Scene #4667: Stone Devils Cometh

Owner	Pose
Carna	There is a world of difference between the Gutter Disgorge entrance to Guillotine Square, and the Umberdark Tunnels. One is more like a sewer, and the other is more like a subway. Still underground tunnels, right? Well, the first is full of awful gross puking finger monsters and bag-helmet-wearing ambushers with nasty hooks, and the other... Well, they don't really know what's down there yet from up here, but it certainly smells a lot more neutral. The entrance is a rather mundane thing. In the area known as the City Limits, a place right on the edge of the Urban Decay, between it and the network of aerial causways called Pristine Plagueway, there's this little alcove in the ground. Like a subway entrance. A set of stairs leading down into a deeper darkness than already pervades the sunless, moonless, starless ruins of a metropolis. The bottom of the steps is darkness, and the faint clamour of metal on metal fading even further the more one listens to it. Echoing up the passage are also what might be distant voices. Though if they are, then nothing they're saying is intelligible from here. Here is potentially a different route to their destination: the tower in Guillotine Square that leads up and OUT of this damnable area of Lumiere, and hopefully to whatever is above, whether that be answers or that 'World of Ashes'. It's not as though the Gutter Disgorge isn't still an option. But until they've explored an alternative, there's no reason to go back into finger-horror dungeon and risk more encounters with things in the walls. For her part, Carna will try to find a way through no matter which way they go. But the path that is least likely to kill her is usually a good choice. "Who should go first?" she asks of those assembled, as she looks down the uneven stairwell into an underground labyrinth. "I have been down there briefly before. I was there long enough to encounter a creature that was a 'chimera of bodies' and cut one of them free for my own use, but my exploration otherwise was minimal. Beyond a few hundred meters surrounding the entrance, any navigation I provide would be the same as any of yours."
Lin	Karal Rei Lin's quick to step forward, a golden glow igniting from her body and casting a light that Lumiere never really sees every which way. She's bright as a torch and unafraid of the darkness. "Allow me to take the lead then. At the least I can light the way and take the brunt of whatever lashes out at us!"
Staren	"Cut one free for your own use?" Staren echoes, curiously. "Anyway, if there's really noone..." his hlmet-light turns on. Lin glows. "...Yeah, that's a good idea." Staren walks down after her.
Priscilla	Priscilla will take a neutral smell. Priscilla will take even a pretty bad smell that still isn't as bad as the last one, really. The Gutter had been so awful that it wouldn't be /too/ surprising if her decision to retreat from it had been motivated mostly by disgust rather than a desire to have better intelligent before going further. By now, even ostensibly spooky and dangerous tunnels that /aren't/ filled with rotting flesh and human centipedes seem positively rosy. Priscilla also has pretty sharp senses, especially now, but not enough to make out a conversation degraded by what could be miles of uneven echoes and dispersion. With only a lot of dark to focus on otherwise, the sounds of voices have her attention. "In the ostensible sense, I hath little objection to Lady Karal advancing at point. I however believeth it unanimously agreeable that, in the technical sense, I shalt be first and spaced from the larger group, by virtue of being at risk of alerting no enemy." So, not really 'on point', but poking around invisible just far enough ahead of the group to give some advance warning. Assuming nobody has any salient objections, that's exactly what she does.
Heaven's Armory	It's unclear whether or not spears have a sense of smell. Svala's human body certainly does, but using that in this world seems terribly dangerous, what with the horrible monsters lying in wait. Being part of Priscilla's equipment, her spear form, apart from being nigh-indestructible, is also invisible, so this feels quite a bit better. They're heading into yet more unknown territory, but such is the usual life of a wielder. Svala's being fairly quiet, though she does let Priscilla feel something like a suggestion from her over their shared channel. If they're traveling up, there might be some value in turning that into 'down.' It's less tiring, too.
Carna	Karal descends the stairs, lighting up the path ahead of them. They come out into what someone probably thought a subway station looked like if they'd never seen one before, or were drawing from description or... Something more esoteric/vague. There's the platform, but right over the edge, revealed by the illumination Karal provides, there's like thirty different rail lines between there and the platform across from them. The huge tunnel that the trains would go through if there were any is more like a vast cavern of chipped concrete and rusted steel than a real subway. But then again, maybe they need this amount of space. If the dead rode some kind of trains or something to help get around Lumiere, well... There are a LOT more dead people than living people. Staren's helmet light may still be useful as a directional light, in instance where the area-wide glow isn't suited to the task, or they can't get Karal to turn around and go in a different direction to see if there's really a drop-off over there of if it's just really dark, etc. More methods, more tools, more options. But outside the bounds of either light, it is just very, very dark. There is also something that they never saw at the Pristine Plagueway, or in the Gutter Disgorge. It's right there on the platform with them. A Shrine of Light. One of those useful transportation devices that resembles the peak of distant Aetheir Cathedral, and the sole source of constant ambient light in this part of Lumiere. There is also, oddly, another Shrine of Light across from them, on that other platform, beyond the highway of steel rails and concrete and dust and ash. Priscilla scouting ahead invisibly serves them well, in this regard, because she would be in a position to make sure the platform across from them is clear if she chooses to. Usually, in whatever room or alcove or side-alley that Shrines are found in, it tends to be 'safe' at least for a short range around it, though there's nothing that prevents creatures from following them TO the things... But there have also never been two Shrines in such close proximity. That seems... Somewhat suspicious. With Svala's guidance and support, however, even if there is something fishy going on, the Elites should be able to handle it on either platform without issue. The living weapon seems to have insight and awareness of things the rest of them don't. Carna provides her own insight here, though perhaps not the most reassuring, by saying, "Either I did not adequately record my initial exploration, or this area was not here when I descended to these tunnels previously. It appears my use as a guide has ended sooner than expected." Her voice, and all of their voices, foot steps, and cloth-rustles, and armor jangles, and so on, rebound and reverb off the tunnel walls, likely carrying for a very long ways through the underground labyrinth. There isn't much they can do about it. But at least Priscilla remains undetected, unlike the rest of them.
Staren	Staren knows his tools will still be useful. It was just funny timing! Two shrines of light in sight of eachother. "...I don't like this. That probably means it's going to be very hard to get to that one..." Staren starts looking around for hints of anything amiss. After a few moments, he adds, "Or a boss is going to show up. Or maybe one is a fake... Can there be fake shrines of light?"
Priscilla	On some level, Priscilla feels a /little/ silly being invisible in the dark like this, but considering what Lumiere is usually like, it's not difficult to rationalize that feeling away, especially holding Svala in her hands, whom is significantly less capable of fending for herself if separated. Her footsteps could carry, for one, especially if she tripped. Something could be sniffing her out for another. With trains involved, a bright light could appear very suddenly around the bend. Something here might not even need light to see. She briefly considers if holding the spear has made her more cautious, or more responsible; or if she had always been this way, and only started thinking of it now. At seeing the platform elevated above with the second, sketchier shrine, Svala's suggestion seems a very good one. Though Priscilla considers it quite likely that her connection to Svala isn't strong enough to actually have that kind of power, she urges a certain amount of tempering in the approach of inverting gravity towards the platform, not wanting to sail past it. It suddenly strikes her how well this arrangement hypothetically works. Unlike Hravn and Ari, Svala's powers can be easily used without an obvious tell.
Lin	Having never been in a metro station period, Lin's observations of this are quite skewed. She walks right over to the platform and stares bewilderedly at the chaotic track arrangement, clearly trying to figure out just WHAT their purpose could be. Pushed vehicles on rails aren't entirely unknown, but they're usually GROOVES cut in the ground more than upraised rails, and not so.... LONG. "WHAT is this FOR?!" She turns about wholly, to stare helplessly at Staren, eyes also asking that question. She can only shrug at the unknown. But the Shrines of Light on BOTH sides of the platform has her gut feelings rankled. She takes a few steps back and AWAY from the edge.. Then, experimentally, draws forth a few throwing knives - kunai style forging, it looks - and starts hurling them. A few at the rails. A few at the far side with the other Shrine... She senses a trap or obstacle. So this might reveal it.
Heaven's Armory	It isn't quite like the use Priscilla has seen before, but there is still some control of the type she's seeking. Svala's magic activates, locally affecting her wielder, not quite freeing her from whatever downward force normally holds people upon this world in place, but shifting the vector perpendicular and bent 'inward,' resulting in a much-slower-than-freefall, but still constantly accelerating, drift across the rails at their current height. So long as they don't run into anything, at least. Svala further suggests that she take the brunt of any unexpected impact.
Carna	The knives clank and clatter against the railings, sending out metal ringing and loud noises up and down the tunnels. Carna strides forwards quickly, and attempts to seize Karal by the arm firmly to prevent her from throwing anymore. She lets go if pulled away from or ceases trying to grab the Solar if prevented, but she says very clearly, "Stop doing that." She then turns and watches as Priscilla drifts across the network of rails and says, "I do agree though. With Sir Staren and you. I can think of no good reason for there to be two of these shrines directly across from each other if they were placed intentionally... But we still do not know what causes them to form. The Church of Bleak Mercy says that their 'god', Urizen, orders the world according to his will, and that they appear where he desires them to be." Carna paces along the edge of the platform, looking down at the rails as there fails to be any reaction to the knife throwing. "But I place little stock in gods--" she freezes in place as a faint rattling sound starts emerging from down below. She turns to look at Karal immediately as though she might be responsible, but unless Karal is still throwing knives, that seems unlikely. No one is down there, Priscilla and Svala have made it safely across to the other side, and there's just the knives lying on the rails that are now rattling and wobbling, trembling with vibrations in the ground. The faint sound of rumbling and an accompanying high-pitched noise starts coming up the tunnel towards them from one direction. As well, it seems there is also light growing brighter as well. Priscilla and Svala, on their side, get to witness it from a different angle. Carna draws her knives and backs up, trying to conceal herself from direct view alongside a wall from whatever is coming. The vibrations and rumbling become stronger and louder. Eventually, the growing illumination and noise culminate in... A subway train tearing around the bend in the tunnel, engulfed in flames, roaring past the Elites on the platform they arrived upon. Inside the train, visible in flashes amidst the glaring brilliance, is much more solid movement, of physical humanoid bodies, and their screams from within war with the screeching of metal upon the tracks, the roaring of flames, and all of it bouncing off the walls, amplifying and rebounding, until the final car passes them by, leaving behind only flaming tracks, and some pretty banged up throwing knives. The screams and rumbling fading into the distance only emphasize the growing quiet left behind once the train is gone. What does one say after that?
Lin	Lin yawks weirdly when Carna interferes, but she just purses her lips and halts as requested. She's still scowling at the tracks, HUUUUUGELY suspicious of them. There's got to be some trick right-- RUMBLE RUMBLE. She starts baaaaaacking up. Quickly. A hand drops to her sword. "What... what's comin-" WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!! ... when the train has passed, Lin's left staring straight forward, frozen in horror... and pure confusion. She could've expected SOOOO many things from that rumbling, but THAT wasn't one of them.
Priscilla	Though Priscilla would like to say that something like what had just happened is only something that should be expected of Lumiere, the instant she had laid eyes upon it, the stark differences had struck her. So far, what she had seen of the crumbling ruins of the realm of the dead had been horror borne of unfathomable scales of time, degradation, predation, and desperate, human inflicted misery. It has been chilling, horrific, even perverse, but all of it has clearly lost all resemblance to what it originally was, and derived more from tradition and broken memory more than anything. Seeing something so shocking, so flashy, and so /functional/ is what draws her senses. This is a subway. It transports the dead. There is a working train. The train is transporting the dead along the rails. The meaning is clear, unbroken, and present, and the way it has tumbled into dysfunction is so screamingly bright and loud and primitively easy to grasp that it raises a million more questions than anything else. Sewers that exist as conceptual space for waste are a sensible location for the deluded dead to practice cult worship of Shadow-fear and flesh-stripping and a perfect cesspit for monstrous creatures to percolate in. Why has a functional subway been carting around screaming, burning passengers at full tilt for what might be thousands of years? It looks like a disastrous breakdown, as if due to a catastrophic failure or deliberate attack, had /just/ happened. Soon enough, Priscilla breaks from shaken, Deep Lore contemplation to examine the other suspicious element; the duplicate shrine. She doesn't quite dare to audibly comment on the train across the tunnel space before checking this out. For the time being though, all there really is to do is an examination of the area the Shrine illuminates, usually considered to be a safe zone, and poking the construct itself with Svala's point from a respectable distance.
Heaven's Armory	Svala's magic reverses the physical course as the destination is approached, slowing and bringing her wielder to the ground with little speed and noise to mar her stealth. It is not long after this point that the train arrives--and leaves. Her senses strain to take in fleeting images, but the speed with which it disappears prevents a clearer, stronger impression. Screams, pain, the implication of fruitless torment unending--the effect is muted, the horrors of death being less horrific, as a rule, to a constructed weapon. The seeming pointlessness of not just the pain, but its continued existence, is something to which she is far more sensitive. Unfortunate, then, that she has no way of divining any reassuring answers. The spear's senses turn toward the shrine, comparing it to the last shrine she'd seen, particularly as a magical artifact. She is not possessed of greatly detailed scanning capabilities, but as a magical artifact, herself, she can at least see along a nonvisual spectrum that includes constructions of the same.
Staren	[Ominous Rumbling Intensifies] Staren backs away from the gap, holding the arm with the beam cannons out, ready. He knew it, here comes a boss fight! ...And there it goes. "Well." He clicks his tongue. "Okay then." He manifests his wings and flies across the gap. He's seen so many horrible things, that a living, flaming train of damned souls is... well... it's terrible, but it's like... alllmost par for the Lumiere course? There isn't really a par for the course, though. Maybe it's more that Staren's strangeness meter is broken at this point. "I wonder who killed a train, if it's down here...?" ~MEANWHILE~ Among the flooded remains of Cirrus-Marine is a ruined restaurant. The cracked and broken walls, what's left of them, are full of posters and pictures of patrons and celebrities. The camera zooms in on a man in one photo, a smiling young muscular man with a blonde ponytail.
Lin	Lin, on the other hand, turns around to look Staren's way and makes some hopelessly questioning gestures, not quite able to come up with any useful words. POOR LIN DOES NOT COMPREHEND THAT THING AT ALL.
Staren	Staren shrugs to Lin and shakes his head. He dunno either. It doesn't immediately occur to him that she doesn't know what a train is. But even if she did, there's just, so much wat. All of our wat.
Carna	Priscilla pokes the Shrine with Svala, as the latter analyzes it. Right up until the point where Svala makes contact, it seems to be the same as the prior Shrines, though with the distinct absence of a specific magical signature reminiscent of the concentrated 'Light' within Dead like Enark and Peacemaker Longita. Instead, there's something more like... The magic essence of... Hmm... 'Paint'? But the poking occurs. There is a clack as though the contact were made on something ceramic instead of crystal, and then, the Shrine stands up on a multitude of thin, multi-jointed, insect-like legs. The crystalline top loses its light as it orients on the direction the contact was made from, a single eyeball floating inside of the container, scanning for prey. Carna has put away her knives and is reaching for her crossbow upon witnessing this, and swearing that she is going to have to talk to Enark about developing anti-M.I.M.I.C. weaponry when she gets back to Escher. "These are some of the things that I was seeking out when I came down here originally. Though I was expecting furniture." she remarks as she takes aim. Then, however, a bright light begins to descend the stairs off to the side, on the platform shared by weapon and wielder. And Karal Rei Lin emerges onto the platform, glowing and shining. She is followed by something unseen, unheard, unsmelled, that might me making static fizzle in the minds (or equivalents) of Priscilla and Svala. After her comes Staren, and then Carna. Other-Staren squints across at the opposite platform, and says, "...I don't like this. That probably means it's going to be very hard to get to that one..." Staren starts looking around for hints of anything amiss. After a few moments, he adds, "Or a boss is going to show up. Or maybe one is a fake... Can there be fake shrines of light?" Everything proceeds from there, every movement and piece of dialogue, though around the time that Karal is throwing knives at the railing, the brain-static fades away. Perhaps around the same that Priscilla floated across to the opposite platform? And then comes the train again. The rumbling, the build-up, the glowing, and then the screams and flames and clatter of a careening, out-of-control transportation device, filled with dead who burn and burn and burn. And it continues tearing past until it is gone once more. After witnessing this whole surreal scene play out, Carna turns her attention off the Shrine Mimic across from them and onto the Shrine on THEIR platform, fully expecting an invisible Priscilla to poke it awake. "I am beginning to receive the impression that slaying the Concept of Borders was not without its consequences." she remarks as she keeps a bead on the harmlessly glowing structure and leaves the mimic for actual-Priscilla to deal with.
Lin	WELL STAREN, even if an explanation had been offered... this bizarre mirror-play leaves Lin thoroughly gobsmacked and DEEPLY rattled. She's no coward, but she backs up several steps and TIGHTENS her swordgrip, heartbeat starting to thunder in her ears with a bit of panic setting in. Lin... steps forward. And flings one more knife! But it isn't AT any of the.. Dopplegangers? Images? Instead she seeks to simply.. snag their attention. The knife will embed itself a good many feet away from her own dippleganger's position!
Priscilla	The Shrine Mimic. After so many Lordsdamned M.I.M.I.Cs the last two times, Priscilla has resolved to the 'fool me once' school of thought. It's likely she'll never trust an innocuous object here ever again. Thankfully, that caution pays off, and allows her to pull Svala out of what looks to be the reach of its weird legs right away. Just in time too, because the others have arrived. If raising and dropping invisibility were up to uttering a magic word, Priscilla had just opened her metaphorical mouth when she turns to address the group, and finds the exact same sequence playing out in eerie mirror instead. She keeps both that metaphorical and her literal mouth shut after that point, silently backing away, and mentally check-listing the range of people's senses here. For a brief, almost panicky moment, she has the same thought as Carna, wonders if she is capable of sensing through her own invisibility. It's not like she'd ever been physically capable of trying. Nothing terrible immediately seems to happen though, however, the presence of that mental white noise causes something to pulse within her soul, with a single heartbeat that sounds like a flickering electrical line instead, briefly scrambling the vacuous eye that presents itself within her pendant. Its owner considers this ominous enough, and sticks to the shadows. Turning it over in her head, there seems to be aggravatingly little she can get away with here. This assortment of doppelgangers should logically know most of what she can do, and be unlikely to ascribe it to anything else. At the same time, they may decide that it's 'their' Priscilla doing it. The little lightbulb flashes. There is, after all, no way for them to see that there are two Priscillas. She considers the significant risk that this other group is completely without one, related somehow to her subsumation of her Unpainted counterpart, but likes the idea better than sneak attack or parley with a totally unknown quantity. She outright takes advantage of Karal's seemingly half-baked idea, immediately whispering aloud "Halt. This area is yet unsafe. I hath sensed the presence of Lanterns about. If thou hast any sense, alloweth mineself ahead and determine their number. They shalt maketh no attempt to cross the tracks so eagerly after that display." The crossbreed absolutely hopes that the other group has a Priscilla, before telling her own group to play like ninjas.
Staren	Staren starts flying into the air and wonders who killed a train, when the mimic shrine reveals itself. "Ugh, see? Fake..." he's about to rush over to help fight it, when... Yeah. That's all happening. He stares for awhile. He remembers that there are copies of them, possibly... Could these be fully formed and less staticy? After all, there's no Priscilla one... What do you say to fake you? Staren considers saying hi, but decides maybe a smaller-scale, quieter approach is better than waving and shouting: He turns on his wireless and checks if other-him has a wireless signal, and whether he can connect with his own codes. No. Oh well. He's about to speak, when instead Priscilla does. Still, he smiles and waves to their doppelgangers. There's a chance they can get along with another version of them, right?
Heaven's Armory	Svala has really no idea what is going on here, so she keeps quiet so as to avoid complicating matters. She's still focusing her attention on the mimic, and making it clear to her wielder that she'd prefer to stab it to nonfunctionality.
Carna	Karal throws a knife across to the other side and it lands there, seemingly unnoticed initially. Except for the other-Karal to turn and look in the direction of the sound as though hearing something but not quite sure what. While that is happening the others are seemingly observing the same scene play out that they have just witnessed, with a procession of 'other thems' coming down the stairs. They go through similar dialogue, but Staren turns when he hears suspicious whispering from a Priscilla-voice. He pops his wings out, seemingly about to ignore the instruction not to try to cross, but then hesitates and stops. Things are diverging from how they played out on their side. Carna turns and looks off to the side, just incase there are more of 'them' coming down the stairs, and catches a glint of metal. She moves over cautiously, keeping her crossbow trained on the Shrine, and finds one of Karal's knives lying there. Was that from earlier? Did it get thrown up here by the train passing by? Or... Did another Karal throw one in the past and they didn't see it happen? How many variations upon the same set of circumstances have happened before now? Are they just one part of a cycle, or are they the 'originals'? A bizzarely distorted staticky voice, without any meaning, whispers to Karal on Carna's side from a corner of their platform. But it can't be made out or its origin precisely identified. It sort of sounded like Priscilla put through a buttload of filters though. The Staren on the other side focuses his helmet lights on 'actual Staren' floating in the middle of the tunnel, as though seeming him for the first time, and then seemingly tries to access his wireless network using his codes, the same way as Staren just tried to. It seems as though, temporally, the two platforms are 'synching'. And the more they synch, the more the Shrine Mimic, fruitlessly searching for prey that it can't find, seems to be orienting on the duplicates around it that it couldn't see before. It's still not attacking, but it's clearly reacting to things in its environment. That's... Probably not good. Nor is the hissing cackle like something laughing from the bottom of a mud puddle, as it brings up two of its spike-tipped legs and slashes at other-Carna. Other Carna seems to realize the mimic's presence at that point. As do the other-selves, as they jump into action. Actual Carna focuses on their own Shrine again, which continues to remain inactive.
Staren	<Hi.> the message comes in to Staren, because that's what he was about to do. He sends back: <Who are you, what's going on?> They decide to destroy the mimic. Staren is targeting missiles... When Priscilla asks to not use explosives. Okay, fine. Staren fires his beam cannons at it, and approaches the platform to land. Flying is something he doesn't want to have to concentrate on now.
Lin	This is simply TOO PROFOUND. Lin feels as though her mind's about to split apart. NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANY MORE! Why the clones? Why the repeat scenes?! Why the differences?! ... and what was just whispered into her ears?! "HYAAAAAH!" Wailing like a little girl she DIVES AWAY from the wavery voice and dive-rolls across the floor, on the verge of panic. It may not be the most productive thing to do, but she's NO idea what's happening. Seems like Lin won't be of much use to the group today. Her understanding of the mess is simply insufficient.
Priscilla	Priscilla may agree with Svala. Despite the incredibly complex but still very clear 'time echo' effect going on, repeating at staggered intervals, there are a couple of factors that distinguish one side from the other; the real one, as she likes to think. First, she is able to interrupt these past events, as if retconning them, without the 'other' side catching up to the future, despite her 'other' version mirroring her in that broken manner. Second, is the fact that the Shrine on this side is definitely a mimic, and the one on the other probably isn't. The sensation of 'paint' and 'static' only furthers it. "Nay, I believeth this hath precious little to do with the concept of borders. I wouldst dare say this another artefact of the presence of Los, residual on his works and followers. We shalt find out momentarily, either way." Taking her trusty spear's advice, Priscilla uses her to stab into the closest thing she can determine to be an eye or mouth or similar.
Heaven's Armory	Svala is thrust at a hopefully damage-sensitive portion of the mimic, a course on which she is fully aboard. There's not much else to say about this, as there was no direction to activate her magic as part of the attack. She is, to be sure, a legendary weapon for a reason, and can reliably pierce anything not immune to the concept of piercing. She already radiates a feeling of satisfaction, in anticipation of embedding her blade into the enemy.
Carna	As other-Carna is slashed brutally by the Shrine Mimic, impaled through the shoulders by its sharp fore-limbs, and the other-selves try to fight back as well, it is not until Staren's beam cannons tear through its legs and 'body', sending it toppling to the ground, and then Priscilla and Svala pierce through its crystal-encased 'eye', that results start to show. It appears the other-selves were incapable of harming it despite their best efforts. And when the harm is done, the mimic crumples to the ground, shrieking and gibbering in a mix of a death cry and mad, inhuman giggling, before it stops moving, turns gray and dull, and becomes a mere statue. Carna didn't participate in killing the thing, too concerned about a repeat on their side, but when it seems clear that one was the fake, she dares to prod the Shrine over on her side, with Karal, and achieves no reaction except the twinling light associated with normal Shrines. However, the other-selves fade and vanish in a swirling aurora borealis, their fates unknown, and something else is left in their place. Or rather, someone. A Stone Devil, with a large sword in hand, gargoyle helm and wings in place... But not a Stone Devil that any here have met. Though, aside from Kord, NONE of those here have met any Stone Devils. This one, at least, speaks with a woman's voice. She says, "It is about time. Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for you to resolve that? I don't, because I couldn't leave until you did, and I am fairly certain it has been more than a few hours since I came after you from the Church." Despite her aggressive speech, the winged knight does not seem to be intending violence. This is made even more clear in her next words. "My name is Gargoyle Knight Lasyra. I am a warrior in the Order known as the Stone Devils. And I have dire news for both you all and myself, regarding the control of my Order being usurped. I understand you have somewhere you are trying to get to. But this takes priority." Lasyra still can't detect Priscilla, but she knows SOMETHING smashed the Mimic's eye-crystal at the end, and it wasn't beam cannons. So she warily scans the area while focusing on Staren and those beyond him. "If we do not deal with Luc, he will manipulate one of the most experienced fighting forces in Lumiere to ambush, sabotage, and harrass your quest every step of the way until you fail, die, or both." Lasyra then tilts her head and asks, "Would you like to hear more?" Of note, there are more scorch marks on the floor and walls from beam fire than just one Staren alone could produce. Even if there is no sign of one ever being there otherwise.
Staren	The doubles turn into... someone in gargoyle armor. Staren turns his weapons that way, warily, but she speaks. Staren checks his clock to see if it's /really/ been that long since they started. "I suppose that could be true. What's this Luc guy's problem with us, and what do you get out of helping us?"
Priscilla	Vindication. Stabbing the awful little mimic thing -- the difference between the two sides -- yields success. Priscilla is reassured of her abilities of observation, coordination, and direction, and proceeds to place a little faith in Svala's weapon instincts. Having never seen a Stone Devil up until this point, she has no particular reason to associate Lasyra with anything especially bad, and can certainly see her as a preferable alternative to the train, which she now wonders if it may have been some form of illusion of the past. For the sake of a measure of honour in discussion, she de-cloaks a significant enough distance away that it looks like she hadn't been hovering mistrustfully in the Gargoyle Knight's personal space at all. She fails to tell Svala not to follow her lead. Priscilla probably believes that Svala being a sentient weapon would be a good thing to withhold for now, but then the girl definitely seems predisposed to pushing interaction. "The Church of Bleak Mercy?" Asks the royal, almost rhetorically, and not fully capable of quite the same body language that would normally be possible with an eyebrow quirk. "I regret to inform thee that it hast been several months since we last didst visit it. For whatever seems to hath transpired here however, I believeth though shalt be left to blame thineself, as this is our first time ever approaching this place." She very much does not like the sound of the rest however. It's beginning to remind her too much of the Darkmoon Blades, and those had been bad enough when they were mere fanatical remnants of a once much more powerful order. "Nevertheless, thou seem to knoweth well how to force thine introduction to ostensible importance swiftly enough. This may be place for it not, but I wouldst be beyond foolish to dismiss thee out of hand with such words to say, for at the very least thou knoweth enough to present a convincing fake of a concern."
Heaven's Armory	There's a marked differenced between this and the last strange encounter with a not-immediately-hostile figure Svala recalls from this world. The shadow had just been... there. A denizen of the place that they had happened to run into. Lasyra, on the other hand, 'came after them from the Church.' The connection here is rather unclear to her. It's been just over three months since she found her new wielder, and perhaps this was before that point. ... Several months. Waiting here for hours. Strange, but a connection must exist. Svala does not show herself. She mistrusts everything about the current area, uncertain what of that recently seen is some illusion, and how to be certain it has been broken. A vague sense of her feelings, as ever, flows out through the spear's shaft, for her wielder's private consumption. No tactical suggestions, just yet, just the need for information.