and ghostly. And honestly? That might be for the best; she's wandering pretty close to the edge of the overhang, where she could probably be seen by an exceptionally keen eye. Thankfully, though, she's not exactly the most conspicuous target.

    After spending some time in someone's metaphorical crosshairs, she wanders back inside and finds somebody to gravitate near. For the moment, that's apparently Milla.

Anivia (61) has posed:
Anivia nods her head as the Cryophoenix tilts her head back at the castle, "I saw two ways in on my fly-over. One a heavily fortified front entrance down a sloped hill, likely far more combat focused and more dangerous..." she pauses and looks at Milla, "And your ability to make others fly will be best used there."

She paused, "The second entrance is in the back, but over a drawbridge. I have many spells that could keep a bridge like that stable should the enemy try to cut it... I would like to follow the soldiers there, lead them if I must unless another prefers to take command."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Flying in works," Psyber agrees with Milla, "I have my own wings, so I can save you from magic." He crosses his arms and debates having a cigarette, "I agree with Riva about taking the gatehouses to secure troops across."

    Psyber looks to Gawain as he armors up, "Alright, so. Gawain will go to the gate as a wandering knight and challenge their champion. The rest of us will go in over the top, since I bet the base will wanna watch this happen. We take the base before they realize and deploy their anti-air."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    To Frederica, Milla quickly answers: "I believe I can use Sylph to grant the whole of the resistance flight, however, such would require him to dedicate his energy to that. If an underground route were desired, Gnome would be able to dig us a tunnel there very quickly. I am unfortunately not very well versed in castle-taking strategies, though I have read a book on the subject. Sadly it implied several months of inaction to wear them out. Will we be staying here for several months, now?" The... question is actually genuine.

    Baffling. Or maybe not, for those who know her.

Frederica (73) has posed:
    "Three groups then? Sir Gawain as a heroic distraction..." Frederica shakes her head. King Arthur first, now Sir Gawain. The game player in her is loving this. "A flying group to open the front gate and deal with archers. And a ground group of the resistance and anyone else not wanting to fly, heading to the rear, led by the ice... um, ice-bird. Sorry." she adds, having forgotten Anivia's name and not having any idea just what type of bird she is.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Sir Gawain thinks for a second. They're still committing trickery, but it's better than pure stealth. Additionally, of all the tactics they have so far, it seems the most honourable and he doubts he can get them to just all go straight to the gates at once. "Very well. I will begin my march, then!". Nope, he's not waiting to see if everyone else agrees with the plan.

Sir Gawain is actually rather fast, but it might still take him a while to get to the fortress. But once he's in enough of a range that seperates him from the others and gets him close to the front, he bellows out. "NOBLE KEEP! I challenge the strongest of your warriors to a duel of honor, a battle of blades! Do you refuse the challenge of a wandering knight, or will you accept my call?"

Anivia (61) has posed:
Anivia watches Sir Gawain run off first, a small chuckle escaping her beak.... then she shakes her head and turns to what soldiers have gathered behind her, "We must move quickly, the Knight moves quite fast even in his plate armor.

With a quick beat of her wings, the Cryophoenix also dashes off after the knight, with several dozen of the soldiers stationed at the Mountain Base quickly taking up their arms and following after her. It takes Anivia far less time than most to reach the castle, after all it's hard to outrun something that can fly. But Anivia kept circling back occasionally, ensuring her soldiers didn't get left behind.

As Sir Gawain begins to call out and challenge the fortress master, the Cryophoenix takes a group of men to the drawbridge in back. "Weapons at the ready, we have to presume they are expecting us..." Anivia speaks, and the soldiers, needing little coaxing, quickly drew their swords and shields and begins to cross the bridge, with the Cryophoenix following above.

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Gawain calls out a challenge! The challenge is met with a roar of laughter... but not a denial! After a few moments, the front doors open up wide enough to allow a single man to step through. Sandy brown hair and a fit physique match up with light armor, a chain shirt his heaviest protection. Yet he carries a simply /massive/ sword over one shoulder, like a JRPG hero, wandering out with a smile on his face as he plants the tip of the blade in the ground.

    "All right, as you wish." The man sweeps his hair back. "My name is General Tomas, of the Imperial Army. It is your poor luck that I was passing through. If it is a challenge you want, I can provide."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva nods as the plans are laid and the groups split. She quickly moves along with Anivia. She's not exceptionally durable, but she has her own ways of dealing with these problems. She can't fly, but she'll... think of something. She looks at Anivia, and then at the walls. Pondering.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber does not elect to fly or move to the ground. Instead, he's working with his own strengths at the moment, and the perch he's on gives him the perfect viewpoint. The half-angel takes out a pad of paper and tears off a sheet, the slip turning into a briefcase.

    The briefcase is set down on the ground in front of him and opened. He starts taking out the pieces of a rifle and assembling them, eventually winding up with a bolt action police rifle with a scope on it, "I'll provide overwatch and fire support. I can put a bullet through a wall, so if you're pinned down, give me the coordinates of what you want shot and we'll see what we can do. Otherwise, I'll watch the ramparts."

    He starts sliding cartridges into the rifle as he conversationally notes to Kalliona, "You know, if you really think about it. You're a muse of art, right? Isn't everything an art form if you think about it. Battle, war, driving, swordsmanship. All expressions of self."

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Anivia leads some troops over to the other gate! As expected... there are defenses there! The cryophoenix and Riva will find that there's a little detail that Kalliona may have forgotten to mention, as the oncoming charge is met with not just arrows, but arrows that blaze with fire or crackle with lightning, along with streaks of mystical force that start to blast into the oncoming group.

    On the other hand? The resistance fighters smoothly form up, and a series of magical barriers leap into being, meeting the arrows and bolts with a stalemate that stops the advance, but prevents the loss of life. The other fighters are forming up behind the shield-makers, readying a mishmash of weapons but not 'firing' yet.

    It looks like basically /everyone/ is using magic.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva yells in shock as she sees the horde of burning and shocking and icy arrows. "OH GOD THIS IS GOING TO HURT!" She yells. She never thought she'd die in a siege.

And then she looks up at the magical barrier. "Huh." She says, poking at it. "That's different."

She looks at the hail of arrows, and then at Anivia. She waves. "Hey!" She calls. "Anivia!" She points at the archers. She'll leave it to awesome ice bird to figure out what to do from here.

Anivia (61) has posed:
Anivia pauses when she saw Riva Banari was following her, giving a small smirk as she slows down to follow the other Union Champion. "I'm glad I'm not the only one going with these men, I haven't heard much of your abilities, but I know you're capable. Lets just try to keep these men alive."

Before Anivia could hear Riva's reply, a volley of lightning suddenly rains down on the party of soldiers from the wall. Anivia was expecting this...

With a loud and fearsome bird-cry, greatly resembling many large birds of prey found on Earth, Anivia suddenly dashes forward and flies directly over her soldier's head, creating a large U of ice against the bridge, and forming a thick ice barrier between the men and the lightning arrows all the way to the entrance.

"Quickly! To the gates!" Anivia cries, as she leaps into the skies over the bridge, flying towards the archers and summing forth a volley of frozen spears raining down upon them.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Sir Gawain smiles warmly at General Tomas. "I am Sir Gawain, of the Round Table of Camelot. Well-met, and I do indeed challenge you in a duel. Though, you may find my luck is not that poor.~". He removes Excalibur Galatine from its hilt, raising it upwards, before putting it to his side. The blade reflects the shine of the sun off it as it is risen, and Gawain moves it from his side in front of him, grinning as he speaks. "Now then, let us battle, General Tomas!".

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica accepts the flight option with barely-checked enthusiasm. She's just like a kid it seems, despite being visibly many years out of childhood. As the group forms up, she holds out a hand. "I can do some of that too!" she claims, but then shrugs. "I suppose I can do some other things instead. Like... keeping their heads down?" she offers. It's easy enough to do. Wide-scale destructive flames are quite effective in general, and with Frederica's skill they're terrifying. Should any heads pop up, and should any weapons or spells be raised, she'll fire off broad gouts of flame. Nothing terribly intense, though it should have the power to burn clean through weaker shields. The fire is tenacious, though in broad sweeps like this it's not intense enough to kill. Just perfect, however, to make unprotected individuals decide to find shelter and to be more concerned with protecting themselves than attacking. It's also rather effective at blinding, for that matter.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    Flight! Well, it is granted to people who want it. Milla motions in the air, tracing four colored circles before her-- red, yellow, green, blue, all connected by a white circle. She moves her hand into the green one, and magic moves out of her into a shape that finally appears. Sylph, looking like a young teenage boy, with green air and almost-green skin, floats in the air, grinning, pulling aviator goggles down from atop his head to in front of his eyes. He extends his hands forward, and...

    Anyone who consents to it receives a pair of bright green wing-shaped magical fins, which hover around their ankles. They grant flight! It is basic-level, but it'll do for most purposes.

    Ivar sighs, and unsheathes both of his swords. "If this is your wish, Lady Milla. Very well! I, Ivar, will ensure no harm comes to you!"

    But this pose only covers granting flight for now. To everyone! Resistance included. Well, everyone friendly, that is.

Kalliona (537) has posed:
    While Milla is granting flight, Kalliona tosses her hair back. "I can only hope they don't have more than General Tomas. I don't think we can fight their entire leadership." She doesn't need flight, so she doesn't bother to get it. In fact, as she unlimbers her bow from her back, the young woman is already floating off the ground and drifting toward the fortress. A shimmer in the air surrounds her as she fades from view completely. Those with magical senses that can penetrate disguises might see her as a shimmering, translucent outline, more solid depending on how much they can see through such things.

    She reappears when everyone takes off for the fortress, laying down covering fire. She doesn't use her quiver, just drawing back the bow to cause brilliant arrows of sunlight to appear in it, four at a time, and starts raining them down on the battlements in a sudden storm of light-arrows to clear that section of the fortress.

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Tomas... twirls the massive blade as if it were a much more slender one, moving into a stance with ease. An experienced knight sucha s Gawain can instantly tell that this one is very, very skilled. And if that weren't hint enough, the sudden flash of movement settles the matter. He moves far faster than a human should, making him a Servant-level threat with ease. The sweeping slice shouldn't be hard to avoid, but he's following it up with a battering punch with his off hand, trying to open up with a flurry of action that tests his opponent's reflexes.

    He's really good. But he's taking it easy right now, and probably doesn't expect Gawain to be quite as badass as a Servant is.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Rifle in hand, Psyber brings the weapon up and cracks off a shot at the archers up on the castle wall. He centers the sights and then gently pulls the trigger, trying to send a long-distance shot streaking off towards the wall defenses. Then he pulls the bolt, chambers another cartridge, and starts repeating the process. He's trying to pick off and lessen the onslaught of arrows.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva should have expected such facility with ice from the Cryophoenix. Riva stares in awe for a moment, saying, "Coooooooooooooool..." She didn't even intend the pun. However, the opening is given. She shakes her head, and as soon as the magical barrier falls, Riva draws her blade, a broadsword with a crude, silvery circuit pattern inlaid into the blade. As she grasps it, Anima flows into the weapon, igniting it with magical energy. She calls, out, "HOLD!" and rushes forward, rushing the gate as adrenaline carries her forward. She grins to herself, thinking for a moment. This is amazing! For a moment, she can see why Gawain wanted to fight them head on.

And then she remembers the hail of magical arrows, and winces. She and the resistance movement almost got slaughtered. She lunges towards the Gate, and cleaves into the surface multiple times. With all the magic she's seen, she's expecting magical reinforcement. It won't be simple to breach, but there's something shr brought with her. Reaching to one side, she pulls out of... somewhere... A small package wrapped with green plastic and stamped with white letters: C-4. There's also a glob of some golden material on it. Riva frowns, and just jams it on the gate, using the glob, apparently, as some kind of adhesive. It sticks there, and Riva affixes a device to it. She turns and runs away, calling, "SHIELDS UP!" As soon as she's behind the shields she hits the detonator.

The C-4 detonates in a large explosive fireball.

There's more than one way to breach a gate.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Sir Gawain grimaces as he sees that his opponent is most definitely skilled, and the speed is definitely something he didn't expect. As the swiping slice comes forth, Gawain's side stepping as fast as he can, a narrow dodge, but the fist catches his completely off guard. Timing his reflexes fast, he swings his head to the side, General Tomas's fist virtually just touching his skin, that is how narrow of a dodge it is. Sir Gawain's definitely having doubts about how easy this will be now, quickly moving backwards. He's going to have to work defensively, and work around the weaknesses of Tomas.

"You sure are quick. Let's see how that works in opposition..!". Sir Gawain charges inwards, a two-handed horizontal slice to test Tomas' defenses and manueverability, the battle being focused on to the fact that he is ignoring the very loud noises his comrades are making on the other side. They can handle themselves.

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Anivia's barrier of ice... is soon cracking under the fire, since it is now literally fire. From below, a cry is heard from the battlements: "CRYOMANCER! FIRE TEAM FORWARD! READY METEOR TEAM!" Apparently they are... pretty damn organized in the case of such an occurance, though Anivia's utter mastery of ice magic has given them far more pause than some random cryomancer might have.

    Riva will thus be in a position to help the resistance fighters, who seize the moment and form up in a wedge formation. The front of the wedge surges forward to catch up to Riva, and the explosion of the gate washes over the 'battering ram' formed of mystical barriers. Thus the team has managed to pierce the gate, and now finds a small detachment of warriors still forming a line of defense. They look about even in numbers, but their lances are starting to shoot pulses of force that batter the barriers already.

    Still, they're in. That's something.

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Although the fortress does have anti-air defenses aside from archers, they're mostly over dealing with the other assaults, and they don't have the range of a sniper rifle or the skill that the Muse has with her bow. Fred and Milla and the rest of the resistance fighters will find a few smattering bolts shot at them, but the troops can block those well enough. The small group thus slips through with relative ease!

    The troops are mustering all around though, starting to pour out. The group can either make for the gatehouse as planned, or try to swiftly strike from behind the force that's fighting Anivia and Riva.

Anivia (61) has posed:
Ah, fire. Of course. The Cryophoenix was wondering when they were going to pull this tactic, after all if they could control lightning, Anivia naturally assumed they could wield other elements... and it always ends up being Fire...

The Cryophoenix gives a loud call of displeasure as she quickly gains altitude, putting more distance between her and the mage's fireballs... she has long mastered the skill of dodging Skill Shots in the Fields of Justice... these Fire Mages were strong, but they were nothing compared Brand...

Still, not to underestimate their might, Anivia circled above... directly over the battlements of archers and their mages... and begins to chant, casting a spell in her native Phoenix tongue. In an instant, the calm winds around the enemy soldiers transformed into a sudden and lethal blizzard; hail stones the size of tennis-balls, winds of 60 MPH, and sudden lethal cold... making it all but impossible for the soldiers to fire their next volley, as Riva and her soldiers begin to charge in to finish the job!

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Tomas looks surprised that Gawain managed to dodge it. "Eh? You have some real skill!" It means he can't just fool around, and his blade is still on the backswing! He can't parry that slice... can he? That blade is moving awful fast, but fast enough?

    The ring of steel on still fills the battlefield between the two, as there /is/ a parry done! It's just done by the pommel of Tomas's blade, bringing it up to deflect the strike and actually force him to take a step back. Apparently he's used to his opponents being pushovers compared to him, as this makes the crowd of troops above casp in shock. Gawain managed to force their General to /adjust his footing/? That's unheard of!

    The General twists and his own massive blade is brought about again, faster than should be possible. He's wielding it /almost/ like a longsword, one-handed even, and this one is moving in a swift arc upward! Gawain might be able to compensate though... because even if he has the speed of a smaller sword, the blade has much of the bulkiness of a larger sword, meaning that he does have openings he might not otherwise have.

Riva Banari has posed:
The battle is joined and everything becomes chaotic. Riva lunges towards the battle, watching Anivia bend the forces of nature itself. Riva quickly attacks right on the back of the blizzard, spinning as she cleaves into the defensive line with an empowered blade in a whirlwind strike. She stays mobile, however, working to break through the lines to harry them and engage their support from behind. She gasps as she sees the flaming retaliation however. "Man, does /everyone/ here use magic?" She asks aloud, before a fireball smashes next to her, knocking her aside. She shakes her head, smoke rising from her as she grunts, her body burned. "Ouch..." She shakes her head, and forces herself back to her feet. "I'm not going to be beaten that easily!"

She sheathes her blade, and draws her pistols, the guns bearing similar circuit patterns. They hum with energy, and Riva launches herself through the battle, strafing the enemy mages and archers with a hail of sizzling green bullets of Anima. It might be something they're familiar with, but Riva is sticking to target priority. The resistance soldiers fighting with her are fighting for their future. Her intent is to reduce how much of the enemy ranged DPS and support can have an effect on the battle.

Frederica (73) has posed:
    "Burn! BURN!" cries Frederica gleefully, flying along in slowish swoops, keeping the heads of the defenders down. For all her manic delight however, she's doing remarkably little actual burning. She's definitely sending out great gouts of flame, but it's not really focussed on the defenders. They'll likely get singed, even burned, but they'd have to be maliciously stupid or extremely unlikely to get seared and killed by her careful attacks.

    In fact anyone watching her attack, if they were to observe closely, they'd see how she pours on massive streams of flame only where the defense is strongest. Her fire is strong, and the nature of her pyrokinetics makes it possible for her to overwhelm a defensive shield, but she projects that flame stream only while the shield holds. Once it breaks, a puff of flame goes through to lash those underneath and score some damage, but then she focusses her attention to others who haven't broken. Either she doesn't want to kill, or she just wants to focus her power only where resistance is strongest. Both, perhaps.

    As the air team makes their way towards the front gate's towers, Frederica shifts her focus. Taking a break from keeping heads down, she turns her flame loose on the towers themselves. "Pyro Queen!" she cries. "Flame burst!" The power coughs out of her, a narrow column of flame that extends from the girl to a narrow slit in the tower's wall. Within, the flame indeed bursts. Hot flames burst out of other windows as the flame expands. They're not omnipresent within, but they're relentless. She's baking the inside of the tower, slowly at first, giving those within the chance to escape before the relentless flame turns the tower into an oven.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber idly wipes some sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as his long-range shots drop several of the archers. From a crouched position, he spots Riva blowing the gate wide open with C4 and can't help but cast a grin of approval at such an action. It reminds him of something he'd do, so he can't help but respect it where it happens.

    Taking a deep breath, he reaches into the pocket of his jacket and his gloved fingers pull out another fistful of rounds, lowering the rifle away from his face. He brushes the collection of brass away from himself with his boot, slowly sliding each new round into the internal magazine before he raises it up again.

    He's not shooting quite yet, but his scope is sweeping over the field, from Gawain's fight all the way over to the other groups, looking for an ideal spot to put down fire. He turns his attention towards gathering forces, aiming the rifle at commanders and leaders, trying to scatter the troops by taking out the ones giving directions.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Unlike the General, Sir Gawain isn't as surprised by skillfull maneuvers, but his guard never drops. The deflection of his blade causes Gawain to voluntarily step back himself, and position Excalibur Galatine in a one-handed position, even if it seems to be like a claymore.

Moving quickly, he decides to take advantage of the opening he /does/ have, lifting his empty-handed arm up to take the blade, as he moves Excalibur Galatine in an attempt to slice into the General's side. As Tomas' blade strikes on his arm, he grunts, the force of the hit definitely felt but his armor more or less intact. "I must say, you are quite the worthy opponent. I haven't had such a great battle in centuries..!"

Kalliona (537) has posed:
    Kalliona nods to Milla and Fred and the soldiers. "Keep going, I will help our allies at the back gate." She flits off at high speed, drawing her bow to fire single arrows this time. Her intent is to swoop in from behind while the others are occupied, but she isn't targeting the leader. Instead she has a very specific target, since she sees that Anivia is causing a blizzard.

    Kalliona knows magic better than the non-natives, so the bow twangs and shoots out arrows toward any of the troops that might look like they can counter the blizzard. Hopefully from behind, the won't be able to defend as well against an archer of her skill.

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    The archers on the battlements, which apparently include long-distance battle mages, are a threat to both Riva/Anivia team and the Milla/Kalli/Fred team, but fortunately Psyber is picking them off well enough that the remainder are distracted trying to deal with the sniper! A few send streaks of lightning up toward Psyber, but it's pretty clear they can't pinpoint where he is yet. Possibly because of the savage beating they're taking. It's a pretty well-organized defense, they're putting up, but they are undermanned for this sort of opposition. They may all use magic, but actual Elites are just as rare if not rarer than in other worlds.

    Even with this, they work in teams well enough to compensate! It turns out that the 'Meteor Team' is made up of /Meteormancers/, or 'weather mages' They immediately work to start countering or lessening the blizzard. Anivia outclasses every one of them, but there are several working in concert, so they may lessen it-

    Or would if the precision arrows from the expert archer behind them didn't take them out in a few heartbeats. The mages crumple to the ground, leaving the archers in a storm of snow and ice. With Riva's support, the key archers are taken out, and within a few more moments the resistance fighters begin to overwhelm the troops at the back gate, who start calling for quarter at last. With chattering teeth.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    Milla is apparently quite content staying back and playing support. With a wave of her hand, a large gush of water rushes through the air, curving about effortlessly into the incoming waves of arrows, whatever ones have managed to be fired despite the pressure on the archers. Obviously the goal is just to eliminate as much of the projectiles as possible, not to spare herself, but rather the resistance.

    Ivar, with his twin swords out, has mostly dived into the fray. He's an above-average Elite, as far as his swordsmanship goes, and trails lines of light-aligned mana with his blades. In other worlds it might be called holy energy, though it's not entirely accurate. He seems pretty good at fighting without lethal intent, surprisingly-- and even better yet at navigating through the fires caused by Frederica, as if experienced. One can probably guess Efreet trained him the hard way.

Anivia (61) has posed:
With the majority of enemy soldiers under siege from THREE Union Champions, two in the front lines and sniper support... the armed soldiers following Anivia and Riva barely broke a sweat as they charged through the ruined gates and claimed the fortress. The soldiers seem to make quick work of what men remained, they were here for a fight and clearly they were not going to leave the whole bought to Anivia and Riva. The sound of metal on metal rings through the back quarters as the soldiers mop up who Riva and Anivia hasn't already dispatched.

As the tides quickly turn for the battle in the south, Anivia slowly calls and end to her blizzard and swoops down, landing on the wall overlooking the battlefield she helped create. Her head turns from one side to the next, her tail feathers twitching slightly before she turns to Riva and simply dips her head in appreciation.

"We should check on the others soon."

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    The defenders of the gatehouse fall quickly to the combination of Ivar and the wave... but not so swiftly as normal mooks might. They're really unprepared for Elites of this level though, so fall they do, and are forced back further by the actual resistance fighters. The tide(literally in this case) was swiftly turned by the presence of so many powerful Elites.

    And the gatehouse itself? The defenders throw up barriers, but Fred's pyrotechnics blast through them with minimal effort. Not /easily/ mind, but it doesn't take much. They just aren't in her class! So with a few cries the soldiers start leaping out of the gatehouse, doing the abandoning for her! Nobody wants to be fried in there!

    Besides, most of their leaders are knocked unconscious by earlier flame blasts, or Psyber's shots. Nobody is there to rally them, while the resistance fighters are at incredible morale!

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    This time Tomas isn't surprised by Gawain's skill. The other swordsman does have a 'hole' in his defenses, the size of his blade meaning it does have some predictability. He must rely on the hilt to help protect him... or maybe something else, like his vaunted invulnerability.

    That is exactly what he relies on now! As his own blade bites into Gawain's armor, he lifts his free arm to block Gawain's attack! The Servant can feel it skitter over /skin/ that is hard as steel, tearing through cloth easily but meeting far more resistance from the actual flesh. It's a simultaneous parry of blows!

    Except that a tiny trickle of red oozes out from Tomas's arm where Gawain's sword has been caught. It's not a deep cut, by any means, but it's more than what Gawain took.

    "Ah... Sir Gawain, I must confess, you have drawn first blood! And from the sound of it, your allies have managed to overrun the fortress despite my attempts to keep it secure while I took care of my foolish pride." He laughs, stepping backward. "I think it is fair to say you have won this engagement... but I think I will not underestimate you next time. Shall I take my leave with my surviving troops and cede the battle to you? All I ask is the chance for a rematch."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber ducks back behind the perch as several lightning bolts collide into the surrounding terrain. He scowls a bit at how close those were. A bit longer and they were going to actually start hitting him. He slings the rifle up over his shoulders as the group secures the castle and then steps off the cliff-side he was standing on.

    He has a remarkable amount of balance afterwards, sliding down the side of the surface, eventually landing on the battlefield. He dusts his hands off and then shouts in a booming voice, "Let Sir Tomas go, Gawain. He fought bravely, with honor, and I don't see much to gain from killing him here." He advises to his Servant.

    Knowing Gawain, though, he doubts there will be much objection.

Riva Banari has posed:
The enemies are broken and begins surrendering. Riva nods, definitively, and raises a cheer. "YEAH! VICTORY!" She calls out. "Gimme fi-" She pauses, looking over at Anivia and realizing she doesn't have a hand. "Um... Nevermind. Good work!" She also turns and gives Kalliona a thumbsup. "Thanks for the support!" She calls, before pointing. "Come on! We can hit the remaining enemies from behind! They won't know what hit them!"

And then some more shouts go up. "Wow, they got their side too! YES!" She is /so pumped/. "I've never been in a siege before, this was crazy!"

Frederica (73) has posed:
    Frederica is staying safe more by dint of stopping attackers from looking at her than by any great defensive ability. Her flame keeps heads down, and it's not easy to look straight into the source. She's a great big beacon target though, for any mages or archers that have a good oblique angle. She's taken a few near-misses, a few hits. Her reinforced clothing is a good enough armor to protect her from the worst of it. She's relying on Psyber though, to pick off any who are sighting on her. That and on her own abilities to turn flames on anyone who dares take a shot. They have to hit with their first attack to do her any harm or someone's sure to put them down quickly.

    Now though, bleeding from a few grazes and some magic that struck home, she turns her fire on the second gate tower. Again the stream of fire pours out, this time into an arrow slit on that second tower. The inhabitants have to know what's coming though, and should be more than ready to pour out as she begins to direct her attention their way. No one stands in the way of a raging fire if they can help it, not unless they have good reason to believe they can withstand it.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Sir Gawain takes a second to make sure this isn't a trick, before sheathing his blade and smiling. "If I was to refuse you this, I would have no honour. Take your survivors, and the next time we meet, I expect us to match blades once more! Until we meet again, General Tomas.". Gawain waits for Tomas to turn his back first, before he turns himself to part back to the warp gate.

Kalliona (537) has posed:
    As the battle comes to a close, Kalliona finally draws an arrow from her quiver and nocks it. Pointing the bow up toward the wall, she lets fly with the arrow... which appears to be a signal arrow, releasing a high-pitched whistle over the battlefield. This brings the resistance fighters to cheer!

    "Thank you all for the help," she says, breathing a deep sigh. "This was a great victory today. I only hope that we can use it for a proper foothold before Chrysanthemum sees it as a real threat."

Chrysanthemum (101) has posed:
    Tomas whistles loudly, sheathing his blade and finding no problem in turning his back to Gawain. He gestures to his men, who all begin surrendering and making their way down to the gate to join him. "The Emperor will not be pleased to hear we lost the fortress," the General admits. "But then, this is the first real loss we have had in a while. I think it will be... interesting."

    He sounds way too jovial about that.

Anivia (61) has posed:
Anivia blinks as she holds out a wing for an awkward moment when Riva goes for a high-five... not quite sure what to do in that moment. When Riva switches to a thumbs up, Anivia gives a, "Oh!" and replies with a rather friendly soundly chirp.

"We did well this day; you are quite fierce in combat. I know many Champions who would be impressed by your skills." she compliments, before looking around. "My job here is done, I should move on. I'm starting to fall behind my schedule..." she mutters, mostly for herself before she turns and nods again at Riva. "Until we meet again."

With that Anivia leaps into the skies once more, soaring back towards the Union Warpgate.